Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
X-Men Legacy #225
Marvel Comics
Carey, Briones & Reber
Xavier completes his circle in this issue of Legacy. He returns to the man who helped heal him from the gunshot wound: Exodus. All alone, he confronts and challenges Exodus and the Acolytes. It’s a good issue. I’m not sure it brings the quest to a comprehensive conclusion but it is a good read nonetheless.
The issue begins with Xavier simply walking into the Acolyte’s base. Exodus and his cronies watch on the monitor as Xavier walks through every security measure he has in place. It’s as if Xavier is completely immune to the entire defense system of the base. In actuality we find out that Xavier visited some of the key Acolytes in their sleep and planted some artificial memories and trigger words to aid him in his goal to walk into the base. It’s good growth for Xavier because when he left he seemed almost helpless.
Xavier’s goal is to talk with Exodus, the leader. Xavier was previously propositioned by Exodus to lead the Acolytes but in this issue Xavier tries to convince Exodus to disband the team. He makes a compelling case and one that I would venture to guess has been tried countless times before with any number of X-Men villains. Xavier takes Exodus on a trip down memory lane showing how many mutants died fighting against other mutants for almost no reason other than bragging rights. Xavier’s key point is that mutants should unite regardless of their faction. It’s a solid argument but why now? It seems to me the various leaders keep to their teams in place for ego more than ideals, so why would Exodus yield to Xavier now?
The comic has one flaw in its presentation and that’s raising the question of why wouldn’t Xavier try this with every single X-Men mutant villain from now on? He can manipulate minds with his power as much as he can with his words. He essentially removes the need to fight a battle because he walks into the room as the best salesmen there is. I’m just not convinced that Exodus would listen this time over any other time or why Exodus would listen to Xavier’s reasoning now but someone like Magneto wouldn’t.
The art has the difficult task of showing off a lot of Xavier and Exodus’ faces looking at each other and then switching to small panels packed with dozens of characters fighting. It’s a comic that focuses more on the story than the art but the art does a good job showing the confrontation as you might expect, short of the two men fighting physically.
This comic was a very good read because it showed off Xavier’s negotiation skills as well as his old-fashioned manipulation tactics. I’m still not sure why Xavier picked Exodus as his last stop or why he wanted to do it now, but something tells me there is more yet to come from these characters. This was a very good read even if it leaves some questions open.
4 out of 5 geek goggles
