Tuesday 27 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: X-Men Legacy: Divided He Stands

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Men Legacy: Divided He Stands

Collects: X-Men: Legacy #208-212
Writer(s): Mike Carey
Penciller(s): Scott Eaton, Billy Tan, Greg Land, John Romita Jr.

In which we find out what happened to Professor X.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Professor X

From Genesis to Revelations (X-Men: Legacy #208-210)
In the blink and you miss it ending to Messiah CompleX, the body of Professor X disappeared. It took me a few takes to get it first time round and this time I flat out missed it. Basically, Xavier was taken by Exodus and his Acolytes, and this series (at least at the start) explores Xavier's character as we find out that the Exodus has been able to save him, Bishop's bullet caused brain damage and as such Xavier has missing memories. Flashback time!

What follows is an examination of Xavier and his motives, and some scenes from the X-Men's past.

Exodus can't get Xavier to heal properly, so despite being a "flat scan" (i.e. depowered) he brings in Magneto to see if that can jolt Xavier out of his coma. Omega Sentinel (terrible name, I know) asks Magneto whose path was the correct one, his or Xavier's so we get flashbacks to their relationship through the years. With Magneto's presence Xavier awakens and is asked by Exodus to lead the Acolytes.

Exodus and Xavier square off on the psychic plane, with Exodus using bad memories from Charles' past against him. Eventually Xavier wins and leaves. In the epilogue we get hints that Rogue and Sebastian Shaw and the Hellfire Club will be involved in the next tale.

Sins of the Father, Parts 1-2 (X-Men: Legacy #211-212)
Professor X is now trying to rebuild his fractured memory by using other peoples minds. He visits a childhood friend, a chap called Carter and takes a memory from their childhood. It turns out that his father Brian wants to perform some tests on Charles, these are done by a Doctor Milbury. In Carter's memory Milbury has the red diamond on his head associated with Mr Sinister.

At the Hellfire Club, a machine has sprung to life, that used to belong to Sebastian Shaw's father.

Gambit hooks up with Xavier, as he had heard through some contacts in teh New Orleans Assassins' Guild that there was a bounty on Xavier's head. Xavier uses Gambit to regain some more memories before checking out the list - Carter, Cain Marko aka Juggernaut, Sebastian Shaw. Xavier checks on Carter, but he's now dead.

Shaw is also there and follows Gambit and Xavier. They clash with some Assassins again and Xavier has a memory of Sinister and a scalpel. Cliffhanger!

Best Bit
Xavier and Magneto deciding that things have moved on while they've been fighting the same argument against each other.

Final Words
Why a cliffhanger? Because parts 3 and 4 of this story are in the next volume Sins of the Father. This is one of the worst breaks in a volume. It's like they thought 5 issues, release the trade without looking at the story lines. I imagine they needed it to be released along side X-Men: Divided We Stand and Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand.

Frustrating
7 / 10

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