New Mutants #12
Second Coming Chapter 3
Zeb Wells has crafted one of the better installments so far of the Second Coming event, and the Art by Ibraim Roberson is excellent. Marvel’s X-editors can be proud of their product thus far especially with this book on the shelf.
The action pretty much picks up right where chapter 2 left off. This is where we get to see the role of Cyclops’ beta team, the New Mutants. There is equally as much action going on at the hotel where the Alpha Team, Cable, and Hope are.
Bastion and his human cabal have definitely done their homework this time. We find out that they are going into battle prepared. The X-Men have even been given target code-names by the opposition. They quickly neutralize ‘White Devil’ (Magik) and ‘Blue Devil’ (Nightcrawler) to shut down their teleporting capabilities.
Still the team gives enough of a window for Hope and Cable to make their get away, while Cable tries to figure out how they are being tracked so quickly. He even goes as far as to assume that there is an informant within the X-Men. How far will Cable take it when he finds out he and his TO virus are the marker?
The Purifires have backup on the way as Cameron Hodge begins to prepare a battalion of Orphan Makers to go in for the kill. The Beta team is there to intercept, Cannonball plays good soldier and follows orders from Cyclops to engage. Then Hodge does a cranial transplant onto a new mech body to shift the flow of battle.
There are also some other dark things going on with Archangel which former love-interest Betsy Bradock gets to witness. Back in San Francisco Rogue and Danger are seen guarding the prisoners including a smiley faced Donald Pierce. This doesn’t give much clue as to what happened there during Necrosha, which was a quasi-dangling plot that seems to be overlooked, and then we get to see something odd from Rogue when she channels the thoughts of Hope briefly.
This event is shaping up nicely and this was a strong issue both for story possibilities and art.
4.5 out of 5 Superb Cliff-hangers. (Seriously, it sucks the reader in and hooks them with 5 different little sub-plots that are going on.)