Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Greg Land
Cover: Adi Granov
**Minor Spoilers**
“Second Coming ch 8”: Bastion has maneuvered the X-Men where he wants them and after taking out their teleporters and aircraft, along with Cerebra, he’s making sure no one leaves the party until he says so. He’s managed to encase Utopia in a giant dome and not just any dome…a giant IMPENATRABLE dome, and from what seems to be its center/nucleus is an army of Nimrods (the top of the line Sentinels). They arrive just in time to liven things up!
I’m on the fence concerning this issue, and Bastion’s “dome of doom” here really doesn’t help my mood. It’s more of the X-Men scrambling around and playing “catch up” because Bastion and his crew are at least 5 steps ahead, and are executing their plans almost perfectly. After doing this for 8 chapters so far, it’s getting kind of old. Mike Carey still is able to make the story a passable one and gives us some pretty good character moments. Specifically Hope’s self doubt and feeling guilty that lives have been lost protecting her, and she has a very serious conversation with Cable about this. Carey also has Bastion pose a question of relevance and purpose to Creed after they eradicate all of mutantkind. Another of the high points for me was the unexpected arrival of the Avengers as they met up with the X-Men’s science team who’re analyzing the dome. Oh, and Iceman shows up finally and puts his neck on the line, literally.
Whatever your feelings may be about Greg Land’s artistic methods, the guy brings us a nice looking issue here; yeah there are a few things that are off but overall the book looks good. From the oil rig explosion to the last page, there is very little to complain about, and the minor issues don’t mess up the flow of the panel work nor do they inhibit the story telling in any way. The issue was decent but it feels like a set up for more exciting things to come and with 5 chapters still left I’m hoping that it will pick back up in that time. It’s rare that in a cross over this long that every single issue is going to knock it out of the park, so it’s something to be expected if you think about it realistically.
Its actually been mentioned in various issues that having all of the mutants on Utopia just makes them an easy target, and that staying there may not be the brightest of ideas. Well after this attack by Bastion it pretty much nails the point home that strategically this is probably not the best place to live, and I’m sure there will be plenty of people that will rub this in Scott’s face when it’s all said and done. But for now we’ll wait and see what else Bastion has planned for the X-Men and the rest of the mutants living on their island, because right now quite a few are probably thinking they should have went elsewhere.
Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
I think this was a pretty good issue but I also think that things are beginning to repeat themselves as far as Bastion and The X-Men are concerned. Hopefully things will ramp up for the last few issues and bring some surprises.
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Loved this issue. Iceman’s powers are going to kick in now that he’s about to be killed and he’ll save the day!
ummm…Andy I love Iceman as much as the next guy as long as the next guy isn’t you and Dan lol But I do like Bobby a lot all jokes aside but I think you’re giving him too much credit man lol
This storyline is excellent! I think the only problem is having to many characters to work with. But still I’d love to see a battle that involes all the mutants on Utopia. The Avenger/X-Men team up has been long overdue since Disassembled…they owe it to help out the mutants. Can’t wait to see how they fair the rest of the way. Hope its all action. And that Hope’s powers activate! Where’s the FF??
Every time I see the Avengers and X-Men show up to fight against any type of sentinel threat I immediately flash back to Uncanny X-Men 141 & 142 the Days of Future Past storyline and actually hope that the big battle will finally happen. Too bad it won’t but I guess the FF are a little too busy to help out right now
I don’t suppose it matters much where Avengers #1 falls in continuity wise with Legacy #236?
I liked this issue, because I can feel it ramping up, but I still feel like we haven’t reached the pace of the earlier Second Coming issues. I have great hope for things, though. Especially since I’m posting this comment after reading X-Force #27…
Mattie you are absolutely correct about the pacing now compared to the earlier issues but I do feel that maybe things were slowed down a bit just so they could speed things up again after this chapter and it’s pretty evident in X-Force 27 that that may be the plan.