Bullet Review: Final Crisis:Legion Of 3 Worlds #5

It finally happened ... Final Crisis:Legion of 3 Worlds #5 was released last week.

I haven't fully reviewed this series here so I won't get too in-depth. As an old-time Legion fan I was interested to see just how the unfortunately clumsy Legion timeline would be stream-lined. It was hard for me to understand exactly why DC allowed Johns to bring 'his Legion' into Action Comics while the 'three-boot' Waid Legion was still being published.

Anyways, I love the idea of the Legion but there hasn't been a version I have really embraced since the 5YL issues (and I know I am in the minority for liking that version).

So Superboy-Prime was revealed as the Time Trapper last issue.


And since he is at the end of time as the Trapper, it would appear he is victorious or at least survives. That is discovered to be false. Instead it is revealed that the Time Trapper is the amalgamation of all possible timeline endings of the Prime character.

With that new hope discovered, the three original Legionnaires from Johns' current version bring in every incarnation of every Legionnaire to their aid. Perez, more than anyone, can pull off a huge group panel like this. It was fun to look it over and see some familiar characters - Beppo, Laurel Kent, Lady Quark, Kono, Tyroc, Streaky ... I could go on for a while.

And who was in that big group, the last incarnation of the pre-Crisis Earth-1 Supergirl ... headband and red shoulders streaking into action!!

What a nice little gift to be given, to see that somewhere that Kara is still kicking around. After all, we remember the last time George Perez drew Supergirl.

And to add a bit of joy, an earlier incarnation of Supergirl, this one looking more like the Maid of Might from the 1960's actually gets to deliver a right cross to Prime's mug.

Too awesome!

A confrontation between the young Prime and the Time Trapper Prime leads to the character de-evolving to pencil sketches and then being shunted back to 'his Earth' which somehow turns out not to be our Earth Prime but another Earth.

With Prime gone, the many Legions disperse themselves throughout the space/time continuum.

And in a very nice scene, we see Conner and Bart's homecoming. Superman assembled the Titans and some friends to welcome the resurrected heroes. Included in that group was Supergirl.

Wouldn't it have been nice to have the colorist get her costume right. I love the red skirt look but that isn't her costume.

The ending of the book has Prime going back to his world where his insanity and killing sprees have been read in comics by his family and friends. Isolated in his basement he turns to the reader and yells. He then goes to pour out his anger and bile on the DC message boards (sounds about right given the animosity on those boards).

Of course this has been done before ... recently in Wanted ... better in Morrison's Animal Man (even the de-volution from pencil sketch to thumbnail was done there).

And while I am glad that a current DCU Legion has been established (one that seems to be built on the adventures of the high times of Paul Levitz run), this series was something of a frenetic jumble which was not helped by the outright criminal delays between issues.

Still, it was nice to see some prior incarnations of Supergirl and her mythos sprinkled throughout the series.

Overall grade (series): C

He's Back Already?

Final Crisis:Legion of 3 Worlds #4 came out last week and brought Superboy back from the dead. Superboy died at the hands of Superboy/Superman Prime just a couple of years ago in Infinite Crisis. While fans of Connor are elated, I just wonder if he has been dead long enough. It felt too soon for him to be back.

Of course, Final Crisis:Legion of 3 Worlds also resurrected Bart Allen after he had only been cold in the ground for little over a year!

I think the turnstile on the afterworld is spinning a bit too quickly at DC for my tastes. Heck, at least Barry Allen stayed dead for 23 years .

The mini-series is a dense mess of action although it is fun to see all these Legion characters interacting with each other. And the return of Conner does nicely set up a Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes run in the upcoming Adventure Comics.

I also wondered if Connor is the person kissing Kara in her 'Origins and Omens' story from Supergirl #38. Hmmmm ...

A Superboy-Supergirl romance would be a new twist.

Review: Superman #685

The build-up to Superman:World of New Krypton and another year without Superman in the super-titles finally came to an end with the release of Superman #685 on Wednesday. Written by James Robinson and drawn by Javier Pina, it moves all the pieces into proper position for the new stories to unfold.

The last several issues have basically been prologue to this year's major arcs. Superman will be on New Krypton. Mon-El and the Guardian will be in charge of Metropolis. Flamebird and Nightwing will be hunting whatever they are hunting.

The last issue ended with Mon-El ripped from a collapsing Phantom Zone only to begin dying from the sudden exposure to lead.


With Mon-El turning an unseemly shade of gray, Superman comes up with an idea. Why not go into the future for Brainiac 5's cure serum? Superman knows that Mon-El is safely active 1000 years from now.

But when he tries to use his Legion ring to go to the 31st century, it doesn't work. Superman sums it up pretty ominously. "Something's wrong ... with tomorrow."

