Written By: Paul Levitz
Artist: Francis Portela
Colorist: Javier Mena
Cover Artist: Portela & Mena
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Editor: Brian Cunningham
The Out Of This World Plot
Basically it boils down to this; Saturn Queen, with her team of “weaklings” (as she so puts it) is on a quest to destroy three worlds inhabited by immortals, each represent three different fields of though, faith, wisdom, and will. You can already guess that this puts the planet of Oa directly in the queen’s line of sight.
Nothing was made clear as to what the Queen’s “real” intentions are, but we do know that her powers are generated from this mystical blue flame which, she claims, is older than the Guardians themselves. Who wants to bet that the Queen is going to give the Legion a battle they’ll never forget?
My Awe-Inspiring Opinion
I think Paul Levitz has finally nailed this title’s momentum. The quality of villains has been quite short of hitting the mark…one the major downfall of the Legion of Super-Heroes title. The villain choices are great as well as how Levitz is treating them within the story. I think this one-shot’s purpose is establishing what’s to come quite well; the characters are super malicious and show no sympathy for the weak, killing anyone who even LOOKS at Queen Saturn wrong. No doubt, the Legion of Super-Heroes is going to have one heck of battle on their hands.
I am a little concern about “bad guy team with a similar name as the good guy team” thing happening here. Too often do the two comic publishing power houses utilize this bad-guy counterpart theme as a way of boosting into a new arc. We have the Injustice League, the Crime Syndicate, Ultra-man, Professor Zoom, etc., do we really need to continue pumping out more bad-guy doppelgangers?
It’s still a fun issue regardless. Bad guy books are slowly becoming better than the good guy books. They’re seemingly a lot more fun to write and put together; there’s no compelling motive to write moralistic tales and the moralistic ambiguity is virtually non-existent. Writing the bad guy’s stories are fun!
The queen is simply relentless in her quest to destroy and ask question later. I’m truly excited to find out why she’s trying to destroy these worlds – does she have a hidden agenda that will reinvent her character, or is she just that crazy? Likewise, this blue flame that seems to hold the very essence of her abilities could very much be a table-turner in the end. But, of course, an even greater plot twist will be when her minions finally take hold of their own lives, freeing themselves of the Queen’s control to take out all their frustration on her!
Honestly, if DC decides to give Francis Portela the full-time job of drawing the regular Legion title all the time, I will have no complaints. I absolutely love how expressive each of the character’s faces are and how well the body language of each character is executed. Seriously, the Queen’s “What the fuck did you just say to me” look is one of the best I’ve ever seen!
Everything is enhanced by the masterful colors of Javier Mena who gives the explosives scenes that much needed “ka-boom” with the different usage of yellows and reds.
My Majestically Climactic Conclusion
While I wish this book didn’t use he cope-out method of employing a bad guy doppelganger team, this issue was fun from start to finish. Without a doubt it’s the best Legion title to come out yet. I can only imagine what amazing storylines are in store for us in upcoming Legion issues!
9 out of 10 Stars
