X-Men Legacy #24 – Review

by Simon Spurrier (Writer), Tan Eng Huat, Craig Yeung (Artists), Jose Villarrubia (Colorist)

The Story: Every tale deserves an ending, however bittersweet it can be.

The Review: Everything that is good eventually end. Life, a good meal, a decent drink, a superb song, everything that deserves to be cherished and loved has to conclude eventually. It is a rule that not everyone is ready to accept, especially in the world of cape comics, yet it is something that rings true. To enjoy something is to know when to quit it, in a way.

Thus, it is with that very lesson that I look at this issue, which is the conclusion of this weird, yet beloved series. Simon Spurrier, in the span of 24 issues, succeeded in telling a complete story featuring a character that had been rather loathed and spun a tale about living up to someone’s expectation, the burden of mental illness, goals and life, love and a great many deals of other themes. It took chances, it went in a decidedly unique direction and it didn’t necessarily featured the most popular artists, yet there is a certain achievement in this series that made it very enjoyable. However, does Spurrier manage to give this series the ending it deserved?

In many ways, Spurrier goes out with a bang with this tale, going away without forgetting to give a final shout-out to many of the strongest ideas of his run. The final narration of David and how he reacts to what he might have to do in order to save himself and the world is a thing of beauty, with a certain introspection combined with a certain sense of realization that comes as hard to read, yet in a good way for those invested in the character. The finality, the emotions and the way he just deals with the whole thing makes for a superb conclusion to his whole character arc.

X-Men Legacy #23 – Review

by Simon Spurrier (Writer), Tan Eng Huat, Craig Yeung (Artists), Jose Villarrubia (Colorist)

The Story: Forming the World Worm, David is unfortunately stuck in a form set out to destroy everything as Destiny needs to make everything happen as foretold.

The Review: To follow a story is to invest ourselves in its characters, setting and ideas. If a reader is able to follow everything and actually get interested in what the writer is willing to talk about, it becomes a wonderful synergy, a tale that becomes bigger and grander as the themes get more refined and clearer. Not every stories are equivalent of each other, but each has its own potential to hit a particular craving for someone.

The tale of David Haller, as told by Simon Spurrier, was one that was simply powerful in its message. Taking a relatively hated character and rebuilding him, Spurrier crafted a story exploring legacy, trust, potential, goals, belonging and many other such themes to bring out the best and worst out of David Haller and his vision of a united mutant world. However, like any good story, it always get every bit closer to its ending with every chapter released, with this issue being the penultimate one before the very end.

Painting this tale with a good lot of distress and despair, the writer continues his exploration of David Haller, playing up the prophecy in which he will end up destroying the world due to his powers, with naught but Blindfold being able to destroy him to save everyone. Lamenting his fate and how unjust and cruel the world can be at times, the narration carries on the desire for something better that David holds onto, putting forth the events in this issue in a light that is saddening. Playing up with the sympathy the readers have built for the main character, there is a heavy sensation of empathy thrown in for the actual injustice dealt to David, who sees his dreams and his desires being perverted by elements completely outside of his control.

It is precisely the way in which the issue actually shows the mistakes of David and the worst aspects of his faults that make this issue so potent in many ways. His vision for a united mutant kind, his desire to be respected and accepted and his growing control of his multiple powers and personas make for a culmination of the many concepts and ideas of the series that ends up being perverted in a rather surprising way.

X-Men Legacy #22 – Review

by Simon Spurrier (Writer), Khoi Pham (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: With everything going to hell, it’s a nice thing that David has the help of multiple X-Men for his problems.

The Review: It’s always exhilarating to see a title get to its conclusion. While the end may be coming, to see all those subplots and plot threads developed bloom is something that is always a bit satisfying, especially if you are part of the readers that were there during the inception of the title. There’s always the chance that the title might end up being disappointing, but the chance of it being right is always exciting nonetheless.

X-Men Legacy could have very well become something rather insipid in its last few issues, yet the weird energy and the themes brought by Simon Spurrier are strong here. This issue, in many way, is a culmination of many ongoing themes and developments brought to the character of David Haller, providing plenty of entertainment and excitement as the showdown against the evil Xavier goes forth.

