By Joss Whedon & John Cassaday (Marvel)
ISBN 0-7851-1677-X
The high-quality tension continues unabated in the second collection of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s exemplary take on the world’s most popular team of misunderstood mutant super-heroes, reprinting Astonishing X-Men issues #7-12.
Rejoined by a team-member they’d believed long dead, the team take stock in the wake of the discovery of some dangerous intelligence. Not only is their campaign for public approval stalled due to the fact of an apparent cure for mutants, but also they realise that the Federal organisation S.H.I.E.L.D., through its subsidiary S.W.O.R.D., has possibly entered into an alliance with an alien civilisation to exterminate Earth’s mutant population. To make matters worse it seems one of the new team is either a traitor or an impostor…
Spectacular action and unforgettable dialogue are the standard for this series, and Whedon and Cassaday are playing at the top of their game. If only all X-Men stories could be this good…
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