Weekly Comic Book Review

by Matt Fraction, Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Mike Carey & Zeb Wells (writers), Terry Dodson, Ibraim Roberson, Esad Ribic, & Greg Land (artists)

The Story: With Bastion’s assault on Utopia and the X-Men over, the mutant community mourns their fallen and ties up loose ends.  By the end of it all, friendships lie shattered and a new generation of mutants looms on the horizon.

Thoughts: Just as I mentioned in last week’s review of X-Force #28, this concluding chapter of Marvel’s latest (and greatest) X-epic is more of an epilogue to the story than a conclusion.  That fact didn’t affect my enjoyment of this issue in the least, though, as Second Coming #2 is still filled with the wonderful character beats and “Oh crap” moments that we’ve come to expect over the last three months.  This issue is separated into four separate chapters, each produced by the creative team of each X-title involved in the crossover.  I was struck with the fear that such an arrangement might give this installment a disjointed, anthology feel but my fears were misplaced.  The X-creators deliver their usual (well, almost) seamless storytelling here and the story flows with nary a bump in the road. Let’s break it down, shall we:

Chapter 1:  Wells and Roberson pick up from the cliffhanger and, smartly, decide to show this from the POV of Professor X.  The Professor has been getting short shrift as of late and it’s nice to see his reaction to some of these events.  The creators also deliver what has to be one of the saddest moments of the story as we see Hope cradling Cable’s bionic arm, reminding us of the little girl she truly is, despite all the messianic hubbub about her.  It’s nicely framed by Roberson.  Extra kudos go to Wells for Magneto’s somewhat sinister advice to Hope.  It’s one of many small moments in this issue that makes me excited for where the characters and their relationships will go next.

Chapter 2: Carey and Ribic get the emotional scene, as they deliver an appropriately dour funeral for Cable.  Carey, as he always does, gets all of the character beats right, from Cyclops’ failure to deliver a eulogy for his son to Hope’s flashback and her thoughts about her “father” to the rift formed between Rogue and Scott, an argument in which I found that I agree with both sides.  The choice of Ribic as penciller here was a nice choice.  His somewhat loose, sketchy linework works well in visualizing the funeral.

Chapter 3:  Ah, Kyle and Yost.  This chapter basically works as the concluding story in the current iteration of X-Force, and they knock it out of the park.  While I would have loved to see all of the senior X-Men’s reaction to Cyclops’ and Wolverine’s dirty little secret, I admit that might make for a boring issue for most readers.  Having Storm serve as the representative of those characters’ opinions was a clever move, especially considering her relationship with Logan.  Her last words to him as they share a beer were a gut punch, and it was the sort of scene I’ve been waiting for since the X-Force series began.  The moments following with X-23 and Cyclops were also very ably handled and, while I’m not happy at all to see Deadpool in another book, I’m curious to see how this new version of the team is handled.  As for Land’s art, well, I think my less-than-enthused opinion of his work has been well-documented.  But imagine how awesome that X-23 scene would have been if drawn by Mike Choi, instead of having all of the nuance sucked out of it by Land’s tracing.  Sigh.

Chapter 4:  Fraction and Dodson deliver a solid conclusion to the story.  From the Beast’s departure to Namor’s opinions and hilarious attempt at basketball to Scott and Emma’s tiff to what Emma sees in the flames and what Scott sees on Cerebro, every moment is either filled with the effects of what this story has done to the characters or expectations of what is to come.  Ending on the first smile we’ve seen from Scott Summers in what feels like a long while was a nice choice and speaks loudly to the new dawn on the horizon.  Nicely handled, especially considering that Fraction has been this event’s weakest link.

Conclusion: Second Coming has been one of, if not, the best X-over ever.  Everything you could have possibly wanted in a blockbuster X-Men story could be found within the pages of the X-books over the past three months.  It was an exciting and fitting conclusion to the Messiah plot and the “No More Mutants” plot that have steered the franchise for the past several years.  Who knows where the X-Men are going next, but where they just came from was a blast.

Grade: A

-Joe Lopez