Review: YEARS OF FUTURE PAST #2

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YEARS OF FUTURE PAST #2
Written by Marguerite Bennett
Art by Mike Norton, FCO Plascencia
Published by Marvel Comics
Release Date: July 1, 2015

Marguerite Bennett’s alternate future dystopian tale features the X-Men continuing to hide from Sentinels. In this world, mutants were raised in concentration camps and are under the constant watch of the government. Kate Pryde and Colossus’ daughter, Chrissie Pryde, shares a lead role with Cameron, Wolverine’s son. As the X-Men try to decide how to fight against the government, their arguments swirl around a familiar theme: whether a better world coexisting with humans is possible, or is it too late.

Bennett opens the issue with a fun expository style: Chrissie and Cameron alternate telling their stories of being raised in this bleak world. We learn how their childhoods differed — Chrissie learned history and science; Cameron learned survival skills — but they share the experience of being mutants’ last hope. We get a lot more dialogue than the previous issue. There’s not many fight scenes or climactic action, but Bennett’s world-building is keeping our interest. We want to know if the X-Men will overcome this nightmare survival scenario.

The highlight of this issue by far is a monologue from, of all people, Colossus. He points out how joke remarks actually subtly shift thinking and become justification for discrimination, like restrictions on who can have children. I love how Bennett went so poignant and deep on this topic. I wish this scene had been in a higher profile comic that many more readers would see — it’s that good.

Mike Norton and FCO Plascencia’s style is clean, with highly detailed surroundings and lots of watercolor-like saturation in backgrounds. Colossus and Cameron’s faces are drawn with similar jawlines and features, and could be differentiated more. I like Plascencia’s classic color scheme, especially of Colossus’ costume and the retro purple Sentinels. Norton draws Chrissie especially well, and closeups of her facial expressions and hair are on par with the most detailed drawings of Kitty Pryde in previous decades of comics.

Marguerite Bennett’s writing is impressive. The way she dances between Chrissie Pryde and Cameron’s different viewpoints gives the dialogue a tone reminiscent of Divergent. Like Tris and Four, Chrissie and Cameron have different levels of optimism about whether this dystopian regime can turn around. We’re committed to this world now, and we want to know what will happen to these X-Men. Bennett, Norton, and Plascencia are creating the X-Men at their best: fighting for good in a world that hates and fears them.

The Verdict: 7.5/10

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