Written by: Paul Levitz
Co-feature written by: Jeff Lemire
Arted by: Kevin Sharpe & Marlo Alquiza
Co-feature Arted by: Mahmud Asrar & John DellIn the final issue of the first arc of “Superboy and the Legion: The Early Years,” for the first time — a Legionnaire dies! Learn how the consequences surrounding this brutal moment still affect the Legion today!
Also, in The Atom second feature, Ray Palmer must protect his stash of white dwarf matter from the Colony!
What did I think about the final issue of Superboy’s adventures with the Legion? Follow the cut to find out.
I really wanted to love this book. Honestly, I did. Geoff Johns, Sterling Gates and James Robinson got me so excited for the return of the original Legion, and the return of Paul Levitz — writer of the incredible “Great Darkness Saga” — to the Legion greatly excited me. The idea of splitting the Legion books between ongoing adventures and stories set in the Legion’s early years was a great idea, but it seems to me like it didn’t really take off.
I’ve been enjoying Levitz’s Legion of Superheroes ongoing, but the renumbering of Adventure Comics has been disappointing so far. I really enjoyed the idea of a companion series to the Legion ongoing to get new readers familiar with the team, but it seems like Levitz didn’t. Honestly, if I had to guess why this series has been so dull, that’s where I would put my money. Levitz is putting out good work on Legion, so why isn’t Adventure Comics equally good? I’m willing to bet that the quality will jump up with next issue, when the title joins the same timeframe as the main Legion ongoing, and that’s just a shame.
This issue retells the death of Lightning Lad in a strange sort of retrospective view from Saturn Girl’s view. I understand that Levitz was trying to use a different sort of narrative style, but — in my opinion, of course — it really didn’t work. The narrative was clunky and moderately confusing, resulting in a comic that just wasn’t very fun to read. Worse still, it was tailored to those who were already familiar with the story. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I would think that the point of retelling and modernizing these stories would be to draw in new readers. There’s really nothing particularly good about this issue, and it does a terrible job of bringing Levitz’s chronicle of “the early years” to a satisfying conclusion.
The Atom co-feature is better than the main story, but only by a bit. The co-feature started out strong, but it seems like Multiversity-favorite Jeff Lemire is really struggling with finding a way to make ten pages work in a superhero action comic. The dialogue has been slightly cheesy, and the pacing has been awkward for the past couple of issues. I will admit, I did like the use of one of the best/worse tropes of all time (“It could be worse. It could be raining!”), but for the most part, the co-feature is of average quality. Here’s hoping Lemire picks it up in time for the end of his story.
Final Verdict: 4.3 – Browse if you’re a Legion fan.
