Have you ever picked up a comic and felt that you were holding something special? That’s how I feel when reading Ultimate X #1 from Jeph Loeb and Arthur Adams. Find out why here.

X-Factor comes to Utopia for this one-shot issue from Peter David and artist Valentine De Landro.

Peter David, accompanied by artists Bing Cansino and Marco Santucci, ushers in the 200^th issue of what may be the most underrated of Marvel’s X-titles. Has it really been 200 issues? In a technical sense, sure, but really this is the 51^st issue of Peter David’s run. X-Factor is but one of several Marvel titles to be renumbered this year; other titles to receive this treatment include Thor, Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, Captain America, and . . . Deadpool?!

That last one was a joke, and Marvel knows it.

Gillen and Sanders continue their outer-space romantic-action-comedy with a solid second issue.

The pace of the first chapter is maintained as Gyrich begins collecting Earth's known aliens. Among the captured are Noh-Varr (Marvel Boy), Jazinda (Skrull and partner to She-Hulk), Joe Ego (who?), Beta Ray Bill and fellow-Korbinite Ti Asha Ra, Adam X, Hepzibah, the S'Thalin family (Z'Nox defectors), and Karolina Dean (of the Runaways). Also detained are any supporters of Abigail Brand.

New Mutants #6, by writer Zeb Wells and artist Diogenes Neves, begins the series's Necrosha tie-in arc. In spite of my dislike for previous issues, I have given this new chapter a chance to again spark my interest in the series. I had no idea what I was in for.

Picking up after the events of issue five, the team heads to the base on Utopia where they reunite with Charles Xavier. During this suspiciously upbeat moment, however, a virus-infected Doug Ramsey (messed with by Selene) watches from the shadows outside. While I am unfamiliar with the character, I found myself—temporarily—fascinated by Ramsey as he gives the reader an interesting insight into the true meaning of the words spoken by Xavier and the others. He reads their body language and facial movements, translating them into the statements they imply. I found this to be the most interesting part of the entire issue, though it was jarring at first.

From the pages of Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men comes S.W.O.R.D. #1, as crafted by writer Kieron Gillen and artist Steven Sanders (and a one-off back-up story with art from Gillen’s Phonogram collaborator Jamie McKelvie). Continuing story threads begun in Astonishing and Secret Invasion, Gillen’s has promised to deliver a high-octane sci-fi space romance and comedy. How well, if at all, did it deliver? There might be spoilers ahead!

Astonishing X-Men #25 began a new era in what many X-Fans dubbed the Strongest X-Men Title In a Decade. In twenty-four issues--and one Giant-Size special--Joss Whedon and John Cassaday told not only a memorable X-Men tale, but a story that will stand the test of time as one of the great comic book stories of the modern age. It may sound like hyperbole, but I do not doubt that most fans of the book would agree.

That said, the same fans were left in doubt when it was announced that Whedon's and Cassaday's departure from the title would not be the end of the Astonishing X-Men. In the months following the release of Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1, Marvel revealed that Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi would take over with issue twenty-five--the solicitation for which promised big science, big action, and the overall continued greatness of the title. It was with these promises in mind--as well as a love for Ellis's work on newuniversal--that I dove into the  new era of Astonishing for the six-issue arc entitled "Ghost Box".