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Astonishing X-Men (2004) (Collected Editions) #1-3
Astonishing X-Men Trilogy Collection
Cyclops assembles a new group of X-Men consisting of Wolverine, the Beast, Shadowcat and Emma Frost - the former White Queen of the corrupt Hellfire Club - to combat the ever-growing dangers facing mutant-kind. A new menace emerges, however, that tests the team to their limits, forcing them to question their every ideal, as they discover that the threat is a 'cure' for the mutant phenomenon - a cure that holds a dark secret! Three graphic novels collected in an attractive slipcase.
300 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
7 people are currently reading
1297 people want to read
About the author
Joss Whedon
483 books4,335 followersJoss Whedon (born Joseph Hill Whedon) is an American screenwriter, executive producer, film and television director, comic book writer, occasional composer, and actor, and the founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures.
He is best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)', 'Angel (1999–2004)', 'Firefly (2002)' and its film follow-up 'Serenity (2005)', and 'Dollhouse (2009–2010)', as well as the web-series' 'Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008)'. Whedon co-wrote and produced the horror film 'The Cabin in the Woods (2012)', and wrote and directed the film adaptation of Marvel's 'The Avengers (2012)', the third highest-grossing film of all time.
Many of Whedon's projects have cult status and his work is notable for portraying strong female characters and a belief in equality.
credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Whedon
He is best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)', 'Angel (1999–2004)', 'Firefly (2002)' and its film follow-up 'Serenity (2005)', and 'Dollhouse (2009–2010)', as well as the web-series' 'Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008)'. Whedon co-wrote and produced the horror film 'The Cabin in the Woods (2012)', and wrote and directed the film adaptation of Marvel's 'The Avengers (2012)', the third highest-grossing film of all time.
Many of Whedon's projects have cult status and his work is notable for portraying strong female characters and a belief in equality.
credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Whedon
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
March 8, 2017
Man! Mr. Whedon can write! Umm...duh!
June 3, 2014
4.5 stars.
This group of X-men comics were my first X-men comics ever. I've watched and loved the various cartoons, watched and loved most of the movies (Last Stand and Origns: Wolverine were less than impressive) but I never sat down and read a X-men comic.
At first I was a bit worried that this wasn't the best place to start but I figured there was a 95% chance that with Joss Whedon writing it I'd love it even if I didn't understand what was going on. Even though there were clearly events that happened that I hadn't known about I had enough background knowledge from the cartoons and movies where I wasn't completely lost and by the end of this first collection I knew why or at least gathered enough information to know some of the major events that happened in previous installments.
I'm not going to write a review of each individual comic in this first collection but I will give some overall thoughts of some characters and story arcs.
Emma Frost: Love her, after Wolverine she's a favorite character in this collection. Her snark is great, I love that she shows some insecurity in her relationship with Scott. There was one page/panel where Logan and Scott were fighting and she's standing at the window and she says or thinks some good things about herself and then ends it with 'But I still come in second place to a corpse' or something along those lines. Her attitude just makes me love her all the more and I'm interested to see what she has cooking.
Kitty: Didn't think I would enjoy her character as much as I have been. Not a fan of her in Last Stand, really liked her in DOFP. So she was the one character I was apprehensive about since it looked like she was in a lot of the story. However there wasn't one moment where I thought 'she sucks, get her off the page'. I love her antagonism with Emma, she doesn't trust the new head of the Xavier Institute and she's not afraid to let her know it. Plus I'm really enjoying the relationship between her and
The cure and Hank's reaction to it is exactly how I picture him taking that kind of news. The confrontation between him and Logan is so powerful and I love that I can see both sides of their arguments and think neither one is wrong.
Of course I loved the dragon. So cute, yet so deadly.
The Danger Room storyline, very creepy, but the start of that arc where it was very well done. I didn't completely love where it ended (so far anyway) but the start of it was fantastic.
Honestly my only complaint and it's a minor one is that so far no mention of Rogue or Gambit. Two of my top 3 favorite characters in the X-men universe and nary a peep about what happened to them or where they are. However with how much I'm loving this whole story line it's a minor issue, I don't miss them as much as I thought I would.
Anyway, great collection and I can't wait to start reading the next collection.
This group of X-men comics were my first X-men comics ever. I've watched and loved the various cartoons, watched and loved most of the movies (Last Stand and Origns: Wolverine were less than impressive) but I never sat down and read a X-men comic.
At first I was a bit worried that this wasn't the best place to start but I figured there was a 95% chance that with Joss Whedon writing it I'd love it even if I didn't understand what was going on. Even though there were clearly events that happened that I hadn't known about I had enough background knowledge from the cartoons and movies where I wasn't completely lost and by the end of this first collection I knew why or at least gathered enough information to know some of the major events that happened in previous installments.
