Fridays With Anj: Legion Lost and Legion found?

My re-reviews of the New 52 Legion Lost comic has come to an end which means it is time for some sort of wrap-up post as well as a look to the future.

 It is hard to believe that we haven't had a Legion book on the shelf since the New 52 titles went belly up. And I think that wish to see these characters again, that desire to hold a Legion book in my hand, may have colored my reviews a little bit.

Let's face it, this is a flawed book.

The initial writer, Fabian Nicieza, started out with a story of these 7 Legionnaires stuck in our present, here to try and stop a history-changing mutagenic plague from sweeping over the planet. It had a number of problems. Why wouldn't they approach the current super-heroes to explain their mission? Why leave Superman in the dark? How did they acclimate themselves so easily to our crude world when they were used to 31st century living?

The writing must have been on the wall because shortly after coming on the book, Nicieza was shown the door. The Hypertaxis Plague story basically disappeared. And the suddenly we had a new direction.

 Now that isn't to say that this early section of the book was a complete mess. Pete Woods was on art for the most part and really gave us some stunning images. This picture of Wildfire cutting loose with a huge beam is one of my favorites.

I also, on second reading, liked the make-up of the team. I liked that Tyroc finally had a chance to be in the spotlight, acting as leader. I liked the more determined and occasionally monstrous Chameleon Girl. And, as most know, I am a huge Wildfire and Dawnstar fan.

But this whole concept of a Legion trapped in the present never seems to work. And this plot of stopping a plague seemed futile and strained.

I would love to have been part of these New 52 pitch meetings. So many books changed directions and creative teams early in their runs. Remember, DC threw out their continuity to do this. You would have thought they had carefully considered what direction these new books would open with.

Anyways, Fabian Nicieza left and in walked Tom DeFalco.

Here is where I think my wanting to read a Legion book affected me. If the opening arc was dodgy, this latter half of the book is outright bad. And yet, when I was rereading them for these reviews, I seemed to dwell more on the positives and gloss over the negatives. I want to read the Legion ...

DeFalco had a decent hook of saying that the members here were 'lost' not only in time but adrift mentally or spiritually. I liked that concept. Tyroc was plagued by some sort of prophecy involving him. Yera was a SciPo spy. Wildfire's suit was slowly breaking down. Everyone seemed to have some secret they were hiding from everyone.

That sort of grist for the character mill could have been mined for a while No property does young angst like the Legion!

Unfortunately, DeFalco decided to have the Legion Lost book become an adjunct book to the Titans books and the Superboy book on the shelf. They were thrown into such horrible arcs as The Harvesting and the terrible non-story involving Captain Adym. It was, as if, they suddenly were guest stars in their own series.

But once more there were some nice moments here. As a Wildfire fan, I loved this scene in the last issue where Wildfire is given a new suit and therefore a new lease on life. And here is Dawnstar realizing how much she cares for him.

Still, this wasn't the Legion's story. This was the Titans story. This was Harvest's story.

At the very least, I would have hoped that DeFalco would have reset things with this book ending. He could have sent these Legionnaires home to the future, setting up whatever book would be coming out next with a full roster.

Alas, he didn't.
Alas, there hasn't been another book.

So what did you think of this book overall?

And where to from here?

Well, since I covered the New 52 Legion book, I thought I would review the Legion series which ran right before it. While the book renumbered, the plots in the New 52 were a straight continuation of this book.

It will let me re-examine Paul Levitz attempt to reset things. I'll get some solid Yildray Cinar art. I'll also suffer through Earth-Man some more.

And, it looks like I only started covering these over on Supergirl Comic Box Commentary at around issue 11 which means we'll get a bunch of full reviews before I slip back into re-reviews again.

So there we are, Legion of Super-Heroes vol 6 (I think) will be the next segment of Fridays with Anj.