X-men Legends #5
Sasha Kaplan
Recap
Legendary Whilce Portacio returns to his iconic co-creation in an all-new tale that finally reveals the genesis of BISHOP’s time travel mission that pulled him from the future into the X-Men’s present! Bishop, Malcolm and Randall, who make up the elite Omega Squad, have discovered a dark truth about the X.S.E. After a mission goes sideways, how far will they be willing to go to make this right? To the past — and beyond! Bishop will make the most shocking decision in X-Men Legends history that will redefine what you thought you knew about mutantkind’s future and the reason behind Bishop’s collision with the X-Men!
Review
A promising start to a new set of X-men Legends stories, now focusing on Bishop. This time he is from yet another dystopian future, where the name of the X-men is kin to gods and is being used in vain to carry out oppression against their fellow mutants. The detailed world-building is unclear.
Bishop is off on a new/old adventure, telling readers about this other future and his backstory. The backstory is fascinating while blending several elements to tell a political allegory that it doesn’t quite know what it’s pulling from.
The art is unpolished and blurry. It’s not bad and does evoke that 90’s style aesthetic well. But the angles and positions of certain characters in a given panel look awkward. Without additional queues, it wasn’t easy to differentiate characters, especially once Bishop got into the story.
Bishop is a fantastic character and giving him the story is a great move that falls a bit flat when it tells a rather unoriginal tale of the oppressed becoming oppressors and his role in all of that. It’s certainly interesting. And it is nice to see a non-Krakoa X-men story. Perhaps as we get into Bishop’s tale, something new and exciting will pop up. To have his co-creator return to tell another facet of Bishop’s story that promises to reveal the details of his time travel mission is intriguing and promising.
Final Thoughts
Yet Another story in a dystopian future trying to present something different or is it really all that different. If you love Bishop, and you love that dark X-men future, it is worth picking up. At the very least, as a reprieve from the Krakoan era.
X-men Legends #5 Bishop’s Mission
- Writing - 6/106/10
- Storyline - 6/106/10
- Art - 6/106/10
- Color - 6/106/10
- Cover Art - 6/106/10