Reviews»Comic Books»Mulan Revelations #2
mulan2
Kareem Ali 4.5

Mulan Revelations #2

 

  • The good

    Mulan's powers and action sequences. Character development and current status of Hybrids and Immortals making overall story more intriguing.

  • The bad

    Stranger helping Mulan without some kind of explanation felt sudden.

  • The ugly

    • Mulan Revelations #2 continues with Mulan discovering her hidden powers while trying to escape the mysterious enemies pursuing her. It opens up with Mulan and her uncle surrounded by Longwei’s forces as they announce they’re there to arrest Mulan. Confused, Mulan asks her uncle what they could possibly want from her, and he apologizes to her before whispering secret words in her ear. This results in her being engulfed in remarkable power from within, and her uncle tells her not to resist it but embrace it. The light emanating from the house causes Longwei’s forces to attack and they send swarms in to detain them. Mulan unleashes her power destroying them and repelling their attacks. She doesn’t have a clue how she’s able to do this but her uncle reassures her and tells her to let her instincts guide her in using her powers. He doesn’t have time to explain things to her before jumping into battle with Longwei’s forces hoping he can buy enough time for Mulan to escape. How can Mulan understand her shared past and newfound powers without her uncle’s help, and how can she hope to defeat Longwei’s forces when she doesn’t even know he’s behind this attack?

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    There are some series that get off to an excellent start with its first issue but the second issue doesn’t come close to capitalizing on the interesting premise and leaves you wanting more. Thankfully, Mulan Revelations #2 doesn’t fall into that trap and maintains the excitement, character development and story progression right from the start by having Mulan’s uncle unlock her powers on the first page. And Micah Kaneshiro’s artwork was spectacular in conveying this transformation with the panel showing Mulan engulfed by her powers being memorable. This initial battle was intense and not only was I more intrigued about the full extent of Mulan’s powers but I appreciated how she was shown as still learning to use them and just as fascinated about them as I was. And the arsenal of weapons possessed by Longwei’s forces was impressive and made for an entertaining battle.
    This issue wouldn’t just focus on that particular fight as Mulan would make her escape, and another glimpse of the society at large would be given with the way the crowd would respond to Longwei’s forces being there. This gave a clearer context to everything taking place by keeping it connected to the world introduced last issue, which I appreciated. One slight problem I had was with the stranger suddenly helping Mulan without any hint as to why this was being done, and mentioning the American Embassy took away from him being so heavily invested in relatively local issues. Of course more can be revealed about this down the line but it just seemed to happen so easily with no explanation.
    The story would progress wonderfully as more details would be revealed about the structure of Longwei’s family, and as an extension, the Hybrid’s current order. Their twisted ways and Longwei’s plan backfiring and infecting Hybrids as well made this conversation even more interesting. And the Immortals were finally shown in the present day and I’m intrigued by them even more as some distinguished themselves from others. And I loved how everything wasn’t just simply black and white and some of the characters and scenarios were as diverse as the colors used in the wonderful artwork. I had a good feeling about this series after the first issue so I’m glad this second issue impressed as well.

     

    SUMMARY

     

    Mulan Revelations #2 is a satisfying issue that successfully builds on all the interesting elements from the first issue and makes the story and characters even more engrossing. Mulan’s use of her powers creates some intense action sequences, and the artwork conveys that beautifully. And delving more into the Hybrids and Immortals current situations and inner discussions makes for a more rewarding experience. If the first issue is an engrossing introduction to this world created by Robert Alter and Marc Andreyko then this issue gives a very convincing argument why one should stay in it because it’ll be an enjoyable ride.

     

    Release Date: 7/28/15

    Writer: Marc Andreyko

    Artist: Micah Kaneshiro

  • Rating ( 9.3 )
  • Total score 9.3

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