Still putting plenty of emphasis on the narration of David, this issue gives readers plenty of the fascinating thoughts that fueled this series and its development, this time giving us a deep insight on the evolution of his introspection and his relation to mutant kind. The way he interacts with other characters he has met and those he didn’t in this battle against his hate and fears personified is very interesting, revealing how his point-of-view changed with each experiences, giving some nice points to how Spurrier handled his evolution throughout the series as seen in the pages of this issue.

X-Men Legacy #21 – Review

by Simon Spurrier (Writer), Khoi Pham (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: David has one good dialogue with Blindfold as he tries to fight the evil golden Xavier that fled from his head.

The Review: Simon Spurrier is a comic book anarchist. There, I said it. Let it be known to all that he cares not for how most capes comics are written and that he’ll do whatever he feels like. Serious issues and social stigmas aren’t normally discussed in super hero universes (at least not in ways that are blatantly direct), but Spurrier doesn’t care. He’s right here to destroy everything we think we know about how super heroes should be handled.

Let it not be said that it isn’t a good thing, though, as X-Men Legacy has been nothing if not delightful when it handles David Haller’s adventure and how he envisions the world. Spurrier, without shying away from what makes capes comics popular in the first place, use these concepts to actually put better ones to the forefront in order to make it both personal and grand in scale.

Simon Spurrier here seems to focus largely on David and his struggle with his mistakes, his powers, his grief and his inability to trust others, which he weaves easily into his tales and through the interactions with a person he loves and one he hates. The dialogue with Blindfold, which makes for the first half of the issue, is something that goes from poignant to a mix of optimism and pessimism, with David fully knowing (or at least he seems to think so) how humanity functions and how everything could be.

X-Men Legacy #20 – Review

by Simon Spurrier (Writer), Tan Eng Huat, Craig Yeung (Artists), Jose Villarrubia (Colorist)

The Story: With the dark phoenix inside his psyche, David needs to gets himself together to actually have a chance to fight back.

The Review: The latest issue of X-Men Legacy was kind of great. With plenty of panel time dedicated to a duelling view of the past events of the main storyline of his title, Simon Spurrier went for both a retrospective and a seemingly dark-looking future for David Haller, the protagonist of this book. However, how does Simon Spurrier successfully continues this storyline when all the high concepts have been introduced so flawlessly and with such panache?

Simon Spurrier finds a way, as this issue mostly focus on the very basic concepts of David and his powers, putting the core of his character in the spotlight to transform him and shed a new light toward what he can be and how he could still evolve. Using the themes of his run, not only does the plot progress in a way that feels exciting and expansive, but David shows a new side of his personality with another point-of-view on his actions that actually elevate the character to something else.

X-Men Legacy #19 – Review

by Simon Spurrier (Writer), Tan Eng Huat, Craig Yeung (Artists), Jose Villarrubia (Colorist)

The Story: In custody of S.W.O.R.D., David gets a ”the reason you suck” speech by a cosmic entity.

The Review: One has to admire the willingness of Simon Spurrier to be unconventional. With books like Six-Gun Gorilla, his part in the Trifecta crossover in 2000AD and his webcomic Disenchanted, he seems to have a knack to go for what people might not expect, be it with the setting, the concepts and how everything mesh together. While being original isn’t always a sure thing when it comes to actual quality, being such is always something nice to behold.

His tenure on X-Men Legacy could certainly count as well, as Spurrier shows the mutant corner of the Marvel universe in a whole new light, with David Haller as a protagonist, one that has never been actually popular to begin with. With his story unfolding with every months, Spurrier keep his readers guessing as he seems to be unable to keep a status quo for his story, which can be a blessing as it can be a curse sometimes. However, the latest issue wasn’t certainly the greatest as it tried to precipitate events a bit fast in order to advance his story. Does this issue take advantage of this setup to properly advance its themes and story, though?

