X-Men Legacy #249 – Review

By: Mike Carey (writer), Rafa Sandoval (artist), Matthew Wilson (colorist), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)

The Story: Aftermath, Part Two: The dust is still settling on the X-Men’s Age of X. Events in Age of X were so fast and so different, that the X-Men, back home and safe, have some breathing room to deal with who they might have been and what they might have chosen. Legacy #249 is about three people coming to terms with the mirror that Age of X held up for them: Rogue, Legion and Frenzy.

The Review: This story demands a deft hand at character work, something at which Carey normally excels. I have to say though, that I was generally disappointed in what could have been a really strong story. This one turned out to be just okay.

I thought that the Frenzy story-line was the most engaging, emotionally. I felt for her and her angst over who she might have been and still could be, although there were no real surprises to how things turned out. I think it’s very facile to show someone what they might have been and then, after that, they simply decide to be different. There’s more to it than that. There’s a reason Frenzy, in the real world, chose the path she did and there should be some resistance to this new path. There was really none here, which I though was a lost opportunity.

The Legion story-line was the most intriguing intellectually. I loved seeing the way Nemesis was trying to control the different personalities in Legion and I loved seeing the new personalities. This part was fun and was really about the science fiction adventure that will follow with Legion and his many, many personalities and awesome power.

In the third story-line, Magneto and Rogue have to deal with the awkward knowledge that they might have had something romantically meaningful in the path not taken. While I like the romantic tension between these two (I think that various creative teams over the years have shown real sparks between them), I didn’t feel that Carey really brought their inner struggle to the table here. In fact, it felt a bit contrived to me that Magneto would push Rogue away for no really obvious reason, kind of like Carey was creating an artificial and unnecessary plot turn. Moreover, Rogue’s explanation for her choices at the end didn’t communicate to me the conviction of her feelings. I’m wondering if part of this failure to engage me was because so much of the Rogue-Magneto story was really a Magneto-by-himself flashback. On the flashback itself, I was delighted in the beginning to see Magneto’s WWII angle being brought to the surface, but in the end, this flashback too lacked emotional punch and passion.

Sandoval and Wilson delivered the arts goods. The action sequences were clear, the setting (especially the historical ones) were evocative and inviting, and the emotiveness of the characters communicated the parts of the story that couldn’t or shouldn’t have been told with words. I especially loved the brooding Magneto, and the way Hirt was an obvious visual substitute for a much darker villain, but one who had too much baggage to bring to this story. Some big parts of the success of the historical parts were due to Wilson’s choice of palette that felt old and sepia.

Conclusion: I think X-Men Legacy #249 was okay, but missed a chance at being great. Carey made some easy creative choices instead of some original ones, and didn’t approach the excellent high-water marks I’ve seen him set in other stories. Should you pick it up? For completists, I’d say yes. For casual readers of many comics, I didn’t see anything you couldn’t miss in here.

Grade: C

-DS Arsenault

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