Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5(of 5)

Well, this is the last of the main "Final Crisis" books. Wow, it took 14 months for us to get to the end of Final Crisis! This mini has been stellar throughout, and has given me the return of two of my favorite DC heroes, Kid Flash and Superboy. I won't even use the tired old "will this comic be worth the long wait" line because I'm confident that this comic is going to be awesome. The writer is the comic book GOD, Geoff Johns, while the legendary George Perez provides us with the pencils.

-While Superman, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl are busy battling the Time Trapper(who was revealed to be Superboy Prime last issue)at the end of time, Superboy, Kid Flash and a mess of Legionnaires from various different universes are battling Superboy Prime in the 31st century.

-After a lot of fighting, the Time Trapper tells Supes that after he is finished killing the Man of Steel, he intends on travelling through the multiverse to kill as many Legions as he can. Upon hearing this, Cosmic Boy realizes that Time Trapper can travel to other dimensions at the end of time, and Cosmic Boy decides to use that against Trapper by summoning several different Legionnaires to him to battle the Time Trapper. The legion of Legions(ha!)attack the Time Trapper enmass and manage to knock him out momentarily.

-While Trapper is unconscious, Brainiac 5 has him transported to the 31st century where he comes face to face with his younger self, Superboy Prime. Prime, being a complete moron, begins to argue with his older self, refusing to believe the Time Trapper's claims that they are one and the same. Prime attacks the Time Trapper, and the physical contact between the two of them causes them both to explode and disappear.

-While it seems the Time Trapper was erased from existence, Superboy Prime was sent back to Earth Prime(which was restored after the events of Infinite Crisis)powerless.

-From there we get a whole slew of epilogues. The Legion rebuilds their damaged planet, they look for new members, Sodam Yat, the sole surviving Green Lantern, decides to rebuild the Corps, Sunboy rejoins the Legion, and White Witch(?)becomes the ominous Black Witch.

-We also learn that the most recent Legion(the Threeboot Legion)comes from Earth Prime(!!!). The other two Legions are sent back to their proper dimensions, and Superman is sent back to the present with the resurrected Kid Flash and Superboy, and Supes brings them back to see their old Titans teammates. This issue concludes with Superboy Prime swearing revenge on all of his various enemies.

Hmmm, how do I put this... I guess I'll just come right out with it. This comic was pretty disappointing. I know, I'm shocked too! I kind of expected something more... The build up to this issue was really amazing, but this comic just fell short to me. First off, anybody who has read both Lo3W #5 and my review will realize that I left out all the stuff that had to do with the White Witch and Mordru. The reason for that is because I had NO frigging idea what the hell was going on there! I know Mordru from the Justice Society but I have no idea who the White Witch is, and that lack of knowledge definitely hurt my understanding of that entire situation. If anybody cares to explain who the White Witch is/was, I'd be happy to hear it!

I also wasn't very pleased with the revelation that the Threeboot Legion was from Earth Prime. I read the entire Threeboot Legion series and there are a lot of holes in that revelation, the biggest one being Supergirl. Supergirl joined the Threeboot Legion after the events of Infinite Crisis, meaning that somehow Supergirl travelled to the future of an alternate dimension and then managed to return to her proper home dimension??? Huh? And on top of that the Threeboot Legion remembered Superman as a hero. If Prime was from the same dimension as the Threeboot Legion wouldn't they recall Superboy as a criminal(Prime)not a hero(Superman)?

And one more thing, I just don't like the Legion that Geoff keeps using(the old one). Why the hell are they still going by the girl/boy, lad/lass names? They obviously aren't kids anymore. I can't understand why a twenty-something would still refer to himself as Cosmic Boy... Isn't it time to become Cosmic Man? That's what really bothers me with Geoff's Legion. They aren't teenagers anymore. To me the Legion is supposed to be a teenage super-team, not a bunch of weird adults still referring to themselves as children... I understand that Superman grew up, but I just don't think the Legion should have grown up as well...

Alright, enough complaining, here's some praise. The art was beautiful(as usual). If I was going to write a comic book, I'd want George to do the artwork. His art is just amazing. I can totally understand why it took George so long to do the art for this book after reading it. There were dozens of different Legionnaires depicted here! The battle against the Time Trapper at the end of time must have had at least 30 different Legionnaires(all with different costumes)present. The detail in each different Legionnaire was a thing of beauty. Although I wasn't that high on this particular issue, overall, this mini-series was fantastic. In particular issues #3 and 4 were truly amazing. For a score I'll give this issue a 7 out of 10. Like I said, this issue just didn't dazzle me like the previous ones did. I'll always hold this mini in very high regard(it brought back Kid Flash and Superboy!)though.
Superboy Prime, proving once again that he is an idiot!

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #4(of 5)

As I said yesterday, even though I'm WAY behind in my schoolwork, NOTHING is going to prevent me from reading this comic book! Sorry Shakespeare, you'll have to wait.

