Written by: Leah Williams
Art by: Carlos Gómez
Colors by: Bryan Valenza
Letters by: Vc’s Travis Lanham
Cover art by: Federico Vicentini, Matt Milla
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: October 26, 2022
X-Terminators #2 continues the vampire-hosted battle royale as Boom-Boom, Jubilee, and Dazzler are now joined by X-23 to fight each other to the death while their vampire captors arrange their next move.
Is It Good?
X-Terminators #2 somewhat defies analysis, so forgive me if this review goes horribly askew. Pieces – very small pieces – of this comic work. The rest is a bizarre form of X-fan fiction, and it’s tough to tell why Marvel would publish this comic.
First, the positives. The art is great. Gómez and Valenza turn in stellar work with sharp lines, cool character designs (taste in Boom-Boom’s wardrobe notwithstanding), and unexpectedly bloody action. If nothing else, this comic looks fantastic.
The story is a jumbled, convoluted mess that fails in two key areas.
First, the character voices between Jubilee, Boom-Boom, Dazzler, and X-23 are all loud, obnoxious, and overall, sound nothing like their respective characters. Worse, they all sound exactly like each other. Picture the drunken, loudmouth bridesmaid who embarrasses the bride and everyone else during a wedding reception by getting kicked out for grabbing the semi-attractive waiter’s junk in the middle of the Father/Daughter dance. That’s the same personality Williams wrote into every lead in this comic.
Worse still, none of the lead characters treat this kidnapping with any sense of urgency or seriousness. Everyone treats their current dilemma as if they’re either annoyed or as if it’s playtime. Any sense of stakes or maturity is completely absent from these characters and the plot. Williams is single-handedly lowering the character of these characters with this story.
Second, every plot point that happens in this issue is a random contrivance that comes out of nowhere. Boom-Boom, Jubilee, and Dazzler were specifically targeted for kidnapping for some unknown reason. X-23 was kidnapped two days earlier for the same unknown reason. The ladies are ordered to fight for some unknown reason. Jubilee decides to comply like kids who make up a game on the playground for some unknown reason. And Alex (who X-23 happens to know for some unknown reason) is part of Dracula’s lineage and a defector of the vampire nation for some unknown reason. Nothing about this story makes sense.
I apologize if this review doesn’t make sense (I tried), and I apologize on behalf of Marvel for publishing this comic in the first place, but this comic is a stinker.
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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Final Thoughts:
X-Terminators #2 is a loud, obnoxious, contrived, pointless mess. The characters’ voices don’t sound anything like they should, and worse, they all sound like each other. The plot is a series of random happenings, but at least the art’s good.
Weird Science Marvel Comics 