My guess is that we haven't quite reached the post-Final Crisis DCU. The problem with tomorrow is that the events of Final Crisis:Legion of Three Worlds are still bubbling to the surface.

But seriously, not to pick at the finaly scabbed over wound of Final Crisis, when will the DCU move to the post-FC reality. The DCU titles have been moving forward without even a glance at the trauma of Final Crisis. And assuming that each title moves ahead with current storylines will there even be a mention of Earth nearly dying, the death of some friends, the restructuring of the orrery? Hawkman and Hawkwoman and Batman all died in Final Crisis and yet all three are in the current Justice League of America issue. Heck, Hawkwoman stars in the 'Origins and Omens' back-up. Is she dead? Did New Krypton get created before Final Crisis? If so, why weren't 100,000 Kryptonians mentioned? Aftewards? Well where does Final Crisis fit in the timeline of the super-titles. I just think that after a major event .... the last Crisis ... there should be a new feel to continuity. As it is, outside of the impact on the Bat titles, I feel like Final Crisis could have been an Elseworlds mini-series.

Yikes, that's a lot of bile to spring forth from one panel in Superman. Sorry for the tangent.


Realizing that an answer from the future won't come easily, Superman rushes to his lab to try to cobble some cure together last minute.

When he arrives he discovers this 'Alice in Wonderland'-like flask, the 'drink me' label festooned with a Legion symbol. Feeling he has no choice, Superman administers the serum to Mon-El who is miraculously cured.

So this save felt a bit too much like a deus ex machina. However, there aren't many people who could have sneaked into the Fortress to leave it there. My guess? Flamebird and Nightwing. There is a theory floating on the web that Nightwing is Cosmic Boy. He could have brought the anti-lead poisoning serum from the future.

If Nightwing is Rokk, then who is Flamebird? What about Officer Schvaughn Erin?

Now that the immediate crisis of Mon-El and the Phantom Zone is over, Superman can go back to worrying about the ongoing crisis of New Krypton. He simply doesn't trust General Zod. Superman feels his people, the Kryptonians, are in danger and he needs to be there to protect them.

One thing I did like was Robinson showing us Superman's reaction to the UN resolution banning Kryptonians (outside himself) from Earth. He looks pretty shocked and he should be. Things aren't going well with the Terran/Kryptonian relationship. More then ever, he probably feels the weight of setting things right, of being a arbitor between the two sides of his life.

Robinson does give a glimpse of the Guardian as well. Harper has been receiving telepathic messages from Tellus in the form of dreams. Tellus keeps telling the Guardian that he is fine and that the Science Police will arrive. But Harper seems to ignore the advice. After seeing visions of battles with Superman villains Riot and The Atomic Skull, Harper says that he is coming to the rescue.

The rest of the issue is actually a nice character study of Clark. He knows he needs to go to New Krypton to watch Zod, save his people, and hopefully bring an end to the animosity between his two cultures.

But he cannot do it without the blessing of the two women in his life, Ma and Lois. He begins to lay out his reasoning to them. One thing I did not like is Clark saying that he felt Kara was under the sway of her mother. While she may be living on New Krypton, Kara has seemed concerned about her mother's actions as much as anyone. She has never fallen in line with Alura's thinking like a good little soldier.

I did like the little split panel theme seen above. He truly is half Clark and half Superman. It is a nice little visualization of that, as both sides of him are in anguish about how things have unfolded.

I love the support that Lois and Ma give him. When Superman states that he doesn't know what to do, they both say 'yes you do'. They both know he needs to leave Earth and go to New Krypton.

The issue's main story ends with a tender goodbye between Lois and Clark. I am happy that Robinson took the time to show this, as well as Lois' tears after this goodbye. Superman is flying into the lion's den. Lois doesn't even know if he will ever return. And yet, she still knows his place is there. She has faith in him, sure, but that still requires bravery in her part.

The issue ends with a nice 'Origins and Omens' story reviewing Mon-El's history succinctly and setting him up for the next year in Superman.

First off, he gets an identity for Metropolis. He will be Jonathan Kent. Nice touch.

And he looks like he will be busy too. Fights with Atlas and Sodam Yat? Tangling with Lex Luthor? And what looks to be a kiss with Natasha Irons?

I have to say that I am most intrigued with Superman:World of New Krypton. Of all the directions of the super-books, Superman starring Mon-El and The Guardian is the one that I am least optimistic about. Hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.

As for this issue, Robinson does a fine job of aligning the characters so next month will start smoothly. It still felt more like set-up than story progression, but you have to get to the beginning of a story somehow.

I don't know Javier Pina but his work was serviceable. Certainly it is much smoother than the dark stuff we saw by Jesus Merino and Pable Raimondi recently. Raimondi's stuff looked much better in this month's 'Origins and Omens', less blotchy and thick.

