A thousand years from today and detective duo Brainiac 1 of 5 and Tenzil Ken have arrived at a murder scene. They’ve not been hired to learn who killed power broker RJ Brande, but Brainiac is intrigued. He uses his talents to tap into secret Science Police channels.
Across the galaxy, on the world of Winath, a young man named Garth Ranzz pursues his dreams of being a superhero, coming down hard on a trio of car thieves.
Back home, his twin sister, Ayla, comes down hard on him.
On the planet Braal, young sports star Rokk Krinn takes unorthodox action against cheating opponents in the game of Magnoball.
While on Titan, a moon of Saturn, a young woman named Imra Ardeen explores.
It’s fair to say there’s been a lot of anticipation for this issue. It’s the first issue of DC’s latest attempt to make the Legion of Super-Heroes a hit again. The challenge is to capture readers who aren’t Legion fans, who weren’t around in the glory days of the Eighties, while snagging the built-in audience of veteran readers such as myself.
Well, DC has me. This is one of the best first issues I’ve read in a long time, with the future Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5 and Matter-Eater Lad fresh, yet familiar. The twist on the classic idea of RJ Brande bringing the team together is clever, and I can’t see writer Joshua Williamson making this change for the sake of it – if his Superman run has shown us anything, it’s that he’s a planner.
I never imagined Brainy and Tenzil – I wrote ‘Matter-Eater Lad’ above but I’m not 100 per cent on that, and it’s fine either way – as sci-fi gumshoes, but they’ve a lot of charm. Brainy’s different brain powers are interesting, while the nervousness Tenzil causes bad guys is new and fun.
Garth as homemade superhero in a galaxy where they’re outlawed while Ayla advises caution makes for an intriguing dynamic, while Rokk reacting so aggressively on the sports court makes sense, he’s a serious athlete. As for Imra, she has no dialogue in the conventional sense, a terrific surprise.
Williamson doles out the information organically, teasing with such things as a reference to ‘nostalgia laws‘. And we do get a very intriguing link to previous Legion continuities that may be explored, or could be happily left as is. Alternate worlds Legion, got it.
Oh, and there’s an unashamed nod to the beginning of the famous 5YL run which made me smile.
The 30pp story looks spectacular. Artist Hayden Sherman adds clever touches such as the differing panel borders depending upon setting – Titan evokes mental waviness, Winath borders are lightning-spiky and Braal’s magnetically circular.
The character – no, universe – designs are superb. Earth capital Superlopolis has presence and depth, and it’s populated, heavily, by all kinds of life forms, with humans in the minority. In most versions of the Legion Metropolis is mostly empty… Sherman is really putting the work in here.
Also, robot dogs.
Our teenage heroes show personality in facial expressions and body language, and resemble previous versions enough for them to feel comfortable… with one exception, Brainy looks a lot like his pointy-headed villainous forebear in his earliest Fifties appearances. Give him hair!
The action moments are outstanding in their punch, their dynamism.
As for the fashions, the most striking are the beetle-chic of Titan, I wonder how that began.
And those ‘mental discs’ for communication are beautiful. I don’t know if they’re the work of Sherman or the issue’s letterer, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, but I imagine it’s the former.
Not that Otsmane-Elhaou isn’t doing excellent work here, there are some appealing fonts in this issue, helping the storytelling. With one exception – the scene-setting font is awful and difficult to read, trying far too hard by occasionally capitalising the letter ‘L’ within words. And on one occasion, the meaning of said tough-to-read words is opaque, to say the least.
‘An usual’? ‘Unborn as twins’? Either the script got garbled or Williamson is trying something and it’s over my head.
Always excellent colourist Tamra Bonvillain may be doing career-best work here. Black and white previews of Sherman’s pages looked pleasant, but ‘fluffy’, more YA than I’d like. It seems Sherman was leaving room for Bonvillain to bring her own art to the table. She brings power to the pages, adding depth, shade, directing the eyes to the important information while never swathing the backgrounds in monotone. She’s the perfect partner for Sherman.
There’s no credit for the DC Production Department, but I assume they were heavily involved with a sequence showing Garth’s Superboy fandom; and if I’m wrong, Sherman deserves even more kudos than I’ve given him.
Let’s give him more credit for the double-sized cover image, which encompasses a lot of story business. The logo, though, is massively dull – too many DC mastheads these days are flat, almost apologetic – let’s have some oomph!
