Written by Paul Levitz
Illustrated by Chris BatistaIn the 31st century, three teens from different worlds act to save prominent businessman R.J. Brande from assassination. Their courageous act will change their lives forever and tie them to a conspiracy threatening the fragile foundations of the burgeoning United Planets. Definitive Legion writer Paul Levitz teams up with Chris Batista to explore what exactly distinguishes the Legionnaires from the other super-powered members of their respective races.
This week marks the first five week month in the DCnU, and there were no ongoing series releasing new issues this week — a scheduling decision I have mixed feelings on (on one hand, it is nice to have a week without having to spend more than ten bucks on comics; on the other, it would’ve been nice to read more books this week). So, that means that this is the perfect weekend to pop over to your local comic shop and take advantage of this dry spell to pick up a few of the DC limited series: Spaceman released its second issue, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents vol. 2 #1 is out, as is Legion: Secret Origin #2.
Our own Patrick Tobin loved Spaceman #2; Multiversity Editor in Chief Matthew Meylikhov was so-so on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents; how would Legion: Secret Origin fare? Hit the jump to find out.
I will try and not treat too heavily on ground I covered when I reviewed the first issue of Legion: Secret Origin, but certain points have to be hit again, mainly this one: this is, hands down, the best Legion book being put out by DC and, in fact, should have been the first arc in the relaunched Legion of Super-Heroes. The storytelling is clear and concise, the art presents these iconic characters in a classic and simple way, and even for a legion neophyte like me, the story is engaging. The second issue is pretty much more of the same, except in addition to pushing the story forward, we begin to learn a little more about each of the main players as well.
This is the most remarkable difference from the first issue, where most of the Legionnaires were seen and not heard (as most teenagers should be, amirite?), whereas here they are beginning to show some signs of personality. In retrospect, I think this was a pretty smart move; if this is supposed to be an origin story, there needs to be a solid base of context to build off of, and if we dive right into characterization, we might miss some of that context. Especially because this book takes place in an unfamiliar time and place, the need for some sort of contextual lifejacket is there.
Legionnaire characterization is nothing Paul Levitz needs help with, as he is the modern day architect of the 31st Century, and has a pretty good understanding of what makes these characters tick. It is, quite frankly, shocking to me that this is the first true origin story of the Legion of Super-Heroes; that said, it is almost refreshing that people have been willing to read their stories for the past 50 years without having a clear example of how and why the Legion formed. As someone not super familiar with the Legion characters outside of the broad strokes, I’m not noticing too much in terms of different takes on the characters — what I have been noticing, however, is a much richer understanding of the political maneuvering that will eventually lead to the Legion being who they are destined to be. All of the political motivations may leave some cold, but I think it is a nice touch, and anchors the story to something more concrete than teenagers with goofy, on-the-nose names that explain their powers.
On the art front, Chris Batista does a nice job of creating simple, easily identifiable, classic version of these characters. In addition, each of the locations introduced have been given a very distinct look, full of detail and rife for exploration. This is the sort of book where the art could manage to be less than spectacular and no one would really notice, but Batista has really stepped up his game and given a beautiful book.
Overall, my thoughts are boringly similar to what I said about issue #1 — if you’ve ever wanted to read a Legion story but didn’t know where to start, here you go. Whether or not this will provide anyone with enough steam to dive more into the 31st century stories remains to be seen, but it won’t be for lack of effort on Batista and Levitz’s part.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – Buy
