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 telling 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
Artist: 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].
  

The List #33 Part 1

X-Force #28
Writers: Craig Kyle & Chris Yost
Artist: Mike Choi
This issue opens where we left off last time, with Cable letting the T/O virus take him over so he can get through the time portal. From there it allows for X-Force to just barely get in behind him and return to the present. They're all in rough shape, but none as rough as Cable considering he follows his grand entrance with a grand exit with only a moment between the two. Yes, Cable is Second Coming's big finale death as he explodes into pieces after he smiles one last time to Hope; only leaving behind his metal arm.

Meanwhile, Bastion's frustrated that his plan has failed and decides to turn Lang and Creed into sentinels and then rushes out to take care of the X-Men. Back on the bridge there's mourning with "heart-touching" flashbacks to Hope and Cable that seem excessive and sentimental. Cyclops attempts to comfort Hope, but she tells him for the millionth time that she hates him or wants him dead. This is probably the first time I've considered her angst parade reasonable.

This is interrupted by Bastion sending down a laser beam that splits the bridge in half and causes the X-Men to either fall into the water below or just be knocked back from Hope. Bastion floats on down to tell Hope that he's had it with her and that she needs to be eliminated. Hope decides to fight back and her powers finally manifest. What they are confuses me, I'm thinking she's a mimic? At first it seems the "glow" around her is Armor's power, then she fires optic beams like Cyclops, and later her hand seems to turn to metal which would be Colossus. All this time Bastion is speechifying and it's nothing new, useful, or interesting. Note to X-Creators: Please make the next villain mute if it in any way resembles this unimpressive character.

The fight continues, with Hope having the upper hand by shooting off eye beams followed by then seeming to do something all too familiar. She manifests the bird we all associate with fire incarnate. Yes, it seems she's got some Phoenix in her indeed, and from there you can just see Cyclops' thoughts in his visor:

From there Cyclops goes to Hope with Emma protesting. Wolverine stops her and tells her to stay back because there's nothing she can do. She looks down and says, "I know," in defeat as Wolverine follows Cyclops. Yeah. So it seems the idiot with a healing factor and claws is more useful than the mega-telepath with diamond form. How logical.

Cyclops and Wolverine join the fight, there's a, "THIS IS FOR KURRTTTTT!!" moment from Wolverine, and in the end Hope blows up Bastion and destroys the bubble. The issue ends with the X-Men gathered around Hope who's floating and just looks like Jean.

Conclusion: This issue in general was half convincingly intense that made for genuine excitement with the other half being overly sentimental and forced. Cable's death was definitely one of the moments done well, and despite my dislike for the character, I still could appreciate the way he was sent off.

X-Men #1
Writer: Victor Gischler
Artist: Paco Medina
If you've seen the previews for this issue then you've just about read the issue [Here] and [Here]. Why? Because that's almost every page of this issue. Not only that, but it's really not the most exciting book anyway.

This issue opens with Jubilee and Pixie hanging out in San Fransisco with Pixie having been sent to keep tabs on Jubs. From there a vampire shows up and explodes with his blood getting on the surrounding people which includes Jubilee.

A lot of the rest of the issue is Dr. Rao, Cyclops, and Dr. Nemesis keeping Jubilee on Utopia because they know she's probs going to turn into a vampire. There's also vampires invading San Fran, and them calling out to the people infected by the blood. It's standard vampire shit that calls into question why anyone thought a vampire storyline was good to have as the first arc consider it really has nothing new to offer.

The rest of the issue is Wolverine, Pixie, and Angel finding the vamps and invading one of their bases to find people strapped upside down and being drained of their blood. Two other things of note: Storm wanted to help considering her history with Dracula, but they said she's maxed out her page time for the month considering she's still married and therefore "useless". Should she consider a divorce, they'll reconsider. Kidding, that was just the subtext of what was said. Oh and also, Dr. Nemesis was needlessly prickly again. The thing is writers are probably thinking of the television character House when they do this, but I'm sure House's prick factor is much better executed. In the case of Nemesis, he's likely supposed to come off as having a disregard for oversensitive feelings, but all he sounds like is an immature teenager trying to come off like he doesn't care even though you know he's dying for your disapproval which he translates to self-approval. In the end he just comes off as pathetic.

