The Astonishing X-Men

Rating:
Summary: This is why no one reads comics
Review: Really atrocious. The story begins with the X-men disbanding, and then just reforming for no reason with new members. No explanation is given as to why these characters come in, or even what the point of it all is. The was decent in places, but on the whole pretty [disappointing], and there was basically no characterization. I felt cheated after reading this even though I hadn't even bought it. Thank God Grant Morrison came along and saved the X-men.

Rating:
Summary: This is why no one reads comics
Review: Really atrocious. The story begins with the X-men disbanding, and then just reforming for no reason with new members. No explanation is given as to why these characters come in, or even what the point of it all is. The was decent in places, but on the whole pretty [disappointing], and there was basically no characterization. I felt cheated after reading this even though I hadn't even bought it. Thank God Grant Morrison came along and saved the X-men.

Rating:
Summary: The X-Men Dream Team
Review: The X-Men Dream Team, that's the cast of the TPB collection of the Astonishing X-Men-Cyclops, Phoenix, Wolverine, Cable, X-Man (Nate Grey) and Angel. Beautifully drawn by Brandon Peterson, this prequel to the end of the millenium X-Men epic "The Twelve" is well scripted and action packed and contains a shocker ending that will leave you breathless. I just wish however that they will follow this up with an X-Men "The Twelve" collection so the readers wont feel cheated by the shocker ending. All in all, the art, writing and most especially the cast, makes this collection a must have for old and new X-fans.

Rating:
Summary: The X-Men Dream Team
Review: The X-Men Dream Team, that's the cast of the TPB collection of the Astonishing X-Men-Cyclops, Phoenix, Wolverine, Cable, X-Man (Nate Grey) and Angel. Beautifully drawn by Brandon Peterson, this prequel to the end of the millenium X-Men epic "The Twelve" is well scripted and action packed and contains a shocker ending that will leave you breathless. I just wish however that they will follow this up with an X-Men "The Twelve" collection so the readers wont feel cheated by the shocker ending. All in all, the art, writing and most especially the cast, makes this collection a must have for old and new X-fans.

Rating:
Summary: An okay story in a nicely produced TPB
Review: This TPB reprints X-Men #92, Astonishing X-Men #1-3, Uncanny X-Men #375 and X-Men #95.

The innocent and scared little Nina calls out to Jean Grey for help. A mysterious warrior called Death is hunting her and her friends down. Jean and Cyclops team up with Cable, X-Man and Wolverine to help them out. But as the story progresses, they find out that they're dealing with much more than what they expected.

This is the prologue to the unfortunately poorly executed Twelve storyline - with a truly surprising and questionable ending. The story in this one is average as the X-Men are perpetually searching for the children and their hunter - Occasionally retreating back to base. It has some okay twists. The action scenes are pretty good and there is another big surprising action scene that goes a little bit over the top.

My major gripe with this one is mostly the art. I mean, it's very good and the colouring is excellent (although a bit too polished at times - especially the characters), but the characters don't look anything like how we know them. They look entirely different. Cable looks a bit like MacGuyver and lost some pounds, while Gambit gained some in his chin, Nate looks more like a little boy (more than he already is), Cyclops also seems to have found the fountain of youth and some drawings of Jean Grey are a terrible disgrace.

But that doesn't take much away from the comic overall. Still a pity though, cos it would have raised my rating. And with no numbering of the pages (I don't think they should ever start doing that), the page numbers on the chapter index seem a bit useless. But it's nice to know how many pages this TPB has before you start reading it.

You might want to read the Twelve storyline after reading this anyway, but as of writing it's not out on TPB form yet. I'd suggest waiting for the TPB, which will be released sooner or later - Or if you're really in a hurry, head down to the local comic shop and get the induvidual comic issues.