X-MEN: SCHISM #2 (Marvel Comics)

by Jason Aaron, Frank Cho, Jason Keith, and Jared K. Fletcher

Synopsis: After Quintin Quire’s mind-attack on world diplomats, Sentinels roam the earth. And also, Kitty Pryde is Jewish.

01. Or “Jew-y” as Marc Maron would say, but I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to say something like that. Whoa, wait, is this thing on already?

02. No matter how much I’m enjoying Fear Itself, I have to admit, what Jason Aaron is accomplishing with this book is just a stunning, shining example as to how these things should work. And again, I’m not saying this to belittle Fear Itself - operating a book on that kind of scale can’t be easy, especially when you have editors from every corner of the universe (as well as creators) doing a little bit of “plug-and-play”, and Matt Fraction and Stuart Immonen are absolutely killing it on that book. But here’s what it comes down to: Fear Itself is a fantastic book. But X-Men: Schism? Thus far, it’s been near perfection. And I’m only saying near perfection for fear that someone is going to “um, actually” me in the comments. (Why do you have to ruin this for me??!?)

03. What was first sold as a book about a split between Cyclops and Wolverine is quite a bit more. While in the pages of this second issue, you can see a few more of the cracks forming, it’s not actually about the split. It’s about terror, its about politics, its about survival, and more importantly, it’s about the strong albeit strained relationship between Scott and Logan. Never is that more apparent later in the book when, after a pretty tense disagreement over policy, Cyclops rounds on a doucher that’s been making fun of Wolverine and seethes, “If I ever, ever, hear of you belittling Wolverine again, I will personally break you in half! Pray every day that you will someday be even half the man he is. Because as it stands now, I wouldn’t take six of you on your best day for one of him on his worst!”

It’s a god damn thing of beauty, illustrating a trust and strength while simultaniously showing the strain of the situation the team and the species is facing. And that’s far from the most awesome thing that happens in this comic.

04. Both the threat is a joy to watch unfold. Aaron deploys the “creepy small children” gambit and lets it run wild, culminating in a genuinely horrifying scene with something that may or may not be a kitty cat. The results would be horrifying if a person were just start at words, but Frank Cho really adds an element of… well, of sweetness to it that just tilts the whole scene ever so slightly. Which is to say nothing of what will probably come next. Right now, everything is up in the air. You don’t know what the kids are really planning, and you don’t know how the X-Men are going to react to their current predicament, but man, just the potential that exists. Aaron has set up a humdinger, all from quieter bits of story where he implies and ascribes importance to certain traits and characters. It’s a slow build, but within that build things are happening, and yeah. It’s pretty nice to read.

05. And then there’s the Kitty Pryde thing, which is awesome. I don’t want to spoil things, but basically, Kitty drops the sickest burn in the history of sick burns in this issue. It’s such a fantastic slap to the face to a man who quite deserves to be slapped in the face for all of his complete bullshit, and I applaud the creative team (and by extension, Marvel editorial) for letting it happen. Just a hilarious and beautiful moment that somehow manages to fit within the story flow, not disrupting it like it pretty much should have. Not exactly sure how it was carried off, but it was carried off well - and if the great art and writing don’t sell you on this book, you should probably just pick it up for this scene alone. My goodness, that was great. If this is how the Wolverine and the X-Men stories will be told once Aaron starts that monthly up, then I am there.