After an enjoyable introduction last month, Ellis takes a more focussed route for this second issue, throwing the characters straight into the plot. It’s a masterful example of how to make a chapter of a multi-part comic read like a full story.

The over-arching plot does feel a bit like stock Ellis-Sci Fi with the X-Men dropped in - whatever a “Ghost Box” is, we can be fairly sure it’s not mutant-themed - but there’s still a strong threat at work that makes the story engaging. The X-Men, as an organisation, handle this situation in a noticeably differently manner to any other Marvel Universe team, so in that respect they’re well-placed for Ellis’ tone, if not necessarily his themes.

Ellis manages to continue the sharp dialogue and character moments that elevated Whedon’s run even when the story faltered. Wolverine, as ever, is the focal point of the best jokes, though it’s nice to see a writer not afraid to use the character sparingly - when Wolverine is in a team book he can overpower the other characters, but under Ellis he has a definite function - even if he’s used as a bit of a crowd-pleaser, there’s never too much.

Elsewhere, Cyclops’ new gimmick of telling everyone how he’ll kill if he has to is both a justifiable and entertaining direction for the character, though in this issue it seems a little misplaced. By Scott’s “protect mutants at any cost” reasoning, anyone who attacks the X-Men is automatically eligible for death - admittedly, the guy they’re tracking killed one mutant unprovoked, but it’s not like he’s a mutant serial-killer.

Bianchi’s art is still amazing to look out, and looks unlike almost any other artist in the industy - his work certainly resembles no other superhero artist. Unfortunately, the art is still directly at odds with the printing, and the muted colour pallette combined with Bianchi’s detailed shading causes everything to bleed into one giant, dark mess on the page. Hopefully this has been noticed, and there’ll be some correction within an issue or two, because at this point it’s really the only flaw in an otherwise A-List title.

The brief seemed simple. A one-off tale featuring Project Spitfire director Philip Voight, which would show how his determination to kill all those touched by the White Event was a consequence of a traumatic early life. A slightly flat character becomes more rounded, and we get to read a touching story of loss into the bargain. Kieron Gillen, however, obviously had no intention of sticking to such a predictable script. Instead, we take a more sustained look inside the director’s psyche, as he goes about blackmailing and bombing his way to the position he holds in the ongoing series.

In a non-linear fashion, the issue charts how Voight became involved with the NSA and Spitfire, before showing him slowly taking charge of the investigation into the superhumans created by earth’s brief interface with the newuniversal mechanism. Gillen’s script depicts Voight’s life as a tragic failure of imagination in the face of the inexplicable. Instead of creating the new ideas and approaches needed to meet such an unprecedented event, the professor instead upscales the concepts that already exist in his mind, applying the laws of evolutionary dominance to a handful of isolated individuals. Voight would be a comical figure if it weren’t for his deadly earnestness, rebuking his colleagues for even venturing the possibility that it might be possible to reason with the Starbrands. The writer skilfully highlights Voight’s limitations by making his targets as the archetypical figures of superhero literature: a jovial prankster, a selfish capitalist and an urban vigilante. The fact that he cannot process figures so familiar to the story’s readers magnificently underlines his mindset. The piece of circular logic at the culmination of the story is merely a coup de grace, as Voight confuses certainty of opinion with empirical proof.

The issue’s unexpected guest-star provokes mixed feelings. Part of the feeling of freshness that has permeated newuniversal comes from its lack of ties to the Marvel Universe, and the character crossover shown here is rather unwelcome. On the other hand, it provides a perfect summary of Spitfire’s attitude to superhumans. Many readers who missed Warren Ellis’s original six issues were baffled by the Shockfront relaunch, and such narrative shorthand can only help bring the new audience up to speed. Shooting Tony Stark in the head provides a superb piece of characterisation for Voight, and Spitfire’s theft of his suit has a pleasing double significance. This move allows Gillen to acknowledge the thematic link of Spitfire combat exoskeletons to Iron Man, confirming that they are derived from Stark’s work, while explaining why it’s taken a Starbrand to figure out how to get them operational. The remainder of the supporting cast is understandably drawn in broad strokes, with a fellow agent slipshod to emphasise his Voight’s determination, and a weak director who is powerless in the face of Voight’s fanaticism. The conclusion, with the new director distilling his philosophy into euphemistic prose, gives an air of a mind full of unspeakable fears. Once Gillen’s story has triumphantly departed the stage, the reader is left with a feeling of unease at what a further forty years of power will have done to its star.

