X-Men: Red by Al Ewing vol. 2
The good news is that this title will be continuing past this volume. Much as I’ve enjoyed Ewing’s work in the cosmic and mutant spaces at Marvel, they haven’t been blessed with sales worthy of their quality. Whether or not “X-Men: Red” will be continuing past the “Fall of X” is another big question mark as well. Even if it doesn’t, we get lots of wrap-up regarding some long-term plots in this volume.
Before we get to any of that, the series has a tie-in to “Judgment Day” to finish off. It’s a good one that only suffers from being perhaps too tied to the event itself. What I mean is that you’ll have to have read issues #5 (from the previous volume) & 6 (from this volume) to see the threat represented by Uranos as well as Magneto and Storm’s circumstances going into the fight in the main series. You’ll also have to have read the main series to see the big event that goes down between issues #6 & 7 of this volume. It may sound complicated, but you’re being asked to read good comics on both sides of the coin here.
There’s also some quality developments in the issues contained here, particularly in issue #7. That’s the issue where the Night Seats of the Great Council of Arakko make themselves known and the problem of Isca the Unbeaten is solved (for now, I would assume). Ewing also pulls off a really good eulogy for a mutant – no points for guessing who – that also manages to set up a plot point that will likely become more relevant when “Fall of X” comes around.
While I appreciate the effort shown by the writer here, it’s still kind of irritating to see this happen. The thing I like most about Mutant Resurrection as done by the Five is that seeing mutants (or corporate superheroes in general) die and come back to life was already a trope by the time this came around. Mutant Resurrection found a way around it while also creating new problems at the same time – just ask Magneto and Professor X after they were resurrected post-”Inferno.” Even if great pains were made to show that this character is now dead, dead, dead, I have no doubt that they’ll be back at some point either with Resurrection or just plain resurrection.
With “Judgment Day” out of the way, the series can get back to regularly scheduled business. Which, for the last three issues here, involves mediating tense peace talks between the Shi’Ar and Skrull Empires. It turns out that the massacre of a wartime Skrull medical base known as Shapeless Ridge by the Kree was based in part on intelligence provided by the Shi’Ar. Empress Xandra has come to Planet Arakko to address this, but she’s not the only ruler of the empire to have an opinion on how things should play out here.
Meanwhile, Cable and Whiz Kid are now aware of Abigail Brand’s plans and they’ve recruited a team in order to put a stop to them. They’ve now got John Proudstar, Manifold, Weaponless Szen, and Khora of the Burning Heart in their corner and an immediate goal: Take out the interstellar weapons dealer known as Orbis Stellaris. Getting to the weaponeer’s secret base at the edge of the galaxy is the easy part, however. Dealing with what’s inside is more surprising and, dare I say, sinister than what they were expecting.
These three issues offer a lot of payoff regarding stuff that Ewing has been setting up since the pages of “S.W.O.R.D.” Part of me does worry that seeing a certain mutant be three steps ahead of the bad guys might be getting old at this point, but it’s still satisfying to see him show his stuff here. More surprising was that we also get a resolution to a plot point that Jonathan Hickman set up regarding a certain Summers Brother here as well. While I doubt that this was the outcome the writer had intended for the character, Ewing makes the setup work for the story that he’s telling here.
It all climaxes with an old-fashioned superhero slugfest as two Omega Mutants duke it out over Planet Arakko, where the outcome is determined not by who fights harder, but by who fights smarter. It’s handled by the artist responsible for most of this volume, Stefano Caselli, who provides some great, detailed, and flowing work that puts a nice finish on the action here. Madibek Musabekov also handles two of the issues here and provides some nicely detailed art that captures a lot of the detail of the cosmic settings it illustrates. Jacopo Camagni pitches in on the final issue with work that bodes well for his upcoming tenure on the title.
Vol. 2 of “X-Men: Red” has a lot of satisfying payoff here which is never not a good thing. Better still is that the things it sets up look promising as well. A new direction for a thoroughly beaten character. Another suit in the most deadly group of playing cards imaginable. A noticeable shift in the power structure of Planet Arakko. I really want to see how all of these things play out, which is why I’m glad to see that this series will be continuing for at least one more volume yet.