Mosaic, Vol. 2: Down Below

Mosaic (Collected Editions)

by Geoffrey Thorne (Writer), Thony Silas (Illustrator), Khary Randolph (Illustrator)

Collects Mosaic #6-8, Uncanny Inhumans #11 and more.

Witness the incredible first meeting between the body-jumping new hero known as Mosaic and his people...the Inhumans! With their aid, the super-powered sensation will delve deeper into his incredible abilities, and unlock hidden truths about himself. But the villainous Brand Corporation has set their sights on Mosaic, and they're not done with him yet! What will their next gambit against Mosaic be - and will he see it coming in time? The soul-searching saga of Mosaic continues!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes

112 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2017

About the author

Geoffrey Thorne is an American novelist and screenwriter.

Thorne was born in the United States and currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

After winning Second Prize in Simon & Schuster's sixth annual Strange New Worlds anthology with his story "The Soft Room," he went on to publish more stories in several media tie-in anthologies as well as the Star Trek: Titan novel Sword of Damocles.

As a screenwriter, Thorne has worked with Disney, Cartoon Network, STARZ, developing various properties. His TV work includes BEN 10: ULTIMATE ALIEN & OMNIVERSE, LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT and the hit TNT series', LEVERAGE and THE LIBRARIANS.

Thorne is the co-founder and writing partner in GENRE 19, a studio he formed with artist Todd Harris in 2008.

Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series gets cancelled so quickly that there's really nothing left. Morris becomes "Mosaic", kind of, and fights his first supervillain in a single issue. There's a spattering of Civil War II (because goodness knows everyone loves that event and wants more) that takes up a third of this volume. There are two roots for Inhumans: you're a Ms. Marvel or Moon Girl who has a beloved solo series that has nothing to do with Inhumans, or you're part of the big political Inhumans plot. Mosaic is staunchly neither, and any of his potential is just going to get squandered as he is forgotten. Maybe if this series went on a bit longer and they could explore his motivations better, or not have to rush through his approach to the Inhuman politics, or if Civil War II weren't a thing, or if he were just a random mutant instead of an Inhuman, he'd have some sort of cult following. But this is just a slow collapse.

[Brian Garthoff · Rating 1 out of 5]

This series got the knife after basically one volume, and then Marvel just kind of shoved Mosaic into some other stories that were going on at the time to make a second book. The main character never returns to his life as a basketball icon, resolves his unrequited love with a two-timing bisexual pop artist, or gets even with his puppetmaster father who seems generally unfazed by his son being cocooned into some sort of alien ghost spirit thing.

[Liz (Quirky Cat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

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?

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mosaic Volume 2 pretty much squanders all the potential of its predecessor. Part of that is surely due to the comic's abrupt cancellation, which results in things like a much anticipated meeting with the Royal Family and the nuHumans, which goes nowhere and is over far too quickly.

However, this volume's biggest problem is Marvel's most recurrent problem in recent years: crossovers. Issue #6 is entirely muddled by a Civil War II crossover (which links to Uncanny Inhumans #11, which is included in this book for what it's worth), then issue #7 is entirely muddled by an AvX crossover. The big problem isn't the typical interruption of the ongoing story, but instead the fact that we just see peripheral events of the crossover, with everything of import going on elsewhere ... which is sort of the worst of both worlds.

As a result, this book barely has a coherent story and is barely worth reading as part of the (short) Mosaic series.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that didn't last long. In the last three issues of the series, Mosaic finally meets the Inhumans, which leads to him playing small roles in Civil War II and Inhumans vs. X-Men. Then Mosaic has his first real superhero experience when he fights Diablo.

For filler we get a digital preview that was originally released as a teaser for the Mosaic series. And the Civil War II crossover issue of Uncanny Inhumans where Mosaic does the same thing he does in his own book.

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book got the wrap-up signal, which meant it completely abandoned its core mystery - inconsistent with the experience of the main character because the mystery related to incredible betrayal and the kidnapping of his BODY.

Instead, we get a lot of crossovers and unearned lesson about helping others that actually seems to be about a need for external validation instead.

[el · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marvel killed what could’ve been a great character and series by shoving crossover shit into the story 🙄