This is WAR!!
X-Men Legacy #235
Second Coming: Chapter 4
Usually the first thing I complain about when I pick up any book that has the name Greg Land associated with it is the quality of the art. This may be a first for me, but I’m going to actually say he clearly produced above his average output this issue. Yes all the ladies faces looked about the same and there were maybe 4 panels that looked like they could have been traced from this months Penthouse. This time though there was actually some quality work. His depictions of Warlock were completely awesome, especially the scene were he goes Murder Death Kill.
There must be an incredible amount of editorial control or collaboration by the writers because again we get a quality story. Mike Carey picks up the keys to this thing and just runs with it. There are plenty of moments that make your jaw drop and just as many that leave you wanting more of this epic X-Event.
The story opens with the New Mutants (I still want to call them X-Force sometimes on accident,) continuing their battle with the Orphan Makers and their overlord the twisted and reanimated Cameron Hodge. Even though at the end of the last book it looked like Hodge merely skewered Karma’s leg, it looks like she is now an amputee. Watching this battle Doug convinces Warlock that in a time of war it is kill or be killed, and prompted by this our favorite techno organic life-form gets serious quickly. Making short work of the enemies and rapidly turning the tide of battle. This part of the book alone is worth the cover price, but there is still more.
The lingering plot thread concerning Rogue and her connection to Hope is picked up from last week and it is concluded that it has something to do with Hope healing her before she took her trip through time. Cyclops decides to use this connection in his favor though and sends Rogue to the Alpha team to guide them to Hope and Cable. Tracking is going well and there is open communication between Utopia and the teams when there is a large amount of psychic feedback, resulting in the failing of Cerebra, and now the X-Men are flying blind with only their ground intelligence to guide them. This was another part of Bastions plan to cripple them and shows how much homework is done, but it is revealed that Bastion has his own Cerebra type machine which gives him another advantage paired with his connection to Cable’s TO virus.
The Alpha team receives their intel and know find out how Cabal and hope are being tracked. They get a fix on their location and move in to provide an assist to the time jumping pair before they can be ambushed yet again. Cable doesn’t tell Hope about the tracking on panel but she is assigned new escorts, Nightcrawler and Rogue. Their goal is to get to Utopia while Cable and the Alpha team play decoy and run interference hoping to slow down Bastion and his Human Cabal.
This issue was gripping, there were casualties on both sides and it has made progress quickly. I don’t know how people don’t spoil this story immediately after reading it. I just have a feeling everybody waiting for the trade is going to know all the twists by Saturday every week. If you haven’t been an X-fan for some time, this story is as good as some of the classics you remember.
4.5 out of 5 Barrowed Powers
