X-Men Legacy 12, X-Factor 258

X-Men Legacy 12
Spurrier (w) and Davidson and Leisten (a) and Peter (c)

David is still set on taking the pill as the issue starts, a move that thrills Red Skull. For his peaceful anti-mutant organization Darwin's Martyrs, this is perfect; the son of the most famous mutant of all hoping to rid himself of his powers. They start the cameras rolling as David explains who he is and why he's doing what he's doing. Right as he's about to pop the pill in, Blindfold and her quickly assembled team show up, stopping David from taking the pill. A fight breaks out on camera as the team recognizes Red Skull and attacks. Unfortunately, this is all still according to Skull's plan. When the camera pans to see what's happening, it simply looks as if mutants killed Marcus Glove, the figurehead of the organization (who, of course, was just a Red Skull creation). Now it looks like these dangerous mutants broke in and killed a peaceful man who had a peaceful solution to ending mutant threats. People watching the report are furious, rallying together against what seems to be a common enemy. On the plus side, this actually has all played into David's hands, who was never actually there to take the pill. He brings out one time Legacy star Santi Sardina, the boy whose mutant power is to take credit for things, and it confuses the watching populace, who all believe Santi is a hero but may have just killed Glove but who is also taking credit for leading Darwin's Martyrs but who is also a mutant and...well, it's all very confusing. David, of course, knew it would be and nothing kills a rally like utter confusion at its core. The mutants team on Red Skull, secure knowing that they won't be crucified for the events of today. Just as Skull goes down, the gold entity in David's head takes his minute of control of David's body. He calls himself Legion and makes his way for Skull, hoping to inhabit the body that holds Xavier's brain and claim the brain for his own. The mini X-team holds him for part of the minute as Blindfold tries to help David from inside his own brain (where she can hear all of his loudspeakered thoughts). Right as Legion is about to take hold of the body, Karasu-Tengu shows up with her psychic raven and attacks Legion, stopping him long enough for the minute to end and for David to regain control of the body and trap Legion in a cell. David reveals that Darwin's Martyrs was just another threat to mutants that needed eradicating and that there was never a chance he'd give up his powers. If he really is meant to do something awful to the world, he'll handle it with his own abilities because he rules himself.

I really like this book. I'm not sure I've said that enough here. Even this issue, which took the twist of last issue, which had twisted the entire superhero genre on its own, kind of reversed that twist and still didn't leave me unsatisfied or depressed. Of course, I knew David couldn't really lose his powers but the idea was so brilliant that he was willing to, even after everything converged to convince him to fight back. Still, I guess the way I figured his powers would stay was that the team would show up and they'd all fight and the day would be saved. That sort of happens but not in the straightforward way it could have, and that many lesser books would have done. That's cliche and old but this was new and exciting and worked so perfectly within everything else Spurrier's done with the series. Just a brilliant set of twists and turns and it's hard not to cite David among my favorite characters in the Marvel Universe at the moment.

X-Factor 258
David (w) and Edwards, Carnero, and Leisten (a) and Milla (c)

X-Factor is winding down and, while for Layla and Madrox last issue that meant asking more questions, for Rahne this issue it means closing doors. She jumps into John Maddox's church (he's a priest who was a duplicate of Madrox but chose not to be reabsorbed when the time came) and kills two gunmen who were tearing up the church aiming to kill Maddox for his suggestion to the wife of one of the gunman that she leave him. The gunmen have killed members of the congregation already by the time Rahne launches through the window but she puts them down quickly, killing one and possibly fatally wounding the other. She leaves just as quickly as she came, leaving Maddox confused and alarmed. She comes back later to talk with Maddox, who recognized something was wrong with her when she came in. She tells the whole story about Tier's death and another story about where she ended up after the events. She was sent to the Arctic, though she fever-dreamed that it was Niffleheim, the land of the dead, and that Tier and his father were both there and that she was finally able to join them. Unfortunately for her, she's actually just talking to a polar bear. Guido appears and saves her from it then apologizes, sort of, for things that happened. He knows he can't make it up to her but he sends her to Maddox's church just in the nick of time. As Rahne is about to leave, having told her story, Maddox offers her a position in the church, learning to become a deacon. She accepts and Maddox recognizes that it's the start of a new life for her, meaning probably we're don with her through the end. One would think, but I've been burned before.

I'm not a big fan of Rahne so I wasn't particularly thrilled by this issue. Also, there are a lot of weird bits to this one. On the one hand, there's a couple of gunmen shooting up a church and then that storyline is done. Obviously it will still weigh on the town and on Maddox when he's not dealing with X-Factor related things, but it was weird for such a devastating attack to be thrown aside so quickly. There is also a bit of recap here as we recount what happened in the lords of hell arc and bits of Rahne's past. Still, David had to wrap up the character if his intent is to wrap up the series by ending each character's respective arc and this is about as good a place to leave her as any, with a person she's comfortable with and in a church. It'll do, I suppose. It'll do.