X-Men: Legacy — Necrosha

The fact that this volume exists at all is a little surprising to me.  “Necrosha” was an “X-Force” storyline blown up to crossover size as one of their villains, the psychic vampire Selene, got her hands on the techno-organic virus and used it to bring back a host of undead mutants to make like “Pinky and The Brain” and try to take over the world.  I never got into “X-Force” because it had a “takes itself so seriously that you can’t take it seriously at all” vibe to it.  Plus, in the wake of “Blackest Night” this whole mini-event felt too familiar for its own good.  However, Marvel has never been a company to find a new way to wring money out of its fanbase, so now we’ve got a collection of the “Necrosha” tie-in issues (plus one!) for people like me who liked Mike Carey’s work on “Legacy,” but didn’t want to buy a giant collection to get it.

The story itself, “Earth, Give Up Your Dead,” is nothing special, but it’s still pleasingly familiar.  It’s another take on the familiar superhero trope of setting up an invincible enemy — in this case, reality-altering X-Men foe Proteus — then having him tear through the heroes before they get their second wind and find a way to triumph.  Yes, it’s three issues made up mostly of fighting, but Carey sells the danger well, finds some creative uses for his characters’ powers and gets in some nice character moments with Rogue (of course) and Blindfold at the end.  The last story is a decent one-off as Rogue takes on a portion of the Stepford Cuckoos’ power and gets more than she bargained for as she becomes privy to the random thoughts of pretty much everyone on Utopia.  If you’re like me and have enjoyed Carey’s run the title and hate to have a gap in your collection, then this is for you.  For everyone else, it’s eminently skippable.