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From Publishers Weekly
The X-men franchise has remained popular for nearly 30 years by constantly refreshing its story line yet keeping its core group of characters in a variety of unresolved long-running situations. This current incarnation features Whedon (creator of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise) and Cassaday (Planetary) at the top of their game, as they create a highly entertaining action soap opera. The plot involves elements that will be familiar to both old fans and movie viewers—antimutant sentiment; tension between team leader Cyclops and lone wolf Wolverine—but Whedon's dialogue is fresh and to the point, while Cassaday's detailed and intense art gives all the goings-on a sense of importance. The main story involves a possible cure for the mutant gene that is at the center of a struggle between the X-men and Ord, a murderous alien who has a mysterious personal grudge against the team. Complications include the cat-monkey–like Beast pondering whether to attempt to take the cure, possibly vindicating the antimutant forces' belief that mutations are a disease. For those who may not be up to speed on the minutiae of X-history, Whedon brings in returning member Kitty Pryde as a convenient viewpoint character. While a few nods to formula feel forced, this story demonstrates once again why the X-men are the top team in superhero comics. (Jan.)
© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier .

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Marvel Comics scored a coup by signing Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Whedon to write one of its popular X-Men comics. This collection of the first six issues of Astonishing X-Men shows Marvel's maneuver paying off artistically as well as commercially. The strengths that made Buffy a long-running cult hit are also in play here: a group of good-looking young outcasts who use their special abilities to protect mankind; vivid characterizations conveyed through deft dialogue that veers from the inspirational to the smartass; and a perfect balancing of action, soap opera, and humor. In fact, the cast of Buffy can be viewed as analogues of individual X-Men, from Giles=Professor X through Dawn=Kitty Pryde. Few scripters from outside the industry have demonstrated the mastery of the medium that Whedon displays in this early effort, which Cassaday enhances with graceful yet dynamic artwork. In the wake of writer Grant Morrison's noble effort to desuperheroify the X-Men by replacing their garish costumes with black leather outfits, Whedon's decision to revert to their four-color roots may raise some eyebrows. But given Whedon's impressive results, it's hard to find fault with how effectively he has carried out his retro approach. Gordon Flagg
© American Library Association.

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55 of 59 people found the following review helpful: Joss Whedon comes up with a cure for the Astonishing X-Men, December 3, 2004 Reviewer: Lawrance M. Bernabo "No Comment" - See all my reviews       "Astonishing X-Men: Gifted" brings together the first half of the twelve issue mini-series scripted by Joss Whedon, creator of "Buffy the Vampire," "Angel," and "Firefly." I have been reading this series because Whedon wrote it and except for the "Ultimate X-Men" this is my first time reading one of the titles about Marvel's Merry Mutants in many years (when we got to the "New Mutants" the whole proliferation became too much for me). So when Kitty Pryde returns to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and walks through a wall to find Emma Frost addressing the student body, I knew that I was going to have a bit of trouble catching up with what had happened to that old gang of mutants. However, Whedon's storyline is grounded what has been the backbone of the "X-Men" storyline since the beginning: that humans will always hate mutants. Professor Xavier's approach has been to exercise control and non-violence to prove that mutants are a peaceful people. But the interpersonal problems of the X-Men (Scott and Logan are still coming to blows over Jean) quickly take a back seat when the renowned geneticist Dr. Kavita Rao tells the world that mutants are neither angels nor devils, they just people...with a disease. Therefore, mutants are not the next step in evolution or the end of humankind, they are simply the victims of a corruption of healthy cellular activity and Dr. Rao announces that she has found a cure. What made the X-Men the most interesting of Marvel's super groups for me, more than the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, or any of the other groups created over the years, was that they were considered outcasts because they were mutants. As such, the X-Men were the counter-part to Spider-Man, as superheroes who were more commonly treated as villains by the public at large. The sub-text was always the oppression of the minority by the majority, which I always found to be un-American (specifically in the sense embodied by the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy, which is characterized by a respect for the rights of the minority by the majority). As a minority mutants have represented the "other," so that it was never a specific minority group. But when we talk about curing the disease of the mutant gene it seems to be that the subtext is now much more specific because there is only one minority in modern society that is defined by some as needed to be cured of their disease (although it is explicitly stated that homosexuality does not represent a threat to human existence, a point that clearly would be debated in the current political climate. Meanwhile, the X-Men have become a group of superheroes again, just trying to use their powers to help the community at large. When they learn that mutation can be reversed Frost votes for killing her and Scott does not know what to do. But it is the Beast who goes to see Dr. Rao, not to discuss the ethics of her "mutant cure" or to destroy it, but just to know if it works. The next day there are over sixteen hundred mutants lined up outside Benetech labs demanding the "cure." Hank McCoy is the perfect choice to have be tempted by the cure because he is in a secondary stage of his mutation and he may well be devolving. Of course there is more going on. Ord of the Breakworld, an alien, is after the X-Men because they are a threat to his planet, and Kitty discovers that somebody they thought was dead is very much alive and kept in a cell at Benetech. There are no coincidences in the "Astonishing X-Men," and by the end of the six issues making up "Gifted" we know most of what is going on, but the fun is just beginning. I have some suspicions as to what we will find out in "Dangerous," the second-half of the series, but I am sure there will still be some surprises. Those familiar with Whedon's television shows will find the familiar quick quips thrown into the dialogue mix (even Scott makes a joke), and it is not surprising that his focal character is going to be Kitty Pryde. The "Gifted" storyline is character driven, which is what you would expect with Whedon and focusing on Beast, Kitty and the resurrected character allows him more liberty than emphasizing Logan and Scott, not that the supporting characters do not have their moments. The idea of "curing" mutants is certainly a different approach to the efforts of humanity in general and the U.S. government in particular to solve the mutant problem. The key idea is that this cure is something mutants might actually embrace, especially when the alternative is the Sentinels or something equally cheerful. John Cassady's artwork has an interesting quality: I keep wanting to say they look like free frames where motion is always captured but without the sense of dynamism you usually expect. "Gifted" is a twist on the basic humans hate mutant storyline and while I am in no position to judge its freshness relative to what has been happening in the "X-Men" comics the last decade it strike me as being interesting enough. Besides, this is only the first half.  Comment | Was this review helpful to you?  (Report this)

