[To]X-Men: X-Men #2

In Jonathan Hickman and Leinil Yu’s X-Men #2, the Summer’s family goes on a beach vacation. Hi-jinx ensue.

Chris Eddleman: Alright Rob, we’re on to issue 2 of X-Men, and if we were sick of Summers Family stuff (which I was not), then it’s too bad—this is the father-children bonding issue of X-Men. While it didn’t start off to the same bang that House of X did, I really enjoyed the rather subdued quietish first issue of this series, and with our Krakoan hint of “Arakko”, I’m ready to see where we go from here.

Robert Secundus: One thing I’m excited about: after a massive, 12 part series, we’re getting a bunch of one shots. Sure, they’re building to a bigger whole, and they’re building on HoXPoX’s foundation– but it’s nice to know that every time we sit down with X-Men (for the near future at least) we’re getting something new. This time: Monster Island! Not that one, a different one!

Sad Dad No More

CE: I’m absolutely thrilled that after tons and tons of Cyclops pathos stories, we are continuing this trend of Cyclops being his best self, living in his awesome moon house with his family. And with family of course comes the inevitability of slightly forced family time. In this case, that family time is in the form of Cyclops making his kids go with him to a new island that has appeared.

RS: Everything about Scott Summers: Dad-Whomst-Is-Trying-So-Hard is just incredibly, incredibly endearing to me. Especially because behind the jokes, behind the spontaneous Monster Island Vacations, I still feel that sadness there. This is a guy who knows that he is never going to get a chance to be there for his kids, when they were kids. For the time any dad was around for Rachel, it was a different Scott. He got to raise Cable, for a while—and then he had to leave him behind. All that history is still here, just below the surface of the man who calls Kid Cable “son” every chance he can. [Ed. note: Don’t mind me feeling these dad feelings over here.]

CE: So one of my complaints of the last year or so of X-Men is that Kid Cable murdered his older self with very little repercussions. While this issue doesn’t even try to address them even in the slightest, I almost wonder if Scott is excited to have a second chance to sort of pick up where he left off. Plus now Rachel gets to pick on a little brother. Did you like that dynamic? Some of the dialogue was a little cheesy, but I’m susceptible to silliness.

RS: I was fine with the forced cheesiness, because it all felt like the natural result of, again, everyone here just really trying to force the family dynamic they need. I like that thought about Kid Cable—maybe a reason for Scott’s too easily won forgiveness can be found there, in his desire to go back to his son’s childhood. Still, neither issue of X-stuff this week really changed my mind about the character. He isn’t fully realized, even after an entire event and X-Force series devoted to him. And I just really think it’s a missed opportunity, not having this “LET’S BE A FAMILY! LET’S PLAY CATCH AND GO ON ROADTRIPS!” dynamic occur with the giant, overly muscled, elderly asskicker that is Adjectiveless Cable. [Ed. note: Cable went to the beach in a 90s Annual and it was delightful.]

CE: I suppose we might never get that resolution and maybe that’s just what we have to accept—a bratty youngster with a ton of ammunition and not a ton of sense. We might just never get it. I do hope we get the Summers family vacation to Chandilar. I think that could be a hoot.

Summoners

RS: “In this sign, a Summoner.” Reminds me of Constantine, just remixed: in hoc signo, unum summonitor? (My Latin is ultra rusty, apologies) [Ed. note: It’s a dead language that no one reading this understands Robert…]. I guess Hickman got tired of people poking fun at his Legion of Mysterious Pale Ladies. Chris, what did you think of our introduction to the character perfectly dubbed by DoXToXer Nola Pfau as the “Mysterious Pale Twink”?

CE: I was really expecting an antagonist for some reason, and this eventually resolved dynamic of “it’s complicated” kind of threw me for a loop. In true superhero book fashion, we had to get the misunderstanding that leads into superhero fighting, this time over a confusion of language. It’s odd to me that Rachel didn’t immediately try to read this Mysterious Pale Twink’s thoughts but, then we wouldn’t have had the cultural faux pas of “don’t gift people explosives.” It seems that Kid Cable loves his ammunition.

I enjoyed the graph that let us know the ranks of all of the summoner people’s of Arakko, with their abilities to summon Otherworld (or possibly a realm beyond) creatures. It was very Final Fantasy IX having an entire race of people who can control monsters from another realm. [Ed. note: FFIX, the most underrated Final Fantasy? Discuss.]

RS: It’s a simple thing, but the “normal number [actual number]” discrepancy in the chart was a beautifully concise way of communicating just how dire the Summoner situation is. But I have so many questions: why are the numbers so low? Are they succumbing to some kind of Summoning Sickness? And how are they summoning demons and huge beasts if their mana is entirely from Islands? [Ed. note: Robert put a comment in here that these were Magic: The Gathering jokes as if I had not once created an entire custom MtG set themed around the Marvel Universe.]

