Issue 25 review roundup

As I said when the cover preview first came out, "I didn't see that one coming."

Well played, Mr. Waid. I had bought it hook, line, and sinker. And then you pulled the rug out from under me not once but twice this issue - first when the bad guy team turned out to be the Wanderers, and then when their leader was revealed. Nice. This worked for the old readers who knew many of the individual characters as either the Subs or the LSV (and even some old Legionnaires), and for the new readers with no preconceptions. One of my favorite issues in a long time.

It's good to have you back, you seem to have been preoccupied with some other book lately.

And now a look at the comicsblogosphere's reactions. Be sure to read a couple of potentially interesting thoughts down towards the bottom from photonex68, they're enough to make you go "hmmm" and I hadn't seen them anywhere else yet.

• Matthew at Legion Abstract:
  

  Sweet Maria Sludgebucket! ... The best thing about this issue is that a lot of important action happens fast. I think this is where a bunch of dominoes start to come down. It's what I've been waiting for and I hope it continues.

  
  
• The Original Losing Loser at Seebelow LJ:
  

  In a way, this is typical hit-and-miss Waid, with good moments and absolutely dopey ones. The Verdict: Cosi, cosa.

  
  
• Dave van Domelen's Unspoilt Capsules (as he mentions in the comments):
  

  Well, that's certainly an interesting way to bring some classic stuff back without just copying it. And Brainy is in fine form. Recommended.

  
  
• Zero Hunter at the CBR forum:
  

  All I can say is damn what a difference an issue can make. This was the Mark Waid that I was hoping for when he restarted this book. This issue was so much better than what has been going on that it didn't even feel like the same writer. ... Just a really great issue that actully read like the Legion should read.

  
  
• Ami Angelwings' Heavenly Comic Reviews:
  

  OMG this book is a BLAST!!! Rly rly funny and just FUN in general :O The plot moves well and the characters are all so well written and amusing. The dialogue is rly great!!!! 5/5

  
  
• Piper at the ComicBloc forums appears to be a new reader with little knowledge of the previous incarnations of the Legion:
  

  I really enjoyed this issue. Mark does a great job characterizing characters with just one panel. I thought it was brilliant that when White Witch seperated most of the Legion into groups of two we saw Element Lad with one of Triplicate Girl's dupes while the other two were somewhere else.
  
  I really like the idea of the Wanderers. Maybe I'm a dork but lately I've become a fan of all things Legion, so I wouldn't mind seeing these guys get their own book.
  
  Brainy's conversation with Dream Girl was pretty cool (I also want to specify that I love Dream Boy). I didn't realize until this issue that Light Lass was Lightning Lad's sister; was that revealed before? The revelation that the leader of the Wanderers is their other brother was a really cool reveal.

  
  
• Photonex68 at Monsters -- from the Id!:
  

  Okay, for any faults this series may have, Mark Waid has won some kudos from me for bringing back Mon-El. That's right. Not Valor. Not M'Onel. Mon-El. And even better, he brings back Mon-El from the Phantom Zone using that wonderful red searchlight-looking thing that was the Phantom Zone Projector back in the days of the Silver Age. ... Definitely looking forward to the next issue.

  
  This review also brings out two continuity points:
  
  1. Retcon alert: Where does Lar Gand fit in post-Infinite Crisis 20th century history?
  

  What with New Earth after Infinite Crisis having a different history, it seems that Lar Gand was never a member of L.E.G.I.O.N. and so Brainiac 5 has to create the serum from scratch that, in the previous history, Vril Dox created.

  
  2. Are we sure this is the Supergirl we've been thinking she is?
  

  And another interesting tidbit out of all this is a hint that this isn't the Supergirl we think it is. The current version of Kara Zor-El in the 21st century didn't spend any significant amount of time with the Kents before the events of Infinite Crisis, so why does she say, "Okay, like Pa says...sometimes you can reason with a mule...and sometimes you've gotta crack him with a two by four"? Unless mules and two-by-fours existed on Krypton, and unless Kara referred to Zor-El as "Pa," then that's got a definite "Jonathan Kent farm wisdom" feel about it, like maybe this Supergirl is actually from an alternate universe where she did spend time with the Kents, and she merged with, and then split from again, the current version of Supergirl. Her proximity to the rupture in the universe/multiverse during Infinite Crisis makes it possible.
  
  Or maybe Waid just screwed up, of course. Still....

  
  

In the meantime, the Legion book has made some end-of-the-year "Best Of" lists:

• The Legion of Doom discusses DC in 2006 (Infinite Crisis, One Year Later, and 52), and says that "Supergirl & The Legion of Superheroes is the best book DC puts out monthly right now."
  
• Comics And... goes even further, saying "From the Archives to a long run of the series and reading the new series I have come to realize that this is the best super hero group ever."