Four months and 47 posts later, Second Coming has, uh, come to an end. And we got what we were promised. There was a ton of action, several deaths, and as the dust settles we see that yes, the world has changed. Now to just figure out how we feel about it.
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In way of recap, let's go through the fourteen issues of Second Coming in 30 seconds or less (Huge SPOILER ALERT, obviously). The event opens with Cable and Hope finally leaping back to the present day. Their years of evading Bishop are over and they finally get to go home. Except of course they don't or it would make for a very un-engaging fourteen issues. They pop out of their time-vortex-flash-thing to discover that the X-Mansion was destroyed (Scott couldn't leave a note?) and that someone clearly knew they were coming. As this is nothing new to either Cable or Hope, they manage to dispatch their enemies and go on the run. Cerebra picks up Cable's signature (but, notably, not Hope's) and Scott sends a team after them. Turns out the baddie was Bastion, a previous enemy of the X-Men who is not fucking around. He somehow knows where Cable and Hope are the entire time, and also manages to take out both Illyana (by sending her to Limbo) and Ariel (by blowing her to bits, not that I knew who she was previously). While both the X-Men and Bastion's forces chase after the 'Messiah', we get moments showing how close Cable and Hope have become, and how messed up Hope is after being on the run her whole life. Long story and three issues short, the X-men finally catch up and it is decided Hope needs to get back to Utopia immediately (It's also about this time that the black-ops X-Force is revealed to the X-Men at large, much to Kurt's displeasure). So Rogue powers up, and she and Nightcrawler start porting Hope across the country. Of course they get caught, by Bastion no less, and in the ensuing battle Nightcrawler winds up with an extra arm...through his chest. But with his last breath he manages to get Hope to safety. Thus ends Act I.
Obviously anyone that knows Nimrods knows it's best not to be a mutant when they show up, as they are from the future, adapt quickly to all offenses, and generally ruin your day. They come through and start tearing up the X-Men. Hellion loses his hands and they actually manage to break Colossus' arm. The only way to stop them in the present is to stop their source, so Cable and X-Force (with Cypher subbed for Elixir) jump to the future to take on Master Mold while the rest of the X-Men try desperately to not be dead. Especially Hope, as that would put a real damper on Scott's Five-Year Plan. Lots of fighting later, Cypher manages to kill (or at least turn off) Master Mold, but of course they can't get back because nothing organic can go through the portal. Luckily for X-Force, Cable is infected with a technorganic virus which will allow him to pass through and hold it open. Unluckily for Cable, giving in to the virus and holding open the portal makes him explode. Super-unluckily for Bastion, watching her father die awakens inside Hope a need to kick some ass, and she does in spectacular fashion. Seemingly able to mimic the powers of all of the X-Men, Hope beats the face off of Bastion before finally awakening her blatantly foreshadowed true power *cough* Phoenix Fire *cough* and ending both Bastion and Act III.So the obvious question is "What now?" Second Coming #2 sets up the next step for all of our current titles. The New Mutants are back together now that Sam and Co. have rescued Illyana from Limbo (see the Hellbound tie-in). While Scott has dissolved X-Force for fear of what people might think, Wolverine is keeping it alive and well with a new line-up. Scott has removed Rogue from combat duty, which will leave her a lot more time to be teacher-y in X-Men Legacy. But it's the last chapter of the Epilogue which is the most exciting, and which sets up both Uncanny X-Men and the new X-Men: Generation of Hope title: As Emma is watching Hope stand by the fire, the Phoenix very obvious manifests and speaks to Emma. She goes running off to tell Scott and finds him looking at a Cerebra with five new mutant signatures glowing across the world: Mutants are coming back.
