X-Men: Red #2 Review/Spoilers

[Rift]

We saw the beginning in the previews: Vulcan blew up the Summers House after the others pointed out that Petra and Sway were dead all along, and the ones we've been seeing are just projections he created to deal with the grief. The real ones can be revived, but Vulcan insists that the projections are real.

Later, Vulcan laments to Brand that the Shi'ar have forgotten that he was their emperor. He's not welcome at the Summers House and personally doesn't want to set food on Krakoa, so he's stuck on Mars. Abby's all, "Yeah dw bb, I remember you. Anyway, you should take your mind off things by joining my X-Men team."

X-Men Red consists of Mentallo Frenzy, Random, Manifold, and Cable; Cable being their field leader. They also have a new logo: it's the modern X-Men logo, except one of the twiggy things on the X is elongated, making it look like a sword.



Anyway, Brand says that the team exists so the Arakkis know SWORD is watching over them. Manifold says that the Arakki have their own culture, government and people, and this is their planet; they should have their own X-Men team. Brand says that they gave them Mars in the first place, they only own parts of the planet, and they're still part of the Sol System. Manifold bounces. Brand says that he's practically her second-in-command, but then he calls her out killing Henry Gyrich, and he points out how sus she is. He's sure she's responsible for those SWORD shenanigans in the last book.

Brand's fine with this, since Cable can bodyslide the team for transportation. She pulls an OJ and says, "I didn't do it. But IF I did, do any of you care?" And nah, no one cares. Brand gets an alert (The Krakoan on Brand's monitor reads ALERT, if you're wondering), and they rush into action.

The Morrowlands are a commune of artists and poets, seeking purpose. They're being attacked by Progenitors and are fighting back. X-Men Red jump in to fight them. Cable targets a Harvester-class, high-level telekinetic Progenitor. It vomits on his robot arm and sucks it up. Without the robot arm balancing out his telekinesis, Cable's power goes out of control. Which is good, because it lets him kick their asses. But then one of the Progenitors just immediately vaporizes Cable.

An Arakki sees this and is upset that the Krakoans are dying for them. The Progenitors' violence against them is an insult to Arakko. She throws a cube at them and gets vaporized immediately. Brand has Vulcan try to lead them away from the scene. This offends the Arakki, who want to stay and fight for their home, even if they have no chance at winning. Vulcan threatens them, but is suddenly frozen in ice.

Storm, Sunspot, Fisher Daddy and Magneto have arrived on the scene. Note that the civilians are happy to see them. This team asks the civilians for help. They use their crappy powers to distract a Progenitor so Magneto can kill it. Vulcan gets pissed and attacks Storm. Storm calls herself mommy and kicks his ass.

A data page reveals the obvious: Brand and Orchis arranged the Progenitors to show up. Only this time, her goal was to intentionally offend the Arakki and ruin relationships between them and Krakoa. She wants them to go back to Amenth so she can have Mars. (This explains why Hellion isn't on the team: the Arakki would love him.) But Storm and the Brotherhood ruined her plan. So Brand needs to work around Storm now. She needs a man on the inside of the Great Ring of Arakko.

Later, Brand meets with Vulcan as he's recovering. She says that Storm was able to use her powers at the highest level, while Vulcan only uses his at a surface-level. She's going to help him with that. Also, she has a way to make people praise Vulcan's name as they do Storm's: he's going to kill Tarn.

Notes:

• The Fisher King is called the "Unarmed King," who "ruled at midnight." I'm guessing those who suspected him of being in the Night seat of the Greater Ring have some more evidence.
• The moral of the story: artists and poets are useless to society, and at best can only serve as a distraction while the real heroes save the day. But to be distracted by art and words is to lead to your downfall. If you want to succeed, burn your comic books.