Read our review of Rise Of The Powers Of X #2 from Marvel Comics, written by Kieron Gillen with art by R.B. Silva.
We reviewed the book on the Stack podcast. But in the interest of highlighting more about the title, here’s a summary of the conversation with our thoughts. And if you prefer the longer audio version, that’s below as well!
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Rise Of The Powers Of X #2 Review:
In the latest issue of the future-set X-Men series, Professor X is trying to figure out how to stop Enigma — the original Nathanial Essex, now a dimension sized villain — from destroying all of existence. It doesn’t go well.
“This is very much Kieron Gillen in DIE mode,” said host Alex Zalben, kicking things off. “Because this comic is very much like playing a roleplaying game, let’s figure out what all the characters are going to do. And this is the point where they all sit around the table like, ‘Okay, what do we do before we roll the dice?'”
Adding that we’ll probably get more action next issue, Zalben did clarify that he liked the book, “But this is very much [something] you need to fully, 100% concentrate on what you’re reading here, or you are going to be lost. And I’ll tell you, I concentrated the entire time, and there were still several pages where I was lost.”
Justin Tyler added, “It’s hard to tell what [this] all amounts to. The positives here, I think the art is amazing. I like the way that we’re seeing flashes from other parts of this [event] in different ways, which is fun. But in general, it is just a little bit dense. I want it a little bit pared back for clarity.”
While Pete LePage also liked the art, he asked if anyone was having fun reading this book, to which Zalben clarified that he was. “The thing that I’m probably going to take away from this whole era of X-Men, is from the very beginning, when Jonathan Hickman set it up, is it was to challenge us intellectually on a science fiction level, science fantasy level… That’s a different mode for the X-Men. When Professor Xavier in this issue is talking about the Krakoa experiment, how it didn’t work and we have to erase it from history. That bummed me out a little bit. I don’t know where you go from here, or how you keep it around, necessarily, but the idea of like, well, we tried this thing… It feels very meta-textual.”
Rise Of The Powers Of X #2 Official Synopsis:
THE LAST HOPE – OUTSIDE OF REALITY! Outside time and space is mutantdom’s last hope. Floating between dimensions, hiding from a Dominion who wishes to crush them. Can Xavier and his crew survive? And when we find out their plan, will we want them to? The end of the Krakoan Age continues in this epic tale split in two!