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| The Five Lights of the Generation of Hope...whatever that means. |
So with the recap business out of the way (in slightly more than 30 seconds), let's get to our thoughts on the matter:
Matt's Take
The problem with reviewing things I consider myself to be a fanboy about is that it's difficult to be objective. The easiest thing to do is split the review into two smaller parts: one more critical and one more omgyayXMen. So let's start with the critical: This was not the best event Marvel has ever done. I'm not sure I'd put it in the Top Five. Was it bad? Not at all. But the pacing was a terrific problem for me. Things open and they're going strong and suddenly Kurt dies and things just stop. Which is fine, except it takes them almost 7 issues to get going again, and even then it's not as engaging. The other major issue I had is that I could have written every major plot-point before opening the first issue. It's not that the plot points weren't interesting or were poorly written, but they weren't written quite well enough to make up for the predictability. I found the art to be on the whole above average, although I definitely have some artists I prefer over others (I'm terrible with names so don't ask for a list). But the fanboy in me will keep coming back again and again to X-Men, even if I'm not impressed by everything, and I recommend other X-Men fan-people do the same. I like where the event left the X-verse, with the discovery of the Five Lights and some actual hope (no pun intended) for the future. I also appreciate the comparative magnitudes of the deaths (even though no Comic Book death is forever) and the significance of things like the X-Force revelation. I just wish they could have gotten there a bit more eloquently at the end.
Arnab's Take
So in order to properly review Second Coming, I felt it necessary to reread the story in it's entirety, so I did. And let me tell you, the second time around merely confirmed what my first reading had concluded, that this was fantastic. Considering just how large of an event this is and the number of issues and creative forces involved, I'm going to have to split my review up into a couple of parts: writing/plot, character treatment, and art.
Second Coming has been an event years in the making. And at the end of the day you have to ask yourself what was this story attempting to accomplish and did it accomplish that feat. And I would have to answer yes, wholeheartedly. After M-Day the mutants found their numbers to be just fewer than two hundred, they were scattered across the globe, across the galaxies even. Second Coming was meant to usher the X-Men out of the darkness and create a sense of unity amongst the mutants.
Considering there were five writers involved in the entire crossover event, the writing was good throughout the series. Naturally there were certain issues that had more presence and more action than others (the X-Force creative team had arguably the greatest moments of Second Coming,) the writing was still good consistently. The plot was well planned and well thought out (hear me out) in its pacing and in its use of the cast. If you read Second Coming as it came out, like we did, there was a brief calm in the action. And I say brief because in actuality there are truly maybe three or four issues where the pacing slows down, but that is to be expected in such a long event. In fact, I would argue that the slow paced issues are necessary for such an event precisely because of some of the things that occurred, such as Kurt's death, and Cable's death, and the numerous other injuries and twists thrown in there. It also begs to be mentioned that during the releasing of the issues, there were two weeks when a Second Coming chapter did not come out and it is my opinion that those two weeks of waiting completely threw off the pacing of the crossover event. Read in order without the need to wait, however, allows for a better reading, one in which the sequencing of events work out effortlessly.
In focusing on the characters, I should first establish that I have been a big fan of Scott Summers and the Summers clan since I was a child, although that should not take away from how highly I think of this story. In recent years Scott Summers has become the leader that the mutants need, even if he's the leader some of the mutants don't want. What I absolutely love about Second Coming, was the way that it showcased certain mutants at their finest, specifically the Summers clan. Regardless of public opinion, Scott set out to do one thing and that was to save the mutant race. And as I said in our previous post, if you have faith in him, he'll succeed. But what makes him such an effective and great leader is not his immense power, because there are more powerful mutants, it's not his telepathic ability, because he doesn't have any, and it's not his brute strength, because he's beat there too. Scott Summers it the ultimate strategist and that is what makes him dangerous. The writers took advantage of this asset and made it work brilliantly. At first there were just glimpses, like when he knew where Cable was going to go. But as time passed Scott's abilities begun to be showcased more and more often, from sending X-Force to the future to stop the Master Mold, to making use of David Haller, to designating task forces, moment to moment the writers truly captured the essence of the character. While Rachel Summers, Alex Summers, and Nathaniel Grey were noticeably missing from the entire event, Scott, Nathan, and Hope more than made up for their lack of appearance.
