Who's Who in the Legion #6 EXTRAS

Continuing the series where we spotlight the features that appeared at the beginning of each issue of the mini-series Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes (1988). In issue #6 the series featured an in-depth tour of Metropolis...."The Wonders of Metropolis" hosted by Oli-3 Queen. 

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5, Part 2

Today I review Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5, part 2. This is the end of this mini-series.

Our national nightmare is over.

This mini-series has been like being on the Tea Cup ride at Disney World. It is dizzying. At times it is fun. At times it is nauseating. If you think about it too long, you wonder why it was ever made. And when it is over you say to yourself 'what was I thinking?'

Writer Geoff Johns, I am sure, had the best intentions. But the writing comes in fits and spurts. There are pages and pages of Titans and Superboy Prime. There are mega splash pages. Then there are pages with tiny panels and so much writing that they look like text pages. There is so much exposition to catch the reader up at plot points that have been glossed over. And in the end, there was very little Legion, and very little on page interaction of Legions working together.

George Perez is on art and, well, he is George Perez. The whole thing is beautiful.

I had little recollection of this series, perhaps a sign that my mind shut the whole thing out. I consider myself a savvy reader but at times I was lost. And most of all, I don't think this was what Legion fans were looking for at all. When I finished this book I literally asked myself 'what were you thinking agreeing to review this book?'

So on to this issue.

I may need a week off to recover from this.

Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds #5, Part 1

Well, it is the beginning of the end for me as I start the review for the final issue of Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds #5.

This has been something of a wild ride for me. When it was solicited, I could remember being quite excited about this. I was a bit awash in Legion continuity as the Threeboot book was happening, Geoff Johns had brought back the original group, and I was coming off my decade away from the team.

I was hoping for a deep Legion continuity dive. I was hoping for an untangling of continuity. I was hoping for fun.

Instead I got this.

This book has a lot of Titans stuff going on. The Legion occasionally seem like guest stars in a Superboy Prime book. And the plot careens along hoping the reader can keep up. I was hoping for a breath of fresh air. Instead I felt like I was trying to breathe through a straw filled with oatmeal.

All that said, the art is about as glittery as George Perez can be, flitting between massive double page splashes and intricate tiny inset panels.

So will it all be tied up neatly in a bow? Will we get the finale we deserve?

Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds #4 Part 2

Today I finish my review of the penultimate issue of Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds.

I am exhausted.

It has been hard for me to wrap my head around this series. And Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds #4 showcases my problems. There is an awful lot of casual death and violence. There is a boatload of Superboy Prime. There is a ton of exposition which should explain just what the hell is going on but doesn't really. Writer Geoff Johns continues to pile more and more plot and reveals into this series making it a cumbersome read.

Perhaps worst of all, so much time is spent filling in this insane plot that we barely have gotten the 3 Legions working together. We have a lot of Teen Titans! We have some Green Lanterns! We have a lot of Brainiac 5 interactions. But most of the Legion stuff seems to be happening as skirmishes in the backgrounds. Maybe we get a couple of panels now and then showing some Threeboots working with some Reboots working with some Retroboots. But not enough. The draw here, for me, was wanting to see these Legions mingling.

Of course, the art by George Perez continues to be exemplary. Perez just shines. It is lovely. And it is a mix of minute panels overstuffed with action and sprawling double page spreads.

But you need to remember this is issue 4 of 5. This book needs to be approaching a conclusion. Instead this book ends with a bombshell revelation. It also reminded me of one of my personal worst moments in Legion fandom. Johns is still adding story! How can he end this in one more issue?

And one more thing. I think it is somewhat damning that I had almost no recollection of this story as I reread for this review. Two major events happen in the back half of this issue, the portion I am reviewing today. I had completely forgotten them. I have to think that is a comment on how I feel about this book overall.

On to the review!

Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds #4, Part 1

There is more behind us than in front of us when it comes to Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds! Here we are at Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds #4! This issue is just as crazy as the prior ones. Lots of action! Lots of words! Some death! And finally the Time Trapper!

As has been the trend in this book, I feel more like I am riding the wave of this story. A lot is happening fast. I am on a shifting foundation, just trying to maintain my balance. And I am hoping not to fall. I am sure this all made perfect sense to writer Geoff Johns. But to me, it is like a series of quick interludes with not much solid story. Maybe it all comes together in the end.

