If you like Ellis and you like X-Men, you will love this book.

And this isn't like my empty promise to wait for Fables trades only to cave anytime I see an issue. I really mean it. Plus, Buffy trades come out pretty quick.

Having said that, I thought Ellis did a good job on this issue.

As for the early 90's, well to each their own. I really didn't feel as though Claremont started going South until post-2000.

What I liked about the early 90s was the cohesion of the titles, yet still being able to read just one title if you so chose and still be able to understand what the hell is going on.

I'm far from a Liefield fan, but there was a reason he was able to shanghai the industry. Someone had to like his work on New Mutants and X-Force, how else was he able to ride the Image wave?

Long before 2000, every X-Man started talking in exactly the same, early-80s London discotheque language: "Those're the breaks, sweets." "We're X-Men, sweets. No quarter asked, none given." "Careful what you wish for sweets."

The late eighties are where Claremont's stories literally made no sense, and they never got better. One time we were in the middle of a storyline and the next issue is Wolverine feral in the woods being hunted by Lady Deathstrike. How about when Wolverine tried to KILL Rachel to prevent her from killing a bad guy?! "We're X-Men. We don't kill." (Unless it's to kill one of our own members to stop them from killing a bad guy). All Storm's command decisions seemed to involve the X-Men sacrificing themselves for the slimmest of reasons. "Then we'll die."

"But we could just shut off the bomb maybe?"

"We're X-Men, sweets. No quarter asked, none given."

Claremont kept introducing storyline after storyline after storyline that was never remotely resolved or even addressed in future issues... Seriously. Bust out some of those later Essential X-Men volumes and stare in wonder that anyone could ever have actually thought this shit was decent writing. After Claremont, for a while Lobdell kept the thing going pretty nicely, but that degraded into constantly trying to come up with more and more stupid ideas for new mutants, plus tying everything in the world back to Apocalypse. Morrison actually saved the X-Men, in my opinion, but that run is certainly not without its glaringly bad parts.

The only part of Morrison's run where I think he stunk the joint up was the final three-issue storyline set in the future, and even that might not have been so bad if not for the execrable art. Truly awful, awful mid-90's Image stuff from Marc Silvestri? On the heels of an extended run by Frank Quitely? GACK.

Did he ever explain how Xorneto was able to free himself and Scott from the Shi'ar after Scott pointed out that one of the Shi'ar was 'living gravity' or something?

I know some of Xorn's abilities were explained, but not enough of them to convince me that going back to New X-Men Annual #1, Morrison knew Xorn was Magneto. I really, really liked Morrison's X-Men. And as a whole, I think it reads really nicely-- both an expansion and consolidation of what had gone before. I agree that a bunch of morons further fucked-up Xorn, but I didn't think the idea was handled so great by Morrison to begin with. It was also weird to have Magneto getting decapitated by Wolverine and a month later have him appear in, like, a Bendis comic or something.

but then the wheels fell off later in the run. All focus was on the story and the charachters became plot devices as I stated in my review.

Whedon's book isn't the only place this happened. Same thing happened in all of the X-titles over the past few years.

Perhaps I am clouded by nostalgia, but I did love the early 90s when the new X-Men title launched,Uncanny, X-Force etc... Everything just seemed to gel, without punishing you if you missed an issue of one title or another.

Again, if I'm remembering right.

This has been my opinion. I hope you are not Tony Daniel.

I flipped through my favorite Batman story by Grant Morrison today, "Gothic," and I was thinking how cool it would have been if Klaus Janson had illustrated the whole run of R.I.P. But that might be misguided nostalgia.

The odd thing about his writing, even early on, is that it shouldn't have worked, but it did ... for a while.

