Legion of Super-Heroes #14 – Review

By: Paul Levitz (writer), Fernando Dagnino & Raul Fernandez (artists), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: If it is wisdom you seek, die first.  No, I’m not kidding.

The Review: When this title rebooted last year, it introduced the character of Harmonia Li to be of some significance and then pretty much shelved her.  Yet Levitz never really allowed the her to be forgotten; she continued to dog this series, reappearing in the most random moments of often unrelated story arcs to remind us of her vague existence, but never actually following up with any real interest.

This issue finally gets into her mysterious origins, and it’s underwhelming, to say the least: as it turns out, she is a denizen of Utopia, a world of wisdom, which just happens to be the last target on Saturn Queen’s demolition list.  Since Levitz spent so little time in previous arcs laying the groundwork for this revelation, it really comes out of nowhere, and feels more like a convenient too to allow the Legion to access an otherwise inaccessible world.

Still, Levitz deserves some credit for neatly tying all his disparate plotlines into one common thread: Dream Girl’s attempt to purge Star Boy of—something—in his costume; Dawnstar’s search for the being that attacked her and Wildfire; Mon-El’s quest across space with Dyogene; and of course, the Legion of Villains’ quest for the three worlds of balance.  The cost, of course, is none of these were explored in enough detail to be of any interest, resulting in a climax that lacks much in the way of excitement or novelty.

Certainly, Levitz’s dialogue does nothing to help matters, having finally descended from purely clichéd and pointless (the issue starts actually starts off with, “Nooo!”) to completely incomprehensible.  Both Dyogene and Master Kong of Utopia are given to speak gibberish as a pretense of wisdom: “…and if Dyogene’s master of the rings’ power is greater, know that this moment was foreseen long ago in shaping this one.”  “…but if man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.”  Tortured grammar is the least of their problems.

The Legion of Super-Heroes #12 – Review

By: Paul Levitz (writer), Yildiray Cinar & Jonathan Glapion (artists), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: An egomaniacal, power-hungry diva gets a massive boost in telepathy and decides she’s queen of the universe—what are the odds?

The Review: The Legion is such a sprawling team with such a wide scope of influence—basically the entire galaxy and perhaps beyond—that their potential mission load can be quite infinite.  On the same count, it’s very easy to spread them too thin without ever giving them anything worth following.  Unfortunately, that seems to be the case with Levitz’s current run on this title.

Remember in my review of last issue when I thought Levitz was finally on the verge of following up on Harmonia Li’s nigh-forgotten storyline?  Remember how she suddenly appeared in Brainiac’s lab out of nowhere and delivered a particularly foreboding cliffhanger: “This is all my fault”?  Well, it turns out Brainy’s going to let that one pass and we get to wait until the next issue—if we’re lucky—to see if that plot goes anywhere, or at least wraps up gracefully.

Levitz chooses to bring us back to Saturn Queen’s quest for three planets of cosmic influence, which honestly still doesn’t quite feel very high-stakes.  No case has been made on how integral these planets are to the universe’s well-being (considering the Rock of Eternity was reduced to rubble and no seems to have noticed).  You’re also not inclined to take the whole deal very seriously since you have no idea what S-Queen’s after—or what will happen if/when she gets it.

This issue features more of the same stuff we’ve been getting for a while: a duo or trio of Legionnaires duking it out with the baddie du jour.  These fights would be more exciting if there weren’t so many of them squeezed into one issue, limiting each battle to a couple pages each.  Levitz doesn’t make the most of them either, as the team hardly ever uses their powers very creatively (Colossal Boy especially—this is the second time in a row he’s been KO’d within four panels of the fight just starting).

The Legion of Super-Heroes #7 – Review

By: Paul Levitz (writer), Yildiray Cinar & Wayne Faucher (artists), Francis Portela (back-up artist)

The Story: Cosmic Boy, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, and Tyroc investigate the murder of a United Planets councilor, leading them to confront the assassins and prevent further government deaths.  Meanwhile, Sun Boy considers Legion leadership, and Mon-El and Earth-Man have words over Shadow Lass, Mon-El’s ex and Earth-Man’s current flame.  In the back-up story, Brainiac 5 and Chameleon Boy travel to Naltor, world of seers, where Chameleon Boy receives a disturbing vision of his future and Brainiac 5 interrogates Harmonia Li, a mystery from the past.

The Review: Part of what turns off many readers from Legion is the astonishing amount of baggage it’s packaged with.  When Geoff Johns revived the team in his “Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes” story, he brought back the original Legionnaires with all their complex histories intact.  The result is a team that is somewhat wiser and more experienced, but also one that feels like most of its biggest adventures has already passed.

Paul Levitz is now responsible for crafting the great Legion stories to come, if there are any more to be had.  The first six issues of this series focused on establishing the current tone and dynamic of the team.  This newest issue should be the start of higher-stakes conflicts for the Legionnaires, but so far, there is little happening to generate much excitement.  The A-story in this issue—assassination attempts on UP councilors—seems slightly drab, since Levitz takes little time to show why we should care about whether these councilors die or not.  No one, least of all the Legionnaires, seems very distressed by what’s happening.

The low-key B and C-stories don’t help to shore up the weak primary plotline.  Mon-El and Earth-Man’s confrontation is so short, it doesn’t gain momentum, and happens almost out of nowhere.  Shadow Lass is a foxy girl, no doubt, but the brief exchange between her former and present lovers offers no reason why they’re fighting over her.  The even shorter discussion of Legion leadership doesn’t really move that plotline anywhere, and comes across as a pointless distraction to the other stories.  It would have made sense to cut the Brainiac back-up to develop the A-story more, or perhaps integrate the two altogether.  It just seems that with Levitz trying to advance four different plots simultaneously, the pace slows to a crawl as each plot moves an inch forward at a time.