For the first time since the Nineties a Legion reboot has grabbed me immediately. I can’t wait to read more – and I can’t wait to hear what you think.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
I think I know what happened with that weird Winath caption. I think there’s an editorial mistake: someone intended “usual” to be “unusual,” but the “un” was mistakenly put in front of born instead. So the caption should actually read “an unusual home [on a planet] where everyone is born as twins.” Which, since Mekt is a single birth, makes their home unusual. (I’m just guessing that they took out the words “on a planet” – possibly for space – but those words would make the intention so much clearer.)
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Thank you, that makes some kind of sense… honestly though, how come no one spotted it in the office, it tripped me up immediately?
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I think it’s one of those things where you go in to fix one thing, and then once you do that, you assume that it’s fixed. As a copy editor, I’ve seen it happen more often than I’d like — and while I catch a lot of them, sometimes your eyes just glaze over something you’ve read a dozen times before.
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Oh, man. I knew this was coming in September, but I didn’t realize it was the first week (I also can’t believe it’s September already). I was hoping for something cool based on the previews, but this blew me away.
I loved it.
This is what I have been waiting for with a Legion comic since 2011 (at least). The visuals are stunning, the story is intriguing, and the characters are already in interesting places. This is a lived-in universe, but not just a carbon-copy of a previous one.
A few nice little nods I noticed:
On the double-pages spread, the Interlac in the bottom right says Levitz and Giffen.
I’m assuming that is the Daily Planet building with the news of Brande’s death plastered all over it.
The Science Police are using their already-established logo, but the uniforms are definitely new.
As Garth is sneaking in, his hand is over Absolute Wonder Woman #300. Let’s hope!
We never hear Rokk say a word. Everyone talks for him or at him.
Rokk’s namechecked magnoball opponent is Dyrk Magz, who was Magno in the Reboot Legion (until he lost his powers).
I love that Brainiac doesn’t seem to be obnoxious in his mental superiority. The emotionless genius trope needs to die (studies have repeatedly shown that those with higher intelligence tend to have higher empathy).
Bismollians aren’t a joke? That is an interesting take, and I like it.
By far the most fantastic revelation for me was the Titans’ thought bubbles. That is just amazing. I think I am already spotting patterns and have a rough idea of what they are thinking to each other. I think.
There is no doubt this will be a highlight each month. I am stoked.
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Thanks so much for the excellent comments. I was trying to work out the Titan thought discs but got no further than ‘what a lovely set of plates these would make’.
Great spot of Cos’ lack of speech, I hope that’s because he’s a tad emotionally crushed rather than naturally or electively mute.
I spotted Dyrk Magz, he always jumps out as I interviewed his namesake, Dirk Maggs, back in the early Nineties when he was making Superman adaptations for BBC Radio 4 and I was editing the UK Superman reprint book. Lovely fella, fun times.
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(that’s me, Rob, making this guess. I’ll have more to say in a bit!)
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Cheers Rob, until your return…
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Oh, man, they had me from the first page turn. “A thousand years later” just made my heart leap out of my chest. We’re BACK!
I love the terror that Tenzil creates. Get it before it bites you! And him crunching into the safe. Hilarious.
I like Garth and Ayla’s relationship, and Garth’s hero-worship of Mekt, which Ayla doesn’t share. (Apparently, rightfully so.) And I LOVE that Garth built himself a motorcycle to run on his powers, that he calls the Lightning Beast. It’s honestly been a long while since I’ve liked Lightning Lad this much.
I’m very curious how to read the Titanian thought-circles. I guess the addressee is in the center… but the symbols around it are a mystery to me on first read. I’ll study those more. I don’t quite have a handle on Imra yet, other than put-upon by her family. She wants out… and has some strange visions to pursue.
Rokk’s family really sees him as a way out, and the pressure is getting to him. I like that too. (And a nice touch that Jeff noticed, that he never says a word. He hasn’t had any say in the matter for a long while, I bet.)
As for Brainy — I’ll be very curious to know what the 1 of 5 designation is. But seeing him as a private detective is a fascinating take, and I bet it’s going to yield plenty of entertainment… with Tenzil as his scary, bitey bodyguard.
My big question, now that we know the narrator is Brande, is: Was Brande killed to prevent him from forming the Legion? Or has Brande “died” as part of his actual plan to form the Legion? The future is a strange place, and either is possible.
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what was the 5YL nod?
