The last few issues of ‘X-Men Legacy’ culminated with some mutant UK action and in issue #14, Legion’s mommy being called to come and pick him up. That’s right, for the first time in awhile Gabrielle Haller is back.

While I’ve been loving this series so far, Simon Spurrier has truly outdone himself with this issue. Action and mutant powers both are represented here but the core of the story revolves around a son and his mother. Before you flinch and wonder how that is going to be interesting, this has ended up being one of the most powerful emotionally charged issues to date.

I’m warning you now. I’m going to drop the spoiler bombs in this review left and right. I really can’t talk about what happens throughout the issue properly without them. You’ve been warned!

We truly begin the issue on Muir Island. For those of you who are playing catch up, they do a super quick roundup of Legion’s pre-Legacy history in one of the best catch-up’s on a character I believe I’ve ever seen. You see his tortured youth. You see how he views Moira MacTaggert as a surrogate mother for all of the help she tried in the healing of his wounds. You see a rapidly quick roundup and explanation of the ‘Age of X’ story line which was a parallel universe that he created with his mutant powers and dragged a slew of mutants into. You see all of this and that his mother was never there for any of it. So why is she there now? Why after even Xavier died did she not reappear to him?

Her response? The last few days explained in a nutshell. She saved people from terrorist attacks, put a plan into motion to save others, and the day before she had a relaxing night to herself. Her life might be complicated but it wasn’t dealing with superheroes. She considers them from completely different worlds and he was firmly in his own.

His response? Why did she think he would have preferred his life to being in hers?

They hugged and this caused him to accidentally bring her into his mind. He offered to take her out right away and she declined saying she wanted to know what he had to go through. As he showed her, the fake Xavier called her name. When she asked if it was him, Legion said he wasn’t sure. Gabrielle asks “Xavier” to mentally project what he told her when he found out he had a son into her mind. She instantly walked away calling him a fake. They exited the recesses of Legion’s mind at this time and he asked her what his father had said.

She replied, “Thank you.”

He was so moved that he didn’t realize what was happening before it was too late. Someone tried to kill him and instead shot his mother in the head. Gabrielle Haller was dying. Instead of losing control Legion has barely ever been this focused. He nearly instantly disintegrated the people who had attacked him. He tried to call a healer to save her but she wouldn’t allow him.

As she passed from this world, he went to Xavier’s school and mind controlled everyone that he wasn’t there while he sat in front of his father’s tomb. Blindfold came to try and comfort him in his time of need, and his response was that it was time to act with a quick foreshadowing of who he was planning on taking his vengeance out on.

A great story. A moving story. A fantastic setup. This is why Spurrier is becoming one of my favorite comic authors out there right now.

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‘X-MEN LEGACY’ #15
Writer: Simon Spurrier
Artist: Tan Eng Huat