Wednesday, July 14, 2010

X-Men: Second Coming #2 Review + News

X-Men: Second Coming #2
Chapter 1:
Writer: Zeb Wells
Artist: Ibraim Roberson

Finally the last installment of Second Coming is here. This has been an event that was unnecessarily drawn out like nothing I've ever seen before. And while yes, some points were good, laughs were had, and snark was made, in the end there were some totally unnecessary chapters. Like the entire middle installment. Anyway, finally this too-long event has concluded.

This issue is split into four chapters with each one getting their own Second Coming creative team. We open where we left off with Hope floating with the rest of the X-Men surrounding her. It appears done as homage to the end of Messiah Complex when everyone surrounded Xavier when he had been shot in the head:



It's neat to see who's here now and who's absent from last time, the most positive aspect being Rogue and Psylocke being in attendance this time.
From there Hope ends up passing out for a day and finds herself in the med bay. This opens with Beast putting Colossus' fucked up arm in place in a painful way. From there it's basically a look at everyone who suffered injuries with Karma getting her robot leg thing that we'll see more of in next week's New Mutants. We also see Hellion for the first time since losing his hands, and it's sort of a painful sight. Even though his character hasn't changed, he's still a prick. What's more painful is the lack of explanation as to why Elixir isn't around, and fixing this crap like it's nothing. The other part of this issue is Magneto being creepy next to Hope going, "Sometimes it's ok to be feared, as an on-again off-again villain I should know. Just wait, next month I'll be the 'most feared' again." Anyway, it was a pretty weak part.

Chapter 2:
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Esad Ribic

This opens with yet another flashback that does nothing except say Hope was afraid of losing Cable. Absolutely shocking, I had no idea! Then we move onto his funeral scene with many of his former X-Force team showing up as well as Deadpool and even Omega Sentinel. Oddly enough Bling! is shown. But that's not really what's odd about her being there:
It's that she looks like a spooked deer.
Maybe she realized that she's a character of little importance and will probably meet a similar crossover death fate like this except she'll be one of the opening deaths? Or that her powers were shown incorrectly coincidentally during one of Land's issues? Nah. Probably just saw her reflection in a mirror and realized what she's wearing.

Anyway, during the funeral Cyclops mangsts appropriately by crying over Cable's grave
before he can even get his eulogy out. Instead Hope takes over and says he got an honorable death, and that no one need shed tears for him. While she starts to cry.

Then this deal takes a massive detour as Cyclops attempts to recover his dignity by being a prick to Rogue. In the end he says her being a "loose cannon" during the previous battles were the last straw and that she's removed from the combat roster.


Chapter 3:
Writers: Chris Yost and Craig Kyle
Artist: Greg Land
This part takes place with Storm and Wolverine having a conversation over X-Force, and she criticizes the killing deal. He tells her that she's not in any place to judge considering she's not around often. Wolverine says if could do it again, he'd kill more, and Storm responds that in that case this may be their last conversation together. It's a very powerful moment to say the least.

From there Logan goes to X-23 tellin
g her she's off the team, and that now Marvel feels she could sell her own book. Apparently this series is going to rotate around her figuring out what she does with her life without orders of someone else. From there Wolverine goes to set up the next X-Men series premiering soon by going to have a conversation with Cyclops. In another powerful moment done by Yost and Kyle we find out how all the older X-Men are reacting to the news of X-Force:

Ohhhh damn, Storm brought in WWJGD.
And really, what would Jean Grey do? Be like, "Bitch, my kill count is in the billions, SUCK ON THAT!" All the while Storm would be appalled and shocked until someone tosses Marrow's first heart at her. What? I'm just saying.

This all ends with Cyclops saying X-Force is done for all the reasons stated plus if the Avengers found out then there might be a conflict. In the end Wolverine goes off talking to an unseen group about how X-Force now has to be totally secret. Who's he talking to?

The new X-Force.
Really Land?
Everyone needed a gun? Especially a Liefeld-esque gun?
So remember that poll where I thought someone was Deadpool and someone was like it's probs Fantomex and I was like probs. Turns out we were both right. Yeah. I don't know if I can handle that combined hyper-douchebag, uber-cliched force of Fantomex, Deadpool, and Wolverine. But I'll at least give this "Uncanny X-Force" a shot. ( I can't believe that's really what we're calling it.)

