Product Details

• Actors: Wolverine, Cyclops, Beast
• Directors: Joss Whedon, John Cassaday
• Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Shout! Factory
• DVD Release Date: September 28, 2010
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B003NHMYJ2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,303 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

From Joss Whedon, the Mastermind Behind the Acclaimed TV Series Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly, and Award-Winning Artist John Cassaday Comes the Ultimate Story of Mutant Survival!


When Dr. Kavita Rao develops a controversial mutant cure, Professor Charles Xaviers X-Men, the aggressive Wolverine, conflicted Beast and newly returned Kitty Pryde, led by Cyclops and Emma Frost, once again find themselves battling against science, prejudice and a mysterious new foe named Ord! Can the X-Men protect the mutants of the world against this powerful new alien menace and the concoction that threatens to rid them of their unique abilities?


With smart storytelling, incredible action, startling revelations and the reemergence of old friends, this Will Eisner Award winner for Best Continuing Series will have you on the edge of your seat like never before with truly astonishing animated motion co-directed by artist John Cassaday and the legendary Neal Adams himself!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 53 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Astonished by how GREAT this show is June 17, 2010

By S. H. Wells VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I originally got these as downloads through the Playstation network. Gifted is divided into 6 episodes of about 15 minutes each. When I saw Amazon had the motion comic on DVD I had to purchase it.

What is a motion comic? Its a bit of a hybrid genre-- the video looks like someone was able to animate the spaces between the panels in a comic book. The conversation bubbles are replaced by voice actors. The voice acting is spot on. Emma Frost drips with her elite mannerism. Wolverine is gruff and quick-witted. The voice actors do a great job of dramatically portraying the x-men without going over the top into the field of campy or too corny: It is not a Saturday morning cartoon-- in some ways it much better.

I loved the 1990's x-men cartoon, but as I grew up so did the X-men. Astonishing X-men are still dealing with some of the issues of discrimination and intolerance that have been a hallmark of x-men series since the comic debuted in the 1960s but in a much more sophisticated manner. In these episodes a cure for mutants is discovered, and the x-men are torn between inner conflicts as well as inter-stellar conflicts.

I wont give anything away, but the acting and animation is paced so that the suspense never slackens. The only thing I don't like about this is that there are ONLY six episodes. I would gladly buy ever x-men issue as motion comic as well as a paper issue if they were as well made as these episodes.

If you grew up with the x-men, you'll appreciate Gifted for its many allusions to their 40 year comic history. If you're new to x-men, these episodes are almost as thrilling as the movies without being nearly as campy as the saturday morning cartoons.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars BETTER THAN THE LIVE ACTION OR ANY ANIMATED XMEN MOVIE July 26, 2010

By BWaynebaby

Format:DVD

I don't know where to start. I am one of the few women that still keeps up with her inner comic book geek. I viewed this online, I was ready to make fun of it. The jokes on me.

IT WAS AWESOME!!!! I actually own two of the issues this series stems from. It perfectly replicates how most of us comic book geeks see the action and dialogue in our minds. I was so impressed with this motion comic and the execution of it. I have been trying to convince people who have never read a comic to purchase this. It had action, supense, sexuality, humor. The acting is superb!!! THIS IS NOT A CARTOON!!!!!

SPOILER: THE SCENE IN THE FACILITY WITH KITTY PRYDE HAD ME GASPING OUT LOUD

I encourage everyone to buy this DVD and I hope they make a million more. I have viewed other motion comics and this is by far the BEST ONE.

Can someone please ask Neal Adams to do a motion comis for Batman's Hush?!?!

BUY THIS DVD!!!!!

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "We have to astonish them." July 3, 2010

By James Donnelly VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Joss Whedon: The Man, The Myth, The God Among Geeks. There are very few creative forces in the pantheon of Fanboy/girl obsession that have more slavish devotees than Joss Whedon. The reason for this is simple: Just about every project he touches turns to gold. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, ANGEL, FIREFLY, DOLLHOUSE, and the SERENITY feature film... he is a geek god. And then he came into the world of Comics. He started out with the futuristic Vampire Slayer series FRAY, and then he was given the opportunity to helm the flagship X-Men title for the new millenium: ASTONISHING X-MEN. The series comes directly after the fallout of the Grant Morrison run, which saw Jean Grey die (again), Scott Summers fall in love with Emma Frost, a Magneto-wannabe destroy a lot of Manhattan and all of the X-Men's uniforms turn into black and yellow leather.

Joss Whedon and PLANETARY's illustrious illustrator John Cassaday joined up to bring a less bizarre but more intense run than Morrison ever could have done.

I'm not really going to get into the plot because you can find that all on the TPB review pages. What I'm going into here is the Motion Comic. It does a great job at retelling and somewhat animating the "Gifted" arc. The voice talent is all no-name, but they all fit their respected characters perfectly. The executive directors of this series are Cassaday and living legend Neal Adams... who if you read comics, you should know and love. If you don't, I'll sum his work up for you: You know how BATMAN got really campy in the 60's? He was the artist that was most directly responsible for bringing the Dark Knight back from that crap....

