Legion of X #1 Review/Spoilers

[jwatson]

i wonder if the Jug mini from last year wrote them into a corner... in that X was telling him Karakoa was no humans allowed

Most likely but i appreciate the nod to continuity and had a vote on it as to not retcon that(it was a really great mini). I can't remember her name but i hope we get to see if the girl he saved settled in, the one in his mini that kept refusing to believe she was a mutant. It was nice to see there was enough council votes to get Juggernaunt on the council despite it being against Xavier wishes. It was also nice to see Cain thought it was because of Xavier because i like the idea that Cain who has truly put the work in to reform actually wants to get close to his brother now and earn his trust but i do wonder how finding out it was the council and not Charles will effect that internal desire to make things right between them for the past.

Also with David and Legion here, and Arrako meaning potential Xandra, i feel we are one step closer to the day Charles is forced to realize he's a great leader and teacher to others but when it comes to his kids he has become his own father.

[Devaishwarya]

Not liking WoX at all, I was pleasantly surprised by this. In the same way Hellions was surprising...I'm liking these seemingly disparate characters many of whom I don't care for much like Dr. Fungus Head, Cain, Pixie, Lost, Xabi

The too esoteric and vague (the Spark?) concepts in parts had me rolling my eyes and thinking "Spurrier could have found a better way to express that" or asking "was that necessary?" And I already see I will be glossing over many things but many interesting and engaging plots were introduced (Nimrod killing the Magus and Locke's reaction was a quite unexpected. And I really liked the antagonistic dynamic between Xavier and Legion...also...one of Legion's personalities isn't too happy with being pacified and caged.)

Jan's art was the highlight here...considering I hated much of it in MMX. And Blee's colours are superb.

I wasn't going to try this book initially but bringing in the Arakkii front and centre really pulled me in. And I Love that Spurrier seems to be fleshing out Arakko's social systems.

One major detraction, the Xabi running gag got old very early and very fast...no.

[Kurolegacy]

Man, Chuck just can’t help but be a complete dick to his family. Spurrier does not paint him in a good light at all or even present that he seems to be learning from Krakoa to embrace his family rather than push them away. The Xavier family seems to be the one family that wasn’t brought closer in this era.

[Reigna]

"If we can beat the crap out of your god then it's not a god worth worshipping" is a great philosophy, tbh.

It's only fair afterall... a god is an absolute being, if they can get jumped and neged then they are no god. This book had made me very excited for the judgement day battle between the great ring and possibly uranous or the celestials. The arakii are about to haul some ass.

[Kurolegacy]

Man, Chuck just can’t help but be a complete dick to his family. Spurrier does not paint him in a good light at all or even present that he seems to be learning from Krakoa to embrace his family rather than push them away. The Xavier family seems to be the one family that wasn’t brought closer in this era.

[Su_Whisterfield]

Reviews are pretty good.
https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-b...-of-x-(2022)/1

[dragon1440]

Reviews are pretty good.
https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-b...-of-x-(2022)/1

The one compliant I have is Juggernaut shold not want tohave a drink with Tm yet. Not til Squidboy is brought back and Tom grovels begging Juggarnaut and Squidboy for forgiveness

[Kurolegacy]

i wonder if the Jug mini from last year wrote them into a corner... in that X was telling him Karakoa was no humans allowed

I think that Juggernaut being here is actually a carryover from X-Men Unlimited. iirc, at the end of the story with him and Deadpool, Xavier admits to having been wrong in turning him away and allows him entry.

[Master of Sound]

Is SPIKE a new character??

[Kurolegacy]

Is SPIKE a new character??

Nope. According to the wiki, he’s from Morrison’s New X-Men.

[BobbysWorld]

The whole cops angle is still very blah, but the rest of the story is interesting. (And at least Switch should make for an interesting villain on that side of things). Brief thoughts for now:

1) My hunch is that Mother Righteous is actually a previously unknown personality of Legion's who found a way to manifest herself physically within the Altar thanks to the way Legion made it. The accent is very Cockney, aka British, and doesn't fit for an Arakkii character so yeah, I think her origin is actually Legion himself, even if he doesn't know it yet. BUT I think that she's been manifesting or at least appearing to Arakki outside of the Altar as well, and she's the reason they've had so many god-summoning rituals of late. She's a 'trader' according to her self-description, and its not a coincidence that she mentioned trading in gods. I think many Arakkii are looking for purpose or some kind of calling now that they're in a brand new world where many of their old ways no longer apply, and Mother Righteous is capitalizing on that sense of loss, steering them towards various deities they could potentially worship in return for whatever it is she asks for her 'favors.' She's a faith broker, but what her end game is, who can say. (Maybe she's looking to tap into some of that faith herself and separate herself from Legion by attaining godhood? Idk).

