X-Men Legends #6 - Marvel Comics

X-MEN LEGENDS No. 6, October 2021

Packed with plenty of courtroom drama and sense-shattering shenanigans at the Latverian Embassy, Peter David’s script for Issue Six of “X-Men Legends” certainly delivers the goods when it comes to recapturing the atmosphere of the American author’s run as the writer on “X-Factor” during the early Nineties. Indeed, the opening scene of Havoc losing his temper with the police force when they overrule his promise that the local authorities “won’t open fire” upon the renegade mutants must have immediately taken most of this comic’s audience back to the days when Alex Summers and his team were still badly mistrusted by the government, even though the roster was salaried by the Pentagon.

However, perhaps this twenty-page periodical’s greatest ‘hook’ comes with its handling of Doctor Doom, and the disconcerting question as to whether the terrorists opposing the tinpot dictator are just as cold-heartedly evil as Victor or not. This conundrum as to where the readers’ sympathies lie is raised just as soon as Beltane is shown triumphantly displaying an unconscious Rahne Sinclair upon a crucifix on top of the consulate’s roof, and the sheer horror Valerie Cooper expresses upon seeing such an appalling sight.

Perhaps understandably, Wolfsbane guts the white-haired psychic within an inch of her life once she regains both consciousness and her wolf-form. But its then later shown that the rest of the ‘holier than thou’ fanatics feel their comrade-in-arms has been greatly wronged by the former New Mutant and try to take some moral high ground over Sinclair when they find her remorsefully sat at Beltane’s bedside in hospital. This self-righteousness is more than irritating and seeing as it comes at a time when the likes of Samhain were going to quite happily murderously massacre the embassy’s entirely innocent staff simply because "we have to show the world we're serious", arguably loses the 'freedom fighters' any empathy which their opposition to the heavily armoured monarch might have initially generated.

In fact, many bibliophiles will doubtless take a great deal of satisfaction from this publication’s final few panels, in which Todd Nauck beautifully pencils Rahne knowingly stepping aside for an enraged Doom as he enters Beltane’s medical room to doubtless enact a truly terrible revenge upon the Zefiro Clan for killing his subjects, defiling his New York City-based mission and even attempting to assassinate the Supreme Leader for the Kingdom of Latveria himself; “You dare bark orders at me? Do you still not appreciate the gravity of your situation.?”

The regular cover art of "X-MEN: LEGENDS" #6 by Todd Nauck & Rachelle Rosenberg

X-Men Legends #5 - Marvel Comics

X-MEN LEGENDS No. 5, September 2021

Tightly crammed between Issue Seventy-Five and Seventy-Six of “X-Factor”, this “all-new adventure” by Peter David surely must have pleased its 32,561 ‘true believers’ in July 2021. Admittedly, the storyline is primarily set inside the United States Capitol during a dialogue-driven congressional hearing. But rather than prove a lack-lustre, sedentary reading experience, the senators' hostile interrogation of Valerie Cooper's colourful team continues to hold the audience’s attention throughout the twenty-page periodical, as well as provide plenty of intriguing background as to why the government-sponsored mutant team were called in to deal with a super-powered terrorist attack upon the Latverian Embassy, and not the heroic Avengers or Fantastic Four.

Similarly as intriguing, is the motivation behind Samhain’s assault upon his people’s diplomatic building and the dilemma his initial murderous actions cause for any bibliophile who feels sympathy for his mission. On the face of it, the radical’s desire for the United Nations to “oust Victor Von Doom from power and change our country into a democracy” is a compelling one. However, such support arguably soon falters when the ruthless killer shockingly disintegrates the hapless administrator who welcomes him into his Embassy without any warning whatsoever; “Disposing of one will serve as a lesson to the others. One fatality up front ensures far fewer down the li --” 

This savagery also establishes the violent tone of X-Factor’s subsequent attempt to liberate the hostages, with Madrox the Multiple Man and Strong Guy’s head-on assault packing every panel with pulse-pounding pandemonium. Indeed, Guido Carosella’s painful confrontation with Samhain is probably the highlight of the comic, as Chris Claremont’s formidably sized co-creation struggles to endure the extremist’s deadly mystic flame, and eventually must withdraw back outside to regroup with his bewildered team-mates.

Helping this publication’s sense-shattering shenanigans along with plenty of “FWAZAAAAAAK” and “WAM WAM WAM” are Todd Nauck’s simply sumptuous pencils and Rachelle Rosenberg's colours. The Texas-born artist does an astonishingly good job of imbuing all the characters sat talking during the senate’s hearing with plenty of emotion, with Quicksilver’s haughty disdain for the politicians coming across particularly well. Yet it is debatably the illustrator’s depiction of all the swirling spectral details of both Samhain and Imbolc’s mutant abilities which really help sell the revolutionaries as legitimate threats to Havoc’s comrades-In-Arms.

