Astonishing X-Men #1 Review

As part of the X-men relaunch this past spring, X-Ressurxion.... most of the attention was focused on the relaunch of X-Men Blue and X-Men Gold.  X-Men Blue is the time displaced, original X-Men team- led by Jean Grey in the field and Magneto playing the role as mentor/leader of the young mutants.

X-Men Gold, is the New Classic X-Men team- led by Kitty Pryde, but featuring most of the stars of the Giant Size X-Men with Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Old Man Logan( Wolverine)

We did a review of each of the books on a podcast which you can find below. Listen, follow, subscribe :)

X-Men Blue and X-Men Gold Review


Beyond those two books, there was going to be another X-Men book that was going to launch must later that featured more of the 90's X-Men called Astonishing X-Men.  This team would feature Psylocke, Gambit, Rogue, Bishop, and of course, Old Man Logan( Wolverine) because for some reason Wolverine has to be in every damn thing.

Astonishing X-Men #1 pivots on a story that many of the world telepaths have come under attack by an unknown source. Psylocke, one of the most powerful telepath, is able to stop the unknown attacker from taking over her mind by manifesting her power to repel the attack and summon a group of X-Men to her aide.

Of course, her powers are out of control from defending herself and this newly banded team of X-Men with Fantomex and Archangel, move into power Psylocke down.

Once the situation is under control. Psylocke informs them that long time X-Nemesis The Shadow King is back- even tho he has been presumed long dead.  The plan is for this new X-team to go to the astral plane to confront the Shadow King before his plot to rule the world comes to fruition. Standard comic book stuff.

Once Psylocke opens the Astral Plane, the Shadow King notices they are there and begins dialoguing aloud about his plot and plan and the book ends on a major spoiler which I will reveal underneath my signature below.

Overall the book was ok. I think how much you enjoy this book will be determined on when you began reading X-Men.  X-Men Blue, even tho its set in modern time is the classic X-Men team of teenagers who are figuring out their powers and their place in the world.  And if you started reading those books first, you will probably enjoy that book more.  X-Men Gold is the Classic Giant Size X-Men team and if you read those books first, you will enjoy that teams adventures.  But if you began reading comics in the 90's and enjoyed the X-Men cartoon, this book is probably more your jam than the other two books.

 I enjoyed the first issue and this group. Starting the book with a standard, X-Villain is fine enough but the biggest problem with the X-Men over the last 10-plus years is their inability to establish new and credible villains that people cared about. I  am hoping there is a move away from some of the classic villains, but that is not how modern comics work so...

But a good start overall and I will definitely check out the next few issues.

The Producer