Giant-Size X-Men #2 is a story that’s working on multiple levels. Not only does it bring Kamala Khan back full circle – quite literally, as she finds herself back in Jersey City – but it also explores the one thing that connects her and Legion. It’s not their mutant powers, and it isn’t even the fact that they’ve traveled through some of the X-Men’s biggest battles; it’s longing to be accepted. Legion longs to be whole again, hence his destructive rampage through time, and Kamala yearns to fit in not just with other mutants but with her own family.
Such a layered tale comes courtesy of Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, who’ve proven their deep love of multiple properties and their great gift for character work. While the stakes are high, given that Legion absorbed an untold amount of power from M-Day that boosts his abilities to near godlike levels, Kamala has help in the form of the X-Men she’s befriended throughout history: Cyclops, Wolverine, Phoenix, Shadowcat and Rogue. Lanzing and Kelly get that even if these characters are separated by different titles (or in Jean’s case, the vast reaches of time and space), they will always have each other’s backs. Rogue even has a line of dialogue that perfectly sums up what it means to be an X-Man: “When you’re one of us, we don’t let you down.”
Adam Kubert returns to draw Giant-Size X-Men #2, filling it with splash page after splash page rendered in insane detail. One of these splash pages features Legion bounding from time period to time period before battling Kamala, while another features the X-Men in all their glory. But where Kubert really thrives is showcasing each character’s power. Legion literally bends the page to his will, resulting in some trippy, and outright horrifying, imagery. Whenever Kamala streteches, she takes on a rubbery consistency. Kubert also knows how to draw a image for maximum impact, whether it’s Rogue slamming Legion into low orbit or Cyclops and Wolverine pulling off their own combo move.
Marvel
This wouldn’t look nearly as impressive without Laura Martin’s colors. Throughout the issue, Martin delivers a kaleidoscope of color; Legion takes on a golden hue for his final form, Kamala’s mutant powers render themselves as a violet, crystalline shield, and the X-Men’s costumes vary in color from Wolverine’s classic blue and yellow to the fiery orange and black of Phoenix’s getup. Not to be outdone, Clayton Cowles pushes his lettering to the limit, stretching world balloons as though they’re taffy, or adding the inflections that fans have come to love, particularly Rogue’s southern drawl.
Like the other Giant-Size one-shots, there’s a backup story; this time, Jed MacKay and CAFU focus on Raven and Destiny as they come to terms with Doug Ramsay’s transformation into Revelation. On the one hand, this serves as prelude to the upcoming Age of Revelation storyline; on the other hand, Mystique’s final choice dovetails nicely with the choice that Kamala makes at the end of the main story. Giant-Size X-Men #2 delivers a poignant, yet action-packed ending to its time travel saga, and a reminder of what makes the X-Men a great superhero team.
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