Hellions is a fantastic story, but as the plot unfolded, it is obvious that it could not continue on as it was. Sinister's plot revealed, him losing his leverage over Kwannon, all in an extremely satisfying surprise reveal.
What is really disappointing is that you can tell a series is going to end by its cohesive plot and character beats that show progression and development. Part of what made this book special was that who cares about any of the cast, really? (Maybe Havok has fans, I don't know them.) Wells could do whatever he wanted. I'm terribly sad to see it over, but it's understandable.
Contrast that to Excalibur, which liked to produce plot points, but not in a cohesive way. Was this intended to create suspense? Intrigue? It was all very confusing from one book to the next because they don't flow into one another. Whenever a plot point was revealed, it was very 'meh, I waiting how long for this to come up again?' I hear that Howard and Hickman are into "world building" and "long form storytelling." World-building is not firing endless clues and hints and plot devices into the air like my neighbors with their semi-automatics on the Fourth of July... so many plot threads you need a spreadsheet to keep track of them all. You set parameters and your world operates in these parameters. Look at Harry Potter, we have a school teach us how the magical world works and then the story unfolds within this world. There are rules. Excalibur just seems like making s*** up as you go along. There are no rules, so there are no stakes. They don't seem to care about the characters or their history, just whatever it takes to move their "plot" along.
Tell you what though, stories are transportation, but the characters are the drivers. Stories are temporary, characters are forever. I prefer long-term investment over a craps table.
Real bummed over the solicits today. A 12 week hiatus to watch Wolverine get killed 10 times? And since he's damn hard to kill, you know it's going to be horribly disgusting. I can't think of anything more joyless than watching a character die repeatedly in an AU. I wouldn't wish that on Wolvie or any character (even Magneto. He should die once in a way befitting of his character - when his hair straightener falls into his bathtub with him in it). I pray Gambit has nothing at all to do with this X Lives/Death event. I hope Claremont has something in store for Remy and it relates to the "plans" hint that Howard dropped when Rogue was elected to the X-Men.