Now *this* is what I wanted from Legion of X. With the crossover forcing him to focus (and a better collaborator in the tireless Paco Medina), Spurrier returns to the heights he reached in Way of X. The bloated cast is pared down here to just Mother Righteous (the best and most interesting new idea in LoX, and this is her best appearance yet) and Vox Ignis (an idea I was skeptical of in LoX, but who shines now that he's got a little room to do so) and it makes an immense difference.

And while the Nightcrawler chimeras are largely background characters with personalities that are by necessity pale imitations of the characters they're based on, Spurrier & Medina give them enough weight that they nevertheless feel meaningful, using them to comment on Nightcrawler himself and giving them personas that are just enough off-center from their other progenitors to make them feel distinct without being so far off that they're unrecognizable. (I can't quite imagine Peter Parker yelling "yee-haw" about swinging on a chain, but not because it's outside the scope of things the original character could in theory do.) I'm glad it's Spurrier writing the chimeras; the uncanny balance they require plays to his strengths.

Three chapters in and this crossover is coming out white hot. By default I tend to roll my eyes at Events, but even I have to admit that the post-Hickman era has been great for X-crossovers in general: Judgment Day was fantastic, and the Dark Web X-Men mini surprised me by being the best thing about its otherwise-disappointing parent crossover. This has been a great era to be an X-fan!