Yeah, it really is amazing. Comics were huge in the mid-90s. They really blossomed with the Death of Superman, I think. There were some great X-Men storylines around that time, too, so fans of the cartoon jumped on board and started reading. But then X-Men got complicated (I stopped at the whole Phalanx thing). Gen-13 came out and the focus switched to drawing anime-style girls with giant boobs. And Superman split into a red and a blue Superman, and then became some sort of Electric Superman. That was when I bailed.
But yeah, now there's some really great writing again (in the big superhero books, that is; I never really ventured into more indie books). Identity Crisis was just awesome to me. Never was I the slightest bit interested in foagies like Green Arrow. Now I'm into that stuff!
Sad_Girl----Yeah, you're right about Whedon & Astonishing X-Men. Thinking about it more closely, I guess one of the main reasons I like it is Kitty Pryde. I'm glad to see her back & cool. But you're right---the treatment of Cyclops sucks. And I'm not fond of the cat-like Beast. As for the Emma Frost bit, that took me a while to get used to (though hasn't she been a member of the team in other X-books for a couple of years?). You may be glad to know that her bit is really falling apart right now and making for some interesting stuff.....
I'll probably read a few more issues of Astonishing and then may drop it off. Marvel just isn't doing it for me right now. The Civil War proper series----kick-ass. Civil War X-men---sucked. The Spider-Man Civil War tie-ins----predictable, but pretty good. But I'm just not drawn to most of the Marvel stuff right now. After years of corny heroes and corny villains, I'm being turned on by DC again.