The epic X-Men: The End trilogy continues with issue #2 of the first volume.  And to be fair, this issue is rather more to my taste.  There's a lot less faffing about with aliens and spaceships, and much more of the X-Men.

Of course, the book still isn't really dealing with any of the big themes of the X-Men, but at least it's getting around to the characters.  The set-up is that Phoenix has been gone for a good long while, the X-Men have sensed that she's back, and they're gathering to forces to track her down.  Nice and simple.

In fairness to Claremont, this issue does a lot to rebut suggestions that he's been trying to sweep the Morrison run under the carpet.  In his determination to work in all the X-characters, at least in cameo appearances, the Morrison characters are present as well.  Most significantly, Scott and Emma have got a family.  Claremont's treatment of Emma in this book and in Uncanny may not be entirely subtle, but he's undeniably working with Morrison's set-up and, by including it as a major part of this series, cementing it as part of the long-term mythology.

However, that also points up one of the difficulties with this approach.  Claremont is apparently working ideas into this series which foreshadow developments in Uncanny and Excalibur (the two present day X-books that he writes).  But trying to establish something as the concrete future never takes - it always gets whittled away as writers and editors decide to do something else.  Already, we've got Marvel promising a Phoenix miniseries for next year.  Claremont won't even have finished his trilogy by that point.  Admittedly, a close reading of the promotion for the Phoenix miniseries suggests that it might just be some kind of epilogue.  But the point remains valid - in a line this sprawling, with this many writers involved, can you really lay down a future and expect it to stick?

In any event, this is very much a book for the hardcore fans.  The Claremont devotees will love it.  Those who aren't so familiar with the characters may struggle with a plot which requires at least a working familiarity with the X-mythos.  Claremont is certainly trying his best to keep readers up to speed as they go along, but I have trouble imagining the series drawing in newcomers - they may comprehend the plot, but I can't see them caring much.  It's an exercise in drawing threads together, and certainly not the place to come in for the first time.

Rating: B-

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