Overall grade: B

Supergirl in Final Crisis:Legion of Three Worlds #3

Most people know that I am a pretty big Legion of Super-heroes fan. Legion was one of the first books I collected on a monthly basis and I have followed them through most of their incarnations. (I will admit I did not follow the Legion Lost years).

So Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds is an interesting idea for me. Mark Waid's reboot place in continuity was put into question by Geoff Johns' Legion from last year's Action Comics. And what of the Legion 5yL stories and the Legion Lost stories? Are they in continuity? Out of continuity? In continuity on one of the 52 worlds?

Of course it might have been nice if this mini-series was released during Final Crisis. But I digress. The third issue came out last week and included a nugget about Supergirl.


The plot seems a little muddled to me right now. Superboy-Prime forms an army of the future's biggest super-villains and goes on a reign of terror against the Legion. But he is more of a puppet for the Time Trapper who is plotting something larger.

Of course it is scenes like the one above that makes the comic so fascinating for Legion fans. Three Ultra Boys and three Phantom Girls? Kind of cool.

It is clear that the Johns' team, basically the Levitz/Giffen team (without the 5YL stories), is now *THE* Legion of the future.

There is a 2 page spread where the 3 Brainiac 5's talk about the universes' Legions and how they were formed. One thing is that XS, from the Legion Lost reboot, actually belongs on Earth-0 (the main DCU) but was shunted into a different universe for her protection.

And now the Kara nugget. The Waid Brainiac can't believe that he is not from 'Earth', that is Earth-0. He brings up the fact that his team included Supergirl for a time. The Johns Brainiac explains it away saying that time travel can often include universe-shifting.

So all those Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes issues are most likely in continuity, just occurring in a different universe.



Just a couple of comments about the Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes issues.

This was sort of the 'peanut butter and jelly' combination of my 2 big loves of the DCU ... a perfect blend.

Supergirl joined the Legion at the same time that the sub-par 'Candor' storyline was happening in her main title. 'Candor' was the beginning of a long string of issues where I didn't think Kara was being written very well.

In stark contrast, the Supergirl/Legion issues was much closer to what I was looking for. She was smart, powerful, and good. She often flew right into danger to save people or fight evil. So what if at the beginning of the run she thought she was dreaming everything. She still was a hero.

I picked a few scenes from Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #17 to highlight this.

Here she deactivates a giant robot threat pretty easily.

And here Waid shows his respect for the character. Cosmic Boy explains to the Legion that in her time Supergirl very quickly earned the status of 'living legend' in the 21st century.

Even semi-silly scenes like this, where Kara stops an earthquake by whistling a counter-vibration, really showed that Waid 'got' the character much more than Greg Rucka (briefly) and Joe Kelly did.

Yes it shows some Silver Age innocence but it also showed some ingenuity, quick thinking, and heroism.

On top of that, I really really liked Barry Kitson's rendition of Kara. She was cute, self-assured, and healthy looking.

Now we know that Supergirl gets involved in the new R.E.B.E.L.S. series because her time with the Legion impacts Brainiac 2. How (or even if) the revelation that Kara's Legion is from another universe impacts this new title remains to be seen. Review for that issue should be coming soon.

So in sum:

1) The Johns retro-fitted Legion appears to be the Legion of Earth-0.

2) The Waid/Kitson version of Kara was delightful, especially in contrast to the bitter one running concurrently in her main title. Certainly worth raiding the $1 box at conventions to look for them.

Rapid Fire Reviews: Reign in Hell #2, Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1, and Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1

Well, all three of the books could potentially impact Supergirl or have some interesting nuggets in them. None have enough Supergirl involvement to warrant a solo review. So here are some quick reviews.


Reign in Hell #2.

The bottom line here is no Linda Danvers in this issue. Thus no long-winded review. The thrust of this issue seems to be the choosing of sides in the war in Hell by various Earth-bound people.


The issue starts with a conference at Stonehenge between Zatanna, Captain Marvel, Detective Chimp, Dr. Fate, and Zauriel. In some ways it echoed a bit of the circle of magic made way back in Swamp Thing #50 by Alan Moore. Zatanna sat at that table too. Her father Zatara died at that table. The discussion here is mostly exposition as the magic wielders talk about how this war in Hell could have impact on this plane and that people should get involved. The majority of the rest of this issue shows heroes and villains (Nightshade, Ibis, Black Alice) deciding who they will back in this war in Hell.


Here Blue Devil decides he will back Satanus in hopes of regaining his humanity (lost when he made a deal with Neron back in Underworld Unleashed).

Not a great issue, but not bad. My one complaint is that there are conversations between characters who are not named or labelled. There is a blond guy and a young dark-haired guy who I really don't know because I did not pick up Shadowpact or similar titles. And of course, no Linda.