Not only did the writers utilize Scott to his best ability, but they also did a great job of showcasing other characters. We've got Cable the ultimate soldier, fighting since the day he was born, fighting till his last breath. At his funeral Hope mentions that her Dad went out he way he would have wanted to, fighting, and that truly represents Cable as he has existed since he appeared. Hope, who this whole thing is about, is a new character so her persona, her essence, is still developing, but what a character she is turning out to be. Then there's Beast and Storm's holier-than-thou attitudes that they've long carried, as if the two of them combined could pull off a victory of this magnitude. Logan was great in this, the pain and the rage were written out excellently. The supporting cast, including some of the lesser known characters, were not only written well but some of them were also given more importance than they had been given in the past.
The artwork throughout the event was terrific; Marvel really brought out their best for the event. From the very first issue, with David Finch at the helm, the art stood out with an amazing attention to detail and the use of facial expressions were exquisite. And that's just the beginning. By my count there were eight different pencilers and even more inkers and colorists who created an amazingly beautiful book. Did I prefer some artists to any others, of course I did. That's the great thing about art, different artists will always appeal to different people. Mike Choi and Sonia Oback created some of the most beautiful pages of art that I have ever read. Coupled with the amount of textual freedom they received from Craig Kyle and Chris Yost (meaning the the text was used or not used in some cases to enhance the emotion evoked by the art,) the duo took the most important scenes in Second Coming and took them to a whole new level of greatness. Ibraim Roberson really stepped up to the plate as one of the lesser known artists and really enhanced some of the issues with less action. Greg Land also stepped up his artistic abilities with his issues as well, some of his better stuff in my opinion. And finally we've got Terry Dodson, who I got to meet at Comic Con, who also did a fantastic job with his pages.
To sum up: the art was amazing and will leave you more than satisfied, the story was exciting, fun, sad, everything you need in a major crossover event, and the plot brought some great twists, excellent use of characters, and a great segue out of the dark and into an exciting time for X-Men fans.
******
Stay tuned for our reviews as the next X-Events start to unfold!
Matt's Take
The problem with reviewing things I consider myself to be a fanboy about is that it's difficult to be objective. The easiest thing to do is split the review into two smaller parts: one more critical and one more omgyayXMen. So let's start with the critical: This was not the best event Marvel has ever done. I'm not sure I'd put it in the Top Five. Was it bad? Not at all. But the pacing was a terrific problem for me. Things open and they're going strong and suddenly Kurt dies and things just stop. Which is fine, except it takes them almost 7 issues to get going again, and even then it's not as engaging. The other major issue I had is that I could have written every major plot-point before opening the first issue. It's not that the plot points weren't interesting or were poorly written, but they weren't written quite well enough to make up for the predictability. I found the art to be on the whole above average, although I definitely have some artists I prefer over others (I'm terrible with names so don't ask for a list). But the fanboy in me will keep coming back again and again to X-Men, even if I'm not impressed by everything, and I recommend other X-Men fan-people do the same. I like where the event left the X-verse, with the discovery of the Five Lights and some actual hope (no pun intended) for the future. I also appreciate the comparative magnitudes of the deaths (even though no Comic Book death is forever) and the significance of things like the X-Force revelation. I just wish they could have gotten there a bit more eloquently at the end.
Arnab's Take
So in order to properly review Second Coming, I felt it necessary to reread the story in it's entirety, so I did. And let me tell you, the second time around merely confirmed what my first reading had concluded, that this was fantastic. Considering just how large of an event this is and the number of issues and creative forces involved, I'm going to have to split my review up into a couple of parts: writing/plot, character treatment, and art.
Second Coming has been an event years in the making. And at the end of the day you have to ask yourself what was this story attempting to accomplish and did it accomplish that feat. And I would have to answer yes, wholeheartedly. After M-Day the mutants found their numbers to be just fewer than two hundred, they were scattered across the globe, across the galaxies even. Second Coming was meant to usher the X-Men out of the darkness and create a sense of unity amongst the mutants.
