written by Charles Soule
penciled by Jim Cheung
inked by Mark Morales
covered by Richard Isanove and Rain Beredo
It's been a while since I've followed any of the X-Men books with any regularity, so when I picked this book off the shelves I knew very little about it, except that Charles Soule, a writer whose work I am increasingly warming up to, and Jimmy Cheung, an artist whose work I adore, were working on it. I hadn't even read any of the marketing materials, so I had next to no expectations, and I gotta say, even if I had gone there with expectations, they would have almost certainly been exceeded.
A mysterious force begins attacking psychics all around the world, claiming the lives of the weaker, isolated psychics, before it finds Psylocke, one the X-men and a particularly formidable target. The assailant attacks her just the same, prompting to reach out with her powers to whichever X-Men are close enough to help. Those who come to answer the call are Bishop, Angel, Rogue, Gambit, (Old Man) Logan, and Fantomex. They converge on the scene of the trouble, in London, not a moment too soon, as the psychic attack has caused Psylocke's powers to go wildly out of control, with a lot of destruction as a result. Can they stop the destruction and go after the real threat before it's too late?
When Charles Soule tried (unsuccessfully) to launch an Inhumans book two or three years ago with superstar artist Joe Madureira, I was almost emphatically underwhelmed by the story and left the title as soon as Madureira did.
Maybe it's because Soule has grown as a writer or maybe it's just because the X-Men are somehow more interesting than the Inhumans, but this book works a lot better than the Inhumans relaunch did. For me it was down to a number of things, like a good handle on characters, good pacing and a nice, done-in-one vibe to the issue which nonetheless kicks off something bigger. And Jim Cheung's art sings to me more than Madureira's did. As a kick-off issue that has to juggle an ensemble cast, it doesn't always hit the marks, but it does set up the action very efficiently, and offer the tiniest bit of exposition as to the characters. It's worth pointing out, though, that it won't make that much sense to anyone picking up an X-Men book for the very first time, though people who've been exposed to the characters through the movies will recognize most of the characters. As a push of the "refresh" button on the X-Men, this works for me. I still prefer Soule's more intimate work over in "Daredevil" but he's shown he's up to the challenge of relaunching an X-book.
As for Jim Cheung, well, as high as my expectations were upon learning he was drawing this book were, he's somehow managed to exceed them. The difference between this and his previous work could be down to Mark Morales' inking or Richard Isanove's brilliant colors, but Cheung absolutely shines here and sets the bar really high for Mike Deodato Jr., who's set to draw the second issue. Whether it's the action sequences (which dominate the book), or the quieter moments, Cheung really hits all the marks, and with a huge splash-page/money shot at the very end of the book he's got me absolutely hooked for the next issue.
The storytelling pace is good and the art is out of this world, though in some instances, for some reason, the dialogue doesn't work all that well for me, especially with the inter-team banter, but it's early days for this iteration of the Astonishing X-Men, and that feels like a distinctly minor quibble.
I don't know if I'll stick around for more than the first arc, but if nothing else this book is off to a solid start.
8.5/10
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