Astonishing X-Men Volume 2: Dangerous TPB (Astonishing X-Men (Graphic Novels))

If you appreciate a story with skillfully crafted characters, relationships and plotting you will love Astonishing X-men.Astonishing X-Men is masterfully written by Whedon. The outstanding text is complimented by Cassaday's fine artwork.Even if, like me, you are new to American comic books, I strongly encourage you to buy the Astonishing X-Men trade paper backs, starting with the first volume, Gifted.

Would't recommend this vendor. Comicbook is clearly used when I paid for a new one. Even the cover is torn. Won't be buying again.

Item arrived on time and as described. Thanks.

As someone who wanted to get into Marvel comics, but didn't know where to start (I realise this is volume 2 so go for v1 first), the astonishing Xmen is fantastic, definitely worth purchasing for anyone interested in Marvel/Xmen.

“Astonishing X-Men – A Man Called X” collects issues #7-12 of this 12-issue maxi-series, which brings about the apparent return of Charles Xavier.This entire series takes place in the space of one day – a good a reason as any to restart the title from issue #1 – and opened with a breach from the astral plane in London, leading to an ad-hoc team of X-Men going in to seal it and keep the Shadow King out of the real world, ending with Charles Xavier emerging and occupying Fantomex’s body (apparently with his permission).Now the X-Men have to work out if “X” really is the late Professor X, and deal with the consequences of his escape – namely another refugee from being dead, with even more power than the Shadow King, and Bishop’s book of alternate futures indicating that this is the beginning of an end-of-the-world situation/timeline.The writer really has reached into the depths of X-history for this new threat, as I can still remember the final panel of a Claremont/Byrne story that introduced said threat.One of the astonishing things about this volume is that there is a different artist for each issue, and, while I spotted this on the title page, I didn’t notice the change-overs while I was reading the story, it was so fast-moving and engrossing. This is how X-Men comics used to be back in the glory days of the bi-monthly Claremont & Cockrum title, and then the monthly Claremont & Byrne run when it became the colossal success that defined modern Marvel.The Astonishing X-Men really is astonishingly good.

If you ever watched episodes of Star Trek, be it The Next Generation or Voyager, you'll know there were episodes, maybe one a season, where the holodeck would malfunction and the holograms would become real. Joss Whedon takes that storyline and applies it to the X-Men, bringing the Danger Room (their version of the holodeck) to life, causing chaos and havoc. Granted it's not the holograms but the room itself, still...The new shadow organisation SWORD is still in the background and seems likely to play a bigger role in upcoming volumes, as does Emma Frost's shadowy friend whispering of espionage, but "Dangerous" is mostly taken up with the X-Men battling the Danger Room, or just Danger as it's referred to here.And Danger is a worthy foe, seemingly unbeatable until they reach Genosha and meet up with Xavier (who picks some really odd holiday destinations). The storyline is great until the anti-climactic end which I didn't really buy into, but everything up to it was gravy.Whedon's characterisations of the X-Men continue to be spot on, I particularly liked his juxtaposition of Kitty's thought monologue alongside Logan's (one thoughtful, the other... not so). John Cassady's artwork continues to be of high quality on every single page, he is brilliant.This is an excellent second volume in a highly successful series for Whedon and Cassady. Fans of the first volume will enjoy this second, and any X-Men fans not into this series yet will find plenty here to enjoy. "Dangerous" is well worth a look for all superhero comics fans.

WARNING!! Review May contain spoilers...Yes, I cringed at the title too...After the Spectatular Gifted, which started Whedon and Cassaday's run on the title, the good work continues in this, their sophomore story. Despite their been critisism at the time for the delays on the book, waiting paitiently for the Graphic Novel paid off for me, as Whedon's knack for overaching Plot threads, honed by the work on his brilliant TV creations Buffy The Vampire Slayer/Firefly/Etc, become more apparent in Dangerous, as (if you haven't read Gifted, spoilers coming up) Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Beast, Kitty Pryde and the newly returned from the dead Colossuss continue their mission to bring Mutants into a good light in the public eye through Fantastic Four-like heroics. This is disrupted by a new threat from a new enemy, one that no one would ever expect...Again, like the first book, John Cassaday's art is in contention with that of Jim Lee's for the title of Best X-Men artist ever, and Whedon himself doesn't hold back either, his trademarked witty dialogue, again honned on his previous work, and kick-ass action.If you love the X-Men (as I do), then you can't go far wrong with this.94/100

Danger room finally reveals herself as a sentient being. What makes her super dangerous is that she has been training with the X-Men all her life. This album is well thought as the storyline feels like a whole. Some foreshadowing can be found in the issues which made me curious enough to consider buying the third album.