Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century #6 Review

What Happened That You Have To Know About:

Lightning Lad and Bouncing Boy are returning from a mission in the Legion cruiser, when a flock of Green Lanterns rips through it on their way to somewhere else. (I hate it when that happens.) They phone home and explain what happened, and the Legionnaires on Earth (Superman, Saturn Girl, Triplicate Girl, Timber Wolf, Brainiac 5) detect the Green Lanterns coming their way. The Lanterns and Legionnaires fight. The Lanterns seem kind of spaced out; all they can say is, "You are in the way." Some much-needed reinforcements arrive, in the form of almost every other Legionnaire on the team, but it's not enough. Not until Saturn Girl detects that the Green Lanterns are being controlled by Star Conquerors (which is what they're calling Starro's little mind-control face-starfish). Armed with this knowledge, the Legionnaires quickly disarm the threat. But then Brainy realizes that there must be a much bigger starfish somewhere pulling the strings. And there is! But Lightning Lad and Bouncing Boy, just getting there, take him down with the cruiser. The Legionnaires and Green Lanterns shake hands and part friends.

Review:

Oh, well, it was pleasant enough, but there wasn't a lot to it. The cast was too large for there to be room for much characterization, the plot twist was more of a gentle curve, and the villain's left completely a cipher. It's as if J. Torres figured that, hey, he was giving us our first look at Jordana Gardner, the Teen Lantern, and the rest of the 31st century GLC, and that'll make the book cool all by itself. Sorry, it doesn't; she isn't even in her right mind for most of the book.

Alexander Serra does the art. We've seen him before on this title, right? I can't keep track. Anyway, he mostly does fine; the characters look a little scraggly every now and then, but overall it's okay. I don't care for Jordana Gardner's look, though; she's got a skinny little body and a giant huge head (mostly hair, I know). I mean, they all do, necessarily, but her in particular.

Really I don't know what else to say. There just wasn't a lot there to talk about. It was an okay read, but it only had a couple of moving parts. This issue comes with my weakest recommendation. Which is still a recommendation, but...

Nice touches:

- in Brainy's exposition about the Green Lantern Corps, he groups Sinestro and (I think) Universo with G'nort as examples of 'the wrong people' getting hold of Green Lantern rings
- the lettercol has a little interview with J. Torres. Nothing of substance, but it's better than 'DC Nation'
- Torres and Serra very wisely put the panda-looking Green Lantern in the second-most-prominent role in the book behind Jordana Gardner. Many of these Lanterns look striking; there's one of Kilowog's race, there's one who looks kind of like a MODOK, one kind of like the Cowardly Lion...
- Dream Girl and Star Boy get more dialogue in one page of this issue than they did for the entire first season of the cartoon

Membership Notes:

Most of the Legion appears in this issue, including the regular core team plus Dream Girl, Blok, Element Lad, Cosmic Boy, Colossal Boy, Sun Boy, Shrinking Violet, Tyroc and Star Boy--everybody but Matter-Eater Lad and, of course, Ferro Lad. Teen Lantern is offered Legion membership, but she declines with thanks.