X-Men Legacy, Vol. 7: Aftermath

X-Men Legacy (2008) (Collected Editions)

by Mike Carey, Paul Davidson (Artist), Brian Reber (Colourist)

After suffering heavy damage during Bastion's attack on mutantkind, the city of San Francisco is rebuilding. Hoping to aid in the reconstruction effort, Cyclops tasks a team of X-Men - including the newly arrived mutant messiah, Hope - to lend a hand. But when something goes terribly wrong, will the X-Men lose everything they fought for?
Plus: After surviving the Age of X, Rogue and Magneto recognize they've been through a lot together - and grown closer because of it. But when Rogue forces Magneto to confront the horrors of his past, their relationship may just reach a breaking point.

Collecting: X-Men Legacy 242-244, 248-249, plus all-new OHOTMU-style profiles for Blindfold, Hellion and Omega Sentinel!

Genres: Comics, X Men, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Comic Book, Science Fiction, Superheroes

152 pages, Hardcover

First published August 10, 2011

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Mike Carey was born in Liverpool in 1959. He worked as a teacher for fifteen years, before starting to write comics. When he started to receive regular commissions from DC Comics, he gave up the day job.

Since then, he has worked for both DC and Marvel Comics, writing storylines for some of the world's most iconic characters, including X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR, LUCIFER and HELLBLAZER. His original screenplay FROST FLOWERS is currently being filmed. Mike has also adapted Neil Gaiman's acclaimed NEVERWHERE into comics.

Somehow, Mike finds time amongst all of this to live with his wife and children in North London. You can read his blog at www.mikecarey.net.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I got through the first chapter I almost threw up a little for the art. Magneto on page 6 looks like a Nintendo boss character as most of the rest of the characters look like we're seeing them through a funhouse mirror.

Hellion's angst seems understandable given his hands-loss, and maybe it's just the art, but boy does it seem like teenage-romance-melodrama. And most everyone's reactions as well. I'm pretty sure Carey didn't just have a stroke, so I'm guessing art.

The Aftermath stories were pretty heartfelt - if a touch exaggerated. Frenzy & Cyclops, Gambit & Rogue, Rogue & Magneto - all interesting shadows cast on their relationships. As much as I rail against soap-opera plots in comics, somehow I feel like Carey's got a handle on a more sophisticated way of showing us how these relationships occupy the grey line between black and white (the usual broad strokes in too many comics these days).

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aftermath truly lives up its title, featuring the aftermath from both Second Comingand Age of X. Of course, this means the volume is hardly a standalone, requiring you to go read Age of X right in the middle or else the back half of Aftermath makes no sense. Not a great editorial decision, Marvel.

Still, what's here is pretty good. The first "aftermath" see an X-team sent into San Francisco to help the non-mutants clean up the destruction. Predictably, things go awry (Omega Sentinel goes off the rails and tries to kill the other mutants). Hellion learns and grows (a tiny bit) and then WHOOSH we're into the Age of X aftermath, which sees the X-folk struggling to reacclimate to the real world after three years in Fortress X.

This "aftermath" is better, if only because it allows for a lot of character growth. Cyclops, Rogue, Gambit, and Magneto all have stuff to work out, most of them in interesting, satisfying ways. Aftermath is definitely a strange interstitial volume, but a fine read if you've been keeping up with the rest of the X-verse.

[Judah Radd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carey’s Legacy has been inconsistent. Between dull issues and exciting ones, I still haven’t worked out how I’d rate it... but this volume is undoubtedly awesome.

It focusses on (as the title suggests) the post Age of X “Aftermath,” and that aftermath is pretty goddam interesting!

Everyone is coming to terms with their memories. Frenzy and Scott, Magneto and Rogue, and while this is happening, Doctor Nemesis is trying to put Legion back together (cuz that always works, right?).

Overall, this is pretty rad.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a weird collection since Age of X happens right in the middle. So for whatever reason we got this. 248-249 should’ve been collected in Age of X and for some odd reason they didn’t collect them with it even though they are clearly labeled as: “Age of X Aftermath”.

Regardless, the first half is decent, but Hellion is annoying and whiney (even though he was in the right in my opinion). That is about it for that. 248-249 were good, but only really if you read Age of X and you are a fan of Rogue x Magneto. I’m not. Best I can give is 3 stars.

