Binary #2 Review

 

Writer: Stephanie Phillips

Artist: Giada Belviso

Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg

Letterer: Travis Lanham

Cover Artists: Rickie Yagawa; Corin Howell & Rachelle Rosenberg; Jacopo Camagni; Junggeun Yoon

Designer: Jay Bowen

Editors: Lindsey Cohick, Annalise Bissa, Tom Brevoort & CB Cebulski

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: November 5, 2025

 

Carol Danvers is hurting. She accepted the Phoenix Force ten years ago. Yet in the past year, she has suffered from increasing headaches. Along with the people she protects, frustration has begun to overtake her. Like the characters in Stephen King's novel, the inhabitants of Beverly, Massachusetts, live under the dome. And after a decade of lockdown, Carol's protection feels like imprisonment. How will the townspeople express their frustrations this time? And how will their actions change Carol Danvers' life? Let's slip on some shades, leap into Binary #2, and see!

 

Story

When Doug Ramsey unleashed the X-virus, Jean Grey knew how dangerous it was. She feared not only what it would do to our planet but that the virus might spread to other worlds. Carol Danvers tried to talk her out of it, but Jean had to try. As in Robert Charles Wilson's novel Spin, Jean Grey attempted to enclose Earth in a protective barrier. When the effort proved too much for Jean, Carol was with her. She accepted the Phoenix Force and vowed to live with it.

 

In Binary #2, Carol suffers from an inferiority complex. Distraught over Jean's death and burdened with unwanted power, she retreated to her hometown. Erecting a barrier to protect the people in her community from the X-virus came naturally. But once Carol erected the barrier, she couldn't leave. Trapped in a prison of her own making and expending energy to keep the virus out, Carol couldn't learn to wield the Phoenix Force like Jean. So, she feels like a failure. Worse, she broke her promise to Jean to protect the rest of the Universe from the X-virus.

 

After beginning her story shortly after Doug Ramsey unleashed the X-virus, Stephanie Phillips fast forwards to the days following the troubled town hall meeting. Just as Hank stirred up the audience, he called people to his home. He shows them the explosives that they will use to blow up the Beverly town hall at the beginning of Binary #1. But neither he, his followers, nor Carol expect what happens next.

 

 

 

Art

Jean kneels and supports her weary body with her hands inside her barrier. While her hair flutters with the Phoenix Fire, Captain Marvel keeps her long blonde hair bound in a braid. Fracture lines race across Jean's face as Carol pounds on the barrier. When hands reach toward each other to touch the barrier, Jean and Carol form two dark beings at the heart of a white hole star in Binary #2.

 

Carol Danvers burns orange, yellow, and white as she hovers over the street. A Babel pushes herself up and kneels while supporting herself with her hands. But when she looks up, her features evoke Carol’s anger. And instead of submitting like Jean, she lashes out with her fists like Captain Marvel pounding on the barrier. So, Carol encloses her in a pink ball of energy, evoking the shield Jean placed around the Earth.

 

 

 

 

Like the clothes of the Babel she captures, Carol takes refuge in a green room. Giada Belviso shows how the community space has fallen into disrepair. Broken window blinds in a private residence are another reminder that the lockdown is unsustainable. As Rachelle Rosenberg shows the yellow sunlight streaming into the room, the light mimics a cosmos. The glowing stars illuminate Hank as he preaches. One of his followers, clad in a red jacket, best expresses their resolve in Binary #2.

 

Carol Danver's white uppercase thoughts also appear in red boxes. Travis Lanham places bold black time/space markers in white boxes bordered with yellow. Black uppercase dialogue inhabits white balloons and narrative boxes. The letters grow bold for intonation. Anger swells words and deforms balloons. Sound effects help us hear Carol's efforts to rescue her friend and a Phoenix scream. Thanks to Marvel Comics for providing a review copy. 

 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Carol Danvers has done her best. But it doesn't feel like it's enough. Her efforts are a drop in a bucket compared with what she promised Jean Grey she would do. But while Carol acts out of compassion for the townspeople and the Babels, another woman exploits Carol’s self-doubt and guilt to expand her power base in Binary #2.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch. 

 

To see how this series started, see my review of Binary #1. 

