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.

My Top 12 X-Men Storylines

I have always been an X-Men fan. I was there when the Fox Saturday morning cartoon brought out the best in the X-Men, and when The WB's cartoon put Marvel's mighty mutants in one giant episode of 90210. Bryan Singer's X-Men films were close to perfection, while after watching Brett Ratner's film I wanted to vomit more than when I drank an entire bottle of vodka.

I've been with the X-Men through all their struggles and my own. They are a group of superheroes that is sworn to protect a world that fears and hates them. On July 8 the first X-Men #1 in almost 20 years is being published, while other Marvel heroes like Iron Man or the Fantastic Four have had about eight #1's in that time. The X-Men have endured a lot in their 47 years of publishing, and with Second Coming about to end (the last part will go on sale a week after X-Men #1 comes out, damn publishing delays) I look back at some of my favorite X-Men storylines that keep me loving the students from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

12) The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix (The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1-4)

Writer: Scott Lobdell

Artist: Gene Ha

In the storyline Inferno Cyclop's baby son, Nathan, had been infected with the techno virus with no hope of a cure. Then a woman from the future offers to take Nathan into the future to save his life. In doing so she later brought Scott and Jean to the future in order to raise Nathan and help him suppress the virus that was slowly killing him. During their years in the future Scott and Jean went under the alias's Slym and Red Dayspring and tried to raise Nathan while leading the resistance against Apocalypse.

Sometime after Scott and Jean returned to the present a man named Cable came from the future to stop Apocalypse from ruling his future. This man was using his telekinetic abilities to stop the techno virus from killing him. His real name is Nathan Summers.

11) Angels and Demons (X-Force #1-6)

Writers: Craig Kyle & Chris Yost

Artist: Clayton Crain

At long last Wolverine is leading his own team! Cyclops has put together the X-Men’s best hunters and trackers to take down their enemies before they strike first. While on their first mission to take out a Purifier base Wolfbane is captured and brainwashed. Once returning to base she attacks Warren and brings back Archangel, which is good because the Purifers just found a way to make their own army of archangels.  This series is unlike any X-Men series before it. It’s hard hitting, gritty, and has lot of violence. Bring on the bad guys!

10) The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire (Uncanny X-Men #475-486)

Writer: Ed Brubaker

Artists: Billy Tan and Clayton Henry

Finally, after years of rumors, the third Summers brother had been found in Deadly Genesis, and he was pissed. Vulcan had been a slave to the Shi'ar Empire his entire childhood, and when he returned to Earth to find Charles Xavier and his brother Cyclops his happiness was short lived with the supposed death of himself and his team mates. Vulcan was hidden for years, plotting his revenge on Xavier and the X-Men and he finally got it, revealing that Xavier blocked Vulcan from Scott's mind to save him the pain of losing his brother.

Now that Vulcan had gotten justice with Xavier he journeyed to space take down the beings who tore him from his mother’s womb, killed her, and then enslaved him for years; the Shi'ar. When Xavier, Nightcrawler, Marvel Girl, Havok, and Polaris find the Shi'ar Empire Vulcan had already established himself ruler, and by trying to kill Xavier in the M'kraan crystal Vulcan accidentally brought back Charles powers that had been missing since M-Day. Vulcan also ended up killing his own father, Corsair, and spent the next few years in space trying to rule it all. Havok stayed in space to try and defeat his younger brother by leading the resistance. Star Wars indeed.

9) Messiah Complex (January 2007-March 2008)

Only 198 mutants survived after the events of M-day. And the ones that still had their abilities could only wait for their own extinction. But in Alaska the first mutant birth in two years had arrived and everybody was after it. Mr. Sinister wanted to study it, Purifiers wanted to sacrifice it, the X-Men wanted to protect it, while Bishop feared this child would be the true end to mutant kind and wished to kill it. This event saw the formation of a new X-Force team, and saw Cyclops for the first time step up to lead his dying species. It's the first story in an epic trilogy that is followed by Messiah War and Second Coming.

