Well, it’s a new year. Welcome to Random Thoughts: the place
where anything (..okay, not “anything”) will talked about. For this month, I
have decided once again to jump into my bins and open the drawers to find some
X-Men comics to talk about. This week’s pick is a pretty recent storyline that literally
spun out of the major X-Men crossover Messiah
Complex. It’s X-Men Legacy #208-210. I do have to admit that I never got
this crossover. I thought about getting it when it hit the trades, but I never
did. I did keep up with it through the message boards and I may read it one
day. Well, let’s start this month off good!
X-Men: Legacy #208-210
Writer: Mike Carey
Artists: Scott Eaton, John Romita Jr., Billy Tan, and Greg
Land
Part One
We start out with a flashback where Charles Xavier is trying
to recruit Moria McTaggert into helping him research the mutant phenomenon. This
flashback turns out to be more than a simple memory when Charles sees Bishop
and we experience the last couple of pages of the major crossover where Bishop
shot Charles…oh yeah, did I say how much I HATE what they did to Bishop? He’s
the only black X-Man and now you make him a bad guy! Anyway, we get an
interesting page where Charles is reliving certain parts of his life. We
actually find out that Exodus and his Acolytes are trying to save Charles from
his bullet wound. The team mostly consists of Amelia Voght (former lover of
Charles), Cargill (an Acolyte), and an advanced Sentinel named Karima.
Now, all we need is the Twilight Zone theme music.
This team argues amongst themselves and we get recapped on
what happened in the crossover. We also find out that this team took Xavier’s
body from the site without anyone realizing it. We then find out Exodus has
erased Xavier’s mind in order to save him from his wounds. While he’s healing
from his physical wounds, Exodus will add them back in. We see some memories of
Charles’. We see him training the X-Men, arguing with Moria about the ethics of
having a super-powered team of teenagers, and talking to Scott (Cyclops) about
himself. Apparently, Xavier doesn’t like what he’s seeing, so he is not
accepting the memories. This makes Exodus do the unthinkable: call Erik
Lensherr aka Magneto and the original leader of the Acolytes…WUHHHHH?????
Part Two
We start out with Erik viewing Charles’ brain-dead body and
wondering how they are not powerhouses anymore. At this time, Magneto had lost
his powers because of M-Day (aka “Decimation” and “Marvel Editorial Ran out of
Ideas”). He spots Karima spying on them and they wonder what’s going on his
Charles’ head. In Charles’ mind, he remembers his times fighting Magneto
especially that time where he straight-up lobotomized him. Outside, Karima
wonders who was right on their ideals: Charles or Erik.
Elsewhere, the other Acolytes argue about Magneto being
depowered and that’s pretty much it. Back with Erik and Karima, Karima tries to
use her tech to revive Xavier. We’re then treated to another flashback where
the X-Men first face the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants…well, I guess they would
be evil. They got Toad and Mastermind for Pete’s sake! It’s through this memory
and Erik’s words that Xavier is able to come out of his coma…then I get interrupted
by a dang four-page ad for Secret
Invasion. Xavier comes to as Cargill shows up ready kill him. She attacks
Erik and does a little damage to him. She and Karima got at it for a bit before
Cargill knocks her out. She almost gets Charles when Erik lays down the hurt…Ow.
That has to hurt.
Erik then posits the question on whose ideals were better.
Charles really doesn’t give a definite answer, but he does say that their
ideals have pretty much become irrelevant…I guess that works. Exodus then shows
up to see what the heck’s going on. Exodus tries to attack Erik in retaliation,
but Charles stops him. The issue ends as they mentally battle each other.
Part Three
The issue starts out as Xavier and Exodus is in a mental
battle. Erik tries to help but gets put down by “the power of Exodus.” I just
had to put that in quotes. In the battle, Exodus tries to use all of Xavier’s
failings and fumbles to win. We see a lot of stuff. We got the events of
another miniseries Deadly Genesis,
the destruction of Genosha, and the deaths of Thunderbird, Colossus, Jean Grey,
and Doug Ramsey. Xavier is almost beat, but he finds his second wind and kicks
Exodus’s butt which ends the battle. During all of this, Emma Frost feels
Xavier’s presences and realizes that he’s alive.
Ouch.
After this battle, Exodus tells Xavier why he saved his
life: he wants Xavier to lead the Acolytes. Of course, Xavier scoffs at the
idea and leaves with Karima and Erik. We find out that Charles only has a few
memories and that’s it. He rarely recognizes Amelia. He says his goodbyes to
Erik and Karima as he sets off to regain his memories and possibly fix some
broken relationships. We end this storyline as we see Rogue on the road traveling
and see Kevin Bac…Sebastian Shaw doing something nefarious.
……………………………………….
And that’s the end of this storyline. Is it any good? I
believe so. It’s a story trying to do something different with a character who
at this time wasn’t around in the comics much. This book in general became
Xavier’s, Rogue’s, and Gambit’s book for a while. The story does feel thin
because it mostly consists of flashbacks. I liked Magneto’s inclusion in the
story. He doesn’t do much, but it’s cool to see him in a non-villainous role
for once. It was also cool to go down memory lane with Xavier.
The artwork is also pretty decent. It’s not my favorite, but
it is still good. Eaton does well with his artwork. The other guest artists
were pretty good too. Even Greg Land’s traces look decent! Though there is one
panel of his that…well, let’s just it’s a little much. She either is in pain or
in pleasure. Either works with the image. Also, those are some pretty awesome
covers by David Finch. Anyway, it’s a pretty decent story with pretty decent
art.
Well, it’s that time. Next week will be something older and
definitely better.
NEXT TIME: WOLVERINE – IS HE TRULY THE BEST AT WHAT HE
DOES????
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