Astonishing X-Men comic series
Girl power

// Synopsis: For years the X-Men and mutants have taken a beating in the public eye. So they decide to take a more PR friendly approach while saving the world in the process in this reboot of a classic X-Men title spin off.

// Review: Astonishing X-Men was started up again for one reason alone: Joss Whedon. And it was a fantastic decision. It's like when the stellar Glenn Close decided to cross over from movies to tv. In Whedon you get a true talent writing comics, X-Men no less, that has been mired for a long time by artists turned wannabee writers.

/ This new team is led by the immensely under-estimated Cyclops and Emma Frost. It's kept small to allow enough room to develop each character with the further additions of the intellectual Beast, sensitive Colossus, spunky Kitty Pryde and of course Wolverine.

/ But the star of this book is Kitty Pryde, who is given the most attention and depth. Interestingly enough Whedon is a guy who is a professed feminist. Like with Buffy the Vampire Slayer he specializes in strong female characters. With Astonishing X-Men, while the guys are compentent, it's obvious that the strongest, smartest, and ultimately the saviors of the day are the women. And in all of the storylines the authority figures are all female. Being a professed male chauvanist, this doesn't bother me in the slightest because the characters are great and the males aren't emasculated.

/ The over-arching story is that the alien planet of Breakworld has a prophecy that states a mutant from Earth will be responsible of the destruction of their planet. So in a pre-emptive move they send a muscle bound "ambassador" to answer the mutant question. In between there are sub-plots involving the Hellfire Club and a truly unique take on the Danger Room.

/ I wasn't a big fan of John Cassday's art. He made Beast look like a cat. His art isn't bad, but his overall style just wasn't my taste. Whedon's writing is great especially his dialogue. He mixes in pop cultural refernces deftly and manages to script one liners that sound cool and don't come off as cheesy or contrived.

// Wrap up: X-Men has always been near and dear to me and the only thing I can imagine better than a Joss Whedon run is Warren Ellis, which is actually going to happen. A great read, especially for chicks that are comic fans.

Entertainment rating: 4.5