X-Men: Legacy #248
Written by Mike Carey
Art by Jorge Molina, Craig Yeung, and Matthew Wilson
The Age of X is done, over, and in the can, so all that’s left to do is soak up the fallout. Legion did it, and now everyone has two sets of memories in their heads because of it. Their lives as they truly know them, and the Age of X lives that were built into everyone’s minds for their seven day ‘vacation’. Carey spends the issue going over the ramifications, both physical and mental, and just what exactly has become of the X-Men in the wake of it. Who wishes to remember? Who demands to forget? Who will be forever changed? The Age of X did a great job setting up a jumping on point in the aftermath.
The Age of X has to be the longest seven days in the history of X-Men, one week of their lives and they each have two lives worth of memories, but not everyone wants to sit on that. Cannonball, for instance, despite being a superstar in the AoX would rather not have those memories then remember a world where his family died and his sister hated him for it. Pixie, on the other hand, her AoX self of Nightmare is a completely separate personality fighting for control, her wings even change to show when/if it happens. Obviously others have reasons for not wanting to remember as well, and in my cases I can’t say I blame them. Carey does a good job putting over just how out of character some of these actions were, and despite how cool they might have seemed, the characters themselves can’t wrap their heads around them, which makes sense. I mean, just look at Dust.
Frenzy takes a step towards being a star in this book, after her time in the AoX as Scott Summers girl, she’s….not taking too kindly to life after Legion. She wants the memories, she wants that life, and Scott’s straight up refusal of her is obviously not something meant to go well. She wants the Basilisk, and Scott would happily never be that man again if he could. Rogue, despite not being the most prominent character in this issue, remains our lead…so it’s obvious she would retain her memories from the AoX, as Legacy she swore to preserve the memories of the dead and keep them safe, now once again Rogue she can’t break that promise.
Oddly enough, and I kind of like this, is that despite the way the AoX came to be, the offshoot personality of Legion warping the world, nobody blames Legion. Xavier and Nemesis go and try to do even more to help him, and it seems like they might be on to something. After years of Charles Xavier’s son being pushed to the background and being the black eye of the X-family, it really is nice and relieving to see him not only brought to the forefront, but for Charles to be doing everything in his power to help his son. Not bury him, or incarcerate him, depower him, or any of the previously well documented methods. He’s actually helping his son, and it’s giving me a lot more respect for the fabled dick of X-Men leaders.
Jorge Molina does a good job with this issue, but I find myself missing Clay Mann. I’m not a giant fan of the face work in the issue, and quite a few characters are only identifiable after being called by name. Alright, I lied, it’s just Cannonball, who I’ve famously mixed up with Iceman countless times over the year outside of costume. There are some cool visuals though, Revenant being among my favorites along with the entire Legion sequence. Not so much the talking heads pages.
By the end of the issue we’ve been granted a general idea as to where the book is heading next, with a cast being established, as well as a subplot burning with the potential to bring back some of my favorite long-limbo’d X characters. This is promising to be a title with Rogue, Gambit, Xavier, Magneto, Legion, and Frenzy as the leads….after reading this issue, I can buy that team for an extended period of time. Hell, I can be excited over it, especially if they pick up the three lost X-Men. This was a great jump on issue, despite the aftermath of the AoX taking place, and it’s a fine example as to why Mike Carey has been writing one of the most consistent extended runs in the franchise.
Overall?
8/10