Overall grade: C


Final Crisis: Legion of 3 worlds #1.

I am not quite sure exactly how this mini-series fits into the Final Crisis storyline.

The story itself is quite compelling. The Time Trapper plucks Superboy-Prime from his limbo and places him into the future. SB-Prime goes to the Superman museum and becomes infuriated that he is considered a footnote in history below lightweights like Toyman and Prankster.

There are lots of visual goodies in George Perez's museum panels including this museum homage to Kara.


And this museum piece of the Silver Age Comet (lower right)!


SB-Prime decides he will ruin the reputation of Superman and destroy all he loves in the future. To accomplish that, he goes to the prison planet Takron-Galtos and frees a bunch of super-villains including many of the Legion of Super-Villains, specifically Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen, and Cosmic King.

In the meantime, the Legion is politically reeling and is about to have it's funding pulled when out comes RJ Brande to try to save the day. Just when he is about to turn the political tide in the Legion's favor, he is assassinated by Leland McCauley. When Brande reverts to his Durlan form, the tide swings back saying that Durlans are infiltrating Earth.

Realizing they need help to figure out all that is going on, the Legion calls in Superman. To fight the army of Super-villains that are now free, this Legion decides to recruit the Legion from other timelines (the 'Legion Lost' Legion and the 'current' Legion). And that means Supergirl may be recruited too. There she is in the back row!


Superman hopes that somehow they all can redeem SB-Prime, a tall order given the absolute mayhem and death he has spread around the last couple of years.

There was a lot going on here and for an old Legion fan like me, a lot to like. Johns has based this Legion on the Levitz run albeit with some new costumes and new attitudes. It made me feel nostalgic to read the names RJ Brande and Leland McCauley. But redeem SB-Prime? The guy has killed many heroes and even destroyed a whole Earth in Countdown. Is he redeemable? Do we want our heroes to try?

Overall grade: B+


Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1.

This mini-series seems the one most tightly linked to Final Crisis as it looks like the real villain behind it all, Mandrakk the Dark Monitor will be revealed here. Darkseid may be doing stuff on Earth, but Mandrakk seems to be poised to do something multi-universal.

Now this is written in pure Morrison trippiness so I am going to venture some guesses/interpretations here, but other feel free to speak up.

As seen in FC#3, Superman is called upon by a Monitor to leave Earth on a universe saving mission. If successful, the Monitor will give Superman some Ultramenstruum, the stuff of the cosmos that can save Lois.

The monitor has recruited the Superman equivalent of a number of universes including Captain Marvel, a Doctor Manhatten-like Captain Adam, Overman the Nazi Superman, and Ultra-Man. Before the mission can even be discussed, the ship they are in must flee from another ship trying to destroy them. The Supermen guide the ship through universes to comic Limbo, seen in Morrison's Animal Man comic as the place characters go when not written about.

There, Superman discovers a book in the Library of Limbo and it is here that the origin of Mandrakk is revealed. I wish Morrison would have written this piece in a straight-forward way, but instead we get snippets and Grant-speak. From what I can tell, there existed a universal Monitor. This uber-monitor detects within itself a flaw and sends a probe to investigate. (My guess is the flaw is the multi-verse.) When this uber-monitor contacts the flaw it becomes aware of chaotic events happening and calls these events 'stories' (this is all so Morrison meta-textual). Having never seen/heard/experienced stories, it is overwhelmed. It creates a construct to contain the flaw (my guess this is the orrery). But it's contact leads to this:


"An uncanny form", this Superman-like structure stands as a monument in the world of the Monitors where it is revered as being something connected to the first Uber-monitor and later felt to be a doomsday device to save the universe from an ultimate enemy, Mandrakk the Eater of Life. Superman it seems is some archetypal figure born from the first Monitor's Earthly encounters. It's all soooo messianic.

Of course everything I just wrote could be wrong! Ahhh .. the beauty of Grant Morrison. But it sounds like an evil Monitor exists (maybe an anti-monitor?) and somehow Superman is the key to defeating it.

The Supermen opt to leave Limbo. The female monitor who has led them kills Overman and drinks his blood to sustain her own waning life. (Maybe she is the monitor from the Vampire Earth?).


Here is the one Kara bit. Our Superman went on the mission to save Lois. Overman went on the mission to find his beloved cousin, Overgirl, the Nazi Supergirl we saw dead in Final Crisis #3. It wonder if our Superman would make the same sacrifice for our Supergirl?

Anyways, it is a heavy convoluted trippy story. There seems to be a lot of intersting ideas here and I hope I can piece all this together. It is hard to know if Mandrakk shows up here or in the final issues of Final Crisis. The Doug Mahnke art is slick and detailed here. I guess I like Morrison a lot because while I didn't grasp it all, I loved this book.

Overall grade: A.