Conclusion: It's definitely the weakest out of this week's bunch, and considering the cover you'd expect more X-Men to have been involved especially for a first issue. Instead we get Cyclops, Wolverine, Pixie, Jubilee, Dr. Rao, Dr. Nemesis, and two seconds worth of Storm and Angel. That's hardly an all-star cast.

X-Force #27 Review

X-Force #27
Writers: Chris Yost and Craig Kyle
Artist: Mike Choi
The first 12 pages of this issue are all about the fight scene between the X-Men and the Nimrods. There's no word bubbles, it's all up on Mike Choi and his ability to convey the intensity of a battle; which he does exceedingly well.

The important moments of the battle scene are this: Psylocke rips a Nimrod in half with her telekinesis (You go, girl!), Hellion gets his hands and part of a forearm shot off (seen in the preview pages [Here]), and Hisako gets her ass beat. One thing that bothered me is Rogue gets one of her absorbed wings ripped out again, and I get the effect of her losing something is good for contributing to the seriousness of the fight, but why the hell doesn't she just fly with Betsy's telekinesis rather than make herself vulnerable by making more of herself that could get hurt?
What bothered me loads more was apparently Iceman got third degree burns. Except it's been established so many times that Bobby's able to come back from just about anything nowadays, so I have trouble he can even be scratched these days.

Anyway, in the end we get a bleak page of the X-Men picking up their wounded, and then we turn to Bastion's force which now is Bastion, Graydon Creed, Trask, and whatever Nimrods they can pull from the future. So that's the villain head count right now.

Back at X-Central, the injured are being reviewed, and everyone's in a frightened mood. Which I can say that thanks to the resurrect-a-thons of the past 5 years that it doesn't mean shit to me. Because I know Nightcrawler will probably be back in two years. And there's a chance Karma's leg will be fixed sometime in the future. When dead doesn't mean dead, it's hard to tell a convincingly serious war story.

Anyway, the facts about the white sphere are in and apparently it links to the future. And the supply of Nimrods available to come through is over 170,000. Everyone's confidence starts to shake worse, and then Emma turns to Cyclops--->

Except Cyclops is Jim Jones here. He brought a bunch of vulnerable people to one place which is surrounded by ocean. Or more like Fraction attempted to convince us that an experienced leader like Cyclops would actually pull a suicidal stunt like this. Utopia's real name is Masada. Except at least Masada wasn't in the middle of the ocean.

Cyclops does come up with a plan though. He wants to send X-Force into the future with Cable's one last jump. And he wants Cypher to "speak the language" of the Nimrods to re-wire them. Remember when I said Cypher was going to become an Ink? Yeah, right about now. BTW, his tag is now "Cypher is Deus Ex Machina".

Oh by the way, Storm finally finds out about X-Force:

Um, no no no. Let's review what formerly marked the difference between Cyclops and Storm's leaderships.

Storm was all right with killing first, k?

I don't care that this was 20 years ago and she was under the influence of Inferno. This is just one of the examples I can pull out that shows Storm as the harder leader. Which was true up until we decided Scott needed to be "badass" like Wolverine because otherwise he's a lame character (which started post-Apocalypse possession).

Moving on, Cyclops hands out assignments like telling Rogue to get all the noncombatants into the Atlantean column underwater. And Betsy gets the most badass job of all:

Speed-telepathy while riding motorcycle? Ohhhh Betsy, it's no wonder why we love you.

Anyway, just as more Nimrods are coming out, the modified X-Force leaves to the future. Cyclops turns to Emma and whines about how he's killed X-Force because they have no way to get back. Really? Why say it like that, Yost and Kyle? Does anyone for a second think that Wolverine, X-23, and other well-liked or recently brought back to the X-Circle characters are really going to die? No. So just say they're screwed, and leave it at a place where we can be convinced. Conclusion: For all my complaints this issue, in the end it was a pretty decent issue considering my complains are more over consistent problems in the X-Universe rather than just this issue. This issue is actually probably one of the better issues of Second Coming.

X-Force #26 Review

Writer: Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
Artist: Mike Choi
I know I'm already a little late jumping onto the review train for this issue considering the plot of it has already been so over-predicted that it basically got stale the day after it hit the stands. Before I begin I have to thank Adi Granov for his gorgeous Emma Frost cover...which also had that girl, but she's not important. A problem with Granov's covers is that he keeps putting Emma in her Hellfire costume on the covers even though everyone else's is current. Does she really need to be running around in panties? Do pants inhibit her telepathy?

