Thursday, June 24, 2010

X-Men Legacy #237 [2010] Second Coming



X-MEN LEGACY #237

The first mutant is born after the events of House of M where the Scarlet Witch proclaimed ‘No More Mutants.’ Second Coming is the final part of the X-Men Trilogy that started 3 years ago with the Messiah Complex followed by the Messiah War. Second Coming centers on Cable and Hope Summers returning to the present day as they are hunted by Bastion.

Things look grim for the X-Men as Bastion traps them in a sphere that surrounds the island of Utopia as well as San Francisco. He then creates a portal on the Golden Gate Bridge and sends enhanced army of Nimrod sentinels from the Days of Future Past timeline to destroy the remaining mutants on Utopia. With no other choice than to use the last time jump, Cyclops sends Cable and X-Force sent into the future to stop the Nimrods as the X-Men battle them in the present day.

Finding a way to break through the impregnable energy dome are the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. They realize that with their combined might it would take all day to break in while the citizens inside only have a few hours left.

Magneto joins the battle in the present and reminds the attacking Nimrod horde that he built Asteroid M that Utopia now rests on and counterattacks them with iron ore spikes. Hope reunites with her fellow mutants on the Golden Gate Bridge and attacks the Nimrod sentinels by using a rifle made in 2712. In the future X-Force distracts a Sentinel while Cable and Cypher shut down the endless army of Nimrods from emerging in the present. Cyclops plan works and the army of Nimrod sentinels are shut down in the present as well as the future. 

Much better storytelling than the previous two issues of the Second Coming crossover. This issue kept the story moving forward without hesitation and kept the settings simple without additional characters to slow the pace of the storytelling like Legion, Fantastic Four, or the Avengers. Gorgeous art by Greg Land that really brought the action and the characters alive and sets the stage for penultimate chapter in X-Force #28. 

RECOMMENDED – 4 OUT OF 5