X-Men Forever 2 by Chris Claremont issue #1-2 (2010)

MOTHERFUCKERS. SO IT'S NOT ENOUGH THAT STORM IS A TRAITOR, WOLVERINE, BEAST AND TONY STARK ARE DEAD AND PROFESSOR X HAS BEEN EXILED TO SPACE...NOW THE XAVIER MANSION HAS BEEN BLOWN UP?! JUST WHY IS EVERYTHING A CLUSTERFUCK SHIT OF EPIC PROPORTIONS AND WHY CAN'T I STOP READING ANYWAY?!" 

...is  basically how I summarized the general reading experience of the first two issues for the second season of Chris Claremont's X-Men Forever series. I would happily leave it as that because having yet another stressful discussion concerning the aforementioned clusterfuck would be a waste of my precious time. But I am inclined to do it anyway because what's the point of having a self-imposed comics diet about X-Men if I keep it all bottled up inside? I created this blog for the sole purpose of campaigning the endless and vast ocean of my Charles/Erik feels reviewing and imparting my opinions and insights regarding the most popular and memorable--if not the best--X-Men stories out there. And it all starts with me being able to get through much of Claremont's stuff which happened to be the later parts of his career which, according to general public opinion, pale in comparison with his earlier works in The Uncanny X-Men during the mid-seventies to the late nineties. I just need to finish through the last sixteen issues of XMF this week AND THEN I can focus on his graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills which I am incredibly excited about. But before that reward, I have to face and endure this cavalry. I CAN DO THIS!

The first two issues entitled A Cry of--Vengeance! (Claremont is very fond of using punctuations in his title, I daresay) and Six Weeks Later where The Avengers and Spider-Man make guest appearances respectively. In the first issue, the X-Men have just said their abrupt farewells with Professor X who was taken to Shi'ar by his alien empress girlfriend Lilandra as a debt paid to his crime of stolen access to their private archives in search for information that can help him find a cure for mutant burnout. The Shi'ar left some bits of their technology outside the mansion and Kitty and Scott have a brief argument about what to do with them. Kitty is clearly getting surlier, probably because of the genetic trace of Wolverine flowing in her system. She's also been dreaming in Japanese lately which is off-putting for her. Meanwhile, Rogue is also struggling with inheriting Nightcrawler's tail and teleporting abilities while Nightcrawler pretends that he doesn't mind not being able to touch anybody in fear of siphoning their powers, with the exception of Rogue, of course. Inside the mansion, Moira MacTaggart tries to find a way to grow Sabretooth's amputated arm and get it fully functioning again while Nick Fury and some S.H.I.E.L.D operatives are working within the hidden underground facility of the Xavier Mansion. All of a sudden, the Avengers (composed of Thor, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Spider-Woman and Vision) arrive and forcefully try to apprehend the X-Men. For some reason, they're now enemies and Captain establishes that pretty clearly when he hits Cyclops with his shield. RIGHT IN THE FACE. And--just like that--it's fucking on.

The rest of the issue are battle scenes with the Avengers on the offensive and the X-Men on the defensive. Teenage Ororo gets caught up in it but Thor promised not to harm her because she's only a child. Meanwhile, Jean Grey manages to get back inside the mansion and plot with Nick Fury on how to disengage the Avengers and that means a telepathic illusion in which Thor accidentally knocks 'Ro unconscious and the Asgardian prince was understandably heartbroken about it. While the Avengers are distracted with the fake 'Ro apparition, the X-Men head back to the mansion to escape just as the entire thing WAS OBLITERATED. The Avengers can only gape at the sight of the large expanse of destroyed land mass where the mansion used to be, unable to  make sense of the sudden explosion. I was just as unhinged, hence my caps-lock nerdrage above. I cannot cope with the consistent clusterfuck of this series.

For the next issue, news coverage and several conversations regarding the destruction of the Xavier Mansion from various Marvel characters, as well as the quiet discussion regarding the uncertain demise of the X-Men themselves, were heavily featured. It also included scenes of Peter Parker investigating the remains of the mansion (and almost got killed by a Sentinel; thankfully he was identified as a non-mutant) and then going back to the streets of New York as Spider-Man to find a completely violent and delirious Rogue on the prowl.

Overall, I'm not as impressed of these installments or as excited for the next as I hoped I would be. Mostly it's because I don't want to read about other Marvel characters other than the X-Men. I don't really care about the Avengers as much and I'm sort of in a love-hate relationship with Spidey at this point in my life. Still, I'll stay optimistic and read the next two issues tonight and post the review tomorrow ASAP.

RECOMMENDED: 7/10