Children Of The Vault #2 (of 4)

AIPT

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.

COMICON

In only two issues, Camp has made a case for why these two X-Men are the best men for pretty much any job, and the story has looked great while doing it.

Impulse Gamer

So, the Children of the Vault are up to no good yet again, but the only defense against them is Bishop and Cable now. Children of the Vault #2 has given readers an inside scoop of what’s to come next. Undoubtedly, the next issue released of this series just may turn out to be a two-man army besieging the Children’s floating citadel. Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. Don’t forget to pick this issue up at your local comic book store or online where these copies are sold.

Major Spoilers

I’m pleased with Children of the Vault #2. Often, the pacing changes around this time in a series. Creative teams rush to the climax or introduce so much information that the pacing slows to a crawl. In this issue, I think the comic is well-paced and provides characterization for heroes and villains alike. With that in mind, I’m interested to see what they do next.

ComicBook.com

The buddy action flick vibes dominate Children of the Vault #2 as Cable and Bishop's tense pairing delivers an array of excellent one-liners, inventive applications of their abilities, and at least one excellently timed explosion. While following their two-man war against the children provides a fun romp, the titular antagonists of this series seem to lose their focus. Even as they are portrayed continuing to assist humankind with a poignant emphasis on developing nations devoured by centuries of colonialism and imperialism, there is an implicit understanding that the Children must possess an evil alternative agenda. Whenever that agenda is made text, there is a lack of definition about what exactly they are striving for; oftentimes the explicit statements of their philosophy are in direct contradiction to their threatening nature resulting in an ill-defined enemy whose actions still only suggest a savior-like nature. While this situation will almost doubtlessly become clear in the series' second half, here it results in a conflict where the heroes seem only like agents of a status quo that has only harmed their own people. This lack of clarity combined with dense text pages packed with lore that would likely be served better by more than four issues worth of space results in a middling second issue where the action is excellent but ideas struggle to present themselves.

Derby Comics DC

Even with some interesting themes, the pacing for the issue was uneven, with too much time given to Cable’s interrogation of Martillo compared to Bishop’s mission to secure the weapons cache and not enough exploration of the tension within the Children. The ending sets up what appears to be an high octane back half of the miniseries and I’m interested to see it play out.