Gillen and Sanders continue their outer-space romantic-action-comedy with a solid second issue.

The pace of the first chapter is maintained as Gyrich begins collecting Earth's known aliens. Among the captured are Noh-Varr (Marvel Boy), Jazinda (Skrull and partner to She-Hulk), Joe Ego (who?), Beta Ray Bill and fellow-Korbinite Ti Asha Ra, Adam X, Hepzibah, the S'Thalin family (Z'Nox defectors), and Karolina Dean (of the Runaways). Also detained are any supporters of Abigail Brand.

From the pages of Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men comes S.W.O.R.D. #1, as crafted by writer Kieron Gillen and artist Steven Sanders (and a one-off back-up story with art from Gillen’s Phonogram collaborator Jamie McKelvie). Continuing story threads begun in Astonishing and Secret Invasion, Gillen’s has promised to deliver a high-octane sci-fi space romance and comedy. How well, if at all, did it deliver? There might be spoilers ahead!

Molly Hayes (a.k.a. Princess Powerful, a.k.a. Bruiser) is the youngest member of the Runaways, a group of mostly-teenagers who discovered the criminal activities of their parents—known collectively as The Pride—and decided to leave home forever. Unlike the rest of the technically unnamed team’s original members—who gained their abilities through magic, technology, alien parentage, and a psychic link to a dinosaur—Molly was born a mutant. Although her feelings on Wolverine and the known mutant population vary wildly, one must ask the question: Is Molly Hayes the future of the X-Men?