Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon & John Cassaday Ultimate Collection Book 1 (Astonishing X-Men (2004-2013))

Comic books. Is there anything they can't do? Joss Whedon's applies humor and heart-wrench, the same as any other work, to another group of motley misfits with superpowers and lack of understanding. And it works. It works so well. You don't have to know more than a periphery of X-Men lore, but it helps. There's past history--like where Colossus is and Emma Frost's backstory--that's hard to understand if you only know the MCU. But that's why fan wikis are around. All the Whedon wit and charm is there. It feels like the best Buffy episodes.Every panel of art is beautiful and makes you think, whatever John Cassady was paid, it wasn't enough. At times I felt like I wasn't paying enough attention to the panels so I was sacrireligizing the work. Some of them look like they should be wallpapers. However it does suffer from a common sickness of "too much content" in an image to tell what's going on and too many spreads.The writing is not all it's cracked up to be. I always wonder how much the studio dictates and how much the writer does. I always imagine the studio's saying "you gotta refer to this, this, and this that happened fifty issues ago" and "you gotta bring your characters to this point by issue 25 because that's when we have our big crossover tie-in" and "Wolverine's getting a six-issue run with some new title we're trying to promote so don't write anything with the most popular and interesting character for six months." There are plot threads that cease developing, like a mutant cure, and the Breakworld aliens.Nonetheless, this run is beautiful. It's all beautiful.

Unlike most of the graphic novels I review this one comes as a new reader to the series. I have not read any of the trade paperbacks previously. Generally I am a fan of X-men comics however so I gave it a shot. After reading the first issue I admit I felt underwhelmed with the art and felt the writing came off stale. Then I read the rest of the book and all of those problems vanished. Banter suddenly increases in quality and the rivalry between Wolverine and Cyclops is as enjoyable as everNot sure how that happened but I highly recommend the book in the end. Just get past that first issue and it's plenty of fun to read. By the end of the book I had convinced myself to buy the entire series. Action scenes are well done as well which is essential in any X-Men book. Worth it in the end and a solid 1st volume.

Truly Astonishing. This is honestly my first X-men book I've really read, usually preferring the solo Wolverine stories, and this just made me hungry for the next book!This book has two story arcs in it, the first being the "Cure" story arc which leads into the "Damage" story. This book takes place after Grant Morrison's "New X-Men" series and is pretty much a jumping on point for new readers, like me, who have heard only the brief summary of whats been going on in X-world and mostly know stuff just from the old X-men cartoon.Alien invaders, Mutant 'cures', angst fueled teens, 'Colossal' returns of people thought gone, deceptive characters, giant monsters, fantastic cameos, and Charles Xavier going terminator/Lizzie Bordon on a cyborg.Oh and wolverine 'chilaxing' on a giant blue teddy bear.THIS is definitively a must buy, mainly due to the omnibus being mega pricey. For those who are wanting to get into the X-men this is a great starting point. You'll be hearing the classic X-men theme playing throughout the action scenes guaranteed.

This was a pretty solid read with a enough twists and turns to keep you reading. The only downside is I felt like maybe there was a backstory I needed to be aware of but it did a good job as a stand-alone.

This feels like something from the 80s or 90s, one of those storylines from the highpoint of the series. It is a bit dated, but nostalgic nonetheless.

As a thirty-something, I wanted a book to jump back into comics and this was a good place to start...however I think it does require some basic knowledge of the most popular core X-men characters (Wolverine, Kitty, Cyclops, Emma, Hank) and the "Danger Room" to follow.Only caveat I would have is that unless you want to keep the book, you might consider Marvel Unlimited subscription....

I was surprised to see that there was NO protective packaging - cardboard backer, heavy-duty plastic wrap, etc. - that I've seen around other graphic novels I've purchased from Amazon. But luckily, the book arrived in pristine condition.As for the content, I've only read the first half. But c'mon - it's Joss Whedon writing the X-Men. How can it be anything but awesome?

I knew I would love this because it is X-Men and Joss Whedon and Kitty plays a major role. The art was great, the story was good, and the characters were all complex. My one complaint was that the subject of the cure seemed to be dropped halfway through, which was a bit confusing. I definitely can't wait to pick up volume 2 though to see where things go from the cliffhanger ending!

Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's critically acclaimed `Astonishing X-Men' run was the spiritual successor to Grant Morrison's  New X-Men , so (as Whedon alluded to in an email conversation reprinted at the back of this book) they were always going to have a mammoth task ahead of themselves. However, although this run makes several references to Morrison's stories, and uses mostly the same team from that period, Whedon and Cassady pretty much took this in their own direction. For one thing, this is far more accessible than Morrison's run, so it's pretty much the perfect jump-on point for X-Men newcomers (though I'd always recommend following this up from Morrison's run, if that's at all possible). Also, the whole tone of the book couldn't be more different than that of Morrison's. It's very much "grounded" compared to Morrison's far-out "space opera" drama, while a subtle humour is laced throughout (sometimes hilariously so). While Morrison's run will always be my favourite of the two (back in the days, you used to not be able to go a month without fans on the comic book message boards debating about which is best), re-reading this now, it's clear that Whedon & Cassaday's run is the consistently stronger of the two. Morrison's run was definitely quite a disjointed read, where a brilliant story arc might immediately precede a not so good one. And it also suffered from rotating artists of varying quality (from great to awful), which wouldn't have been so bad if they had changed per arc, but often changed per issue instead. Although it lead to severe delays, and much agitation from the fans at the time, Whedon's writing was always complimented with the brilliant pencils and inks of John Cassaday. Read it, if you haven't already done so. X-Men comics don't come much better than this. New X-Men

This is a cleverly crafted X-Men story with Joss Whedon's trademark attention to characterisation and dialogue.The artwork compliments the story and is clear and vibrant, possibly a little "mainstream" for some tastes nothing too edgy or challenging but in fairness that's my preference.There's some definite darkness and suspense to the story which gives the book a grown up feel.All round I liked it; though I think some of the sub-plots actually worked better than the overall story arc which in its search for an epic passed over into the far-fetched.

I enjoyed this book immensely. As comics go it was thorough, believable (i.e. internally consistent), funny, exciting. Almost everything you could hope for from a graphic novel. One star off because ultimately it falls a smidgeon short of what it could be, some ideas aren't explored as fully as I hoped they would have been. But that's just a testament to the strength of those ideas. I would highly recommend.

Imagine all the humor and wit that made Joss Whedon a fan favourite, mix that with the great characters and plot lines that exist throughout the x-men back catalogue, add in a fantastic artist who isn't afraid to re-imagine beloved characters and you have the recipe for something... well, astonishing!Any fans of Whedon will find his classic style and pacing in this storyline. While X-men fans will find fantastic contributions to the continuity along with amazingly placed references to days past. I had the second volume ordered before I had this one finished.

Superb! One of the best X-Men sagas in recent history - Whedon and Cassaday so effectively tap into modern political issues and help the X-Men to be relevant and not dated.Beautiful artwork that has a real sense of dynamism to it.