Astonishing X-Men: Final issue of Joss Whedon's run

[selenak]

I've read it three times now, and two complaints aside, I'm really happy with it and think it's a great finale both for the Unstoppable arc and for the four arc run in general that started with Gifted. Also, time permitting, I think some more meta posts are due, but more about that later.

First, to get the complaints out of the way: I really had to read it several times before twigging what was going on with the collective hallucinations of Earth's mightiest. At first I wondered whether Cassandra was making a come-back since this could have been the work of a very strong telepath, but there was no sign of her, so that couldn't be it, and then upon rereading I figured out (I think) that it was all Strange's fault, i.e. that his attempt to save the day by magic misfired and instead had everyone hallucinating they were saving the day while they're in reality just standing around. Now, I appreciate that for once we get an explanation about why nobody else in the Marvelverse but the comic in question's heroes is around to save the day, and I also liked in earlier arcs the nods and tie-ins to other Marvel stories - Scott visiting Nick Fury, the X-men running into the Fantastic Four when trying to save the day in a PR effective way, that kind of thing. But I still wish Strange zoning everyone out, if that was what it was, had been made clearer, because it distracted me from the overall flow of the story. This being said, Joss is great with quick pen portraits of Spider-man and the Fantastic Four. The ultra wry "then Ben gets to hit a rocket" suddenly endeared Reed to me.

Complaint the second is about Aghanne, though as opposed to complaint the first, here I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, you could say Aghanna's introduction with its twist on the Superman origin image - the baby she places in a shuttle is not the last survivor of a dying world, it's dead, and she sees death as peace and resolution - did foreshadow that she had in fact stopped believing her people could be reformed and concluded they all needed to die so there'd be an end, including her, and that seventeen years as a bloodthirsty champion before that don't encourage rationality. On the other, that really leaves the Breakworld with no reformer of their own, and as bad off as they were at the start of the tale. However: they were saved by one of their own, as far as their lives and planet are concerned, if not their way of life. Ord finally managing to save his people by sacrificing his own life in going after Aghanne brings his story to a well-wrapped up conclusion, and Colossus kneeling down next to him was unexpectedly moving. (And als wrapped up something for Peter, since Ord was the one who had imprisoned him and experimented on him. Overall, AXM has confronted all of our heroes with their nightmares and old hatreds, and this was actually more poignant than the whole rage thing turned against him in Torn.)

Now, on to the good stuff. Considering the distinct lack of Kitty in current X-men titles and that "not everyone will come back" prophecy, the speculation Kitty might not survive the trip to the Breakworld has been making the rounds for a while, with the counter-argument being that she's one of Joss' favourites from his childhood and he clearly loves her. (Now, Joss loving a character is more an argument for him putting that character through hell, but leaving that aside...) As it turns out, Kitty's fate is a neat comicverse coup in that it's not exactly death and if in some years another writer wants to bring her back, he/she can by coming up with a suitable impressive way to dissolve her from the bullet and destroying same, but if not, what an exit! Throghout the entire run, I've been impressed by how Joss uses the powers of the mutants he chose for the ensemble; he really did something with them, making them a point of character, not just a random thing occasionally used for fight scenes. The most creepy and sinister use of Kitty's powers was her putting an ax in Peter's brain in the imaginary scenario Emma/Cassandra put her through. The most life-saving until now was near the end of Dangerous when she extended her phasing to the other X-men and thus saved them from being fried on Genosha. Early on in Gifted Scott says her powers are defensive, not aggressive, and this puts people at ease; he's not quite right (see nightmare scenario) - Kitty could use her powers in an incredible destructive way. But she doesn't. And here she commits them to the ultimate defense. Saving the planet by becoming one with the bullet meant to kill it, changing a weapon into something harmless at the expense of herself. And speaking of powers - Emma's telepathy was used wonderfully well throughout the entire run, too, in both funny (her making the space ride easier for everyone by bringing them into a taking tea scenario) and traumatic ways (again, see Kitty living through three years). The way she uses her telepathy here, talking with Kitty throughout the way to Earth, being with Kitty till the end, was but unexpected and yet in retrospect so inevitable and right. As was the fact Kitty's last conversation is with her, not Peter. The relationship between Emma and Kitty is a core one for the entire four arcs, and I really want to write a separate post about it. I touched on it in my post about Emma after Torn, but that was from Emma's pov, and I want to do it from Kitty's, and also in terms of how it's used in all four arcs. I hope I'll find the time. The tone of the conversation feels just right, not sentimental but emotionally intense, true to both women, and I really love it to bits. And the double panel that ends it. Ms Frost, Ms Pryde, you were indeed astonishing.

By contrast, Emma and Scott already had their emotional resolution a couple of issues back, so there was nothing new in this one, but the last scene between them was a great epilogue anyway, with the unqualified-by-sarcasm-or-anger-or-other-things simple and mutual "I love you" summing it up.

