Schism 2: Electric Boogaloo
The Good: First, I love the cover. Each issue of this series has had a fun interesting and somewhat unique cover. Hopefully they can keep this trend going.
Now on to the Story.
This issue picks up right where the last one left off: The Jean Grey School's teaching staff have arrived to apprehend Legion and tension is in the air. The confrontation is initially just verbal, and in my opinion this is where Legion really shines. After 3 issues of meandering, he's finally found a purpose and he tells Wolverine's X-Men exactly what he wants to do and why. It really felt good to see Legion taking charge of his own life. The story is finally taking shape in these last two issues and I now feel like I have a good grasp of what direction the Author is going in with this new 'Legacy' series.
When the violence started I was expecting to be bored, based on how this fight was set up in issue 3 but I should never have doubted Simon Spurrier. Legion and the twins turn another unnecessary battle between superheroes into an entertaining spectacle for the whole family to enjoy.
Blindfold was another stand-out character for me. Any fans of hers should enjoy this issue, she does a lot more than her standard routine of seeing a glimpse of the future, crying out, then fainting and not doing anything for the next 10+ issues.
The Bad: Again starting with the art, there's one page where Storm and Frenzy Look nearly identical.
Now on to the Story.
One HUGE problem I had with this issue was how Hank and Wolverine responded to Legion. Their argument with Legion seemed pretty much identical to the argument that eventually lead to Schism and Regenesis, two major events that actually changed the status quo for the X-Men and the marvel universe in general. Except that this time Hank and Logan are on the other side of this issue.
Legion's goals align with everything Wolverine and Beast have claimed to stand for since Schism, but now for the first time ever they seem to agree with Cyclops and Magneto's point of view? It's almost as if the author made them do a philosophical 180 just so they'd have more reasons to fight Legion. It's a ridiculous case of character inconsistency and the reason I lowered my rating from 4 stars to 3. It seems like either sloppy writing or a sloppy, planned RetCon of Schism (which happened like what, 5 minutes ago?)
The Verdict: As a fan of Legion, Chamber, Frenzy, and now Blindfold I really wanted to rate this issue higher. It had potential and some entertaining action but the inconsistent character of Wolverine and Beast just really brought things down for me. I wouldn't say to skip it outright but I'd recommend waiting for the trade so this issue makes more sense in context.
