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X-Men: Legacy #269 - Allegiances, Pt. 1 Review

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The war between the X-Men and Avengers is still going on and what better pairing is there than Rogue vs. Ms. Marvel?

The Good

The nice thing about the current status of AVENGERS VS. X-MEN is most of the little fights have been put on hold. The X-Men now have the Phoenix Five, five members with a portion of the Phoenix Force. They have been 'solving' the world's problems but the Avengers don't trust them with the power.

The main focus here is on Rogue (she is pretty much the lead character in the series). As she goes out to continue doing what she can in saving the world, she is confronted by Ms. Marvel. You can imagine how this is going to go. Rogue and Ms. Marvel have a long and dark history since Rogue accidentally absorbed her powers and a portion of her mind. With the escalation of the battle between the two teams, this is going to get very messy.

Christos Gage does a great job in delivering a tie-in story without it feeling completely bogged down by the main series. Many of the tie-in issues have been all over the place and the added fact that this lines up perfectly with the shipping schedule is an extra treat. Rogue and Ms. Marvel are great characters. This is the match up that many of us want to see even if it's a tough decision in who to root for. Throw in David Baldeon's art and Brian Reber's colors, it's a fun ride.

The Bad

It is great to see the two fight but we're all on the verge of hero vs. hero overload. It's also hard to accept that the X-Men would be so willing to believe that any bit of the Phoenix Force could be controlled. This is more of a problem with the overall story and not necessarily this issue in particular.

For a series called X-MEN LEGACY, it really feels like it should just be called ROGUE.

The Verdict

The AVENGERS VS. X-MEN tie-ins have been a mixed bag. Christos Gage and David Baldeon give us a nice detour in the main event with a focus on Rogue and Ms. Marvel. The entire AvX story is feeling like a car accident and you can't help but look. Issues like this give us more of a focus on the characters. We get to hear what Rogue thinks of everything and its that insight that provides more substance over fight after fight, even if there is a pretty cool one here.

23 Comments
Posted by Cafeterialoca

2 things.

1) Rachel Summers controls the Phoenix Force. She's living proof that it can be tamed.

2) The reason they call it X-Men Legacy is so that people will buy it! The moment they call it Rogue, people will not read it because stupid fans have the idea that "Girls have cooties".

Edited by Lokheit

I kinda liked the issue, until they made things evolve too fast. There was all that talk about looking for any sign of the P5 slowly going mad, and being alert and...

...and then HUR HUR HUR!!! CRAZY LIMBO PIT!!! HUR HUR HUR!!! LOOK AT MY CRAZY FACE OBVIOUSLY BEING A SIGNAL OF ME BEING MAD!!! HUR HUR HUR!!!

That completly broke the pace of this issue for me, they decided to ignore the character development of the P5 starting to weak against the Phoenix influence...

And to be honest, I though Namor or Emma would loose their minds before any other P5 because both Rasputin brothers have interacted with evil forces before and because Scott character development on that Infinite AvX digital comic. Apparently I was wrong with Magick, but it was done too fast with zero development (except for Carol saying "I bet you're the first one going crazy!" obviously words of the author spoiling his own ending to the issueor trying to make the complete character development with that only phrase, like if suddenly that phrase would make up for it being logical...).

I don't know if Scott or the others P5 know about this limbo pit, but I don't think they do, it was too over the top and may be Magick acting as some time ago before taking her soul back.

Posted by Nuec_Sol

Rogue came off way too naive in this issue, it took a big step back in her character development.

Posted by Outside_85

If Cyclops' creepy Cult Leader speech to Rachel over in Wolverine and the X-Men wasn't sign enough about where this is going, then Magik's behavior here is.

Posted by sparty-dbq

It's funny how Rogue talked about how absorbing Carol's powers nearly ruined both their lives, then two pages later she tries to do the exact same thing again.

