Astonishing X-Men : Gifted TPB

Now available at your local comic shop.

Back in the early 90s I stopped reading the X-Men titles that littered the shelves. Before that I was a avid reader of the series and still look upon the Claremont/Byrne issues as some of the greatest comic stories ever written. But by the mid 90s the stories started going to pot. To many different titles that never connected in continuity, everyone kept dieing only to come back a few issues later, and stories that you would read and then 5 minutes later scratch your head and still have no idea what it was about.

With the release of the newest X-series Astonishing X-Men my faith and interest in the franchise has been renewed. Written by Joss Whedon, the creator behind TVs Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the short lived FireFly, it has a "real feel" behind it. In that I mean the characters connect with the reader, the dialogue sounds it could come from the mouth of the person standing next to you and every sentence gives off emotion. The book also features stunning art by John Cassaday, who is one of the hottest artist in the field today. Cassaday's art jumps from the pages and conveys the same sense of action that was found when he did Planetary.

In this series Whedon finally put the X-Men back into costume, no more of the leather biker outfits made popular from the movies. These remind us more of the X-Men of old. The base team consists of Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde (ShadowCat, Sprite, etc,etc,etc).

This trade paperback covers the first 6 issues of the series. The story revolves around Cyclops reforming the team at Xaviers School and the emergence of a possible "cure" for mutations and a new foe in the alien Ord. The story really lays on the tensions and feeling between the group members. From Kitty's distrust of Emma to Wolverine confronting Cyclops from the foot of his bed and getting blasted out the window by a optic blast. Just 2 issues later we see a knock-down brawl between Wolverine and Beast over the Mutant "cure".

Issue #3 ended in a cliff-hanger with Scott saying "Jean". This was Whedons attempt to mislead the readers away from the rumors of another characters return. Cassady even went as far as to make a fake mock-up art showing a Pheonix effect, but marvel ruined the surprise by releasing info too early.

Now issue #4 is the issue that really dragged me back. The return of one of the best, most human characters ever created in the X-verse, Peter Rasputin, Colossus. Peter gave his life many many issues ago to cure the Legacy virus that threatened the world. Now he returns after being held captive all these years by the alien Ord. What a return it is, the look on Kitty's face is utter surprise and disbelief, and Peter's of relief and sadness. In the next issue we learn from Peter what has been happening, then a few pages later we get to see something that has only happened a few times before, we see Wolverine caught by surprise, the look on his face and those of Emma and Beast are priceless. Then in the finally issue we see the return of the best team move in history, the fastball special.

If you haven't read it yet, go out and grab a copy. Don't miss this new starting point in X-Men history.

"I don't need have to watch you Miss Frost, I can smell you". Kitty Pryde issue #2