Anime Boredom - Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century manga reviews

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Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #2

DC & MARVEL, the two major powers that be in the American comic book industry.
Sure, at times they’ve seemingly fallen to the side as upstarts here and there have come up from behind and threatened their dominance over and over again, only for the duo to rise to prominence again and again.

Now I’m not here to review the mainstream comics. Not interested (though I have been known to pick up a bit of Moon Knight here, or reprints of Ultimate Spider-Man there now and then). No. I’m here to talk about the side of DC (yes, DC) that is not entirely on everyone’s radar, their cash cow comics based on their animated series empire.

When it comes to certain things DC & MARVEL are, well, opinions vary on who dominates who.
But there is no question in other areas who dominates who, in certain circles.
Manga? DC takes it without question, schooling MARVEL like nobody’s business as to how the Manga business is done (though they still are not as powerful as the powerhouses like TOKYOPOP, VIZ or the king of AmeriManga Antarctic Press).
Movies? MARVEL presently rules in that front, with more universally loved releases than DC’s partly few which have not completely hit it off (like the hit or miss love it or hate it flavor of Superman Returns).
On the large screen MARVEL seems to rule… but flip it to the small screen? That’s DC’s domain. (Look at the bright side, at least we’re avoiding the hit or miss live action side of DC and claptrap like Birds of Prey the TV Series).

Note the loooooonnnnngggg title (Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century). I don’t know why this is.
Now note the fact that the series features the adventures of “Superman” instead of “Superboy”… yeah, that whole legal fallout from sometime ago still haunts DC legally to this date. You know which one I’m talking about, right? If not… I kinda forgot myself. Sorry.

Anyway in this latest DC outing in the animated foray, we find ourselves no longer in the present day (which is presently haunted by the Batman Begins variant “The Batman” animated series, Teen Titans (Go!) & Justice League Unlimited… if Unlimited or Titans hasn’t been canned yet) and thrust into the 31st Century (as the cover states) with the Legion of angst ridden teens… yeah, throw out all thy remember from the last time you saw the Legion in the last iteration of Superman in animation… this ain’t it.

Apparently given the Teen Titans treatment, this young new Legion features abunch of teens who may just as well throttle each other while trying to save the universe from whatever it is they’re trying to save it from. With a new teen “Superman” (who can no longer be called Superboy due to legal reasons), and so forth we find ourselves going about the galaxy finding new threats and new members… like in this issue.

Behold! A comic with a cover that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the actual issue! Yeah, like we haven’t seen THAT before! Despite the cover? You won’t see newest Legion member Timberwolf sniffing about the woods looking for some threat (or a bathroom break). No, no, no, nothing of the sort. Newly freed from his past on Raal (genetic experiments, living in the wild, etc) he has joined the Legion and is traveling with them on his first warp jump trip… gosh, he looks like he’s going to bl-- eh? The ship just broke down midway through the trip? Now it’s being attacked by giant Space Leeches?!? Dammit! Where’s James Doohan when we really need… oh… yeah, that’s right. I know where he is… what’s left of him. My bad.

The issue is abit of a feel good trip as the team must stop it’s bickering long enough to fix the ship, stop the giant space leeches, and for Timber Wolf to find some use in this issue where he seems to sit around a lot… maybe his use has something to do with wrasslin’ a giant Space Leech. Otherwise that’s that.

Yeah. Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century will probably never ever reach the same level of writing (or artwork) like the many many many many many layers of Legion past or present (if it has a present), but as far as animated fare turned comic goes it’s at least getting a middle of the road score because of it’s potential and all that… you know, just as long as it doesn’t go and piss away said potential like Sonic X did month after month after month (and 1 out of 5 after 1 out of 5).

Still, the artwork is OK, and the story is passable if not abit obvious in the way it turns out.
Sure, like the many cash cow milkers cashing in the popularity of past animated series to comic conversions it’s not all that deep, but maybe it’ll score a decent consistent score like X-Men Evolution did… (blinks)… wait… was that really the ONLY animated series to comic translation I liked these past few years?!? Are you kidding me?? Wait… I think that is the only one… damn.

Maybe Legion will change my mind.
In the meantime Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century… god, I need a shorter nickname for this title… gets 3 “I can see up Timberwolf’s nose” cover paradoxes out of 5.

Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century

Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century Reviews

Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #2