Children of the Vault #2: Review and Spoilers

[JB]

Honestly this is the best Cable (other than under Ewing) or Bishop have been written in a while. It's a fun ride of a story so far.

Agreed. I'm getting a lot of joy out of this.

What I find most interesting about the Children is how we're seeing what happens when beings evolve so quickly. I liked when Cable called Martillo out about his first encounter and Martillo is like that was a million years ago, bro. Even since Forge's "dream prison" failed it's been 200 years for them. I can only imagine how much my beliefs, motivations, and tactics would change if I experienced hundreds of years of mental and emotional evolution in a few weeks. I like that this title gives us an example of what could happen and what villains could rise up in the absence of the majority of mutantkind.

[lefthanded]

I agree with the OP, against my better judgement I read issue number 2, and although I find Cable and Bishop to be written exceptionally well, I don't find Camp's version of the CotV to be unique or interesting. To me this type of story was better when Morrison did it in the 90s in JLA, and the Children were more intriguing when written by Carey. Basically the Children have devolved into generic villains to me with a world domination/extermination plan for reasons, but in and out of themselves the Sci Fi ideas are not pushed nearly enough for my tastes. It really feels like a Cable/Bishop mini for the sake of them having a mini, and the CotV seems like an afterthought because they needed to do something with them. The threat also seems so disconnected from what is going on in other titles that really feels like it would have been better to deal with them at a later date

I agree with you. As someone who has no real connection to the CoTV as characters or villains (I had read Supernovas once in the past, and thought it was a forgettable storyline, with villains that are no different than your standard superpowered villain), nothing in this issue really sold me on the idea that these characters have really lived a millenium of lifetimes in the vault.

They keep talking about how advanced they are, and yet their powers and actions look like any number of current day villains, and a current day telepath can easily break through their psychic defenses (when you have current day Orchis technology able to block Xavier's telepathy easily at the Gala, that means the CoTV's technological advances in psychic protection is.... worse?).

As a point of contrast, Hickman's initial run on the Ultimates had the Maker unleash his Children of Tomorrow (kind of pastiche of CoTV, with similar city AIs). Those characters and the Maker really did seem much more advanced in time compared to the current day.

They keep talking a big game about being of the future, yet everything that is shown to us is merely current day villain stuff.

[Jackraow21]

Honestly this is the best Cable (other than under Ewing) or Bishop have been written in a while. It's a fun ride of a story so far.

Couldn't agree more. I want to see more work from Deniz Camp in the X-books. Give him a Cable solo or, better yet, X-Force with Cable, Bishop and some others.

Agreed. I'm getting a lot of joy out of this.

What I find most interesting about the Children is how we're seeing what happens when beings evolve so quickly. I liked when Cable called Martillo out about his first encounter and Martillo is like that was a million years ago, bro. Even since Forge's "dream prison" failed it's been 200 years for them. I can only imagine how much my beliefs, motivations, and tactics would change if I experienced hundreds of years of mental and emotional evolution in a few weeks. I like that this title gives us an example of what could happen and what villains could rise up in the absence of the majority of mutantkind.

Yeah, I found that part interesting too. Really enjoyed Cable's psychic interrogation of Martillo, and then the reveal that he wasn't there physically and dude was sitting on a tactical nuke! Devious insurgent type $#!t. Cable's always been a sneaky, cold bastard. Love it!

[JB]

Couldn't agree more. I want to see more work from Deniz Camp in the X-books. Give him a Cable solo or, better yet, X-Force with Cable, Bishop and some others.



Yeah, I found that part interesting too. Really enjoyed Cable's psychic interrogation of Martillo, and then the reveal that he wasn't there physically and dude was sitting on a tactical nuke! Devious insurgent type $#!t. Cable's always been a sneaky, cold bastard. Love it!

He said, "You didn't think I'd actually be here in person, did you? I could catch something" and I howled. LOL!

@MarkAbnett:
https://twitter.com/MarkAbnett/statu...25049049641206
"Some great visual homages in this Weeks Children Of The Vault.
Well done @DenizCamp @marescaluca"

Nice to see the homages in one place and Camp retweeted it.