Warren Ellis begins his much-hyped run on what has now clearly become the X-Men flagship title. There was little doubt that Ellis would turn in a pleasing first issue, but to suggest that it would actually rival Whedon’s was a bit of a stretch for me. Even so, that’s what he’s done.

Ellis’ version of the X-Men are, perhaps not unexpectedly, closest to Grant Morrison’s version, with emphasis on the scientific nature of mutation and their occasionally tenuous role as superheroes. Ellis immediately embraces the new status quo, with the team’s position in the San Franciscan community playing a substantial role in the events of the issue. Even when the pet Ellis theme of body-modification (in this case, on the genetic level) crops up, it fits in perfectly with the X-Men’s remit, and the idea of a spaceship graveyard both carries over themes from Whedon’s run and draws on the more Sci-Fi side of the property, taking a look at how the dynamics of how a society polluted by extra-terrestials and superheroes might be affected.

While the plot is off to a great start, what really makes the title stand out is the strong voices of each character in the cast. So far, the team closely resembles Whedon’s and the characterisation is nicely continuous, with particular comedy coming from Wolverine as the grumpy, uncouth old man and Emma the superbitch, and strong showings from Beast and Cyclops as well. Storm is perhaps the only time Ellis hits something of a bum note, with his version of her missing the combined sense of wonder and aloofness that she normally displays.

Bianchi’s art is undeniably beautiful to look at, though between his dense shading and Peruzzi’s colours, it all looks quite dark compared to Cassaday and Martin’s clean, bright look. Bianchi’s designs are occasionally a little outlandish (the new X-Jet, for instance, is an almost-hilarious mass of futuristic fins) but his minor costume tweaks suit each character perfectly.

Anyone upset by Whedon’s slow pace should find plenty of things going on in Astonishing #25. It’s a perfect jumping on point for readers, and as an aside, I’d like to point out how pleasing it is to see a title go through a major creative change WITHOUT anyone feeling the need to slap a number #1 on the cover. I love a book with a little history behind it. I was expecting Ellis to continue the title’s grand tradition of excellence, but he may have actually managed to raise its game at the same time.

Ellis’ run on Thunderbolts has had a relatively slow, menacing burn throughout its pages, even when all hell was breaking loose in Thunderbolts Mountain. With his final issue, he really blows the lid off of all of his building subplots, making the 12-issue run a nicely complete piece of writing, with every character tension finally bubbling to the surface, with particular fanboy glee at seeing the Doc Samson Vs Moonstone “battle of the psychiatrists.”

Even so, the book’s standout moment has to be seeing Osborn back in the Goblin costume and running riot. It was utterly brilliant comics, and it’s hard to imagine the character now without thinking of Ellis’ pill-popping, brilliantly intelligent take as being the definitive one. That said, the idea of this version of Osborn fighting Spider-Man is utterly laughable, if only because Osborn would probably have him torn in half before he had a chance to say “my spidey-sense is tingling!” Ellis is clearly having fun writing Osborn’s dialogue, with constant poor-taste references to his murdering of Gwen Stacy, and as a result he’s clearly the breakout character for the title.

That’s not to say that Ellis doesn’t get the rest of the cast - after all, Bullseye’s unexpected return was a great twist, and even Penance gets his moment. There’s not been a neglected member in the cast for the duration of his run.

Putting Songbird “in charge” of the team is a welcome development for all long-time Thunderbolts fans, and suggests that in future, the book will move slightly more in the direction of the standard superheroics that typified its run - not that the bleak, oppressive governmental version hasn’t been fun, but it’ll be nice to see a change of pace if Ellis can’t be the one writing it. Osborn’s ability to sleaze his way out of culpability for his rampage is almost too neat, as he gets away with everything American Psycho-style. Even so, this leaves incoming writer Christos Gage with some good opportunities - after all, is Osborn got away with it once…

It’s been a good run. Even with Ellis at the helm, Thunderbolts was never going to be seen as a top tier Marvel book, but for the last 12 issues, it’s definitely been one of the best reads. The one distracting thing is Deodato’s penchant for drawing the characters as recognisable celebrities. This week: Ed Norton as Penance is added to the “cast”. Can we please stop this?

Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

Dusting Off’s been fairly X-heavy of late, but with Ed Brubaker hastily moving pieces into place for Astonishing X-Men #25, it’s worth taking a look at the last time Warren Ellis was asked to bring something different to Marvel’s mutants. As part of the X-Men’s 2000 re-launch, Marvel hired Ellis to take control of three of the line’s under performing spin offs, and re-conceptualise them under the banner “Counter-X”. The writer took an extremely critical look at each of the titles, stripping them back to their unique storytelling elements. Ellis co-wrote eight issues of each book, before handing over to the series’ permanent writer, in this case a pre-DMZ Brian Wood.

