Weekly Comic Book Review

by Mike Carey (writer), Daniel Acuna (art)

The Story: Picking up from the X-Men Legacy Annual last month, Rogue and the X-Men must figure out a way to rescue neophyte student Bling from another dimension where she’s being held by old Generation X villain Emplate, along with his demented toady, D.O.A.

What’s Good: Under the pen of Mike Carey, new life has been breathed into the character of Rogue.  His decision to finally give her full control over her mutant power has finally allowed the once-one note X-Man to really grab the spotlight and move forward, and this issue gives us more of that to enjoy.  The script does a good job of getting across how much Rogue has come into her own over the course of the last few issues.  The moment when she steps up with a solution to following Emplate back to his dimension without endangering  X-Man-in-training Trance not only serves as a powerful character beat, but a perfectly logical answer to the predicament.

Speaking of Trance, she seems to be a character that Carey’s taken an interest in and I welcome his decision to give her a bit of the spotlight.  It’s sometimes disconcerting to note just how much of the different X-titles “airtime” constantly goes to Cyclops, Emma Frost, and Wolverine.  Carey is taking advantage of the large, eclectic cast this kind of title offers him.

Acuna’s art is beginning to grow on me.  Despite some slight muddiness and loss of detail in the scenes set on the island of Utopia, he really shines when we enter Emplate’s otherworldly dimension.  I’d even say it’s fair to say that his real strength lies with bringing the bizarre to life, as his renditions of the vampiric Emplate, the twisted D.O.A., and Rogue’s trance form are a sight to behold.  The Peepshow moment and this issue’s cover were also both particularly strong.

What’s Not So Good: No matter what anyone tells me, “Bling” is one of the worst super-hero names ever.  It also doesn’t work one bit, despite what this comic book thinks, as a sound effect.

Nitpicker alert!  Someone should really mention to Acuna that having Onyxx standing directly beside Rockslide is just plain confusing.  I mean, they’re both basically “big rock-skinned guys” and the only way you can tell them apart is that one of them wears a helmet.  At least I think that’s a helmet.

Conclusion: This issue’s a winner.  Carey, every month, demonstrates that he knows these characters well and how to make them interesting, most prominently Rogue.  Acuna shows off his ability by really taking advantage of his strengths within the story.  As a result, X-Men Legacy is definitely becoming the X-Men title to follow.

Grade: B

- Joe Lopez