Teen Titans/Legion Special #1

October 8, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Superboy and the Legion Part Two & Teenage Wonderland

Can even the combined power of the Teen Titans and the Legion of Super-Heroes save Earth from the Fatal Five Hundred?

Writers: Mark Waid & Geoff Johns
Pencils: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado & Barry Kitson
Inks: Marc Campos & Barry Kitson
Colors: Sno-Cone & Chris Blythe
Letters: Rob Leigh
Editor: Eddie Berganza & Stephen Wacker
Cover Art: Phil Jimenez & Andy Lanning
Publisher: DC Comics

Two weeks ago (in Teen Titans #16, if anybody is counting), the Teen Titans were plucked from the present and brought 1,000 years in the future by their teammate, Superboy. People who read Legion (and if you’re not one of them, you missed out) know that Superboy has spent months in the future with the Legion of Super-Heroes. Now the team is facing a threat so dire they need reinforcements from the distant past. Their old enemies, the Fatal Five, have found a way to tear holes in reality, collecting their counterparts from one alternate universe to another. With 500 supervillains attacking Earth, their numbers multiplying all the time, the two squads of heroes have to find a way to save the world.

The climax of this issue is a teeny bit too “Star Trek” for my taste – a quick application of gobbledygook science that we’ve got to assume works properly because none of us are as smart as Brainiac 5, but Johns and Waid nail the characterization of this special, and that’s where the book really shines. The scenes with Kid Flash and his cousin, XS, stand out as really powerful and true to life. Superboy struggling with the choice of which of his teams will claim him and the fear in Wonder Girl and Robin that he won’t choose them – all excellent.

The book closes off setting up the next arc for both properties, and I must say, it looks like the Legion will have more far-reaching consequences. When I first heard the direction their new series would take I was somewhat disappointed – I found it rather unnecessary – but the way this issue ends gives me hope that things have been planned out well.

Action Comics artists Ivan Reis and Marc Campos, along with Joe Prado, do a fantastic job on the art of this book. Very few artists can draw so many characters at once – not just all of the Titans and Legionnaires, but hundreds of different variations of the same five villains. A double-page spread of the “five hundred” swarming down at the camera is particularly good – shows off all of the variants the artists whipped up. I also really liked the version Superboy – he looks, in fact, like a young Superman. We also get an epilogue sequence with art by Barry Kitson, who will join Waid on the new Legion series – and it’s very, very impressive stuff.

This is a solid issue pretty clearly intended to help cross-pollinate the readers of the two properties – although Legion of Super-Heroes needs the help more. Hopefully, they’ll get it.

Rating: 8/10