New X-Men: Childhood's End, Vol. 2: Crusade

New X-Men: Academy X (Collected Editions)

by Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Paco Medina (Artist)

If you thought Volume 1 was intense, buckle up.
The dire consequences of recent actions have put the students of the Xavier Institute in their most dangerous situation yet. Reverend Stryker has replaced his crucifixes and prayers with bullets and hand grenades. Can the kids survive his brand of conversion?

Collecting: New X-Men 24-27

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Comic Book, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published August 16, 2006

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

And to another level we go... as the source of the darkness and pain surrounding the former Academy and students is slowly revealed. Kyle & Yost really go dark, but interesting in the second volume! Looking back at this run, it's quite shocking just how dark it is compared to most 'young X-men' books! Another firm 8 out of 12.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before there was Game of Thrones there was...CHILDHOOD's END! No, but seriously, talk about killing off characters in a matter of a few pages. The events before this volume lead up to Stryker hitting the mansion and murdering the X-Men and their kids. Talk about a fucking sicko. Who goes after kids ages 14-16 because of who they are? Oh yeah, what am I saying, we live in a America where Nazi's reside.

Anyway, politics aside, this was some off the walls shit. So in the last volume the bus filled with kids gets hit with a rocket. This volume opens up with the funeral for these kids and during the funeral we have flashbacks of the night that attack on the bus happened. To see the kids dealing with watching their friends die in front of them. It's disturbing and that's only the beginning. The plans move forward and more kids are in the cross-hairs of these sick fucks.

The Good: The pacing is near perfect. Giving you JUST enough pages to breath but the intense action and doomed atmosphere never lets up. The kids who work much better in this while arguing over the deaths of their fallen team mates. Talking about growing up quick. The fights are brutal and savage and give a feeling of loss when people are hurt or killed. The twist with Laura was smart too.

The Bad: The art is still uneven at times. Also these volumes are short and you feel like it ends far too soon. Which might be a good thing? Still, 4 issues is very short.

Overall this is great. I really like the feeling of death always being around our heroes. Killing off main characters gives the vibes no one is safe. This makes the story more interesting. On to the next one!

[a · Rating 3 out of 5]

They are not afraid to kill off characters in this series! With the way things are going, none of the original cast will be left at the end of the series...

[anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing the great X-read of 2017 that has now stretched into 2018...

Okay. So I am way behind on reviewing these x-books that I have been reading. So I am going to just kind of ramble about all of them and copy/paste my thoughts. Which will make for a bit of a mess and I am sorry. Quick ramblings:

Cable and Deadpool continues to be surprisingly good though a little more scattered in these couple of volumes.
X-Men the Blood of Apocalypse was rushed in my opinion...
Phoenix Warsong was pretty decent. Melodramatic but not a bad story. (and when is a Phoenix story not melodramatic?)
New X-Men is a good series with some great characters that grow volume by volume.
Uncanny First Foursaken was not my cup of tea really.
Black Panther: The Bride was probably much better to BP readers. As part of an X-Men run, it can probably be skipped.
Wolverine Origins born in blood was not particularly memorable.
Astonishing X-Men will possibly get its own review as it is a reread and interesting as such...
Civil War was one of the first times in my life that I could say that the movie was better than the book. For the most part, it was really boring to me. The X-Men universe tie-ins were only slightly more interesting to me.
X-factor continues to be a delight.
Exiles continues to be great.

I need to get back to writing reviews of these as I finish them. Reading them in quick succession like this, I begin to forget what happened in individual books (which I suppose equally speaks to the books themselves and my memory...)

[JCRD]

Y después de la tragedia más grande de la Historia de los X-Men... llega la siguiente. Me flipa lo natural que se siente cómo ha cambiado la escala de sus problemas. Como decía, han pasado de ser chiquillos con sus problemas costumbristas a que ahora están en el punto de mira de los Purificadores y de cualquiera que quiera verlos muertos.

Las bajas se suceden una detrás de otra, no hay miramientos. Es un poco Juego de Tronos en ese sentido esta etapa, ya que hay protagonistas de la anterior que o bien han acabado en la tumba o bien han perdido sus poderes y ya no tienen sitio en la escuela. Otros permanecen, claro, pero no son los mismos después de la masacre de los Purificadores.

Creo que Cessily está poco a poco ganando algo de protagonismo, y la amistad que se vislumbra entre Sooraya y Laura puede ser muy interesante. Y ahora que estoy leyendo esto veo hasta normal que Josh Foley acabase en X-Force.

[iayal · Rating 5 out of 5]

nah, what the hell, this is getting so good. i’m really excited… is it at last time for me to read a fully solid, near perfect x-men run?? it was so nice and emotional and i really am liking the newer generation of x-men. most of all impressed with dust? as soon as she appeared when i read morrison’s run, i was already impressed, but she’s actually cooking so well in this. i am liking her very much! not a perfect five stars, more like rounding up, but idc. this was good and deserves to be bumped up a little.

[Christopher Mclean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kyle and Yost go 2 for 2 with this volume, continuing their brutal but entertaining run.

Over two volumes this team has transitioned New X-Men from a light teen drama focused book, into a full blown x-men team, and done so expertly. The tone of the book is orders of manigtude darker, suddenly dealing head on with the typical x-men themes of persecution, religion, government oversight and racism, while offering up a slightly fresh perspective by focusing on children.

[Judith Groen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was intense! I almost cried... It was really well written, fast paced and boy did they know how to make it exciting. I love it when they kill off a character that character is really dead. Normally in the Marvel Universe death is just an inconvience. This time, it's not. It makes it so more thrilling and you are wishing that you're favorite characters will remain among the living. Also X-23 ROCKS! I did not know she was so awesome and badass. I need to read more about her.

