New Mutants: Lethal Legion collects the five-issue run that came out last year, setting the stage for the Fall of X event and sharing shelves with other short miniseries from the larger X-line. Following the well-received Vita Ayala run on the title, this arc from Charlie Jane Anders carries on the tone and narrative direction of its predecessor, throwing in some of the same characters central to those earlier plot lines. While it isn’t groundbreaking in its approach, it is a perfectly pleasant continuation of this iteration of the New Mutants, giving some of the newer characters room to shine.
I have always enjoyed the teen-focused X-teams, starting with New Mutants back in the 1980s, all the way through Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost’s New X-Men team in the 2000s. With Xavier’s always serving as a school to develop the next generation of mutants, the line feels lacking when there isn’t a book focused on its adolescent members. In this arc, newer mutants like Escapade, Cerebella, and Morgan Red are given room to spread their wings as they are confronted by Count Nefaria’s new Lethal Legion. Additionally, the structure of the storyline is told through a heist framing, which was a fun approach.
Charlie Jane Anders seems to really enjoy the Escapade and Martha Johnson characters, as large parts of this ensemble storyline focus on their trials and tribulations. Escapade, in particular, adds some necessary diversity to the mutant landscape, and hopefully we get more of them in the future. While I am enticed by the possible directions future writers will develop these individuals, this book seems to be brimming with characters. Not only do we get a large group of new members, but we also have most of the original New Mutants cast thrown in for good measure. While it is great to give the original characters a role as teachers, Marvel’s insistence that they be included in the teen X-books seems like forced nostalgia that only burdens the plot. I hope that the new members can get a book of their own in the future, letting the original New Mutants finally graduate.
In addition, the social point of the narrative is rather explicit, with some characters almost narrating it to the reader. It’s a not a bad message, but if there were fewer characters that needed to get page time, Anders could likely have allowed that point to develop more naturally within the story.
Enid Balám is a solid new artist, and whose style fits well with the Marvel visual ethos of the moment. His linework is clean, expressive, and easy to follow. Additionally, each character feels distinct and not interchangeable figures with different hair colors. I hope to see Balám get more work on X-books in the future.
New Mutants: Lethal Legion is a short arc that should satisfy fans of the previous iteration of the New Mutants. Many familiar faces and plot points are woven into this storyline, with some newer faces getting necessary exploration. Let’s just hope the next outing doesn’t bog down our teen members with too many characters and plot points to navigate.
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