If you’ve read my Legion of Super-Heroes #1 review, you know where I stand. I am a die-hard, long-time Legion fan. I have been through all of it, so every new launch gets my hopes up and also gets my critical guard up. Joshua Williamson’s first issue assuaged my fears about a modern take on the Legion after we got so badly burned by the horrendous Bendis Legion. Legion of Super-Heroes #1 felt like a true Legion story and got me excited about this latest version of the Legion. Does Legion of Super-Heroes #2 deliver another excellent read? Let’s hit this review for this issue and find out!
Words: Joshua Williamson
Art: Hayden Sherman
Colors: Tamra Bonvillain
Synopsis
We start with a Persuader Manual that explains the Persuaders. They enforce United Planets law, and anyone using powers off their home world has to be drafted into their ranks immediately. There is a special warning about Bismollians: “Do not let them bite you.”
We cut to Superlopolis on Earth. Tenzil Kem is fighting a Persuader, and he chews straight through the Persuader’s helmet. Brainiac 5 has the data they came for in the case of R.J. Brande’s death: proof that Mekt Ranzz is the super-powered culprit. Brainiac 5 still doesn’t know why Mekt killed Brande, so the investigation continues.
The Persuaders tell Brainiac 5 he’ll be extradited to New Colu and Tenzil will be executed. Tenzil eats a nasty mix of chemicals, a trick he picked up from a friend on Shwar, and belches a wall of fire. The duo escapes. The winged Persuader commander shrugs it off because she knows where they’re going, and she plans to beat them to Brande’s killer.
The Persuader commander orders that there can be “no witnesses.” She authorizes two Persuaders to use their powers on the bystanders who saw the escape. The two Persuaders massacre the witnesses.
On Winath, Mekt is home with his siblings Garth and Ayla. He tells them that he left Winath because he was a “solo” on a planet full of twins. Mekt says he drifted across a universe groaning under the boot of the United Planets and the Green Lantern Corporation, and hit rock bottom on Earth. Then Superman found him, trained him, gave him a purpose, and gave him a mission to save the universe. Garth is starstruck that Superman is alive. Ayla’s response is “You’re such a liar.”
Ayla patches Garth up with a healing lamp and points out that if the Persuaders learned the family had powers, they’d punish all of them. Mekt doesn’t care. He wants to train both twins as super-heroes. Garth says yes, and Ayla says no. Mekt explains that Superman is building something special called Legion, and he shows off the LP brand Superman supposedly burned onto his arm with heat vision.
The Ranzz kids’ parents come home with pizza, Mekt slips out, and the twins fight. Garth wants to give his brother the benefit of the doubt. Ayla remembers Mekt was always in trouble, even before they had powers. Her warning: “Our brother is dangerous.”
We cut to Braal, Rokk Krinn is working in the metal mines of Venado Bay on Braal. He’s a disgraced magnoball star, and people are saying he “went full psycho” on the field. A guy named Grimbor offers him a way off-planet, because a princess is putting a crew together.
On Titan, Princess Imra (her thoughts drawn as cool telepathic glyph balloons) receives a delegation from the Green Lantern Corporation led by the Emerald Empress (Our first member of the Fatal Five has entered the chat!), who wants to be “friends” before negotiating a protection deal.
Back on Earth, the news says the Green Lantern Corporation is already lobbying for Brande’s seat on the U.P. Council. Tenzil has been reading Brande’s journal, which reads like a madman’s diary full of alternate futures. Brainiac 5’s plan for getting to Winath is to disguise himself and Tenzil as Persuaders and ride along with them.
On Winath, Mekt trains Garth to throw lightning and promises that the ability of flight comes later. Then the two brothers go off to bust some heads of some criminals. The same gang from last issue is shaking down the marketplace. The Lightning Bros strike, with Garth riding his homemade Lightning Cycle. The grateful locals thank them, and back home, Garth begs to be branded with the Legion logo. Mekt warns him it hurts. Garth says he can take it, and Mekt brands him with his lightning and says, “Welcome to Legion.”
