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.