2) I think this might be the series where we FINALLY get 'the real' Rockslide back, and its going to be due to Zsen, part of her realizing that just as the Krakoans have stuff they can learn from the Arakkii, the reverse is true as well, as there might be more point to her ability than she ever previously considered. I'm just saying, speaking of things that aren't remotely coincidental....this issue just happens to mention that Rockslide reacts most positively/animatedly to people PAINTING on him, and then Zsen self-describes her power as PAINTING with truth?

The problem with Otherworld resurrections, we were told, is that when you die in Otherworld, something about its universal nature overwrites or 'corrupts' a mutant's back-ups so that what actually gets brought back by the Five is a completely new amalgamation of other versions of that mutant from throughout the multiverse. We've wondered for some time if Wanda's spell 'fixed' that, but obviously not, or else they already would have brought back the 'true' Rockslide via restoring his original self from the Waiting Room. But whatever Zsen's power actually is....if she has some kind of ability to manifest, bring forth or 'paint over' stuff with something that's basically empirical truth.....well then, theoretically she can find or create a new template based on Rockslide's 'truth' aka what this universe's Rockslide was SUPPOSED to be like....before Otherworld corrupted his back-ups when the Five went to resurrect him. So my hunch is they're eventually going to discover that some aspect of Zsen's mutant ability, perhaps when plugged into the Five's circuit in the case of Otherworld resurrections, allows for the Five to resurrect the 'true' version of a mutant who died there.

2b) I was already convinced the Fisher King just played coy in X-Men Red when talking about not having a mutant power, because he never said he didn't have a power period, just that he never had a weapon....and now we have definitive proof that the Arakki draw a distinction between mutant WEAPONS and abilities that have no practical purpose in war. (Even Idyll's precognition can rightly be called a weapon since it tells exactly when or where to strike, for instance....so its not just a difference between active and passive abilities, but there IS a distinction draw within their society). So yeah, I think this is further proof that the Unarmed King who Ruled At Midnight is a Night Table member, former or current, which means he is or was on the Great Ring and thus has an omega level ability (they've harped on the fact that no one who is not an omega has EVER sat on the Great Ring, and even if the three Night Seats are unknown, they're still considered part of the ring), but his ability - which also might not work at all currently, given the nature of the Fisher King legend - is likely something that no matter how potent, has no martial applications. Thus he wasn't lying when he said he never had a mutant weapon, any more than Zsen is when she calls herself Weaponless Zsen. Its a matter of differing cultural perspectives.

3) Uqesh the Bridge is VERY interesting to me, and might be a lot more important than his 'role' in this issue initially made it look. I can't help but notice the parallels to Mimir, the Norse God of Wisdom....who exists as a dismembered head that is consulted by the Norse gods in times of war or for all manner of advice. I think there's basically ZERO chance that the horned god of mischief alluded to in this issue and mentioned in future solicits is anyone other than Loki....he's literally on the cover of a future issue, and the solicit to issue #5 practically cinches it for me. So the Norse god of mischief is involved, and this issue also just happens to introduce an omega mutant who has existed as a dismembered head for centuries, and that the Arakkii use to summon gods to test their worthiness.....in a weird parallel to one of Loki's own fellow Norse gods, the disembodied head that is his pantheon's god of wisdom?

Nah, again, not a coincidence IMO. Krakoan tech (or the Five) could easily give Uqesh his body back and that wouldn't be a true resurrection which all the Arakki seem culturally opposed to, so could definitely be a viable option at some point. I'm just saying, watch Uqesh turn out to be way more relevant than he seems at first glance, such as by the god-summoning mutant who is being used to ritually summon all the gods that favor-trader Mother Righteous is pointing the Arakki towards.....maybe netting one of those favors for himself, and he definitely has a reason to nurse 600 years' worth of a grudge against Ora Serrata.....I can definitely see this building towards a grudge-match or round two between the two of them.

3b) Ora and her Inward Watch are interesting as ****. Some kind of omega level nullification power....the really interesting implications to me are just how discerning her eye is and whether her power can apply to anything she can mentally frame as something she can 'see' even if its more abstract than physical.

I had other thoughts but I forgot what they were. I'll remember them later, I'm sure.

