Issue #1 Review

What Happened That You Have To Know About:

Not much; most of it's pretty introductory. The Legion is established as a youth movement that exists to bring the conscience and vitality of twentieth/twenty-first century superheroics to the stagnant thirty-first century. They're at odds with the (adult) Science Police and United Planets because of this, although, interestingly, they also have a United Planets endorsement. There's trouble on the planet Lallor, and the authorities there try to crack down on the local Legion movement unsuccessfully.

Legion Membership:

Not entirely clear who's in the group and who's not, to start with; we're kind of thrown into the middle of things. Invisible Kid joins the Legion this issue.

Review:

A first issue has to do two things: it has to give the reader the basic premise of the series, and it has to interest the reader enough that he'll go out and pick up #2. It doesn't have to carry a big load of plot, and it doesn't have to provide much in the way of exposition and character origins. Legion #1 does what it has to do, very well, and doesn't do what it doesn't have to do.

Which makes this a better one-issue-long-so-far series than it is a single comic book. There's a lot of sizzle here, but not much steak. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series, but this will not be considered a classic issue of that series.

Rating: LLL (out of a possible five Ls)