Second Coming Part 2 - Uncanny X-men 523

Well the Second Coming event continued today. This time it came within the pages of Uncanny X-men 523. Picking up right where the Second Coming #1 special left off, this issue hit the ground running. There is action, revelations, character development, and pretty much everything else you could want in a comic billed as the greatest X-event of all times (those are the editors words, not mine). That’s the good news. Unfortunately, there were some stumbling points.

Normally, I like Matt Fraction. He’s got a good feel for the X-men even if he ridiculously bias and damn near blatant at times. You can always tell when a comics is written by him based on the unique style. Unfortunately, that style just does NOT mesh well with what was established by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost. Whereas the first issue was dark and serious, Fraction injected a little humor and light-heartedness. This is all well and good, but it flows about as well as mud through a straw.

The problem lies with his portrayal of Hope Summers, the Mutant Messiah that everybody is fighting over. In the previous issue she was shocked and saddened by the grim surroundings she found herself in. Reading the events of this issue, it’s hard to imagine she was the same girl. For one, she was obsessed with the hair care section of a convenience store she and Cable held up. Later on she entered a motel with Cable and as soon as she saw a nice, comfy bed her eyes lit up like a fat kid in a candy store and she started jumping on the bed. I understand that Hope has grew up in a living hell, but she’s supposed to be 17! Not 7! A few pages later she has Hope stuffing her face with candy, looking like a slob in the process. Not a very flattering image of the messiah. That would be like Jesus Christ getting drunk at the last supper. You get the sense that Fraction doesn’t care much for Hope and doesn’t mind making her look goofy. Not sure what the motivation behind that is, but he doesn’t seem to be taking it as seriously as Kyle and Yost.

Hope’s childishness aside, Fraction does make up for it with the other scenes. The secret of X-Force officially came out and Cyclops was on the wrong side of a moral outrage from Nightcrawler. He didn’t beat around the bush. He flat out admitted it and essentially told his team that he would face the consequences later. Based on his choice of words he didn’t sound too ashamed. That’s some pretty stern leadership and the others continued to follow, despite their outrage.

At the same time Cyclops was coming clean, he organized a mission for the New Mutants. He’s sending them on a collision course with the Sapien League’s big guns and taking the fight to them. It’s playing both offense and defense. It’s the kind of strategy that would make General Zod proud. One would expect nothing less from Fraction, who seems to go out of his way to make Cyclops look badass. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there is a point where the writer starts to push it.

Overall, it sets things up nicely for the next chapter. The New Mutants are taking the fight to Bastion while the rest of the X-men stand poised to meet Hope in all her 17-year-old glory. It’s worth contemplating how they will react to her appearance, given that she looks uncannily similar to another certain redhead they all know and love. It depends on how big a douchebag the writers want to be when it comes to teasing Jean Grey’s return. That confrontation may still have to wait because the next issue will follow the New Mutants as they get a chance to kick some ass and further showcase the awesomeness of Cyclops’s plan.

Second Coming still hasn’t missed a beat! It’s well on it’s way to being every bit as awesome as the writers and editors have claimed. It all depends on whether or not they’ll follow through. They’ve been known to fall flat on their ass before. It only takes one issue. Thankfully, this isn’t the issue. Second Coming is still awesome! Uncanny 523 gets a solid 4 out of 5. I want to give it a perfect score, but I can’t when Hope comes off so goofy.

Bring on the New Mutants! Let the awesome that is Second Coming continue!

Second Coming Teaser - Someone's Gonna DIE

While it can't be considered a revelation when it was already revealed, a new teaser emerged for Second Coming. This one highlights the already confirmed fact that some major character will die in the course of Second Coming. Now Marvel has given some specifics.

An X-man Dies in X-Force #26

For one, we have an issue. X-Force, a book where blood and murder is as common as the rising sun, will be where the death takes place. That's not much of a surprise. What is a bit surprising is that they offered a list of characters. They include Colossus, Magik, Iceman, Angel, Emma Frost, Nightcrawler, and Cable. One of them is going to bite the dust and considering what has already been revealed, it's not as great a mystery as they make it out to be.

For one, Colossus and Magik are two characters who have already been killed. Would they dare doing it again? Not if they want to come off as unoriginal. Iceman? Doubtful, given he's been so marginalized it would have no impact. Angel? Same story to a lesser extent. He's had his role in X-Force as Archangel, but he's been pretty detached from the team for years. These would all have too little an impact for it to warrant such a tease. So who could it be?

