Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… Continuing with my reviews from last week we have ‘X-Men: Legacy.’ Hope you enjoy it.

X-Men Legacy #231 (preview)
Writer: Mike Carey
Penciler: Clay Mann
Inkers: Danny Miki with Allen Martinez & Walden Wong

NOTE: Wolverine appears on the cover only.

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP: The issue opens with Cyclops and the X-Men fighting a losing battle against the Techno-zombies including a newly revealed Maggott. Blindfold walks into the middle of the fight and asks for a moment of Cyclops’ time and he gets the Cuckoos to set up a meeting in her mind space. Ruth reveals what Destiny told her and said the Muir Island is a cancer that needs to be dealt with.

Back on Necrosha, Irene talks to one of her jailers, Leon, and reveals some secrets of his past. She trades him a vision of the future for her freedom. In Ruth’s head she manages to convince Scott of the need to send a team to Muir Island. She also questions whether her mother is really dead. In the real world Cyclops orders Nightcrawler to prep an away team while Psylocke tries to comfort Blindfold.

Soon Kurt is taking his team across the Atlantic. He has tapped Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Rogue, Trance, Husk as well as Blindfold. Kurt tries to explain the reason for leaving their friends behind in the middle of a war but it does not go over well. Meanwhile, Magneto attempts to rekindle a spark with Rogue who rebuffs him.

On the island, Kurt has Trance scout the area while he jumps to the lab to make sure it is not a trap. While they wait, Colossus asks Betsy about her powers and she demonstrates that she still has plenty of telekinetic punch to go along with her telepathy. Rogue talks to Ruth and tries to get details on Destiny’s visit. Blindfold admits that Irene called her daughter but seemed surprised to see her face.

On Necrosha, the guard is brought before Selene for letting Destiny escape and trying to kill himself. The Black Queen does not opt to send anyone after Irene.

Back on Muir island, neither Kurt nor Trance have found any trace of an enemy. Nightcrawler sends them into the lab hard and fast but no one seems to be present. They question Blindfold but she does not make much sense. When Colossus touches her, she screams and runs away.

Rogue offers to go after the girl, who runs into Destiny in the hallway. Irene says that she was manipulated into giving that warning and tells Ruth not to touch anything before it is too late. Ruth ignores that request and grabs Destiny asking if she is her mother. Irene denies it but then there is a power surge that knocks the old woman out.

Rogue arrives to find a very changed Blindfold who smashes and restrains Rogue with pieces of metal from the walls. Marie asks how Ruth can suddenly do these things and the girls reveals herself to be Proteus.

MY TAKE: This is a pretty decent issue but with some odd pacing and story problems that took away from the quality. I like the idea of Proteus coming back, he is an interesting villain and can be very effective as seen in the Exiles series. I am not sure I understand how exactly he is managing to come back but when you deal with threats of that level, they do not really need to make sense.

The characterizations are good, as usual for this series, and it will be nice to have some attention focused on Blindfold. She is one of the more enigmatic new X-Men and I think she has a lot of potential. I was also glad to see Magneto and Rogue at least addressing their shared history. While I do not expect it to go anywhere, it is a nice scene for long term readers.

My biggest problem with the story is that is really has nothing to do with Necrosha. This is a tale that could have been told at any time and in fact would have worked better after the event, assuming Destiny survives in some form. The whole first scene felt out of place and the idea of some of the X-Men’s biggest guns leaving in the middle of a war they are losing makes no sense. Even though they tried to address this in the story, it made me shake my head. I do not understand anyone sending away their fighters before they even manage to secure their home. Adding in the cameo, with Proudstar in one panel, felt like it was pandering to the event as well.

I also wonder about the pacing. While I certainly do not mind having some personal interactions, waiting in potentially hostile terrain hardly seems like the best time. The setup felt very rushed too, so the sudden pauses in the middle were a bit jarring. Basically these were scenes that should have been done at the start of the story but could not be, due to the overall event.

In the end, this is a good setup with a strong team and definitely a lot of potential now that they are away from Utopia. I think we will get a lot of good action and some fun fights between the X-Men power players and Proteus. I just do not believe it really falls within the Necrosha story line and having to add in scenes with Selene and other Techno-zombies just muddies the story and the flow. Hopefully we will not see much more of the Necrosha bunch in the remaining two issues.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.