Welcome to the 126th edition of the Uncanny X-Piles! Not a lot of books to read this week. Can “X-Men: Legacy” hold it’s own and get a foothold on the charts?
The X-Piles
Numbers next to each title are the cumulative ranking of the latest issue out of a total of 40. Numbers in parentheses indicate the previous issue’s rating. Blue indicates a raise in the chart from last issue; red indicates a drop; green indicates the book stayed put.
1. All-New X-Men: 37 (34)
2. Wolverine & the X-Men: 32 (25)
3. Uncanny X-Men: 31 (16)
4. X-Factor: 30 (29)
5. Wolverine : 30 (24)
6. Cable & X-Force: 28 (26)
7. Astonishing X-Men: 27 (27)
8. Gambit: 25 (23)
9. Uncanny X-Force: 23 (29)
10. X-Men: 23 (22)
11. Uncanny Avengers: 21 (29)
12. Age of Apocalypse: 20 (20)
13. X-Men: Legacy: 20 (19)
14. Savage Wolverine: 17
15. A + X: 16 (18)
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X-Men: Legacy #5
Writer: Simon Spurrier
Artist: Jorge Molina
Cover: Mike Del Mundo
This book continues to be puzzling. Spurrier must be taking the slow-burn approach to setting up a clear status quo for this book. We’re 5 issues in and I’m struggling to see what the thrust of this series is.
It appears that Spurrier is trying to develop the supporting cast, maybe to create a team of X-Men around Legion. This issue focuses on Blindfold and gives us the origin for which no one has been asking. It turns out that Blindfold had an evil mutant-hating brother who is revealed to be the big bad against whom Legion has been struggling. This origin felt entirely prescriptive. It seems that almost every teenage mutant has a sibling or parent who is crazy, bigoted, and wants to destroy the said mutant. We’ve seen this way too many times, and although Spurrier throws in the addition of Luca getting strange powers that are coming back to haunt Legion and Blindfold.
Also, why does every bigot in the X-Men books have to be religious? Ok, I get it, people’s misinterpretation of religion has been the cause of much hatred in the world. There’s no denying the pain that people are experiencing even today that centers around religion. As a religious person, I’m not offended by that, but I am terribly bored by it. Is there no other backstory that writers can create? Spurrier had the chance to create a new and fresh origin story for an X-Man who’s been around for years and he decided to go with a canned origin.
Despite the story problems in this issue, Jorge Molina is a perfect fit for this book artistically. He has a fluid, lithe take on Legion and the others, and especially his depiction of Legion’s astral form floating around looks great. His level of detail is well-suited, a good combination of cartooning and clean line work. I would love to see him stay on this title. And, as always, Mike Del Mundo nails the cover with his crazy surrealism.
Five issues in and this book is close to finding it’s legs. Is that too many issues to wait? –JJ
Cover: 7/10 Writing: 3/10 Art: 7/10 Relevance: 3/10 TOTAL: 20/40
Most X-Cellent Pick of the Week:
Jeff: This week was rough all across the board, not just with X-books. I’m struggling to find a pick at all!
Jeff Jackson
jeff@comicattack.net
@FrJeffJackson
