How the "Life of X" resurrection was done made me do a double-take and go back a couple of pages to question if what I saw really just happened. One life is possibly relinquished to restore another, readers won't completely know how this setup works until future issues, but needless to say Soule leaves a cliffhanger of an ending. The actions from this series will most likely cause a ripple going forward for most X-Men titles and the mutants in the Marvel Universe. Soule and Del Mundo created an emotional journey for their readers and I was happy to take the ride. Read Full Review

Credit where credit is due, Charles Soule pulled off a good twist in this issue. What's really impressive is that Soule clearly set this event in motion during the previous issues, but he didn't draw too much attention to it at the time. Just a few pages and panels, here and there. But it really works. Read Full Review

Art was different, but really pretty to look at. Different than standard comic book art. No harsh lines, almost like watercolor. It has bright colors with no harshness, but had a good amount of contrast in all the different panels. It suits the issue well and had a lot of detail still. Read Full Review

Astonishing X-Men continues to be the book that X-fans should be flocking to. Read Full Review

"Astonishing X-Men" #6 was a great ending for Soule's debut arc and fully delivered on changing the cast's status quo. It remains to be seen how those events will shape the characters going forward, but readers should remain onboard for that. Read Full Review

This is a great final chapter to the first arc of what Soule's setting up. There's a goal here and the use of the Shadow King is a nice nod to the character's increased recognition due to Legion. There's also something a little different about this Professor X and Soule has me really intrigued to see where he takes the character. This is a key issue that will have folks talking. Read Full Review

Overall, Astonishing X-Men #6 comes out being one of the weakest issues of the series so far. Its not bad, but its not great either. If youre devoted to the X-Men and this book, then you may as well purchase it to continue the story. However, if you were just wanting to try this series, I would give this issue a pass. Read Full Review

This is FINALLY where every little details, evevry dialogues that felts out of place pay off. The story comes to a close with the revelation of Xavier's plan since the very beginning and all falls into place. The final revelation is a real surprise and makes you wonder where things will go next not only for the Astonishing series, but for every other X-Men books. The artist change is starting to feel less distracting as we get used to it and this time it's a strikingly different style, but it works well and the colors are gorgeous. This final act 1 issue redeems the flaws of the previous one a reignites the interest for future installments.

Finally an issue that actually works and mainly because of Del Mundo's art. He just slayed it. I mean Soule's narrative is intriguing from Charles Xavier's point of view but it's still seems disconnected somehow. Maybe that says something about this particular Professor X but i'm just glad that the art elevated the script.

Xavier turns the tables on the Shadow King and things start looking better for our heroes - but why is this victory less than complete? And that there at the end, can that really be … ? A fascinating plot unfolds like a flower, and Mike del Mundo's art makes it look a very pretty blossom. There's an undeniable bit of clinical detachment and distance from the characters that holds this issue off of all-time greatness, though. It's A Thing That's Happening and it's surely impressive, but there's no real feeling that it's all that Important to the people it's happening to. That's despite the definitely sky-high stakes involved in the conflict. This is a blast to read but probably not destined for later recall.

The think the art of this series reads best at a monthly pace but I suspect the story will benefit from a one-sit reading, so in some ways the series is at odds with itself. That said, I was pleasantly surprised by the intelligent way Xavier was brought back and am interested to see where they take the idea.