Cable is an obvious candidate. He's been raising Hope in the future and battled hardship after hardship to protect her. Him making the ultimate sacrifice would be so fitting. It may be the thing that sends Hope on a collision course with her destiny. That being said, it makes way too much sense. Besides, Cable is already referenced in the future solicitation for Uncanny X-men 525. You would think the folk at Marvel would know details like that before throwing him onto a teaser.

Uncanny X-men #525

THE STORY:
“SECOND COMING”, CHAPTER TEN Things have never been worse for the X-Men. They’re stuck in an impregnable dome of Bastion’s creation. As if that's not bad enough, inside this dome is a portal to the Days of Future Past timeline through which thousands of Nimrod Sentinels are pouring. Cyclops has sent Cable, Cypher and X-Force on a suicide mission into the future to destroy the portal, but do they stand a chance?

Emma Frost? Now this could potentially be a bombshell. Emma dying would have a HUGE impact on the X-men, especially Scott. It might actually be fitting if the Phoenix is coming into the picture along with Jean Grey. It would take the emotional impact of Second Coming to a whole new level. Riots would break out. Message Boards would be on fire. Fanboys everywhere will be tripping out as if they took a bad hit of LSD. Problem is, it ain't happening.

The Marvel writing staff and editors have a huge boner for Emma Frost. Matt Fraction has declared his love for the White Queen more than once and would probably jump off the Empire State Building if he found out his favorite X-woman was being killed. Quesada loves her too and has gone on record as saying she's just too cool. There's also the little problem of the Heralds mini-series coming out in June. This is a mini that has Emma Frost in a starring role. Now it may be out of continuity, but that hasn't been affirmed yet. All indications are that it happens after Second Coming and Seine, which basically means Emma will be alive and well.

That leaves only Nightcrawler. Yes, here is a character who simply couldn't be a better candidate. He was in the first issue, he played a major role in confronting Scott about X-Force, and he's dealing with other mutants like Pixie and Magik who have the same powers he has. It would seem the teleporters club is getting crowded and who can they kill off? Will it be two adorably cute girls in a comic geared towards young males? Or will it be the demonic morality zealot who does more than any other character to hold true to the core principles of the X-men? Tough call, but Nightcrawler doesn't have boobs so he's out.

The odds are so good that Nightcrawler will die that you could probably mortgage your house and bet on it. This is a guy with too much competition who hasn't had a big moment in quite a while. Could there be a bigger moment than the ultimate sacrifice? If he wants to prove Cyclops that there is a price to pay for using tactics like X-Force, this is it. His sacrifice will send a huge message, one that will reverberate throughout the team. It works so well it might as well be fashioned from diamonds and made into jewelry.

That being said, it may make too much sense. Everybody is expecting Nightcrawler to die. That may be the only reason Marvel doesn't do it. The odds are still stacked against him, but there's always a chance it could go the other way. Someone completely unexpected could lose their battle with the grim reaper. Even if they do that doesn't mean they'll STAY dead. Who in comics ever truly dies these days? It's pretty much a joke, not that anyone can blame them. Good characters are hard to keep down. Whoever bites the dust, they can take comfort in the knowledge that the gates of Hell are a revolving door in the Marvel Universe.

Necrosha - Dead, Alive, and In Between

On the same week Blackest Night reached it's conclusion, the other major death-themed story in the comics world ended as well. Necrosha, the big X-men crossover involving X-Force, finally reached it's conclusion. While the awesome factor was still strong, in many ways it was overshadowed by the sheer magnitude of awesome cast by Blackest Night.

Never-the-less, Necrosha did end on a solid note. Over the past few months the event had been unfolding nicely throughout the X-books (except Uncanny). It gave X-Force it's biggest moment since Messiah War and they really stepped up to the plate. Writers Craig Kyle and Chris Yost did a nice job bringing a lesser used villain like Selene into the fold and writing her in a ways that would never leave a reader to suspect she was so underused. It would have been so much easier for them to use someone who had much bigger credentials as an X-villain. They could have used Mr. Sinister, the Hellfire Club, or Black Tom Cassidy. But they took a chance on using a lesser name like Selene and by the end she wasn't lesser anymore. That and she looks much better in a thong.

The final issue was the final showdown. X-Force which consisted of Wolverine, X-23, Domino, Vanisher, Warpath, and Angel made their way to Selene and attacked. It took some help from Warpath's deceased brother, John "Thunderbird" Proudstar, to get them close, but they were able to take her on and literally rip out her heart. It made for a moment of brutal awesome that is consistent with the quality that has always been X-Force.

Now some reviewers on sites like CBR have criticized X-Force for being too dark and too bland. This is being somewhat short-sighted because darkness is a major theme of X-Force. Kyle and Yost made that clear from the beginning. You don't have a team of mutant killers hunt down thong-wearing immortal with a goddess complex and have it be merely PG. This story merely continued the traditions established in X-Force since the beginning and there's nothing wrong with that.

