Huh.
We've had two AoXM series wrap today, and both ended on a definite down note. Glob screwed up and got everyone captured and mind-wiped, and Kurt sacrificed himself so Meggan and baby TJ could keep their memories. It's pretty clear in both cases that this was done so there will be nothing to interfere with the narrative in Marvelous X-Men leading into X-Men: Omega. Which is frustrating, given that Marvelous probably ranks 4th of five so far as my enjoyment of these minis goes, but it's the flagship book, so fair enough, I guess.
Of the two, I have to say that Nextgen's ending fell flat for me. Brisson did quite a good job writing a self-contained story, but at the end of the day, it doesn't have much to say beyond the main theme of the event: This is an oppressive dystopia and that sucks. I mean, not going to argue that point, sure, but we've got four other books exploring that same premise, so I was hoping for a bit more in the way of identity and focused character work. The tragedy of Glob leading his friends to ruin doesn't quite land for me either because these characters really don't have a lot of history together. (Also, minus points for forgetting Santo doesn't have to eat.)
An aspect of this mini that really did work for me, though, was showing the more insidious abuses of power. In the larger scheme of things, we've got Nate and Dept X willing to overwrite everyone's free will, but in the microcosm of the school, it's just feels like so much more a detestable violation of trust because the targets are children. Jeffries and Skids flat out lying to Rockslide about the consequences of history, Sunfire's D.A.R.E-style propaganda encouraging kids to narc on each other, and Pixie buying into all of it... that was creepy shit, and relatable enough from my own school days that it really hit home.
So yeah. Maybe not the strongest wrap, but Brisson was pretty clearly hobbled by the constraints of the event when it came to executing this last chapter, and he managed to deliver a consistently decent tale despite that. Just wish it had finished a bit stronger.