I’ve really come to loathe many of the events in comics today. Both major companies have had non-stop events for the last few years and every book gets tied in some how.
Do I want Peter David to be forced to put his stories on hold so he can have X-Factor deal with a couple of Skrulls? Thank God that the X-Men were pretty much out of Cival War (only minis – no direct interaction with the titles); I would have hated for some major mutant to decide that registration was ok, throwing out everything they feared with the Mutant Registration Act.
I’m ready for the single issue, down time, ballgames that we used to see. Maybe a one and done with some of the smaller characters; maybe a day in the life on Utopia. Instead, we’ll get another 6 issue arc, with possible ties to other titles, where we’ll feel lost if we miss an issue.
With that all said, I’m really enjoying Second Coming. The story has been good and it feels like we might get a payoff on certain threads that were started in titles a while ago.
Who would have thought – a comic tying up some story lines?
First off, this will hopefully end the Bastion/Friends of Humanity/Rise of the Dead stuff we’ve been reading for the last 2 years. I love the tone of X-Force, but some of the story aspects seem like they drag on. And really, did we ever need to see Bastion again? He was part of one of my least favorite periods in the history of the X-Men.
Next, we’ll see how the Scott Summers Army idea plays out with some of the more outspoken, veteran members. We know that Beast hasn’t been a fan of the direction of the team; now we have Storm finding out about X-Force. Nightcrawler wasn’t keen on it either. It should make for an interesting post-SC plot thread.
Finally, we’ll learn about Hope. Is she Jean Grey re-incarnated? I hope not, but we’ll definitely find out. I’d like to see them only reveal a little bit about her here and gradually build her up with the X-Men; maybe show hints to her power, but not fully develop them until later in the year. That could set up another post-SC plot thread – she hasn’t show what her powers really are yet and people on the island begin to doubt her. She’ll work to prove them wrong and live up to her “destiny”. It could also set up a who was right scenario – Bishop or Cable.
One thing I hope we can put to rest is the Gambit/Horseman issues. He’s still not back to his “good” self (and “good” as in X-man; not as a good character); we’ve seen him dealing with what Apocalypse did to him. It was really a bad move, in my mind, bring him back to the X-Men; that’s mainly due to the fact that I’m not a fan. They could let him fall of the face of the Earth and I wouldn’t care. Unfortunately, he won’t be staying Limbo because it appears that his sillouette is in the X-Force promo.
Of course, this could all be just a set up for the next big event…