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful: Calling this astonishing is an understatement, November 17, 2004 Reviewer: N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews       The highlight of Marvel's X-Men: Reload event is the launch of Astonishing X-Men, drawn by superstar artist John Cassaday (Planetary, Captain America) and written by famed Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel creator Joss Whedon. This first storyarc finds Xavier School co-headmasters Scott "Cyclops" Summers and Emma Frost re-opening the school and reformating the team. Ditching the practical black leather outfits featured in Grant Morrison's brilliant New X-Men run and replacing them with new variations of their classic costumes, the X-Men are presenting themselves once again as a super hero team, and thanks to Whedon's vast writing talent, Astonishing X-Men is truly something special. Cyclops, Emma, Wolverine, Shadowcat, and Beast find themselves among chaos when it is announced that a cure for the mutant gene has been found. However, it is somehow connected to a mysterious creature named Ord, who himself has plenty of secrets, including one of the biggest jaw droppers to be seen in comics in the past decade. The return of a dead X-Men member stirred much fanfare when it was first seen in these pages (and if you don't know I'm not going to spoil it), and it is one of the absolute greatest moments in X-Men history. Whedon's odes and nods to the classic X-Men stories he grew up with that inspired him to create Buffy are pleasent joys to behold, and Cassaday's art is just plain awe-inspiring. All in all, please ignore John Q's review below, and if you've ever considered yourself an X-Men fan pick this up, you won't regret it.  Comment | Was this review helpful to you?  (Report this)

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I was astonished..., September 26, 2006 Reviewer: Jonathan S. Grant (Cartersville, GA U-S-A) - See all my reviews    After Grant Morrison's run, I was thoroughly disappointed-mostly with the previous artwork, but some of the writing as well-it was much too serious. Along comes Joss Whedon and ...WOW!! Despite Cyclops being all encassed in a rubber with a slit for the eye, the costumes are okay-well, both Kitty's and Emma's are nice, but the men's look like crap. Okay, forget all that, the keys here are Joss's style of Buffy'esque writing-lots of subtle humor and great nuances-that only someone who knows the character's history could both get into (writing it) and out of (reading it)-and the art is vastly better than the previous art for the New X-Men titles. Not too much shading, inked very lightly to allow the curves to all come through and the colors are much brighter than previously. Also, the plots-both the cure and finding Colossus were handled very well, it took a few pages to get to finding Colossus, but you weren't bored along the way. I also like the way that Joss handled Nick Fury-very serious about his position about things, but greatly sarcastic at the same time. I can't help but get a kick out of Joss's writing and look forward to the next trade paperback of Astonishing X-Men  Comment | Was this review helpful to you?  (Report this)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: Back to the past, July 10, 2006 Reviewer: Norbert Bonilla (The Bronx, New York) - See all my reviews    I am an old collector of the X-men since the days of Claremont and Cockrum. I actually pulled from the old spinner racks all the issues of Claremont/Byrne and I actually read X-Men 135 during my social studies class in high school. Why do I mention any of this? It's because the Astonishing X-Men made me feel like I did when I read those books before. These are excellent books and definitely worth the investment and time.  Comment | Was this review helpful to you?  (Report this)

