Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds

Its official I have run out of witty titles for these posts. Let me state this from the outset. I utterly loathe the Legion of Superheroes. I consider them an example of Pre-Crisis Silver Age DC at its most eggregiously cheesy. I never liked the way they were written or how they fit in in with the Superman dichotomy. When the first Crisis removed Superman's career as Superboy and thus his ever having been in the Legion I was relieved. I can no longer ignore the signs however. It has become apparent that DC and Geoff Johns in particular is determined to resurrect the Silver Age DCU in all its magnificent hokiness.

Believe it or not this is actually a positive review. Having said all of that it is a testament to Geoff Johns that he can take these charcaters that I utterly loathe and create a great story. Hence his recent Action Comics arc and today's subject Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds. The Final Crisis name is a bit misleading as it really has very little to do with what's going on in either the main series or the tie ins. but still its well written by Johns and beautifully drawn by George Perez. The basic gist is that after the recent upheavel in Action Comics with Earth-Man, the united planets want to disband the Legion (fine by me please make them go away for ever and ever). You also have Superboy Prime showing up in a very ironic and beautifully executed scene and making his prescence known by resurrecting the Legion of Super-Villians. The Legion of Super-Villians origin that comes out in this issue is a nice parallel to the Legion of Super Heroes origin which is back to pre-crisis.

What can I say Johns is a good writer he clearly loves the DCU and that comes through in everything he writes. This issue also does not exhibit a problem that Johns had been evidencing in JSA which is trying to cram too many charcaers into a single issue at the expense of any plot progression. The A and B plots involving the Legion's turmoils and Prime's arrival fit together nicely. That being said this is a wholly unnecessary issue in terms of the Crisis. I am a Superboy Prime fan hence my purchase of this issue but if you don't like the Legion but are torn beacuse you are reading FC and don't want to be lost don't bother with this. It is a good issue though and I for one will stick around and see how it plays out. One last thing. A personal appeal for Dan Didio. For the love of God Dan please give this man a Legion ongoing to write so I can ignore it and maybe Johns will stop having them show up constantly in the fifty other DC titles he writes that I do read. Bottom line Legion fans will love it. If you are a Legion fan the final scene will make you very happy.

Later
Kev