Then we meet the man behind the Persuaders, a figure in a cybernetic life-support rig who founded them to make sure all powers are “used wisely.” (We got Mano! Now we have two members of the Fatal Five present!) The winged commander, whom he found on Starhaven, kneels before Mano. Mano believes Brande was building something, a super-hero movement, and he won’t let Brande’s death become a symbol. Mano’s orders are to find Mekt, interrogate him, and then kill him and anyone he spoke to.
The Persuaders land on Winath with Brainiac 5 and Tenzil hidden in their ranks. An informant has come forward, and it’s Ayla Ranzz. She just wants her twin brother and her parents safe, and she’ll tell them whatever they want. The issue ends on the Persuader commander’s grin: “Welcome to the Persuaders.”
The Good:
Where Legion of Super-Heroes #1 had to do a ton of setup, Legion of Super-Heroes #2 gets to slow down and build a family drama, and the Ranzz siblings are the best thing in the book so far. I like how Williamson gets the issue moving quickly with a four-page action scene with Matter-Eater Lad and Brainiac 5 before throttling down into a more character-heavy, dialogue-rich scene on Winath with the Ranzz siblings.
We get the one-page scene with Cosmic Boy and the two-page scene with Saturn Girl before going back to some more action with the Lightning Bros. taking on some bad guys. All in all, this is not an action-heavy issue whatsoever. Williamson is still doing a lot of character building, moving pieces into place, doing a little world-building, and developing several different plotlines as he slowly begins trying to assemble the major players to get the Legion going.
The two main plot lines right now follow the adventures of Brainiac 5 and Tenzil and the Ranzz siblings. The Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl plot lines are subordinate for now. I am okay with this approach just two issues into this new title, but Williamson is going to have to give more development to the other plot lines with the next issue.
I continue to be impressed with the way Williamson is unfolding this new Legion’s world for us. He is doing it at a steady pace. It is definitely not decompressed at all, but he is not rushing anything, either. Williamson is taking his time and being deliberate while still keeping the reader’s attention and interest.
The character work is quite strong. All of the characters are beginning to demonstrate their own unique personalities. The dialogue is well written, and there’s good chemistry between the characters. I think Williamson does a good job of giving each character a distinct external voice. The dialogue has a pleasant flow.
The star of this issue is the Ranzz family. They take center stage and provide the bulk of the story. Williamson continues to do an excellent job with these three siblings, giving each a unique personality and generating excellent, palpable chemistry among all three.
Garth’s hero worship of his older brother Mekt feels real. It’s the kind of dynamic we often see between little brothers and their big brothers. I love how Williamson has Garth gleefully following his big brother on their super-heroes’ adventure to beat up some bad guys. Mekt’s “cool” big brother attitude oozes off the page, and it’s nicely contrasted with Garth’s naïve personality and his kind heart that has him wanting to believe his big brother despite his brother’s checkered past.
Longtime fans know Mekt as Lightning Lord, so watching him show up as the cool big brother selling Garth a Superman fairy tale is deliciously uncomfortable. On the surface, it reads as a mentor scene, but the branding beat makes it pretty clear Mekt is grooming his brother. Whether Mekt is lying, deluded, or actually telling the truth this is a great hook, especially with Brainiac 5 holding proof that Mekt killed Brande.
While I have been praising how Williamson writes the Ranzz brothers, I also love how he is handling Ayla’s character. Ayla’s irritation with Garth and distrust of Mekt are well done. The family dynamics are realistic and pull the reader deeply into the story. We can understand the motivations of all three siblings equally, which is quite the testament to Williamson’s writing.
The Ayla twist at the end of Legion of Super-Heroes #2 is fantastic. Having Ayla turn her two brothers in to the Persuaders and agree to do whatever the Persuaders want her to do was a powerful ending. Even though this casts Ayla as the gutless traitor, it is understandable given the family dynamics and her personality. She’s simply trying to make sure her parents and her brother Garth are safe. She really does view Mekt as the bad guy and the Persuaders as the best way to protect her family from harm, so she firmly believes she’s doing the right thing. That’s understandable to the reader, even if we’re disappointed by her actions.