Chapter 4:
Writer: Matt Fraction
A
rtist: Terry Dodson
We open this part this Iceman talking to Cyclops while he's trying to write a condolence letter to Amanda Sefton (I think) concerning Kurt's death. And from there something creepy about Kurt is revealed (to me at least):

....Interesting.
Anyway, Beast gets bitched out by Namor about turning his back on his people because, for Namor, only just recently having his people's back is like having had their back all along. From there a bonfire is made in attempt to cheer everyone up. Emma's there and in diamond form because:

Not only that but the kids wised up and started locking their medicine cabinets so now she can't abuse their ADD meds. I think we need to have an very special episode of Intervention our very own Miss Frost.

While this is going on she spots Hope making a the sign of the Phoenix with the fire while flashing a mischievous smile towards her. Done by Dodson this is basically the same look you get when your 6-year old cousins is trying to act like they're up to something. I love how juvenile Dodson makes everything look, really I just love it. Emma freaks and runs to Scott and attempts to inform him of the situation, but he's like, "QUIET WOMAN!" as he gazes up at the five new mutants signatures registering on Cerebra. Yay, mutants are back, the Decimation is over, and hopefully I don't have to read an explanation about what happened during HoM ever again. From here we're going to start the "Five Lights' arc that's been [announced] with 4 of the 5 new characters either meant to look like "Badass on the edge" or "Sexy-face teen girl". And that's it, here's to the conclusion of Second Coming! Now for some news:

  • The poll results are in and apparently half of you miss Ariel. *Sniff* Me too, my dears, me too. Following that it seems people miss Kurt lots too. I have to say I was surprised Karma and Hellion didn't get more votes considering how scarring their limb-losing scenes were. What's worse is Toad's finger totally got one more vote than Karma's leg which totally gives me a giggle. Also, be sure to vote on the new poll with the new question of "What post-SC book (new or returning) are you looking forward to the most?"
  • Death of the Motherfucking Endless of Sandman fame is going to appear in Action Comics! As someone who is a decent-sized fan of Vertigo's very own peppy goth I have to just tell you all I almost died of delight when I heard this. Look for a detour to the Superman universe when this comes out. [Source]
  • The people have spoken again and they still want Psylocke's fanny-floss costume gone [Source]. Which I agree with. Except that unless you've been living in total comic book ignorance for the past month, you are probably aware that fans are having a shit fit over Wonder Woman's new costume. And now the one for the Green Lantern movie. So Betsy receiving a costume change right now sounds a bit unlikely. And....I don't like Wondy's new costume either, but I think that the level of bitching from comic fans recently has added weight to a stereotype of us being like grumpy old people who just bitch no matter what. So it's not good, but I was thinking about it and I think the perfect solution would have been a bit more audience participation. And that has spawned a post idea. So stay tuned Psylocke fans, I'll need your input very soon!
  • Oh and before I go, I'd just like to announce that I've made a tumblr specifically for comic books. It's not meant to replace this blog; it's more for briefer posts whenever I'm not whipping up a longer post. Feel free to follow it if you're interested [Here].

11 comments:

cook said...

If I remember correctly, Amanda Sefton was the daughter of his orginal adoptive parents, so his step-sister as well as his girlfriend. But he didn't know they were the same person until after they had been dating. I think it was revealed in Uncanny X-men Annual #4

X-23 said...

When I saw Bling!'s face in your entry I just HAD to laugh, even before I started to read the text))) Because I was totally scared shitless by this expression, too)))) Hahaha))
This article has been amazing, very funny and interesting and made me notice things I haven't noticed when I read the comic.
I liked this issue a lot, actually, even if it was a little drawn-out, like the SC itself. I guess I just like when the heroes get a little quite time for themselves for a change and just talk, it's nice to read, like the issue in Legacy when Rogue was basically just walking around and doing stuff. And I have NO idea why Elixir is not on the island now, where the hell is he then?..
The conversation between Storm and Logan was really strong indeed, so was the little talk between Cyclops and Rogue. He was harsh, but I can see why he's right, too. Rogue gambled so much, but for God's sake, so did he! Sending the baby to the future, hello? I like Scott, I really do, but he isn't the fucking king. He doesn't get to PUNISH here. He might be the savior and he might have more cojones to act when everyone else is still thinking claremont, but he needs some limits. And Fraction starts with this Emma/Scott drama-shit again, oh god no. Jeesus, relax already...

mattx said...