Before he developed that weird: "Thems the breaks, kiddo. Wishin' won't change things. Neither will hopin', mopin' or dopin'..." style, he simply had the X-Men shout about whatever was obviously going on in the panel: "Cyclops! We're under attack!" Shouldn't have worked, but it did. And his plots, although eventually adding up to more, mostly consisted of the X-Men being attacked for no apparent reason and defending themselves. That was okay, though, because what he and Cockrum and Byrne could do was really keep those Muties busy. It was the old George Lucas thing, where if there's enough action, no one will notice the cheesy dialogue (ah, George, if only you'd stuck to that and not given us TARIFF WARS and THE SENATE TALKS BACK and REVENGE OF THE SITH BY ANAKIN TURNING EVIL FOR NO REAL REASON).

I dug Claremont, and still respect his achievement, but he was only as good as his artist's storytelling ability. Better artists that Cockrum and Byrne worked on the X-MEN, but there probably weren't ever better pure storytellers and designers.

It's been said before, Chris stayed too long on the book and should have never gone back.

I don’t think my review stretched the boundaries of “reality” in any way, shape, or form.

But let’s take a closer examination.

Popsyndicate wrote - “One of the things that I loved so much about the Whedon/Cassaday run was that it focused on the characters and what made them all unique. It interlaced with thoughtful stories, and a barrage of cliffhanger endings.”

Nowhere in my review did I say I didn’t like Whedon’s run. The only thing I disliked was getting an issue every 4-5 months. Other than that, it was a fine run. Now this guy is getting bent out of shape because of cliffhanger endings. I think he needs to go back and read issue 25, it was a damn good cliffhanger ending. A wee bit unfair to compare 24 issues worth of stories to 1 wouldn’t you say?

Popsyndicate wrote - “Firstly, where the hell is Colossus?” Who gives a fuck? He’s supposed to be dead. This was the thing I did hate from the Whedon run. Pulling resurrections out of thin air is DC’s bag.

Popsyndicate wrote – “Has so much time elapsed that no one seems to mourn Kitty’s loss anymore?”

I’m sure Colossus cares.

Popsyndicate wrote – What kind of strange fetish does Warren Ellis have for pseudo-science?

Was this issue heavily mired in any science, pseudo or otherwise? I missed that. Laden in exposition perhaps, but not science.

Popsyndicate wrote – “Why is Simone Bianchi’s art so damn dark? This is Astonishing X-Men, not Batman, for God’s sakes!’

Maybe because the team is underground for 80% of the issue and the rest of the issue takes place at night?

Popsyndicate wrote – “This takes place after Uncanny X-Men #499.”

Really? Where in Uncanny X-Men 499 did it mention the team getting funding from Storm’s husband? And the mention of getting handed the car again did not happen in 499. If you don’t read Uncanny, don’t reference it. I’ll stake my life on the fact that this book should not have been delivered until after Uncanny 500.

I’m not going to fault the guy for his opinions, but don’t try to say they are more valid than the contrary argument. Diff’rent Strokes for different folks.

I have my issues with Astonishing during Whedon's run (and being overly intellectual is certainly not one of them) but as far as Wolverine being out of character...well, when a character appears in a zillion books by a multitude of writers, you can pick and choose which one you like. For example, I don't like his portrayal in Old Man Logan, so I'll just ignore it. Wonder Woman, etc,...they're all like that.

I am not currently reading Astonishing, but am the kind of reader who will definitely grab X-Men 500 and see if I like it. I loved Morrison's run, except for "Here Comes Tomorrow." That story is so widely reviled, I am surprised to see anyone defend it. I am also surprised to see a reference to the X-Men being good in the early 90's. I recently tried to re-read X-Men #1, always been a big Jim Lee fan, but it's a terrible mess, even worse in retrospect than at the time. And that was the time I quit buying X-Men regularly. I still pick up storylines from time to time. Loved Age of Apocalypse, for example. But Morrison was the only writer in the last 20 years to do something really fresh and interesting with the X-Men, even if he did F it up at the end.

Weren't the early 90's when the whole comic industry, especially Marvel, imploded due to the Image stuff? I recall Vertigo being the only thing that was better then than now.

Yeah, Lazer, your X-Men post was great!

Awesome. Come back, Chuck.