That's not to say some criticisms weren't valid. It didn't feel as though the other books that crossed over with Necrosha, including X-men Legacy and New Mutants, had much of an impact on the final battle. Basically, some enemies like Proteus broke off from Selene's main force and just fought other teams of the X-men and that was it for the most part. It would have been more fitting of Magneto came over from X-men Legacy and took part in the battle on the very island he once ruled. It may be because he was a major player in Uncanny instead, but it feels like a missed opportunity. Also, the final blow against Selene felt as though it could have been made earlier. Unlike Blackest Night, the mutants of X-Force didn't really need to do anything special to take her down. They just needed to get close and stab her. It's very in line with X-Force's brutal nature, but it feels a bit underhanded that someone with that kind of power would be taken down with just a stab to the heart.

Criticisms aside, Necrosha still did a fine job of bringing the story to a close. It also opened the door for more stories. It was able to end on a positive note like Blackest Night. Not all the mutants Selene resurrected were accounted for in the end. That means some like Banshee, Pyro, Senyaka, and Blink could still be out there. There was also the touching moment between Warpath and his brother. All too often characters like Thunderbird get glossed over and this was a moment for him to shine. Even though X-Force as a series is such a dark book, it really ended on a positive note with Cyclops saying the dawn is coming. That dawn should emerge through Second Coming and Necrosha helps bleed in nicely to this much bigger event.

Necrosha as a whole deserves plenty of praise. If Blackest Night hadn't unfolded right along with it this series would deserve a 5 out of 5 or at least a 4.5 out of 5. But since Blackest Night bested Necrosha in so many ways, it is overshadowed in a sense can only be given a 4 out of 5. It's still a quality book with quality art and quality storytelling. It is merely a victim of timing, sandwiched between Blackest night and Second Coming. Once these events are over and the aftermath begins, the truth context of Necrosha will come into focus and there will be plenty more reasons to praise it's awesome.

Blackest Night - A Bright Beacon of Awesome

For years it seems Marvel comics have overshadowed DC in terms of scale, quality, and overall awesome. It always reflects in the sales figures which routinely have Marvel comics beating DC on a monthly basis. Every so often DC will come along with something like Infinite Crisis that will narrow the gap, but only briefly. They haven't had a real breakthrough story that beat Marvel at it's own game. Then Blackest Night came out and all bets are off.

This past week, the eighth and final issue of Blackest Night came out and it finished a story that can only be described as an ultra advanced supped up nuclear powered state-of-the-art mind-blowing supernova of awesome. This massive crossover, which spans nearly every corner of the DC universe, follows Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps and nearly every other corps as they go up against the Black Lanterns, a corps led by Nekron who uses Black Lantern energy to reanimate the dead. These dead become wielders of the black rings and include some notable DC names like the Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, and Aquaman. But these dead aren't mindless zombies. These are dead with a very different persona, one driven by an emotional disdain for the living. They don't walk around groaning incoherently to eat brains. They forge together like a real Lantern Corp and unite with Nekron to find the White Light, which the guardians say is the same light that brought the universe into existence.

It is a masterfully crafted tale that builds various personal dramas around a heated core of action that is nothing short of orgasmic for comic fans or anyone who enjoys a good story. Even if a reader couldn't give two farts from a skunks ass about the Green Lantern or Hal Jordan, they come to relate to him and his struggle as he and other lanterns like John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, and Guy Gardner take on Nekron.

Writer Geoff Johns, who was recently voted best comic writer by fans and promoted to chief creative officer in DC, demonstrates why he is one of the best comic writers of the modern era. Johns has the distinction of making people give a damn about the Green Lantern again with his landmark Sinestro Corps run. Blackest Night takes it a step further, bringing the entire DC universe into focus. Few writers can take on the responsibility of telling a story around an entire comic universe. Geoff Johns is one writer for whom the universe is always in good hands. What makes his writing so enjoyable are the little things. Most writers for any company will gladly omit certain details and leave certain plot holes open for the sake of moving forward. These holes are usually small and most readers couldn't care less about them. Who can blame them? Comics are short. There's only so much space to work with. It's only when those little gaps are filled that their true value shows.

This is highlighted in the final issue where Nekron is defeated and the many dead who were brought back were left alive and well. It would have been so much easier to just show them all alive again, have a few witty comments, and leave it at that. But Johns didn't do that. He dedicated several pages to certain character reactions and even focused on specific characters to highlight the emotional significance. This is something the reader doesn't realize is so powerful unless it is there and masterfully done. It is a comic that ends on a brighter note...literally in some respects. It's a welcome shift from a decade of style over substance coupled with a need to shock readers and make characters grimmer and grittier. After a while, that shit gets old. Readers just want a good story that will make them smile at the end. Blackest Night does that and opens the door to a new chapter in the DC universe.