I'm not going to write a review of each individual comic in this first collection but I will give some overall thoughts of some characters and story arcs.
Emma Frost: Love her, after Wolverine she's a favorite character in this collection. Her snark is great, I love that she shows some insecurity in her relationship with Scott. There was one page/panel where Logan and Scott were fighting and she's standing at the window and she says or thinks some good things about herself and then ends it with 'But I still come in second place to a corpse' or something along those lines. Her attitude just makes me love her all the more and I'm interested to see what she has cooking.
Kitty: Didn't think I would enjoy her character as much as I have been. Not a fan of her in Last Stand, really liked her in DOFP. So she was the one character I was apprehensive about since it looked like she was in a lot of the story. However there wasn't one moment where I thought 'she sucks, get her off the page'. I love her antagonism with Emma, she doesn't trust the new head of the Xavier Institute and she's not afraid to let her know it. Plus I'm really enjoying the relationship between her and
The cure and Hank's reaction to it is exactly how I picture him taking that kind of news. The confrontation between him and Logan is so powerful and I love that I can see both sides of their arguments and think neither one is wrong.
Of course I loved the dragon. So cute, yet so deadly.
The Danger Room storyline, very creepy, but the start of that arc where it was very well done. I didn't completely love where it ended (so far anyway) but the start of it was fantastic.
Honestly my only complaint and it's a minor one is that so far no mention of Rogue or Gambit. Two of my top 3 favorite characters in the X-men universe and nary a peep about what happened to them or where they are. However with how much I'm loving this whole story line it's a minor issue, I don't miss them as much as I thought I would.
Anyway, great collection and I can't wait to start reading the next collection.
June 14, 2017
For it being a comic written by Joss Whedon, it was missing more panels with his brand of humor. This is my first foray into The X-Men, and so far it is okay. I loved Kitty, she stood out, disliked Emma, Wolverine was okay, Scott was okay, as well as Beast.
Kitty at least tried to solve problems in an engaging fashion. Wolverine was very one dimentional, his most interesting panel was at the beginning of the comic book where he fights Scott over what a slut Scott is. Then he goes back to solely thinking about beer. Scott is banging Emma, and trying to put the team together. That is all I know of his corner. Emma is somehow in charge, even though Scott is supposed to be leader. Ever since the beginning of the comic I thought she was shady, she just gives off that vibe. Beast faced a dilemma that might have made him interesting, only this is a dilemma faced many times before so it became boring.
It is weird to think X-Men share a universe with Avengers and Fantastic Four since these teams, for the most part, are beloved, but everybody hates the X-Men? What is the difference? One team is full of mutants, the other is full of super powered people... they are both above normal humans and they all want to help human kind. So yeah, it is weird for me to place all these teams in the same universe because of the varied reaction they get from their audience.
I may pick up the second volume, but I just cant seem to give myself a reason to other than "gotta see where this is heading?"
Kitty at least tried to solve problems in an engaging fashion. Wolverine was very one dimentional, his most interesting panel was at the beginning of the comic book where he fights Scott over what a slut Scott is. Then he goes back to solely thinking about beer. Scott is banging Emma, and trying to put the team together. That is all I know of his corner. Emma is somehow in charge, even though Scott is supposed to be leader. Ever since the beginning of the comic I thought she was shady, she just gives off that vibe. Beast faced a dilemma that might have made him interesting, only this is a dilemma faced many times before so it became boring.
It is weird to think X-Men share a universe with Avengers and Fantastic Four since these teams, for the most part, are beloved, but everybody hates the X-Men? What is the difference? One team is full of mutants, the other is full of super powered people... they are both above normal humans and they all want to help human kind. So yeah, it is weird for me to place all these teams in the same universe because of the varied reaction they get from their audience.
I may pick up the second volume, but I just cant seem to give myself a reason to other than "gotta see where this is heading?"
March 10, 2020
Mein Interesse für die x-Men ist normalerweise kaum vorhanden, ich hab die Filme nur teilweise gesehen, war meistens genervt und hab mich kaum für die Figuren interessiert. Aber hier, das Comic hier, vermag den Unterschied zu machen.
Das Team, das wir hier vorgestellt bekommen, mit Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Beast, Cyclops und Emma Frost, war ein Erlebnis. Auf die beste Art und Weise. Auch und besonders der Umgang und die Rolle, die Mutanten in der Gesellschaft haben und wie damit umzugehen ist, fand ich großartig gemacht, die Figuren toll ausgearbeitet. Kitty hat ein bisschen sehr mein Herz erobert und selbst Wolverine, für den ich sonst nichts übrig hatte, hat mir super gut gefallen und konnte mich überzeugen.
Ich kann kaum erwarten, den nächsten Part zu lesen.