[king of hybrids]

So it’s safe to say Thor will be dropping into the Arakkii front of the Eternals attack

[Outburstz]

lol They are really out here jumping gods

[Pav]

Okay, so I'm really excited about this. I feel like it was a perfect intro to the series and didn't feel AT ALL off in the ways Way of X did. This read beautifully, with great characterization and moments for so many members of the cast. I may be biased of course, for the following reasons: first, Legion is probably my favorite mutant character thanks largely to Spurrier's X-Men: Legacy run, which I consider a modern masterpiece and a beautiful tragedy; second, Nightcrawler has always been my favorite "traditional" X-Man, and I think the Sarcasa-Aguirre series is an underrated gem; third and finally, I really like social commentary and "regular mutants" stuff, like District X for example.

So maybe I'm predisposed to love this. Well: I LOVE IT, regardless.

More specifcally:

1) I had such a smile on my face when I saw the return of David's "GESTALT" look. I hope, with David feeling more mentally and emotionally healthy than he ever has been, that we might see this particular form regularly. I absolutely love this look.

2) AND THE RETURN OF RUTH!!! AND HER NEW STATUS QUO!!!! Love the glimpse we got of where her character may be headed -- and with so many telepaths, et al. in mutantdom, it's great to see Spurrier establishing a unique place for her. And honestly, considering what she's been through, it makes sense she would prefer to live more as a thought than as a person of flesh and blood.

3) Seeing the Quortex Complex again, even for a moment, was really fun as well, and I hope (sorry, David) that the various characters inhabiting David do make some mischief in this series. I did notice a cracked case for one of the personalities. Unimportant detail or future plot point?!

4) Spurrier is obviously going weird, and I am here for it! Ora Serrata, aka the Giant Eyeball of Arakkii Law?! Crazy awesome. MAGGOTT appearing, even in a minor role?! Yes, please. Spurrier can give me as many fun cameos of half-forgotten or too-weird-for-mainstreamers as he wants! He's the best at giving meaningful moments to bit characters, as far as I'm concerned.

5) I'm excited to see Forgetmenot explored more, and his partnership with Juggernaut is already enjoyable. Can't wait to see more of these two, although I don't necessarily love how dopey Si's voice for Cain is -- although it is funny.

6) Lost was almost immediately more likable here than she was in Way of X. I enjoyed Forgetmenot flirting with her

7) The thing with Rockslide is interesting, and I hope we get more about that in future issues.

8) I LOVE WEAPONLESS ZSEN, especially as a new romantic interesting for Nightcrawler. I really like Si's take on him, but I do think Kurt should be portrayed in a more debonaire fashion, especially in regards to romantic entanglements. I think Excalibur-era Kurt would've taken Zsen up on that offer almost immediately

9) Watching a god get summoned and then trampled by potential worshippers who are shopping for a deity was pretty great.

10) I want more David + Doug & Warlock. And I want more David + Xavier, but for totally different reasons.

11) Nimrod with the Technarchy is interesting, considering what we know about potential futures for both entities.

I could go on and on, but I enjoyed pretty much every aspect of the issue, and it's got me so excited to see what Spurrier has in store for us. I think it's going to be a wild ride! Alongside X-Men: Red and Immortal X-Men, we really have some potentially fascinating X-books truly taking advantage of the Krakoa status quo.

Couple'a questions / wonders / hopes:

I wonder if we'll see Ruth's brother again, and I wonder if we'll see her "super-powered up" form at some point.

Do you think the Arakkii god situation and the skinjacker situation are related? Or maybe the (trickster) god situation and Mother Righteous?

-Pav, who is excited that this book will try new things...

[pkingdom]

Writers can't decide if Arrako is amazing or a joke. They can gank squads of gods easily but can't handle generic demons, or even the glorified robots from Red last week. Also, Arrako culture is getting more focus than Krakoa culture, which still doesn't even seem to be a thing. Plus Arrako is just dull as paste for me. STRONG STRONG FIGHT FIGHT. Its a very cheap way to try to make them look tough despite losing constantly.

I don't know, the god thing is just weird. Gods in Marvel are often said to have more power if they have more worshippers, or at least are widely known. So if these guys are super weak, they might just have no worshipers at all, or even just be being 'created' by this powerset. And gods have just been characters or even heroes in other books, so summoning them just to slaughter them is kind of supervillain territory? Like, literally Gore the God Butchers' whole thing? plus with how Way of X was all about religion-except-not-really-except-yeah-it-is, just left me feeling off about it.

Drawing attention to them not being cops just makes it all the more glaring that they are, in fact, cops. And stretching that third law to basically encompass all of criminal law made me roll my eyes. But its really not a good look for them be cops, and one of the first things we see is seriously considering drugging someone to get them to comply.