It actually does, much to this issue’s benefit, as not only Spurrier manage to bring in a certain retrospective and different vision of events past, but he also manage to provide some new concepts and ideas to his tale as well. The use of Aarkus, a villain that had been introduced in the story in issue 9, Spurrier manages to bring in a different way to envision David’s action through a bigger picture, peppering it with a tinge of grudge as well. The whole concept of cosmic trial is a sound one, as not only does Spurrier bring in past threads, but he uses them to go ahead with his story.

X-Men Legacy #18 Review

by Simon Spurrier (Writer), Khoi Pham (Artist) Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: David shows Cyclops his master plan concerning many of his goals during a somewhat heated discussion. Irony then ensues…

The Review: Simon Spurrier sure knows how to anticipate the expectations of his readers. While it is hard nowadays to truly surprise anyone in most medias, he seems to be able to do so as he plays around with his status quo and with the premise of his story. Doing so in this issue, Spurrier advance the general subplots alongside his characterization David, creating some astonishing moments in this issue. However, for all those surprises, does it advance his general plot as well as create an interesting issue overall?

It’s a bit of a hit and miss, really, as while Spurrier plays to his strengths in this issue, there are some weird pacing issues in this month’s instalment that make for a bit of an unsatisfying experience when it comes to the payoff of some of the longer running subplots.

The strongest point, though, is the characterization as David is being one of the more interesting mutant characters thanks to the reinvention of the character by Spurrier. The use of his powers, his methods alongside how he operates shows the inherent problem the character needs to go through, which is consistent with his evolution as well as his actions throughout this arc. On the thematic side of things, this issue has a very strong display on how David perceive the mutant world and the battle between humans and mutants.

X-Men Legacy #17 – Review

by Simon Spurrier (Writer), Koi Pham (Artist) Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: David Vs. Cyclops in a big fight. Who shall win?

The Review: In the last review, I talked about action in super hero comics and their necessity. I talked about how many writers sometimes took the action to the forefront without putting the emphasis on the characters participating in the action shown and how Simon Spurrier had somehow made a smart choice in always putting David in importance above everything else. It was a nice issue, yet it could have been better.

As it turn out, Spurrier knew this quite well, as while the action continues in this issue, it becomes much better. This is due to two factors: the focus on the battle between Cyclops and David and the numerous thoughts of David being written for the readers enjoyment. This provide an unilateral voice to the whole issue that brings many thoughts to a single subject, which really shows how Spurrier’s take on David is fascinating.

Despite the slow pacing of the fight and how more than half of the issue is Scott Summers and David Haller trading blows, the constant narration by David bring out his psychology and his philosophy out front. How David sees Cyclops, how a fight really is and the fashion in which he envisions the whole brawl is nothing short of character-defining, making this character move toward a new step in his evolution. As the fight evolve, so does the readers understanding of David, which was really well-told even before this issue.

X-Men Legacy #16 – Review

Simon Spurrier (Writer), Paul Davidson (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: David tries to take down Cyclops team as he has a very important message to bring to the man who killed his father.

The Review: Super hero comics are about action. It’s a very general way to see things and one that lack a bit of depths, yet it is also very true. Why create characters that can lift mountains and punch giants if we don’t see them actually use their powers once in a while? The stories, characters, themes and the direction are important, yet sometimes the readers do like to see what the protagonists are able to do with their powers and abilities when it comes to cape comics.

Simon Spurrier understand this very well, as he gives the readers a very action-heavy issue without having the obvious problems associated with such issues. Even though the issue deals with David showing off the fact that he can beat pretty much anyone, the issue never let go of some of the key themes that makes this series good to begin with.

The first thing he does is actually play on the growing subplot that David is getting a better handle on his numerous powers, which is shown throughout him beating down on many of the characters found in Bendis Uncanny X-Men run. Using the various personalities in his mind, Spurrier shows a David that is in control, which also reflects on the way he talks to those he is beating down. This is a man that knows he’s immensely powerful and it is displayed in his mannerism, speech and his use of powers splendidly.

X-Men Legacy #15 – Review

Simon Spurrier (Writer), Tan Eng Huat, Craig Yeung (Artists), José Villarrubia (Colorist)

The Story: David does something that he needed to do for a long time: meet and talk with his mother.

