A.X.E.: Judgment Day #2 Review

Written by: Kieron Gillen
Art by: Valerio Schiti
Colors by: Marte Gracia
Letters by: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover art by: Mark Brooks
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: August 10, 2022

A.X.E.: Judgment Day #2 turns the butt whooping the Mutants received in the first issue up to another level when the Hex, kaiju-sized Eternals, lay siege to Krakoa.

Is It Good?

A.X.E.: Judgment Day #2 is mostly good. Gillen’s trademark flowery narration and unfocused meandering get in the way through the first two-thirds of the book, but once the switch is flipped, the last third makes up for all of it and then some.

Put another way, A.X.E.: Judgment Day #2 is a dead-solid action comic. Not as good as issue #1 but a reasonably close second. The issue begins with a meandering montage of average citizens reacting to Druig’s pronouncement of war. Some are concerned, some agree, others do not, and others don’t have time to worry about things that don’t concern them. You could imagine this montage to be a reasonably accurate cross-section of reactions from everyday citizens, but the pacing kicks the book off to a weak start.

Meanwhile, the Hex make landfall on Krakoa and start to tear everything apart. Mutants coordinate their efforts to protect the Resurrection Protocols, prioritize combat-capable Mutant resurrections, and get the rest to safety. The Avengers arrive to lend a hand. As with the first issue, the action is big, loud, and exactly what you should get from a war of this scale and scope. This issue feels big, and that point alone earns this issue bonus marks.

The down point, however, comes in when Mr. Sinister, the rogue Eternals, and the Avengers work to create their own Celestial god. The intricate explanations about power sources, nervous systems, motives, theology, Mr. Sinister’s expertise, and more get bogged down in over-complicated narration. Unfortunately, this hits right in the middle, slowing the momentum to a crawl.

However, the grand experiment comes to fruition as the band of scientists flips the switch on their new god. If the majority of the book was dedicated to the new Celestial’s “birth” and everything that comes after, this would be a more positive review. This wouldn’t be much of an event if the experiment worked as planned. No, the experiment most certainly does not work as planned, and it’s spectacular.

The art from Schiti, Gracia, and Cowles is fantastic. The big, loud, epicness of the book is more due to the art than the writing, so thank the art team for this book’s success. The scale, scope, and action all practically grab you by the throat for attention.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

A.X.E.: Judgment Day #2 builds on the first issue with a new wave of attacks against Krakoa on a massive scale. The art and action are all great, and except for pacing speedbumps in the first and second act, the issue does exactly what it needs to – unleash the dogs of war.