Posted by Hareil0079

@Lokheit said:

I kinda liked the issue, until they made things evolve too fast. There was all that talk about looking for any sign of the P5 slowly going mad, and being alert and...

...and then HUR HUR HUR!!! CRAZY LIMBO PIT!!! HUR HUR HUR!!! LOOK AT MY CRAZY FACE OBVIOUSLY BEING A SIGNAL OF ME BEING MAD!!! HUR HUR HUR!!!

That completly broke the pace of this issue for me, they decided to ignore the character development of the P5 starting to weak against the Phoenix influence...

And to be honest, I though Namor or Emma would loose their minds before any other P5 because both Rasputin brothers have interacted with evil forces before and because Scott character development on that Infinite AvX digital comic. Apparently I was wrong with Magick, but it was done too fast with zero development (except for Carol saying "I bet you're the first one going crazy!" obviously words of the author spoiling his own ending to the issueor trying to make the complete character development with that only phrase, like if suddenly that phrase would make up for it being logical...).

I don't know if Scott or the others P5 know about this limbo pit, but I don't think they do, it was too over the top and may be Magick acting as some time ago before taking her soul back.

That whole deal with magik wasn't too soon, it was perfect. Keep in mind Magik is a person was willing to destroy the universe for her own goal without a second thought and she didn't care about anyone. Pretty states this in the TPB New Mutants: Unfinished Business. (how soon people forget that) I love that scene so much in NM cause Cyke is interrogating her and almost every mutant on Utopia as armed and ready to take her down if she became hostile... (she gets put in the X-brig, and a bomb strapped to her and Pitor states that Cyke shouldn't do that and he's wrong)and now we fast forward to the present in AvX and cause she has the PF that it automatically absolves her and she automatically can do no wrong. Most people who have been reading AvX have been pretty naive especially in the Second Act. (not to forget Marvel having the avengers come to Utopia for a 2nd time for Hope which in effect makes them a scapegoat for the P5 and X-men's actions against them and the world)

Posted by LordRequiem

I shall root for Ms. Marvel. Would I be right in saying she's stronger that Rogue now?

Posted by Top Flight Security

Read the issue and you'll see what Rogue can do to even the field. I thought it was a good fight. A bit naive on Rogue's part, but a good fight non the less.

Posted by Hareil0079

@LordRequiem said:

I shall root for Ms. Marvel. Would I be right in saying she's stronger that Rogue now?

She is, but again Ms Marvel came to talk not really fight. cause if she did what she did in SA 27 then Rogue would probably be dead.

Posted by Overlander

Awesome cover.

Posted by darkhalf

check out the uncanny x-men where rouge and ms marvel rival first inroduced. it's all in rogue's mind. she is battling a horror brought from when she sucked in a portion of ms marvel's memory. it was jean and prof x saved her, but with this comic line i dont know who will save her, might be emma...

Posted by ka385385

Look fun for me in this issuse.

Posted by pspin

Why are the tie -ins better at explaining motivations and reasons better than the main series. Half of Ms. Marvel's dialogue, the parts about the Phoenix Five going mad with power, should have been in AvX 6 and it would have made the issue 10 times better.

Posted by shrmntnk62

I like Rogue as much as the next guy. This essentially being her book has been a big problem for me for quite awhile. When Carey left I was hoping that would be fixed. Oh well.

Posted by feargalr

To be honest issues like this are what's making AvX good, the main story is so so, but these detours are great.

Posted by Lokheit

@Hareil0079 said:

@Lokheit said:

I kinda liked the issue, until they made things evolve too fast. There was all that talk about looking for any sign of the P5 slowly going mad, and being alert and...

...and then HUR HUR HUR!!! CRAZY LIMBO PIT!!! HUR HUR HUR!!! LOOK AT MY CRAZY FACE OBVIOUSLY BEING A SIGNAL OF ME BEING MAD!!! HUR HUR HUR!!!

That completly broke the pace of this issue for me, they decided to ignore the character development of the P5 starting to weak against the Phoenix influence...