One day Marvel will deign to give us a Mike Carey omnibus and it will be GLORIOUS!!

These collected editions are nice and all, but if we got a Mike Carey omnibus it would be much better.

[Jay DeMoir · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories felt not only disjointed, but also some of them were way too slow… in the art wasn’t the best at times

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

very good X-Men story

[Aisling · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the Age Of X storyline that takes place inbetween portions of this trade (Marvel's collections editor is terible at their job) seems more like an homage to previous X-stories than a hacky retelling, the stories here feel like...hacky retellings.

Burying Hellion's story in a contrived "Tell the story through a series of flashbacks given by characters who are being interrogated" is lazy storytelling. Given what a gifted and creative writer Carey is when writing for Vertigo, I'm deeply disappointed at how his X-stories, which he wrote for years, never seem to contain an original idea, an interesting look into a character, or a cool writing technique.

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 3 out of 5]

Después de Era de X, tocaba lidiar con los cambios producidos por la irrupción de X en su vida y la alteración de todo su mundo. Y lo primero es decidir si quieren mantener recuerdos o habilidades adquiridas en ese tiempo encerrados en el mundo creado por una de las personalidades de Legión: las alas demoníacas de Hada, la habilidad de Infernal para utilizar sus manos biónicas... o la personalidad heróica de Frenesí. Y tenemos la formación de un nuevo equipo de la Patrulla-X que surge a raíz de X: Pícara, Gambito, Magneto, Frenesí, Legión y Xavier, que tendrán que partir en búsqueda seis de las personalidades de Legión, que de alguna manera se han "independizado" de su anfitrión original.

Así que en este primer arco tendremos al nuevo equipo de Pícara recorriendo Europa (Tenerife, París y Londres), para hacer frente a las personalidades escapadas de Legión, que tiene que volver a absorberlas antes de que una de ellas, Estigio, se haga con el control de todo y del propio Legión... Y en este arco también se resuelve la verdad sobre Revivida, la "Fénix" que habíamos visto en la Era de X y que en uno de los golpes de efecto más magistrales de Mike Carey, resulta no ser otra que la imagen telepática de Rachel Grey, enviada a la Tierra para pedir ayuda... Y es que va siendo hora de que los X-Men que quedaron abandonados en el espacio para hacer frente a Vulcano y esas cosas, vuelvan a la Tierra...

[Ma'Belle · Rating 2 out of 5]

So many pages wasted on slowly going over what readers already knew well: that Hellion has anger management issues basically. Then a couple issues with art and script so awful I had to skip it. Finally the Aftermath storyline shows up near the end of this volume, and we FINALLY get to see Legion (the reason I started reading this series in the first place). Sadly, this TPB doesn't actually include the key storyline where Legion had developed a new persona based on Moira MacTaggert, but with reality-molding powers. We just get a blurb about what happened, and then a couple issues showing how different characters are dealing with the "aftermath" of having lived a lifetime of traumatic memories in a false reality.

At this point, these books (which I had to get via Inter Library Loan) are due, and I'm wondering why I'm even bothering reading them, when they really haven't impressed me much and I'm like 7 freaking volumes in. Planning on quickly reading the next volume and returning the remainders un-read.

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've liked a lot of Mike Carey's work, both in comics and out, but this collection just completely missed the mark with me. Cyclops sending team members to help rebuild San Francisco makes perfect sense but how its done is goofy seeing as how a handful of the team could handle the job in a couple hours. The developments with Hellion, Sentinel, and Dust were all limited and then having the aftermath of a pretty bad event (Age Of X) collected here is editorially a bad move. Frenzy is uninteresting and Rogue/Magneto is tired. The art was also a let down. Characters looked terribly ugly and grim. It was unfortunate. Overall, this collection was a complete disappointment.

[Rob Marney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This trade is all setup for character drama. The Legion bit will really pay off in Spurrier's run, but there's some interesting filler here with his cool new personalities and powers. The Karima bit is rather forgettable set pieces for fights. It's totally fine, but there's no reason to read this unless you're reading the whole run through.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing the great x-read of 2017/2018... (and I am really far behind with my reviews so I will be putting up a bunch of quick-takes to catch up...)