Talking of couples... no, not yet. I'm saving that to the last. Hisako was a minor character throughout but a very vivid one, and her relationship with Logan the newest riff on a trusty old X-men trope, "Logan mentors a young girl". I loved this particular version. Here, the way Logan used his brusqueness to get Hisako out of her shock at the start of Unstoppable is reflected back on him as she uses it to get him out of his grief. I couldn't have asked for a better final scene for both. Hisako, aka Armor, I hope Warren Ellis keeps you around, and if he doesn't, that other writers will use you, because you are a great addition to the X-men. And when is someone going to write the fanfic where you meet Hiro Nakamura?

And now, of course, for the couple I've been unabashedly shipping before the rest of you saw them as a possibility, so allow me for feeling smugly jubilant, I'll try to be less obnoxious about them later: Abigail Brand/Hank McCoy OTP!!!!!!!!! I mean!!!!!
a) She's alive
b) She proposes to him
c) She also offers him a job at S.W.O.R.D
d) He takes it
e) THEY ARE CANON!!!!

Okay, a bit calmer now. In my post about Agent Brand a while ago, I've pointed out that banter and attraction aside, you can see that the other effect Hank seems to have on her is that she does start to take his pov on ethics into account; her reaction when they're both seeing all the dead Breakworlders in the snow is telling. Here, we get a great contrast to the way she reacted after Gifted in her trial. Back then, she was completely unapologetic and basically told the comittee judging her "my way or the high way", and if there was human cost on that way to save earth, well, tough luck. Now, on the other hand, she tells Hank that because of the choices she made, they both lost people on the way that needn't have died. She's still ruthless, she's still determined. But she's a bit wiser now, and not afraid to admit to regrets anymore; there is no more "casualities of war" terminology. And that, just as much as the fact they have glorious banter and just spark, is why I think she and Hank genuinenly have a shot.

I think it was londonkds who speculated early on Brand might be a mutant in the closet. As it turns out, she's a half-alien instead (sudden Farscape thought: does that mean she's a female and only slightly better adjusted Scorpius? See also Scorpius re: Scarrans and Sebaceans), and while Joss after having teased us long enough with that night in the snow gives us the non-sexual explanation for Hank's "oh, my" at last, he also makes it clear sex is next, so no complaints there. Rather cleverly, the key element in her proposal to Hank to work for SWORD (as opposed to her other proposal to jump his bones) is basically, to use a phrase from another fandom, "sometimes I need someone to stop me". How could he possibly say no? For someone with no social skills, she does know how to push buttons. I love that in a woman. And in a man, of course. And if time permits, I'm so writing fanfic about their snarky, tentative first dates.

In conclusion: Well done, Joss, well done. Now, remember that on tv, you can't make us wait for a half a year for the next episode... I hope?

Comments

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Strange's powers being sent out of control and affecting everyone else does seem to be the general consensus of opinion, but even people who are deep deep deep into superhero comics thought it wasn't clear enough.

I was thinking "Oh boy, Selena will love this" with every panel featuring Hank and Brand. I adored his "wasted concern" line. And if you're thinking of writing that fic, I thought the scenes between them is this issue didn't emotionally rule out a snowhole!sex incident that they didn't talk abut afterwards because important things were going on.

Agree with you about Kitty and Emma. However, I don't think anybody with the faintest knowledge of superhero comics thinks that Kitty's permanently dead and I'm sure that as soon as somebody next wants to do a grand travelogue of the extraterrestrial parts of the Marvel Universe there'll be a series about people looking for her and/or her making her way back to Earth.

I have thinky thoughts about Peter and Agharte and Kruun based on my earlier impressions from Cassaday's art that I'll post about soon.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Quite, re: Kitty's existential state. Though I guess they'll wait at least two years or so before someone brings her back; travelogues are another matter, but how many of the big Marvelverse writers are really into sci fi and planet exploration? On the other hand, they do the big Skull storyline this year, which is sci fi, so who knows.

Hank's "wasted concern" line: adored it, too. If he had saved her it wouldn't have been nearly as good or satisfying as her saving herself and that line. Do you think Warren Ellis will keep the two of them around? I haven't heard anything about which characters he'll use yet, but then I was trying to avoid spoilers.

I'll comment on your post once the conference is over!

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I need to reread this issue and can't quite bring myself to do it yet -- basically agreed on all points without having checked back for details. londonkds is right, that basically everybody seems to be confused by the earth-heroes' reactions, so it's something that wasn't explained clearly enough in the issue. My take was that the heroes' reaction was a manifestation of the 'magical defenses' mentioned in the previous issue; I thought that regardless of what Strange did, something was going to happen to paralyze the heroes into inaction (this is a device, btw, that both Alan Moore and Grant Morrison have used in Justice League stories, though it's a very Jossian thing as well, and this is a place where trying to trace a circle of influence can give a big headache). The ultimate point I saw was to show that the bullet really was 'unstoppable' (brilliant reversal on the title of the last arc, which was set up to make you think it meant the team, and really -- it meant the bullet). And the 'can't stop it, have to go through' solution is so very Joss -- and makes Kitty such a Jossian heroine to the (maybe?) end that it's a nice resolution.