A True Rebirth, June 13, 2006 Reviewer: Jeremy Zarzycki "a.k.a. Raoul Duke" (Arkham University) - See all my reviews    I've been away from X-Men for many years, I stopped regularly reading the X-Books around 1998. But, the movies and the X-Men Legends games slowly sucked me back in, though I was hesitant to get back into the habit of reading the comics. However, when I found out that Whedon was writing a title (I'm a huge Firefly and Serenity fan) I looked into it and, eventually, decided to invest in the two current TPBs (the other being "Dangerous.") I'm absolutely hooked now. Whedon's vision of the X-Men is nothing short of amazing; in part because you can feel the love in every word of his writing. Whedon is a long-time X-Men fan and "Gifted" shows he has a true understanding of what makes the X-Universe great. The title focuses on a small squad of the team, and this limited scope allows for real character development. Whedon's love of the X-Men also shines through in internal jokes about the character's stereotypes (e.g. Cyclops calls himself dull and Wolverine's love of beer becomes a clever running gag.) The whole "Gifted" arc strips X-Men down to its core component of human and mutant interaction. It then creates a fantastic blend of the serious and often intense subjects of racism, isolation and suffering with Whedon's quick wit and fantastic feel for human interaction to lighten things up. As another note, I don't know that Cassaday's art gets the credit it's due, even though it is widely praised. As much as I love X-Men and Whedon, it was browsing through samples of Cassaday's work that finally convinced me to give the series a whirl. It is nothing short of breathtaking. Growing up, I was used to the stylized exagerated art of Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee and the Kubert brothers. And, while that style is all well and good (well... except for Liefeld) it has a unreal, plastic feel compared to Cassaday's work. Everything in "Gifted" feels so real, so organic. In addition to more realistic human proportions, the light and shadow, the scaling, everything has a living, almost earthy feel to it. His rendition of Shadowcat, for example, is truly beautiful, as is his ability to balance Beast's feline and simian aspects. The story itself is great, though it reminds me of one of the reasons I stopped reading comics in the first place. I can't help but feel if Whedon and Cassaday were allowed to release the series and yearly or twice-yearly installments, each given a good hundred pages to really develop the story, it would be that much better. Instead, some parts of what should be a truly Earth-changing and wide-reaching arc are ignored or minimized. For those of you who have seen the new X-Men movie, you'll probably be somewhat dissapointed, as I was, that less time is spent on the human (and mutant) ramifications of the "cure." Still, it's a failing of the medium, not the creators themselves, and Whedon has done the best he can with his limitations. There really is no good reason not to buy this, "Dangerous" and any other Astonishing releases so long as Whedon and Cassaday keep making them.  Comment | Was this review helpful to you?  (Report this)

Outstanding!, April 12, 2006 Reviewer: Michael Aikin (Dansville, NY United States) - See all my reviews    The first story arc of this series was outstanding! I've recently returned to comics after a long absence and my first exposure to the X-Men this time around was the Ultimate X-Men as written by Mark Millar. The writing in that series was a big letdown. Whedon's writing in this series however was everything that Millar's was not. Character driven with fresh ideas while nostalgic enough to excite old Claremont/Byrne fans like myself. Cassaday's art was amazing as well. The only artistic disappointment was the final installment of the story. I'm not sure whether the art was inferior in that chapter or whether Cassaday had just set the bar impossibly high in the first part of the book. I'm looking forward to the second part of this Whedon/Cassaday collaboration!  Comment | Was this review helpful to you?  (Report this)

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