Review by Frank Plowright

Nightcrawler polices the mutant community of Krakoa, yet that’s carried out accompanied by a philosophical doctrine, which may or may not be a religion. He leads a team of oddball mutants who have faith in his methods headquartered in a bubble reality named the Altar located in the dreaming psyche of Legion, one of the most powerful mutants of all. It’s entirely understandable if that sort of technobabble would dissuade any reader from investigating further, but they should move past that. Si Spurrier operates on a conceptual platform several levels above most writers of mutant titles, and Legion of X’s opening chapter feeds in enough ideas to sustain lesser writers for years. His style is adequately represented by the sample art detailing Nightcrawler’s awkward conversation with new character Zsen, who’s uninterested in niceties.

Other introductions include a giant eyeball able to erase people from reality with a glance if they choose, a mutant no-one remembers, a seller of power dreams, a precog resurrected in astral form, a rogue god, and a mutant able to possess others. There’s more, but that ought to be enough to be getting on with.

What might otherwise be confusing conceptual soup is given clarity by Jan Bazaldua, who’s an old school superhero artist, but a very fine one. She rarely takes the easy route of talking heads, almost always opting for a full figure view from distance, and with the figures embedded in complete backgrounds. Federico Blee’s distinctive colouring completes an attractive artistic package providing the sugar coated pill.

Not that Spurrier’s making it difficult. Much of what he plays with here funnels into a redemptive theme, and he selects the mutants used and their powers to fit the purpose, so Nightcrawler has the highest profile by some distance. Next is Legion, a character with whom Spurrier has a past and perhaps some redemption of his own as X-Men: Legacy was packed with ideas but incoherent in spots. Legion here is magnificently composed, pointing out some home truths, and essential when the theme switches to faith and what creates a god.

This may all sound heavy reading, but it’s brilliantly constructed to be delivered in the course of an exciting superhero adventure anyone can buy into. It’s very smart, rocket paced and the connections are exotically made. A delight. Bring on Vol. 2.