Logan Legacy #7 Review- How Marvel Messed Up!
By Roger Lee
This, the seventh issue of the Logan Legacy mini-series, concludes the brief story introduced in issue #1, (the intervening issues being basically pretty good stand-alone stories featuring X-23, Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, Daken, and Mystique) and sets up the next series dealing with the Death of Wolverine.
Logan Legacy #7 Credit Page
The first and last issues of Logan Legacy form their own story, more-or-less separate from the stories we saw in issues #2-6, and while the ending of this last issue is somewhat intriguing, the overall feel of this series is disappointing. The best parts of the story are the individual tales, and the somewhat formulaic first issue (our “heroes” are brought together, imprisoned, and made to tell each other previously secret tales as a sort of bonding ritual) has been done before, and done better.
While we do find out the identities and motivation of the captors, that knowledge highlights some of the ongoing continuity and editorial problems that Marvel has with crafting and presenting major crossover events. And yes, the whole Death of Wolverine IS a major crossover, as it currently includes several “Death of Wolverine” titles and mentions in nearly every Marvel book that even hints at having a connection to the X-Men, Mutants, or Logan himself.
To be more specific, we need to cross over into SPOILER-LAND. So, if you don’t want to see the big reveal from this title, go down to your local comics shop, buy Logan Legacy #7, read it, and then come back to finish reading this review. Ok. We will wait for you…
Logan Legacy #7 Cover
Ok, on with the show…
The super-powered beings who have captured X-23, Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, Daken, Mystique, and Elixer are none other than the new mutant characters introduced in the pages of the Weapon X Program series that is running concurrently with the Logan Legacy series. That is right: Skel, Neuro, and Sharp (now called Shogun, a name which makes quite a bit of sense if you have read Weapon X Program #4), are the jailers in Croatia from Logan Legacy #1. So what is the big deal, you may say; “Marvel does crossovers all the time, right?”
Logan Legacy #7 Shogun
Right, but Marvel usually does not screw things up this badly! In Weapon X Program #4, (which came out one week prior to Logan Legacy #7) Sharp and Neuro are in New Orleans, and Skel is in Cleveland. They are no longer working together, and their little storyline is far from being concluded. Now, in a book published only seven days later, they are in Europe, working together, and have found a way to capture six of the most deadly mutants on Earth! Hello… is anyone in Marvel’s editorial section paying attention? It is likely a safe assumption that a Wolverine fan reading the Weapon X Program title will likely be reading the Logan Legacy title as well. Quite a bit of the mystery of what happens to the Weapon X guys is now thrown out, and that series, (which fellow Bam Smack Pow writer John McArthur and I both think is pretty good), is somewhat spoiled. Why did Marvel release this last Logan Legacy book before finishing that other series? Now, one thing that was not a secret, is that the Logan Legacy storyline continues with the new Wolverines title coming out next month. We will forgive Marvel for her trespasses and review that first issue when it comes out.
So, to sum up the Logan Legacy series, the first and last issues have issues. The inside of the Logan Legacy sandwich is pretty good, with the individual character stories in issues #2-6 showing some very good writing and character development. And in terms of whether (or, more likely, how) Logan comes back is still apparently a work in progress.