Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
X-Men Legacy #300
Marvel Comics
Carey, Gage, Spurrier, Huat, Kurth & Sandoval
The anniversary issue of X-Men Legacy brings back one of the major contributors over the run in the form of writer Mike Carey. The math to get to issue #300 is lost on the reader without research, but the issue is standalone enough for any reader to pick up. The concept is a fairly sound one. A person, deformed through an assault, attempts to break into the mansion to live as a mutant. She is confronted by an X-Man that tries to talk her through her actions and feelings. The book has all the makings of a classic one-shot but falls drastically short in a number of areas.
The girl tries to break into the mansion and gets stuck in an invisible wall. The X-Man that comes to her aid is a guy whose power is that people forget him. He's ignored seconds after another individual interfaces with him and no one remembers his name. It's the perfect flip-side to what the girl is trying to achieve as she just wants to blend in and her physical appearance won't allow that.
While the X-Man attempts to remove her from the wall, he tells her a few tales from his past where his power came in handy. The failure here is that the flashbacks layer in some older stories that are not at all straightforward, especially Mike Carey's labor of love, Age of X. Age of X was a complicated, alternate version of the X-Men that really is difficult to understand without the proper context. This comic gives very little context, but the story tries to stay away from the other characters but it is really very confusing.
The way the comic book works is when it comes to bringing the girl's thought process around. She begins to understand how to change her thinking to see that not everything is all that bad, despite her physical difference from the common man.
The artwork is not terribly good. The book feels like it was slapped together but has a few bright spots. Unfortunately, the bright spots highlight how lifeless and sloppy other parts of the book appear. The art definitely needed more attention to help push this story along better.
This comic book isn't awful, but it is definitely forgettable. I had hoped for a story that was more engaging for five dollars and this one feels too much like spare parts with a wrapper to bookend the thing. There is a lot to pick on in the comic (such as the mutant referring to himself as a human) but the construction and presentation of the comic is the main problem. The book had the right idea and two solid characters to execute the story but the book just didn't come close.
2 out of 5 Geek Goggles
