Matthew Rosenberg and Travel Foreman reunite for an enjoyable yet sombre story in the Astonishing X-Men Annual #1. Rosenberg has already established himself in the X-Men line, having just taken over Astonishing X-Men in a grand way. Foreman recently finished a run on Tales of Suspense with Rosenberg, as the two crafted a fantastic espionage story with Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Winter Soldier. While the story isn’t espionage and all out action here, the two pair well for a dramatic take as the remaining adult versions of the original X-Men come together with their former mentor.

Summary

Jean Grey, who recently returned from the dead, has called the other original X-Men to a dinner party. We get a hilariously snarky Beast who’s over how normal people view him. And we’re quickly joined by a traditionally joking Iceman and oddly short spoken Angel. The four share a dinner, reminiscing on how their lives have changed since joining the X-Men. What’s unique is they focus on the negative aspects of their lives rather than the positive, as we’ve come to expect in “down issues” of X-Men books. As soon as things turn negative, the team is joined by the recently resurrected Professor Xavier, now going by X.

As it turns out, it seems he’s somewhat behind the four coming together, and he takes them to a town with some history in the Marvel Universe. They arrive in Lago, a town known for hatred of mutants and other super powered people. However, everyone is peacefully welcoming the X-Men, even though Beast is visually non-human. As the team splits up to explore the town’s unusual acceptance, Beast and Iceman have an encounter we’d expect them to have. As the two split up further to investigate, Beast of course disappears, and the remaining X-Men must find Xavier to rescue him.

It’s then that we quickly learn a villain deeply connected to the X-Men and Xavier has resurfaced, this time with a bit of a twist. Rosenberg has updated a long standing but often forgotten X-Men villain in an interesting way. The X-Men must take him and his followers, now including Beast, down but without hurting the people of the town. The battle takes a heavy toll on one of the original X-Men, showing that they truly aren’t the same as when they joined the team all those years ago.

Creators

While Rosenberg has been thrilling us with his action packed throwback to classic X-Men in Astonishing, this feels like a nice change of pace. Astonishing X-Men Annual #1 slows things down for a more dramatic and almost painful reunion of sorts. Rosenberg shows he can write all aspects of X-Men, which makes the announcement of him joining the writing team of Uncanny X-Men all the more enjoyable. While he’s not responsible for the creation of X, Rosenberg deftly nails the character as molded by Charles Soule.

We also see how he handles the depth of emotion and turmoil the characters have gone through over the years. Beast still struggles with his appearance. Angel believes he’s nothing but evil. And Jean thinks maybe she should have remained dead. Rosenberg can handle the heavier elements of X-Men, and this issue delivers on all of those. It’s a nice contrast to his all-action stories in the ongoing book.

Travel Foreman’s art is a perfect addition given the weight of the story. Foreman’s art has the appearance of being sketch, similar to Leinil Yu’s, but is actually cleaner. The emotion he can display in the faces of these characters hits a wide range, showing his true skill. One scene in particular with Angel just shows the level of detail he has at his disposal. And he’s a great fit, who I’d love to see again on some heavier X-Men stories.

Final Thoughts

The issue is a nice blending of Soule’s previous run on Astonishing X-Men, X-Men Red, and the current run on Astonishing by Rosenberg. I’ve grown so used to seeing the younger originals together that it’s great to see the older versions together for the first time. Rosenberg is showing his versatility in writing with the dramatic moments of the story, while Foreman’s work fits the depth and emotion in a great way. Fans of the original X-Men won’t want to pass this up. And any fan of darker, more dramatic comic tales will be in for a treat as well.

Final Grade: B+