And Superboy makes another big whoopsie.
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: Ryan Sook, Travis Moore, Wade Von Grawbadger
Colors: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
You knew there was no way Jon Kent was going to leave his best friend behind! Welcome to the future, Damian Wayne! (This is such a terrible idea!) Also, meet the new Legionnaires as they head to a secret undercover mission on the first man-made planet: Planet Gotham. Every page of this new DC epic plants seeds and ideas that will blast out across the DC Universe for months to come! All this, and Monster Boy is on the loose!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’ll admit that as we get to the third issue of this series I see only the barest threads of a plot being moved around and am fine with that. While it’s still far too busy for my tastes, that is part and parcel of the Legion legacy and Bendis is keeping it alive. But at the same time I wish some things had happened better but a lot of it is just focusing on the type of character that Jon is. On the plus side, Sook and Moore’s artwork is pretty great throughout and the details just ooze off the pages beautifully, especially with Jordie Bellaire’s color design. It’s not exactly intoxicating but the digital editions just shine in this regard and it makes going through the book a few times panel by panel to see all the little details worthwhile.
The main plot for this book involves the subset of the group that went off to Rimbor to bring in General Crav Nah for questioning. That this is Ultra Boy’s father complicates things a bit further but where as Jo is pretty standard and kind of okay with thing, Crav comes across as a warlord type right down to his costume. So he pushes back easily against the Legion, especially since he’s not pleased in the slightest that his son is in it. That makes for some contention as the issue goes on and the kids come to bring him back to Earth, leading to Mon-El popping up in his wonderfully classic costume to thrown down with the elder Nah. This all has connections to the larger events with Aquaman’s trident and all but it’s coming in piecemeal and it’s hard to get too excited about it when you’ve got such a large cast and such a minimal introduction for so many of them.
Superboy’s story is frustrating because we have Jon going back and bringing Damian into the future and excitedly showing him everything. When Dawny finds this out she rightly panics, but it’s later when Imra and the rest find it out that it goes worse. Imra’s already struggling from some of her time in Gotham and dealing with the captured Mordru and what little was revealed there. It’s an avenue I really enjoyed and wanted more of, both for Mordru and Gotham. What’s frustrating with Superboy is that we really just needed a handler for him to sit him down and make him watch this orientation presentation that everyone has told him to watch. But he hasn’t been settled in an apartment or anything so he’s just kind of floating free. He’s realizing he screwed up somehow here but uncertain as to way, and the teenager in him shows up in thinking maybe he should go back. If only he’d watch the damn orientation!
In Summary:
Honestly, the book is going on the strength of the brand and the artwork right now. I have no doubt that Bendis will tie this all together and that in a binge read it’ll work even better. But there are just too many frustrating points at the moment combined with the lack of a real sit down and introducing the concept aspect for new readers that frustrates me as a reader for decades. I’m loving what Sook and the team are putting to the page and all the designs and costuming, but we need the characters to be actual characters and not just panicky moments flitting across the page. The potential continues to be there and I can see it but the execution is slowing grinding away the charms.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: January 15th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
