Reboot: The Legion #34

The Legion #34 (August 2004)
title: "Childhood's End"

writer: Keith Champagne

artist: Steve Lightle
lettering: Bill Oakley
colorist: Sno-Cone

editor: Stephen Wacker

cover: Steve Lightle

reviewers: Siskoid & Shotgun

Mission Monitor Board:  
Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Shikari, Wildfire

Opponents: 
Lord Thalon, Thunderers of Qward, Weaponers of Qward, Vox

Synopsis: 
31st-Century Qward at the heart of the Anti-Matter Universe. A young man called Vox is in awe of his father, Lord Thalon, from whom he was cloned. This Savior of Qward is fated to bring the warring Weaponers and Thunderers together in a new age of glory, his designs set on the Multiverse itself. He has the power to do it and has recently brought the dying world back to life. They herald him a god. But old hatreds die hard and the two peoples of Qward are far from getting along. Thalon is generally disappointed with his son and thinks of getting rid of him and growing a new one, but when a Thunderer is ordered to do so and fails, he's the one at the wrong end of Thalon's energies. Except they misfire. He visits the battery that powers the planet to recharge, and we see a familiar helmet - Wildfire's - on a stand, suggesting his "god-like" powers are not really his own.

Reboot: Starman #50

Starman (v2) #50 (February 1999)
title: "Lighting the Way: Then, Now and Yet To Be!"

writers: James Robinson and David S. Goyer

penciller: Peter Snejbjerg
inkers: Wade Von Grawbadger and Keith Champagne
lettering: Bill Oakley
colorists: John Kalisz and Graphic Colorworks

assistant editor: Peter Tomasi
editor: Archie Goodwin

cover: Tony Harris
reviewers: Siskoid & Shotgun

Mission Monitor Board:  
Star Boy, Umbra

Guests: 
Atmos, Insect Queen, Shade, Starman (Mother Box hologram of Ted Knight), Starman (Mikaal Tomas), Starman (Jack Knight); Science Police, Xanthusians

Opponents: 
Dark Colossus, Shadow Wraiths

Justice League United #10: The Infinitus Saga Conclusion

Justice League United #10

On Sale Wednesday March 11th, 2015

Written by Jeff Lemire

Pencils by Neil Edwards

Inks by Jay Leisten & Keith Champagne

Colors by Jeremy Cox

Standard Cover by Andrew Robinson

Mars Attacks Movie Poster Variant Cover by Dan Hipp

Synopsis:

This final chapter of the Infinitus Saga picks up where part 5 left off. The combined forces of the Legion of Super-Heroes and Justice League have successfully defeated Byth’s forces, but with no Infinitus to absorb the payload of Brainiac-5’s bomb, a black hole is ripped open in the fabric of space. The black hole threatens to absorb not only the Legion and Justice League United forces, but also the planet of Thanagar!

But Brainiac-5, with the help of Dream Girl’s precognition powers, quickly determines a course of action for fixing Brainy’s catastrophic mistake. He quickly has Sardath summon the warships of Rann, all equipped with Zeta Beam technology. With the combined might of 500 Rann Warships and White Witch’s magical powers, they are able to successfully transport Thanagar free from the gravity of the black hole and position it closely to Rann.

Justice League United #9 The Infinitus Saga Part 5

Justice League United #9 "The Infinitus Saga Part 5 of 6"

Released February 11, 2015

Written by Jeff Lemire

Pencils by Neil Edwards

Inks by Jay Leisten and Keith Champagne

Colors by Jeromy Cox

Letters by Travis Lanham

Cover by Andrew Robinson

Synopsis

The issue opens with the combined forces of the Justice League United and now the full power of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 21^st Century squaring off against Infinitus and his horde of light constructs in deep space. Meanwhile back on Rann, Brainiac-5 and Sardath work on a secret weapon to stop Infinitus once and for all. Brainiac-5 and Sardath have come up with a bomb that will collapse Infinitus in on himself and trap him in a perpetual big bang outside of the space-time continuum. Cut to Supergirl, who has followed Byth back to his base of operations where he has Ultra the Multi-Alien held and continues to manipulate him to unless the Infinitus wave. Supergirl’s diverse array of powers is all useless against the shape-changing Byth, who reveals that he has been plotting this move for millennia.

Justice League United #8

Justice League United #8

"The Infinitus Saga Part 4 of 6"

Creator Credits:

Written by Jeff Lemire

Penciled by Neil Edwards

Inked by Jay Leisten and Keith Champagne

Colors by Jeromy Cox

Cover by Andrew Robinson

Flash 75^th Anniversary Cover by Karl Kerschl & Dave McCaig

Cover Price: $3.99

Synopsis:

This issue opens with Dream Girl, still in the future that is currently being decimated by Infinitus, reflecting on how the Legion was founded. Notice here that she mentions the actions of the Justice League as the inspiration for Brande's founding of the Legion, and not Superman, as was the case in the past iterations. Dream Girl is the leader of the team of Legionnaires that stayed in the 31st Century battling Infinitus, while Brainiac's team went into the past to prevent Ultra the Multi-Alien from ever evolving into the evil entity. Dream Girl determines that Earth, the galaxy, and the entire universe are lost unless Infinitus is stopped in the 21st Century, and so after the Legion evacuates more Earth cities, they regroup at the Time Institute and head back in time to join the others (and the Justice League United.) But their arrival is too late. Byth once again wins out in an astral conversation between Byth, Martian Manhunter, and Ultra, while Hawkman (still under the control of Byth) delays the combined JLU and Legion forces enough for Byth's ship to enter the Event Horizon, resulting in the birth of INFINITUS...

