X Revealed
Overview
While the Force Warriors 'Moira' struggle for power, the rest of the mutants within Fortress X anxiously wait for the human armed forces that don't arrive. Assembling in the Command Room, Professor Xavier telepathically reveals the true cause of this distorted version of reality; 'Moira' is a new personality from within Legion's mind, born from Doctor Nemesis' cull of the other personalities. However, she has the power to alter reality... And therefore causes a storm of oncoming vehicles of war to descend upon the Fortress.
The Good
While the plot continues to chop & change scenes as it had done in the previous 'Chapter', it begins to flow back & forth with more casual ease. This time everything is building up to a final reveal; the true identity of X & what had caused this so-called "Age" of X.
Even before this Story Arc had begun, it felt like a murder mystery without a body. However, in this case the corpse is the ragged remnants of reality. Therefore it was up to us to decipher the clues to uncover who the 'murderer' known as X was. There has been a trail of clues in previous issues; the telepathic mutants being held in the Brig, the blank photographs from outside the Force Walls, Box's study of the stars, Professor X being held in a comatose state, Moira's inclusion when all other dead characters from regular continuity were suspiciously absent, and the presence of the freakishly weird non-mutant residents who lounged around Fortress X... and hadn't been seen since the start of the new New Mutants title.
Having inspected the clues, the revelation that 'Moira' is X isn't too much of a surprise. However instead of being an anti-climax, the revelation feels natural & organic. Instead of trying to squeeze in a red herring at the last moment, Mike Carey sticks to the logic that he's created for this 'reality'.
Also, it is worth noting the strong supporting work that Brian Reber's colouring has provided throughout the whole story. Never too dominating that it drowns out the line-work, he's created bold & warm colours in an otherwise cold & barren reality. Such simple touches of detail on faces, and knowing when to add fancy frills to the mutants' powers.
Stand-Out Moment: Legion's True Memory
There's one panel that a lot of work has obviously gone in to. When Professor X digs into his son's mind, he retrieves a memory that was originally seen in the first New Mutants series. When father promised son that he'd always be there.
It seems obvious that a lot of attention has gone in to this panel to reproduce the characters' expressions & to gently mimic Bill Sienkiewic's style from the original New Mutants. The dithering of print spots over the top is a quaint method of making a modern image look old, but somehow it adds to the pop-art retro feel of the panel.
The Bad
Unfortunately, the praise that belongs to Mr Reber is heightened because of the weakness in Clay Mann's pencils. The few loose pages from the previous issue of X-Men: Legacy have extended to the majority of the issue. The fine attention to detail has been substituted in favour of sparser detail and large blacked out areas of shadow. The story has been dark in tone & colour to-date, but never so much to drown the characters in a false sense of film noir. It seems that Mr Mann has been racing against a deadline in order, and as such has resorted to a quicker & more sparse style of art. As such, Mr Reber's colours had to step up to fill in for the lack of detail & add fancy light effects to compensate for the lack of line-work
There's little to fault in Mr Carey's writing in this issue. However, the tension built up between the Force Warriors & the Moonstar Cadre was cut short. Tensions have been bubbling up between all mutants. They are all confused about what's right, wrong and real. Therefore when the two specialised teams were ready to face-off, they were cut short by Legion's outburst. It was a necessary step to keep the pace flowing, but it was still a little anti-climactic that there wasn't a clash of physical & telekinetic teams.
Verdict - 4 out of 5
Much better than the previous issue, but dragged down by loose art. Held up by strong characterisation, advances in plot & dazzling colours.