Unsurprisingly, given its promotion as a jumping on-point for new readers, Ellis makes his all-new villain a key part of the issue, choosing to open with an introductory sequence in which Coffin, a “war-criminal for hire” demonstrates his abilities and viciousness. In creating this opponent, the writer has clearly focussed on what made this part of the X-franchise distinctive. Coffin is not interested in mutation, which only features in the story as the means by which Generation X are able to fight him. The “Warden” is a disciplinarian, running a sci-fi/ horror young-offenders institution for the culprits of thought crimes. No punches are pulled in establishing this setting, with the Columbine shootings explicitly mentioned in the dialogue. However, what should be an unforgivable lapse in taste is made much more acceptable by Steve Pugh’s restrained art, which is just as easily able to illustrate decades old cyborg-children as comical exchanges between Jubilee and Chamber. Wood’s scripting also impresses, with some extremely natural-sounding dialogue given to each of the teens. He also finally manages to blend the lighter and darker sides of Emma Frost’s personality, which had been only shown alternately since the character was brought over to the side of the angels.

In hindsight, what proves most striking about the issue is the ruthlessness shown to the comic’s previous incarnation. In a move somewhat ahead of its time, Generation X’s Academy had functioned as an actual school, well before either 20^th Century Fox or Grant Morrison applied the same approach to the X-Men themselves. Ellis clearly decided to strip the cast down to a skeleton crew of its iconic figures, with the titular generation reduced to its four most interesting members. We rejoin the students in an almost ruined academy, and dialogue makes it clear that some of the missing have died off-panel since the previous story. Although missing the high-concept driven approach that has characterised the writer’s more famous work, there isn’t a shortage of new ideas here, with the paradoxes of government illustrated in a throwaway line. Roots of Ellis’s current preoccupation with communication technology may also be glimpsed, with Paige discovering Coffin’s activities through newsgroups.

It’s almost disturbing how clinically Ellis cuts away vast parts of the book’s previous identity. The “superheroes-in-training” approach that has always characteristed books of this sort is discarded; leaving its cast attempting to find ways they can actually change the almost-real world they’ve been placed in. Deliberately confining himself to a tiny periphery of the X-universe, Ellis still manages to create a compelling story, making his forthcoming centre-stage role an even more intriguing prospect.

Warren Ellis’ take on Marvel’s 1980s misfire, the New Universe, returns for a second run around the block. I say “Second” - there’s pretty much nothing in this issue that suggests it’s a sequel story. It’s essentially nothing more than newuniversal #7, and boy, does it show. If you’re looking for a jumping-on point, well, forget it. This is the second arc of newuniversal, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything but - except on the cover.

A pity, really, because I came to this book without much knowledge of newuniversal at all, and I’m left floundering somewhat. I’m loosely familiar with the new universe’s concept, as well as Ellis’ rewoking of it, and I do genuinely think that it’s a good idea to give this kind of property - a universe experiencing the emergence of super-heroes - to someone like Ellis, who is exactly the kind of man you want handling it.

There’s a quick recap of the events in the newuniversal’s past on the first few pages which do, to be fair, succinctly explain the concept. The next few pages are devoted to what reads like little more than a rant on Manhua, including a page of the “comic within a comic” - I get the feeling there’s a little bit of The Black Freighter creeping in as a reference point, but overall it reads a lot like one of Ellis’ self-indulgent diatribes that his comics are full of. If it adds anything to the story itself - beyond emotional resonance for the characters, given what happens shortly after - I’m not certain.

The remainder of the issue establishes a mystery and has the characters, who are now vaguely familar with, start investigating it. The story really picks up in the second half and I’m almost tempted to get the next one and see where it’s going, but it’s clear to me that as intriguing as this story looks, I need to go back and read the first trade to properly enjoy it.

Artist Steve Kurth takes the place of Larocca on art, and he’s got something of Phil Jiminez/Alan Davis about him. One major art flaw, though - at one point Starbrand remarks that “you can’t see the stars at all” - mere pages later, the sky is shown with stars in. Colouring fail? It’s rare a detail like that is jarring, but when a mistake like that does happen, it really rips you out of the comic.

Overall, it’s fairly enjoyable, though only in the sense that any comic you read set in an unfamiliar universe can be. I’d like to know more, but this isn’t remotely the best place to start learning.