Posted - December 2, 2012 | Updated : August 27, 2015

Legion of Super-Heroes 1

I've read the seven issues in the Hostile World collecton several times and I've read several reviews on the internet - most of them were negative. My initial reaction to the feedback was to go along with the crowd and find out something not to like - until I caught myself doing it. Bottom line is : I like this collection.

I like it, first of all, because of Francis Portela's art. Gorgeous, gorgeous Portela art except for issue 5; and I'm not complaining about that issue because the art is by the legendary Walt Simonson. So art, apart from some small nitpicks, is topnotch.

Writing? Paul Levitz. The Legion writer, for heaven's sakes. I cant' believe how many people are dissing Levitz in the internet. DC simply hired the guy who knows the Legion most to write about the Legion. They got an expert to give us our monthly dose of Legion goodness, and I for one, am very grateful for that. I trust Levitz more than any other writer to write about the Legion with a very strong sense of Legion history and character.

Let me make my case - go with me as I go through the highlights of this collection :

Paul Levitz begins the new series with an action scene showing an old established Legion sub-team : The Legion Espionage Squad. The Squad has always been led by Chameleon Boy but I noticed that the membership has changed. Let's take a look at the team :

There's Dragonwing (off to the left wearing the dragon pattern material), Phantom Girl, Chameleon Boy, Ultra Boy and Chemical Kid. It's later made clear that the kids - Dragonwing and Chemical Kid - are along partly to get them used to Legion missions. So we are really looking at the three senior group members : Chameleon Boy, Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy as the core team. This is a familiar matrix; the last three-man team I remember is Chameleon Boy, Shrinking Violet and Colossal Boy? See the pattern? Cham is always leader; one member is built for stealth (Phantom Girl, Shrinking Violet) and the last member is always a strong Legionnaire (Colossal Boy, Ultra Boy), for cases when the team's cover gets blown.

I immediately notice some delightful art details, the first is how much care Portela has given to giving the planet Panoptes a lush, alien jungle background. Look at these fine examples.

The second is the eye-catching rendition of Phantom Girl with that excellently designed costume. I'll create a mini gallery of Phantom Girl right here with images drawn from all seven issues of this collection. Enjoy :

Speaking of Colossal Boy, it's made clear this issue that he is no longer part of the Legion - having gotten a job in the Star Fleet instead. Wow. On one hand I'm glad moves like this can happen, that no member is sacred. On the other hand, I'm going to miss those Colossal Boy visuals.

We leave the Espionage Team for a while as the comic segues to the Legion headquarters and this impressionable two-page spread :

It has been mentioned before by a fan, that a substantial part of the success of Legion of Super-Heroes is how much time and effort the artist spends in envisioning and rendering the future. Even a casual reader can see if an artist only spent a half hour before lunch on creating the backgrounds or if real care was made on this very important aspect of world building. The two-page spread above shows that we, as Legion fans, are in good hands with Portela doing the art. The legion HQ looks fantastic, but even better is the way the video communications setup is rendered - truly futuristic and impressive, and - most importantly - wonderful to look at. Except for one little detail. This :

I think the user interface is way too colorful and candy-like. I would suggest that the interface be flattened with a luminous mono-colour display like those in the Iron Man movies.

I would also like to point out that my second reading of this issue and this scene in the LSH Headquarters has made me aware of subtle references to the sense of loss the team is feeling because of the lost Legionnaires. One indication is in the two-page spread above: just look at the expression on Star Boy's face on the right side.

Another thing to look out for in this issue is the excellent character development of two Legionnaires : Mon-El and Brainiac 5. They have four pages here but through the script, Levitz manages to convey a surprising amount of depth. Brainiac's natural scientific tendencies and blunt straight-forwardness (tactlessness?) comes across loud and clear in his dialogue with Mon-El. In four pages Mon-El gets mini-critiques from Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, then a final,  more aggressive comment from Brainiac 5. In all three moments, Mon-El, currently Legion leader, is revealed to have his own opinion of the situation and very gently but resolutely "sticks to his guns". Now, that's a leader. I like Mon-El.

On a less subtle note, the kids blow the Espionage Squad's cover which open's things up to some action panels. Let's end the review with a fantastic shot of Ultra Boy :