[ZephyrSurf]

No, because they have other ways to achieve dominion and they have never been interested in the rest of humanity, so even then trying to bring 1% of the population is counterintuitive to their purposes, especially since the conflict seems to be leading to other members of the Children to not follow the directive of those in charge. Is not a matter of them wanting to evolve some humans, is that they see themselves as completely beyond humanity as to this plan not to work, and that's not even considering the other super evolved groups on Marvel Earth they would still have to contend with. And yes, it is my opinion, same as yours and I understand that you will be more inclined to like it because it puts your boy Nathan front and center, and I even gave camp his due since I do like his Cable and Bishop but I am not feeling this conflict. As I said, I feel we would have been better served by just having Cable and Bishop deal with Orchis or Stellaris or something more connected to the overall narrative, and not push the Children to the fore front for now. As I said we are going to have different reactions to this because Cable is the protagonist here and you like that and I completely get it, but I didn't feel this issue. I feel we jump from an interesting sci Fi premise in issue number 1 to generic villain plot in number 2. I still hope we get a proper X-Force title out of FoX and not that monstrosity that Percy is writing though.

To be fair, they did establish in the issues that this approach is the result of an ideological upheaval spurned on by the loss of mutant and thei last failure which led to various proposals that in essence led them here.

Not saying it is new or novel but they at least lay the groundwork

[Jackraow21]

He said, "You didn't think I'd actually be here in person, did you? I could catch something" and I howled. LOL!

Same. I truly love when characters with lots of clandestine black ops experience do sneaky, nasty things like this. I'm reminded of when Logan was captured by the Dawn of the White Light mutant ninja death cult during Enemy of the State/Agent of SHIELD and they were beating on him and thought him defeated, but realized he was laughing and suddenly ascertained that he had some sort of device inside of him that he'd ingested blocking his DNA signature as a mutant... just before the recommissioned Sentinels he "borrowed" from SHIELD showed up and stomped everyone except him to death.

Stuff like that always brings a smile to my face.

@MarkAbnett:
https://twitter.com/MarkAbnett/statu...25049049641206
"Some great visual homages in this Weeks Children Of The Vault.
Well done @DenizCamp @marescaluca"

Nice to see the homages in one place and Camp retweeted it.

I love the homages! That's great stuff. Thanks for sharing.

To be fair, they did establish in the issues that this approach is the result of an ideological upheaval spurned on by the loss of mutant and thei last failure which led to various proposals that in essence led them here.

Not saying it is new or novel but they at least lay the groundwork

Exactly. They always wanted global domination. Without mutants to contend with, this is their new strategy. Makes sense to me.

[Technopriest]

I agree with you. As someone who has no real connection to the CoTV as characters or villains (I had read Supernovas once in the past, and thought it was a forgettable storyline, with villains that are no different than your standard superpowered villain), nothing in this issue really sold me on the idea that these characters have really lived a millenium of lifetimes in the vault.

They keep talking about how advanced they are, and yet their powers and actions look like any number of current day villains, and a current day telepath can easily break through their psychic defenses (when you have current day Orchis technology able to block Xavier's telepathy easily at the Gala, that means the CoTV's technological advances in psychic protection is.... worse?).

As a point of contrast, Hickman's initial run on the Ultimates had the Maker unleash his Children of Tomorrow (kind of pastiche of CoTV, with similar city AIs). Those characters and the Maker really did seem much more advanced in time compared to the current day.

They keep talking a big game about being of the future, yet everything that is shown to us is merely current day villain stuff.

Yeah, that is my main issue with this, nothing is telling me that they are a super advanced civilization with members that think and act in an advanced, almost alien way. They keep evolving yet they remain the same as they were before. I like some of the ideas in issue number one like the thought virus, but even that got undone by this issue. I am of two minds about the mini, I like of Camp's writes Cable and Bishop, I feel it's probably the best Bishop since Claremont or District X, and I like his take on Cable which seems to be a continuation of what Edwin was doing. I just don't like the CotV as the villains for this mini. I don't feel their design is unique enough, they really just come across as garden variety villains with a world domination plot straight out of Dr Dooms playbook, instead of pushing the Sci Fi ideas to its limits.

[Technopriest]

To be fair, they did establish in the issues that this approach is the result of an ideological upheaval spurned on by the loss of mutant and thei last failure which led to various proposals that in essence led them here.

