January 13^th saw the release of SWORD #3 and confirmed a suspicion of mine: SWORD is among the best titles of 2009. It's too bad this confirmation has arrived just in time for the series' cancellation.

Readers of CBR (Comic Book Resources) will have seen the announcement from Marvel concerning the return of long-absent X-Man Kitty Pryde.

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.

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!

Issue 32 finds the X-Men continuing their battle with the “organic” sentinel.  We’re also treated to the return of The Brood.  The battle wages on in the streets of San Francisco until an unlikely hero ends it for good.  Afterwards, Abigail Brand lays quite a shocker on the X-Men and we’re left with yet another cliff hanger ending.

Ellis’ writing continues to shine in this new arc.  After plodding through “Ghost Box”, it seems he’s finally hit the mark.  The character writing is spot-on and in my opinion, this arc should finally get X-fans to stop mourning the loss of Whedon on the title and embrace Ellis as the full-time writer of Astonishing.

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".