The Astonishing X-Men: Deathwish

Astonishing X-Men (1999) #1-3

by Howard Mackie, Brandon Peterson (Illustrator)

Professor Charles Xavier has disbanded his fabled team of X-Men. What is his purpose? His students don't believe his given reason, and form a hastily assembled team of current and former X-Men -- as well as a few new members -- to find out. They soon discover that the vile villain Apocalypse has set his sights on the Mannites, a new breed of humanity, and perhaps the next step in the chain of evolution.Ever trying to force the "survival of the fittest", Apocalypse can have no good purpose in mind for these childlike, innocent creatures. The X-Men must protect them at all costs. But when Apocalypse unveils the newest of his Four Horsemen -- Death -- the X-Men may have met their match. Even worse, when he is unmasked, Death turns out to be one of their own!

Featuring Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean Grey -- all featured prominently in this summer's blockbuster X-Men feature film, The Astonishing X-Men is poised to take advantage of the astonishing demand for all things "X" this year!

Genres: Comics, X Men, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 2, 2000

About the author

Howard Mackie is an American comic book editor and writer. He has worked almost exclusively for Marvel Comics.

Reviews

[Matt Sautman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the Mannites being a bit odd, this story delivers on my biggest complaints about the Twelve. As can often be the case with Marvel, the quality of the work depends largely on greater knowledge of the ongoing arc. The Twelve though is far better off just paired with this book.

[Jeff Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed opinions about Astonishing X-Men, which, as a three-issue miniseries, should NOT be confused with the ongoing title by the same name that began production several years later. The story revolves around an interim team of X-Men that are formed to help a mysterious group of super-powered youngsters called the Mannites when the rest of the group has been disbanded under strange circumstances by Professor Xavier, who has not been acting like himself as of late. The plot is pretty good, though I wasn't all that drawn into the Mannites' story. Death made an effectively menacing villain, however, and I enjoyed the mix of classic X-Men characters like Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, and Archangel with basically two versions of the same character from the Age of Apocalypse and the far-flung future (X-Man and Cable). I liked this book -- it wasn't amazing, but it was interesting enough, I suppose, and the artwork's pretty good.

[Fugo Feedback]

¿Por qué tengo como to-read un comic de un guionista que no me interesa y de un dibujante que no me gusta? Por el título, supongo, aunque dudo muchísimo que tengan algo que ver con los gloriosos Astonishing X-Men de Whedon y Cassaday.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why couldn't this have happened in the main series? Oh right, more sales. It maybe would have had better art and better scripting.

[(Jen) The Artist Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Underwhelmed. I could kind of follow along on what was going on, but ... I couldn't get into the art style or story.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuing my X-men catchup project - a slightly ridiculous (and ridiculously expensive) project wherein I collect and read the X-books from roughly the point at which I quit reading in my younger days. I have been slowly amassing these books over the last few years and am now at a point where I can begin reading without major gaps...

This one received a lower rating simply due to the fact that so many issues were repeated between this and "The Shattering." Heck, they even had the same cover. It seems like early-ish TPBs from Marvel are a little scattershot as far as what was collected and when making for some odd gaps and multiples when trying to follow the stories years later only through collected volumes. (Someone should really put together an X-men complete reading list that shows which issues didn't make it into the trades but I digress...) If you haven't read The Shattering, this one is a good book though I feel that some of the best parts of that volume are missing in this one...