Comic Review - Astonishing X-Men Vol. 4: Unstoppable, by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday

I forgot how much I love the grandiose insanity of the X-Men series. The movies that mainstream audiences are familiar with never really get into the fact the X-Men spend so much time battling space aliens that they don’t really think much of it. This volume spends all of its time either on an alien planet (the Breakworld) or in space battles above it. It neatly wraps up Whedon’s run on the series, though I am glad I was familiar with the preceding volumes before reading these issues.

Whedon has a talent for weaving large story arcs. Most of the major plot points from the last three volumes (all of which felt decidedly standalone) are effortlessly connected in this last volume. The character work is still perfect, and Cassaday’s art is back to the high standard set in the first volume. His renditions of Kitty in particular were interesting; he continues drawing the distinctive features that began emerging on her in the last volume (which disoriented me a little, back then). The plot in this arc also gives him a lot of panels to really zoom in and draw her in intimate, emotive detail. The result is a character that looks a lot more like a living, breathing individual, rather than a stock brunette superhero (Whedon’s deft characterization and dialogue notwithstanding).

The story does seem to bulge a bit at the seams in a few places, mostly because there’s not enough room in the comic format to slot in all of the necessary exposition and connecting action. It’s hard to track exactly where everybody is at any given time- they’re on a ship! They’re on a planet! Back on a ship! Now on a moon, or something! Somebody’s gravely injured! Now they’re all back on the ship, somehow! There’s also a short sequence that brings together a lot of Earth’s superhero heavy hitters for no discernible reason other than to indulge in a couple of fun cameos.

Also, I’ve realized that Whedon has a very distinct writing style that I can easily recognize now that I have some experience with it. The clever bookends and writing tricks that are the hallmarks of his screenwriting are still evident here, which can be a little taxing in individual issues but are extremely effectual in a read-through volume. Also, in a few scenes, Kitty Pryde sounds an awful lot like Buffy Summers. I don’t have a huge problem with it, fanboy that I am, but it’s worth noting.

So, all told, this is a great conclusion to the Breakworld story. Even better, it continues the superhero soap-opera tradition of irresistible open-ended plot threads and cliffhanger endings. I wasn’t particularly planning to continue with the series after Whedon's run, but I don’t think I can help myself. I can’t just stop after that last page.

Verdict: 4 / 5