So, had an opportunity to read X-Men Legends - #11 today. Interesting story, not what I was expecting [at all]. On the first few pages, an asterisk denotes that this story takes place prior to the classic New Mutants volume 1 issue #77, which is right before they took de-aged Illyana back to Russia to be with her family, and right before Dani got possessed by Hela, eventually leaving the team to remain in Asgard to help repair the damage she caused.
Based upon the way that this new story was presented, it was basically self-contained -- like a previously unpublished story with a distinct beginning and ending that came right after #76 and transitioned cleanly into the events leading up to issue #77.
I won't provide any spoilers, but here are some quick impressions:
-- First, Dani did in fact play a prominent role [as much as any other members of the New Mutants featured in the story], and a much larger role than a couple of them [Sunspot, Skids]
-- There was indeed a Feral sighting
-- Story wasn't quite how it was described in the previews I'd seen over the past few months, announcing the story
-- Art was pretty good, not great IMO [see image below]
-- I was surprised that Rictor / Boom Boom were so figural in the story [although both have gone on to be fairly prominent, much more so than what they were at the time of the story's setting, so that's probably why]
Overall, reading this issue was like opening a time capsule -- it could have been 1989 all over again. This indeed felt like a Louise Simonson plot, with the same type of tone / demeanor as the stories she was writing back then, with the characters at that point in time.
If I had to summarize my reaction in one sentence, it would be that given Simonson only had the opportunity to tell one story with this turn back the clock re-visitation, I'm surprised that this was the one she chose to feature. Liked it, didn't love it -- but it wasn't bad. It felt like a Simonson story that was appropriate for the era it would have fallen into. I just wish she would have focused more on the New Mutants, and a bit less on some other peripheral characters.
Screenshot 2022-02-02 132955.jpg