I was reading Avengers The Inititive and could not help but feel a bit cheated with whats potting in the X-Camp, the way Christo Cage was writing his characters was amazing I dont even follow Taskmaster and co but in three issues he fleshed a lot of character stories even with the Siege crossover. Now why cant they do that in the 10000 X-Comics they have out now? Dont mean to be moaning, its just an observation.

Have a huge event and involve the characters and not with one liners of "oh no!" and "they are coming in fast"

If you can check out Avengers Academy #1 there are some funny ass lines in there

Apparently Dazzler and Northstar will get some actual story time an upcoming arc so we'll see

FSaker said...

About Elixir, his whereabouts were never mentioned in any comic book issue, but Kyle and Yost mentioned during one of CBR's X-Positions that Elixir is currently in Genosha healing the people revived during Necrosha that managed to survive Selene's absorption and her death. Yes, it's sad that we get this explanation off-panel, but at least there is an excuse for his absence in Utopia.

I agree with X-23, Cyclops needs limits. It's terrible that Prof. X was morally completely humiliated and then stripped of his past accomplishments when his evil deeds came into light, yet Scott did much worse than him and he gets no punishment other than discussing with Xavier and Storm OFF-PANEL!! Oh yeah, and Beast criticizes him, then Namor lectures Beast to make it look like Cyclops is great and Beast is a disgrace to mutantkind (well, the second part isn't completely false nowadays... poor Beast, what has Fraction done to you??)...

Nevertheless, I actually enjoyed Second Coming as a whole, and this last issue as well. It was a nice touch that the scene with Jean in Emma's mind back in the disgraceful Sisterhood arc actually had some meaning for Second Coming. And Hope may become an interesting character after a while; the girl just needs some character development.

By the way, I voted for Uncanny X-Force in your new poll (let's hope it is as good as Kyle and Yost's X-Force). Although I'm also quite curious to see Fraction's new run in Uncanny X-Men, with the Five Lights story and Hope searching for her origins (hopefully with Magneto and not Scott - actually, for the sake of both Cyclops and Matt Fraction, I think Scott should be relocated to another X-title).

Mr. Hellfire said...

@Ben Oh wow, that must've been an awkward issue, hah.

@X-23 Yeah, as soon as I saw her in the issue I was like "One of these things is not like the other.."

And thanks very much! And yeah, seriously, Scott made the entire mutant population ONE big target, he should be getting dethroned.

@Mtti, moan away, I'm pro-moan, I'm just finding the fanboy freakouts every week to be too much. And yeah, it boggles my mind how character moments escape some of the X-Writers these days. Oh and I'll definitely check into Avengers Academy.

@FSaker, whoa whoa whoa. PEOPLE SURVIVED NECROSHA?! ....Skin's one of them, right? I mean, yeah totally shit explanation about Elixir, but if it means we get Skin back then it's almost worth it.

Yeah, Prof. X totally needs someone to have his back and I've got a post on who that should be coming up very soon....

FSaker said...

@Mr. Hellfire - Yes, they mention Elixir's current whereabouts in this interview: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=26613

I am already waiting for your post about the X-people who should be following Prof.X! The idea of this post is amazing!

Mr. Hellfire said...

Well, I'm thinking of one X-Person in specific, and that post is centering around them. You'll see, it'll def. be up by tomorrow night.

X-23 said...

2 FSaker
Seriously? I totally missed this, I only read that Elixir was just not on the island. Well, that is a good explanation, I was afraid they would make him run away from all of it because of oh-the tenderness of his fragile soul, that would be just wrong.

2 Mr. Hellfire
You totally impressed the hell out of me with your Emma/Lady Gaga and Emma/Pam comparisons, by the way, so i wanted to share an idea with you about how Emma and Dr. Nemesis were alike, but by writing the comment here I understood that there is just to much information and decided to write a whole article in my blog))))))))))) This is how you inspire people, keep on the good work.)

Mr. Hellfire said...

It's a great post, would you mind if I linked it in this week's news?

X-23 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
X-23 said...

No, not at all, I would be flattered.