We get more insight into this new Legion’s universe from Mekt. Now, we all have to keep in mind that Mekt is an unreliable narrator based on the fact that he’s always been a villain. Ayla even points out that this current version of Mekt has always been a problem, even before he got superpowers.
At any rate, we learn from Mekt that there are worlds struggling under the boot of the United Planets or the Green Lantern Corporation. We learn a bit more about the Legion, too. Supposedly, Superman found Mekt, trained him to be a hero, and gave him a purpose and a mission: to save the universe. Mekt says there are other people like them out there who see how corrupt the United Planets has become, and that Superman is building something special called the Legion. We also learn that Superman used his heat vision to tattoo Mekt’s arm with the Legion brand.
Williamson’s introduction of Superman here is an interesting twist on the role he has always played in Legion of Super-Heroes. Superman has always served as the inspiration for the founding of the Legion. Here, however, Williamson has Superman recruiting Mekt to join the Legion and branded the Legion logo on Mekt’s arm with his heat vision.
Now, we know this can’t be Superman for many reasons, the main one being that branding. That is something Superman would most certainly never do. This leads me to two possible explanations for Mekt’s Superman story. The first explanation is that this may simply be a total lie designed to play off the fact that Garth idolizes Superman. It may be that Mekt branded himself with his lightning just like he did to Garth.
The second explanation is that someone is posing as Superman and taking advantage of Mekt and other susceptible young adults like Mekt. Now, if this is a Superman impostor, then who might it be? Let’s keep in mind that in all prior versions of the Legion, that Mekt has always been a member of the Legion of Super-Villains. Therefore, I am guessing that this new Legion being assembled by “Superman” is probably going to be populated with characters from the Legion of Super-Villains.
This leads us to ask which characters from the Legion of Super-Villains had powers similar to Superman? The first possibility is Ol-Vir. He’s a Daxamite who was a member of the Legion of Super-Villains and first appeared in Legion of Super-Heroes #294 back in 1982. Daxamites possess the same power set as Superman.
The second possibility is Superboy-Prime, who joined the Legion of Super-Villains during the Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds story. Posing as Superman and branding people who join his team? Yeah, that is definitely something Superboy-Prime would do. No doubt.
If this turns out that this Superman is not a lie by Mekt, but an actual person, then I am hoping for Ol-Vir over Superboy-Prime because Superboy-Prime seems to bring his own baggage to any story, and I’m not sure we really want to deal with that. But the fact remains that Superboy-Prime is far more likely the reveal since he is known by a majority of comic book readers. On the other hand, Ol-Vir is known by me and only a handful of other readers.
Now, let’s talk about the other main plot line, which involves Brainiac 5 and Matter-Eater Lad. Querl and Tenzil remain a fun odd couple. The chemistry between these two is fantastic. I love the banter between the two which always keeps their scenes lively. Of course, the star of the show is Tenzil. I love how Williamson writes Tenzil Kem. Kem’s personality is pure brilliance.
I also love how Williamson is taking Matter-Eater Lad, who has always been considered very much a joke character, and turning him into something terrifying. I love that Williamson gets over the fact that Bismollians are insanely dangerous in this universe, to the point where Persuaders are instructed to kill anyone from the planet Bismoll on sight. They are that deadly. And the warning not to let them bite you is brilliant. It’s like something out of a zombie apocalypse story. It is all so good.
I also enjoyed Williamson getting creative in how Matter-Eater Lad can employ his powers. Having Matter-Eater Lad combine the chemicals in mouthfuls of matter he’s eaten and breathe fire was phenomenal. Again, Williamson is just letting Matter-Eater Lad level up under his guidance. It’s wonderful.
We also learn more about the Persuaders during the Matter-Eater Lad and Brainiac 5 plot line. The Persuaders are there to enforce the law on any United Planets world, and they employ methods of yesterday, no matter how primitive. Anyone using powers off their home world or off-model must be drafted into the Persuaders immediately.
