Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

New Mutants #13New Mutants #13
Marvel Comics
Wells, Roberson & Medina

The Second Coming crossover plods along and is starting to tread water a little too much. This issue really stretches the characterizations of the mutants, especially considering they are still in mourning, while more of the overall plot is revealed. It seems like Bastion’s master plan to rid the world of the mutants has a decent shot at working. This issue brings a little more drama to that problem as it seems the chips are stacked against the X-Men more than they realize. The issue is certainly a mixed bag.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe part of the comic I found to the most puzzling was the cafeteria fight. Yes, that is correct, a fight breaks out in the lunchroom. It felt so bizarre that the X-Men were just hanging around in the cafeteria after burying their dead. The lunchroom scuffle again involves an X-Man questioning whether or not Hope was worth the others dying. This scene was complete with a tray of food being thrown. It was just a strange setting made even stranger by the fact that I can’t imagine any X-Men feeling so annoyed with a kid, regardless of whether or not they believe she is the Messiah or not. It feels so jammed into this story I just can’t buy into it.

The aspect of the issue that I enjoyed was the revelation of the larger plan of Bastion’s. As Donald Piece sneaks around and destroys the Blackbirds the X-Men begin to understand that they are under attack. However, it isn’t apparent just to what level they are under attack until the X-Club discovers something off the Island. I liked that the issue shows exactly how much danger they are in and it shows how oblivious they are to the nature of the threat.

I also enjoyed the artwork. The style is very polished and has a reflective quality to it. The characters literally have the appearance of jumping off of the pages. The action is limited in this issue but there are enough arguments and tension that comes across beautifully with the artwork. I enjoyed the visual story in this comic book very much.

My hopes for this crossover are quickly dwindling but the issue itself is sound enough. I can’t for the life of me understand why so many mutants are lashing out at Hope which is a real stumbling block for this entire crossover it seems. However, that isn’t the only problem with the crossover as it appears the X-Men are going to be stuck sitting around having lunch while their Island gets bombed into oblivion. Well see how this all plays out. This issue had some nice plot development but not enough to make it a great comic book. I’m not even sure there was enough story here for a full comic book. Cafeteria fights aren’t going to cut in a story as hyped as this one.

3 out of 5 Geek Goggles