Maybe not quite as amazing as the first two volumes, but still really, remarkably good. The Emma subplot is finally played out, and... Well, I'm not entirely sure that the Big Reveal can hold up. That said, the whammy on Kitty was just wrenching, and I enjoyed every moment of Logan as Christopher Robin. Another fun collection, even if I'm not exactly looking forward to X-Men in Space, Take 176.

The campy-named Hellfire Club and its roster of oddball villains sashay up to the Westchester School for a showdown with our heroes. But there is a turncoat among the X-Men, the once-villainous-turned-good-now-turned-bad-again Emma Frost who it seems has been helping Cassandra Nova regain power slowly to come back and defeat the X-Men once and for all. Throw in SWORD, the quasi-government agency from the future/another dimension (I forget) who are looking to save their world from destruction by

MY GOODNESS, my head hurts.So the X-Men are comfy. They have fought of the two evils from the last book and they are finally bunking down and getting back to what they have been trying to do since they got together: teach the next generation.Well, little do they know that the real danger is among them and someone is about to betray and hurt every last one of them. Again, little do they know that pushing off the last two evils may bite them in the tush with a big, giant BANG.Basically, they are f...

the most emotionally confusing volume of the whedon/cassaday run, in this reader's heart.the basic concept, as in the second volume, is fascinating (if a bit similar to the concept in the second volume itself): what if someone played fantastic mindgames with the x-men, forcing them to become upsettingly-plausible alternate versions of themselves?but the engine behind that idea makes no sense. cassandra nova is alive? except she isn't? and she's been living in emma frost? except emma frost isn't

Enemies infiltrating the mansion and taking most of the X-Men out of commission is a plot that’s been done several times, but I love this take on it. It brings back another of the best early ideas from Morrison’s New X-Men run, and the infiltration itself is based on thoughtful character moments with a great climactic reveal. Emma and Kitty shine again as the stars of this volume, but the rest of the team get some hilarious scenes working through personal hang-ups, with at least one pretty meani...

Emma's true allegiance is shown: she is secretly on the side of the Hellfire Club who attack the mansion and take out the X-Men. Their goal is a highly secured box that contains an item that is vital for one member of the Hellfire Club, Cassandra Nova.The story jumps rapidly from one thing to another, so I won't even try to summarize it. (view spoiler)[Most of it is in their heads anyway. (hide spoiler)] It's too fast paced for what it wants to do and the multiple twists, instead of being fun, m...

Collecting Astonishing X-Men #13 through #18. Emma Frost and a new Hellfire Club (Sebastian Shaw, Cassandra Nova, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and Perfection) take advantage of a lull in the action to divide and conquer the X-Men. Emma manipulates Cyclops, Cassandra handles Beast and Wolverine, Colossus and Shaw tussle, and NTW gets in Shadowcat's head. Meanwhile, S.W.O.R.D. has calculated exactly which mutant will soon destroy Breakworld, which also becomes known to those on the planet.The takedo...

The X-Men are betrayed by someone close to them as a series of psychic attacks leave Cyclops in a coma, Beast going feral, Kitty phasing to the center of the earth, and Wolverine acting like a cowardly 19th century gentleman. Meanwhile, the alien from Breakworld who has future knowledge that an X-Man will destroy his planet has broken free of government custody and is on his way to the mansion to make a bad situation worse. All of which is a pretty average Wednesday at Xavier’s School for Gifted...

this is 100% emma frost based and i LOVE that !!!!! shes my favorite x-men character i just wish this arc went on and on.

This is probably my favourite volume of Whedon's X-Men, or any other X-Men for that matter. It feels like watching some of the best episodes of Buffy (it actually conceptually resembles "Tabula Rasa"), only with X-Men as main characters. I love Logan as a little child. I love Scott "Making a statement". I love Kitty kicking Emma's ass. Gahd, I love this comic book. I am so happy it exists.

I feel like I might be overzealous in my praise of this series, but I'm really, really loving it. None of the small annoyances from the second volume are here; this one is back to high bar established by the introductory volume. Whedon’s run on X-Men makes me feel like the reckless fanboy I used to be when I first discovered the X-books during the Claremont years.This story arc begins with the faculty and students of Xavier’s school recovering from the hard-fought battles and somewhat pyrrhic vi...

Score: 4.13 out of 5Grade: 83% (A-) | GreatThe X-Men are gutted from the inside-out as their own worst fears come to light. Here is my review of Astonishing X-Men Vol. 3: Torn: The Good:Oh Whedon, you sly dog – you pulled some fast ones on us here. This book has a few unsettling twists, a couple completely unexpected surprises, and a splash of some HOLY F*** moments. And we FINALLY learn who the destroyer of the Breakworld is…and it definitely wasn’t someone I expected! Whedon is funny…I sound l...

This was a pretty fun read again!Holy shit this is getting epic with every volume like it starts with Emma being inducted into the hellfire club and we see the return of Cassandra Nova and then we see how she is taking down the X-Men one by one and the thing she does to Beast and Wolverine is funny, Emma knocking down cyclops and sort of making him lose his powers and then the stuff with Kitty is brutal and wow thats a living nightmare but then something happens and the big twist happens in Emma...

Awesome, or should I say "astonishing." The intertwining and complex plot lines come together and find basis in an extensive background of the mythology. A terrifying villain arises with a power manifested by what he does to Wolverine and Beast alone. You see Wolverine walking around, scared and lost, a little religious boy who wants to hide behind any girl to take place as a mommy to protect him. Beast becomes, well, a beast, an animal, fierce and ferocious and hungry for what ferocious animals...

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog Flashback: After finishing the second volume of the awesome “Astonishing X-Men” series “Dangerous,” I was definitely looking forward to reading the third volume of this series “Torn.” Imagine my pure delight after I had finished reading this volume since I was totally blown away by the twists and turns in this volume and I am sure that X-Men fans will enjoy this volume as much as I did! What is the story? Emma Frost has been acting strange ever since...

What a wonderful X-Men story!This volume was a delight, bringing in all the elements that have been introduced to us with the first two volumes and paying them off in a spectacular way. While I was a bit lukewarm on volume one and two, this book has made those stories extremely worth while. Taking the "meh" elements from those books and actually making them interesting. This book also brings characters and plots from a previous X-Book. A book that I dropped due to how garbage it was. However, de...

More of what I've come to expect from Mr. Whedon's little X-Men run. Top notch. Honestly feeling pretty upset about there only being one more volume in his run.

Cassandra Nova returns to regain her consciousness from the X-Men, and begins systematically breaking the team down from within. I really feel this run is a sequel of sorts to Morrison's run. Even though the team looks brighter, and the tone is different from the Morrison run, a lot of the plot points and themes established from that run get touched on in Whedon's run. He picks up a lot of threads that were left behind and carries them out to their logical conclusion. Here we have Cassandra Nova...

A solid arc, but probably the weakest of this run, I think. Six issues seemed a little too long for this plot at times, and then there was really no resolution or payoff at the end. This was really just an awkward middle arc that was just setting up the finale. But it did what it needed to do, and there are some excellent character moments. Easily the least satisfying arc so far from this creative team, but still an excellent book when looked at as apart of the whole. 4.5/5 stars

After really enjoying Vol. 1 and 2, it was a little exasperating that the clarity takes a hit in Vol. 3. A lot of wacky stuff transpires to the team - and I don't mind twists to keep things interesting - but at times it was hard to follow who / what was doing who / what to who / what. (What? Exactly. LOL.) Yeah, it was "twistin' my melon" as Steve McQueen once said to director Norman Jewison. Still, complaints aside, it was still reasonably entertaining and I want to see what happens next to Kit...