Having the Persuaders brutally murder all the civilian witnesses in the opening scene with Matter-Eater Lad and Brainiac 5 certainly gets over the fact that they are heavy-handed thugs who will stomp all over anyone’s rights to protect the United Planets and its interests.
It is also clear that the Persuaders are Legionnaires in hiding. It’s obvious that the winged Persuader commander is Dawnstar. Mano specifically references finding the winged Persuader on Starhaven, which is Dawnstar’s home planet.
We then have the two Persuaders who massacre the witnesses. One of the Persuaders is called “Pete” and has spikes coming out of his hands. That Persuader must be Porcupine Pete, a member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes.
The other Persuader has what looks like a pink energy hand and a blue energy hand. That color combination, and the fact that this Persuader is with Porcupine Pete, leads me to think it is another Legion of Super-Heroes hero: Infectious Lass. That would also make sense since Pete and Drura (Infectious Lass’ real name) both tried out for the Legion at the same time in Superboy #201 back in 1974. And Pete and Infectious Lass have always been close friends, and it has always been shown that Pete had a crush on her.
Lastly, it was smart plotting by Williamson to use Brainiac 5’s plan to hide among the Persuaders as a fun way to bring the two main plot lines together on Winath.
To be clear, the Ranzz siblings’ plot line and the Matter-Eater Lad and Brainiac 5 plot line are the bulk of this issue. We do get a quick scene on the Cosmic Boy plot line and another quick scene on the Saturn Girl plot line. While both were short, Williamson did give us a few interesting nuggets in these two scenes.
In Rokk’s scene, it was interesting to see him in the metal mines on Braal, dealing with the consequences of his actions at the magno-ball championship. This reinforces the tough, blue-collar culture of Braal that gives Cosmic Boy his hard edge.
The best part of Cosmic Boy’s scene was Grimbor! I did not expect Williamson to go deep into Legion continuity and roll out a character like Grimbor with just the second issue! Well played, Mr. Williamson! I loved seeing Grimbor in this issue. It made this longtime Legion fan jump for joy.
This is Williamson showing longtime readers that he’s done his work and his research, and he does know the Legion’s history. He’s going to enjoy playing with characters from their illustrious continuity. This is something we would have never gotten with Bendis’ ill-fated Legion.
Grimbor was created by Jim Shooter and Mike Grell and first appeared in Superboy #221 back in 1976. His full name was Grimbor the Chainsman, and he was paired up with a villainess known as Charma. Grimbor is a master engineer and locksmith who can craft inescapable traps, locks, and bonds. He is also a general all-around tough guy.
I am always partial to any Legion character created or designed by Grell. Grell is easily one of my favorite Legion of Super-Heroes artists of all time, and he created some truly amazing costumes. Yeah, Grimbor brought that BDSM flavoring to the party. Look, Grell was going to bring the sexy to any male or female character he was drawing! It is one reason why he was so awesome. Just imagine how quickly the Neo-Puritan weirdos of today would cancel him if Grell was working in comics now!
At any rate, having Grimbo be a fellow working in the metal mines of Braal is exactly the kind of introduction I would expect for his character. It looks like Grimbor is going to recruit Rokk to join him as part of a crew for a job. And the princess who hired Grimbor? It’s implied that she’s Princess Imra, our very own Saturn Girl.
Speaking of Saturn Girl, Imra’s scene, while also short, did deliver another surprise appearance by a longtime Legion villain: The Emerald Empress. The Emerald Empress is an iconic villain and founding member of the Fatal Five, created by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan. She first appeared in Adventure Comics #352 back in 1967. I dig that Williamson has the Emerald Empress as the leader of the Green Lantern Corporation. This is an interesting twist on the character.
We also get an appearance by another Fatal Five member: Mano. Mano was also created by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan and also first appeared in Adventure Comics #352 back in 1967. Williamson does not explicitly identify the character as Mano in this issue, but we all know who he is. Mano is presented as the leader of the Persuaders.
