With this issue, X-Men: Legacy starts interacting with the status quo established in the other X-books. Professor X is still the focus of the main plot, but now he's visiting Cyclops in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Sebastian Shaw is back at the Hellfire Club trying to return that institution to something resembling its glory days, and we start a new plot thread as Rogue makes her first post-Messiah Complex appearance.
Overall, the focus of this book is still on continuity, far more than any other current X-Book. The range of loose ends this book is pursuing is impressive, but even more impressive is how well its incorporating them into an ongoing story and character development. One of my favorite aspects of Carey's run on this book under the old "X-Men" title was the much-needed rehabilitation he did for Iceman, Cannonball and Rogue, all of whom had become much less interesting recently than they were at their peak. After putting Rogue through the wringer leading up to Messiah Complex, it's good to see that Carey's not abandoning her or minimizing her trauma. It's not clear he's going with her yet, but this issue does a good job of establishing her current mindset.
Likewise, Carey continues to work to make sense out of the contradictions within the character of Professor X. The Xavier of the comics has rarely if ever been the saintly man shown in the movies (or in the recent and wonderful "X-Men: First Class"). He's always been very manipulative and a little too certain that his ends justify his means. And now it's all catching up to him.
I love how Cyclops is portrayed here, and even better how his relationship with Emma is worked in. Cyclops and Emma play off each other so incredibly well, and Carey uses that to good effect here. I'm very much looking forward to the resolution of the cliffhanger in the next issue.
With regards to the art, Scott Eaton's work is good, although every once in a while I find his take on some characters' appearances slightly off. But he tells the story clearly and draws very expressive faces, which is critically important in a talky character issue like this one. The Rogue scenes are drawn by Marco Checchetto. He's a bit more into the cheesecake, but not at the expense of showing real emotion. And unlike the jarring switches between Greg Land and Terry Dodson in Uncanny, this pairing of artists works very well- different enough to set off the Rogue sequences but not so drastic a change as to be distracting.
The first arc of X-Men: Legacy was well done, but was very much off in its own world. Now that Carey's integrating will the rest of the x-books, though, I'm increasingly excited about the potential of this book. Good character development is what I look for most in a writer. This book will isn't for everyone, and will probably never grab the casual fans, but for those of us who are a little more attached to the X-Men its well worth the investment.
