The Legion of 3 WorldsThey had 10,000 men
But when Superboy of Earth Prime showed up
He showed them up. Again
Seriously. This series was supposed to pay tribute to the Legion of Super-Heroes in their 50th anniversary year but it's making them look like idiots. All right, there aren't 10,000 members of the Legion on hand but there are several dozen and they're getting slaughtered by the lunatic Superboy. Granted, he's more powerful than the vast majority of the other heroes individually but he's ridiculously outnumbered, and his mind is addled to say the least.
Yet the Legion, whose reputation rests on teamwork and ingenuity, can't take them down. Not even with the help of Superman. Not even with the aid of a Green Lantern. Or the reborn Kid Flash, though as one of writer Geoff John's pet characters he's allowed to have a much better showing against Prime than any of the purported stars of the book. And towards the end of the issue the tide of battle truly turns when Kon-El is brought back to cloney life after a 1000 year stay in the Fortress of Solitude's deep freeze.
Also on hand are the Legion of Super-Villains and the mystical Mordru, but they don't do much other than prevent the massed Legionnaires piling on Prime. Nevertheless, the members who do focus on the Snot of Steel should be doing better. These guys have conquered all manner of universal threats in the past, often with far fewer members on hand. But Johns seems more concerned with returning his Stepford versions of Bart Allen and Kon-El to the DC Universe than letting the Legion shine.
Yes, there are some exciting moments - beautifully drawn by George Perez and Scott Koblish - but it's hard to enjoy them while wondering who'll be the next Legionnaire eviscerated. And ending with yet another spin on 'who is the Time Trapper (this week)?' is lame, and on the surprise scale the guilty party is about -273.
There is a wonderful scene with the Brainiac 5s discussing Frankenstein, and a cathartic action spread, but more than anything I just want this series to end - it's destroying my memories of not one, but three, Legions.
This series is crap isn't it?
ReplyDeleteIt's all about Kon El, that stupid Green Lantern and Impulse.
I don't know why they didn't just title this "Bart and Conner, co-starring the Legions of Super-Heroes." And I don't consider Bart as Kid Flash, Impulse, since Impulse was far, far more interesting than Bart/KF ever was.
ReplyDeleteIt's all so terribly male-oriented. Just as I think a female's actually going to get a good hunk of action, she hands it over to a male or is upstaged by a male or something. Is it my imagination? Is this what readers really want?
And where's the real, red-haired White Witch? Seriously missing in action. She could take Mordru down in a second and stun Superboy-Prime by her mere presence, like Stupefyin' Jones from Li'l Abner.
Hard to believe, but this thing has even more capes per panel than Trinity. Do readers really want this over stories with solid plots and wonderful characterizations?
Still, this is by far the best thing to be labeled Final Crisis. Which isn't saying much of Final Crisis, is it?
Will the next Crisis be upon us by the time this is up?
THANK YOU!!
ReplyDeleteI am SO sick of reading crap all over the internet about how friggin awesome LO3W is, for exactly the reasons that you stated!
This isn't a Legion story at all, it's a Superboy-Prime story with some GL, Bart and Conner thrown in...the Legion are barely supporting cast in their own story.
I can't believe for a second that with a group of heroes including the White Witch, terraformed Kinetix, Kid Quantum, three Saturn Girls, two Element Lads, umpteen Daxamite-level heroes and all the rest of them that they are so incapable of fighting him. It's ridiculous. Yet, Impulse and Kon-El are enough to stem the tide?? Pfft.
I'm glad Carol made the point about the girls not being given anything to do too...I had noticed it but I didn't know if it was just me.
Saturn Girl over the years has become one of the strongest Legion members in any incarnation, her only role in this book is to fret over Garth. Seriously, she was more of a strong character than this in the 60's! Not to mention the other women on the teams....Shadow Lass, Projectra, Shrinking Violet, Phantom Girl, they've all got subtle powers, but have all been kick-ass with them at some point or another. Here they're just girlfriends. It's crap.
I also find it really insulting that Bart and Kon are being brought back in a Legion story in ridiculous ways ("aging is like a cancer" wtf??), yet I have no doubt that the Legionnaires who die throughout this story will well and truly stay dead.
I so agree about the use of players such as Saturn Girl. An experienced telepath is tremendously powerful, and at least one Imra here has long familiarity with the mind of one version of Superboy - she could have addled Prime's brain and no mistake.
ReplyDeleteSuperboy is vulnerable to magic - the Nal sisters would be handy there.
Element Lad can create gold, or better still, gold kryptonite to take Prime out. Chemical King could speed up the process of having the K-metal effect him (mind, I'm not sure there's a Condo around!).
The many super-speedsters could distract Prime as the other Legionnaires prepped an endgame - there's no way any Brainiac 5 wouldn't have Batman-style takedown protocols.
And so on. Yup, the reason Prime is a threat to three Legions is cos Geoff Johns says so. No other reason.