CE: It should really be Krakens and Drakes only in that case. So these summoners definitely seem to be fighting against a mysterious foe, which as we learn later from MPT’s talk with The Mutant Formerly Known as Apocalypse seems to be the same enemy that Apocalypse and his First Horsemen fought back when the two islands were one.

RS: It also seems like the same foe that Morgan Le Fey is fighting in Excalibur, given that they’re connected in some way to Otherworld. I expect we’ll be learning more about the Summoners and their situation in that title. One minor detail that might be important: one of the beings MPT summons is “Hool-go-dir, the vanquished god”— and he appears to be the shadow, or the inversion, of a summoner. If the summoners are fighting a foe that can claim and make their own, make monstrous, summoners, if they can assimilate summoners, then we have a magical foe that can rival the technological foes we saw in Powers of X.

CE: This is the kind of completely wild speculation that I love from you Rob. Another detail that seems to tie up this little bow of the theme of family in this issue, is that this summoner is a child of War, one of the First Horsemen of Apocalypse, which means that the child is kin to Big Daddy •┤Ȧ├•, and thus we end our issue on a very cute hug. Does •┤Ȧ├• have some divided loyalties between his two peoples, or are we going to see a merging of the two, much as we see…

Islands in the Stream, That is What They Are

RS: So, this was both my favorite aspect of this issue, and the most frustrating. On the one hand: TWO ISLANDS BONED DOWN. IN A MARVEL COMIC. The had a treegasm. On the other hand: I am left utterly confused about the nature of Arakko now. It seems like part of the point of this issue was to inform us as to Arakko’s deal, but all that information is so unclear. Is all of the Island back on Earth? If so, why only now has it come back? Could they just bring back the Island whenever they wanted? If it’s on Earth, then did the entire native population leave it? Or is this just like the tip of Arakko? Is the rest of Arakko on Otherworld, or some in-between space? The climactic moment of the issue is a wide shot of the islands, and I just have no idea what I’m looking at.

CE: Let me add my interpretation. I think much like the habitats in space and other areas of Earth are still Krakoa, this chunk of island, this reef, is an extension of Arakko through dimensions. A peni-nsula. Anyway, this seems to be the first time Krakoa has dealt with what could be considered nonmutant refugees but, as the islands were once one, the newcomers have just as much stake in the island as the mutants do.

RS: Chris, I’m going to need a minute to recover from “peni-nsula.” You’re taking atoll on me. [Ed. note: Eisner worthy dick jokes fellas.]

CE: I’m not sure what you mean Rob. It’s interesting that we’re getting a kind of Krakoa Voltron as time progresses. When we started out, we simply had an original recipe Pacific Krakoa, while at the end of HoXPoX we suddenly had an Atlantic variety. But as more issues pass, we get Bigger than Before, and now the island grows and grows. Will we get the full Arakko here soon? I’m honestly curious to see. I like that the Dawn of X era doesn’t like to keep things too stale before making changes. The status quo is pretty solid but, lots of little details tend to add up.

RS: That, Chris, sums up my final thoughts in this issue. I thought we were going to have to wait for the next big X-Event before we even began to get seeds of Arakko’s return—and instead it comes back in the second issue. Thus far this series feels both ultra-slow— both issues are primarily about Summers family hangouts— and yet lightning quick— both sharply move forward the status quo.

CE: Yeah it’s an odd sort of dynamic. I’m not positive that I completely vibe with some of the character voices in this issue, especially with the somewhat static feeling art that Yu brings to the table for these issues. Rachel was teasing, which seems like Rachel but, she seemed a tiny bit flat to me. It’ll also be nice to see Kid Cable progress a bit beyond “gun kid.”

That being said, I’m really loving Dadclops and his awkward attempts at bonding through missions. I also like the interconnectedness that these series seem to exhibit. As we read last week, Professor Xavier has been murdered by human terrorists, and that carries over into this week. I noticed our characters don’t seem overly concerned other than with the lock-down the assassination necessitated. Clearly they don’t think he’s going to be gone for too long. But, I’m still pretty into our flagship title, especially given how willing it is to start firing these Chekhov’s guns that HoXPoX stockpiled for us.

X-Traneous Thoughts

Is •┤Ȧ├• a better Dad than Cyclops? Maybe so…
Is •┤Ȧ├• more daddy than Cyclops? Definitely so.
We know where Wolverine and Jean are, but I wonder where Havok and Vulcan have gone for this issue. The people love Alex Summers. [Ed. note: Do they?}
“This is the voice of a guilty man, Rachel. Throw the book at me.”
“If a gun’s not an option, then it’s fight, flight, or bite.”
“I don’t understand. Does gift mean something else on this world?”
“I love a single someone”- Sure Scott.
Kid Cable is like, Archer and Barry combined into one perfect dumb boy.
The Krakoan for the Preview of X-Men #3 reads: “Hordeculture,” a delightful botany joke.
Check out our discussion about Fallen Angels #1 too.