Product Description

Solid Tale Undermined By Rushed Ending, Sunday, June 06, 2010

One of the worst things as a baseball fan is to see a pitcher for your team on the mound for 6 or 7 wonderful innings and then fall apart at the end of the game. That's how "Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds" is. The art by Perez is excellent and the story by Johns was fine until the end when he tried to wrap things up a bit too quickly and undermined a good deal of the story. There are some funny moments to be sure and those help propel the story along but the book fails to deliver on the truly emotional moments--characters long since dead return with barely a blink of an eye while other characters die to universal shrugs. The lead villain is Superboy Prime, who truly represents the banality of evil--instead of a dark brooding Romantic bad guy, he is a whiny brat. There is no motivation provided though and that is frustrating. The surreal, almost post-modern, ending for Superboy Prime was baffling to say the least and was a better idea on paper than in reality. With three different versions of the Legion on stage, there is little room for character development for the heroes though there are some funny scenes as the three versions of Brainiac 5 meet and annoy each other with their insufferable arrogance and overweening intellects. This is not a bad book by any means and it really had my admiration but the ending left such a bad taste in my mouth that I see this book is merely alright instead of good.

Rating: 3 out of 5

An Excellent Tie-Up of the Tangled Legion History, Monday, April 26, 2010

Over the years, the Legion history has been rewritten and rewritten, and the reboots always seemed to result in a less satisfying result. I stopped buying the Legion but bought the occasional Graphic Novel to see what they were doing with the Legion. And then wonder upon wonders, they (mostly) restored the original legion history (complete with Superman's participation as Superboy) as the prime timeline. But how was this to be wired together? The answer was in 52 with the multiverse providing a place to house all the Legions we've seen. Like the typical Crisis story, Legion of Three Worlds has an epic story, panels with characters you haven't seen for years (the pre-crisis supergirl for instance as well as Andromeda!), great art, and a complex, but understandable story. We get back the Legion I grew up with as adults and we get the other more recent legions all working against just about every villian in Legion history with the prime Superboy at the head.

Frankly I think it makes a better Final Crisis than Final Crisis did. Especially as Superman, the prime Superboy, and Conner Kent are involved. I's a great read and it gives me hope for future Legion stories.

Rating: 5 out of 5

They're all dead but it's okay, Tuesday, April 06, 2010

So despite the broad stroke characterization, and the faces that all looked alike I was actually enjoying this little romp. Till the final act. When wave upon wave of alternate reality legionnaires died in a final desperate assault on the enemy and...no one cared. No because Kid Flash and Superboy were back. So...no one grieved and no one cared that several lesser known heroes gave the ultimate sacrifice to save all of time. So long as two teen titans came back. It was the kind of enormous plot hole that just ruined what was otherwise a mediocre story.

Rating: 2 out of 5