Thoughts:

If you notice from the heading, this Infinitus Saga has now been inflated from 5 parts (4 regular size issues plus a double sized annual) into 6 chapters. And man does it show in this issue. This comic literally took me three minutes to read. The comic costs more than a $1 a minute. I have gradually increased my complaints of the decompressed story tropes creeping into this story arc with each passing chapter, but the plot progression grinds to a complete standstill in this issue. Where did the character beats and the plot progression from the annual go? I had so much praise for Lemire's writing on that annual, but this story arc has grown stagnant and devoid of those high points with each passing issue until it completely disappears in this issue. 

The art is gorgeous to look at, but that's just it, it is just art to look at. With this issue being so light on the plot, there isn't much of a story to even elaborate on or add to in the art. The comic features 22 pages. Of those 22 pages, there are 4 double-page splashes (so that's a consumption of 8 pages) plus 2 single page splashes, and several 2 page panels consisting of half page splashes. Like I said, the art looks great, the detail in the art is really stepped up, but there is just no plot or story here. Unfortunately I think next issue will be more of the same, until we get to the final chapter. It is really too bad, the story started out at such a high pace, and was the perfect balance of action, plot development, and character beats. But the last 2 pages have been nothing but splash pages of the combined super teams flying in space. It looks like this one would have been a better fit for a 2-3 issue story, I can't imagine that the decompressed story format that resulted in the "filler" from these past 2 issues is going to hold up much better in the trade. It'll end up being about 40 pages of stagnant story, but I guess those 40 pages will only take about 10 minutes to breeze through. Like I said, top notch art, it's really pretty to look at, it's just too bad there isn't a better story to accompany it. 

The issue ends with the reveal of Infinitus on the final splash page, and the text on the page still indicates that the next issue should be the final chapter. However the double page splash that serves as the title page calls out this chapter as part 4 of 6. We'll see if the final battle does in fact take place next issue as the final page promises, or if that conclusion is spread out over the next two issues. Two more issues would carry the series until March, leading into the two month break for Convergence, it will be interesting to see if the conclusion has an impact on the greater DCU and if it serves (one of) the causes for the Convergence Event. 

Justice League United #7

The Infinitus Saga continues with Part 3 (of 5) in the pages of Justice League United #7.
Released December 10th 2014

Written by Jeff Lemire

Penciled by Neil Edwards

Inked by Jay Leisten and Keith Champagne

Colors by Jeromy Cox

Cover by Andrew Robinson

Darwyn Cooke Vintage Variant

Synopsis:
The story opens where the last issue left off, the JLU are on the moon Ryngor in the Polaris system battling the storm of energy beings that Bythe has just unleashed on the Universe. But luckily for the JLU, the members of the Legion Lost team have joined the fray and come to their aid. Black Mass teleports Ultra back to Byth’s inner temple while Byth attacks Dawnstar and the other Legionnaires. Just as it looks like the heroes are about to be overwhelmed, they are transported to safety on Rann, where the other members of the team reside. Brainiac-5 informs them that once Sardath was able to get through the interference caused by the cosmic storm of energy beings that Byth released, they were able to lock onto their position and teleport them to safety. The team regroups and introductions are made while Martian Manhunter tries to telepathically contact Ultra the Multi-Alien. As Manhunter and Ultra converse telepathically, Byth hijacks their astral chat and kicks Martian Manhunter out of Ultra’s mind. Martian Manhunter reveals to the team that all they thought they knew about Byth was wrong, and that he is much more powerful than they ever dreamed. After a little more discussion, the members of the Legion and Justice League United teams agree to re-enter the fray and try to put an end to Byth’s plan once and for all.

Meanwhile, Byth and Hawkman prepare a ship to take Ultra close to the black hole where Byth’s forces are pouring out. Once in position, they can take the final steps to Ultra’s evolution into Infinitus, and bring about the end of everything. And that is where they meet the combined forces of our assembled heroes. However, in a final ominous splash page, our heroes are told by an armored Hawkman that they are too late, for “THE END IS HERE.” To be continued...! 

Closing Thoughts:
The story really comes to a screeching halt in this issue. Not a lot happens this issue, and the result is a very short $3.99 read. The art is very good and pretty to look at, very detailed and action packed. It feels like it was stepped up a bit since last issue. That may be in part due to the additional inking support provided by Keith Champagne, an industry mainstay for the last 20 years and one of my personal favorite inkers of the modern era of comics. There is a lot of action in this issue but not a whole lot of plot development or story. The issue opens a midst a battle, the heroes are temporarily teleported out of battle to safety, they regroup, then they teleport back in. Throw in a reveal of Byth being more powerful than they imagined, and you pretty much nailed all that happens as far as moving the story along. It's great to see the Legion Lost cast of characters back in action, but what started off as a plot and character driven mystery surrounding, Ultra, Byth, and his Cult has become a casualty of the "write for the trade" story.