Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

X-Men Legacy #215
Marvel Comics
Carey & Eaton

This issue presents Cyclops versus Xavier. The mind games are afoot and in the end you get a really thought provoking issue that kind of paints Xavier as a manipulative creep. It’s hard to imagine Cyclops not wanting to blast the old man dead. A side plot involved Rogue talking things over with her mother, Mystique, in her head as well. It’s an excellent issue if you like character interaction and drama.

After some setup of Xavier visiting the mansion, Rogue going to Australia and Cyclops telling Emma he had to go check the woods to look for weaknesses we get to the meat of the issue. Xavier got into Cyclops’ mind and had him check the forest. This, of course, enrages Cyclops. Xavier decided that digging into someone’s head is better than a simple text message. This also brings up an interesting question about Cyclops not really asking about how Xavier survived Messiah or how his dead body disappeared. Maybe he just doesn’t care.

The argument really heats up when Xavier tells Cyclops that Sinister planted things in his Cyclops’ head and Xavier needs to check up on them. How does Xavier know this? Because he let Sinister share his own head. It’s dizzying, but basically Xavier is just using people to figure out things about other people.

While Xavier makes sure Scott can’t just walk away we get some developments on the Hellfire Club. Thought they were done? Not a chance. Finally, Cyclops gets to the heart of the matter. He basically lays it out there for Xavier. How is Xavier any different, being the manipulator he is, than any of the villains over the years?

Rogue tries to flush away Mystique from her head. She obviously isn’t too crazy that she was free for a second from all the lives of everyone she ever encountered and then she touched Mystique back in Messiah and got stuck with two minds: hers and Mystiques’. While this side plot is getting started, Cyclops decides he won’t let Xavier just walk away knowing the Sinister was in his head. He brings in some back up for a nice twist of an ending.

Like I said this entire issue is a character study. I happened to love it. However, I can definitely see how it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. For as much as I loved it, this issue does leave something to be desired. There are an awful lot of things that Cyclops could rip into Xavier about that he didn’t. For example, Xavier teaming up with Cable during the Messiah Complex doesn’t get mentioned here. There are other items on that list I would have like to have seen get touched on and weren’t.

The artwork is very good, but it doesn’t fully capture all of the emotions. Cyclops doesn’t express nearly as much anger as his dialogue suggests. Also, it wasn’t clear to me if he intended to miss Xavier with his blast or if Xavier made him miss. I did like the art, but I felt there were areas that the story or dialogue didn’t quite synch up. This could have been the presentation of the story layout as much as it could have been the artwork.

Overall, I am loving this series and I liked this issue as much as any other. Cyclops and Xavier have a lot of baggage and a lot of ground to cover. Next issue should prove to be an interesting blowup between the two of them. I’m interested to see what Cyclops learns about Xavier’s encounter with Sinister.

4 out of 5 geek goggles