War of Kings #2(of 6)

-We find out early on in this comic that Ronan the Accuser has survived the events of last issue, Lilandra is now the captive of Vulcan, Vulcan has the Shi'ar using Nega-bombs against Kree planets and the Inhuman's have declared war on the Sh'iar empire.

-The Kree are rioting against Black Bolt and the Inhuman royal family until Crystal(of all people)manages to win the Kree over by helping out at a Kree hospital.

-Vulcan seems more intent on destroying entire Kree planets as opposed to actually capturing them... Now how can't you like an emperor like that?

-Maximus creates a bunch of Kree Sentry's that have been imbued with some of Black Bolt's massive power and Black Bolt sends the Echo Sentry's out to meet the second Battlegroup of the Shi'ar. The Echo Sentry's rout the Second Battlegroup(which consisted of 65 ships), destroying every last Shi'ar spacecraft in that Battlegroup.

-After learning that his Battlegroup has been destroyed, Vulcan flips out and decides he is going to kill every last one of his enemies, starting with Lilandra, who he tells Gladiator to hold in place for him.

So, the question now becomes does Gladiator step up and defend his former Empress, or does he allow Vulcan to vaporize her? Personally, I feel Gladiator should allow Vulcan to kill Lilandra, but I get the feeling Gladiator is going to turn on crazy Emperor Vulcan. Gladiator has served under insane emperors before(does the name D'Ken ring any bells?), which is why I am so against the idea of Gladiator turning on Vulcan here. However, looking at Gladiator's reactions to Vulcan's antics in this issue, I have a feeling Gladiator IS going to turn on Vulcan, which would go counter to everything ever written about Gladiator before.

Damn, do I love Vulcan! I've been a fan of his since the AWESOME "Deadly Genesis" mini-series, and I am really enjoying Vulcan's crazy act now. With that said though, I have to admit that I would prefer Vulcan as a member of the X-Men, as opposed to a villain. A younger character like Vulcan is just what the X-Men need right now to liven things up, but unfortunately I think Vulcan has too much blood on his hands to ever be reformed...

For a score, I'll give this issue a 8 out of 10. This issue was basically a set-up issue, and wasn't nearly as good as the last issue was. I figure that by issue 4 or so this mini should be red hot. We still don't have Nova, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Darkhawk or the Negative Zone armies involved at all yet. That tells me the best in this mini-series is yet to come.