The issue begins with a look at all the main players and where they are currently. By the way, the issue is done by Choi who is talented, but as I've said so many times, a HORRIBLE choice for X-Force because his style is way too pretty. Like dark grey inks aren't going to remove the fact that everything he draws is too pretty. This sort of issue comes up in the opening two pages.

If you didn't already know who these characters were, what would age would you think these three characters are? Because 16/17 year old X-23 looks the oldest out of these three and around her early to mid twenties. Psylocke looks around 17 even though I'm pretty sure she's mid to late twenties. And Emma looks like kid Layla Miller in lipstick. So 13. Except she's late twenties. One thing Choi does succeed at more than any other artist it seems is making Psylocke look like she's actually Asian.

But moving on, it turns out Karma's in bad shaper considering her leg was just eaten up to mid-thigh. Which maybe should have killed her pretty quickly? But apparently, science of the X-World being like magic again, her uniform helps stop the bleeding. How? Especially from a major artery? Anyway, the NM are undecided as to where they should go and talking it over with Cyclops. Because it hasn't been emphasized in this past two years that every mutant life matters. Finally, Cyclops tells them to head back to Utopia. And then Prodigy cameo queens it to say that communication is down.

Back at Alpha team plus Cable, they're still busy with fighting off Smileys and it's ok. The only thing that really stuck out at me was Psylocke and X-23 doing a Fastball Special. Which was pretty neat. Also, Colossus was pissed, and continues to be throughout the issue, about Ilyanna's being pulled into Limbo. This continues to be covered in next week's Second Coming- Revelations: Hellbound (click for preview).

Turning towards Hope, Nightcrawler, and Rogue, Kurt's exhausting himself with all the teleporting he's doing. Rogue offers to help him out by siphoning his power and doing the rest of the way. He refuses. Then Bastion shows up and Rogue gets to show off all the powers she has in her. Which I found pretty epic especially since Rogue is always wonderful in a fight. But. Her and Nightcrawler get their asses kicked in the end. And just as Bastion is about to get to Hope, it happens. Second Coming's. Next. Top. Death. Isssss....

Nightcrawler!
*cue Nick Nolan's "Free For All" that they play whenever someone wins ANTM*

Nightcrawler teleports himself so that Bastion's arm is right in Kurt's chest. He prays for strength and teleports Hope and himself all the way back to Utopia. Then dies. Later on, Alpha Team shows up and see Emma and Scott's faces. Psylocke asks, "Who?" and Logan already knows saying, "Elf." And that's pretty much the issue.

It was a powerful scene for what it was. But the thing is we all saw it coming, he was barely ever used, there was even a Manifest Destiny one-shot to emphasize this. Half of us probably won't even notice he's gone because we didn't notice his presence to begin with. Essentially, I'm saying I'm over it, and hopefully that when he comes back (which hopefully won't be next week) that he's taken back out because someone knows what to do with him.

Now to address the poll which had the question, "Who do you think is Second Coming's big death?" I have to say thank you to the 29 people that voted, I really do appreciate even just a simple thing like voting on one of my polls. The results for the poll are: Nightcrawler got 86% of the votes (25 people), Colossus got 0%, Beast got 3% (1 person), Archangel got 3% (1 person), and Other got 6% (2 people). So I definitely feel comfortable saying that those of you who read here weren't all that shocked by this issues big reveal.

Now for a bit of housecleaning which includes discussion of some recents news items and a new poll:

• Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow! For a list of the comics are this year, click here. I'm planning on going to Coast City Comics for FBCD needs especially considering they've also got sales going on at the same time. And plus, they've got quarter bins and it seems every three weeks they call my name.
  

• I found this picture of Cyndi Lauper recently and was just shocked. Take off a decade and she's Ariel, seriously. And I think it's perfect that Ariel's real life equivalent can be found in an 80's icon.

• Marvel released a teaser image about the upcoming New X-Force. My guesses for the new team members and what looks REALLY likely considering the image are: Deadpool, Gambit, and Psylocke. And the flying one is probably Archangel. And for my new poll, I want to know from all of you "Which X-Man do you want to see in X-Force the most?" And of course, yet again for the Other option, please feel free to leave a comment saying who your vote goes to in specific.
  

