X-Men Legends #1 – Review
X-Men Legends is a brand new X-Men comic book series which tells untold in-continuity stories during classic eras of the X-Men. X-Men Legends #1 is written by Fabian Nicieza and art by Brett Booth.
Synopsis:
Fabian Nicieza kicks off the series with a special saga of CYCLOPS and HAVOK, as the SHI’AR return to Earth in search of the FORSAKEN ONE! But what secret will the Summers brothers uncover, and how will its revelation change what you thought you knew about the X-Men? Get ready for a story decades in the making! And come back each month as we dive deeper to expand the X-MEN mythos!
X-Men Legends #1 is published by Marvel Comics and is available through Comixology or your Local Comic Shop.
X-Men Legends #1 Story
Issue 1 of X-Men Legends reintroduces the reader to a classic era of the X-Men. So classic, in fact, even a casual viewer of the X-Men 90s Animated Show would recognise the story’s backdrop of the aftermath of the M’kraan Crystal and the Shiar Empire. Fabian Nicieza does an incredible job at jumping back into his vacated seat of masterful mutant scribe. So masterful in fact, the beats, the tone and the dialogue of all the X-Men feels like Nicieza never left.
X-Men Legends #1 introduces us to the Forsaken One, aka the mutant that everyone is searching for, even one Erik the Red – who everyone recognises as adorning the most terrible hat in Marvel history. Erik the Red’s shock troops who are really just mindless assassins dedicated to the worship of fallen Shiar despot, D’ken, manage to kidnap Cyclops and Havok’s grandparents. This sends the two A-list X-Men and Summers brothers on a chase for a mutant who is also being chased by the Starjammers. And if you think familiar faces stop there, well think again true believer, as Cable and Corsair are also weaved tightly into this Summers’ family affair.
X-Men Legends #1 is an action filled tale that bears Nicieza’s signature style of explosive mutant battles, verbal cock fights and secrets revealed at every turn. X-Men Legends begins to fill the gap of a classic era which made us all fall in love with the X-Men in the early 90s. Although it can be blown off as purely fan service. I just simply don’t care as Nicieza expertly transports us all back into a truly nostalgic and timeless period of Mutants. A period that doesn’t back down. Instead, it blows our pants off with the turn of every page.
X-Men Legends #1 Art
Brett Booth’s artwork is exceptional and bleeds emotion from panel to panel. It’s extremely nostalgic in every frame, every perspective and every exchange of action. Booth’s artwork in X-Men Legends feels like reading any issue of Uncanny X-Men remastered.
What truly jumps out at me is the environment and the high adrenaline display of Havok and Cable’s powers as they take out the “Forsaken One” time and time again. Meanwhile, the quality of the art as a whole, doesn’t waver. In fact, it contains awe the readers experience the deeper into this issue you get.
X-Men Legends #1 Conclusion
If there is anything I should leave with is that this X-Men story is mandatory reading and owning for even the most casual of X-Men fans. It’s also a remarkable palette cleanser to any X-fans who are suffering from Krakoa fatigue. X-Men Legends is the time travel device all us 90s kids have been looking for. And goes on to prove why Nicieza is one of the greatest X-Men writers to have ever lived.
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