Considering there were five writers involved in the entire crossover event, the writing was good throughout the series. Naturally there were certain issues that had more presence and more action than others (the X-Force creative team had arguably the greatest moments of Second Coming,) the writing was still good consistently. The plot was well planned and well thought out (hear me out) in its pacing and in its use of the cast. If you read Second Coming as it came out, like we did, there was a brief calm in the action. And I say brief because in actuality there are truly maybe three or four issues where the pacing slows down, but that is to be expected in such a long event. In fact, I would argue that the slow paced issues are necessary for such an event precisely because of some of the things that occurred, such as Kurt's death, and Cable's death, and the numerous other injuries and twists thrown in there. It also begs to be mentioned that during the releasing of the issues, there were two weeks when a Second Coming chapter did not come out and it is my opinion that those two weeks of waiting completely threw off the pacing of the crossover event. Read in order without the need to wait, however, allows for a better reading, one in which the sequencing of events work out effortlessly.
In focusing on the characters, I should first establish that I have been a big fan of Scott Summers and the Summers clan since I was a child, although that should not take away from how highly I think of this story. In recent years Scott Summers has become the leader that the mutants need, even if he's the leader some of the mutants don't want. What I absolutely love about Second Coming, was the way that it showcased certain mutants at their finest, specifically the Summers clan. Regardless of public opinion, Scott set out to do one thing and that was to save the mutant race. And as I said in our previous post, if you have faith in him, he'll succeed. But what makes him such an effective and great leader is not his immense power, because there are more powerful mutants, it's not his telepathic ability, because he doesn't have any, and it's not his brute strength, because he's beat there too. Scott Summers it the ultimate strategist and that is what makes him dangerous. The writers took advantage of this asset and made it work brilliantly. At first there were just glimpses, like when he knew where Cable was going to go. But as time passed Scott's abilities begun to be showcased more and more often, from sending X-Force to the future to stop the Master Mold, to making use of David Haller, to designating task forces, moment to moment the writers truly captured the essence of the character. While Rachel Summers, Alex Summers, and Nathaniel Grey were noticeably missing from the entire event, Scott, Nathan, and Hope more than made up for their lack of appearance.
Not only did the writers utilize Scott to his best ability, but they also did a great job of showcasing other characters. We've got Cable the ultimate soldier, fighting since the day he was born, fighting till his last breath. At his funeral Hope mentions that her Dad went out he way he would have wanted to, fighting, and that truly represents Cable as he has existed since he appeared. Hope, who this whole thing is about, is a new character so her persona, her essence, is still developing, but what a character she is turning out to be. Then there's Beast and Storm's holier-than-thou attitudes that they've long carried, as if the two of them combined could pull off a victory of this magnitude. Logan was great in this, the pain and the rage were written out excellently. The supporting cast, including some of the lesser known characters, were not only written well but some of them were also given more importance than they had been given in the past.
The artwork throughout the event was terrific; Marvel really brought out their best for the event. From the very first issue, with David Finch at the helm, the art stood out with an amazing attention to detail and the use of facial expressions were exquisite. And that's just the beginning. By my count there were eight different pencilers and even more inkers and colorists who created an amazingly beautiful book. Did I prefer some artists to any others, of course I did. That's the great thing about art, different artists will always appeal to different people. Mike Choi and Sonia Oback created some of the most beautiful pages of art that I have ever read. Coupled with the amount of textual freedom they received from Craig Kyle and Chris Yost (meaning the the text was used or not used in some cases to enhance the emotion evoked by the art,) the duo took the most important scenes in Second Coming and took them to a whole new level of greatness. Ibraim Roberson really stepped up to the plate as one of the lesser known artists and really enhanced some of the issues with less action. Greg Land also stepped up his artistic abilities with his issues as well, some of his better stuff in my opinion. And finally we've got Terry Dodson, who I got to meet at Comic Con, who also did a fantastic job with his pages.
To sum up: the art was amazing and will leave you more than satisfied, the story was exciting, fun, sad, everything you need in a major crossover event, and the plot brought some great twists, excellent use of characters, and a great segue out of the dark and into an exciting time for X-Men fans.
******
Stay tuned for our reviews as the next X-Events start to unfold!
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