• Last week's Buy Pile had an amazing blurb in it about the Firestar one-shot:

Marvel, apparently, wants female readers. That's fine. However, making something as whiny, self-indulgent and bland as "Firestar" #1 is probably not gonna make hordes of estrogen-powered new fans ring up the Comic Shop Locator and rush to wherever this kind of tedium can be found.

I agree completely. Also, Marvel would do well to stop pandering to fan boys by having men always be the stars. Seriously, DC seems to get it with their solo female books, but Marvel, uh, where are yours? I know of a few, but I'm not even interested enough to list them. And the X-Men, supposedly a metaphor for minorities, has white, hegemonic males running everything. If Marvel's surprised by their inability to appeal to female readers, they stand alone there.

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.

The List #24

Gotham City Sirens #9
Writer: Paul Dini
Artist: Guillem March
A lot of this issue focuses on the Riddler, it's his thought bubbles that are central this issue. And I have to say I find this irritating. The series is called Gotham City Sirens, not Gotham City Reformed Villains. If Dini is dying to write a series on The Riddler then go do it, but stop subjecting this series to constant detours to The Riddler when it's supposed to be about the women. It's especially insulting because it seems The Riddler appears every time something needs to be taken seriously, as if the girls are incapable of carrying a serious plot on their own. I'd say it goes so far as to suggest that female villains aren't to be taken as serious.

Another thing that gets me is since when is Ivy a reformed villain? I know Catwoman and Harley are, but Ivy just seems to have slipped into it without any real explanation. More importantly, who are the villains these days? With Ivy, Harley, Catwoman, and The Riddler all reformed it feels like all the best ones besides the Joker are gone.

This issue focuses around a body being dropped into the girls' home and Eddie trying to figure out what they were all doing before then. Harley's day is riddled with 'cutesy' crap and just details of her eccentric nature. Yet again, a mistake is made in writing Harley. The appeal of Harley is that her personality is such a contrast from her line of work. Her cuteness is odd in such a dark setting, and that's her appeal. Instead, Dini has focused in on her too much during this series and humanized her way too much. It's hard to believe she's ever been sick and twisted.

As for Ivy, it appears she was out at a job interview. Which I adore because I've already said I adore the fact that she's written to not need a man and has strong devotion to her cause. Making her a career woman just makes things even better.

As for Catwoman, apparently she was out sparring with Catman. And as a sidenote, I know I've stated before that Catwoman is the Gotham Girl I care about the least, but I've been looking into her recent appearances this past week and I have to say I find myself liking her now. I think it's up to Dini to spotlight her right now considering she's the least worked on Gotham Girl.

Anyway, the girls wrap up their stories and The Riddler goes to their home to check out the body. He makes a note of how the villain neglected to us the specific weapons and materials the girls would have which sort of brings the idea of villainy being an art (especially in such a villain focused universe as the Batman universe).

In the end it turns out the villain trying to frame the girls was none other than... Dr. Aesop!! Yeah, I have no idea who he is, but that's what I get for only reading Batman issues with Ivy in them. Conclusion: I'd say that this issue is worth the buy so long as you don't mind The Riddler.

X-Factor #202
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Bing Cansino
Here's the basic idea of this issue: Layla's working with Dr. Doom and apparently there's an impostor Doom or something from an alt. universe. I think. Whatever, anyway it turns out Invisible Woman is being kept in Castle Doom and it hooked up to a machine where she's exploring trashed fantasies with Namor. And we also finally get to know what Imperius Rex means, an explanation I certainly wouldn't deny.

In the end Monet interrupts and gets Sue out of the machine, everyone on the offensive team runs to go confront Doom. And they come upon a most unexpected scene as they come upon Doom...painting Layla's portrait. Which I kind of love because I have to say Doom humor, or as it should be called 'Dumor,' is a guilty pleasure of mine.

What a diva.

During the closing of the issue, Doom claims to just have been trying to protect Sue and reiterates that he's no longer after the FF4. As everyone is departing it seems an artist mistake was made. It seems Layla was colored to look like Monet (possibly drawn as well?), and the mistake was only fixed by having the 'M' tattoo put on the mis-drawn Layla.

Anyway, the team leaves except Layla makes Shatterstar behind with her and Doom for reasons currently unknown. Oh and back at home the evil Reed Richards is defeated. Conclusion: This issue crossed over the limbo between ok and good that David regularly visits and went into the more positive limbo of between good and great. I would say consider buying it.

