Oct 31 RoundUp

posted by JediSheltie @ 7:13 PM

Action 858

I suppose Richard Donner knows as much about the original Legion of Superheroes as I do, thus he's not a writer on this new arc. The recent creation of 52 parallel universes has afforded DC the opportunity to have a couple Legions floating around, and reinstate the one that visited Super"man" when he was a "boy".

I am in no way, shape, or form attached to these characters in any way, so ultimately this book will pretty much need to stand purely on the story merits for me. I admit, I'll fanboy out for some things, but since I've never been LoS fanboy, I can't do it here. On the up side, this is a fairly strong start to what may be an engaging arc. Granted, Johns is coming off 3 issues of Bizzaro, so it's not like the last act has a chance of overshadowing this one.

For people like me, who are mostly clueless, Johns gives us a primer on the Legion's involvement with Clark's "boy-hood" in Smallville, showing them to be confidants he can trust with his own big secret. His fond boyhood memories are reawakened by a large version of "robot" Braniac, which turns out to be just a decoy to get his attention and eventually get him into the future. Or, more specifically, the future of the future. I'm sure that makes sense.

Art is taken over by Gary Frank, and that's apparently a huge deal. At least, most comic media outlets seem to think it is, so I'll take their word for it. Frank worked for Marvel for some time exclusively, thus the primary reason I'd never heard of him until this point. Since it is such a "big deal" I'll comment on the art. It's... okay. I found myself neither blown away nor peeved by it. Frank goes with a less hyper-muscled Clark than most artists, something I generally have no trouble with. Were I to nitpick, I'd say Clark's face kept looking gaunt, like he had the flu the entire time.

Overall a good issue, and I'm finally looking forward to the next issue of Action.

Justice Society of America 10

Speaking of having some spare worlds to play with, Johns has another trans-multiversal refugee appearing the latest issue of JSA. This one is a slightly bigger deal for me, as I recall the original Kingdom Come to be one of the best pieces of comic fiction ever produced. Now I'm getting a 3 issue sequel featuring Kingdom Come's central character- Superman.

I'll try to hit the highlights of Kingdom Come, since Johns nicely dovetails the very existence of the JSA with them. In a world where Superman retires because the "hero" that kills the Joker is set free after Superman takes him in for murder, the descendants of the original generations of superheroes are running wild, untrained and unguided. He returns from retirement to try and clean up the mess, but that road is paved with the best of intentions, and it ends in big nuclear explosion.

Basically, this Superman is here, with the JSA, the organization that sees itself as responsible for providing the guidance and training that up-and-coming superheroes need. Needless to say, KC-Superman says the JSA disbanded and most of them were dead in his world. The absence of this stabilizing force in his world helped lead to the eventual tragedy at the end.

For a comic in which very little actually happens (KC-Superman basically sits in the JSA meeting hall), there's a lot of necessary exposition, and cool Alex Ross art, that brings everyone up to speed. The ending of this issue recalls the ending to the first part of Kingdom Come, which may or may not, be a good sign.

As the issue closes the JLA arrives, and the set up for the next issue is that Clark and KC-Superman are going to have a chat. That, alone, should be 10 kinds of awesome.

See, I told you I could fanboy out.