Review: X-Men Legends #4

X-Men Legends #4 attempts to make us yearn for the past but instead is the worst kind of modern comic. The book is a rushed, empty, vapid book in spite of being written by the legendary Ann Nocenti. It is more focused on platitudes and plot than characters and creativity.

The story revolves around Longshot being trapped once again in the Mojoverse. This return to a world of television should be fodder for massive action in creative locales but instead we get a gray faded backgrounds and a pointless battle between Wolverine and Shadowcat. The entire proceeding is witnessed by Spiral, Mojo and Major Domo.

The book robs us of any opportunity for excitement, casting characters in shadows or rushed battle scenes against random enemies. The book has a character as visually exciting as Lockheed in it and one would barely know it as the artist Javier Pina relegates him to corners and backgrounds. The visuals on Longshot are entirely forgettable and the character’s powers and personality are entirely missing from the story.

The colors for the battle scenes are bland and the backgrounds empty. The panels showing closeups of Mojo are glorious fun. But Mojo is cast into the background as we focus on Spiral’s efforts to show a female can be a director and win awards. This is mirrored in Shadowcat’s obsession with command and repeated pointed dialogue about sexism including Kitty commenting that X-Men should be called X-Women and that bombs shouldn’t have female names.

Female empowerment has been a key cornerstone of the X-Men world, but this book makes it into a punchline rather than simply showing empowered women. The spiral effects and the reference to the X-Babies are nice but definitely not enough to save this book. Thankfully the nature of this anthology allows us to move onto another creative team next issue with renewed hope for truly legendary storytelling.

Writing: 1 of 5 stars
Art: 1.5 of 5 stars
Colors: 0.5 of 5 stars

Overall: 1 of 5 stars

Writer: Ann Nocenti
Art: Javier Pina
Colors: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.