8) Unstoppable (Astonishing X-Men #19-24, Giant Size Astonishing X-Men #1)

Writer: Joss Whedon

Artist: John Cassaday

Throughout Whedon’s take on X-Men he gave the fans the gifts of Colossus and Kitty doing it for the first time, Cyclops wiping out a sentinel on the front lawn, and even Wolverine drinking lots of beer. In his final storyline Whedon took the characters off world to see if the prophecy about Colossus being the destroyer of Breakworld is true. But the bad guys didn’t want to take the chance by building a giant bullet and sent it straight for Earth. In an act of heroism Kitty ends up sacrificing herself to save the planet. This is classic Whedon writing and I loved how each part of his X-Men tale kept getting bigger and bigger.

7) The Age of Apocalypse (1995-96)

What would the world be like if Charles Xavier never formed the X-Men? That simple question sparked a summer of excitement for every X-Men fan. Charles's son went to the past to kill Magneto so that his father's dream would prevail, but in doing so killed his own father. The present was re-written to a world where Apocalypse ruled and Magneto led the X-Men against the evil oppressor, and in honor of his old friend.

This alternate reality had some great joy treats, such as Wolverine and Jean as a couple, Nathan Summers without the techno virus and fulfilling his destiny of destroying Apocalypse, and Rogue married to Magneto; and they have a son named Charles. Some characters like Blink and Holocaust were so great the even carried them over to the regular Marvel U. This is a must read for any X-Men fan.

6) End of the Greys (Uncanny X-Men #466-471)

Writer: Chris Claremont

Artist: Chris Bachalo

Rachel Summers came from the future to stop her world from ever existing, and when she arrived she found something she never had; a family. But unfortunately for her she is her mother's daughter and in her DNA, along with all of Jean Grey's relatives, is the ability for the Phoenix to come alive in them. So during a Grey family get together to welcome Rachel the Shi'ar sent their death squad to kill everyone who shared a chromosome with Jean.

The Grey family deaths were narrated with Rachel telling a little about each family member as we see them die; one of the most tragic and well done scenes in comics I've ever read. The end of the storyline is the X-Men trying to save Rachel from herself as she tried to lure every Shi'ar assassin to her that killed the only family she ever had.

5) Operation: Zero Tolerance (Summer 1997)

After Onslaught Bastion had enough evidence he needed to start his mission to kill every mutant on Earth. He captured Cyclops, Jean, Storm and Wolverine, tortured them, and then put a bomb in Cyclop's stomach. Meanwhile Iceman has the distinct pleasure or putting together team of X-Men newbie’s to try and take down Bastion and his whole operation.

He is accompanied by a reluctant doctor, a bitter Morlock, and an Israel spy. Bobby Drake has always been the funny guy of the X-Men, but in this storyline he has to step up and be the leader because the fate of mutants everywhere is resting on his shoulders. "Maybe you should go back to school Bobby."

4) E for Extinction (New X-Men #114-116)

Writer: Grant Morrison

Artist: Frank Quitely

Grant Morrison is known for his complex and sometimes over saturated writing style; at least he is to me. But after X-Men hit it big at the box office Marvel trusted him to take the X-Men comic series and make it his own. The result was the death of Jean Grey, again, but at the start of his run we were introduced to Xavier's evil twin sister who is looking to kill a lot of mutants. And she succeeds with the death of millions of mutants on Genosha, and the White Queen being the only survivor.

Morrison also simplified his team with core characters; put the X-Men in cool outfits, and showed Scott and Jean's marriage on the rocks. I'm not a huge fan of Quitely's art, but Morrison's plot more than held my attention. To this day I still want one of those black and yellow leather jackets.

3) House of M (House of M #1-8)

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Olivier Coipel

This story involves more than just the X-Men, but at the end of this mini-series the X-Men have never been the same. Magneto's daughter, the Scarlet Witch, is going crazy, and has killed several members of the Avengers. Now Charles Xavier has lost hope for salvation and brings the two teams together to contemplate Wanda's possible death.

Before they can reach an agreement though the Scarlet Witch changes reality to give every hero the perfect happiness they desire. But Wolverine is on to this and has to find the rest of the Marvel heroes to put the world back the way it was. But when they accomplish their goal Wanda disappears, and so do the abilities of almost every mutant on the planet. Only 198 mutants retain their powers, and mutants go from the next stage in human evolution to an endangered species.