Das Team, das wir hier vorgestellt bekommen, mit Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Beast, Cyclops und Emma Frost, war ein Erlebnis. Auf die beste Art und Weise. Auch und besonders der Umgang und die Rolle, die Mutanten in der Gesellschaft haben und wie damit umzugehen ist, fand ich großartig gemacht, die Figuren toll ausgearbeitet. Kitty hat ein bisschen sehr mein Herz erobert und selbst Wolverine, für den ich sonst nichts übrig hatte, hat mir super gut gefallen und konnte mich überzeugen.
Ich kann kaum erwarten, den nächsten Part zu lesen.
June 29, 2019
This was really good! Unsurprisingly of course, because Joss Whedon is a genius! But this was everything I hoped it would be. Now I just want more.
August 31, 2023
Emma Frost is my weird girlfriend. 💎
February 17, 2019
Figures that Joss Whedon would choose the Marvel franchise with the most underage girls in it. There's also a very, very Disturbed Young Girl who has a Disturbing Violent Power (which she once used to accidentally kill her parents), juxtaposed with gallons of "witty" sarcastic banter. Yes: all the trappings of a typical Joss Whedon story are here accounted for, surprising no one. At one point he sends several dozen teenaged girls to a Boschian hellscape, because Joss Whedon has serious f*cking problems with teenage girls and — seriously? Why did people think this guy was a "feminist" for so long?
But there's still some meat here. Making the Danger Room itself into a villain was an inspired move, even if "the mutant cure" certainly wasn't. Having the X-Men spend so much time thinking about their own PR, and the ensuing media conflict with the Fantastic Four, was like something straight out of Venture Bros. that I honestly wish they pushed a little further.
Side note: I totally forgot that Emma Frost is an American because of her constant use of horribly shoehorned Britishisms. What I initially thought was just cringey writing seems to actually be more of a sort of Madonna joke, which I appreciated.
But there's still some meat here. Making the Danger Room itself into a villain was an inspired move, even if "the mutant cure" certainly wasn't. Having the X-Men spend so much time thinking about their own PR, and the ensuing media conflict with the Fantastic Four, was like something straight out of Venture Bros. that I honestly wish they pushed a little further.
Side note: I totally forgot that Emma Frost is an American because of her constant use of horribly shoehorned Britishisms. What I initially thought was just cringey writing seems to actually be more of a sort of Madonna joke, which I appreciated.
July 12, 2019
Last time I read this I didn't have the hundreds of previous X-men comics under my belt that I do now. This made the whole experience even more perfect. Whedon nails bringing in the right amount of history, creating new obstacles, and transferring his signature comedic timing over to comics.
August 6, 2015
100% Big Time Super Fun
May 13, 2018
Una de las mejores etapas de los X-men, al menos para mi. Whedon demuestra que conoce el terreno que pisa y nos adentra en el mundo de los mutantes tras lo ocurrido en etapas anteriores y que no diré para no hacer spoilers.
Los personajes que nos encontramos aquí incluyen a alguno de mis mutantes favoritos: Kitty Pride, mi mutante preferida. Este Cíclope, sin Jean Grey y que ha pasado ya por tanto, es también de los que más me gustan. Incluso logra que me resulte tolerable Lobezno. Y sin olvidar el reencuentro con un viejo conocido. El tratamiento de Emma Frost y su relación con Scott, algo todavía reciente y que levantaba ampollas, y como no nos define el bando del personaje.
Las dos sagas de las que consta este primer volumen son geniales.
En la primera nos encontramos (o reencontramos) con los personajes del universo mutante y seguimos la línea de los problemas entre humanos y mutantes. Pero que sea una especie de introducción al universo de los X-men no quiere decir que sea lento ni aburrido. De hecho alguien que sólo los conozca por las películas puede leer esta etapa sin problemas y entenderla, porque aunque se hacen refierencia a hechos del pasado se dice lo suficiente de ellos como para saber que pasó, y lo que no, pues siempre se puede rellenar con la wiki.
En la segunda parte nos topamos con un nuevo e inesperado enemigo y también descubrimos algunas cositas no muy agradables del profesor Xavier.
Los personajes que nos encontramos aquí incluyen a alguno de mis mutantes favoritos: Kitty Pride, mi mutante preferida. Este Cíclope, sin Jean Grey y que ha pasado ya por tanto, es también de los que más me gustan. Incluso logra que me resulte tolerable Lobezno. Y sin olvidar el reencuentro con un viejo conocido. El tratamiento de Emma Frost y su relación con Scott, algo todavía reciente y que levantaba ampollas, y como no nos define el bando del personaje.
Las dos sagas de las que consta este primer volumen son geniales.
En la primera nos encontramos (o reencontramos) con los personajes del universo mutante y seguimos la línea de los problemas entre humanos y mutantes. Pero que sea una especie de introducción al universo de los X-men no quiere decir que sea lento ni aburrido. De hecho alguien que sólo los conozca por las películas puede leer esta etapa sin problemas y entenderla, porque aunque se hacen refierencia a hechos del pasado se dice lo suficiente de ellos como para saber que pasó, y lo que no, pues siempre se puede rellenar con la wiki.