The George Perez art has also been a constant on this book. His work here is as impressive as any book of his I have read. There is so much action. There are so many characters. The story is so bananas. I hope Perez got paid by the pen stroke. He'd be a millionaire! (Hmmm ... come to think of it, he is retiring!)

Still, this has been a bit too wild for me to say it is a great story. I wanted so much from this. But at times I feel lost. I suppose that makes perfect sense given it is linked to Final Crisis, the most inscrutable of the tent pole crossover events.

On to this half of the book.

Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds #3, Part 2

Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds #3 finally gives us readers what we were clamoring for ... three Legions fighting side by side against an army of super-villains. You think it would be a giddy romp, a visual smorgasbord for Legion fans. Well ... it partly succeeds.

One of the issues that I have had with this issue is that writer Geoff Johns is trying to stuff so much story and plot into these 5 issues that at times it becomes an ultra-dense mess of dialogue boxes and leaps of plot faith. In this half of this issue, there is a two page spread with a lot of information about a prior adventure that the Legions have already had together. I don't know about this story. Did it happen? Is this Johns filling in some prior mystery? Either way, I don't think I follow what he is trying to tell me. And remember that I am splitting these reviews up into 2 per issue. This is a big info dump in the back half of one issue. If this is key info, I wish it was explained more.

That said, Johns is probably meting out his exposition in big chunks like this to allow him the space to task artist George Perez with numerous splash pages and double splash pages. Perez goes from many inset small panels to large spreads of grand scale. I have heard rumors that this series was exhausting for Perez and I'm not surprised. I am also not surprised that it shipped on time ... a rarity these days when you get books like this. (That's right ... I'm looking at you Doomsday Clock! You too, Young Animal Doom Patrol!

And all of this is happening without the emergence of the Time Trapper as the puppet master in this miniseries. Will all this wrapped up in a pleasing way? Honestly, I don't remember. So I'm going in fresh.

On to the book.

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3, Part 1

Final Crisis Legion of  3 Worlds #3 is the halfway mark of the 5 issue series. And this review will cover the first half of this issue. That means when this review is over we are officially at the halfway mark of this story. And what a place to be at that fulcrum.

Like in the preceding two, writer Geoff Johns puts a lot into the issue. It is as dense as prior. But much of this piece is devoted to battle. Johns really does his best to showcase as many Legionnaires and as many villains as he can. As a result, artist George Perez is put through his paces, dealing with panels stuffed with characters as well as innumerable small inset panels focusing in on some one-on- one battles. If you thought Crisis on Infinite Earths was a heavy lift for Perez, imagine stuffing everything that happened in those 12 issues into 5. You catch my drift? Perez deserves a medal here.

Unfortunately, one thing that comes through in this review is that Johns is really playing as much in his own sandbox as he is in the Legion's. Certainly Superboy Prime, a Johns favorite, is playing a big role in this story. He isn't exactly part of classic Legion lore. But now we see that Sodam Yat, the Daxamite Green Lantern and another Johns fave, is also going to get serious screen time.

For me, I'd much rather have this be a series completely steeped in the Legion rather than looking outward to bring people in. Why not have three Mordrus combining their might? Or the Fatal Fifteen?

One last piece of intro is that this first half of the issue sort of reads like the back half of the last. There really isn't much plot progression here. I talk about the issues being stuffed. But much of that here is just sensory overload from the battles.

On to the book:

Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds #2, part 2

Welcome to the second part of  Final Crisis Legion of Three Worlds #2. 

This mini-series from writer Geoff Johns and artist George Perez has proven to be a bit of a challenge for me to review as Johns has stuffed the book with action, dialogue, and plot. It feels like a very heavy read, some pages filled with so much text that it feels more like a book than a comic book. And yet, there is a balancing act with unbelievable double page spreads. Perez must have had a migraine drawing it.

The back half of this issue shows just how dire the situation is for the main Legion, the team brought back by Johns in Action Comics. With death and destruction basically around the corner, Brainiac 5 has to finally give us the promise of the title. We get three Legions.

This series was one of the first I knew that had each issue come with two different covers. I saved this version of #2 for this review given the scene unfolds in this section of the issue. But I love how we see the two 'other' Legions in the swirling smoke of the crystal ball White Witch is using.

It has to be some homage to Justice League of America #21, the first JLA/JSA crossover. There is that crystal ball. And there is the 'other team'.

On to the story.

Final Crisis Legion of Three Worlds #2: Part One

Last week I began my review of Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds, a book I fear would break me. The first issue almost did. A dizzying array of inset panels, bulk text, uncertain continuity, and story bloat made it nearly impossible to cover in one review.