2) Gifted (Astonishing X-Men #1-6)

Writer: Joss Whedon

Artist: John Cassaday

For years Grant Morrison turned the X-Men on its side with lots of drama and depressing moments. But who better to bring the fun back in X-Men than Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator, Joss Whedon's. Whedon brought Kitty Pryde back into the mix and had Scott and Logan duking out on the front lawn in front of the students. The team held meetings in a nursery and the Hawaiian Islands. The dialogue alone was classic Whedon making these characters quirky and fun, despite the events around them.

An alien from another world has helped develop a cure for mutant kind, and he did it by bringing Colossus back from the dead. Now the Russian mutant has come back to his first love, Kitty, and the X-Men. This is a great starts to a great run. I swear, anything Joss Whedon does is just awesome. Except, Dollhouse; I mean what was that?

1) The Dark Phoniex Saga (X-Men #129-138)

Writer: Chris Claremont

Artist: John Bryne

Obviously the most famous X-Men storyline, and by far the best in almost everyone's eyes. Jean Grey first came to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in the very first issue of X-Men and over the years she grew not only as a hero and young woman, but in her relationship with Scott Summers as well.

After saving the M'Kraan crystal and the Shi'ar Empire the Phoenix still resides within Jean. The Hellfire Club tried manipulating her into being their puppet, and in doing so unleashed The Dark Phoenix; who travels to a far off galaxy and destroys and entire solar system. The Shi'ar have no choice but to fight the X-Men for the life of Jean Grey. After the loss Jean sacrifices herself in hopes of never harming another being ever again. Scott and Jean's relationship make Romeo and Juliet look like a Disney fairy tale.

Comic To Read This Week: X-Force #26

If you haven’t picked up an issue of Craig Kyle and Chris Yost’s X-Force then you’ve been missing the best X-Men title since Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men run.  Cyclops has assembled a secret team of the X-Men’s best hunters and killers to take out their enemies before they strike first.  None of the other X-Men knows about this team, and since they started X-Force has slaughtered anti-mutant groups, gone to the future to try and help Cable and Hope, and also brought back the Archangel in Warren Worthington III. 

Now Cable has returned to the present with Hope, the only mutant born since M-Day.  She left a baby and has returned a teenager with great survival skills.  No one knows what Hope’s return means to mutant kind, but Cyclops think she’s their last chance to survive.  Bastion, a super-sentinel from the future knows where to find Cable and has sent his forces out to seal the fate of mutants forever.  While trying to retrieve Cable and Hope, X-23 sticks a claw right through a man’s head, and makes the other X-Men start ask questions as to what her and Wolverine have been up too lately.

Issue #26 is chapter 5 in the “Second Coming” story line.  Nightcrawler and Rogue have teleported Hope out of harms way and trying to return to their mutant sanctuary just off of San Francisco.  The other X-Men are trying to lead Bastion off their trail, but he finds Hope and swoops in for the kill like a terminator on steroids.  Bastion makes short work of Rogue and all her powers; then moves in to finish off Hope.  But Nightcrawler gets between them and makes one great jump back to Utopia that cost him his life.  The X-Men return home to find Hope kneeling over Kurt Wagner’s body. 

Although I’m sure Nightcrawler will return some day this is a heroic death for one of the best X-Men ever.  Kurt has always been the spiritual one of the X-Men, and tried to keep things lighthearted.  His last words to Hope were, “I..I believe in you.”  Now the X-Men will have to wonder if Kurt’s death was in vain. 

Hope doesn’t even know what she is supposed to do, but everyone is looking to her to solve their problem.  In the middle of the battle Bastion says to Hope, “We have seen what you become, what the world becomes because of you.”  Is he referring to the end of the world or a new beginning for mutants?  “Second Coming” so far has been anti-climatic, but now I’m drooling to see what comes next.

Kyle and Yost have made X-Force a must read for any X-Men fan.  Its dark edge is taking the X-Men over a line they thought they would never cross.  Mike Choi’s artwork in this issue adds to the story with some great page filled panels that include Wolverine leaping (and on fire), Bastion smashing into his meeting with Hope, and Hope crying over Nightcrawler’s body on Utopia’s shore.  

I’ve always enjoyed that the X-Men storylines usually have nothing to do with the rest of the Marvel Universe; so I don’t have to collect twelve comics to figure out what’s going on.  I can’t wait to see what happens to X-Force after “Second Coming.”  Serve me up another fastball special!