The heavenly savior and Earth’s mightiest hero return in this new chapter of Second Coming. The superpowered team-up has the heroes try some non-violent crime-fighting while rediscovering their past in Second Coming: You can’t go home again. Also included in this issue are three short stories. The first story: Humans take on an unknown alien threat and fight with extreme prejudice in a Rageicide, written by David A. Gray and illustrated by Ameilee Sullivan. The second story: a man tries to sell a killer movie idea in Pitch, written by Michael Penncavage and illustrated by Cayetano Valenzuela. The third story: a journey of one person’s life into death is broken down in Ghost, written and illustrated by Carol Lay.
Second Coming: You can’t go home again has Jesus and Sunstar take a small break from crime-fighting duty. Their last outing caused Sunstar to overreact to protect Shelia, forcing him to rethink his heroics. However, a new villain posts a ransom, prompting Sunstar to take the challenge head-on. But just when Sunstar wants to deliver swift justice, Jesus askes Sunstar to be forgiving. Taking the gentler approach, Sunstar tries some aggressive motivation to change things up.
Meanwhile, Jesus hangs out downtown in the city and bumps into a familiar devilish face from his past. While Jesus has been resting in the heavens, Satan has been keeping up with humanity. Satan hints at the real reason Jesus is sent back to Earth, and it’s not a what he was expecting. Now Jesus realizes that his views of humans might be his downfall.
Issue three takes a closer look at how nostalgia can skew perspectives and corrupt idol worship. Mark Russell pokes fun at these topics with some witty commentary, lets the Sunstar and Jesus deal with their own tragic misfortunes. It’s interesting to see Sunstar adopt Jesus’s teachings about forgiveness, but with a forceful stance. It would be pretty hard to make new life decisions when a person that can launch you into space is looming over you. Richard Pace throws in some hilarious scenes to illustrate the commanding presence of Sunstar yelling, along with some parody references to a certain famous caped hero.
Overall, Second Coming has a strong voice to reflect some of the absurdities with religious behavior while gradually evolving the core characters. The story adds some revelations that will undoublty force a big confrontation in the next few issues.
