So, if you haven’t figured it out by now, Geoff Johns is pretty much a bottomless pit of awesome. Let’s run through some of the comics he’s done: JSA/Justice Society of America. The Flash: Iron Heights and about forty incredible issues of that title. Action Comics (the Last Son, Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes and most recent Brainiac story arcs). Teen Titans. Infinite Crisis. And, of course, the new gold standard for how to do great comics, Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War. And just a couple of weeks ago, he hit us with the first of two tie-in books to DC’s current big event with Final Crisis: Rogue’s Revenge.
But by damn, this is the book I’ve been waiting for.
I’m a huge Legion of Super-Heroes fan. Not long ago, I even wrote a pretty detailed description of the three different groups to have borne that name for an Everything But Imaginary column. And finally, yesterday, I got the comic I’ve been waiting for: Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1. (Warning: Mild spoilers follow.)
Johns and the legendary artist George Perez have begun their tale with Mordru, the time-trapper, a longtime foe of the Legion. Mordru, the architect of the Legion’s troubles for years, decides the time has come to destroy the Legion and Superman’s legacy once and for all, so he summons Superboy-Prime from the timestream. The boy who wants to be Superman in the worst way (and I do mean the worst) goes on a tear, breaking open the seams of the prison planet Takron-Galtos. Prime has rounded up every enemy the Legion has ever faced, just as they face the greatest personal tragedy of their storied career.
Of course, it’s Brainiac 5 who realizes the only possible course of action. They need help. They need Superman. and since the threat they face comes from another universe, it’s time for them to fight fire with fire… they need the Legions of two other universes to join the fight.
It is not an exaggeration to say the first issue of this five-issue storyline gave me chills. Johns has displayed a love and respect for not just the original Legion, but for all three, that I’ve never seen before. I’m not surprised, though — this is the man who found a way to make Hal Jordan Green Lantern again without tarnishing Kyle Rayner, and who is about to be handed the reigns of both Barry Allen and Wally West in the Flash: Rebirth miniseries. Johns respects not only the originators of a superhero legacy, but all of the heroes who have carried the torch. Although the other two Legions only appear briefly, on Brainy’s computers, between those two pages and the rest of the book, George Perez may be a good 75 percent finished with his goal of drawing every Legionnaire of all time in this comic.
Johns has created a story that’s not only epic in scope, but also intensely personal for all the heroes involved. They’ve lost someone close to them, and Superman feels a responsibility for what Superboy-Prime has become. Meanwhile, people who have been anticipating this story for a while know that — although it doesn’t make an appearance in this issue — Brainy has a lightning rod with a face in it waiting somewhere… waiting to help a seemingly lost hero make his triumphant return.
Then there’s George Perez. Ever since the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, people have known that if you wanna have a buttload of characters in a comic book, Perez is the man to draw it. Not only does he fill this book with Legionnaires, the little details he drops in everywhere are amazing. In an early scene where Prime wanders (and trashes) the Superman Museum of the 31st Century, Perez packs in so many tidbits and Easter Eggs that I could write a whole article just pointing each one out and where it came from. Even the labels — written in the Legion’s language of “Interlac” — are worth looking at. In a scene with statues of Superman over the years, the plaques underneath each one, in Interlac, reads with the name of the classic Superman artist that drew that particular interpretation (Shuster, Boring, Swan, Garcia-Lopez, and Perez himself). And no, I don’t have the free time to sit around translating Interlac — I just have the overwhelming need to absorb each and every nugget of goodness this comic has to offer.
Simply put, this is a fan-freaking-tastic opening for this series. Just as Sinestro Corps ran away from the pack and became my favorite comic book story of last year, I’ve got a feeling that this book — coupled with the Superman and the Legion arc from Action Comics — will soon take that trophy for 2008. It just doesn’t get better than this.
Want to read a few more reviews? Here are some other comic reviews I’ve written in the last few weeks…
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