Binary #1 Review

 

Writer: Stephanie Phillips

Artist: Giada Belviso

Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg

Letterer: Travis Lanham

Cover Artists: Rickie Yagawa; David Nakayama; Francesco Mobili & Moreno Dinisio; Iván Talavera; Jeremy Wilson

Designer: Jay Bowen

Editors: Lindsey Cohick, Annalise Bissa, Tom Brevoort & CB Cebulski

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: October 8, 2025

 

In Beverly Massachusetts, Hank and Cecelia are mounting an insurrection. Like Kraglin, Cecelia dislikes turning mutineer. But Hank insists it is time. Carol Danvers has given them no choice. Even if Carol dies, it's a small price to pay to regain their freedom. Why have Hank and Cecelia embraced terrorism? And how does life in their town differ from that in the rest of the Revelation Territories? Let's slip on some shades, leap into Binary #1, and see!

 

Story

In Amazing X-Men #1, Magneto and the X-Men have transported Scott Summers' consciousness through time. Not having lived through the preceding ten years, Scott wonders what happened to Jean Grey. Sadly, many have died since Revelation unleashed a mutative virus. Most of them were Humans lacking Mutant DNA to activate. But since then, Mutants have arisen against Revelation's rule. Doug Ramsey, aka Revelation, strips dissenters of their ability to communicate. Those who take up arms against him face harsher penalties.

 

Like some of the renegade X-Men who abducted Cyclops and Beast's consciousnesses in a desperate act to bolster their revolution, Jean Grey has also died. In Stephanie Phillips' story, the Phoenix Force passed into Carol Danvers. When the mutative virus began activating Mutants and shifting nature into overdrive, Carol used it to erect a barrier around her hometown and protect the inhabitants from the effects of the virus.

 

 

 

After Hank, Cecelia, and their friends launch their attack, Binary #1 winds the clock back to the days preceding the attack. The inhabitants of Beverly have gathered for a town hall meeting. But instead of discussing how they can improve living conditions in their town, they express their frustrations over the limitations. Hank is a leading voice in the chorus of discontent. But everyone yearns for a return to life before the lockdown.

 

While Binary #1 reveals why Hank has become an agitator, it’s easy to empathize with the townspeople’s frustration. Carol Danvers may not use her telepathy to control them like Revelation does his Angel of Death. Still, she regulates everything that comes into their town. The virus struck ten years ago. Yet the townspeople still live in a cage, unable to see the world outside, or experience anything that could rejuvenate them. And any time they do anything wrong, Carol can call upon the powers of the Phoenix to punish them for their infractions.

 

 

 

Art

Wires hang over the cracked streets and the houses in disrepair. Hank, Cecilia, and their comrades take cover behind a salvaged car. While Hank wears a trenchcoat, Cecelia sports an X symbol on each shoulder. All carry guns while awaiting the outcome of their initial attack. 

 

 

 

Giada Belviso shows the townspeople's frustration and outrage as they air their complaints in Binary #1. Carol’s long blonde hair, perhaps uncut since lockdown began, accentuates her sharp features. Standing next to the mayor, Carol frowns and remonstrates clad in blue, black, and red. The townspeople may have elected Abi. Still, she stands beside Carol wearing green slacks and a jacket, and black boots and a tie. 

 

 

 

Rachelle Rosenberg imbues the town hall with a sickly green. The overhead lighting illuminates the speakers’ faces but often struggles to penetrate the madding crowd. When Carol Danvers grows angry, her hair turns bright yellow, and her body orange and white. Hovering above them, she turns the surrounding air orange, like Revelation exerting his will upon his subjects.

 

Travis Lanham places bold black time/space markers in gilt frames. Black uppercase dialogue inhabits white balloons and narrative boxes. Carol Danver’s thoughts appear as white uppercase letters in red boxes. The letters grow bold for intonation. Anger swells words and deforms balloons. Sound effects hail an illicit encounter, and Carol’s determination to protect her hometown. Thanks to Marvel Comics for providing a review copy. 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

While Revelation’s mutative virus evokes stories from the Biblical book of Genesis, Carol Danvers faces a situation akin to Moses in the Book of Exodus. The townspeople of Beverly, Massachusetts may not be wandering in the desert. Still, they exist on the manna Carol gives them. Faced with little to excite them or enrich their lives, the people Carol Danvers shields from Revelation’s virus wonder if life might be better under his rule in Binary #1.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.