X-Men Legends (2021-) #1 by Fabian Nicieza
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Marvel get Brett Booth to draw another X-Men book, but this time it works. And, if you’re able to set aside some things he’s said on social media in the past (and it’s understandable if you can’t) he does some pretty solid work on this book. It screams mid-nineties, sure, but that’s entirely appropriate as this is a story set after #39 of the nineties adjectiveless X-Men series, with repeated references to an issue of Captain Marvel from 1995.
As for that story, if the whole “third Summers brother” dangling plot thread has been bothering you for a quarter of a century and you really, really want the true identity and backstory of Adam-X “The Extreme” to be resolved…well, this is the comic for you. If you have NO IDEA what I’m talking about then, uh, you could do worse than listening to Jay & Miles X-Plain The X-Men who have, I know, covered it in depth. Well, in as much depth as obscure X-Men dangling plotlines from the mid-nineties deserve.
This book very much captures the feel of mid-nineties X-men comics, and how much you liked mid-nineties X-Men will probably determine how much you like enjoy this comic. The one thing that works against it is that, at the time, this plotline would almost certainly have been interwoven with several other ongoing plotlines. The fact that these aren’t slotted in between scene transitions actually feels a little jarring at times, and things feel a little rushed as a consequence. However, that’s definitely made up for with…well…just the thrill of finally having this gap filled.
Because, you see, I have spent the last twenty five years wondering about this, because I’m that kind of obsessive nerd. This book was made for me and people like me, and if I could travel back in time and tell my friends on the Comics And Anime forum on AOL not to worry, because in twenty five years time they’d go back and resolve this dangling plotline it would…well…it would be really, really weird, actually. But probably no weirder than a lot of my posts on that forum.
Anyway, yes, good comic is good, but your mileage may well vary.
Random Ramblings Of A Ragamuffin 