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One of the greatest X-Men sagas comes to an end.

In the entire existence of the X-Men, we’ve had teams of collaborators that have done tremendous things with the various titles over the years. Lee and Kirby and Claremont and Byrne are the ones that most immediately come to mind. In 2004, X-fans and comic lovers were introduced to a new ongoing title, Astonishing X-Men and a new collaborative team; one that must now be mentioned in the same breath as the two aforementioned ones: Whedon and Cassaday.

John Cassaday is damn easy. He’s one of the best artists currently working in the industry, bar-none. He has a flair for realistic portrayal, great conveyance of emotion, and mega-widescreen action. And his best work ever is contained within his 25 issue run on Astonishing X-Men. Now, as for the other guy…

After several years of watching his television shows, the films he’s written (or doctored) and the comics he’s done, I have come to one simple conclusion: Joss Whedon is evil. And this is why he’s so great. He is completely and totally unafraid and unapologetic when it comes to his characters, or the characters that have been placed in his charge. Basically, he’s not afraid to kill them, or do serious harm to them. He can sink them to the bottom of the sea, he can put their eye out by a crazy super-powered preacher, he can kill their loved ones, or just kill the characters we have grown to love. Now, since the beginning of Astonishing, we were not expecting a real body count. I mean, with the characters that were in this comic, who could he get rid of? Cyclops? Wolverine? Kitty Pryde? Beast? Emma Frost? Well, maybe Emma…

And then Whedon did something we never would have expected: he resurrected a character. Instead of killing one, he brought back Colossus. And he and Cassaday did it in a way that was so damn cool that we couldn’t question it. How many got a chill up their spine when we were given the gift of that two-page spread of the long-lost Fastball Special? I know I did. And now, after 25 issues, the legendary run of Whedon and Cassaday comes to a close. But there is no way in Hell that these guys were going to go out quietly, and they definitely do not with Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1.

In Astonishing #24, we were left with a very scary dilemma. The Retaliator, which was believed to be a missile, was being pointed at by the bad guys of The Breakworld. Kitty phased into it to try and knock out its guidance systems, but then we learned that there were none. This was not a missile. This was a five-mile long bullet, and it has just been fired at the planet Earth. Now, in this issue, with the end of any big arc, we have climaxes upon climaxes with major discoveries, fights to the death, and as with anything Whedon, we have a soul-shattering, man-tear-inducing sacrifice.

There isn’t much that I’m going to get into here about the events of the issue, because there just aren’t words sometimes. But there are a few things that I NEED to mention: The cover. Whedon writing Spider-Man. Abigail Brand and her true nature AND her feelings about Hank McCoy. Colossus and Aghanne. Ord’s final moments. Superhero drool. The exchange between Emma and Kitty. Armor and Wolverine‘s impromptu training session. Emma and Scott both having Visine moments. The heart-breaking final panel.

The last lines of the issue is very much like my feelings about this extraordinary run.

“You take what you can get. ‘Cause it’s here, and then…”

Amen to that.

Thank you, Mr. Whedon, Mr. Cassaday, Ms. Martin, et. al. You have truly astonished me.

Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1
“Gone”
Written by Joss Whedon
Art by John Cassaday
Colors by Laura Martin
Letters by Chris Eliopoulos

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