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Marvel Reviews

Legion of X #1-5 in Review: A Canticle for Liebenden

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Credits: Si Spurrier writes; Jan Bazaldua draws; Federico Blee colors; Clayton Cowles letters; covers by Dike Ruan and Matthew Wilson

Despite series writer Si Spurrier’s smorgasbord of ideas for Legion of X, little of which comes into focus until the last issue of the first arc (likely to happen again with the conclusion of the second, issue #10), Spurrier has one simple message throughout, which may or may not help readers appreciate it more:

Love, or Liebenden (German for “Lovers”), defeats (Ever)war.

(“A Canticle for Liebenden,” a riff off the sci-fi classic A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller, Jr. is the title of issue #5; “Everwar” is what the Arakkii call the centuries of conflict with Amenth.)

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Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Menace Revealed Vol. 3 TP Review!

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One of the fun and interesting – or infuriating, take your pick – things about reading Star Wars comics from the era of this collection is the way they interact with what counts as current canon. Published by Dark Horse Comics in the early 00s, the stories collected in Star Wars Epic Collection: The Menace Revealed vol. 3 have been deemed non-canonical “legends” relative to the stories being told in the current comics from Marvel, as well as the movies and streaming series of the Disney era. They were also published in the early 2000s, just before or right around the release of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Which means they are indirectly non-canonical in a different way: by virtue of having been created before Attack of the Clones, they can’t reference later events, such as the Clone Wars or the details of Anakin’s fall to the dark side.

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Knights of X #1-5 in Review

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Credits: Tini Howard writes; Bob Quinn draws; Erick Arciniega colors; Ariana Maher letters; stunningly gorgeous covers, the real highlight here, from Yanick Paquette and Alejandra Sanchez Rodriguez.

To whatever degree you do or don’t enjoy the foundational Claremont-and-Davis Excalibur run (1988-90), as a mash-up of various genre settings and modes, it was unusual in the mainstream comics landscape. For readers who grokked to it, Claremont and Davis were playfully subverting the superhero genre while allowing in outside genre elements and, of course, a playful but earnest exploration of sexuality—apparently too subtle for some fans to pick up on, while that apparent subtlety dazzled others with its colorful boldness. Excalibur has even inspired a fun reread podcast, Oh Gosh, Oh Golly, Oh Wow!, hosted by a trio of academics enthused by the iconic title’s sexually coded antics.

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