Astonishing X-Men #26

I hate to say it, but I was really close to not pulling this one...we'll see what happens when I get to the actual store.

@CAM: for once we can agree on something! As a matter of fact, I'm not really buying this...just giving it a glance at my store since we get it for our comic section. If this issue reads well, then I'll pick it up for #27...if not, then well this 'new status quo' for the X-Men is 0-2 then for me.

Yeah, I'm off this series if this issue doesn't thrill me. This was the series that got me back into monthly comics--after New X-Men got me back into trades--but it seems like Ellis is mailing it in. And the art was yucky.

That's an awesome cover. I don't think it needs to be said that this series would be meeting with a very different reaction if it hadn't been titled Astonishing X-Men. And I like it.

I dig it.  I thought the first issue was a lot of fun.  I really like seeing Ellis's sensibility applied to the Xmen.

Agreed. I'm enjoying the new direction. As crazy as it may sound to you fanatics, this has the potential to be as great as, if not better than, Whedon and Cassaday's run. There's a great story being built up, and beautiful art to go with it.

@J4K3:......You are flipping crazy....

Anyways, I got a bone to pick with this Bianchi guy. Sure his backgrounds look great (definitely the previews for this show an amazing landscape)...But his faces look like absolute shit. Storm? Looks awful and has bones where there shouldnt be. Cyclops? Looks like one of those plastic models in Sears. Pretty much everyone else looks medicore as well, or just not looking like other artists drawings....idk, this just overall doesnt look right to me other then the backgrounds.

this is the book I'm most looking forward to this week.

i am becoming disinterested in this. I loved Wheedon's run because i didn't have to keep up with other x-title to know what's going on.

having to do reasearch to start a new story arc in a series that you'd been following since early on? BUNK! Bunk, i say.

I'll pull it and see how upset i am for next month.

I really enjoy Ellis's writing and I'm hoping that this issue will reveal an interesting plot. Yes, Bianchi's art is very "different"... and sometimes I dislike certain elements, but I can appreciate it for what it is. And no, I'm not the kind of person that likes Greg Land. I just see more to like in Bianchi's art than there is to dislike.

Not a fan of Bianchi's pencils, but I loved what Ellis did on Thunderbolts so even though I didn't like the first issue a ton I'll probably stick around for four or six issues just because I'm weird about dropping something in the middle of an arc. Who knows maybe this will surprise me.

@branjo: I agree.  I follow nearly all of the x-books, but Astonishing was refreshing in its detachment from the current continuity.  It was the book you could show to your friends and say "this is great X-men material that you should be reading".  Sure, they didn't read it, but you could say it.

After Ellis run on Thunderbolts I am eager to see what he is gonna do with the X-Men.  In all honesty the first issue was slow I was expecting more. I gave up on all X-Men books 3 years ago, But I believe in Ellis so I am back.  The art is fantastic, different but still fantastic.

@branjo  I don't really understand what research was needed.  "The X-men are in San Francisco right now," which was told on the page in issue 25, was pretty much the only outside context. 

I thought issues 25 was good. I must admit, I wasn't a big fan of the art, but it wasn't terrible. I am sticking with this for now.

Although I didn't love issue 25 I didn't hate it either, and after reading Ellis's first Thunderbolts trade last night I have hope. Only time will tell.

I'm sticking with this, even though the 1st issue was kinda so-so. I remember the first couple of Whedon issues didn't bowl me over as well but got better as time went on, so I'm giving this a fair shake. Plus, on the whole, I enjoy Ellis' stuff.

@brancho -- There's not really anything you need to know except the X-Men moved to SF, they've been sanctioned by the city to do some official superheroing, and Storm's come to visit.  There aren't many ongoing titles with less baggage than that.

I really dig Bianchi's art, if not some of his costume designs.  Storm's costume has way too much going on.  Less is more!!!

I was expecting this to be a lot better...

