Darn, can't win them all. I thought the issue was fine. Sometimes, people just have way too much expectations from Joss, but then again, he warrants that kind of expectation so I take it with flattery.

Mack | May 14, 18:25 CET

This is the only negative review I have seen of it. I thought it was an improvement over the last issue (and i loved the last issue).

Gage | May 14, 18:53 CET

Well, personally I didn't think the cover was up to the usual standards, but I thought everything after that was incredible. Is this reviewer mostly upset that it took the form of a girl or that she wasn't as funny as Buffy? Oh well...the #9 was considered too slow (when I found it fascinating) and #10 isn't believable (when I was totally shocked and kind of thrilled by the action), so I guess I just can't use the reviewers and any gage of my reactions.

embers | May 14, 19:19 CET

Indeed. I thought the issue was great. It will be interesting to see how people get out of the mess that they're in.

Biff Turkle | May 14, 20:59 CET

Haven't read the review yet but I thought it was a great issue.

zeitgeist | May 15, 02:35 CET

I've never read a single issue, and I don't think I ever will. But there was one thing that hit me while reading the review... He doesn't believe that one of the X-Men might die? Hello, buddy!! It's Joss Whedon we're talking about here! Of course some X-Men's gonna go down at some point or another! That's what he does, he kills people! Haven't you seen Buffy and Angel? Jeez...

Djungelurban | May 15, 04:00 CET

Joss might like to kill main characters, but it is more difficult to kill these X-men than it is your own creation. Writers just don't have the leisure to kill randomly whenever they feel like it in comics, so when the reviewer says the threat isn't real he is most likely very correct. I thought Whedon addressed this with with the mini-reveals at the tail end of the fight.

rockchalkwatcher | May 15, 04:15 CET

djungelurban: Yeah, when Joss is playing around in the Marvel universe, he definitely has to follow some guidelines from his corporate masters. The obvious example being the decision to return to the ol' bright Spandex costumes. (Which was well-written, but was initially a business decision, not a creative one.)

bobothebrave | May 15, 04:45 CET

I have to say I thought this was an excellent issue. My favourite so far of the 2nd arc. Spoiler:the shot of Kitty and Piotr getting spiked really shocked me and I really enjoyed the big confrontation. Bring on Prof X vs. Danger :)

Paul_Rocks | May 15, 06:33 CET

Still, a lot of X-Men characters has died in different storylines in the past as far as I've understood it (I'm not a comic fan at all so I could be wrong). And since this one starts over with it's own plot (doesn't it?) then anything can happen. Sure, maybe he won't kill Wolverine or Kitty Pride, since I've read somewhere that he really like Kitty Pride, but pretty much everyone else could probably go down. And since this is an obvious hit I think that the "corporate masters" is giving him more creative freedom then most other comic writers.

Djungelurban | May 15, 06:38 CET

They always get ressurected in comics unless they were a unpopular character so that takes away the fear of a character death.

[ edited by eddy on 2005-05-15 05:38 ]

eddy | May 15, 07:30 CET

Comic Book rule #1: No one stays dead except for Uncle Ben and Bucky.

thekey1313 | May 15, 08:01 CET

Djungelurban -- No, Astonishing X-Men doesn't "start over," it's still part of the regular "Marvel Universe" continuity. But you're right, there's always a chance that someone will die. But it's unlikely to just happen in a random fight scene, which is what I think the reviewer was talking about -- if no one is going to get hurt, where's the tension? Not to say that I agreed with the reviewer -- he seemed to be mad at a superhero comic for *being* a superhero comic.

bobothebrave | May 15, 12:15 CET

Reviews for an issue of a comic book like this have always seemed odd to me. It's like reviewing 10 minutes of a movie or something, these issues are so short and you're never really sure how things are gonna end up so assigning it a grade is kinda wierd.

Oh well. I liked this issue anyway, wouldn't it be cool if Joss actually DID kill off a bunch of the X-men? It would even be... Astonishing.

DK | May 15, 14:43 CET

And Barry Allen too. But no doubt DC will prove me wrong on that one.

Astonishing X fans might be interested in House of M as well. That's a forthcoming team up between the Astonishing X-Men and the New Avengers. Joss contributed to the plot from what I remember reading in a Bendis interview.

Simon | May 15, 18:44 CET

Bendis AND Whedon? That's like a (insert Dawn quote here) :) Since he brought back Piotr, why not let him re-kill him? HA! Just kidding, don't stone me to death, please, Collosus fans!

zeitgeist | May 15, 19:41 CET