En la segunda parte nos topamos con un nuevo e inesperado enemigo y también descubrimos algunas cositas no muy agradables del profesor Xavier.
September 3, 2025
totally fine. i think at this point the world has been overtaken by joss whedon's style since it blended into film's most pop culturally dominating phenomenon, specifically the humor / dialogue and so it's easy to forget that he can craft really direct and emotionally affecting story that has a darkness to it. that said. it feels kind of like we're running out of x stories to tell, and tho that itself might not be true the feeling is probably the result of an unoriginal take on the material, the characters, the whole 70 year arc of the thing.
December 22, 2022
Wow, these comics are super entertaining. I finished this 300 page book in a couple hours and it didn’t even feel like it. I loved the banter between Logan and Beast, the tension between Scott and Logan, the contempt Kitty and Emma had for each other, and the politics/ethics on the whole “cure” situation. And omg, Peter is well.. a whopping Colossus! The height and width difference between him and Kitty was.. something, to say the least. /.\
April 7, 2024
The best of the best here, all of your favourite characters are showcased in the best way, to their full ability and there’s personality to characters like Wolverine, he’s still that cranky, take no bull kind of guy but has some jokes thrown in to show he’s not completely heartless.
July 23, 2024
Honestly peak X-Men. I’ve always been a big fan of colossus, but Shadow Cat was always one that kind slipped into the background for me. This run really gives Kitty a lot to do and some of the best moments of the run are hers. Can’t wait to read book 2.
July 1, 2017
A fun, modern take on x-men. Don't expect to shake that feeling of being left out if you didn't read a good chunk of the old comics though (brb reading old comics).
February 17, 2018
Good collection. Fun ride, true to the XMen. Whedon is as good as usual.
December 6, 2018
La etapa de X men de Joss Whedon me impresionó mucho tiene muchos giros en la trama y muy recomendada, sin embargo no me gustó el estilo del dibujo por eso no tiene una gran calificación para mi.
June 24, 2021
kitty was carrying!
May 17, 2022
This book made me love Emma frost. She is a snarky condescending asshole and i love it
July 7, 2023
Enjoyable, but nothing shocking or groundbreaking. Potentially good stuff coming later, but no uncontrollable urge to pick up the next one right away.
February 5, 2024
Beautifully drawn (when read on a Samsung Galaxy) with a plot one can actually follow until it goes totally off the rails in the final 20 pages.
June 21, 2017
Se volete leggere la mia recensione, cliccate qua! http://ascwblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/...
February 23, 2015
This is officially only the third Marvel comic I've read, and the first X-Men one. And wow, am I impressed. Comics like this are what make people fall in love with the medium. I don't have extensive knowledge of Marvel characters or organizations, but I don't feel like I'm missing important chunks of information. Astonishing X-Men is full of action, generously sprinkled with comedy, and hammered whole with the more serious stuff. Joss Whedon tells a fantastic story and fills it with great characters. The art, though simple, is skillfully drawn and coloured, with facial and body expressions done outstandingly. I've fallen in love with this series. What wins and surprises me most is the banter. Character's personalities shine through so well in the dialogue.
This is now one of my favourite comics.
This is now one of my favourite comics.
December 30, 2015
Astonishing really captures the essence of the X-Men. Witty, snarky, a bit dark, but at the end of the day it's your classic superhero story. An action/adventure that takes the time to explore complex relationships among the family of misfits. Definitely Whedon-esque. Everyone has their own unique voice and in my opinion Whedon nails it. The art is gorgeous- some panels I'll never forget, along with the best title-drop;
"Disappointed, Ms. Frost?"
"Astonished, Ms. Pryde."
"Disappointed, Ms. Frost?"
"Astonished, Ms. Pryde."
Read
September 21, 2015In the Astonishing X-men, Professor X defeated core and the X-men team found out that the professor has won and they rejoice. But, then they have a talk for why he had left and why he sounds like magneto and old enemy they beat. Soon after that logan isn't happy with the way the headquarters had been left. I had wonder if the fight is really over. Will the X-men go back for Professor X and take him home?
March 28, 2014
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!
October 4, 2015
This book was amazing thought it was a little confusing if one just read through it cleared up. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the summer reading X men because this has mostly the same characters but just a very different story line.
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July 30, 2012Whedon brings new life to the x-men franchise with an exciting, funny, and oddly touching run on the old classic.
August 18, 2013
A pretty fun storyline. Wish I could continue right where it left off at the end which I think is generally a good thing for a story.
November 17, 2014
wow another great take the how the cure was created and where the danger room became self aware.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews