Okay, I just finished it. Overall, it was…okay. It wasn’t bad, but nothing here really wowed me. Perfectly adequate. I think my favorite part of the book was the art by Chris Batista – great mix of action and comedy.
Onto the questions:
“The Legion of Super-Heroes is sometimes cited as a franchise that’s hard for some fans to sink their teeth into. Prior to reading this mini-series, did you agree with that assessment? If so, is Legion: Secret Origin the key that has clearly and concisely opened the door for you to confidentially step foot into the shining scion of science fiction that is the Legion?”
I mean, I think it’s very fair to say that the Legion is hard to get into. Like, the X-Men over at Marvel are often credited as one of the hardest franchises to get into with the most elaborate continuity, but at least it has only had one continuity to really deal with (outside of the odd excursions into alternate timelines). The Legion has had THREE, and soon possibly four, depending on how Bendis decides to play with continuity.
AS for the other question – first of all, mad props for that alliteration. Second, I think if I had never read the Legion before and someone handed this to me…honestly, I’d probably be more confused, if not actually lose interest. Here’s the problem with this book: it doesn’t really address anything of what most new readers would want to see in an origin story, and the things it does play with only really matter to people who have read all before. Like, I would want to know more about the actual, you know, members of the Legion, and not read pages upon pages of bland, empty shadow government dudes talking about the Legion.
“What was your favorite moment of the series?”
Honestly? I’m already starting to forget what was all in this book. Maybe the kind of interactions between Phantom Girl and Brainiac? I don’t think I’ve seen them really interact before, it was cool to see him go from confused and flabbergasted to his eureka moments – kind of reminded me of The Doctor at times. Now that I think about it, maybe a teenaged Matt Smith could play a perfect Brainiac 5…
“What are your thoughts on R.J. Brande? Nice guy who wants to help the galaxy or a man with an ulterior motive?”
There really isn’t a lot to his character to really say either way within this story. I did dig the idea that the Legion’s authority was granted from more political leveraging and was rather controversial. I mean, when you think about it, the fact that the Science Police gives these largely untrained teenagers deputized power is a HUGE stretch. I mean, I get that the actual legal ramifications of superheroes are largely swept under the carpet to make them work, but it’s sort of like if Jeff Bezos enlisted a super-powered child army – everyone would be at least confused about it at first.
