X-Men Legacy 22, Uncanny X-Force 16

X-Men Legacy 22
Spurrier (w) and Pham (a) and Rosenberg (c)

The evil mind-Xavier has launched a missile containing all sorts of nuclear firepower at Washington, knowing that the very act, once it shows on the radar, will cause a chain reaction around the world currently filled with hate that the gold Xavier has permeated. David, though, unknowingly has called for his allies. From Wolverine's team to Cyclops' team to Abigail Brand and Sydren to Pete Wisdom to anyone he's teamed up with and they all show, helping to take apart the nuke before it can cause too much trouble (as David points out, taking apart a nuke was the first thing the X-Men did). The gold Xavier is less a gold Xavier at current and more a giant rock monster thing with crazy seemingly disintegration ray powers so it'll take all the X-Men and David's considerable might to bring him down. There are casualties in the fight that David, as a leader, has to be able to move past, including the apparent deaths of Abigail Brand, Chamber, and Karasu Tengu. David pushes through and gets the X-Men to push through and work together, to put aside the hate they have stored up in them and the hate that Xavier is trying to force to the surface. David destroys the body and pulls the power into the astral plane. It's at this moment that Blindfold wakes up, with the power taken by her brother restored (now that Luca's body is destroyed), and projects herself to the fight while her actual body hurries its way there. David squares off against the gold Xavier, who begins to weaken and transform away from the Xavier image and into something small and sickly, goblin-like, in his mind. David prepares to either cage the personality or destroy it but the personality denies him, asking David how a person with a sickness of the mind cures it. The answer is, of course, that he doesn't: he finds ways to live with it. With that, he dives into David's legion and David, unprepared to take it on, emerges back into the real world and becomes the world worm they knew he would become.

The last time I talked about X-MEN LEGACY it was to name it 2013's best Marvel title. This issue does absolutely nothing to disavow me of that notion, even though last week saw the conclusion and therefore the wrap-up of the amazing YOUNG AVENGERS. This book is just truly something else. There's a feeling with the last year or two of Marvel books that they're all echoing something different out there. I think that has a lot to do with books like HAWKEYE, which really broke the mold of a superhero comic, and the rise of Image comics. Superhero books can be different and they can maybe be a little niche and you can take the superhero world, with all of its tropes and eccentricities and over-the-top action and death and resurrection and superpowers and supervillains, and you can, if you want, stick it in a real-ish world and tell really great, really character-centric stories. It's not necessarily a new idea when it's framed that way but it certainly feels new and the books that are doing it well are doing it with such excellence that they're about the best books I've ever seen. Even books that feel a little more traditional, like DAREDEVIL, are bringing such a level of personality and depth that they're changing the face of superhero comics. X-MEN LEGACY is a book about the mutant son of Charles Xavier who happens to be the most powerful mutant in existence. David himself says that his father thought of him as a mutant with "godlike powers and childlike control." Despite this and despite the amazing stories that Spurrier can be and has told with the character, it's remained remarkably personal and remarkably moving. This issue moves David into a spot (where he's been moving for a while, actually) where the main villain has been the sickness in himself and, instead of the typical superhero solution of "punch down the bad guys," you can't find a cure for every sickness. It's an amazing book. Khoi Pham's art is incredible here and, though his style is a departure from Tan Eng Huat (the other major series artist), gives the book a very distinct feel. Huat's art has really grown on me as the series has progressed and, honestly, it's at the point where I love Pham's art in this book but I can see it just as well as if Huat drew it. That's thanks in no small part, too, to Rachelle Rosenberg's colors, which unify the title and makes it look unlike any other out there. Amazing, amazing book. If we ever get a full omnibus style release for this title, I'd urge everyone to get it. Urge, you guys.

Uncanny X-Force 16
Humphries (w) and Tolibao and Soy (a) and Curiel (c)

Hope and Bishop have been taken by Stryfe and both Cable's X-Force and the Uncanny X-Force are interested in finding them. However, the reasons for their mutual interest don't exactly match up and the two teams begin to fight one another through LA. Cable's team shows up to support their leader as he gets knocked out by Storm and Psylocke and they play a bit of keep away as Cable's team works to get him back. Meanwhile, Bishop tries to convince Hope that he's really changed but nothing he can say, as he well understands, can make up for the horrors he's inflicted on Hope. Stryfe shows up to taunt at them for a bit and because he's sworn revenge on Bishop, who betrayed him and left him stranded in the future the last time they saw each other. He offers Hope a chance at her wildest dreams (to be revealed next issue). Back in LA, the dust settles to find Cable awake again. Cable instructs Dr. Nemesis to give Spiral a nightmare, which he does with one of his drug concoctions. In the midst of Spiral's Mojo-based nightmare, Cable convinces her to teleport him to Stryfe's location, which she somewhat unwittingly does. They arrive to find Stryfe waiting for them.

What I typically like about four-issue crossovers is that there's usually a lot to explain and not a lot of room to do it in, so you tend to get only the exposition that you truly need and the action has to move at a certain pace to convey the entire story of two separate entities (in this case, CABLE AND X-FORCE and UNCANNY X-FORCE) over only four issues. For the most part, VENDETTA is proving to be no different. The fights move pretty quickly, the inciting incident and rising action all move well, and you can feel the story both winding up and preparing to wind down at any point. On the weaker ones, you can usually map out the beats after the first issue. I wouldn't say this is entirely one of the weaker ones; the story there, particularly the story about Hope and Bishop, is intriguing enough to keep the audience guessing and to keep the crossover moving well. I will say, I almost would have preferred it if this issue wasn't a big fight issue. Not only would a quick team-up without the typical big fight be something of a surprise in a crossover of this style, it would make a little more sense. To both Sam Humphries' and Dennis Hopeless' credit, they've created a reason for the fight that's more than just "this is the second beat of a four-issue crossover." Still, these are two teams comprised of people who are friends and unquestionably heroes (well, except for the reformed villains you tend to ruin into) and you'd like to see that, just once, mean something. Still not a bad issue. There's some clunky fight-dialogue sprinkled throughout but the arguments for both side are good enough that you can get past it. Also not complaining that the resolution of this crossover will set us into the February launch of Si Spurrier's (see above review) X-FORCE.