The Legion of Super-Heroes #3 – Review

by Paul Levitz (writer), Yildiray Cinar (pencils), Francis Portela (pencils & inks), Wayne Faucher (inks), Hi-Fi (colors), and Sal Cipriano (letters)

The Story: Earth-Man is forced to go on his first mission as a Green Lantern and the Legion finds itself pitted against Saturn Queen.

What’s Good: I absolutely love Earth-Man under Levitz’s hand.  He adds a really fun dynamic to the team, his dialogue is consistently dickish, and Levitz continues to tease new developments for the character.  I’ve really enjoyed Levitz’s placing Niedrigh in increasingly uncomfortable positions, and when, this month, he’s forced to save the lives of some tiny lifeforms on a far away planet, it’s really amusing in a “fish out of water” sort of way. Earth-Man’s constant tone of dismissive disgust is fun, but I’m starting to become increasingly interested in a possible redemption further down the road for the character, which may very well be the route Levitz is taking him.  It’s promising stuff and honestly, the more Earth-Man I get from Levitz the better.

Beyond this, much of what has made this Legion relaunch so successful this month recurs.  The large cast is handled aptly with all the characters feeling natural and in possession of their own unique voices.  Furthermore, by modern comic standards, this is another issue that is packed with content; a lot of narrative movement occurs.  While it’s not quite as ridiculously crammed as the last two issues, it’s still heftier than most comics and feels a bit more settled.

The Legion of Super-Heroes #2 – Review

by Paul Levitz (writer), Yildiray Cinar & Francis Portela (pencils), Wayne Faucher & Francis Portela (inks), Hi-Fi (colors), and Sal Cipriano (letters)

The Story: Earth-Man joins his first mission with the Legion as the Legionnaires deal with the fall of Titan.  Meanwhile, Saturn Queen returns to wreak havoc.

What’s Good: In his return to writing duties, it’s clear that no one gave Levitz the memo about decompression.  Thank goodness for that because the result is that the Legion reads like no other book on the stands right now.  This book is thick.  It’s a 30 page story, but that doesn’t do justice to how dense it is.  Levitz somehow manages to perfectly balance the Legion’s notoriously large cast with around four to five sub-plots.  Much like last month’s debut, it’s mind blowing how much actually happens this month as well as how many scene changes there are.  This issue is so ridiculously packed with content and story that were it $2.99, I’d feel like I was short-changing DC.

What’s particularly remarkable is that Levitz never loses control.  Things never feel scattered.  More remarkable still is that Levitz finds time for a good amount of characterization.  All of the many characters carry distinct voices.  Braniac 5 in particular remains a total blast under Levitz’s pen.

Much like Levitz wonderfully manages his multitude of characters, he also is able to make every single of his sub-plots engaging.  Every plot strand left me wanting to know more and left me wanting next month’s issue.  What the heck is going on with Saturn Girl’s kids?  What’s Saturn Queen up to?  What’s going to happen to Titan’s refugees?  Individually, each of these plots is standard fare, I suppose, but when weaved together, the result is overwhelming.  It’s really fun to find so many corners of interest in a single comic.

I also enjoyed Levitz’s use of Earth-Man even more than last month.  Indeed, Earth-Man, for me, is the most intriguing of Levitz’s many threads, if only because so many questions abound, particularly regarding his Green Lantern ring and what he’ll end up doing with it.  Levitz is quickly fashioning Earth-Man into a fully realized, three dimensional character who is showing the potential to be more than a simple, xenophobic asshole.

I have nothing negative to say about Cinar’s work on this book.  It’s clear that he was the right choice for the Legion and he manages the book deftly, with a good mix of modern sleekness and the old school vibe that’s a necessity for a sci fi book like the Legion.  It’s nothing overly fancy, but it also remains friendly throughout.

Legion of Super-Heroes #39

By Jim Shooter (writer), Francis Manapul (pencils), Livesay (inks), Jo Smith (colors)

The Legion is reeling after barely winning the battle on Triton last issue. The win has come at a high cost. The team is completely fragmented with problems galore piling up. Even the most mundane of chores has become hazardous for the team. And from the looks of it, things are about to become much worse before they get better.

For one, the press is having a field day with the Legion on Triton, blaming the property damage on the team’s “incompetence”. Projectra is a princess without a homeworld. Her anguish has done little to improve her image as she’s gone into severe debt, losing everything she owns. Even a small rat infestation goes awry for Colossal Boy has he gets owned by a bunch of biker thugs. On top of all this, someone’s infiltrated the Legion’s headquarters and is closely monitoring this chain of events.

With all the bad stuff going on, it was kind of hard to enjoy this issue. Sure, there are a few moments like Projectra scaring some looters away and Ultra Boy landing some big punches, but much like the team, this issue feels a little disjointed. I think the team is just in too many places at once and because of this, we’re not getting as much as we should. Hopefully, next issue’s story will be more centralized.

My biggest beef with this issue is the constant displaying of headquarter’s computer screen. It’s in way too many pages. After the second time I had had enough and just skipped over it whenever it showed up. Francis Manapul’s art is excellent, once again, and he does the best he can with the script he’s given. Just stop making him draw computer screens! Enough’s enough!  (Grade: C)

– J. Montes