Astonishing Indeed
The Astonishing X-Men team, at least for the purposes of this Gifted storyline, are compromised of Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Beast, Shadowcat, and Colossus. News of a ‘cure’ for the mutant gene that millions of people have has been found and that is creating some tension within the team and for all mutants. The idea that an irreversible, painless procedure could turn a mutant into a human is intriguing to some, and damning to others. This project is being spearheaded by a renowned geneticist who is receiving support from a powerful alien presence known as Ord. Ord is intent upon seeing the extinction of all mutants and with this cure and his trusty circular blade, he’s eager to see his objective through.
The Astonishing X-Men, after putting some differences aside at least temporarily, decide to take action. They must stop Ord and simultaneously contain this mutant gene cure to keep it from getting into the wrong hands. Utilizing their wit and gifts, they must face Ord, contend with SHIELD’s mysterious involvement, and get by the heavy security at the lab facility where the cure is being made.
“Gifted” spans six episodes, each about ten minutes. They go by quickly, and you will definitely want to watch the series in a single sitting because it’s so darn good. Each episode is very well written and directed, balancing action, drama, and suspense in just the right quantities. I was reminded of the classic X-Men animated series of the 90s that managed to present adult ideas (discrimination, politics, etc) in such a way that kids and adults could enjoy it. While “Gifted” is more intended for teens and older, that same kind of quality execution exists here.
The presentation quality is as impressive. Whedon’s writing is stellar, with a few bits of great humor included. The voice actors do an excellent job bringing Whedon’s words to life. The animation — if we could call it that for a moment — is unique and very good. This is actually the first motion comic I have ever seen. At first, I wasn’t so sure I liked what a motion comic looked like. Character movements seemed unnatural and stiff; objects seemed to glide over surfaces — it didn’t seem normal, anyway. Truthfully, motion comics aren’t as fluid as traditional animation, but at the same time I thought the quality of many of the close up facial shots was outstanding.
Suffice it to say that motion comics and traditional animation are, literally, quite different. After watching “Gifted” I’m now a fan of both forms. The creators explain in the extra features how motion comics are more true to the original artist’s intentions because their original art is preserved during production. The folks who turn comic into motion comic keep the original art, they just add additional layers to it give it the, you know… motion.
“Gifted” itself won’t take you more than an hour to get through, and while it’s highly enjoyable, that’s still just an hour of content. So, there are about twenty minutes worth of extra features. These include:
-A Conversation with Joe Quesada and Neal Adams – Two of the primary crew behind this motion comic talk shop.
-“Rise Up” Music Video
-Astonishing X-Men “Gifted” Trailer
-History of the Characters – A series of still images that you can scroll through that include some excerpts from X-Men comics over the years to explain character histories.
-Behind the Scenes: Marvel Knights Animation – Several interviews and clips of other Marvel Knights features, including a Spider-Woman motion comic.
-Artist’s Gallery: John Cassaday – About a dozen still images related to “Gifted.”
-Marvel Super Heroes: What the–?! – This is a weird collection of three episodes of stop-motion animation with some old X-Men toys. They are intentionally goofy and bizarre, I felt like I was watching Robot Chicken.
-Additional Trailers – Trailers for “Spider-Woman: Agent of SWORD,” “Black Panther,” and “Iron Man: Extremis.”
The extra features are welcome and give this release a total runtime of about eighty minutes. Fortunately, the release is priced reasonably at around $10 online. While a rental may suffice for many, “Gifted” was a treat to watch and something I could see myself watching again in the future.
To the summary…