Ok, I’ll get the negative stuff out of the way first.

For me, there’s a lot about this title I don’t like. I’m not a big fan of the Legion. I’ve seen them in various guest appearances, but they’ve never done anything for me. So why, I hear you ask, did you buy it?

Well, its got Superboy Prime in it for one. For another its hotly rumoured that Bart Allen will be getting resurrected in this story (at least, the lightning rod is due to be dealt with). As I like both of those characters, that’s two big draws.

Lastly, loath as I am to admit it, it does say “Final Crisis” on the front, and for my sins, I do find a tie-in hard to pass by.

So, I figured I’d check out the first issue at least.

However it does in many ways push a lot of the buttons for things I hate about tie-ins. For a start (and its a biggy), it doesn’t actually seem to tie in with Final Crisis at all.  From this first issue, I do have to think marketting it as a tie-in is a bit cheeky.  Giving DC the benefit of the doubt though, lets assume there is some kind of tie in in the upcoming issues (although I doubt it - seems to me that there’s enough story here without chucking the New Gods in as well).

Secondly if we assume that Bart does indeed get resurrected in this mini, then why?  Well, it gets Flash fans like myself to buy a Legion book, who might’ve otherwise avoided it.   But with Wally coming back in JLA, Barry in Final Crisis, and Bart coming back in Legion, you do have to kind of wander if anything big ever happens in The Flash book itself (at least Bart had the decency to die in it).

So, a tie-in that doesn’t tie-in, and using unrelated characters to pull in readers.  Not off to a great start.

(ok, I know Bart’s from the 31st century, and XS will be in this.   I’m also aware that I didn’t complain about Superman characters turning up as main villains in the Sinestro Corps War.  Its a fanboy rant, it doesn’t need to make sense )

But none-the-less, I enjoyed this book.  Its written by Geoff Johns, with art by George Perez, so you know you’re buying a quality book, and it does a good job of bringing everyone up-to-date with the Legion’s background.

For me, there was more than enough Superboy Prime action to keep me happy.  He’s been accused of being a two-dimensional character, but for my money, he’s at least entertaining to read here.  The stuff in the Superman museum worked well, and there’s a nice twist with Superboy-Prime being not quite the footnote he thought in history.

There’s also an interesting bit where Superman declares they must redeem Superboy Prime.  This raises a whole load of questions (chief among them, did Superman not read Countdown? ), but I’m choosing to take it as Superman seeing this as their only choice.   He knows Superboy Prime is nigh-on unbeatable.   He’s been captured and escaped before, and killing is obviously not an option.   So instead he’s choosing to reach out to that part of Prime that’s Kal-El, who’s the same as he is.   Its an interesting idea, that the only way to beat Prime is to make him realise what he’s become.  Although I don’t see how the character could ever be truely redeemed.   He’s just done too much to be forgiven for it.

So, despite the negatives, this book rises above them by being a good read.  I’m still onboard for the next issue, but for me, there’s still the thing of my not being a Legion fan.  In many ways I suspect this book would be an ideal trade-wait for me.  That way I could save money, and still read the Superboy Prime and Bart stuff (if Bart does come back - it could still be a twist).   However, there’s that part of me that wants to be there when Bart comes back.  And to see what happens to Superboy Prime.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 13:38 and is filed under Comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.