I love that Williamson is assembling the members of the Fatal Five without having them appear as a unified villainous team. It’s a different take on these characters. Now all we need is for the real Persuader, Tharok, and Validus to show up, and we would have a full-on reunion of the Fatal Five in all their glory.
All right, enough about the writing. Let’s address the artwork. Hayden Sherman’s art is a big reason this book feels different from any Legion before it. That is both good and bad. The page layouts are wild. The Persuader Manual opening, the shattered-glass “no witnesses” page, and the diamond-shaped panels on Winath are all incredibly creative. The Lightning Bros. splash pops off the page. The panel layouts are clearly the strongest point of Sherman’s art.
I also loved the creative way Sherman draws Saturn Girl’s psychic communication with her fellow Titans. Imra’s thoughts, drawn as rotating icon wheels, are a clever visual answer to the question, “How do you draw telepathy?”
I also love Grimbor’s costume design, as Sherman surprisingly doesn’t deviate too far from Grell’s original. Mano also looks nice and is consistent with how he has generally been portrayed in the past. The less Sherman introduces his own costume design elements, the better the character ends up looking.
Tamra Bonvillain’s colors are gorgeous, saturated, and cosmic, and they give each planet its own palette. Winath gets greens and teals, Braal gets molten oranges, and Titan gets pinks and violets.
The Bad:
The vast majority of the character work so far focuses on Brainiac 5, Matter-Eater Lad, Lightning Lad, Ayla, and Mekt. At this point, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl are getting short shrift in the character department. They are still rather one-dimensional and thin. Their scenes are by far the shallowest, and their plot lines are the most underdeveloped of the main threads.
The cutaways are thin. Rokk gets one page, and Imra gets two. Rokk’s recruitment and Imra’s role get little room to develop. The Emerald Empress as a Green Lantern Corporation leader is a fascinating remix, but we get almost nothing beyond a tease. Williamson is juggling a lot of plates, and some of them are just spinning for now.
Garth goes from “Superman’s alive?!” to letting his brother burn a logo onto his arm in about ten pages. Ayla’s skepticism works because Garth is so naive, but his arc moves so fast that it feels rushed and underdeveloped.
Action fans may be disappointed by the amount of action here. It’s really not much more than a couple of pages. At some point, Williamson is going to have to turn up the volume on the action in this title.
The world-building is still vague. We hear about the United Planets, the Green Lantern Corporation, and the Persuaders’ authority, but how they fit together and why superpowers became contraband isn’t really explained yet. That’s fine for issue two, but the book will need to start answering questions soon.
Sherman’s style isn’t going to be for everyone. His faces can get rubbery, and on the busier action pages, like the Lightning Bros. fight montage, the storytelling gets cluttered. It’s hard to track who’s hitting whom.
The characters are still way too androgynous for me, as I still struggle to tell who’s male and who’s female. This also makes identifying the Persuaders difficult: Sherman gives them all an androgynous body type, so it’s impossible to tell if these characters are male or female.
The design for the Emerald Empress is pretty wild. Having said that, while it is wild, it simply isn’t a design in keeping with Legion of Super-Heroes. The design made me feel like I was reading a Mike Allred Madman comic rather than a Legion of Super-Heroes comic. Sherman’s Emerald Empress design looks way too goofy and clownish and is hard to take seriously. Much of what Sherman does from a stylistic standpoint has simply never been a design associated with the Legion’s aesthetic.
Ratings
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall:
Legion of Super-Heroes #2 is a confident second chapter. Williamson finds the emotional core of this new Legion in the Ranzz family, gives the Persuaders real menace, and closes with a twist that made me sit up. The side plots need more meat, and Sherman’s experimental art is divisive, but this is a fresh, bold take on the team that still respects what came before. I would definitely recommend hesitant Legion fans to hop onto this new version of the Legion. I would also recommend anyone who likes classic superhero stories to give this title a try.
