Adventure Comics #528 – Review

By: Paul Levitz (writer), Geraldo Borges & Ransom Getty (pencillers), Marlo Alquiza & Rob Hunter (inkers), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: Now would be the time to sing the Legion Academy school song, but no one has kazoos on hand, do they?

The Review: Back when Jim Shooter took over the Legion “Three-boot,” the estimable comic book blogger Rokk Krin compared the move to getting a famed football coach out of retirement to rework the magic with a failing team.  I think that analogy works very well to summarize the situation we have with Levitz on the current Legion.  No one can deny his now legendary run with the team back in the day, but that’s where the brilliance has stayed: back in the day.

The formulaic writing which drove me away from Legion of Super-Heroes has undeniably reared its ugly head in the sibling title, as this entire issue reads much the same as almost every issue prior.  Developments, both in terms of plot or character, come minimally, if at all.  Mostly Levitz just recycles the same talking points that have long since failed to illicit anything approaching excitement, or even interest to see what will happen next.

Take the Legion Academy graduates.  Their final exam back in Adventure Comics #525 should’ve been the last we ever saw of these guys, especially since they offered virtually no worth or substance to this title to begin with.  But once again, we have to devote ourselves to far too many pages listening to them bemoan their fates about not getting into the Legion (because whining is such a cherished virtue among Legionnaires).

Adventure Comics #525 – Review

By: Paul Levitz & Phil Jimenez (storytellers), Andy Lanning & Sean Parsons (inkers), Hi-Fi (colorist), Geraldo Borges & Marlo Alquiza (2^nd feature artists)

The Story: It’s not easy having a dad who gives superpowers to the people trying to kill you.

The Review: Having a magic-user on your superhero team can be a great idea in practice, but very risky for a comics writer.  Magic can be a great catalyst for telling stories, but it can get out of hand very quickly.  Too often, magicians end up acting as deus ex machina by instantly getting their team out of otherwise inescapable scrapes—just look at Dr. Strange on the Avengers, or Zatanna on the Justice League.

There’s plenty of reason to fear Glorith will wind up doing the same thing for her Legion Academy mates.  With all her pals out of commission, she still manages to take down the rest of the gene-modified gangsters by herself using some vaguely portrayed powers (Illusions?  Mind control?  Telekinesis?).  Let’s hope Levitz doesn’t make this a habit—it can get old pretty fast.

On top of that, you have the dissatisfying non-conclusion to Chemical Kid’s storyline, where as it turns out, his dad’s been selling off his gene-mod tech to cover his gambling debts.  It’s a pretty cliché sort of explanation that doesn’t lead anywhere, although it’s kind of fun to see Chem Kid’s dad as a whimpering coward. The kids don’t really have a chance to do anything about it either, since Levitz chooses to abridge their plot with two other stories in the issue.

Senior Academy members Lamprey and Power Boy get their graduation final by taking down some exotic animal smugglers (which, amusingly enough, include elephants—nice to know we haven’t completely killed them off by the 31^st century).  It’s a low-stakes test, and since you don’t really know the Legion-hopefuls all that well, you have little interest in their success.  Let’s hope their getting shunted to prison duty on Takron-Galtos ends their part in this title for good.