By: Paul Levitz (writer), Fernando Dagnino & Raul Fernandez (artists), Hi-Fi (colorist)
The Story: If it is wisdom you seek, die first. No, I’m not kidding.
The Review: When this title rebooted last year, it introduced the character of Harmonia Li to be of some significance and then pretty much shelved her. Yet Levitz never really allowed the her to be forgotten; she continued to dog this series, reappearing in the most random moments of often unrelated story arcs to remind us of her vague existence, but never actually following up with any real interest.
This issue finally gets into her mysterious origins, and it’s underwhelming, to say the least: as it turns out, she is a denizen of Utopia, a world of wisdom, which just happens to be the last target on Saturn Queen’s demolition list. Since Levitz spent so little time in previous arcs laying the groundwork for this revelation, it really comes out of nowhere, and feels more like a convenient too to allow the Legion to access an otherwise inaccessible world.
Still, Levitz deserves some credit for neatly tying all his disparate plotlines into one common thread: Dream Girl’s attempt to purge Star Boy of—something—in his costume; Dawnstar’s search for the being that attacked her and Wildfire; Mon-El’s quest across space with Dyogene; and of course, the Legion of Villains’ quest for the three worlds of balance. The cost, of course, is none of these were explored in enough detail to be of any interest, resulting in a climax that lacks much in the way of excitement or novelty.
Certainly, Levitz’s dialogue does nothing to help matters, having finally descended from purely clichéd and pointless (the issue starts actually starts off with, “Nooo!”) to completely incomprehensible. Both Dyogene and Master Kong of Utopia are given to speak gibberish as a pretense of wisdom: “…and if Dyogene’s master of the rings’ power is greater, know that this moment was foreseen long ago in shaping this one.” “…but if man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.” Tortured grammar is the least of their problems.
If the fights between the Legionnaires and Saturn Queen’s yes-men offered more than the quick bash back-and-forth, perhaps this arc would have some measure of energy, but as Levitz writes them, they come off purely as a means to kill time. Besides the now-arbitrary, melodramatic battle dialogue (Wildfire in Immortus’ grip: “Ultra Boooy…”), they often just cut short before you feel any sense of danger
Despite the cooperation between Dagnino and Fernandez (or perhaps, because of it), the art of this issue has also taken a dip into unattractive territory, looking as if they’re barely even trying. In one panel, despite the little blue guy (“the power of the blue flame,” as they call him) floating directly in front of Saturn Queen, her gaze points off into a completely different direction, and her expression looks almost mindlessly blank despite addressing him quite lucidly. Characters’ faces don’t even match from panel to panel, and the most uninspired ideas embellish the settings (a rainbow in Utopia—can it get any more superficial?).
Conclusion: Whatever the upcoming DC relaunch means for the Legion when it comes back in a new #1 in September, but whatever it is has caused Levitz to just throw his hands up on the current title, which convinces me I should follow suit. Consider this title Dropped.
Grade: D+
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – Wisdom apparently does not improve your ability to recognize the dangers of a person with crazy eyes.
– Are we ever going to get the chance to see Thom’s face? It’s been so long I now only think of him as a beard on a formidable chin.
Grade
Conclusion