Astonishingly good.

I know you've all heard that Joss Whedon wrote some X-Men comics, but has anyone read them? He got his own series, a six-part comic called The Astonishing X-Men and it's not a reboot or an alternate-universe story; it's built right into the current continuity. I had a chance to read the collected story in trade-paperback format and I was really happy with it. It's pretty much everything I wanted from the "new" Ultimate X-Men series, without any of the gross, bothersome bullshit that latter series features.

Whedon is obviously really familiar with the X-Men canon and casually references some of their older adventures from the '60s and '70s (which is kinda nice). He has a really good handle on the characters and writes them in a plausible shorthand that I found refreshing: no long-winded exposition to establish the characters--we're presumed to know who they are.

The story is set after the events of the Legacy virus, so Colossus is dead and Xavier has taken another long leave of absence from the team. At the outset, the x-team is comprised of Cyclops, Beast and Emma Frost (the White Queen--yeah, she's one of the heroes now). Both Wolverine and Shadowcat show up by the end of issue #1 to round out the team.

I won't spoil anything, but this is a really well-written story with a lot of love for the characters inscribed between the lines. Wicked trademark Whedon-esque dialogue and a truly exciting storyline make for a very good, totally worthwhile purchase.

Here's a link to synopses of all 6 issues: link.