Legion Lost #5 – Review

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

The Story: Can’t we have just a nice, calm, rational conversation, mind to mind?

The Review: I don’t think bias in a critic is evil as long as he’s aware of it and makes it clear, so I have no problem in saying that I really wanted to like this title.  Actually, I do like it, so I guess it’s more accurate to say that I really wanted to love this title, enough to convince others to give it a try and see for themselves how great it is.  Sadly, I can’t say that with much honesty—not at this point, at least.

I still maintain the series has many virtues, but there are some major missteps in the writing that undermines it as a whole.  Some of these are structural, like the increasingly annoying recap monologue Nicieza invariably incorporates at the beginning of every issue.  While it may be useful for the reader who’s just hopping on board, I suspect those people are few and far in-between.  For the fans, the recap is a tiresome bit of repetition you just want to skip over.  Plus, I imagine it’ll read pretty awkwardly once it’s collected in a trade.

Another misstep, one semi-structural and semi-substantial, is Nicieza’s choice to have each issue narrated by a different Legionnaire (except for the MIA Chameleon Girl and Gates).  If you have a character with a lively personality, it can work, but the more reserved characters seem more like they’re merely dispensing information than letting their individual attitudes speak for themselves.  That was the case with Dawnstar last issue, and much the same here with Tellus, whose pause-laden mode of speech is just as heavy and burdensome to read as you’d expect.

You also have—I won’t call them problems, per se—flaws within the story itself.  Tellus’ psychic confrontation with Alastor goes along fairly predictable lines, as attempts to reason with misguided villains so often do.  The telepathic amphibian tries to appeal to Alastor’s amenable side, throwing out such stock lines as, ““…Is this the person…your sister would have…wanted you…to become…?”  It works, I suppose, but it doesn’t make the title seem any fresher.