After getting all of these, unfortunately, through iTunes (unfortunately, because I'm not a fan of iTunes), I still plan on getting the DVD because the motion comic for "Gifted" is just as great as the read of the series. Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars "So, what? The teachers spend all their time here trying to kill each other? This place is so cool!" October 16, 2010

By H. Bala TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

First, the comic book gives you more, in case you haven't read it yet. But this motion comics adaptation ain't so shabby, either. Apologies to Grant Morrison and his quirk and others who did decent in their X-Men runs, but no one's done it better recently than Joss Whedon. So if a comic book company were to launch a new platform to showcase its comics, mining Whedon's brilliance seems a straight-up no-brainer. Artist John Cassaday helped, too. Of course, DC was the actual pioneer in this field, having come out with its rough WATCHMEN motion comics some years ago.

ASTONISHING X-MEN: GIFTED is Whedon's first X-Men arc and, reading it, you knew right away that you're in for some spectacular times. Whedon pulls out all the usual tools from his utility belt: the wit, the humor, the emotional gut checks, the pop culture plunge, the plot swerve. He makes you love the characters, even characters you didn't give an ef about going in (I'm looking at you, Cyclops). And, after you grow to care about them, he kills them off. I'm not saying that that happens here. But Whedon is a notorious serial killer.

Whedon gets a crack at writing Kitty Pryde, and if you don't fall in love with her, you are some sort of soulless. She returns to the X-Men proper here, and as a member of Xavier Institute's faculty, all grown up. In terms of character development, Kitty is the richest character. Love Kitty Pryde.

The central conflicts in the story: An alien mercenary called Ord from the Breakworld - the wonderfully snide Emma Frost refers to him as the "alien berk" - is running amok, taking hostages, testing the X-Men for whatever reason. Meanwhile, with the ever present anti-mutant hysteria as a backdrop, a brilliant geneticist publicly announces a cure for the mutant gene.... Two separate plot threads but, as it turns out, it's all one single thread. As a bonus, Nick Fury shows up and S.W.O.R.D. is introduced. And just to demonstrate that Whedon doesn't only kill people off, an X-Man returns from the dead.

Don't get it twisted, what's featured here isn't full blown animation or a cartoon or what have you. Motion comics is a medium perched somewhere between the comic book and animation (text captions and word/thought balloons are excised in exchange for spoken dialogue). The movements aren't that fluid or continuous. Think of it as taking the original artwork from the comic book and tweaking it here and there just enough so that there are bits of movement. It's pretty minimal stuff, but in spite of the inherent stiffness and the limits to this new medium, the computer graphic artists do wonders. The neat thing to this concept is that there is absolute devotion to the source material, the comic book's original artwork is preserved, as well as the words. In ASTONISHING X-MEN: GIFTED the "animators" are all very keen to keep faith with John Cassaday. Thanks to them - and thanks to project overseer Neal Adams and Cassaday himself - this motion comics achieves a sort of dynamic flow. The voice actors - a bunch of unknowns - flesh out the characters and are pitch perfect for their roles. And we already know Joss Whedon's story itself has legs.

I'm still not sold on this motion comics thing. If Marvel, and whichever other comic book company, were to stick with its best products, then motion comics might make a go of it as a valid medium. I'd love to see John Byrne's 1980s run on FANTASTIC FOUR to get this treatment or Miller & Mazzucchelli's BATMAN: YEAR ONE. I like what I saw in GIFTED because Cassaday's art is stunning stuff, never mind that this new technology is still tottering on baby legs. Neal Adams has stated that he someday wants this medium to get a movie theater release, but that is some serious reaching at this early stage. Let's wait and see.

ASTONISHING X-MEN: GIFTED collects all six episodes, each running at around 12 to 14 minutes. The DVD's bonus material: Joe Quesada and Neal Adams talk about the genesis and development of Marvel's first motion comic book, with Quesada also going into the process of acquiring Joss Whedon as X-Men's then newest writer (00:17:10 minutes long); the pretty cool "Rise Up" music video; the ASTONISHING X-MEN: GIFTED trailer; a chronological history of the X-Men, narrated in text, except that if your television screen is small, then you may not be able to read the print; "Behind the Scenes with Marvel Knights Animation" delves even more technically into the motion comics process (00:05:12 minutes); an Artist's Gallery featuring John Cassaday's incredible stuff; "Marvel Super Heroes: What The--?!" presents Marvel characters auditioning for roles in ASTONISHING X-MEN: GIFTED: Episode #1 ("There's No Business Like Snow Business"), Episode #2 ("Red Carpet M.O.D.O.K."), and Episode #11 ("Deadpool FYC"); and trailers for other Marvel motion comics (SPIDER-WOMAN: AGENT OF S.W.O.R.D., the shaky looking BLACK PANTHER, and IRON MAN: EXTREMIS). Read more ›