The List #26

X-Force #25
Writers: Chris Yost and Craig Kyle
Artist: Clayton Crain
So this issue begins with all the important magic people reacting to Selene's ascension which includes Dr. Doom so this can seem like a REALLY big deal. Yeah, not so much.

Back at Dystopia, Cyclops, Daz, and Emma are finding themselves in the last minutes of a losing battle until Selene calls for the resurrected souls of the enemies. They get a contact from the Cuckoos on the situation. Referring to Mindee as Irma again. Which pretty much cements that change, and now Mindee is officially Irma, which is an ugly choice of an 'I' name.

Back with X-Force, Warpath shows them how to do that 'ghost' thing he did with Ghost Rider way back when (like issue #9 or something) so they can fight Selene. They rush to take out Selene's inner circle, and the Senyaka guy dies right off the frigging at. Yeah, rushed is definitely a good verb to describe the inner circle fight. Next, Rahne cuts Lois' throat, but doesn't kill her since she's part of the Dazzler one-shot. Elixir and Wither finally have their 'epic' fight and I have to say it was decent-ish. Wither is clearly still wounded over Laurie's death, and their fight is basically about Wither placing blame.

I have to say I found Elixir's last line to Wither before he killed him (yup, another Limbo-ed character bites the dust) was not particularly original, but it's a line that I could hear 30 times and still feel the impact of each time. Why I think that it's something that works is because in this case when Laurie's mentioned, it brings up the memory of Laurie and for some fans, how they miss her. And it's something individual to each character, so I think it's a line that's harder to overuse.

Speaking of depressing things, Warpath ends up having to kill his brother for his portion of the fight. But then Selene's starting to lose power and Lois and Blink flee the scene to the cozy comforts of X-Limbo in hopes of one day being cared about as much as their better halves (Exiles' Blink and Dazzler). Concerning the ALMIGHTY FIGHT WITH SELENE, I have to say that if one of X-Force had popped a Hot Pocket in the microwave at the beginning of the fight they'd still be waiting a minute after the fight was over. Yeah, they won and 'killed her' (meaning there's somehow still going to be a way for her to comeback in three years when some X-Writer hits a dry spell). And that's the end of the most predictable struggle in X-History. Maybe not most, but it ranks high on the list. In the end, all the souls are released and this leads to a heartbreaking moment for Warpath:

And also leads to a revelation for him. Which broke MY heart.

The last page of the issue is probably the most important one for everyone to pay attention to. Mainly because it was the first time in Necrosha where something not obvious from the beginning happened. Roster change-up! So Elixir being gone is fine with me, and I'm THRILLED that Rahne is off the team and I assume her next move is rejoining the New Mutants. I am, however, BROKEN-HEARTED over the departure of my boyfriend Warpath. If he ends up in Limbo, I'll be peeved. And lastly, what's not shown in this panel is Wolverine wants X-23 off the team, but it just sounds unlikely that that will actually be what happens. And that's the end of this dreadful goth-cliche crossover! Except we're just going into another one now, within this post actually. In 5....4....3.....2.....1.......

X-Men: Second Coming #1

Writers: Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
Artist: David Finch
Let me begin this review with a massive sigh of a relief due to the fact that Fraction did NOT write this one-shot. I mean he'll still have his boring take on this crossover, but at least he won't be the dominating voice.

This issue opens with Hope and Cable returning to the present and being hunted by Bastion's forces (in the form of The Right, I don't know who's specific they are, but angry white man villain is all the same to me). Essentially, a large part of this issue is Cable's series all over again minus Bishop. Which was: run. shoot. manly aggression. run. I think the only reason that series sold for as long as it did was it was needed to bridge Cable and Hope's story into Second Coming. Otherwise it probably would've never made it past the third issue.

Back at Utopia the effects of Necrosha are being gone over, three background character deaths, and the writing team is desperately trying to convince us that this is significant. Anyway, if you needed the body count illustrated for you, here it is:

After Cyclops has another mangst moment post-Necrosha meeting, the Cuckoos alert him to Cable's return. From there we get the layout of where the teams will be: Namor and Rogue are to guard Utopia, Domino and Vanisher are stationed in San Fransisco, the New Mutants are to hover of the Mid-West so they can react to any sudden location changes in a hurry, and then there's one more special who's part of the plan. YES. She's glamourous, divalicious, but most of all, now possibly having some role in Second Coming: Ariel! Props to Yost and Kyle for thinking to include my favorite tranny.

The most important team organized is Alpha Team, whose function is to be the ones actively tracking down Cable and Hope. It consists of: Wolverine, X-23, Psylocke, Nightcrawler, Archangel, Colossus, and Magik for teleporting. In between this there's a lot of speechifying on why Hope is so important, and it's all things we've heard since the end of Messiah Complex so its just filler. In the end, Alpha team goes to attack Leper Queen's people, and try to interrogate them on where the enemies are. Psylocke can't get into their minds so X-23 kills one of them in front of the other so he'll talk. Nightcrawler loses his shit over it and Psylocke and Colossus are more just wondering what's going on rather than the dramatic reaction of Nightcrawler. In the next issue, he even threatens to quit the X-Men, so he's definitely getting a focus here that he hasn't had in awhile. Hmm..... And that's the issue. It was meh. If you like meh, do go purchase it.

Now, what I want to discuss is the big death of the Second Coming. There's supposed to be one that just strikes the X-Men hard, so it's someone who's considered a major character. My thoughts are that it's Nightcrawler. He's the one who's getting the uneasy spotlight right now despite being pretty ignored recently. He's outraged about the X-Force that's being revealed now. His death in the middle of this outrage over X-Force would capitalize on the shock. Also, when Alpha Team member's functions were being explained in an interview somewhere, I noticed Kurt's function wasn't mentioned. Hmmm.

I will be putting up a poll with I think the most likely candidates for the death are, so please do go vote on it. I imagine the death isn't too far away from now, so get on that as soon as you can. I will have an "Other" option that you can choose and I'd encourage you to leave a comment on this post or another Second Coming on and tell me who you think it is (and maybe why?). First off, here's who we know who it's not because of their appearance in Second Coming: Prepare #1 which takes place after the death: Bling!, Cable, Cannonball, Cyclops, Hope, Iceman, Magneto, Wolverine, Dr. Rao, and Dr. Nemesis. Here's my other candidates and a bit of why:

Colossus: Formerly a big deal. Not used very often and I'm pretty sure it's someone who used to matter a lot, but doesn't get that much character use these days. May not die because he just came back not too long ago.

Archangel: A symbol of what X-Force does to change people, and also one of the original five. He also may be spared because the orignal five may be reuniting soon.

Beast: Another opposed to the shit going on. He'd be coming back to die though. May not because he's one of the original five.

And that's the poll options! This concludes the end of my crossover mega-post, see you all next week.