A couple of months ago Netflix Canada added a 6 episode series called Astonishing Xmen to its catalogue, listing it in the anime category. I thought it was wierd that Astonishing Xmen was optioned for an anime series, and figured it wasn’t very successful because it is only 6 eps. I thumbed passed it just now and saw the thumbnail image was art straight out of the comic. What it turns out to be is the first volume of the Astonishing Xmen motion comic. It’s a relatively new style that uses the original comic book art, along with voiceovers to create a semi-animated short. John Cassaday, the artist from the comic, returns to this project, providing new art as well as co-directing the animation. The comic itself is written and scripted by Joss Whedon and that all remains intact in the transfer to this animation.
It’s a really interesting style and if you have the comics you can follow through, panel for panel, word for word. If you’ve never read the comic, check it out, it might get you intested in the comics, and at the very least it’s another chunk of Joss Whedon’s writing to enjoy.