Justice League Vs. the Legion of Super-Heroes #5 Review

 What Happened That You Have to Know About:

The Justice League and the Legion of Super-Heroes put their heads together and things get a little tense while discussing Gold Lantern. The dark rift... eats everything? I think?... but not before Triplicate Girl and Batman figure out that Vandal Savage is behind it all, in some way related to the Legion of Doom's headquarters. Apparently Savage was trying to destroy the Age(s) of Heroes, and seems to think that he's accomplished that.

Review:

My copy of the comic has two covers and I didn't even have to pay any extra for it. Plus factor for me!

I haven't read whatever comics it was that established the Legion of Doom's headquarters as something that made sense to be involved in this story. It's touched on a little bit in the issue but not in any way that actually clears anything up. In this context it just seems arbitrary and pointless.

Five issues gone by and we finally have a villain. Hey, no rush. And Vandal Savage is a good villain for this crossover! Sort of! I mean, he's no match for about two-thirds of these characters in a one-on-one fight, but other than that he's perfect. But why'd it take so long to bring him in?

This series is more overinflated than a cheap bag of chips, is why. I can't think of a reason the first five issues couldn't have been boiled down to one. If you're reading this before you've bought your copy, please take this into account!

So we've got one issue left for the JLA and the LSH to defeat Savage... assuming that it happens in this series and not in Dark Crisis or whatever. I wonder if there'll be time to explain just what Savage's plan is. I mean, I get the motivation: removing the Age of Heroes so his great enemies won't be around to defeat him. That part makes perfect sense. And, also, is thematically appropriate for this era of the Legion! I like how this fits in. Is Savage going to turn out to be the anti-Rose?

What I don't get, and this is not a complaint, is a) how he's doing that, and b) what the situation is going to be like once he's done it. He's just going to remove some eras from the timeline? Does that work?

I don't think there's time for this miniseries to turn out to be worthwhile. There's just been so much fluff so far; Bendis can't make up for all of that in one issue. But a good final issue can at least make it... how shall I put it... notable.

Are you hearing all this speculation that Discovery is going to shut down DC Comics by the end of the year? It would be horrible, of course, if it happened. But can you imagine if this series was the last Legion of Super-Heroes series ever? Gross.

Art: 111 panels/22 pages = 5.0 panels/page. 3 splash pages, 4 double-page spreads containing, respectively, 3, 5, 10, and 8 panels each. Two twelve-panel pages!

If there's one good thing about this series, it's that it introduced us--well, those of us who didn't already know about him, as I didn't--to Scott Godlewski. He's just been very, very good for five issues. Look at his Vandal Savage on the last page, panel 3; very expressive. One qualm: there are a couple of panels on pages 17-18 that just show more of this darkness, and I'm not sure what we're supposed to get from them. They don't seem to be showing us anything.

Also, I'm not sure about Godlewski's Blok. Doesn't look bad, or anything, but... something's hitting me weird about it.