And then, like a wish from the Miracle Machine, an answer was provided to me by fellow Legion Blogger Siskoid. Why not take two posts to review one issue of this book? God knows, there is enough story stuffed into these pages to warrant at least that much.

So welcome to Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds # 2 review, part one. I'll finish this issue next Friday.

One of the interesting things for me to do, as I decipher this book, is to try and come to grips with the continuity speed bumps. I didn't read any of the Reboot Legion, the Abnett stuff. I had intimate knowledge of the Threeboot book, still fresh.

But it is the classic Legion, the one brought back by writer Geoff Johns that I struggle with the most. The assumption is that 5YL never happened. The Legion timeline progressed differently from the end of the Baxter Run and the Magic Wars.

Clearly 'stuff' happened between the end of the Magic Wars and the Action Comics storyline which just preceded this. So we are sort of dropped into a fresh, unknown, yet oddly classic timeline. Please get me some ibuprofen!

Johns again puts about three books worth of material into this issue. And that despite having not one but two double page splashes! Poor George Perez. If you thought Crisis On Infinite Earths was a great example of page layouts and panel variation, you ain't seen nothing yet. No surprise, Perez shines here. But I wonder how much wonderful art was covered by the massive dialogue balloons needed to convey the story?

I usually wail against decompression. But this is overstuffing. This would have been a great 9 part mini-series. I wonder if the time alloted was dictated by the main Final Crisis book. And yet, if I recall, the book was delayed badly meaning more actual time and issues could have been devoted here.

Ah well .. what might have been. Onto the half-review!

Final Crisis Legion of Three Worlds #1

Settle in True Believers as I try to make my way through one of the denser issues I have had to review on this site. And remember, I reviewed the early 5YL issues back in the day.

Final Crisis:Legion of Three Worlds #1 was written by Geoff Johns and drawn by George Perez. It was released in late 2008 in conjunction with Grant Morrison's main Final Crisis mini-series and was meant to stabilize and streamline the recent Legion history. Earlier in the year, Johns and Gary Frank brought the original Legion back into continuity, showcasing a very Levitz/Giffen feeling team working with a Superman who was a Legion member in his past.

Now as comic fans, we are used to multiple realities and many universes. But Johns was taking a bit of a risk because that storyline in Action Comics took place while the Threeboot Legion still had a book on the shelves.

Which Legion was 'real'? And more importantly, which Legion was DC going to promote moving forward. It was clear, at least to me, that the Threeboot book was in a decaying orbit, having lost its way a bit. I also felt that giving us back the original Legion felt like  'bringing the band back together' for one more tour. It was doubtful the magic would be there again.

So I had high hopes when The Legion of Three Worlds was announced as I thought it would be a surgical Crisis on Infinite Earths style event, melding the disparate Legion histories into something new, stronger, and hopefully energized. And what better team to do that than Johns, riding on a recent high at DC comics and clearly a lover of the Legion, and Perez who drew COIE and shined when a billion characters needed to be in one series.

Was it a success?

To be honest, I can't say because I don't remember that much of it. What I can say is that reviewing this first issue made me remember that two villains I was and still am a bit fatigued with, The Time Trapper and Superboy Prime, are the main baddies. And that this was as packed an issue as I have read in a while. Between many small inset panels and significant dialogue, this felt like two issues in one. I wonder why DC didn't just make this a 6 issue mini instead of a 5. As such, I felt like Johns put so much into this set-up that I was frazzled at the end.

Enough prologue. Be prepared! Onto the book!

Fridays with Anj! What's Next?

I had lived through a lot with the Legion by the time 2008 rolled around.

I had lived through the original run and the 5YL redirection.

I had left the team for 10 long years, giving me a knowledge gap the size of the Grand Canyon in my Legion lore.

I had come back for the Threeboot and saw Supergirl lead the team.

I had even been around for the Reboot, a return of the old Legion which happened right around the time Final Crisis was hitting the stands.

After taking in so many versions of my favorite team and after hearing that this crisis would be the final crisis, I was intrigued with the idea of a Legion of 3 Worlds story, perhaps a way to 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' the Legion concept, smushing all the versions together into one continuity, removing the 'multiverse' of the Legion into a universe.

I can remember being floored by much of the book when it came out. I remember snippets of it.

But either due to old age and poor memory or a lackluster story that didn't stick in my mind, I don't remember too much about this.

