It’s time to put the team together (Again).
Creative Staff:
Story: Mark Waid, Tom McCraw
Art: Jeffrey Moy, Ron Boyd
Colors: Tom McCraw
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
What They Say:
The fledgling Legion of Super-Heroes gets in way over its head during its first official mission, investigating the attempted assassination of its mentor, R.J. Brande. Even the Legionnaires cannot prevent a second murder attempt—not without the help of some mysterious new recruits.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the DC Universe service adding some 8,500 books to its library that go up to about 2010, I found myself wanting to go back and revisit some works from the past that I don’t want to try and haul out of my basement. I admit I’ve grown far more comfortable reading digitally than print in the past decade and reading physical floppies just doesn’t work for me anymore. Originally out in the summer of ‘94, this was one of the few books I kept up with as I started drawing down from comics amid the glut of the marketplace. The Legion was one of the early DC series that I really got into after being heavily invested as a Marvel fan for years as it was separate from everything else in the 30th century.
This series ran for eighty-one issues but we had this zero issue as part of the Zero Hour event where a lot of continuity was rewritten – an event that happened nearly a decade early with Crisis. This also came after seventeen issues of the main series as it rewrote things, which was awkward. Starting from scratch isn’t a bad thing but writers Waid and McCraw have to try and build a team quickly because fans wanted to get back into the group that they knew and to see what changes were occurring because of all the changes in the past. For those who had read the previous works, there aren’t any truly huge changes here but rather an accelerated bit of things. R.J. Brande is intent on creating his special group under the name of the Legion of Super-Heroes after his work with the stargates has now created a far more unified Federation of Planets. While he has his own intentions, as does the President of the UFP, the kids that are being drawn into all of this are fairly unaware.
The core trio once again dominates as they’re introduced to the delegates in a big splashy show where we meet the newly costumed Live Wire, Cosmic Boy, and Saturn Girl as the plan is laid out. But like any good roll out, something unexpected happens with a bomb that’s about to explode. What’s fun is that while Saturn Girl gets glimpses of it beforehand thanks to hearing it from Tinya’s thoughts, the daughter of one of the delegates who accidentally discovered the bomb, it turns into chaos. These kids are clearly not ready for any of this, as Live Wire blasts a hole in the ceiling to help get people out but nearly kills others. It’s only the quick thinking of a young woman who can split herself into three that saves key people there. The whole thing turns to an extended chase, a little roughing up, and the core trio realizing that there are a lot of quick thinking folks nearby that could be great assets on the team.
In Summary:
I’ll admit, it’s a chaotic issue that’s trying to get too much done and I’m reading it with nostalgia not just for this but the many, many, times I’ve read the prior origin that originally defined the property. This issue was the quick setup for the main series that I wanted to get to which had Chris Sprouse art and a look that I really loved as it goes full on with a big and creative team. But this book was the hard work, bringing the classic origin story together with twists, such as Live Wire being named, some minor personality changes, and setting more things on a faster track than before. It’s a mixed bag in that regard but there’s a great kind of charm that I’ve got while reading this since it was at such a weird time and I can still visualize picking this up in the comic shop way back when. This book came out with seventeen issues of Legionnaires already produced with the Zero Hour tie-in at eighteen, so it’s kind of a mess when you get down to it. But I like this origin as it’s respectful of what came before and tries to embrace some changes.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via DC Universe
Release Date: August 31st, 1994
MSRP: N/A
