Deniz Camp and Luca Maresca are back with CHILDREN OF THE VAULT #2, marking the halfway point of the four-part miniseries showing a unique angle of the Fall of X era.

PUBLISHER’S PITCH

WELCOME TO THE TOMORROWTOWNS! The Children of the Vault will bring this world into the future - kicking and screaming! In the wake of the fall of Krakoa, the Children emerge as humankind's greatest and only saviors, defending Earth from Shi'ar attacks and supernatural sightings alike. And humanity LOVES it. Only Bishop and Cable can see through the Children's impossible promises - but can these two old enemies work together long enough to stop them? The explosive series continues as mutantkind's boldest soldiers prepare for war!

REVIEW

The second issue shows a new view of the Children’s continued propaganda efforts through active defense of the planet from a number of different threats. We also see how much humanity eats it up, which was fascinating and horrifying to see. It makes sense that the world would be excited for a savior to solve their social ills and the Children are doing everything they can to play that role, but just how quickly societies and governments were ready to entirely cede control and submit to a new, non-human group of individuals (after just running mutants off the planet) continues to be a scary reminder of how delicate our own political institutions may be.

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this issue is the reveal of splintering schools of thought within the Children of the Vault. Camp provides dense data pages inform us what these warring viewpoints are — one side wants to kill off humanity and end the charade of coexistence, while another side wants to give humanity a chance to prove themselves. It all plays out in a tense verbal showdown between Serafina and Capitán.

Cable and Bishop split off on individual tasks in the issue and it’s an uneven dispersement of attention. Cable’s storyline sucks up a lot of oxygen as his interrogation of Martillo leads to him discovering the location of the Children’s base. It’s an interesting reminder of Cable’s psychic capabilites that aren’t always highlighted. Bishop is tasked with infiltrating the Orchis’ controlled X Mansion to retrieve Cable’s weapons cache. I loved how Camp exposition during the scene explained Bishop’s powers in an interesting and James-Bond style spy story.

Maresca and colorist Carlos Lopez really lean into the sci-fi aspect of this book with designs and color palettes that match the tone well. The visuals for the Children and their world continue to be awesome, but I thought the interpretation of Martillo’s mindscape was bland and uninspired.

FINAL VERDICT

Even with some interesting themes, the pacing for the issue was uneven, with too much time given to Cable’s interrogation of Martillo compared to Bishop’s mission to secure the weapons cache and not enough exploration of the tension within the Children. The ending sets up what appears to be an high octane back half of the miniseries and I’m interested to see it play out.

RATING: 6/10