Art by: Ryan Stegman, J.P. Mayer
Colors by: Marte Gracia, Fer Sifuentes-Sujo
Letters by: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover art by: Ryan Stegman, J.P. Mayer, Marte Gracia
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: August 14, 2024
X-Men #2, by Marvel Comics on 8/14/24, sends the team on a mission to rescue a “late-blooming” mutant in the middle of an alien invasion, but it’s not what you think.
Is X-Men #2 Good?
X-Men #2 isn’t a bad comic. X-Men #2 isn’t a very good comic. X-Men #2 sits somewhere in the middle between okay and forgettable. Ryan Stegman’s art is fine but not his best, and MacKay’s script is competent but lacking. In short, this comic is mediocre.
When last we left the X-Men in issue #1, Beast led an ill-advised tour of the team’s new base in a former Sentinel manufacturing facility near Anchorage, Alaska for the local police chief. The tour ended with Magneto scaring the poop out of her. Meanwhile, Cyclops led a rescue mission to save Wolverine and six new mutants that popped up on Cerebro’s radar. The big twist? The new mutants are adults with their X-gene activated via artificial means by a new shadow organization.
In X-Men #2, Cyclops and the tactical members of the group head to a new ping from Cerebro for a “new” mutant in San Francisco. Their arrival just so happens to coincide with the onset of a massive alien invasion fleet in the exact same location.
MacKay begins the issue by leaping into fast-paced action. Ryan Stegman depicts a massive alien fleet descending on the city, to give the conflict a large scale, and the competing agendas of the team (locate the mutant, stop the invasion) keep the energy high.
The team splits in two to tackle their multiple objectives. Kid Omega, Temper, and Juggernaut counter the invasion from the Marauder with psychically guided weapons fire and a newly-developed rail gun that uses Juggernaut as a big bullet. Think of a Fastball Special on steroids.
On the ground, Cyclops, Magik, and Psylocke fight through alien hordes until they notice something strange. The invasion isn’t real. The “new” mutant created the invasion in reaction to his fragile state. When the ground team finds the mutant, Ben, they try to talk him down, but his powers spin out of control and he burns up… or does he?
What’s great about X-Men #2? The issue certainly isn’t lacking in action, pacing, or energy. Jed MacKay’s script has the characters sprinting from the first page to (almost) the last as the battle rages on two fronts. Further, Ryan Stegman’s art keeps the action big and energetic.
What’s not great about X-Men #2? The issues noted in the review for X-Men #1 still apply. Some get a little better, and some get a little worse.
The parts that get better, but are still not great, concern Ryan Stegman’s inconsistent art. Some panels evoke hard-hitting, serious moments you would expect from a modern Marvel comic, but other panels look downright cartoony or like something out of a comic strip. You get the impression Stegman wants the art to be “fun,” but it comes off as schizophrenic.
The parts that get worse concern Jed MacKay’s script. Namely, nobody has any clear motivation or rationale for what they’re doing, and the villain(s) isn’t even a factor in this issue, a chronic MacKay problem. Things are happening because MacKay wants them to happen, but MacKay has yet to lay a foundation for why things happen.
Why are the X-Men collecting mutants, and what happens if they find a mutant who doesn’t want to go with them?
Why is the shadow organization we almost see in X-Men #1 activating adult mutants, and why did they activate an adult mutant in this issue, Ben, and simply release him into the streets?
Why is there no mention or appearance of the shadow organization in this issue if they’re supposed to be the big bad?
What was the point of ending issue #1 on a cliffhanger concerning Anchorage and a decommissioned Sentinel when this issue ignores almost everything that happened at the end of issue #1?
In effect, X-men #2 feels like a one-off issue that could happen anywhere in the middle of a generic arc because it doesn’t progress as if anything that came before matters or what comes after requires this issue for context.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
X-Men #2 is a strangely mediocre and forgettable comic because it ignores the cliffhanger from issue #1, doesn’t set up the motivations for any of the characters, and presents it all with oddly inconsistent art. MacKay’s chronic problems with forgettable villains are unavoidable in this issue, and the art can’t decide if it’s trying to be serious or silly.
5.8/10
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