I personally didn't want to review this until I saw the whole series. From issue one, I was sucked in even though I was more focused on Marvel events like Necrosha. Now that it's over, the awesome of Blackest Night has overshadowed everything Marvel has done to this point. The bar has been raised and I might just start working more DC into my pull list. From a lifelong Marvel fan, that is tantamount to blasphemy and worthy of being burned at the stake. Call me a revolutionary, but Blackest Night's awesome is just too great to ignore.

Months ago I was split between death-centered stories Necrosha and Blackest Night. Months later Blackest Night has kicked Necrosha's ass and that's saying something because Necrosha was still pretty awesome. But overall, Blackest Night wins with a knock-out. It raises the bar for comics and that bar is simple. Shock value and darkness can only go so far. Sometimes it's nicer and more awesome to read a story that ends with brighter days ahead. That being said, Blackest Night gets a perfect score!

The next big event, X-men Second Coming, has a lot to live up to. If it is going to follow in Blackest Night's big shadow, it better pull out all the stops. Awesome comes in many forms. For a big event to be special, it has to follow the examples of Geoff Johns and Blackest Night. Make sure the little things count, make sure the big things count even more, and make sure it all comes together in a way that makes a fanboy smile. It's simple, but it isn't easy. For stories like Blackest Night, it is so worth it.

X-men Supreme Issue 8 PREVIEW

It's Friday everybody and you know what that means. X-men Supreme is set to grow again. The new issue, Date Night, is well on its way. This issue will mark the first multi-chapter story of this fanfiction series. So far I've only had issues that are essentially one-shots. They are singular self-contained stories. As the roster of X-men grows and the complexity of their task expands, more multi-part chapters will emerge. If you don't like to be left hanging, don't be too worried. I try to make sure all my updates occur regularly on a biweekly basis. If there is a delay I'll make sure it's for a very good reason.

But no worries this week! No delays should be necessary. Until the update, here's an extended preview of what you can expect with the upcoming Date Night arc.

Hank kept sifting through his data, not noticing Ororo drifting closer and closer to where he was sitting. She was listening to some of these startling revelations of his, but they were quickly lost in the complex jargon Hank coded them in. Even though she went to Grad school, her vocabulary was no match for his. But that was the last thing on her mind at the moment.

“Here’s one other peculiarity,” he went on, “There seems to be traces of an unknown foreign catalyst in his samples. It is unlike any catalyst I have ever observed before. I’ve gone over every possible source and near as I can tell there is no documented case of it occurring in nature.”

“Mmhmm,” said Ororo, not sounding as interested.

“The implications are perplexing. It could be the result of a new kind of mutation, an advanced new level of mutation, or maybe even a mutation that has been altered. Given what we know about the barbaric methods of Weapon X, there are a great many possibilities.”

“I’ll bet,” she said in a deeper tone.

“I’m not sure which it is. It may very well be a combination of factors. I suspect…”

Then he was suddenly cut off by the feeling of two powerful arms around his neck. Ororo was now leaning over him, skillfully running her hands through his thick fur. She was soft, yet firm. It was almost as if she was daring him to turn away from his work and focus on her instead. It helped that it felt good. It was the kind of gentle, soothing gesture he came to love from her. It was more than enough to stop him even when he was on an intellectual roll.

“What’s wrong? Lose your train of thought?” she teased.

“Well uh…it’s a bit difficult when one encounters certain distractions in his musings,” he said with a wry grin.

“Oh so now I’m a distraction?”

“Of course not! I didn’t mean that as a…”

“I know,” said Ororo, cutting him off, “Take it easy, Hank. I’m just trying to get your attention, that’s all.”

“Well you’ve got it. I don’t see how I can get on with my work when a beautiful woman is keeping me in such a state.”

“And what state is that? Would it be this by chance?”

Ororo leaned turned his head towards hers and gave him a deep kiss. Hank eagerly returned the gesture, pulling her onto his lap and slipping his arms around her waist. As exciting as his research was, there were equally exciting experiences with his girlfriend. Sometimes he just needed a reminder and Ororo was getting better at breaking him out of his shell.

“You know, everybody else is going out tonight,” said Ororo, “That means we have a nearly empty mansion all to ourselves. Do you really want to stay cooped up in here the whole time?”

Hank thought about it for a moment. There were any number of opportunities to seclude himself in his lab for these experiments. There may not be nearly as many opportunities to enjoy a quiet mansion with his beautiful girlfriend.