Whedon can't get enough X

Creators of the wildly popular Astonishing X-Men, Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, announced at the WonderCon this weekend that they will be working on another 12 issues of the title. Newsarama.com reports:

Whedon and Cassaday announced at the Serenity panel that they will stick around for another year of Astonishing X-Men. Whedon said that after issue #12 ships, there will be a brief respite, followed by another 12-issues by Whedon/Cassaday. This will be capped off by Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men Annual #1 as Whedon called it.

Can Whedon's giant issue compete with the original? If he could make me interested in the X-Men, then I think the answer could (COULD) be yes.