Cute Mutants 2

SPOILERIFFIC

This second volume finds our heroes forced to make a terrible choice: train with Yaxley or go to mutant "jail." They're assured it's comfortable, but it's still not freedom. So they give it a try and quickly realize Yaxley are...yeah, you guessed it...bad guys. And they have a rival called Jinteki that experiments on mutants. 

There is a LOT going on here that I'm not going to get into. These books are like reading an entire season of show all at once. But the CMs learn they're not the only mutants and some of these others have been created using Emma's blood. 

During a mission to rescue Emma, they also grab Katie, who can spew fire from her mouth. She's written like a much younger character, but I'm pretty sure nearer the end they said she's 16. 

Other newbies are a shy teleporter, an acid spit/vomit girl (very Zeitgeist), a character that can see your fears and use them to fuck with your head (verbally, not any physical manifestation), and a flutist that conjures nightmarish creatures with her music.

My biggest problem here is that everyone gets some further characterization except Bianca. She was left in the cold in the first book and it happens even worse in this one. How? THEY FUCKING KILL HER OFF. And it wasn't even on screen. I was furious when I read it and I'm still mad. I loved Bianca. 

And then at the end, they take the most interesting of the newbies (Cha, the Sri Lankan flutist) and kill her off, too. COME THE FUCK ON. We couldn't have killed the teleporter who wants nothing to do with anyone and whose powers make some things a little too easy? 

I get that they're trying for the shock value of comics and screen deaths, but it feels unfair to these characters, especially Bianca. It's like they created her and couldn't figure out what to do with her, except when she antagonized people or was Dylan's "emotional support himbo," so what was left to do but kill her off? Or maybe she was always destined to die because she wasn't the hot main couple, the mutant creator, the cinnamon roll, or the mostly useless trans boy. Seriously, Lou feels kinda token at this point. He's now the one with the least characterization, especially in this book because now he doesn't even have jealousy or cowardice to fall back on. I mean, he's gotten cooler but it's mostly because he stopped being those two negative things. Sorry, Lou. I'm just mad about Bianca. 

So yeah, the book is the CMs dealing with being forced to work for bad people, rescuing Emma, rescuing the other mutants, and finally defeating the worst people from Yaxley, while Gladiola (sees your fears psychic girl) takes over Jinteki, because her father ran it.

Don't get me wrong, it was good. I can enjoy something and think it was good and still be furious about killing off characters. But these books are such an emotional ride that I'll never be able to read them consecutively. I'm taking a break to read some historical fiction.