Legion of X #6 Review/Spoilers - Holding the Line

[yogaflame]

There was a time when David had a very specific set of powers, but they have made it explicit in his more recent runs that his power is power manifestation: he can summon essentially any power he wants(and a corresponding personality), that in total, does allow for him to warp reality however he so chooses. Even if he is not practiced in healing, he could have easily teleported Mags directly to Elixir or whomever else, or teleported the portion of his chest back in time to a time when it was whole, using well documented feats from his canon.

[Dante Milton]

When Magneto left for Arakko and chose to destroy his Cerebro backups it was essentially the equivalent of signing a DNR order. He used his power to buy more time, and allowed Storm to do the same, to take care of the unfinished business with Uranos. But beyond that, the narrative in Red has clearly established that he is ready to die, saving his life would have been a violation of his will.

[Lucyinthesky]

There was a time when David had a very specific set of powers, but they have made it explicit in his more recent runs that his power is power manifestation: he can summon essentially any power he wants(and a corresponding personality), that in total, does allow for him to warp reality however he so chooses. Even if he is not practiced in healing, he could have easily teleported Mags directly to Elixir or whomever else, or teleported the portion of his chest back in time to a time when it was whole, using well documented feats from his canon.

Yes I remember that story by Mike Carey, one of my favorites from Legion and his Age of X story . I agree with you he could have teleported him to Elixir but I think David always had a problem in the healing aspect of his habilities, for example, he´s also a world class telepath but it took him years to wake up from his coma, not even Charles could bring him back from that and it took him some time to reunite the scattered parts of his personality, especially after Nemesis messed with them so it may just be me but I think Legion journey implies that he needs to learn to heal himself so he is able to heal others and interact with them in a more positive way in which he´s supporting, helping, healing, fighthing etc because he wasn´t able to do any of that before, his past crisis has convinced him he messes up all the time and when he messes up universes can end, he knows for a fact this is why his father is terrified of him and he gets it but it still hurts, so Magneto giving him his trust in something so important to Erik, like the survival of Arakko Mutants, was the positive boost he needed to act and use his powers well.

I think Spurrier has been leading the character to this point. It also serves him as a personal pathos for his character, because while he´s extremely powerful that wasn´t enough to revive his Mother or stop Mags from dying, just like Magneto wasn´t able to save Anya, despite his newly discovered powers. I think the fact both Gabrielle and Erik as friends/family of his father and his mother/parental figure means their deaths affect Legion more deeply.

[BobbysWorld]

Eh, I do fall in the camp of 'not sure why Magneto couldn't be healed' because I understand the DNR point of Magneto not wanting to be resurrected in accordance with the Great Ring's ruling on that front, but both the wording of that and DNR orders by their very nature are about.....after you've quite literally DIED. As long as Magneto was keeping himself alive under his own power - and ESPECIALLY given that Storm explicitly added her power to his in order to help keep him alive during X-Men Red #6....like, he wasn't dead. Finding ways to keep him from not dying violates none of that and DID weaken the impact of his death for me, because it made it kinda feel like that plot point was forced and not wholly earned.

Like don't get me wrong, I still found Magneto's death a powerful scene and am interested in what his loss does to the characters and titles moving forward, but ngl, treating 'no extraordinary measures' like its the same thing as a 'do not resuscitate' feels wonky to me, and watered things down a bit from the impact they might have otherwise had.

And in regards to David meeting with him, specifically, even with all his powers I don't associate David with healing as innately as I do other characters, so it likely wouldn't have stood out to me as much, how easily he could have healed Magneto.....if not for the fact that Spurrier kinda shot himself in the foot there, with how he described what David was doing in the Altar in the pages just before he met with Magneto. He quite literally had David self-describe what he was up to as:

"Lighting fires to drive off the wolves....bearing clubs and spears to down the hungry bears....and healing. Healing above all. In body and breast and brain."

Like, sorry not sorry, X-office, but if you don't want readers asking the obvious question of 'why does nigh-all powerful Legion simply not...heal Magneto when they're standing right next to each other'.....you probably shouldn't let Legion's writer shine a direct spotlight on David's ability to heal a mere TWO PAGES before he and Magneto meet up.

[Dante Milton]

I get why it would be an issue for some, it's definitely a contrivance. But, to me, Legion not healing Magneto doesn't negatively affect the story any more than Magneto standing next to two teleporters at the end of X-Men Red #6.

