Mosaic Vol. 2: Down Below

by Geoffrey Thorne

[Quirky Cat]

3 1/2 Stars

I read Mosaic Vol. 2 as single issues through Marvel Unlimited.

Mosaic Vol. 2 is mostly a tie-in volume to major events happening in the Marvel universe. I would have been more okay with this, had this not been the final volume of the series. Additionally, it’s actually pretty short, being only four issues in total.



I’m actually pretty sad to see Mosaic ending, all things considered. While I admittedly did not love this volume, I still see so much potential in this series. So it’s a shame to see it wasted and gone. Perhaps he’ll get another chance in the future?
This volume contains the final three issues of Mosaic, as well as an issue from Inhumans. Obviously the Inhumans one has Mosaic in it, but mostly it just feels out of place with the rest of the issue.
A lot of what is happening in this volume is directly tied into the Civil War II plot, but it’s less obvious than some other series. If you haven’t read Civil War II and don’t want spoilers, stop reading now.
At one point during Civil War II, Tony Stark kidnapped an Inhuman (specifically the one who could supposedly see into the future) in order to test his abilities. While everything actually did work out with that conflict, Medusa was not willing to let the insult go…and so we have the entire plot of the Inhumans issue. It’s basically everyone teaming together to hit Tony where it hurts. So while funny…not the strongest part of this conflict (especially because Tony didn’t really seem to care).
This issue set the tone of the rest of the volume, leaving everything feeling somewhat scattered and disorganized. While the three issues do actually connect to one another…they didn’t really feel like they were in synch either.
The most interesting part for me was when Mosaic was forced to realize just how conceited he still was, despite all he’s been through. That was a major moment for him. I’d argue that they had been planning for that realization for a while, but had to rush it because of the impending ending to the series itself.
On the whole I’m pretty disappointed with this volume…but if I’m being honest with myself that has a lot to do with the fact that it was a lackluster ending. Had this been a middle volume I think I would have been okay with it. I would love to see Mosaic get another chance at some point. And hey, when it comes to superheroes, you never know, right?