X-Men Legacy #233
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Clay Mann
This issue is basically made up of two parts. The first is Rogue discovering that Betsy's psi-knife can de-possess and subsequently psi-knifing everyone. You can imagine how tense that was. And the second was Proteus and Magneto's fight which was filled with, "Bah, old man, you're weak, you'll die!.......BAH! Old man, you're weak..." and Magneto in the end 'surprisingly' winning.
A couple things of interests included recreating a scene from the old days of Kurt teleporting around Rogue (this time possessed and trying to possess her, not tickle her) and Rogue eventually predicting his next move. Also, since when can Paige use her bodies of different substances to make powers? Like in this issue she became a fire form while possessed and managed to shoot flames at Rogue. Proteus' reality-bending or is Paige getting an upgrade?

Anyway, possessed Husk is most resistant to Rogue and almost ends up defeating Rogue when Betsy steps in with her psi-knife. And Magneto screws around with Proteus' electromagnetic thingy to make it go away. Afterwards, Rogue and Destiny have a really cute mother/daughter scene. I've always found the Mystique/Rogue mother/daughter relationship sort of unconvincing, but when Destiny's added to the mix I have to say the dynamics make a lot more sense. And it's a tragedy that Destiny couldn't be developed more because I do enjoy her character.

Destiny eventually goes to see Blindfold and we find out that two pre-cogs cancel each other out. And I just realized almost all of the X-Men characters who've been precog at one point or another have also been blind at one point or another. (Destiny, Blindfold, Psylocke, and Gambit. Preview is the only seeing one I can think of.) Destiny tells Ruth she's not her ma and tells her what she knows. Apparently there's an evil brother in the mix, which I can imagine is going to be the subject of a future arc.

And that's it for X-Men Legacy's part in the Necrosha crossover. Probably the one with the least amount of impact yet the best one out of the three. I would definitely recommend buying this arc if you're interested a simple but good superhero arc.

X-Force #24
Writers: Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
Artist: Clayton Crain
In terms of last issue's body count, apparently it's Onyxx, Diamond Lil, and Meld, who I thought was Leech.

This issue starts with Warpath being taken to see Selene, Wither and Eli Bard get into a fight where Wither reveals he's also part-vampire or whatever Eli is. Then Selene kills Eli for his bullshit, and hopefully she'll get killed for her soon since she's just a boring villain in goth lingerie who's into S+M. Not exactly the height of originality.

Warpath is taken into the dungeons so that he can be forced to fight his resurrected brother. He resists, and Johnny can't stop himself but apparently tells James how to kill Selene.

X-Force arrives on Genosha and right as they arrive a few discoveries are made. The first being that Elixir changed Rahne's powerset a bit when he was healing her because of her pregnancy. That and apparently Vanisher's tumor is no more, but he's definitely got some sort of STD that causes spitting up blood. Vanisher ends up deciding to stay with the team though and goes to save James. And Blink, being the bitch she is, blows up Telford's arm as he's in the process of saving because no good deed goes unpunished.

X-Force's presence is discovered and there begins epic fight scene which is mixed in with Selene's ritual prep. The ritual eventually happens, can't tell if all the resurrected people die in the process, but I suppose it's to be assumed. And so now Selene's a god. The God of Boring Cliche's I'd wager.

Conclusion: This issue is only somewhat more interesting and intense than past issues, but it still ends up being pretty mediocre and not all that intense.

The List #18 part 2

X-Force #22
Writers: Chis Yost and Craig Kyle
Artist: Clayton Crain
This issue begins with a glimpse of Emma's beloved deceased student, Negasonic Teenage Warhead and an explanation that many of the resurrected 16 million mutants were affected by the Decimation. This is pretty interesting information that I actually have wondered about before; if it's been gone over in Endangered Species then forgive me but I tuned out that crap side story almost entirely. Seriously, Beast exploring the overdiscussed Decimation is not an interesting read.

Shifting to the X-Men, we find Crain has gifted us with a beautiful two page fight scene which can be seen in the preview here. This includes bit of Gen. X reunion, which is nice to see that the team is not entirely forgotten. But in that panel I think there is our second caption glitch in this week's batch of comics:

That or Husk is possessing Skin.
Again, the possibilities are endless.