The regular cover art of "X-MEN: LEGENDS" #5 by Todd Nauck & Rachelle Rosenberg

X-Men Legends #4 - Marvel Comics

X-MEN LEGENDS No. 4, July 2022

As entire comic book length battles go, Louise Simonson’s script for “Tools!” doubtless satisfied the best part of its 39,098 strong audience in June 2021, due to some truly sense-shattering action sequences involving numerous laser bolts, writhing hydraulic tentacles and a veritable avalanche of murderously metallic rectangular plates. Indeed, it’s hard to recollect a more intense fracas appearing upon the printed page as Apocalypse’s “deadly robot attacker” initially appears to have the upper hand over a frantically back-peddling original X-Men line-up, and actually threatens the very well-being of Marvel Girl’s infant son, Christopher Summers.

But due to this “all-new tale” being set just before the events of Issue Forty-Three of “X-Factor”, when an entirely intact team venture off into hyperspace together, any sense of Scott’s colourfully-garbed comrades-in-arms actually being in jeopardy during their confrontation against a mechanically-enhanced Cameron Hodge is arguably lost – even when two thirds of the way through the publication En Sabah Nur confidently announces that the super-heroes are about to die at the hands of their former public relations agent; “Brave talk. But the fight is all but over. Cyclops, Jean, Iceman, and Beast have fallen. Death and the infant are next.”

Fortunately however, the Atlanta-born author does try to make up for this debatable lack of tension, by posing the question as to just how the badly-battered mutants will ultimately overpower so seemingly invincible a robotic body as the one Apocalypse has conjured up for Warren Worthington’s old college roommate. The “metal monster” genuinely appears unstoppable at the start of the skirmish, with legendary artist Walter Simonson even pencilling Cyke’s ruby-red eye-beams harmlessly bouncing off of the towering brute’s armoured carapace and dangerously firing off wildly about the field leader’s surroundings.

In addition, “Weezie” pens an excellent insight into the psychological workings of Hodge’s mind, as he tries to seek his revenge upon an X-Factor who are wholly ignorant as to the true identity of their opponent. Cameron’s ability to mentally direct his behemoth’s physical properties in order for him to use his adversaries’ formidable abilities against them helps turn this comic’s narrative into more of an intriguing game of chess or cat and mouse, than an uninspiring, straightforward slugfest, and as result provides some surprising depth to the character's hatred of all Homo sapiens superior.

The regular cover art of "X-MEN: LEGENDS" #4 by Walter Simonson & Edgar Delgado

X-Men Legends #3 - Marvel Comics

X-MEN LEGENDS No. 3, June 2021

Proudly proclaimed by “Marvel Worldwide” as the return of the original so-called mutant-hunters for hire, and featuring an all-new tale set before Issue Forty-Three of “X-Factor”, this particular return to the “classic era with legends” Louise and Walter Simonson probably initially pleased its fans with an atmosphere highly reminiscent of the super-team’s heyday in 1986. In fact, it’s hard to think of a more disturbingly impactive opening than the one the Atlanta-born author pens for this publication as the treacherous Cameron Hodge not only has his head severed by Archangel, but subsequently survives the encounter as little more than a conscious dismembered body part; “When Death decapitated you, it seems he destroyed your vocal cords.”

However, by the time this twenty-page periodical is half-way through, some within this book’s audience were probably wondering just where the Eagle Award-winner was going with her plot concerning the heroes’ “sentient spaceship Ship” inexplicably trying to suddenly kill its occupants, including Cyclops and Marvel Girl’s infant son, Christopher. Admittedly, the huge vessel’s autonomic response to murder the likes of Beast and Iceman inside a fast-shrinking shuttlecraft makes for a few panels of pulse-pounding action. Yet it is arguably hard to get too excited about a narrative which wholly relies upon a killer computer to inform the reader as to what is going on when the artificial intelligence’s exposition is easily lost amidst a torrent of decentralised brains, redundant functions, two thousand year old damage, encrypted languages, and various information hubs.

Perhaps therefore this comic’s biggest hook is the all-pervading presence of Apocalypse, and En Sabah Nur’s chilling agreement to provide Hodge’s head with a new invulnerable body if the duplicitous lawyer agrees to kill X-Factor before they can further investigate their craft’s bizarre malfunction. These conversations really are incredibly well-written, with the hateful relationship between Cameron and his mutant benefactor literally leaping off every panel once the Homo Superior has fitted his “silent friend” with a working voice box.

Equally as enthralling has to be Walter Simonson’s "arting", which immediately conjures up memories of the earliest X-Men’s highly-popular adventures during the late Eighties. Indeed, this monthly’s cover is so highly reminiscent of the American penciller’s first front page illustration for the colourfully-costumed protagonists that it is easily worth the magazine’s price alone.

Writing: Louise Simonson, Arting: Walter Simonson, and Coloring: Laura Martin