Blog

Publisher: Marvel
Writer(s): Craig Kyle & Chris Yost
Artist: Mike Choi
Cover: Adi Granov

**MAJOR SPOILERS**

“Second Coming ch 13”: Second Coming has been one very long, continuous butt kicking for the X-Men and other mutants on Utopia. To turn the tide of this fight, Cyclops has sent X-Force along with Cable on a one way trip into the future to cut off Bastion’s supply of advanced Sentinels. While in our time, the remaining mutants try to stay alive long enough to see things through.

However, it looks like X-Force has found a way back, but at a price the young mutant messiah Hope isn’t ready to pay. Since no organic material could pass through the portal, Cable finally allowed the techno-organic virus to fully overcome his body. After sacrificing his humanity so that his team can make it home, he locks eyes with Hope one last time before dying. It’s a good thing that Bastion has arrived to kill the mutants, because now she has a focus for her rage. This triggers the manifestation of several different powers in Hope, and with a little help from Wolverine and Cyclops it’s finally time for Bastion to be on the receiving end of  a beat down.

Kyle and Yost continue to keep this issue afloat and set up the trigger for Hope’s powers pretty well without it seeming too forced and out of place. At this point in the Second Coming story line, I fully expected Hope’s power to manifest by now, just due to the ever increasing anger towards Scott, along with the situation becoming more desperate. Plus, this is chapter 13 out of a 14 chapter story so SOMETHING better happen with her. So far I counted seven powers coming from her, and they all seem like a combination of powers from various X-Men, which brings up several more questions about her origins. A healing factor, optic blasts, transmuting flesh to steel, telekinesis, ice powers, flight, and a power very similar to Armor’s. Usually when there’s a genetic mash up going on, Mr. Sinister or Apocalypse isn’t too far behind, but hey, I could just be grasping at straws here.

There is no question that the book looked great due to Mike Choi and Sonia Oback’s work. From Thor hammering at the dome, to Cable exploding, and even the Golden Gate Bridge being ripped apart, this issue was full of eye candy. There is just an attention to detail with Choi and Oback’s work that helps elevate the story to another level. Now I’m just wishing there was a little bit more attention to detail in story continuity. Something as major as Colossus’s arm being ripped and torn very recently just doesn’t matter in this issue, as he’s punching away at Sentinels and his arm has “magically” been fixed. I would think that the various writers and artists of these X-titles would actually read the books, or at least the editor would take a peek now and then.

There’s a few things left to finish up with Second Coming, and hopefully the ending helps to do this without being too ambiguous or just abrupt. Some events also point to Hope eventually going off the deep end later on, and hopefully that’s not the case either. Her anger towards Cyclops is a bit justifiable at times, but then again it’s also too obvious, which makes it seem a bit forced on us. Overall, Second Coming is a good story, but I think that how it ends will be the defining factor with this one.

Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net