[Jimmy P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blimey! Nobody’s safe in this volume. Picking off characters all over the shop. Really surprising, thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish I wouldn’t have left so much of a break between reading volumes of this title. I feel like some of the more dramatic moments would have had more impact if I was freshly invested in the characters.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The grief reactions were hard to read but really good. And the funerals. But most of the rest was plot driven annoyance without good use of characters. And Nimrod again? sigh. With not especially good art. X-23 is used better than most but still feels clumsy.

[Mickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lotta death in here, which was really surprising and welcome, considering the tone of the story. As with the previous entry, YMMV if your not one for the tone of this era. Laura/X-23 gets to have a cool ass kicking moment here, so that rules.

[Madeline Rossell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It honestly feels as if they didn't know what to do with some of the original main characters they created for this series and are trying to find characters they can work with, but in doing so they're telling a really great story.

[Michal Vámoš · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tohle bylo dost silný. Mám chuť dát těch 5, ale stejně tomu něco málo chybělo.

[ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

jeez. so many dead kids, it is really getting to me..

[Christopher (Donut) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the cover (and the art, generally).
The rest was not for me.

[Emilie]

Following from volume 1, this book is all kinds of grimdark. This was depressing.

[Tor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read!

[Lilli W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, this is getting dark. I love it.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

A step up in art and stakes from the first trade.

[S.E. Doster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ugh, New X-Men is so mediocre.

[Roman Colombo · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was really intense. Kyle and Yost sure do like a body count...good thing they went on to do X-Force for a bit. THe art is still only OK, but the writing is great.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Craig Kyle and Chris Yost were a dynamite team, especially during their New X-Men stint. In the second volume of the Childhood's End arc, the young X-trainees are mourning their dead after Stryker's bus attack. Separated by grief, anguish, and teen angst, the squad is unfocused and wavering in their exercises. Hellion is rebellious, Dust is remorseful, Rockslide is distracted, and Elixir is just plain pissed off. Things go from bad to worse when Stryker and his Purifiers make an all-out assault on the mansion, determined to rid themselves of any more potential threats to human ascension. An opening volley downs Wallflower; that's the least of the injuries left on these New X-Men. The closing pages also reveal that the mutant-hunting sentinel Nimrod is back online - insuring more misery ahead. Kyle and Yost effectively give us the best generation of teen mutants since the early days of the original five X-Men. Themes of religion, racism, persecution, insecurity, relationships, and life hit the characters hard - making them all the better for it. This Crusade is just getting off the ground; here's hoping any X-Men will be left standing when the dust clears.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every bit as good as the first volume of Childhood's End. In fact, it might be better because it's more coherent, while still maintaining an interesting plot structure.

We kick off with issue #24, the results of the bus attack in the previous issue. It's one of the most traumatic issues of X-Men ever, and certainly the most traumatic event for the Xavier school (except perhaps for M-Day itself).

The rest of the volume carries on from that strong introduction, with some great surprising (particularly surrounding Jay), some great characterization (particularly from Elixir), some great action (particularly from Laura), and some great continuity (particularly in the source of Stryker's power).

Childhood's End continues to be one of the best X-Men epics ever.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best X-books about grief, this book picks up at the funerals for the many characters who died in the previous volume. From there, tragedy after tragedy unfolds as Reverend Stryker and his Purifiers set out to make sure X-Men: Days of Future Past comes to fruition by killing as many as the children at the Xaiver School as they can. It's brutal. The students who survive the experience are really matured into deeper characters by this storyline.

If you read X-Men for the drama or for the character development, this is a book for you.

[Filip Różanek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love to put this thing in contrast with Avengers Arena. In both we have characters dying, but this one manages to actually adress the tragedy and loss that comes with it, show us how shaken are the characters, who may be superheroes, but are still just teenagers threw into waters far too deep for them. It's not a happy book, it's hard, dramatic book, that perfectly illustrates why Kyle and Yost's run is called "Childhood's End" - because that's exactly what the story is about. It's about kids who are brutally robbed from their childhood and innocence and forced into cruel world nobody and nothing could prepare them for.
If Avengers Arena did even half of those things.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently, after House of M, (and with the change of writers), this series goes from totally mediocre teen drama to a real action-packed, fearless book. This volume was really impressive (and lets me know that previous volume wasn't just a fluke.)--The Purifiers attack the mansion, kill off a few signifanct characters, and leave lasting impressions on the survivors. And the big reveal about what's been going on with Reverend Stryker is perfect for long-time X-fans. Really surprisingly enjoyable.

[Callum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still staying true to the heart of all great X-men stories, the human antipathy towards mutants, New X-men keeps on plowing ahead into a surprisingly depressing place with multiple deaths, betrayals and uncertainty surrounding everything. Can these kids cope with their emotions and bond as a team before none of them are left? I hope so, as I believe this series deserves continuation for some time to come. Oh, and one more thing, Emma Frost is in serious danger of becoming a total *itch!

[Stephanie I · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like teenage angst. Maybe it's because I'm seventeen and suffer through it myself at times. These books were captivating from cover to cover. Icarus...X-23...all of them. The characters touched me, too. I don't know what it is about comic books but their characters are so multilayered, almost effortlessly!

[Jeff Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a little grim and gritty for my tastes, but the art by Paco Medina is top-notch, and I was emotionally invested in the characters from the get-go. Not sure why the author felt the need to kill off so many characters, though... Still, New X-Men is better than New X-Men: Academy X & its predecessor New Mutants series (not the original New Mutants).