I enjoyed this volume though it was a bit disjointed.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A weird collection. The first half takes place immediately before Age of X, and is mostly stalling. The second half takes place after Age of X, and is quite good. Why it's collected this way, I don't know...

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mike Carey steers the Utopia residents into new territory in this volume of X-Men: Legacy. A team of X-Men are sent to San Francisco to help repair the damage from Bastion's assault on the X-Men in the first half of the volume. The mission starts strong, but turns to disaster when Omega Sentinel's latent programming overrides her human self, launching an attack on her teammates. The recently amputated telekinetic Hellion is able to shut her down by using excessive force; this prompts an assessment of how the little island of mutants is coping with having nearly been exterminated at the expense of new mutant Hope. The second half deals with the fallout from the the Age of X reality warp caused by one of Legion's rogue personalities. While many denizens line up to have that world erased from memory, some cling to the hope and promise of a new start. Pixie wants to keep a little of her "bad girl" self as a reminder of what can happen if she loses control, Legion gains a new device to help him stabilize his various personalities, and Frenzy gives herself a makeover, wanting to be like her confident and strong alternate self. With new outlooks and missions, the X-Men are ready for the next crisis thrown their way. The volume does a good job in living up to its namesake; the stories within are concerned with the aftermath of a massive event. Many times that grace period is ignored or rushed in order to set up the next big thing. Carey and company remind readers that how one deals with a life-altering situation is just as important as living through it. Keep that in mind as you check out this collection.

[Ernest · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume takes a breather after all the craziness of recent large events to look at how various characters, including Magneto, Hellion, David and some other students deal with it. Of course, there are still elements of action, but the emphasis and more interesting aspects are how different situations arise and characters cope and process after the events. As such, this volume does require some knowledge of what had gone on before, and that knowledge leads to a solid volume that while it may not be essential reading, nicely rounds the characters and their world.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reconstruction two-parter takes a nice look at the X-Men's relationship with the people of San Francisco and is great for its focus on Julian [8/10]. Though its nice to see a focus on Blindfold in the next issue, the story is just OK overall, building on the least whelming aspects of Empath [7/10]. The final couple of issues are a terrific response to Age of X and #249 in particular is an awesome look at a group of people who appear to be making up Rogue's new strike team [9/10].

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book includes the stories that take place before and after Age of X. This to me is a bit more interesting than Age of X, because you feel like something is actually happening; not just as some mind-control thing that will be erased or forgotten later. The Legion character is becoming more well-rounded and less of a simple plot device. Which is all he has been for the past 25 years. While the stories revolving around Rogue are becoming a little stale.

[Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was better than I expected it would be, particularly since it bookends a big X-event, but it somehow managed to do a reasonable job of summarizing that event and the related changes that it made to the characters. The character interactions are actually interesting in a way that this book veered away from for a while, and there are some interesting developments here, that I am interested to see pan out. In what seems kind of a forgettable volume, something a bit new is beginning.

[William Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

The standard interlude between Big Important X-Overs. Slowly advances the team to the next big crossover event, ushering them from the previous one and attempting to tie up any loose ends and glaring miscalculations on the editor's part. Nemesis continues to amaze me as a character and the work with Legion in this book is the greatest part of it. Not enough of Pixie to keep my interest, though.

[zxvasdf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why I bother anymore. On general principles this book's great, but it just can't keep my interest. I'm lost, adrift in the vast mythology of this gang of mutants. Which storyline is this one, now? Are they all interconnected? If so, shit, that's a lot to go through. Like the Chinese say, May you live through interesting times.

[Aaron Swensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories were too disconnected from each other and never really moved the characters forward. #242 and 243 we okay. I eas nice to see the X-Men do something I ordinary, in this case help at a construction site, but they could have done something more with it, not just a place for Omega Sentinel to malfunction.

[Shaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ties up a few loose ends from the Age of X storyline. Helion's hardships and new developments made for interesting characterization. I am curious about what will happen to both Magneto and Rogue.

[Laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book wasn't that great. The final issues deal with the aftermath of Age of X and were a big improvement. If you don't know the characters however, it wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting.

[Sonic · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's good, and satisfying because the writing is smart and so is the art.
It just doesn't ever get, ... you know,
... thrilling.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. It's the beginning of the end. Rogue and Magneto...

...nope. Do not want.

[Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fallout from the Age of X events. Magneto + Rogue = sexy!