Marvel Plans ‘Astonishing’ Line for 2010

"Astonishing X-Men" by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday remains one of the most acclaimed X-Men runs in recent history, where the A-list creative team wrote standalone stories about the popular mutant team that gave readers a fresh jumping on point, while remaining within the larger continuity of the other X-Men comics.

Now, Marvel plans to use that same recipe to create an entire line of "Astonishing" titles, giving top notch creators a chance to write in-continuity miniseries about some of Marvel's most famous characters, and allowing those stories to function independently of regular, ongoing Marvel titles.

"Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis" by Warren Ellis and Kaare Andrews is slated as the first book in the line, continuing out of the original "Astonishing X-Men" series, followed by "Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine" by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert.

"They are firmly set in Marvel continuity but also accessible to new readers," said Marvel Senior VP of Sales and Circulation David Gabriel. "If you're looking for big changes and character developments or a place to start reading if you are new to comics, this is where you come. Thanks to Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, the name Astonishing is synonymous with excellence. That's what this line is all about, from the creators to the characters."