X-Men: Legacy #275

X-Men: Legacy #275 Review

Overview:

Rogue and Mimic handle a prison riot as plotlines come to a close.

The Good:

The story is pretty good. It involves Rogue and Mimic take on some of the meta-human inmates at an “upstate” facility that can’t handle them. One thing that the book does well is that it gives reasons for the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Avengers not being there and references AvX, which is nice as all too often “major events” fall to the wayside two months later in all but a few books. The story also deals with Rogue and Mimic’s similar powers and how they deal with being themselves without others interfering with their personalities. Over all this provides for a deeper story that is a nice way to end the series which has centered on Rogue and her personal journey.

Christos Gage does a good job with the writing here. It is a bit deeper than usual but it is effective at telling the story. While it is not his best, it is still pretty good and wraps up the series in a good way. There is a funny scene in which Rogue assumes she knows what Mimic is talking about but is way off and it is funny because Rouge is such a popular X-woman that her thinking is totally believable and both awkward and funny when she is wrong.

David Baldeon, why is your art such a roller coaster? Some of it is great. The action pages where Mimic is fighting the inmates are great, the splash page at the end is great, and monster-Rogue (she transforms when she absorbs some powers) is great. Some of the close ups though are not as great, it is the faces. Still, the good far outweighs the bad here.

There was a transformed Rogue, which is always a plus. She looked pretty cool here.

The Bad:

At one point Rogue goes into motivational speaker mode, and I understand that she has experience on the topic of life choices and that these inmates are closer to the minimum security end of the spectrum but it is hard to picture Rogue as a really good motivational speaker. It just seems a bit much; and while she is a good leader, she usually seems more like the lead by example type while someone like Gambit or Iceman handles the smooth talking. It is not a major issue but it stuck out.

Not every plot thread that was started was finished here. Not all of them can be of course but some of the more interesting one could have. Ones like what is the deal with Frenzy and Gambit, where is Frenzy (she all but disappeared after an AvX tie in), and other plot threads that deal with other people besides Rouge. But the majority of them seemed to be answered, which is good.

While I understand the use of Mimic as an ally, I would have preferred to see the rest of the Legacy team instead. The team being Rogue, Rachel Summers, Gambit, Frenzy, and Magneto. I understand why, but I liked that team, that was the biggest problem I had with the issue.

Verdict:

While not ending with a bang, the series ends on a high note. This was a solid issue that answered many of the Rogue centric questions but unfortunately left some interesting ones hanging. The solid art is a major boost. Overall there is a deeper tone that resonates a little more than a standard wrap-up issue.

5 (4.75) out of 5

Too bad the series is cancelled, until the 14, and then there is a number 1. I am genuinely interested in the series and who it will star. Here’s hoping it is good.