Adventure Comics #520 Review

What Happened That You Have to Know About: Lightning Lad gets killed fighting Zaryan. The Legionnaires mourn him and clean up some of Zaryan's men.

Review: There's really not much here we don't already know about. If you've read the original Lightning Lad death story, you've covered about the same material. This one is told in flashback and we get a 21st-century-style look into Saturn Girl's head as opposed to an early 1960s-style look into her head, but that's about it.

Interesting choice on Levitz's part to end the meet-the-Legion arc on Lightning Lad's death but leave out his resurrection. Especially since it's another example of one of his big points here, that Saturn Girl doesn't want anyone else to die for her. Does he figure that, what with the Lightning Saga and stuff, we already have it fresh in our minds? Does he just want to leave people wanting more?

Of course Mon-El was the ghostly voice in the clubhouse a few issues ago. Anybody who read the original story should have known it, too, although I think Levitz did an excellent job of showing it to us in a way that seemed fresh.

Sorry I don't have much more to say about this issue. But there's not much new here, and there isn't much of it (see below). Next month: Green Lantern stuff; yippee skip. Oh well; maybe it'll be good.

Notes:
- nice touch on the cover: the three L-symbols (on the flag, the building, and the coffin) in a line, as a silent "Long Live the Legion."

Panel Count: Back to Kevin Sharpe this issue; oh well. 70 panels/20 pages = 3.5 panels/page, noticeably less than the last couple of issues. Two single-page panels and one double-page spread. What's Ultra Boy got in his mouth on page 11? I don't want to be too harsh; Sharpe does a pretty good job by his own standards here.