Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

X-Men Legacy #237X-Men Legacy #237
Marvel Comics
Carey & Land

Chapter Twelve of the Second Coming crossover concludes one of the major plot lines in this issue. Well, at least, it appears to be resolved. This issue provides a ton of action and a nice, concise story. While the artwork gives a lot in the way of action it feels more like a series of pinups at times instead of an even flowing visual story. On the whole this is a good comic book where the writer plays to the strengths of the characters he typically works with.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe comic has four basic threads running in it. Logan and bulk of X-Force are battling Sentinels in the future, the brunt of the X-Men are battling Nimrods in the present, Magneto gets out of bed and battles towards a final endgame against the same Nimrods and Cypher is working to end the Nimrod threat at the source, in the future.

Surprisingly, the Cypher and Magneto isolation stories really steal the book away from the heavy action. Cypher's interaction and deceit of the machines is particularly interesting because of the computer science aspect it taps into. The Magneto battle is notable because he uses his mind over the obvious metal-bending tactics he might normally rely on. Both fronts get significant page time leaving the larger group fighting to essentially fill in the gaps.

X-Men Legacy #237 (Finch Variant Cover Edition)When the dust clears, X-Force has to deal with their wounded and the decision about how to get home. The end of the issue provides an excellent cliffhanger to send the crossover into territory I wouldn't have seen coming when this thing started.

The artwork has its high points. For one thing, the pencils are inked over in such a way to take away the clean look that Land usually delivers. The pencils have a darker and more gritty look to them to help push across the desperation of the battles. I'm not a big fan of the facial expressions and similar look his characters usually have but he does a nice battle scene, which is something this crossover has lacked in some issues.

With Second Coming winding down it is clear that this will have a surprise ending. The invasion on the X-Men by the futuristic Nimrods is not the final battle here. I found this issue to be fast and bring some closure to what seems to be the lead-in battle. I liked the character work of Magneto and Cypher and felt the issue included some better battle scenes than in previous issues in the crossover. On the whole, this was a good read and has me excited for the final two issues of the crossover.

4 out of 5 geek goggles