X-Men United #2 Review – A School Of The Mind That Gives You A Headache

Written by: Eve L. Ewing
Art by: Tiago Palma
Colors by: Brian Reber
Letters by: VC’s Joe Sabino
Cover art by: Stefano Caselli, Fedrico Blee (cover A)
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: April 15, 2026

X-Men United #2 (Marvel, 4/15/26): Writer Eve L. Ewing and artist Tiago Palma send a small team of mutants on a scavenger hunt on behalf of Captain America to find soldiers experimented on during World War II’s super soldier program. The art is fantastic, but the story is a big swing and a miss. Verdict: Skip this issue unless you have to have everything with X-Men in the title.

First Impressions

Oof! This comic was terrible. I thought the first issue was silly, kind of annoying, kind of obnoxious—maybe just not my cup of tea. Issue #2 devolves into outright confusion with plot points that don’t even make sense and portrays things happening just for the sake of being interesting. The result is a convoluted, annoying mess.

Recap

In X-Men United #1, Emma Frost created Graymatter Lane, a school for mutants that exists on the psychic plane. Don’t ask how that happens or how that works—apparently, Eve L. Ewing doesn’t know either. One of the few people who steadfastly objected to the formation of the school was Cyclops (Scott Summers), who believes putting too many mutants in the same place at the same time—even if it’s not in the physical plane—will lead to death. He seemed to be proven right when the issue ended with Graymatter Lane engulfed in flames.

Plot Synopsis

The issue picks up where the first left off, with Graymatter Lane in flames. But we soon find out that the flames are simply an illusion, which seems to make sense since the entire school is created on the psychic plane and nothing is physically real. Emma quickly disperses the flames and finds out it’s an illusion created by Quentin Quire on behalf of Scott Summers. She quickly ejects them from the school of the mind and tells them not to come back.

Meanwhile, the instructors gather to figure out how to train the younger mutants who either have no combat experience or very limited combat experience. Suddenly, Captain America arrives with a request for help. He wants to use Axo’s Empathy Engine to find other soldiers who were experimented on during the Super Soldier program of World War II, hoping to make amends for the government’s misdeeds. The group agrees, with Kitty Pryde being the most uncertain. They select a cadre of mutants—mostly from the Outliers and Kitty’s New Mutants team—and use the Empathy Engine to teleport to the location of one of the found super soldier experiments. (This is all happening on the psychic plane, so I have no idea how that’s supposed to work, but let’s go with it.)

When the team arrives at the location, they find an abandoned house with a mysterious door at the end of the hall. As soon as Captain America opens the door, the team is instantly separated, apparently in multiple locations throughout time and space. Again, this is all supposed to be happening in the realm of the mind, so I’m not quite sure exactly how this works or if they are transported to the physical plane—because it’s never explained. The team seems to be separated through different eras throughout history at the same location, and the person that Captain America finds may or may not be some kind of mutant. The issue ends with that confrontation.

Writing

I don’t know what Eve L. Ewing is doing here. Ewing is trying so very hard to create a school that’s not a school. It leaves out the entire logistics of how travel, interaction, threats, and contact make sense. When the mutants are eating in Graymatter Lane, are they actually eating because their bodies aren’t there? If they’re training and getting hurt, are they actually hurt, or is it just something they’re imagining in their minds? They’ve stated multiple times that when you die in Graymatter Lane, you die in real life. OK, we can go with that premise. But how does that affect everything else that’s happening? Eve L. Ewing is trying to do everything as though it was a physical place and space, and yet all that is happening in the mind, which should allow for ultimate freedom to do whatever you want without physical consequence. So how do you engender stakes when there are none, physically speaking? Ewing is trying to make that happen and is failing.

Art

Tiago Palma is the only thing saving this comic from being an outright failure. The comic displays superhero characters looking like superheroes, expressing lots of emotion and action through the characters as they argue, fight, and do everything else that you would expect inside an X-Men comic—and look good doing it. So there’s no complaint about the art. It’s just paired up with a terrible script.

Character Analysis

It’s not quite clear who the focal character here is, but it appears to be Emma Frost. Now, I’m not sure why we needed to create a comic title where Emma Frost is essentially the leader of a team that exists only in the mind, and she doesn’t appear to be going on any journey or have any particular agenda other than bringing people together and training them to be capable fighters for whatever happens to be going on in the physical world. I suppose that’s good enough for some people, but for Emma Frost, what is her angle? What is the game plan? It’s not quite clear. She takes up most of the page space, but she appears to be going through the motions.

Originality and Concept

The concept is certainly something unique that could be explored in depth for a very interesting story with better and more capable writing hands. As it stands now, you’ve got an interesting and unique location that makes it original. But the concept lacks the “why.” Why are we doing this in the psychic plane? What is happening here that can’t be done in the physical plane? And more importantly, how are the actions on the psychic plane supposed to be interacting with the physical plane if you don’t explain it? So there’s an original idea here at the heart of this series, but the execution is just too poor to really latch onto it.

Strengths

Tiago Palma’s art is the saving grace of this comic.
The idea of a psychic school has merit and potential.
Captain America going out to find all the people harmed by the Super Soldier program is probably an idea that hasn’t been explored enough. So there is a worthy idea here.

Weaknesses

Eve L. Ewing’s execution of the logistics of this new school is so terrible you just can’t follow how anything makes sense. You’re constantly being pulled out of the story.
Captain America’s quest to find other super soldiers has merit, but there were much better ways that could have been done other than visiting a psychic school of untrained mutants.
The big cliffhanger twist is almost entirely broken because it’s not explained and therefore doesn’t make sense.

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

The Scorecard

Writing Quality (Clarity & Pacing): 0.5/4
Art Quality (Execution & Synergy): 3.5/4
Value (Originality & Entertainment): 0.5/2

Final Thoughts

(Click this link 👇 to order this comic)

X-Men United #2 is what happens when you have a novel idea but lack the skill or desire to adhere to the details to make it work. Ewing’s script is an all-out mess. And it’s only by virtue of the art by Tiago Palma that this comic isn’t a complete waste.

4.5/10

We hope you found this article interesting. Come back for more reviews, previews, and opinions on comics, and don’t forget to follow us on social media:

Connect With Us Here: Weird Science DC Comics / Weird Science Marvel Comics

If you’re interested in this creator’s works, remember to let your Local Comic Shop know to find more of their work for you. They would appreciate the call, and so would we.

Click here to find your Local Comic Shop: www.ComicShopLocator.com

As an Amazon Associate, we earn revenue from qualifying purchases to help fund this site. Links to Blu-Rays, DVDs, Books, Movies, and more contained in this article are affiliate links. Please consider purchasing if you find something interesting, and thank you for your support.