Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

X-Men Legacy #236X-Men Legacy #236
Marvel Comics
Carey & Land

Chapter eight of the crossover, Second Coming, is another puzzling issue for this crossover. Previous issues of Uncanny and New Mutants have had bizarre character behavior and all of the issues seem to be light on a story that makes sense in terms of being one that has been building for two years. This issue only adds to that puzzlement. There are elements of the comic book that are very enjoyable, but the pieces that are strange help to bog down the issue and keep the crossover at a level that I’m not thrilled with.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe issue basically opens with the big master plan of Bastion. He essentially creates a giant bubble over the X-Men’s Island as well as some cities on the mainland, like Oakland and San Rafael. The giant bubble not only works to keep the mutants contained, but it also seems to prevent anyone from going in. I’m not sure if there is a further endgame. Is the giant bubble going to be a giant gas chamber eventually? Is the plan to leave them in the bubble until they eventually kill each other or starve to death? Thus far, the giant bubble reminds me of the old death traps that Batman would get hooked up to in the 1960s TV show. He always got out of them too.

The majority of the comic book is handling a huge cast and their reaction to the giant bubble. Sure there are some familiar characters for this title and crossover, like Rogue or Wolverine, but the issue also throws some others like Toad in there and even adds some Avengers. The cast juggling was pretty good, but still, how Hope is handled is just not making sense.

Up to this point Cable has protected Hope in any way he could. Why is he now leaving the option to her? He’s got one more time jump. Wouldn’t he just use it to get her to safety? It’s a strange situation to see Cable sitting in danger knowing he has an out.

Some artists I am just not a fan of and that is the case with Greg Land. I don’t like the facial stubble on all of the characters or the creepy smiles they all seem to have. However, when this issue mostly focused on the non-regular characters I found his art to have a nice uniqueness to it. He got off easy because the dome is just a red background on every page but the art was fine for this issue.

I have no idea how this crossover is going to end, but I am not thrilled with the direction that each issue takes. I think I would have liked this issue more if we understood Bastion’s endgame or if Hope and Cable had consistent decision making that remained in line with their short past. I liked this issue and found it to be fairly entertaining but far from great.

3 out of 5 Geek Goggles