I was at my local comic shop today and the owner, who is a friend of mine, put his preview copy of Astonishing X-Men in my bag. I read it a little while ago. Good, solid issue. I'm not completely sold on John Cassady's art, it's pretty but something about his superhero work just doesn't sit right with me. Whedon is Whedon and throws out some great one-liners while clearly putting a couple of storylines in play. I like the core team he has assembled and he already has the characters down cold. The issue moves quickly and leaves me ready for next month. All in all, I give the issue a B+. If this were the first issue of X-Men that I had read in years that score would have been higher but coming off Grant Morrison's often spectacular run, my bar was set a little higher and I tend to grade first issues a little tougher. Whedon's take right off the bat seems to be a little quieter, a little more intimate and that is a valid & interesting approach but I've just been used to Morrison's hyper-epic style of plotting.
Anyway, a very good issue and one that I'm sure will set up a wild,inventive and fun first year.

NOLA64 | May 20, 03:48 CET