I had seriously mixed feelings about the hero teammup -- on one hand, it's hard to argue against the idea that all these people would have to be involved if a giant planet killing missile was flying at earth. On the other hand (admittedly influenced by the publishing schedule) I feel like the last arc would have been tighter if it had just been 6 issues focused on the X-men. But then I'm not really sure what in the previous 6 issues I would lose --

God, what else? I'm amused by how many comments I'm seeing on other forums about Hank/Brand coming out of nowhere (nobody seems to dislke it, just not to have expected it; and I'm going 'Ahh, but if you'd been reading Selena's posts --) The character moments were all terrific, and this issue did really bring me back to thinking of Kitty and Emma as the key relationship in the series. I would love to see you write that essay.

I have deliberately been reading as little as possible about the upcoming Ellis arc on the series, so I'm unclear on what extent it's actually a continuation of the storylines in this series. I hope it will pick them up in some way (Ellis commented somewhere online that he had read the final issue long before it came out, so at least this will avoid the problem that occurs when a new writer obviously hasn't been filled in on the ending of a previous arc). I am pretty sure Hisako will feature in the new series, and presumably Hank's affiliation with SWORD will as well (Hank has been fairly invisible in most of the other X-books up to this point, and this might explain why -- though he didn't show in Secret Invasion either). I would also like to hear more about what happened to the Breakworld after the X-men left. And, oh, of course, I'm pleased as can be that the issue of Scott's power control is left open. Now that it's established he has some level of control over his powers, it's there for a subsequent writer to play with.

I may have some brewing meta about this series, but I think it may be less about the things that happen in the

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Wow, I didn't finish that comment --

-- I was going to say I'm less intrigued by what happened in the series at this point (as I feel like all my issues were pretty well resolved -- even the grumbling about Kitty being left in space is settling, because having her come back in a spaceship in some transformed state before the end of the next arc is such a very Warren Ellis thing to do that I'm going to pretend that's where this is going until I know otherwise).

But anyway, what is fascinating about this series looking back is how it works as a text/ fannish artifact. Because it really has consistently been a less-than-transparent story that almost requires people to sit down and talk about interpretation. And I completely understand and respect that that isn't what a lot of people want out of a comic book. There are plenty of comic books I don't want to do that with. I have no damn interest in figuring out what Morrison may or may not be getting at in Here Comes Tomorrow, because I don't care about the story. Whedon/Cassaday (and I'm talking about them as some kind of symbiote, because I basically know all of Whedon's work, and I've only had this experience with AXM) have a really unusual ability to tell a story that's simultaneously this complex and non-transparent, and incredibly compelling on a personal level. It ultimately actually reminds me of Alan Moore more than anybody else in comics.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You didn't wonder what was going in in, say, The Kindly Ones before it finished? As Joss strikes me more Gaiman than Moore in that he evokes warmth of feeling towards and between his characters. I'm usually fascinated by an Alan Moore story, but with the exception of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I don't feel for them as people the way I do for Gaiman or JW drawn characters.

I agree about the complexity and challenge to interpret, though. Also, I am sure now that we can read all four arcs in a row there's a lot more to discover. (Inlcuding abandoned plot threads - Trudy, for one (the little girl Rao had as exhibit A and whom Ord took an interest in), who I suspect went the way of the cure once House of M made all cure related things unusable. I wonder what change in the overall story it would have made if there'd been no Wanda caused reducement of the mutant population?

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of Moore because I was reading Moore more recently, though I'm sure there's a comparison with Gaiman as well -- there are a couple specific similarities to 'Watchmen' that occurred to me (more the way the text works than specific content) and also, particularly, a superman story he did that the plot device in Giant Size Xmen reminded me of -- but I'm too tired to be coherent about this ATM, and I'll try to incorporate it when I do a meta post soonish :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

The ultimate point I saw was to show that the bullet really was 'unstoppable' (brilliant reversal on the title of the last arc, which was set up to make you think it meant the team, and really -- it meant the bullet).

Also, way back when. at the start of "Dangerous", Brand said "there is a bullet aimed at Earth"...and then it turned out to be literary the case!

And the 'can't stop it, have to go through' solution is so very Joss -- and makes Kitty such a Jossian heroine to the (maybe?) end that it's a nice resolution.

That's true. Change the nature of the weapon if you can't stop the weapon; Kitty entering the story surrounded by fragments of her old self, phasing through, and leaving it again having become one and phasing through again. Also, great use of visual cues; Peter touching his heart the way Kitty did hers in Gifted was saying it all, for example.

I'm amused by how many comments I'm seeing on other forums about Hank/Brand coming out of nowhere

Huh? I mean, I know I'm biased, but - WHAT? Shame on them. What kind of geeks are they? At the very latest when a bickering couple trading Star Wars allusions seeks shelter in the snow, it should have been blatantly obvious that there was some subtext going on.

Ellis commented somewhere online that he had read the final issue long before it came out, so at least this will avoid the problem that occurs when a new writer obviously hasn't been filled in on the ending of a previous arc

Oh good!

And, oh, of course, I'm pleased as can be that the issue of Scott's power control is left open. Now that it's established he has some level of control over his powers, it's there for a subsequent writer to play with.

I figured you'd like that.*g*