Writer/Artist: Geoff Johns, George Perez
Publisher: DC, $19.99 HC
After being lost in the multiverse, Superboy Prime (a whiney, angry, and evil alternate version of Superman) finally lands in the 31st century to cause troubles for the Legion of Super-Heroes. Faced with a depleted roster and without the support of the United Planets or Earth itself, the Legion calls Superman up from the past in an attempt to fight off Superboy Prime and his newly formed Legion of Super-Villains. This series was more of a thematic sequel to Infinite Crisis than Final Crisis was considering it focuses on the fate of Superboy Prime and picks up a few other loose plot threads that have been developing since Infinite Crisis.
This one is a bit tricky to recommend simply because it takes a certain type of fan to like it. I've had plenty of customers who just couldn't get into it simply because there were too many characters involved. Considering it stars Legion members from three different realities plus an entire legion of super-villains, this is definitely something that can require a scorecard to keep track of everything. So really, it just depends on the mentality of the reader. You may be the type of person who decides tracking this many characters is ridiculous because it leaves very little time for development. If that’s the case, you really do want to steer clear. While there isn’t an absence of development, it is spread across a huge cast so Johns writes this story for the fans who already know the characters. You pretty much just have to be willing to go into it running, which is the way I always tried to go into any comic when I was younger. When I picked up a random issue of Spider-Man and it had him fighting a group of villains I didn’t recognize, I pretty much embraced it and tried to figure out what was going on along the way. Same deal here, it’s just a crazy big action comic with endless fighting and about a hundred characters. It’s for that reason that I really did enjoy this story. I wasn't looking for a great piece of literature, I was looking for a well written and well drawn over the top sci-fi super-hero brawl.
Again, I’m a fan of Johns so I was going to be a little biased for the series anyways. Johns delivers a huge sprawling super-hero fight comic here while trying to amend the convoluted past of the Legion of Super-Heroes, two things that tends to be his specialty. The scripting was fun and he managed to deliver a lot of great moments, and you can always tell when he has a passion for certain characters. Considering it was his original intent to have the Legions fight Prime back in Infinite Crisis, it’s neat to finally see him not only do it but expand on it. As expected, the Perez art it fantastic. Ultra detailed and the perfect fit for such a project, the art is clean, well paced, and impressive in its scope. Have you ever had that problem where an artist makes every character look the same? All the women have the same face, or all the guys the same body structure? Perez has always managed to make every character look unique, so keep in mind the sheer amount of effort for a project like this with over 100 characters running around left and right and you can’t help but appreciate the man’s talent.
If you like this then try: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga, Infinite Crisis, Green Lantern: Sinestro Corp War, Teen Titans (Johns run), Adventure Comics (Johns/Manapul)
Related Links: DC Comics
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