Legion Lost #3 – Review

By: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Pete Woods (artist), Brad Anderson (colorist)

The Story: When Timber Wolf starts calling you savage, you really have a problem.

The Review: If you haven’t realized it already, let me just say: I am a Legion of Super-Heroes fan.  At the same time, it is never lost on me how irritatingly dense and confusing Legion continuity can be to new readers; that was certainly the case when I started getting into the series.  None of this was helped by the resurrection of the Silver Age Legion and all its incumbent baggage of history, which the new DCU disappointed me in not tidying up.

That said, Nicieza has taken some admirable pains to make his set of Legionnaires as accessible as possible.  Hence the constant emphasis on their major personality traits: Wildfire and his angst of not having a body, Dawnstar’s perfectionism, and most of all, Timber Wolf’s antsiness to get out there and maul something.

All that talk about wishing he could take out his anger on someone show how T. Wolf gets his reputation as a Wolverine analogue (or Wolverine inspiration, considering he predates the X-Man by ten years).  Unlike his teammates, who seem inclined to play it on the safe side and keep their activities on the down-low, Wolf takes the proactive route, tracking down Hypersapiens before they cause too much damage.

Maybe because he takes the trouble to actually get out into the real world, it explains why he’s the first of the team to begin adjusting to life on Earth 2011.  As he speeds off in a stolen cop car, he reflects, “…for the first time…a giant part of me feels free…”  That’s exactly what the rest of the Legionnaires need; instead of moping around in a telepathically hustled motel room, moaning about “this time—this filthy, backward place!” they need to put on some civvies and live a little.

In the process, they might discover something new about themselves—like boosted or altered power sets.  The Hypertaxis not only has a transformative effect on humans, it appears, but on other aliens too.  For Wolf, his symptoms manifest as detachable claws that can pop from his fingers as projectiles, but whether the virus will eventually morph them as completely as the Hypersapiens is a worrying question left for another day.

Right now, they have to deal with the semi-surprise return of one of their fallen teammates.  While I doubt anyone fooled themselves into thinking either Gates or Chameleon Girl died in their premiere issue, to have one of them reappear now seems a bit too soon, as they weren’t gone so long that you even missed them.  But this plot turn (it’s not so substantial as to merit the description of “twist”) should at least lift the team’s spirits enough to get some real action done.

Woods, along with Anderson’s eye-popping colors, still offers A-grade art, keeping his lines simple but bold, allowing the characters to have a punchy, youthful look but still express themselves dramatically.  Wolf looks sleek and competent duking it out with a marrow-sucking Okaarian Rdrayyj, but he also takes on subtle shades of concern and impatience when he learns of the quiet chaos going on in the world at large from the Hypertaxis.

Conclusion: This issue has all the right elements for future success: strong character work, lively action, amusing future-clashes-with-past moments, with just a teensy bit of angst on the side.  If Nicieza can play up these qualities and leave behind the squabbling and moaning, we might have an engaging Legion title for once.

Grade: B-

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – Those mall employees trying to get a bidding war among news stations for footage of the disaster at their workplace prove that the end of humanity may not be all bad.

– Maybe some Wolverine buffs can correct me, but I think Wolf has one up on our favorite Canadian hero since I don’t recall Logan ever licking a carcass to confirm data he’s picked up by scent.