Powers of X #2 Review: All Together Now

This is part 4 of 12 in the series Reviews of X

Previously on Reviews of X: Moira MacTaggert’s shocking secrets revealed! In Powers of X #2, a bunch of people come together across four different points in time to plan things. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Powers of X #2: We Are Together Now, You And I

Story: Jonathan Hickman

Art: R.B. Silva and Adriano Di Benedetto

Colors: Marte Gracia

Letters: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Publisher: Marvel

NeXt Steps

The theme for this issue is people coming together to plan their next steps. It gives the story some structure, which is super helpful since we’re tracking four different points in history at the same time.

For the first time since HoX PoX began, we’re getting a slightly clear idea of what we can expect in the following issues.

We now know that Year One Thousand people want to “ascend” with the help of the Phalanx; Year One Hundred X-Men are preparing for a suicide mission to get a Nimrod-related MacGuffin; Year Ten X-Men are preparing to storm a giant Mother Mold in space; Year One Professor X, Magneto, and Moira MacTaggert are long-term planning to let mutantdom not just survive, but thrive.

While Years Ten, One Hundred, and One Thousand are all fascinating, I’m most looking forward to seeing how Year One is going to fit into existing X-Men history. I’m a sucker for absurd retcons.

Reach Not Quite Exceeded Grasp

Hickman is writing Cyclops as a cool, confident badass and I am here for it. This is closer to Jetpack Cyclops — the best Cyclops — than the tortured ex-leader of a fallen mutant nation sad-angry Cyclops we’ve seen in recent years.

Powers of X #2 - Cyclops, Professor X, and Magneto

I also like how Hickman has injected some character into Nimrod who has traditionally just been a bland Terminator-esque mutant-hunting robot from the future. He’s more interesting now. Better. Weirder.

And speaking of weird, I still don’t know what to make of the X-Men (are they X-Men?) of Year One Hundred. So far, Xorn seems to be the only mildly interesting character of the bunch.

IN CONCLUSION

We’re about to hit the midway point of HoX PoX in a couple of weeks, so I’m expecting some kind of big conflict coming up. While I’m hyped for what’s going to happen next with the Year One and Year Ten folks, I’m not sure I care enough for the characters from the future to look forward to the next part of their stories.

Except maybe for Xorn. He’s probably going to have a glorious death and will leave behind something that resonates long after his passing.

Powers of X #2 is available now wherever fine comic books are sold.