Since i`m not actually answering the question just adding an opinion, i hope this is ok(sorry J.B. if it`s not)

I have just finished reading volume one of Essential Moon Knight and it occurred to me that there were between 7 and 9 panels on most pages,compare this with a current issue of most comics and you are lucky to get 4 panels,no coincidence then that a single issue story now takes 6 issues to tell. Bill S`s pacing was great too and the art really did benefit from being in black and white rather than colour.

As to the number of panels, in Bill's comment, when I did the JLA arc a couple of years ago, I expressed a concern that I might not have six issues worth of story -- six issues being "required" for later trade paperback collecting. I was told "Do big panels! Lots of splash pages! Double-page spreads!" In that moment I not only resolved that I would make dang sure my story was worth six issues, but I would "revert" to six and eight panel pages as the minimum. Worked very well for me.

It's all about telling a story.  Reading Astonishing X-Men, I was disappointed at the relatively slow pacing of it.  Even during the action scenes!  I know I will probably get vilified for this but I am not a fan of John Cassaday's art.  If you really examine his panels, you find a lot of copy and paste of previous panels, little to no backgrounds, and when he does include a background of say, the X-Mansion - it is little more than straight lines to signify walls, or stairs, or whatever.  There's no "God in the details" except in his characters.  The pacing is like a sitcom - on a few occassions there are like three photoshopped panels - first one to set up the joke, second silent panel pause, and third one for the punchline.  That's just lazy.