Comic To Read This Week: X-Men: Second Coming #2

It's been a few weeks since I posted a "Comic To Read This Week." Several that I recommend would be Marvel's Shadowland #1, Batman Beyond #1, and even Hulk #23. All of these have some great stories and look to set-up some great things ahead, and that's what I want to tell you about; what's ahead. X-Men #1 came out last week, but the two issues fans should read before hand came out this week. Luckily I was able to fight the urge to take a peak into how Second Coming ended, but after reading the final chapter in this saga I realized it had already ended last week. X-Men: Second Coming #2 is not about what happened to the mutants, but what is ahead for them.

Chapter 13 saw Cable torn to pieces by keeping a gate from the future open and allowing X-Force to come home. After watching the man who raised her die before he eyes Hope turned on her mutant abilities for the first time, or rather everyone else's abilities. Hope showed the powers of several mutants and used them to destroy Bastion.

X-Men Second Coming #2 is broken into four parts, with five different writers, and four artists. The first part deals with the aftermath of the battle. We see the casualties, the broken limbs, and Magneto giving Hope word of encouragement. In part two we attend Cable's funeral, which to me wasn't nearly as touching as Nightcrawler's.

But what would an X-Men comic be without highlighting Wolverine? The third act explores Logan's emotions and issues with those closest to him. Storm looks down on Logan for his involvement in X-Force, and when Cyclops disbands the team Logan agrees it is what's best for his surrogate daughter and clone, Laura. What these three don't know is that Logan plans on continuing X-Force’s work, and you'll never guess who is on his roster. If you want to know you got to pick up the issue.

The last installment of this issue may just be the juiciest of all as the X-Men gather by a bonfire to reflect the events of the last few days. Emma see's a twinkle in Hope's eyes, but that twinkle comes with some fire in the form of a phoenix in Hope's hand. Hope looks at Emma and says two sentences in a different voice, "Well then, little spirit. Prepare."

Emma runs to tell Scott what she has just seen, but Scott is too busy looking at something else; five new mutant signature lights that Cerebro has located. Looks like mutants may not be done for after all.

The first two parts were kind of snore fests but the last two parts more than made up for it. Wolverine making his own secret team, Hope may be able to be possessed by the Phoenix force, and five new mutants have just been born. As an X-Men fan this issue gave me goose bumps.

Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age also came out this week and is really the next issue to read after Second Coming #2. Steve Rogers finds Cyclops in The Savage Land and ask him to bring the X-Men back into the spotlight as world heroes. He even gets the president to award Scott a medal for all he has done for humanity. Meanwhile Hope decides to begin her journey to find out who her biological parents were.

These issues are peaks into what is to come for the X-Men, and I hope what is to come next helps bring the X-Men not only back into the spotlight as heroes, but as major contenders in the Marvel Universe. With new mutants finally being born, but also what seems like new troubles ahead, the future for the X-Men seems bright; time to go searching for those five lights.