Technically, we have finally reached the last issue of Astonishing X-Men.  Very technically.

This is issue #24, and Warren Ellis is supposedly relaunching the series from issue #1.  But the story isn't finished yet.  Yes, after almost four years, twenty-four issues just wasn't enough to accommodate Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's storyline.  We'll have to wait for the big pay-off in Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1, due out next month.

Sorry - originally due out next month.  Now due in April.

Issue #24 is a rather frustrating comic.  It's frustrating because in many ways it's really quite good.  But the format hasn't done it any favours.  This storyline really didn't need to be twenty-four issues long.  Even if it had come out monthly as intended, two years would have been pushing it.  It'll read better in the trade paperback, but frankly, even in page count, many of these stories are longer than they would ideally be.

There has been a trend towards tighter writing in the last few years, and in fairness, Whedon and Cassaday have probably been committed to this structure for quite a while.  It would be a very strange collected edition if the pace suddenly doubled halfway through.  But if you look at the stories that Whedon is writing nowadays, for his own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or even Marvel's Runaways, they're tighter.  They're faster.  They've got more momentum.

Which means I can't help thinking, as I read Astonishing X-Men, that if only Whedon was doing it over from scratch, it would probably be much, much better.  And half the length.

It's still good, though.  Whedon's story is carefully constructed, and as we build to the finale, all sorts of accumulated misdirection is being allowed to pay off.  He's very good at working with audience expectations and setting us up to view the story in completely the wrong way, without actually cheating. 

There are some very clever sequences along those lines.  When the Beast offers a theory of what's going on, in a scene that looks like the typical "Heroes figure out the mystery" routine, we're simply inclined to take him at face value, even when he admits he doesn't have the evidence to back up his claims - and so it comes as a surprise when the story seems to go in a different direction.  The confusion at the end of the story, about quite how this strange missile works, is also nicely handled.  These are skilful little details that elevate the story. 

Okay, we didn't need the pointless misdirection about Magik, which adds nothing and would merely confuse new readers to no benefit.  But that point aside, this is a well-constructed story.

John Cassaday is still producing graceful artwork, and while the story doesn't give colourist Laura Martin quite as many opportunities to show off as some previous issues have, she's still doing an excellent and subtle job, adding extra dimensions to the work.

So what holds the story back?  Two things, ultimately.  It's too slow.  And it doesn't really have much to say about the characters; they've been dumped into a story about power-mad aliens, and their character moments are essentially incidental to that story.  Yes, Cyclops gets to demonstrate his leadership skills, but he can do that against any opponent.  This still doesn't feel to me like a story about the X-Men, or even a story about any individual X-Man.  It's a superhero story which happens to feature the X-Men, but could have been done just as well with the Fantastic Four or the Avengers or the Teen Titans.

But even so, Whedon constructs his story impressively enough that I've got to acknowledge this as a good issue.  He has better stories in him, but this certainly works.

Rating: A-

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