SHADOW KING SHOWDOWN!
• The X-MEN continue their fight against the SHADOW KING!
• But when OLD MAN LOGAN loses himself in the ASTRAL PLANE and Shadow King's illusions, will he ever find his way back to his teammates? AND WHAT OTHER HORRORS AWAIT OUR TEAM?
• Brought to you by the incomparable ED MCGUINNESS and eXcellent X-Men scribe, Charles Soule, ASTONISHING X-MEN continues to be the X-Book you can't afford to miss.
Rated T+
Honestly, if you pick up one Marvel book this week, I'd be hard-pressed to recommend anything over Astonishing X-Men. This book has been a dynamic and thoughtful adventure that thinks deeply about the enduring nature of the Children of the Atom, portrayed brilliantly by a murderer's row of artistic talent. If you haven't been reading this book, buckle up and take a ride to the Astral Plane, because this book is certainly living up to its name. Read Full Review
This is an issue built on character and strong plot progression and manages to do both without sacrificing either. Read Full Review
Putting a talented artist on the book really heightens the strong writing of Charles Soule. Hopefully they can keep the momentum going on this one! Read Full Review
Astonishing X-Men #3dives deep into one of our main characters while keeping its atmosphere accessible. It's a hard balancing act but thanks to the author this latest volume seems more than up to the task. There's room for improvement but the game between Charles and Farouk, with the fate of the world in the balance, plus a team of outsiders easily makes this a title worth following. Read Full Review
There really shouldn't be a doubt anymore that Astonishing X-Men is the premier X-book. Read Full Review
This is definitely more decompressed, which makes parts of the book less than enjoyable. The rest of the issue is solid, but there could and should be more X-Men in this X-Men book. Read Full Review
I can still recommend this comic. It is a good read, and, on the surface, Ed McGuinness artwork does look good. This is still the best X-Men book on the stands at the moment, and I suggest you pick it up. Read Full Review
While I'm starting to get into this series I can't help but feel there is something missing. We are only three issues in but I would have thought we'd have progressed further through the story by now. There is a lot of interesting questions the series raises and now things are finally getting exciting so I am hopeful that it will continue to get better and better. Read Full Review
Overall, this was an alright issue. I think I just feel spoiled after the first two issues, with lots of action and a fast pace, matched with great art and dialogue. This issue, as I mentioned, was fine and I expected the story to go this way when the team was split up. But it felt a little slow for me, nothing really earth shattering taking place, and the art just didn't leave me with the high I felt after the start of the series. I am still very much a fan of this series and I'm looking forward to seeing more from this team and the ultimate showdown with the Shadow King. Read Full Review
Astonishing X-Men #3 is the weakest issue of this series so far. The focus on Old Man Logan over the rest of the X-Men hurt how the mission statement of this series. That said, Charles Soule does provide a lot of strong dialogue that makes up for how the story is executed. The main story involving Shadow King continues to be the strength of the arc and there is enough development in Astonishing X-Men #3 to make fans look forward to what comes next. Read Full Review
Angel xD
A brilliant character study of Old Man Logan rubs shoulders with more Astral Plane mysteries and a nasty police/mutant standoff in London. Charles Soule does a great job of examining OML through the lens of Xavier; it's a pity the character is highly overexposed right now. This issue is remarkably close to being a one-shot, smoothly integrating just enough background into the story to welcome new readers without slowing down the pace. The art is workable, but this issue isn't going into Ed McGuinness's greatest hits portfolio.
I had trouble rating and commenting the previoux issues of this one. The first was a bombastic, beautiful piece of work with action and mystery while the second was a weirder, more confusing and less impressive visually issue. This third one falls in the middle. The art is great with a more cartoon style that fits Logan like a glove, the story is more focused and the sens of urgency and mystery is back. What is final masterplan of either the shadow king or Xavier is is still hazy and it ends with a cliffhanger that leaves you wondering where things will go from now. A good read overall
This issue was okay. Not the fault of Charles Soule, but Old Man Logan has begun to wear on me. Between his ongoing appearances in X-Men Gold, Weapon X, and Old Man Logan, it feels a bit much. If the goal of killing off Wolverine was to remove him from the Marvel Universe for an extended period of time after years of overuse, using the Old Man Logan version in at least 4 ongoing series seems misplaced. But like I said, that's not really on Soule. As the 3rd issue in this 12-part story, it does a decent job, though without another outstanding issue similar to Astonishing X-Men #1, I could see this series start to decline and begin to burn out.
Ed McGUinness art! That's...not very good? I was disappointed by the look of this issue, where Morales inks seem to kill McGuinness work. The story was okay, but Old Man Logan is coming close to being as overexposed as the original Wolverine before he died.