Shout Factory will release the DVD version on September 28, 2010. It has been available elsewhere such as iTunes but this is an easy way to watch it on your television. I have to say, even though I watch it on DVD (versus a Blu-ray), it still looked really good on my TV. John Cassaday's art really stands out when seeing it a bigger screen.
The release contains all six episodes of the Gifted storyline in the first six issues of Astonishing X-Men. A lot that happened here still has a strong impact on current continuity in the X-Men comics. Since you've probably already seen the clips or perhaps even some episodes, is this release worth picking up?
== TEASER ==
Besides the six episodes, the special features include the "Rise Up" music video (which you can see here), a trailer for Gifted, History of the characters (you use your arrow keys to scroll through the pages), Behind the Scenes: Marvel Knights Animation (with Joe Quesada, Alex Maleev and others), Artist's Gallery (John Cassaday's art, scroll through with arrows), some episodes of Marvel Super Heroes: What The--?! ("Voice Auditions," Episode 1: "There's No Business Like Snow Business," Episode 2: "Red Carpet M.O.D.O.K." and Episode 11: "Deadpool FYC") and some trailers for other motion comics releases (Spider-Woman: Agent of SWORD, Black Panther and Iron Man: Extremis).
If you're still not familiar with how this story translated into a motion comic, check out some scenes from the third episode:
I do like the idea of seeing certain stories translated into motion comics. I don't think Gifted came out as well as Spider-Woman or Iron Man. While Cassaday's brilliant art helps, some of the movement felt a little awkward at times. Still, I think it's a really nice way to see a story I enjoyed given special treatment. I do not see this, in any way, replacing regular comics. It's simply a different way to view it and one that non-comic book readers might enjoy. Think about the Joss Whedon fans that might not want to actually read an X-Men comic.
Should you buy this? Places like Amazon are selling it for just over ten bucks. I mentioned the art looks really nice on a big screen, despite some of the awkward movement at times. If you really enjoyed the story arc and you're a fan of John Cassaday, I'd say to definitely check this out. Giving it a rating, I'd say it hovers at a 3.5 out of 5. To me, the execution was about average. I think the motion comic technology has improved drastically (again, Iron Man Extremis blows this away) but there's some cool stuff here.