Inside the X-Landfill, we find out Rahne is pregnant and it's killing her! Hooray! I'm sorry to all her fans, but I've almost never liked the character for her naivete and overly religious crap. Considering how much she's in Limbo in X-Force right now, it'd be a good idea to either let her die (and make me happy) or put her on the revived New Mutants team. Anyway, Wolf Prince guy goes to go howl at the moon and Hela appears to interfere with my wish fulfillment.

Back on Planet Selene, she's plotting to kill her resurrected mutants to complete her spell that requires souls and other ideas that I hate. Probably their metaphorical 'hearts' too because the ability to love and be passionte is totally stored in our blood pumper. I find it odd that Selene can use the resurrected for her spell because I'd be inclined to think they're 'impure' or 'have no souls anymore'. Possibly something that will be covered later? Anyway, there's the big discovery of the blade required for the spell is missing, so Selene's elite go to attack the X-Men.

Speaking of the elite, you may have noticed the absence of X-Necrosha: The Gathering one-shot last week. That would be because all it was was Selene being evil and recruiting the characters with the same idea like five times. I have already had enough of that crap with Dark X-Men: The Beginning with Osborn forcing characters into recruitment for three issues. Now onto a set of panels worth noting:

First off, nice to see Dazzler being seriously used in combat. Second, who the hell is the redhead? My guess is that Morlock who's meant to resemble Jean with the weird tongue. But I find it off that anyone would let her on the island in the first place considering she's always up in the X-Men's grill. Third, holy shit, did Sooraya really just say 'What the hell'? Seriously, what she said overall seems totally out of character from her normally respectful-even-under-intense-cirumstances demeanor.

To conclude, buy this issue if you are following X-Necrosha, but otherwise be warned that it's a mediocre issue.

X-Men Legacy #230
Writer: Mike Carey
Artists: Daniel Acuna with Mirco Pierfederici
So as can be seen on the cover, Rogue begins the issue by using Emplate's powers right back on him. A bit surprising that her powers carried over to her astral form, but whatever works.

We also get a dialogue-less two-panel cameo of my favorite unconfirmed tranny, Ariel! Just so everyone knows, I totally picked up two issues of the only other series she's ever really appeared in, Fallen Angels, out of a $.25 bin during a fabulous sale at Coast City Comics. Seriously, if you're in the area and are a whore for sales like I am, then stop to pick up an issue or twelve.
Thanks to them, I now can know the magic of the 80's through Ariel.

Back to the plot, the drag net set to pull Emplate's astral lighthouse reels it in and Emplate ends up trying to suck Bling!'s energy to kill her, and some of the X-Men appear to save her. My favorite being:

My X-Boyfriend Warpath, of course. What a man, what a man, what a mighty delicious piece of man. Except Acuna could have done the face a little better and made it less aged looking. But at least he remembered to forget Warpath's shirt.

Anyway, Emplate gets sent to some uncertain fate of doom in the end. Later on, Bling! is getting interviewed by students and it turns out being saved is definitely something she's into. Yay for the X-Lesbians!

But boo on Hope Abbott. F'real honey, admitting you find someone is attractive isn't that big of a deal. Unless you're a total 'phobe. Seriously Hope, your enjoyment of tests and dislike of lesbians is absolutely backwards.

Anyway, the epilogue also includes Rogue and Cyke discussing her job offer and Cyclops mentions something that sounds very off to me:

Five years? Seriously? Didn't that thing come crashing down 15 years ago? 15 and 5 are huge differences. I was 15 five years ago, but I was 5 fifteen years ago. See the difference? I just dislike the sliding timescale in general since I think Storm was totally in her cougar 40's during X-Treme X-Men and that most of the senior X-Men should be aged to around that area.

That or numbers should never be mentioned in a sliding timescale. Anyway, last page of the issue is Gambit being gorgeous and talking to an evil goth card with black lips. Oh and don't read A Girl Named Hope, I loathe the artist. And Cable. So just ignore that in this issue and X-Force since I forgot to mention that it was in X-Force and am too lazy to go fix it.

In conclusion, pick up this issue if you've been collecting the other issues of this arc, but ignore it unless you've got lots of extra cash. I know I said I'd promote it if it had Ariel, but one-panel does not feed my need. And also, this arc in general was sort of good, but not great, yet again like Carey since Legacy began.