The Review: In this actual superhero comic climate filled to the brim with titles either featuring X-Men or Avengers in the title, it’s always nice to see niche title going on strongly. Big companies like DC and Marvel are business first and foremost, yet it’s always comforting to see them try something new, releasing titles that may very well fail as it does not incorporate the more popular characters. Titles like Dial H, Journey Into Mystery, Superior Foes of Spider-Man are such titles and are refreshing to see standing next to titles like Avengers, Uncanny X-Men and their likes.*

X-Men Legacy is one such title, even though it does feature the aforementioned X-Men in the title. Who would have thought that a title featuring a character that has never been particularly popular or written in an absolutely memorable fashion would actually get to issue 15 in a cancellation-hungry market. What’s even better is the fact that not only is the character interesting, but so is the actual direction and message of the book. As the title goes on in its showcase of how David wants to help the mutant community in his own way, we are treated to new ideas or new takes on old ideas that gives the mutant corner of the Marvel universe a new angle that is quite fascinating.

As great as the mutant corner is represented, this specific take doesn’t get covered as much as David does, which is actually a very fine diversion from the mutant and psychedelic twists from the previous issues. In this issue, David finally confront his own mother about many of the problems he had in his life when she gave him away to a facility in Muir Island. While it does feature several of the atrocities the mutants had to endure in the earlier years when they emerged, a lot of these issues are put in the background of the issue to focus on the actual matter of the issue: the relationship between David and his mother, as tenuous as it is after he had been abandoned.

X-Men Legacy #14 – Review

Simon Spurrier (Writer), Tan Eng Huat, Craig Yeung (Artists), José Villarrubia (Colorist)

The Story: For a big strategist and mastermind, Peter Wisdom sure seems to be easily manipulated by David…

The Review: Great ideas don’t necessarily make great comics. As much as concepts can bring some interest in a particular title, they need to be executed well in order for quality to be in on the whole thing.

X-Men Legacy could very well be one of the poster child of such a saying, as it has some really fascinating ideas revolving around the whole notion of what mutants are and what they could do, as well as the flaw behind the very idea that is the X-Men. The sheer notion that David Haller, the son of Charles Xavier, a powerful yet absolutely unstable mutant could helm a title of his one was something that seemed unrealistic, yet it still manage after a dozen issues to keep on going.

From what can be seen, the reason for the continuation of a title that seems to be that the main direction of the title is simply full of potential: what if Charles Xavier methods of unification between mutants and the rest of humanity were wrong? The very notion that building a small army that would use violence in order to protect mankind from mutantkind with bad intentions do come as somewhat trite as we see what David is trying to do. As Spurrier tries r push the idea through the character of David, we get some very interesting insight on what it could mean to be a mutant in the Marvel universe.

X-Men Legacy #1

By: Simon Spurrier (writer), Tan Eng Huat (penciler), Craig Yeung (inker), Jose Villarrubia (colorist)

The Story: David Haller, the son of Charles Xavier (and sometimes called Legion), is trying to get his insanity under control with the help of a foulmouthed monk (the best kind). And oh…he doesn’t know that his dad is dead. Awkwardness engaged!

The Review: I never really cared for the character Legion. He’s always come off as a very convenient plot device and not something that can be considered a real person. And what kind of power is having every power? Isn’t this just a more convenient version of Dial H? So we have this mohawk jagoff with a lame superpower and a convenient back story of being the son of the most powerful mind in the universe (aw for irony because the son is out of his mind) who is only used to futher a plot. And Marvel wants to base an entire series off of this guy? Good luck.

As it turns out, I kind of forgot to remove X-Men Legacy from my subscription list, and you don’t want to be that guy at the comic shop who’s like “Oh, I know you ordered this for me, but…I kind of forgot to cross it off, so…no…” So I picked up the relaunch. Figured I’d read the first issue and see how it went. And hell, I’ve been enjoying Simon Spurrier’s Extinction, so maybe this wouldn’t be absolutely horrible. Then I decided to read Thor: God of Thunder and really, that should have been the last thing I read: How can anything not seem mediocre after that beautiful bastard Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic gave us? But I guess I was just really wanting to not give Legion a chance in hell, because I read it right after. So, I read it.