Superman and the Legion of Super Heroes #1-10 Review

What Happened That You Have To Know About:

A kid with magical powers starts causing trouble in Metropolis. The Legion tries to keep him under control, and as they do, it's revealed that Superman has a particular vulnerability to magic. Phantom Girl eventually saves the day by traveling to the kid's magical home planet and asking for help. They make her jump through a lot of hoops but eventually show up to collect the little creep.

Review:

It's hard for me to review the episodes that are just trifles, like this one. This series has little that resembles an ongoing storyline, and its episode plots are straightforward and simple. Sometimes the characterization is complex enough to provoke discussion, as in the cases of Brainiac 5 and Lightning Lad, but more often it's not. Sometimes the episodes feature the kind of Legion lore that demands notice from longtime fans, but not always. And when we get episodes like this, I just have to remember that it's a show for little kids, not for me, and it doesn't have to be anything other than enjoyable and Legionesque, and it is both those things.

So here are a few points I noticed.

- the Winema Wazzo / Phantom Girl relationship wasn't as annoying in this episode as it was in the Space Olympics episode.
- Muffins! Yum!
- we saw the planet Zerox, here called... how did they pronounce it? Zarok, something like that? In this case it's obvious why they made the change. I thought we might see the White Witch, or at least some of the senior wizards from the original-Legion Zerox, but no. Oh well.
- I'm glad to see that they followed up on Drax's hellhounds, and just what happened to them.
- Superman's vulnerability to magic: ordinarily, this show makes it clear that Brainiac 5 already knows about things like this, and makes it a point of tension between Brainy and Superman. In this episode, though, Brainy's basic perspective is that he doesn't believe in magic, so even if he did know that about Superman, he would have immediately discounted it.

Three more to go...