I dug the writing in this issue and especially loved the fastball special with Armor and her telling Wolverine he was heavy because of beer. I thought the story was intriguing and liked the last page. My problem was the art again. The colors are way too muted for my taste and there is too much brown. I know it probably fits the tone of the story better than the bright colors of traditional X-books but I want them back. Furthermore, Beast in on the cover and isn't even in this issue as far as I can see!!! Finally, I see what people are talking about with Bianchi drawing faces, specifically Wolverine. Check out his face in the upper right panel on the page where his claws are burning. He looks like he is taking the worlds most painful dump. Anyways I will still be picking this book up for the writing (like I do with Invincible Iron Man) and just read it like a book rather than a comic book.

This took away all the fears i had about this book after the last issue.  Cool setting, mysterious bad guy, and Armor throws Wolverine? Great! That to me is a good formula for X-Men adventure.

Also, I love Bianchi's pencils except for the faces.  Sometimes the characters just have the wierdest expressions (ex: Emma Frost in the panel when she tells Armor to call her Emma instead of Miss Frost). Everything else is drawn remarkably well in my opinion.

I liked the art a lot better in this issue than the last. It was a bit less muddy, and I thouhgt the page compositions were better, and there was that wonderful splash page. Also, I thought Armor's armor looked pretty adorable in this.

The 36th and 37th Wolverine/beer jokes were lame. I didn't know armor had that sort of super-strength. The conversation between Storm and Cyclops seemed like something that shouldn't've been discussed in the heat of the moment--and besides, asking "Do you think I killed him?" sounds like something Jubilee would have said in 1990, not something Storm with all her experience would ask in 2008. Some of the splash pages were awkward (do we really need one to show Emma just pointing upwards?). The villain didn't do anything interesting, and the foreign setting wasn't explored or utilized at all. I wouldn't say this was "horrible", but nevertheless I'm off this series.

@flapjaxx  Considering that Storm traditionally was the X-man who was most fundamentalist about not killing, with Cyke almost as adamant as she was, I thought it was an important conversation for them to have.  It's something that needs to be talked about in light of all the OMGHARDCORE stuff going on in books like 'X-Force' and I'm glad Ellis is tackling it. 

I'm not thrilled with the art on this book. It might just be too dark for my tastes, it reminded me of that one Ultimates issue that didn't look right, except I think this is the look they intend for this series.

I didn't mind the Armor/Wolverine interaction but it makes me miss Jubilee.

So much better than the last issue. 

I haven't read it yet, but did want a look at the inside art.

They need to change artists quick. This current artist totally sucks.

Good issue, nothing really new or fantastic.  Yeah, it's always cool to see someone besides Colossus do the Fastball Special, but the definition of it is quickly changing from "Colossus throws Wolvie" to "Someone throws Wolvie".  And the Wolvie - Armor relationship is pretty much a rehashed Kitty Pryde/Jubilee/whatever young female team member needs mentoring at the moment relationship.  Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it, but I'm still waiting for that new thing to make this era of X-Men stand out a bit more.

I'll admit that i'm not a huge fan of bianchi's art, but i'd hardly say that he sucks as a artist. He does have a unique style that i really don't think is a good fit for the x-men or really any established title really.  I mean he was fantastic on the Shining Knight Seven Soliders mini and i really don't think that he's drawing any different now than he did then. It's just that he needs to be able to create a world from stratch to a degree where his visual language will work and he's not having to tie into previous character designs or whatever.

I just am really getting tired of warren ellis to be honest. It's all been downhill since transmet ended.

Finally read it and the story is picking up, I'm looking forward to where it goes.

But the art is still depressing me.  The backgrounds/landscapes/etc look great!  The scenes at the spaceship graveyard were quite nice.

But then Bianchi's portrayal of the actual Xmen is horrendous.  Can totally not do closeups.  In the first few pages there are closeups of Storm and Emma -- both look like trannies with chromosonal issues, and I'm not talking X-Gene.  So disappointing.