And to be honest, I though Namor or Emma would loose their minds before any other P5 because both Rasputin brothers have interacted with evil forces before and because Scott character development on that Infinite AvX digital comic. Apparently I was wrong with Magick, but it was done too fast with zero development (except for Carol saying "I bet you're the first one going crazy!" obviously words of the author spoiling his own ending to the issueor trying to make the complete character development with that only phrase, like if suddenly that phrase would make up for it being logical...).

I don't know if Scott or the others P5 know about this limbo pit, but I don't think they do, it was too over the top and may be Magick acting as some time ago before taking her soul back.

That whole deal with magik wasn't too soon, it was perfect. Keep in mind Magik is a person was willing to destroy the universe for her own goal without a second thought and she didn't care about anyone. Pretty states this in the TPB New Mutants: Unfinished Business. (how soon people forget that) I love that scene so much in NM cause Cyke is interrogating her and almost every mutant on Utopia as armed and ready to take her down if she became hostile... (she gets put in the X-brig, and a bomb strapped to her and Pitor states that Cyke shouldn't do that and he's wrong)and now we fast forward to the present in AvX and cause she has the PF that it automatically absolves her and she automatically can do no wrong. Most people who have been reading AvX have been pretty naive especially in the Second Act. (not to forget Marvel having the avengers come to Utopia for a 2nd time for Hope which in effect makes them a scapegoat for the P5 and X-men's actions against them and the world)

Don't get me wrong, I know about what Magick has done before, and how she risked the universe to recover her soul. But since recovering her soul, even if she has been shown grim at ocassions, she hasn't shown any intention to go rogue (she had explosives, but she never argued against that and was very comprensive).

My point is that being a P5 that have been dealing with evil forces before (alongside his brother with Cytorak), I assumed she would be more resistant to corruption from another evil force (the phoenix) as she is experienced with that. If she's acting as evil Illyana instead of Evil Phoenix is a different question, but the focus of the issue is showing ow the Phoenix will corrupt the P5 and showing her as the first corrupted.

Posted by Hareil0079

My point is that the PF amplifies emotions and ones deep within the psyche of impulses. Jean aka actually Phoenix at the time (granted manipulated but the sensations it experienced that it never had it wanted more) is an example and so was maddie, (when the phoenix brought her to life and then died and jean took in both psyches you saw a change in her personality and was being amplified) I look at the P5 and look at 4 of them who have these deep impulses and have been on the other side. Colossus for being an acolyte and one of Magnetos men for a while, Illyana as I previous stated, Namor, and then Emma for obvious reasons i'm pretty sure when looking at that Marvel will exploit that in the Uncanny X-Men tie ins if not the main book

Posted by Uncas007

Rogue vs. Ms. Marvel? What a boss idea! Why didn't they think of that 20 years ago? ... Oh, wait.....

Posted by Duke_Nasty

@Cafeterialoca: Rogue is the reason I buy this title but I know what you mean.

Posted by Cafeterialoca

@Duke_Nasty said:

@Cafeterialoca: Rogue is the reason I buy this title but I know what you mean.

Oh, it's why I'm buying it too. It's Rogue's book. Problem is, that the comic buying public probably wouldn't buy it if it was called Rogue.

Posted by darkhalf

@Uncas007 said:

Rogue vs. Ms. Marvel? What a boss idea! Why didn't they think of that 20 years ago? ... Oh, wait.....

they've already did...

Posted by DATNIGGA

Rachel summers is proof that the PF can be controlled.. funny how people ignore this...

personally i think cyclops is the only Phoenix host that wont lose his mind & forget where he came from the rest... i cant say the same, Namor has serious anger issues, magik can be really evil when she wants to be, colossus cant even fully control himself when hes cyctorak bound & Emma... I dont care what anyone says that women is still evil on the inside lol

Posted by DraketheSlaughter

@LordRequiem: Ms. Marvel FTW