Not saying it is new or novel but they at least lay the groundwork

I get what the mini is telling us as motivation, I just don't feel is clever or credible considering what the CotV should be able to do. Cable and Bishop I like in this, the CotV are just not credible adversaries and I don't feel invested in the stakes because of it. I really feel that this mini would be better served by having those two up against Orbis Stellaris or Orchis. As it is is too disconnected from the main narrative.

[Nomura99]

I really like this series but it does feel very disconnected from Fall of X in the sense of the Children doing so many big things and radical changes that is not very believable that by day 4 of their taking over Orchis would still be "we'll deal with them later" as they showed in issue #1.

I guess this whole mini happens between the Gala and the "X Weeks later" so many books have chosen as their timeframe, but that also takes away from the impact this book has.

Still, a cool read but not the best timing to pull the trigger with the CoV, imo.

[Malachi]

I really like this series but it does feel very disconnected from Fall of X in the sense of the Children doing so many big things and radical changes that is not very believable that by day 4 of their taking over Orchis would still be "we'll deal with them later" as they showed in issue #1.

I guess this whole mini happens between the Gala and the "X Weeks later" so many books have chosen as their timeframe, but that also takes away from the impact this book has.

Still, a cool read but not the best timing to pull the trigger with the CoV, imo.

Trying to rationalize Orchis is always though. Perhaps they need public approval or fear the lack of it? The message would upon contact infect all humans or beings with similar mind structures inside Orchis. Nimrod should be unaffected.

Overall the presence that CotV are becoming upon the earth is not something that Orchis could ignore and it seems they would not deem it benign outside of influence from the message. So yeah tension should be a thing by now. In the long run they will probably be dealt with by Cable and Bishop before Orchis manages to take action.

[Uncanny X-Man]

I had high expectations for this second issue after a very strong one and Camp & Maresca didn't disappoint. Camp shows true mastery of dialogue, captions and characterisation, everything on the page feels very deliberate, thought-through and of the highest-order. The character work here is superb and these are very likely the best both Bishop and Cable have been written in years.

The art complements the story very well, I loved the homage to Quitely's "Nuff Said" issue of New X-Men as well as the depiction of Cable's fight with Martillo in both the physical world and the psychic plane.

Overall this looks like the strongest mini out of a very good Fall of X bunch, I'm very impressed with Deniz Camp's writing and hope to read more mutant work from him in the future.

[Jackraow21]

Overall this looks like the strongest mini out of a very good Fall of X bunch, I'm very impressed with Deniz Camp's writing and hope to read more mutant work from him in the future.

Same. I say give him X-Force and get that one away from Percy. Hopefully he brings Cable and Bishop with him, but even if he doesn't and it's Wolverine-led again. That could be fun too, especially with his daughter on the team. I'd love to see what Camp would do with the mutant CIA concept with whatever cast he chooses.

[Mutant X]

It's evident now that Camp had a good pitch, but it had nothing to do with Fall of X.
The COTV being praised as heroes, the virus controlling everybody, and Orchis doing nothing about it doesn't fit in with Duggan's story.
And that's not a problem, because this mini is much more consistent, coherent, and enjoyable.

I hope Camp gets a title for himself.

[JB]

It's evident now that Camp had a good pitch, but it had nothing to do with Fall of X.
The COTV being praised as heroes, the virus controlling everybody, and Orchis doing nothing about it doesn't fit in with Duggan's story.
And that's not a problem, because this mini is much more consistent, coherent, and enjoyable.

I hope Camp gets a title for himself.

Camp mentioned in an interview that the book's premise came from editor Sarah Brunstad and she approached him with it. But he definitely took the idea and is running successfully with it.

Interestingly, the book's artist Luca Maresca posted this image last week on Instagram:



He included #starksentinel in the caption so either the book is going to start mixing with the FoX story or he's working on something for after CotV.

[Uncanny X-Man]

He said, "You didn't think I'd actually be here in person, did you? I could catch something" and I howled. LOL!

@MarkAbnett:
https://twitter.com/MarkAbnett/statu...25049049641206
"Some great visual homages in this Weeks Children Of The Vault.
Well done @DenizCamp @marescaluca"

Nice to see the homages in one place and Camp retweeted it.

Very fun homages, thanks for sharing the link! I must say I recognized the New X-Men one and also the Capullo one with all the guns, but I totally missed the Shi'ar spaceship.