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By Jason Bourgeois
That title reminds me I really ought to write down what I've written already. 10+ years of doing this, I'm sure I'm done repeats of titles, and topics. The latter of which is ok, with how often things can change in the comicbook world. This time though, the change is everything old is becoming new again. Which seems to be a huge trend in comics in general, doesn't it? All the old legacy characters are handing the mantle back to the people from the 80s. Hal's back as Green Lantern, the original Atom is back, the original Firestorm. Heck, they even brought back Barry Allen!
Even more surprising than that though, is bringing back the original Legion of Super-Heroes, or at least a very close version to them. Close enough that it makes no major difference. I'm still trying to figure out exactly where this version of the group splits off from the pre-Zero Hour LSH, but then again, I'm a Legion geek, and most people won't be too concerned about those little details. Even for me, it's mostly curiosity.
Speaking of Legion geekery, it's no secret that I'm one of them, as I've covered the team numerous times before. In fact, many of the Collector Times staffers are Legionites, and they're the ones who dragged me into the fold from the X-Men ghetto I'd been living in most of my life.
It seems that every five years or so, the Legion gets a major change, or an outright reboot, or a new series. Trust me on this, just ask and I'll show you the data. That five year mark has come by again, so you know what came out recently? Legion of Super-Heroes #1! How many does that make now?
The newest in a long line of series spins out of Geoff Johns' reinvention and reinvigoration of the old team in his Superman & the LSH arc in Action comics (Which was pretty good) and Legion of 3 Worlds (Which was freakin' awesome), but the most notable thing is that this series is by none other than Paul Levitz himself. For the new folks who may not be familiar, Paul is the guy who wrote the Legion for almost the entire 80s, until he became DC Comics' publisher. He recently stepped down from that job, and has gone right back to where he left off, almost literally.
All the old faces are here, as anyone familiar to the Legion will see. You've got the big three of Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad, and almost anyone who was a Legionnaire before 1990. The saddest thing is that many of the characters created in the various reboots, many of whom were fascinating characters in their own right, are now lost to the time stream and wandering the multiverse.
Still, it is good to see old friends again, and they haven't been written this well in a long time. Many times when a creator returns to his babies, things are never quite the same again. All someone has to do is look at Chris Claremont and it can be seen exactly what I mean. Granted, this is only the first issue and things could go horribly wrong, horribly fast, but I really liked the new beginning.
The voices of the characters just feel so right to me. I'm sure some people can find their nitpicks, but Saturn Girl just felt like she did way back in the day. Now, I've liked versions of her in the intervening 20 years, but none of them ever quite clicked or felt a little off. Which isn't anything against them, they were prefectly fine in their own way, just different. Brainy is his old arrogant yet not cold and unfriendly self, which is a hard balance to pull off. Cosmic Boy doesn't seem like a dick, but it's early days and he only had a few panels.
The art is very solid too. The characters look great, the future looks suitably futuristic, and aside from a few weird faces, the art by Yildiray Cinar is very good, and should only get better as he gets used to the characters and setting.
Levitz was always a master at balacing out a literal Legion of characters, as well as subplots. If your favourite character didn't have a moment to shine this issue, just wait a month or two. And I'm sure he'll occasionally do solo issues that shift from the team focus with a few moments for a few characters, and home in with laser focus on one or two characters to really give them a good story, that will still be important to the overall tableau. He was amazing at juggling all those things back in the day, and I'm sure he'll do it again.
The book is also nicely steeped in Legion and DC lore, what with Titan, the Time Institute, Green Lanterns, viewing the beginning of time and its consequences...so many little things that just make this feel like old friends coming home, and Levitz slipping on an old pair of pants that he has not outgrown. I eagerly await the next issue to see where things go from the tables Paul kicked over with his first issue. Oh yes, there's a number of big oh crap moments that just make you want to see where this goes.
If you're a Legion fan, this is almost a must read, I would say. The book is rock solid on almost all counts, and the best Legion I've read in some time. If you're new to DC or the Legion, this might not be the best book to jump into as there's a lot of continuity and faces to deal with, but I still think there is something worth checking out here that might grab a person's attention. It should also be of interest to people who read Johns LSH stories of the last few years, as this picks up right where those left off.
Now, if we could only get Kinetix back from the 90s Legion, and everything would be perfect.
Jason M. Bourgeois
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