Peter David's work has repeatedly been compared to that of Joss Whedon. A lightness of touch, a fine hand with witty, stylised dialogue, a tendency to slip contemporary reference, a repeated desire to play against type, and the commonality of combining action, comedy and horror, often at the same time. And I believe they have mutual admiration for each other's work.

David is also adept at the art of the adaptation. He has adapted many a film in novel form, and novels to comics, specifically Stephen King's Dark Tower, and is a successful novelist and a comic book writer in his own right.

But now he's doing the adaptation thing to the Joss Whedon/John Cassaday run on Astonishing X-Men, turning the run into a series of novels, starting with Gifted.

Whedon was a high profile hire on that book, and it still sells well in collected form today. The feeling is, however, that there is still an audience yet to be tapped that prefer not to read comics. And that is where Peter David comes in.

The book will be published in September.