DC COMICS
WRITER: Paul Levitz
ARTIST: Francis Portela
COLORS: Javier Mena
LETTERS: Pat Brosseau
COVER: Karl Kerschl
32pp, Color, $2.99
The Legion of Super-Heroes is a DC Comics superhero team whose adventures are set the 30th and 31st centuries of the DC Comics Universe. The team first appeared in Adventure Comics #247 (cover date April 1958) and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino.
In that comic book, the original Superboy meets three teenagers from the 30th century: Lightning Boy, Saturn Girl, and Cosmic Boy, who were members of a “super-hero club,” called the Legion of Super-Heroes. The trio formed the club with Superboy as an inspiration, and for a long time, the Legion was closely associated with Superboy (the version that was Superman as a teenager).
With the re-launch of DC Comics’ superhero line, “The New 52,” the Legion of Super-Heroes gets a new series (in what seems like the tenth time in 10 years). Legion of Super-Heroes #1 (“Renegade World”) finds members of the Legion on Panoptes, a military “Watchworld,” from where the United Planets keeps an eye on the Dominators’ Empire. Now, there is a problem and contact with Panoptes has been lost. Chameleon Boy, Dragonwing, Phantom Girl, Ultra Boy, and Chemical Kid embark on a stealth mission to discover if anything is wrong on Panoptes. Something is.
I was an avid Legion of Super-Heroes reader from the mid to late 1980s, and, of course, my favorite writer of Legion adventures was Paul Levitz. This first issue of the new Legion of Super-Heroes series is written by Levitz, although I didn’t find anything here that reminded me of the good old days. Half of this issue is a collection of scenes offered to catch readers up on the Legion, but there isn’t much story in these scenes. The Panoptes plotline is actually good, and I wish more of this issue had been devoted to it.
The art, which is a joint venture by Francis Portela (pencils/inks) and Javier Mena (colors) is quite pretty. The colors shimmer like a candied kaleidoscope, and the compositions and quality of the drawing are tight with few cracks. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a strong and long-lasting Legion of Super-Heroes series.
B+
September 21st
BATMAN #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/batman-1.html
BLUE BEETLE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/10/blue-beetle-1.html
CATWOMAN #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/catwoman-1.html
DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/10/dc-comics-presents-1.html
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/10/green-lantern-corps-1.html
NIGHTWING #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/nightwing-1.html
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/red-hood-and-outlaws-1.html
SUPERGIRL #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/10/supergirl-1.html
WONDER WOMAN #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/wonder-woman-1.html
