Through my dives into Marvel’s first wave of “Legacy” titles, I’ve been having a tough time wrapping my head around what exactly Marvel’s attempting to accomplish with this linewide branding.
While Marvel Legacy #1 is itself a rewarding and compelling read for longtime fans, the follow up releases feature very little connective tissue, or clear themes. Jessica Jones #13 reconnects the character with the most memorable moments in her history, while Avengers #672 pretty purely carries on from the continuity of the preceding All-New All-Different era of Marvel (as part of a crossover no less).
To my mind, there are two plausible motivations for “Legacy” comics, apart from the obvious “announce new things to make money!” angle:
- Reconnect Marvel Comics to their lengthy and excellent past
- Create accessible entry points for new or lost readers
Anything else seems primarily like fancy window dressing, with Marvel slapping a shiny lenticular cover on the same turd sandwich (See also: metaphors, mixed).
To its credit, the (yet again instant) crossover between X-Men Gold and X-Men Blue achieves both of these goals more effectively than most Legacy titles.
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This doesn’t mean it’s an easy new read if this is your first X-Men comic (apart from the impending X-Men: Grand Design, I’m not sure such a comic exists. X-Men Gold tosses readers headfirst into a team composed of Young, time-traveling X-men, Old Man Logan, and general leadership from one-time team noob, Kitty Pryde. There’s also the more immediate callback to X-Men Gold #6 in reference to Rachel Summers’ (aka… Presitge?) powerset.
So essentially, this is still very much a continuity heavy puzzle.
By X-Men Blue, though, the in depth references and in-the-know “greatest hits” threats become a key part of acknowledging and celebrating the X-Men’s legacy. If a reconnection with the past is the goal of Legacy, then an obsession with continuity should be rewarded, and that’s what we get with X-Men trapped in Days of Future Past and Inferno
simulations.
To its undying credit, X-Men Blue also includes a recap encyclopedia that attempts to sum up the major X-Men events that got the team to this place. This is a huge step in the right direction for Marvel, and one of the reasons I’m so positive about the beginnings of this “Legacy” crossover.
Cam Moore says
What was up with the Mojo cameo in All-New Guardians Of The Galaxy 9?