The Children of the Vault is one of the most riveting sci-fi concepts. Imagine living in a place where evolution can take effect with millions of years passing, only outside of the Vault months or years outside have passed. Their culture, their powers, and their point of view are all augmented by time. Deniz Camp and Luca Maresca are taking the concept and running with it in dazzling fashion as we learn more about the Children but also what it could mean if mutants are scattered, and only a few can protect us from them.
Children of the Vault #2 is incredibly well written and realized. Data pages inform us of how differing factions amongst the Children have meant dissent and disagreement. Some want to kill all humans and be done with it, while others want to give us a chance. By the end of the issue, it’s clear what tact they’ll take, but it’s a mind trip to read their reasoning and the various choices the Children mulled over.
The level of worldbuilding in this issue is huge and helps us imagine their point of view. We’re getting a chance to understand the world-building of a literal world that was hidden away. How cool is that?
This issue is packed with ideas but also action. It opens with Cable and Bishop taking on Martillo, who enters a nightclub from outside. Camp puts us inside his head as we get his monologue through captions that reveal maybe his day-to-day life wasn’t so great. He came from a militant life, and Earth isn’t so bad. Before he can reflect too deeply, though, he’s fighting Cable and getting kidnapped.
That’s heavy, dude.
Credit: Marvel
From there, we see how a culture of heroes can sway minds. We get to see in a fast-paced montage the Children of Tomorrow take down zombies, Heralds of Galactus, and giant monsters. These events could have taken up an entire issue, but Camp and Maresca keep the pedal to the metal.
Bishop also gets to kick things up a notch in an intriguing infiltration scene. He interestingly uses his powers, explained well by Camp. After this issue, it’ll be hard to argue Bishop isn’t in the top three espionage-powered heroes.
Cable, meanwhile, gets to play torturer while also kicking butt. Cable is scorching Earth this issue, showing no playing around. He also does some heavy hitting in a psychic space that’s a nice call back to Grant Morrison’s silent issue. X-Men fans have a lot to enjoy here.
Speaking of not playing around, Maresca does an exceptional job throughout. The final panel will get classic Cable fans hyped as he’s covered in way too much stuff, while Bishop gets a great moment with a wall of guns. There’s some great use of scale in some scenes, and the action montage mentioned earlier gets a lot of characters into each panel. The weirdness of the Children is also captured well. Some scenes look a little unfinished, but it’s hard to complain about how much is in the issue.
Children of the Vault #2 is a riveting look at a culture that has been molded and augmented by time and power. Camp details their points of view, and it’s not looking good for humanity. Children of the Vault is ambitious, exciting, and edge-of-your-seat comics.
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