As the X-Men line retools itself following Messiah Complex, we finally get to to the book formerly known as Adjectiveless. Essentially created to be a Jim Lee vehicle in 1991 off the back of Todd MacFarlane’s successful “Spider-Man” title, the book was slightly scuppered when Lee left to help form Image under a year into its lifespan. Nevertheless, with a five-cover launch at the height of the speculator boom, it’s easily one of the biggest comics ever published and remained a staple of the line.

I find it somewhat odd, then, to see it reworked (reduced?) into essentially a Professor X solo title, which sounds like a bad idea to anyone. Carey, though, is a fantastic writer who brought the continuity back to comics by being the first person in years to openly acknowledge and reference the X-Men’s rich history. It’s a trend he’s continuing with the rework, and Legacy’s gimmick is that it’s going to feature around 8 pages of backup story each issue, set at certain points in X-history. For a long-time X-Fan like me, it’s a very attractive prospect.

It’s made even more attractive because John Romita Jr. is drawing the Lost-style flashbacks featuring Xavier forming the original X-Men. Some people don’t understand his style, but like his father, he’s nothing less than a true industry great and seeing him draw the X-Men makes me wonder why they ever let him go - he last drew an X-Men title (Uncanny) in 1994. Scott Eaton capably provides the modern-day sequences as the massively powerful acolyte Exodus heals Xavier’s brain and tries to reassemble Xavier’s memories and put them back in his head.

As expected, this fills in the gap between Messiah Complex and the recent Uncanny issue, explaining where Xavier’s body went - the Acolytes have it. That means it’s already continuity plug, starting as it means to go on. Magneto shows up at the end, which makes things very interesting, but also has worrying shades of Claremont’s aborted Excalibur series. Still, let’s not judge it on that so far. At the moment, it’s hard to see where this is going.

The main theme of the book appears to be asking just what Xavier’s motivations really are, presumably to repair around a lot of character damage that’s gone on. The flashback sequences feature him and Moira discussing the formation of the X-Men, and for all Xavier’s claims that he’s building a school, Moira can’t help notice there are only 5 students and he’s training them into a private army. He justifies it to himself, of course, but we’re certainly being asked to consider which of the two characters is correct here.

An odd start for X-Men: Legacy, though an excellent read nonetheless. I suspect that the title is in for an interesting ride over the next few years…

Tags: John Romita Jr., Mike Carey, Scott Eaton, X-Men
Publisher: Marvel