Second Coming #2 includes four epilogues by different writers and artists. First chapter has the events directly after Hope's battle with Bastion. Before Hope cradles Cable's cybernetic arm and passes out, the audience gets to see Charles Xavier's reaction to what just happened. Hours later Hope wakes up in Utopia's infirmary where the injured (Colossus, Archangel, Karma, and Hellion) are being tended to. Right away we see another conversation between Hope and Magneto which I found was smartly written by Zeb Wells. The thought of Hope not knowing Magneto's past with the X-Men is very interesting because these small conversations sets up character relations that can expand further in the future. To me it was a sad moment when Hope cradled Cable's cybernetic arm. Wells reminds us that Hope still has the heart of an innocent little girl even though she has physically changed into a young woman.
     Chapter two in my opinion is the best written piece in this anthology. Mike Carey writes a brief but nearly perfect funeral for Cable. From each page layout, Carey's script here was beautiful. I was so sadden to see Cyclops sobbing over his son's casket and Hope's final words reminded me how Cable's service was important to the X-Men. The only problem I had with this chapter was the fact that no one else spoke before Cyclops and Hope's final words at the funeral. Nightcrawler got that respect when the X-Men held his funeral, so why didn't we hear parting words from close friends of Cable (Cannonball, Domino, and even Boom Boom).
     The third chapter opens up with Wolverine drinking beer in Nightcrawler's bedroom. Storm confronts Wolverine and they both discuss about the existence of X-Force. To Storm's disappointment, Wolverine tells her he supported the idea of killing their enemies and states that if they killed more, Nightcrawler would still be alive. Later Wolverine meets with Cyclops and Cyclops tells Wolverine that Professor X, Storm, Iceman, and Colossus all approached him individually to discuss about X-Force. Cyclops then tells Logan that there is no use for X-Force in the future. After Cyclops leaves, Wolverine meets up with his new secretive X-Force consisting of himself, Archangel, Psylocke, Fantomex, and Deadpool. For the interior artwork, Greg Land is at his best in this issue, the last two pages of this chapter looked gorgeous. I do have a problem though with Land's use of same character models. His X-23 here did not seem recognizable. At first, I thought Wolverine was actually talking to Psylocke. I am pleased with Graig Kyle and Christopher Yost's run on X-Force and I am really looking forward to Rick Remender and Jerome Opena taking over the new X-Force team in Uncanny X-Force later this year.
     Now for the final chapter. Nothing really much happened here: Beast leaves again, Namor scolds Beast for abandoning his people, and the X-students hold a celebratory bonfire. The final page is the best when Cerebro picks up five new mutants prompting what we will expect in future issues. As for the artwork, its just blah for me. Terry Dodson's rendition of Beast's feline physique is horrible. His Beast in this issue makes me feel that Dodson just gave up on drawing the X-Men so he quickly drew this mess.
     On one final note, I feel that Beast's character needs to be strengthened more. His characterization was at its peak when he was the main character in X-Men: Endangered Species, but after that, it began to slump. He is a founding member of the X-Men and he should be acting like one. Somehow he and Cyclops needs to make amends with each other. Where is the Hank McCoy that dedicated his life into helping mutantkind? Oh yeah he is off playing Secret Avengers.