Review: X-Men Emperor Vulcan #2

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REVIEW

X-MEN: EMPEROR VULCAN #2 (of 5)

Writer: Christopher Yost

Artist: Paco Diaz Luque

Inker: Vicente Cifuentes

Company: Marvel

Greatest weapon ever.

You cannot mess with this weapon, and even Gladiator cannot mess with the leader of the Scy’ar Tal, who have come to kill the Shi’ar.

Yost has planted the seed that sometime during this series Gladiator is going to turn on his Emperor and do the right thing, as he is waiting for the direct order from Vulcan to protect him. When the time comes, it is going to take a lot to convince the readers that Gladiator would really do so, because he has kept his fanatical loyalty to the Shi’ar Throne even when those upon it have attempted to destroy the entire universe. Hopefully Yost has really thought this out, if indeed it is coming, to make sure it does not come off a laughable.

This issue also has a point of confusion: The M’Kraan Crystal is a planet? Huh? Was it condensed? It is very unclear what the story is with the M’Kraan Crystal is here.

What Yost does have though, is a firm grasp on the banter that goes on between the various Starjammers and X-Men here; especially good is the new relationship between Havok and Ch’od. It is as if Ch’od feels as comfortable with Havok as he was with Corsair, and can thusly break his balls a bit.

The series is called Emperor Vulcan, so one would assume that the baby Summers will get fleshed out some more in the pages of this limited. Hopefully Yost will define exactly what Vulcan’s powers are, and what he can and cannot do.

Luque’s art is a mixed bag; at times, it is quite nice and shows potential, but it is too often stiff and does not look as natural as it could. Gladiator also seems to now have an energy signature surrounding him when he flies through space, which is new. On the plus side, the design of the Scy’ar Tal is pretty cool, and he has a great splash page of the old school Imperial Guard. It is always a good thing to see Guardsmen that one can recognize.

This series is nothing too groundbreaking, but is doing a good job of making use of a number of great niche characters.