A blissfully light comics week for me this week, with only Legion of Three Worlds and Iron Man to pick up. Both were corkers though.
The big comic of the week however is sure to be the Legion book. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a huge Legion fan, so there was quite a bit of the big team up and explanation that was lost on me, however I could still enjoy the big fight scene, and there was enough to keep a non-Legion fan like me excited, as Geoff Johns also called on his other successful runs with Green Lantern (as seen in the preview) and The Flash.
The Green Lantern stuff was basically limited to what was in the preview, with Sodam Yat rejoining the fight. Its a nice moment when he arrives and chains Prime, but ultimately he doesn’t do much except slow Prime down a little (and just long enough for Brainiac 5’s plan to kick in).
Of course, the big talking point from this issue is the Flash stuff. XS’ origin is fixed to ensure she’s from New Earth rather than the one of the other Earth’s her Legion inhabits, and then we finally get the payoff from the Lightning Saga. Granted, we all knew it was coming, but the build up was excellent played, with Prime getting more and more paniced about what Brainiac was up to. And then we get the last page.
Bart is back. De-aged and returned to his Kid Flash outfit.
Now granted, I still feel that Geoff Johns’ writing of Bart never quite rang true, and I really missed him as Impulse, but still, this is the first step in the character’s rehabilitation. There’s going to be a lot of explaining to do over the next couple of issues. While Bart is physically de-aged, isn’t he still affected by the things that happened to him when he was aged into the Flash? Saying that, the writers on Bart’s Flash run were making pains to show his original impulsive nature was still there, so there’s maybe not a huge retcon required.
I can definitely live with Bart as Kid Flash as long as he’s being written properly. Crowbarring him into the role of the Flash pretty much killed that franchise after Infinite Crisis so I reckon we’re seeing part of Geoff’s masterplan that’ll come to fruition in Flash: Rebirth.
There’s a few other nice moments in this issue. Superman vs Superboy Prime was a nice fight. Superman trying to appeal to Superboy Prime’s past was nicely played, and Prime burning a whole in Superman’s hand was shocking. And its obvious how much Geoff Johns enjoys writing the character of Superboy Prime, as he gets some great lines throughout the issue.
Its a shame this series has been hit by so many delays. But there’s no denying that the end product has been worth the wait, even for this reader who isn’t a Legion fan.
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