I haven't bought the X-Men since Matt Fraction introduced the Hellfire Cult (which bugged me because cults don't call themselves cults, they call themselves churches) and haven't paid much attention to that whole section of the Marvel Universes. Of course I recognize some of the storyline names, but only if they are featured prominently on Previews covers or forum thread titles. So when my friend Mike Myers sent me X-Men: Second Coming, I was sort of hesitant to waste a lot of time on it.
I LOVE how we all have certain things that set us off. We have no issues with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants or Masters of Evil, but the illogic of using Cult sets us off.
Wow, was I wrong. I haven't finished it, but this is some great stuff. I recognize most of the characters and the ones I don't are either explained nicely (Hope) or I don't really need to know because they are a type (Bastion is a bad guy, I don't really need to know more than that).
That's good to hear. As a long-time X-nut, I never really think about whether the characters are explained from a story-telling point, since I know them all. Glad to hear it did the job for someone less embedded in the X mythos and minutiae.
Some of the artwork is really good
(Dodson
and Land come to mind)
and some of it is breathtakingly beautiful (David A. Price says that it is Choi and Oback that I like and I take him at his word).
Anybody who doesn't like Cyclops as a leader after reading the beginning of this story is just a hater who likes to hate. The way he assigned teams and why was excellent tactical thinking. I just got to the part where Nightcrawler died and he was a leader who didn't allow his team to wallow in grief, great stuff.
Completely agree, Cyclops RAN SHIT in this book.
And speaking of Nightcrawler's death, I knew he had died (thanks to a forum thread title that was quickly thereafter edited) but I thought that like most X-men he "died" in an energy blast or was killed in a way where his body wasn't mutilated (like given a Legacy Virus or something). But I wasn't expecting THAT at all. If he really stays dead, then I wouldn't have a problem with it, but part of me wonders if they bring him back, how they would do it.
They always find a way to bring them back, whether it's pulling him back from some death dimension or some time paradox or some alter-Earth. The Elf will be back, eventually. But for now I think they handled it well and it served the story a lot better than some of the deaths in other recent events (cough cough Bill Foster cough cough).
On an unrelated note, at one time they said that mutants had a secondary mutation, Emma Frost being diamond encrusted was the one that comes immediately to mind. Is that still the case? And if so, what is Charley Xavier's secondary mutation? I have a theory but it is a pretty mean one.
Yep, Morrison introduced the secondary mutation in his run, Emma being the most notable. Beast's more cat-like appearance was also attributed to the secondary mutation. Bobby became completely ice based for awhile (and much more powerful). And the craziest one made Polaris pretty much a superstrong giantess. Oh, and for a bit Angel could heal himself and others with his blood. It seems that all but the Emma/Hank ones have been retconned out though.
Anyway, I like this book. And it doesn't hurt that it is an oversized hardcover.
QFT
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