[CoCoBandz]

Yes I remember that story by Mike Carey, one of my favorites from Legion and his Age of X story . I agree with you he could have teleported him to Elixir but I think David always had a problem in the healing aspect of his habilities, for example, he´s also a world class telepath but it took him years to wake up from his coma, not even Charles could bring him back from that and it took him some time to reunite the scattered parts of his personality, especially after Nemesis messed with them so it may just be me but I think Legion journey implies that he needs to learn to heal himself so he is able to heal others and interact with them in a more positive way in which he´s supporting, helping, healing, fighthing etc because he wasn´t able to do any of that before, his past crisis has convinced him he messes up all the time and when he messes up universes can end, he knows for a fact this is why his father is terrified of him and he gets it but it still hurts, so Magneto giving him his trust in something so important to Erik, like the survival of Arakko Mutants, was the positive boost he needed to act and use his powers well.

I think Spurrier has been leading the character to this point. It also serves him as a personal pathos for his character, because while he´s extremely powerful that wasn´t enough to revive his Mother or stop Mags from dying, just like Magneto wasn´t able to save Anya, despite his newly discovered powers. I think the fact both Gabrielle and Erik as friends/family of his father and his mother/parental figure means their deaths affect Legion more deeply.

He could have saved his mother and he was infact going to, but she pleaded with him not to and he respected her dying wishes.

[Sutekh]

This was actually pretty good. I just think Spurrier needs the turn the notch down alittle.

Not every dialogue piece needs to be deep or have other meaning or sound more than it is; im sure theres a word for that but I dont have Spurrier's lexicon.

There's so much grandeur in his dialogue when there doesnt have to be.

I liked the art as well.

At least it was mostly Magneto who had the pretentious speechifying, which has kinda been his thing since his introduction. He's not quite at Doom levels of over-the-top grandiose self-congratulatory verbosity, but he's definitely in the top five.

[BobbysWorld]

I get why it would be an issue for some, it's definitely a contrivance. But, to me, Legion not healing Magneto doesn't negatively affect the story any more than Magneto standing next to two teleporters at the end of X-Men Red #6.

LOL, for what its worth, I had beef with that part of that issue too. This isn't any worse for me, by any means, its more just of a.....lateral gripe. Heh.

[Lucyinthesky]

He could have saved his mother and he was infact going to, but she pleaded with him not to and he respected her dying wishes.

I think she said she wanted to keep her life normal outside the superhero world and apologized to him for not taking better care of him and this was before someone shot at her head. I don´t remember what David did after this but it was the beggining of the whole, I need to erease myself from history because he tought her dying was his fault. I think this follows the patron of David thinking he´s too dangerous to keep alive because he has yet to learn to trust himself more, "I rule me" is a good beggining.

LOL, for what its worth, I had beef with that part of that issue too. This isn't any worse for me, by any means, its more just of a.....lateral gripe. Heh.

Yes, Magneto talked about the possibility but said there wasn´t time for a complete treatment because they still needed to stop Uranus and his machines. It doesn´t affect me either, I think the way it ended was well done with good character work for all involved.

But if/when Magneto comes back I hope we can see a little more of this kind of David and Magnus interaction, it makes sense because Magneto himself knows how´s to a) Be a mutant with powers outside control which affects their mental health b) Be a parent to a child with too much power(Wanda in HoM) and c) He has seen the good work Legion has been doing with Kurt. So this gives him a different perspective than the one Charles has at the moment about David.

[ARkadelphia]

All the writers are stepping up their game for this storyline, and this is a great example

[gonnagiveittoya]

All the writers are stepping up their game for this storyline, and this is a great example

People were mad at the premise not being an X-Men centric event but this is easily far better than X of Swords

[CoCoBandz]

People were mad at the premise not being an X-Men centric event but this is easily far better than X of Swords

Pogg Ur-Pogg was a better antagonist than Uranus.

[yogaflame]

Let's just see how this wraps up before we call which one was better. X of Swords was somewhat middling over all, but the ending was FIRE!!! I mean, that twist with Apocalypse claiming Arrako(and the millions of mutants on it) during the final exchange with Saturnyne was awesome(and has precipitated many great stories in its wake).

[Rift]

Pogg Ur-Pogg was a better antagonist than Uranus.

That's not fair. Pogg was going to be iconic no matter what story he was in. No other villain could realistically compete with him.

[JB]

That's not fair. Pogg was going to be iconic no matter what story he was in. No other villain could realistically compete with him.

Undeniable facts.

And yeah, X of Swords was able to stick the landing solidly. Hopefully JD will do the same.