Legion of X vol. 2

I’ve been enjoying Simon Spurrier’s take on the adventures of Nightcrawler and Legion as they’ve carved out their own brand of hopeful existence on Krakoa.  I’ve also wondered if I’ve been in the minority here as this tale has been told in piecemeal through three different titles:  One volume of “Way of X,” two volumes of “Legion of X” and the currently serialized “Uncanny Spider-Man.”  The writer also isn’t getting a victory lap for his contributions the way that Kieron Gillen, Gerry Duggan, and Al Ewing are as the Krakoan Era of “X-Men” winds down.  Which is too bad as the concluding volume of this series shows that the writer’s biggest sin was simply an abundance of ambition.

That becomes evident in the main storyline for this volume, but not the issue that opens it.  That’s because it’s a done-in-one tie in to “Judgment Day” as Legion gets judged for his actions to defend Arakko.  While it looks like he’s going to engage in a rare slugfest against Uranos that actually showcases his might, things quickly take a turn and he finds himself playing defense at the request of someone whose validation he’s never really sought, but welcomes nonetheless.

The whole issue is the best kind of event-series tie-in.  It takes the gimmick presented by it – characters having to justify their self-worth to the Celestial – and wrings a solid character story out of it.  While Spurrier has done a lot of work with Legion over the years, he finds something new to say about the character here in his desire to play the hero and the ultimate need to sublimate that urge.  It also looks great as Rafael Pimentel provides art that goes big with the action, and scales down appropriately and effectively for the conversations.

Netho Diaz does similarly effective work in the four issues that follow, which make a lot of demands of the artist as well.  It’s an arc that takes place across multiple locations, from the resurrection hub of Krakoa, to the boardroom of X-Corp, to the magical cave of Kurt’s other mother, and the psychic landscape of the Altar.  Then there’s the bio-sentinel attack on the island towards the end of the volume – Oh!  And did I mention that Kurt is slowly turning into a demonic version of himself over the course of these four issues?

This is A LOT to deal with and to Diaz’s credit that he handles it all quite well.  However, if you think that this is too much to deal with on a narrative level, then you might be right.  There are three main plot threads being addressed in these four issues:  The unexplained demonic transformation of Nightcrawler and other mutants across the globe, the Technarchy infiltration of the Altar, and the hacking of Krakoa’s bio-organic protocols by an outside force.  In addition to these things, Spurrier also tries to work in time to address the ongoing father/son drama between Professor X and Legion, find some time for his new version of the Black Knight, show what Mother Righteous is up to during all this, and work in Orchis’ manipulations as well.

That this storyline doesn’t devolve into an incoherent mess is a credit to the creative team.  It asks a lot of the reader to keep everything straight for its length, but they’re rewarded with lots of cleverness, some funny bits, and developments that will be key to the overall story being told across the X-Titles.  In fact, I do feel a little bad for saying that Spurrier and Diaz are trying to do too much here since it’d be worse if it felt like they were trying to stretch things out.  That said, when you look at the focus and sense of purpose in the “Judgment Day” tie-in issue, it’s the most straightforwardly satisfying part of the whole volume.

Which isn’t to say that vol. 2 doesn’t wrap up well.  The Phil Noto-illustrated “Before the Fall:  Sons of X” closes out this volume and Spurrier uses it to wrap up most of what he was doing with the characters and their stories over these two volumes.  It has a simple plot hook as Orchis now has their hands on a transformed Nightcrawler and Legion has been trying to figure out how to rescue him.  The problem is that his meat-based organic processing system is no match for Nimrod’s machine efficiency.  Fortunately for him, Mother Righteous here to lend a hand all in exchange for a little gratitude.

It’s a fun read not just for the sense of closure it provides to this series, but how it also manages to duck most of the doom and gloom you’d expect to see for a story leading into “Fall of X.”  This was also an interesting read as I came to this story and the ones before it after having read “Nightcrawlers” in the “Sins of Sinister” event.  Which, for those of you who didn’t read it, properly explain how Nightcrawler’s genes were corrupted.  This is objectively a bad way to structure a story, though two things mitigate this:  1)  “X-Men” titles have been doing this for decades; and 2) “Sins of Sinister” was excellent, and any serious “X-Men” fan should’ve read it already.

I realize that comic books shouldn’t be such work to read and it’s understandable if people read that last paragraph and decide to pass on this volume, or just decide that Spurrier’s work during the Krakoan Era isn’t worth the effort.  I’m here to tell you that what the writer has done here is worth it and that I’ve at least enjoyed what he’s done here.  I mean, there’s still the final act to consider with “Uncanny Spider-Man,” but Nightcrawler doing his best Spider-Man impression in New York sounds like a concept that you’d have to actually work at in order to make it completely unenjoyable.