ComicsAlliance

ComicsAlliance Reviews Every Comic in DC’s New 52: Week 2

The second week of new #1 DC Comics has arrived, and the biggest question for most fans facing racks and racks of new books is simple: Which ones should I try? The ComicsAlliance staff has gathered together to help answer that with a roundtable review of every relaunched DC book this week: Batman and Robin, Batwoman, Deathstroke, Demon Knights, Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Green Lantern, Grifter, Legion Lost, Mister Terrific, Red Lanterns, Resurrection Man, Suicide Squad, Superboy. Join Let’s Be Friends Again writer Curt Franklin, Chris Sims, David Uzumeri and Reading Comics author Douglas Wolk as they rate each book on a scale of 1-10 and try to gauge the success of DC’s bold new experiment.

LEGION LOST #1

Douglas: This is the most forced, rushed-looking work I’ve ever seen either Fabian Nicieza or Pete Woods do — Woods was so on point on his Action run. I have a very big soft spot for a lot of these characters, and still got tired of seeing them here. What this story needed was some kind of setup, some way to understand who these folks are (this was maybe the most new-reader-unfriendly of this week’s bunch), and what the Legion is, and why it matters that they’ve been displaced in time other than to revive another trademark. As it is, they’re just a bunch of costumed types blowing stuff up. Enough of those. An extra point off for the Teddy Bear as All-Purpose Symbol of Innocent, Threatened Childhood (one of two this week!). 2.

David: Okay. I’ve read every issue of Legion since Mark Waid came on, and I have almost no idea what’s going on in this comic. It’s a completely jumbled mess, with almost zero character introduction. It certainly wasn’t decompressed, but I don’t think I would have been able to figure out what was going on if I hadn’t read a bunch of interviews with Nicieza beforehand. Pete Woods does a nice job on the art, but he’s not George Perez, and it just looks jumbled on every single page. I’m really surprised, since I thought this would be a really well-done, workmanlike superhero comic by two talented creators, but it’s just a total mess. I have no idea what happened. 2.

Curt: I don’t have the most thorough Legion background, and this didn’t help. If this is DC’s answer to those who were afraid the new 52 would completely abandon all of the old stuff, then, maybe it’s just not for me. As it is, I have no idea what’s going half the time, not much of an idea of what anyone is talking about, and no desire to read a second issue. This was not for me. 2

Chris: All right, look: I have read every Legion of Super-Heroes comic from 1958 to 2005, and this is STILL a confusing mess of an issue. I honestly can’t imagine coming to this as a new reader and being able to get anything out of it. I’m all for jumping straight to the action and filling in the details as we go, but the filling in never happens, and the whole thing just feels like we missed the first half of the movie. It’s pretty important when you’re dealing with a large cast of characters to make it clear who they are and what they do, but there’s nothing in here that does that. Even a set of captions would’ve helped, but instead they just keep on stomping through, killing off a couple characters for cheap drama even though the audience has NO IDEA who they are or why this would matter. Plus, there’s plenty of “grife!” and “sprock!” future slang, which meant that a friend of mine had trouble figuring out of “Tyroc” was a dude’s name or just space-cussin’. 1

Average rating: 1.75 out of 10