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My initial interpretations of the thought bubbles:
On the first page we see them, I think the person walking away is grumbling to himself about either dinner or people talking too much. I think the generic border indicates that he is kind of far away and it’s kind of indistinct to Imra.
The two ladies are discussing dinner plans. Left hand one is suggesting something more casual one on one, perhaps vegetarian. The one on the right is suggesting a more formal meal, but with three people instead of two. The hands are a “show of hands who’s up for it.”
The next page, panel one is Imra sensing too much and it is forcing her mind to collapse inwards.
Then an authority figure (I’m guessing either parent or teacher) is telling her to quit listening in on other people.
Then the parent/teacher is reminding her of her responsibilities and a brief history to remind her why: there was conflict, but through their mental powers, a leader was able to rise up and get people to obey, stopping the fighting. But I think it is suggesting it’s still a might makes right situation (though they see it as a positive thing).
Then Imra is questioning this. First she suggests that people are sad and alone. Then she is suggesting that she can help bring people together.
Finally, he walks away dismissing her. She is “seeing” what she wants to see, nothing more.
I’m also thinking all the intense scripted thought bubbles on the next page are gibberish to her. If she is used to communicating as we previously saw, how would language seem to her?
Anyway, that is my interpretation. I’m probably way off.
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this was certainly far better than the Bendis-boot Legion from a few years back.
It does manage to evoke a Silver Age quality which is a positive.
I’m giving it a chance, but I still say that another reboot eliminates the very reason the Legion became so poplar in the 80’s- the development and growth of the characters.
I’m giving it a chance, but in it also comes off as pastiche as opposed to the real thing.
we’ve already seen Clark with the Classic Legion recently, so it really doesn’t make sense to have this be the LSH with a series instead of the “real” Legion.
-Matthew Lloyd
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Anj here.
This was a crackling start for all the reasons you said. Everyone feels both new and recognizable. Rokk being so quiet as the weight of the world is on him was brilliant. I hope we get Imra speaking but the idea of thought-talk via pictograms was beautiful.
And yes, the ‘Thousand Years Later’ page was such a nod to my beloved 5YL! I loved it.
I really truly loved this issue so much that I reached out to folks who I knew were Legion fans but havent read comics in a long time that they should go out and buy it!
Brilliant all around!
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maybe that is all a part of a bigger Darkseid / Brainiac – Plot (bottled continuities)…
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I’m hesitant. I very much like Josh Williamson as a person. He always seems so friendly and enthusiastic in interviews. Just a cool, comic-loving guy. But I just haven’t warmed to his writing style. If he could guarantee this was just its own thing and not part of the bigger “Absolute Crisis” plan I’d maybe give it a go. But I’m just worried that a half-year or so in it will become embroiled in that event, particularly given Williamson’s position as a key DCU architect. That’s why I’ve dropped “Justice League United” even though I’m a big Waid fan. I want a stand alone Justice League series, not one that is basically connective tissue between crises.
I’m intrigued by DC’s handling of the Legion concept in general. I do understand why there is a need to satisfy ALL fans – Silver Age, the 1970s Cockrum/Grell era, the Levitz epic, the Giffen-5YL run, the post Zero Hour stuff, etc. But I do question the tendancy, at least over the last 2 decades between Waid, Bendis and now Williamson, of seemingly starting from scratch with a whole new twist while trying to acknowledge all of the past iterations.
I’m sure, like Williamson, Waid and Bendis put a ton of thought into how to revive the title and make it successful. They are power house creators and even they seemingly were not able to make their relaunches work. So it will be interesting to see if Williamson’s take takes, and what he and DC do to seemingly also tie it in to this idea that ALL the different legions exist somewhere in the DCU’s future.
I sort of see Legion like the JSA. Both teams are unique – one from the now distant past, one from the distant future – and as such present challenges for their respective creative teams in terms of winning over readers. And both have enjoyed boom times and times when they had no ongoings. And as we now know, the recent “JSA” book by Jeff Lemire is done with no news of a replacement. To be fair, I think it is a harder to get current comics readers to pay attention to characters that, in universe, are from World War II and around 100 years old. It will likely always be easier to get fans interested in the future. Still, are the days of either being big sellers just over? – Brian
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it will be interesting to see if the book is actually about the Legion. The Bendis run was Jon Kent and friends. Legion of 3 Worlds ssx very much a GL/Lid Flash/Superboy story. Even the last Levitz run was the Adventure s of Earth Man and his Friends.
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