Astonishing X-men: Gifted by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday

The X-Men are reforming, with Emma Frost herself now in charge of the School once run by Professor Xavier. Returning as a member of the group is Kitty Pride, along with her dragon friend Lockeed. But Kitty is alone when she finally arrives at the mansion, and as she enters, she remembers many memories that took place in the mansion. And she is late for the ceremony welcoming the new students she'll be teaching.

Emma Frost wants to teach the students with Peace, but when Wolverine returns and finds Emma and Scott Summers in bed together, his comments start a fight that spills out onto the House Lawn. But after a discussion, Scott decides to remake the team, emphasizing their Superhero aspects to hopefully make the public less afraid of them. This means dumping their black leather outfits and returning to the blue and yellow that is iconic for them.

And right away, they are called into battle against an alien named Ord. Ord is holding a group of super-rich uppercrust people hostage, but there is a reason behind his need to do it now- an Indian Scientist named Dr. Kavita Rao is, at the same time, announcing that she has found both the mutant gene, and the cure for it. So when the X-men go outside after defeating Ord and his men, they are confronted with people asking them questions about the new Mutant "Cure".

Needless to say, this causes pandemonium across the globe and even inside the school. Thousands of mutants outside clamor to be cured, while most of the kids at the school disdain such things. Hank McCoy, though, knows Kavita as a colleague, and meets with her to get a sample of her "cure". He wants to see for himself what she has done.

What he finds out, though, makes him dislike her very much. Because the cure is based on the cells of a single mutant... one that Hank knows. Wolverine knows that Hank is angry and afraid over his own ongoing mutation, and the idea that he would even consider taking it and changing who and what he is soon leads them to blows. But when Hank lets them know that they must stop Kavita Rao, they find that she is linked with Alien guy Ord. and Ord is here under protection of S.H.I.E.L.D., and they are comitted to protecting him.

Until, of, course, Kitty finds the subject of all the experiments, the one whose cells and the testing on them were used to develop and make the serum. But is this really Colossus, or merely someone who looks just like him? And can they convince Nick Fury to tell them the whole truth about what is going on here?

Joss Whedon is well known for his snapping wit and storytelling chops, and his story hits all the high notes here. When Kitty is being dressed down by the scantily-clad Emma Frost for being late at the start of the book, she snaps back with "I'm sorry, I was busy remembering to put all my clothes on." The story is also tight and intriguing. Hank McCoy went from a blue-furred man to a blue-furred cat man, and his continuing mutation worries him. His confrontation with Wolverine is subtle in its implications, but very well-handled.

Needless to say, Beast takes a large portion of the story here, along with the announcement of the mutant "cure". The fact that it is based on experimentation with mutant corpses, as well as Beast's old comrade Pyotr, makes him decide that it is tainted and must be destroyed. But Ord will still be around to raise trouble, and the last page of the book presages trouble ahead for the team and most especially Kitty Pryde.

I found this book fascinating and very good, and I think any readers of the X-men would enjoy reading it. Even though no explanation is given of where Professor X has gone to, or where the team has been up until now, its still a great read. Recommended.