Cyclops #2

Cyclops has been through a lot in his tenure as a comic character, from marrying and then being widow to Jean Grey, leader then not-leader and leader-again of the X-Men a whole bunch of times, and the effects of AvX along with the timey-wimey effects from All-New X-Men where young Scott Summers was pulled forward through time to today, where young Jean Grey is put on trial for her future-self counterparts destructive acts as The Phoenix. That is where this series picked up, after the Trail of Jean Grey has ended, and Scott has left the X-men, AND earth, behind to travel space with his recently revealed (to young Scott, anyway) to be alive father, The Corsair. The Corsair is basically a mix of Jack Sparrow and Han Solo, with some stubbly, ultra-cool hipster bits thrown in for good measure. The two are on a recreational journey across the galaxy, visiting all sorts of new and unique worlds populated with never before seen wonders (which is really strange, knowing what Cyclops becomes in the future, and what happens to him in the pages of AvX… to be such an innocent, youngster again is a really unique take on the character).

This issue has a lot more character building for The Corsair, who is dealing with some sort of ailment, but the specifics are unknown. The action sequences in this issue were solid, and I loved the payoff from Cyclops’ sword fighting. The conversation between Scott and a young female (I assume) teenage (I ALSO assume) alien sharing a “chocolate” milkshake were really fun. This book has both very silly and very serious tones. It really walks a fine line between the two worlds, and strikes a tone that is a great balance of the two. Cyclops isn’t as out-and-out “punch line” humorous like Quantum & Woody, and it’s not as dark and serious as Batman. This book finds a new space (interstellar play on words intended) to work in, with having fun, bright story backed up by a deep and meaningful father-son connection. This book has a unique and interesting dynamic, and has been really fun to read- the art is great; Russell Dauterman really does these characters proud (you can almost feel the roughness of Corsair’s stubble, and maybe faintly smell rum and spaceship fuel… that’s how I assume he smells, anyway) in art that is really engaging to read. Greg Rucka has been really writing the character well, and like Mark Waid and his Nova character from Original Sin #0, I didn’t realize that he had such a solid teenage boy voice in him, but he does, and it really resonates with this character.

Cyclops is on a road to redemption in this book, and his relationship with his father is a part of the story that drew me in from page 1. This book has so much promise, that with a bit of a lack of all-out action in this issue, I’m 100% willing to overlook it; we gained some good connective tissue linking Cyclops and Corsair, and we got to move along the side story with Corsair and his mystery ailment/curse/problem that he is attempting to keep under control, AND keep secret from his son. This book has really been an engaging read, and really is worth checking out if you haven’t already. Go out and give these first two issues a read, and see what you’ve been missing.