Astonishing X-Men #30
The last issue of the Ghost Box arc, Warren Ellis' first one for AXM. After the character problems I had with the last issue, and the feeling of the whole thing dragging out without the character development that kept me hooked during the similarly dragged out waiting periods during Joss Whedon's reign, I was all set to call it quits. Now I'm not quite sure anymore, both because the last issue is a good one, and because I have just reread all six of Ellis' issues, which solves some of my complaints (though not all): read as they will be one the trade collections are out, as one story, it's actually fast-paced and logically developing, plus there is a theme. On the downside, reading the whole run still leaves me with a problem that won't go away, and a nitpick. One thing more before I get spoilery: that last issue is evil because it practically screams for Hank McCoy fanfic dealing with the events, and I don't have the time.
The common theme I was talking about earlier is actually announced in the intro text of Ellis' first issue, which states that Cyclops is now prepared to do whatever it takes to protect mutantkind. We get follow-upon this in the discussion with Ororo later, then in Tian, and then Cyclops and the entire team are presented, as befits this type of stories, with an mirror-type opponent who really did take that credo to the ultimate extreme and promptly fell into the supervillain side of the force. Which brings me to my big problem. I've never read any of Forge's previous appearances, so I have no emotional investment in him, either positive or negative. And his one appearance here strikes me as been there, done that with Magneto a couple of times, and better. (My continuing nitpick is that even given ruthlessness and its consequences as a theme, Scott's "we don't need him" order in #29 still reads as gratitously callous and thus ooc. If the guy had been a direct threat to the team, that would have been one thing, but after he had been disabled and surrendered - it just grates.)
On the other hand, the emotional pay-off here isn't really Forge's speech and denoument, but what Hank does as a consequence. (Plus we finally get some acknowledgment of the weirdness of Scott suddenly calling him "Henry", which is made into a part of the general theme.) Though she doesn't appear in the panels as more than a voice, I was both tickled and satisfied to see Abigail Brand saving the X-Men via the astute use of Hisako's cell phone, via having bugged the jet during her last visit (and I was grinning widly when Scott was indignant while Hank said proudly "she's very clever") and via what Scott called her space gun. Then it went to a whole different level when Hank told Hisako what precisely the instructions he gave Brand via Hisako's cell phone meant. Because as opposed to Scott's ooc gratituously cruel gesture one issue previously, that was both ruthless "do everything to protect" type of thinking and ic. Because we see Hank's reaction to what he has done, and because he doesn't take it lightly is all but sees the full horror of it, it's an immensly compelling character moment. With layers, as he minds not "just"that he thought of it but that he asked "a woman I care very deeply about" to do it. Why yes, the shipper in the midst of all the angsty character stuff was immensly pleased. Both that he phrased it this way, which somehow makes it more affecting than if he had used the l-word already, and that he minds on her behalf. Time was he used to see her as nothing but a thug, but that's the thing: she'd regard this as the right thing to do without hesitation, but when she proposed to him, one of the arguments she used was that she needed someone to stand up to her and argue with her about her "everything for the cause" instincts. Scott saying that Hank didn't pull the trigger, Brand did (and admitting that it was her job to) and Hank clearly not seeing this as something that lets him off the ethical implication was a sober final note for this run.
And now I want to read some Hank McCoy character exploration set directly after this. Complete with Abigail Brand. Which probably nobody will write for me, and yes, I know what that means. *looks despairingly at time table* Just for the continuity record, this entire arc is set before Secret Invasion, right?
The common theme I was talking about earlier is actually announced in the intro text of Ellis' first issue, which states that Cyclops is now prepared to do whatever it takes to protect mutantkind. We get follow-upon this in the discussion with Ororo later, then in Tian, and then Cyclops and the entire team are presented, as befits this type of stories, with an mirror-type opponent who really did take that credo to the ultimate extreme and promptly fell into the supervillain side of the force. Which brings me to my big problem. I've never read any of Forge's previous appearances, so I have no emotional investment in him, either positive or negative. And his one appearance here strikes me as been there, done that with Magneto a couple of times, and better. (My continuing nitpick is that even given ruthlessness and its consequences as a theme, Scott's "we don't need him" order in #29 still reads as gratitously callous and thus ooc. If the guy had been a direct threat to the team, that would have been one thing, but after he had been disabled and surrendered - it just grates.)
On the other hand, the emotional pay-off here isn't really Forge's speech and denoument, but what Hank does as a consequence. (Plus we finally get some acknowledgment of the weirdness of Scott suddenly calling him "Henry", which is made into a part of the general theme.) Though she doesn't appear in the panels as more than a voice, I was both tickled and satisfied to see Abigail Brand saving the X-Men via the astute use of Hisako's cell phone, via having bugged the jet during her last visit (and I was grinning widly when Scott was indignant while Hank said proudly "she's very clever") and via what Scott called her space gun. Then it went to a whole different level when Hank told Hisako what precisely the instructions he gave Brand via Hisako's cell phone meant. Because as opposed to Scott's ooc gratituously cruel gesture one issue previously, that was both ruthless "do everything to protect" type of thinking and ic. Because we see Hank's reaction to what he has done, and because he doesn't take it lightly is all but sees the full horror of it, it's an immensly compelling character moment. With layers, as he minds not "just"that he thought of it but that he asked "a woman I care very deeply about" to do it. Why yes, the shipper in the midst of all the angsty character stuff was immensly pleased. Both that he phrased it this way, which somehow makes it more affecting than if he had used the l-word already, and that he minds on her behalf. Time was he used to see her as nothing but a thug, but that's the thing: she'd regard this as the right thing to do without hesitation, but when she proposed to him, one of the arguments she used was that she needed someone to stand up to her and argue with her about her "everything for the cause" instincts. Scott saying that Hank didn't pull the trigger, Brand did (and admitting that it was her job to) and Hank clearly not seeing this as something that lets him off the ethical implication was a sober final note for this run.
And now I want to read some Hank McCoy character exploration set directly after this. Complete with Abigail Brand. Which probably nobody will write for me, and yes, I know what that means. *looks despairingly at time table* Just for the continuity record, this entire arc is set before Secret Invasion, right?