Legion (#1-5) by Peter Milligan

Legion (#1-5) by Peter Milligan, Wilfredo Torres (Illustrator), Javier Rodriguez (Illustrator)

Synopsis (via Goodreads): A mind-bending X-Men tale from the brains of Peter Milligan (X-Statix, Shade the Changing Man) and Wilfredo Torres (Moon Knight, Black Panther)! David Haller, the son of Professor Charles Xavier, has always had trouble containing the multiple personalities in his mind. And with each personality, comes a wild and dangerous mutant power. But now, a terrifying new personality is threatening to absorb these powers and take over David's mind and body. In a desperate attempt to save himself, David seeks out the help of renowned young psychotherapist Hannah Jones to delve into his fractured mind and fight back this dark personality. But unknown to Legion… Dr. Jones brings her own demons with her...

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I know there is a television show based on the main character (David Haller), but I haven't seen it. For those of you that have... is it any good? The comic was meh for me--no love or hate for the story. It was my first time reading about David, so his abilities and issues were new to me. The first comic in this series was promising, but in the end I was left feeling disconnected from what was going on.

Let's start with the ending... that would be a hard no from me. It was unexpected, I'll give you that, but not in a good way. David doesn't really give Hannah a choice when he comes to her for help, so I thought his carefree attitude at the end was obnoxious and cruel. I don't want to say too much in case someone decides to read it for themselves, but the ending ruined everything else for me.

I probably wouldn't have continued this series if it hadn't been a mini. There were only five issues, so it wasn't a long commitment, but instead of being fascinated by David and his mindfuck of personalities/alters, I was frustrated and disappointed with how everything played out. The guy has a Legion of alternate personalities residing in his mind, yet very few are mentioned and none are fleshed out. They were just there to advance the story.

Also, I thought this was supposed to be a series about David Haller, but we mostly view the story from Hannah's perspective.

The synopsis says, "And with each personality, comes a wild and dangerous mutant power. But now, a terrifying new personality is threatening to absorb these powers and take over David's mind and body," yet we don't see David or the terrifying new personality using very many powers. I think they maybe use one each at different times during the story, so why include that information within the synopsis? It's misleading. His alters don't use any powers (that I can remember), nor does David tap into them for personal use. When the baddie starts absorbing alters, he doesn't seem to gain any abilities from it either.

Overall, Legion was a decent comic with an interesting concept. I just wish it had been delivered a little differently. Maybe David could have been more of a focal point? Can he not get inside his own head? Technically, he would be his alters, but that gets too confusing. They all have different identities within his head, so I viewed them as separate individuals. In the end, this wasn't a comic for me.