And so I will do my best to dissect and re-digest this mini-series over the next several Fridays.

Feel free to let me know what you thought of this mini-series overall here on this post! It will be a good warm up for me as I dive in!

Fridays with Anj: Happy New Year!

Hey everyone!

Happy New Year!

Hope when the clock strikes midnight and we turn the calendar over to 2019, you have that special someone nearby for a kiss!

As for me ...

Well, next on the list for 'Fridays with Anj' will be Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds!

They said it couldn't be done!
They said it would take a Legion to review this book!

But I am up for the challenge!

See you soon!

The FWPodcast: Who's Who in the Legion (3)

The Fire and Water Podcast Presents…
Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes episode 3

The cross-over you thought would never finish----concludes!!!

The Irredeemable Shag teams-up with the Legion of Super-Bloggers to cover the galactic seven-issue mini-series! A three-episode podcast has its third and final episode on-line starting TODAY at the Fire & Water Podcast Network!

Our third and last (!) podcast episode features reviews of the fifth thru seventh issues of Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes, the seven issue mini-series from 1988. For Episode 3 of the podcast Shag welcomes a LEGION of special guests! To talk about issue #5 Shag is joined by Kyle Benning and Little Russell Burbage of Rimbor. Featured characters include Mordru, Phantom Girl, Polar Boy, and Saturn Girl! For the middle bridge of the episode Shag is joined by one-name entities Siskoid and Anj to talk about issue #6. Their characters includes Sensor Girl, Shadow Lass, Shrinking Violet, and Sun Boy, who was ecstatic to be in this company. And lastly, the entire she-bang is wrapped up when Shag is joined by Siskoid and Russell again to talk about issue 7, which features everyone's favorites, The Wanderers!

Split in two for your listening convenience, issues 5 and 6 are covered at http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/podcast/ww-legion3
And issue 7 at http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/podcast/ww-legion4

Slip on your Legion Flight Ring and fly over there RIGHT NOW and listen. Then leave Listener Feedback on their page as well as here on our page.

Who's Who: Arma Getten

Arma Getten
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name: Arma Getten

Super-Power(s): Teleportation, a force-binding weapon that creates force fields
Planet of Origin: Youngen

Relationship to Legion: Villain

Who's Who: Antonio Stefanacci

Antonio Stefanacci
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name: Antonio Stefanacci

Super-Power(s): Magic (allegedly, then eventually)
Planet of Origin: Earth

Relationship to Legion: Ally

Who's Who: Antennae Boy

Antennae Boy
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name: Khfeurb Chee Bez

Super-Power(s): Hears radio transmissions across space and time

Planet of Origin: Grxyor

Relationship to Legion: Legion reject and member of the Legion of Substitute-Heroes

Who's Who: Animal Lad

Animal Lad
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name: Ennis Janhson

Super-Power(s): Ability to turn people into animals, and animals into people

Planet of Origin: Earth

Relationship to Legion: Legion reject

Who's Who: An Ryd

An Ryd
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name: An Ryd

Super-Power(s): None
Planet of Origin: Rimbor

Relationship to Legion: Pawn in supervillain plot

Best of DC Digest #24 "Meet the Legion!"

Paul Levitz returned to the Legion after a few years absence to lead it to one of its greatest heights. Before he got to that point, however, there was still little gem. His chronologically first Legion of Super-Heroes story after his return is a much-forgotten treasure called The Best of DC Digest #24, from May 1982.

These 100 pages feature a brand-new story set around a classic 2-part reprint, plus another two separate reprints.

But what we want to showcase today is the feature of this book, the  "PLUS: 16 Pages of NEW COSTUMES!" that were head-lined on the cover.

Sandwiched in-between the framing sequence and the main reprints regarding Colossal Boy's mother being turned into glass and the other two separate reprints were, yes, sixteen pages of beautiful art by none other than George Perez.

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #281

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #281 (Nov 1981)
title: "Madness Is The Molecule Master"

plotter: Roy Thomas

writer: Paul Levitz
penciller: Steve Ditko
inker: Bruce Patterson

letterer: Ben Oda
colorist: Gene D'Angelo

editor: Mike W. Barr
cover: George Perez/Bruce Patterson

reviewer: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage

Mission Monitor Board:  
Superboy/Ultra Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl, Karate Kid, Dawnstar, Blok

Guests: 
Lana Lang

Opponents: 
Time Trapper, Molecule Master