Second Coming has made waves since June 2018 when it was announced. After a successful first story arc, the series is back for more in a sequel series by series creators Mark Russell and Richard Pace. Judging by the cover you can guess this tale is going to go back to Sunstar’s past to reveal how he got to Earth with an origin similar to Superman. Oh yeah, and Jesus is still his roommate.
Fans of Superman are going to love how Russell and Pace (with finishes by Leonard Kirk on the last few pages) play around with Sunstar’s alien heritage. The planet is called Zirconia and they have a serious problem that’ll explode the planet and there’s nothing they can do. Russell utilizes this familiar setup to play around Sunstar’s parents and the reality of Zirconia’s demise. If you’re a fan of commentary on domestic life you’re going to love this issue.
As an exploration of who Sunstar is via his parents, this issue works well. The world isn’t perfect and we see that in the selfishness of his parents as well as the absurd nature of this alien world. In some respects, this rendering of an alien world is probably more likely and it’s certainly more relatable. People aren’t as keenly aware of what really matters, nor are they in control of their emotions. It’s early yet to see what this all means in regards to Sunstar’s identity, but it’s a good start.
Is his costume a common baby outfit?
Credit: Ahoy Comics
The art by Pace is great at capturing the absurdity of Sunstar’s parents and their world. You’d expect highly advanced people — Sunstar’s dad is a scientist, after all — but instead, we get two people who drink too much and are far too selfish. Their swinging emotions are captured well by Pace; so much so that you’ll feel for baby Sunstar, who must look at these people who are such a mess. The world of Zirconia is made up of shiny material as you might expect (no doubt a play on cubic zirconia) and Pace reminds us as things are shiny in every shot. These people are infatuated with fake shiny stuff but seemingly value it over what truly matters. Visually, that comes across well.
This issue focuses nearly exclusively on Sunstar’s parents, so if you’re expecting Sunstar and Jesus hijinks you’ll need to wait. It’s unclear what the identity of this second arc will be at this stage so as the first issues go it’s hard to gauge what we’re getting ourselves into. That makes it a touch tricky to get hype for what is to come next. Of course, if you’re a fan of superheroes and Superman you’ll dig this issue.
Second Coming is one of the most exciting commentaries on superheroes in some time and when you throw in Jesus Christ it gets even more compelling. Second Coming: Only Begotten Son offers a lot to dig into for the superhero crowd and continues to show Mark Russell and Richard Pace are at the top of their game.
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