‘Legion of X’ #1 stumbles a bit at the starting line

While the book often feels aimless and out of place with its writing, Bazaldua is quite consistent with providing visually intriguing art throughout.

Lia Williamson

May 23, 2022

When Way of X first launched, the series had its problems, but it felt like a breath of fresh air for the franchise as a whole. Bringing David to Krakoa and the reemergence of Onslaught were intriguing plotlines that kept the series going. Legion of X‘s debut isn’t that strong, unfortunately.

It’s hard to read Legion of X in 2022 and not feel disappointed at a lot of the choices. The series is clearly portraying the Legionnaires as cops, which is an incredibly odd choice to make in our current political climate. Watching the Krakoan cops who are the “good guys” just feels wrong. It’s a worrisome start to this book for sure, and seeing the book do everything it can do to portray the Legionnaires as cops while also distancing themselves from the word “cop” feels irresponsible at best.

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The best parts of this issue are easily the scenes with David and Ruth, both because that was a cute couple we haven’t seen in a while for obvious reasons, and because the colors on those pages really make the scenes stand out. Lost also has a good moment early on in the title, and considering how her treatment was by far the weakest part of Way of X, it’s nice to see her in this light instead. Hopefully, Legion of X does right by Lost and fleshes out that character if nothing else.

Marvel Comics

Lots of Legion of X just feels like it’s giving out answers to questions no one asked in the first place. The book feels a little out of place as an X-Men title, but Jan Bazaldua’s pencils do this book a lot of justice, making the pages always look visually interesting.

Legion of X might just be one of those titles that needs to find its footing, but as a launch issue, it falls a bit flat on the idea of convincing readers to read issue #2. The book just feels aimless and like it has less of a point to it than Way of X, which clearly was built with its arcs in mind from the start.