X-MEN #2 Arakko Review *spoilers*

[Tunasammiches]

Because, for all intent and purpose, the three of them have never been on a field mission together.
Heck, the three of them have never lived together in close quarter on a permanent basis either.
There is no history of the three of them being together.
Scott is the common denominator between Kable and Rachel, but what personal ties Rachel and Kable have to one another beyond that?
Shouldn't we see Scott being the one mending the gaps between the both of them, who were foreigners to one another until very recently?
Even if you Don't care about Cable, Scott and Rachel did, they actually knew him for years before his execution by Kable - yet here they're bantering with him as if they were part of a mediocre sitcom…
And if I can buy the idea that Cyclops would make the effort to try and overcome this fact after Extermination, I doubt Rachel would - after all, she was willing to avenge Cable, was she not? So when did Rachel decided she was fine living/working with Kable?
Because here, it looks like they are fine with one another.
All in all, the idea that there could be this kind of dynamic between the Summers without us seeing the process leading to it is one that feels very fake/contrived.

- Rachel's known Nathan since he was a baby. She established a meaningful mind link with him, even when she lived with Excalibur and he lived with XFactor on the ship.
- Rachel is not a stranger to Cable or Kable - she was in his mind for most of his childhood during The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, which canonically takes place way before the age he's at when we meet him in Extermination so Nate/Cable/Kable has always felt close to her...with or without Scott. Rachel and Nate have had multiple storylines without Scott involved...he is not the common denominator
- The 3 of them HAVE been on missions together, Scott and Rachel were in plenty field missions in the 80's, like going to Asgard with the New Mutants, etc...and Nate and Scott did some stuff in Cable's book .... and Nate, Ray and Scott all were in the field together and fighting Cable during that story in Cable & Deadpool comic... heck Scott, Jean, Cable and Ray all fought Ahab together in Days of Future Present...(even though we didn't know Cable was a Summers then). Rachel WAS rescued by Kid Cable in XForce recently, and they've been living in the Summers house so they've had plenty of time for us to reasonably assume they've formed an organic relationship. Jean accepts him, Scott does too, why shouldn't Ray?

I dunno. your statements don't seem based in fact.

[RD155]

Nah, he’s just way better at building big arcs than small moment stuff. He’s probably knackered after the insane production schedule for HoxPox too.

That’s exactly how I feel. The HOXPOX story was tailor made for his strengths. Big epic world changing storytelling. There were little to no small character personal moments. I’m not knocking the Story because it single handily got me interested in the X-men again. Absolutely loved it and was hooked. However now things have calmed down a bit. The title just seems pretty meh at the moment. It’s early and maybe things will change. I’m hopeful that they will. I have little to no interest in the summers fAmily so even if things get better from a dialogue standpoint, I might still end up passing just cause of the main cast..

[FluffyCyclopsRLZ]

"But for the sake of expediency, let's just say yes."

Hickman is an evil genius, lol.

[GrandEleven]

So apparently I missed the memo and didn't realize that after house/powers of X were done you had to continue to buy every spin off every week to keep up with what's going on. I assumed starting with X-Men 1 the groundwork was set and you could simply follow the book that interested you most. Nope. Going from X-Men 1 to 2 will leave the reader utterly lost. How long is it supposed to run this tightly integrated? The initial run was a book every week ... this "2nd act" has effectively accelerated to 2 issues a week and will be 3 by month's end.

Got to say this feels a bit much for me now, especially as this issue was basically watching two islands getting it on and otherwise could have have been completely squeezed into another book. Disappointed, honestly.

[franckd]

Wi-Fi is a huge mess. I feel bad for Cable fans.

I hope one day I will enjoy Wi-Fi. So far I really don't.

[tuck frump]

It’s disgusting how little respect Cyclops has for Arrako. Imagine murdering animals and fauna because you don’t feel like wading through some bushes. He discarded the foliage like he discarded Madelyne.

Cyclops has never been eco-friendly, he used to murder dinosaurs to get Emma and Steve Rogers turned on. He also tossed that worthless medal Obama gave him in the ocean. I expect the savage land issue to be a massacre.

[Havok83]

So apparently I missed the memo and didn't realize that after house/powers of X were done you had to continue to buy every spin off every week to keep up with what's going on. I assumed starting with X-Men 1 the groundwork was set and you could simply follow the book that interested you most. Nope. Going from X-Men 1 to 2 will leave the reader utterly lost. How long is it supposed to run this tightly integrated? The initial run was a book every week ... this "2nd act" has effectively accelerated to 2 issues a week and will be 3 by month's end.

Got to say this feels a bit much for me now, especially as this issue was basically watching two islands getting it on and otherwise could have have been completely squeezed into another book. Disappointed, honestly.

Its been stated several times that the books will be more connected going forward than they have been in recent years. Each one has a purpose of filling in pieces to the bigger overall picture

[RD155]

Its been stated several times that the books will be more connected going forward than they have been in recent years. Each one has a purpose of filling in pieces to the bigger overall picture

As a reader I’ve always been in the middle regarding that. I get the appeal as far as all the books being tightly integrated. Financially it’s just impossible for some readers to keep up with all the titles. Also some might not like the current title and not want to follow it. So again I’m not sure how I feel about it. I think it’s great to have some cohesive storytelling between titles in a sense to make everything feel connected. However, a reader should never be “forced” in a sense to collect a different title to keep up. I think it’s a difficult tightrope for writers at times.

[tuck frump]

The plot of XForce had very little bearing on this issue tho. Nothing you couldnt understand from reading a summary online.

[FluffyCyclopsRLZ]

Cyclops has never been eco-friendly, he used to murder dinosaurs to get Emma and Steve Rogers turned on. He also tossed that worthless medal Obama gave him in the ocean. I expect the savage land issue to be a massacre.

I dunno. In light of today's 'Gawd, I still haven't figured out how to get rid of my crazy exes without getting murdered, thanks for reminding me' bit, I wouldn't bat an eyelash if Scott faked eco-friendliness just to irritate Emma.

[Glio]

I dunno. In light of today's 'Gawd, I still haven't figured out how to get rid of my crazy exes without getting murdered, thanks for reminding me' bit, I wouldn't bat an eyelash if Scott faked eco-friendliness just to irritate Emma.

Maybe?

[TheDeadSpace]

I thought the issue was okay for what it was. Really liked the bonding.

As a side note, Vegan Daddy totally called it, lol.

[Vegan Daddy]

Cyclops listens to Morrissey.

[Nick Miller]

If anyone thinks Scott will ever take Rachael to Hawaii......lol

I enjoyed the coloring in this comic. It managed to enhance the art a bit.

[Harpsikord]

Time for the unpopular opinion: I figured out why I'm not overly fond of Hickman's issues so far. The first issue of X-men, New Mutants, and this all felt very... hollow in a way. They were almost without personality when they shouldn't have been - they're very dry to me. Compare that to any other Dawn of X title and it's disappointing; it makes me think that Hickman, who is a wonderful plotter, architect, and engineer could use a co-writer to do scripting and to inject life into his characters that they otherwise do not really have.