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.

[CoCoBandz]

Tarn is going to fk him up.

[ChronoRogue]

Really good issue. It was satisfying seeing Storm put Vulcan in his place.

Same for Manifold choosing to dip from Brand's "X-Men". I feel bad for Frenzy, when all this come out about Brand she's gonna be frustrated all over again about who she places her trust into (again).

[CoCoBandz]

Really good issue. It was satisfying seeing Storm put Vulcan in his place.

Same for Manifold choosing to dip from Brand's "X-Men". I feel bad for Frenzy, when all this come out about Brand she's gonna be frustrated all over again about who she places her trust into (again).

I want Frenzy to break her back when all is said and out there.

[jwatson]

I want Frenzy to break her back when all is said and out there.

i was thinking it would be Cable but i'm starting to suspect Frenzy will be storm double agent on Brand team.

Oh and on a side i love that Arrakians know storm as Ororo and call her as such. Her krakoan mutant name and her battle name is Storm but Arrakians know her by her true name which is big with them so i thought that was deep.

[Milici]

So they demoted Frenzy, Manifold and Mentallo

[Rev9]

I want Frenzy to break her back when all is said and out there.

Honestly I feel Frenzy is wasted in this book, not that she doesn't get any action but she is better served leading her own team of ex Acolytes in a real inter stellar adventure(Marauders just doesn't have the vibe) Though if her role grows on Mars,I'm cool

[Jackraow21]

I really like having Cable and Frenzy on the same team here. The rest of the squad is kind of "meh" honestly, but those two together on the same squad has potential IMO.

[JB]

Really good issue. It was satisfying seeing Storm put Vulcan in his place.

Same for Manifold choosing to dip from Brand's "X-Men". I feel bad for Frenzy, when all this come out about Brand she's gonna be frustrated all over again about who she places her trust into (again).

Agreed on all. Storm absolutely dominated and checked Vulcan's ego down to the ground. I love that the Arakki are taking to her. Great issue for the Regent.

I'm also glad Eden dipped out on Brand, though I hope that doesn't mean we won't be seeing him more. Maybe he'll join the Brotherhood. Great seeing Cable in a leadership role again.

Brand is horrible and I love to hate her. Karma is coming.

[CoCoBandz]

Agreed on all. Storm absolutely dominated and checked Vulcan's ego down to the ground. I love that the Arakki are taking to her. Great issue for the Regent.

I'm also glad Eden dipped out on Brand, though I hope that doesn't mean we won't be seeing him more. Maybe he'll join the Brotherhood. Great seeing Cable in a leadership role again.

Brand is horrible and I love to hate her. Karma is coming.

If Eden joins the brotherhood and doesn't just disappear into some random Avengers roster.this will be top book for me edging out X-Men

[Devaishwarya]

Really good issue. It was satisfying seeing Storm put Vulcan in his place.

Same for Manifold choosing to dip from Brand's "X-Men". I feel bad for Frenzy, when all this come out about Brand she's gonna be frustrated all over again about who she places her trust into (again).

Same here. And Cable.
Though I'm really sad I may not be seeing Eden in XMR anymore. (I'm very much hoping Storm recruits him for The Brotherhood)

[Jackraow21]

Same here. And Cable.

I'm pretty sure Cable knows and is just playing along to figure out her plan and bide his time before making his play. The solicits essentially imply as much, talking about him playing his own game or something along those lines. I'm sure we'll see what he knows or doesn't know in the next couple of issues.

Also, I'm really interested in why understanding how exactly Cable controls the T-O virus with his telekinesis is of such interest to Brand. It says on one of the data pages that she orchestrated this attack specifically so she could understand that. I'm also interested in why his virus has seemingly mutated and looks different now (see my avatar). Lots of questions for this fan, but I'm intrigued and onboard.

Oh, he's definitely playing her. Even if he didn't have future knowledge, it isn't hard to smell Brand's BS if you're as experienced as Nathan.

Plus he was being unusually quiet during Brands explanation of change of focus, which is another tip-off.

Yep. That's exactly my read of the situation as well.

[Master of Sound]

Tarn is going to fk him up.

Are people forgetting how powerful Vulcan is???

[Havok83]

I see Ewing trying to explain away Sway and Petras' apparance in Hickman's run but this makes no sense bc Petra was in New Mutants. Not a backround cameo, but she got named and everything

[Rift]

Maybe the Petra in New Mutants was the projection. It was able to move and act even without Vulcan nearby, or he was secretly lurking in the distance to keep her around.