Legion Lost #1 – Review

By: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Pete Woods (artist), Brad Anderson (colorist)

The Story: Seems like everyone’s going retro these days.

The Review: Paul Levitz’s at best uninspired run on Legion of Super-Heroes almost continuously dragged its heels from the day it relaunched and only rarely delivered any goods worth staying on for.  Adventure Comics, its youthful counterpart, bore some promise, but eventually slipped into the same lifeless pattern.  While too jaded to give Levitz’s go at the umpteenth relaunch of the title a try, Nicieza’s merits always earns his work a perusal, I’d say.

Frankly, what he gives us is everything the Legion should be.  First off, he sets them up young—not quite as baby-faced as their original portrayals, but significantly less thirtyish than the exhausted, grim-looking folks we got the last couple years.  But more than appearance, the tone of the characters has liveliness again.  They still retain a gloss of experienced professionalism, but mostly they sound energetic, focused, and open to adventure, which is as it should be.

Then, too, Nicieza gives us a very potent mix of Legionnaires, including a few fan favorites and also some interesting, unexpected choices.  Of course you have Timber Wolf (“Wolverine Lite,” as I like to call him) and Wildfire and Dawnstar, the 31^st Century’s Ross and Rachel (or, for you more current readers, the 31^st Century’s Sammy and Ronnie).  But you also have helpful amphibian Tellus, actress Chameleon Girl, surprisingly foul-mouthed Gates, and Tyrok, who’s gained quite a bit of stature as of late, playing leader here.

Their sheer diversity alone had no guarantee of assuring rich interplay (see Justice League International #1).  Nicieza’s strong character writing puts all their personalities and powers in the forefront without having to spell it our right to you—for the most part, anyway.  With any luck, once this introductory issue gets out of the way, Nicieza from now on has the freedom to just play and not worry about the initial logistical stuff.

Anyway, as it stands, our heroes already have a lot on their plate.  Already facing the prospects of getting left stranded in the past (our present), they also have to deal with malfunctioning flight rights and fritzing powers.  And while our villain may have a howling rage for humankind (Earth’s future xenophobia is literally coming back—in time, that is—to bite us in the butt), by issue’s end, his presence becomes moot, though the damage has already been done.