Broken Frontier

Fresh off the events of their recently-concluded crossover between the Teen Titans, the Legion of Super-Heroes has been revamped once more by writer Mark Waid and artist Barry Kitson. But if you’re expecting more of the same, be prepared to be disappointed. This is definitely not your father’s Legion. In fact, it’s not my Legion either.

Being a longtime fan of the Legion of Super-Heroes (I still own books that feature Superboy and are drawn by Mike Grell), it has been my frustration that this group has not found the success I felt it should be enjoying. Although DC has tried to find ways to find this book an audience, it has mostly been an uphill struggle. Whether it’s due to the mammoth continuity people perceive it to have or the fact that it competes with other higher profile books, the Legion has never been a big seller. I have been with the Legion through most of its various incarnations, so I have gotten used to disappointment of reboots and ret cons.

Imagine me rolling my eyes when I found out that yet another revamp was in the works. However, I felt things would be a bit different when it was announced that Waid and Kitson would be the creative team this time around. While I loved what Abnett and Lanning did with the most recent incarnation of the Legion, I felt that the new team could take this title to another level.

As the introduction in the new series’ first issue outlines, after several millennia of conflict and violence, the 31st century is an era of virtual order and stability. And the Legion is sick of it. Yearning for the exciting past ages of heroes, Mark Waid’s Legion is viewed as vigilantes and troublemakers by the authorities and maintains a tenuous relationship with the United Planets. Moreover, the Legion is not just a small group of heroes representing different worlds anymore but is now more of a movement consisting of thousands of teenaged members throughout the galaxy.

By making the relationship between the Legion and the United Planets a strained one, it all the more emphasizes the fact the group is made up of kids. In the past, one thing that bothered me about the whole concept of the collaboration between the LSH and the UP was the fact that the government seemed to defer to the former when various crises arose. Didn’t it make sense to them that the team, while made up of special individuals, was made up of teenagers? With this book, there is no mistaking the fact that adults consider this group as an annoying group of juveniles.
Mark Waid also does a superb job of slowly introducing this current version of the Legion to the readers. In the past, the mistake with every reboot was that writers assumed that everyone was familiar with the characters and what they are all about. Waid has started out the series with a bunch of mostly standalone issues that slowly flesh out the characters while giving readers snippets of their origins. Moreover, there is a feeling that he is slowly easing readers into the 31st century as opposed to just taking them there and leaving them to figure things out for themselves.

A sign that Waid is doing things right is that as a stickler for continuity, I surprisingly found myself enjoying his reinterpretation of certain things such as Star Boy being black, Colossal Boy actually being a giant whose power is to become six-feet tall etc. He has retooled certain aspects of the Legion without necessarily turning things 360 degrees.

As for the much-dreaded continuity problems, it is unavoidable to make references to past planets, characters and so forth. But in this case, Waid has written these things into the stories in a way that need not hamper new readers’ appreciation for this version of the Legion.

As all these elements come together to make a very enjoyable book, the stories in the first three issues have also been fantastic. The first issue basically explains what this new Legion is about while the second issue lays out a moral dilemma on Dream Girl’s planet of Naltor while sowing seeds for future storylines. The third issue delves into the unique life of Triplicate Girl and looks like a starting point for the first major storyline. As I said, Waid is weaving a very careful story for now and allowing readers to take everything in slowly and easily.

With a full plate to work with in terms of characters, Waid has also managed to infuse each hero with rich personalities that sets up interesting team dynamics for future stories. From the happy-go-lucky Ultra Boy to the serious Cosmic Boy, Waid has retained enough of the original characteristics of each hero as not to make them strangers to longtime readers such as yours truly.

On the other side of the equation, I have always loved Barry Kitson’s pencils since I came across his work in the L.E.G.I.O.N. book in the mid-90s. His detailed artwork and simple, clean style greatly enhanced the books he has worked on. He is vastly underrated and deserves much more press than he has received.

Kitson’s respect for the Legion’s history comes through in the costume designs he has given this current incarnation of the group. While he has tweaked the uniforms a bit, he has retained their classic features that have helped readers identify them through the years. The artist has also displayed a vast imagination in his rendering of what the 31st century would look like. While other artists may tend to exaggerate what they think the future would look like, Kitson has turned in something that looks just right.

Guiding Line: While I did not know what to expect when this latest reboot/revamp/revision (or whatever you choose to call it) of one of my favorite superhero titles was announced, I’m surely glad to see that the Legion of Super-Heroes is in very good hands. Waid and Kitson’s love for this team shines through as they present one of the best takes on this team I have seen in the past twenty years. Waid has taken the necessary steps to build up this team for new readers at a comfortable pace while setting up the overarching story. The artwork is simply well-done by Barry Kitson and brings an immense storytelling quality to the book. This is the best the Legion has been in quite some time.