Astonishing reading guide

Still working on my X-Men multi-book reading guide (that will accompany my history) - I'm now working on the period between House of M and Messiah CompleX. It would seem that Astonishing X-Men #13-24 (with the Giant Size at the end) will go between X-Men #204 and the Messiah CompleX one-shot. This is completely because of the Kitty Pryde Factor - Kitty was a part of the title in the X-Men story, but was conspicuously missing from Messiah CompleX (leading many readers to guess the ending). The two storylines, however, interlock together giving no break point to allow any other storylines to take place. This was not the case with the first two storylines of the title - in which two issues of Uncanny and a five-issue mini-series fit in - but cannot be avoided here. The X-Men story is the last one before Messiah starts, and Kitty is in that story. Fortunately, Astonishing is really good, so it won't be a pain in reading.

And it starts

Don't say I wasn't optimistic of the ability of Fantastic Four to stay on schedule. So sure, creators Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch weren't exactly reknowned for their ability to put out Ultimates in a timely matter, but this is Fantastic Four! One of Marvel's big books!

Okay, so I actually wasn't too optimistic - so when I saw that issue #557 has slipped a week, I chuckled a bit. Let's see how close of a schedule they can keep.

Other books I collect seem to be having some scheduling woes as well. Criminal has been pushed back from the end of April to the beginning of June (not its first slide), and I'm not even going to go into Giant Size Astonishing X-Men. It's still solicited for May 28th. Let's see if that happens.

What surprised me was that the Powers Encyclopedia seemed to have been pushed up a month, from July 5th to June 4th. Then I realized the July 5th date was 2007. Whoops.

We've moved past Messiah CompleX and into Divided We Stand - so let's take a look at the X-Books on my plate and see how they're doing.

Uncanny X-Men
Obviously in a phase that you could call "rebuilding" but actually just killing time before July's issue #500. But as far as bridging filler goes, the San Francisco story is very good fun. This apparently will set up the X-Men's new base of operations, so that's neat. The Wolverine/Colossus/Nightcrawler story builds on an oft-forgotten relationship between Storm's team during the Paul Smith/John Romita Jr. era of the 80s, and it's good to see the three working together. With Storm off being married and Kitty Pryde apparently out of the picture, these three are the last of this core group, and they make a good trio. This has been quality stuff.

X-Men: Legacy
I recall a book called Excalibur (vol. 2) that was focused on the relationship between Charles Xavier and Magneto as they tried to rebuild Genosha - and if memory serves correctly, it wasn't very good. Whether or not Mags stays in the book, the first issues of Legacy have been very good, with an interesting look into Xavier's past, and finally fleshing out one of the most overlooked characters in the X-Men, which is even stranger being that he's the CENTER of the whole thing. Those familiar with all these X-Events that are being flashed back to (such as myself) have to be loving this.

Astonishing X-Men
No, I'm just kidding. This book's last Whedon/Cassaday issue hasn't come out yet. That's next month.

X-Factor
Here's a book whose entire premise was torn asunder through House of M and Messiah CompleX. While some titles would flail about desperately seeking direction, that has become the point of X-Factor and its being done very well. You can't help but love all the members of this team, and desperately miss (as they do) Layla Miller. Solicitations say the book's getting Longshot and Darwin on its cast, and I have to say I'm excited.

X-Force
Do I really need to go on another rant about X-Force? It has a cast with claws and knives so they can stab people. Stab, stab, stabby, stabby, stab. Blood, death, good for them. There is apparently a move at bringing back some older baddies (Bastion, Magus) but I have ceased caring. The book's apparently a hit, though. Bah - should have read The Order instead.

Young X-Men
After only one issue, I really want to see where they're going with this one. It's obvious to me that the last-page setup is not what it seems, so we'll just have to see. I'll give an update on this one next week after issue #2 comes out.

So where does that leave us? In pretty good shape, I'd say. Things are looking to get more focused when Uncanny hits 500 and Astonishing launches under Warren Ellis. It's a good time to be an X-Men fan, if you ask me.

(I don't read Cable, New Exiles, or either Wolverine book and the First Class titles don't really fit here, so they've all been skipped.)