-We begin this issue with Starman lurking around in a graveyard in Metropolis looking to complete the mission Brainiac 5 sent him back in time to complete. Starman arrives at a grave that is marked with the last name of Kent, and begins digging. Hmmm... It couldn't be him, could it???

-Back in the future, the 3 Legions are still battling against the villains while Superboy Prime is trying to contend with Kid Flash's return. Superman returns to the battle and it looks like things are going to work out for the forces of good...

-Not so fast! The Time Trapper grabs Supes, as well as the three founders of the original Legion and brings them to his spot at the end of time. With Supes removed from the battle, the heroes fall into some disarray, which leads to Prime and his gang regaining the upper hand.

-Meanwhile, the three Brainiac 5's arrive at the Fortress of Solitude and wait for the Legionnaires from the past to return to the future. They eventually do and hand over a strand of Lex Luthor's hair... Hee hee hee, THAT can only mean one thing!

-Prime is warned by Mordru that he had better get to the Fortress because if he doesn't all will be lost for the bad guys. Prime takes off and is pursued by Kid Flash and others.

-Back at the Fortress, the Brainiacs discover that Starman was successful in the past as they find a Kryptonian healing machine containing whatever body Starman exhumed back in the past. The Brainiacs add the strand of Lex's hair, and that can only mean one thing!

-However, before the Brainiacs can activate the machine, Prime destroys the roof above them and knocks all three Brainiacs out. Polar Boy, Dawnstar and Wildfire are the only Legionnaires left standing, and none of them understand the way the Kryptonian machine is supposed to work. Polar Boy tells Dawnstar to figure something out and he goes outside to stall Superboy Prime.

-Polar Boy fares pretty much as poorly as would be expected against Prime, but the last minute arrival of the original Sunboy helps buy Polar Boy some more time against Prime. Back in the Fortress, Dawnstar realizes that Wildfire has to be the one to activate the healing machine, and Wildfire tentatively presses one of the crystals, which revives... Superboy!

-Superboy charges outside and engages Prime in battle. The return of Superboy serves as a rallying point for the Legionnaires present, and they redouble their efforts to defeat Prime once and for all.

-Finally, at the end of time, Superman attacks the Time Trapper and winds up tearing off his shroud, revealing none other than an older version of Superboy Prime!

Well, right off the bat I should admit that I was pretty shocked that Geoff Johns decided to bring Superboy back in this series. I thought for sure that SB would be a part of the "Blackest Night" x-over. With that said, allow me to say that I couldn't be happier that SB is back! The past two issues of this series has heralded the returns of both Bart Allen and Conner Kent, two of my all-time favorite DC characters. Thanks Geoff! You sure know how to make me one happy comic book reader!

When Starman was digging up a grave in Metropolis marked Kent, the first thought to cross through my mind was that it had to be Superboy's grave. However, I dismissed that idea right away because I figured that would be too obvious. HA! Once the Brainiacs discovered the healing machine, and gained possession of Lex's hair though, there was no doubting what Geoff was planning. Now that SB is back(and not a Blackest Night zombie!)I can start thinking about his future. Here's hoping SB winds up in the new Legion book(Adventure Comics I think?)that will be popping up soon.

I have to admit that the revelation about the Time Trapper really doesn't mean all that much to me, because I really don't know anything about him. The Legion I am most familiar with is the Threeboot version, and Time Trapper never showed up there. Do you even have to ask what I'm going to give this comic book score-wise?!? With Superboy's return, coupled with Kid Flash kicking some Superboy Prime ass, this was the easiest 10 out of 10 I've ever given! Big time kudos to Geoff Johns for the excellent storytelling, and George Perez for the magnificent pencils. This series is definitely turning out to be one of my favorite mini-series of all-time... That's really saying something!

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3(of 5)

Overall- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH............ :-)

It's hard to put into words what I just read in this comic book, so I'm going to be quite brief with the beginning of this comic book, because, quite frankly, to me, NOTHING that happened in this comic book meant a thing until the last few pages. The story itself was the original Legion along with Superman battling an group of villains led by(in his mind)Superboy Prime. When things looked the bleakest for Superman and the Legionnaire's, the Legion of Super-Heroes from the reboot and threeboot era's arrived to even out the odds. With the villains now occupied, the three Brainiac 5's along with all 3 Lightning Lad's and all 3 Light Lass' meet up with Xs and a Cosmic Treadmill at the headquarters of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Superboy Prime begins to realize that the Legion is up to something that he really doesn't want to deal with, so he abandons the battle against the Legionnaire's and attacks the Legion headquarters. Xs gets on the Cosmic Treadmill and begins to run, while the Lightning Lads/Lass' hold up lightning rods, and things start to get crazy in Brainiac's lab, as lightning begins to shoot everywhere. Finally, Xs seems to find what the Brainiac 5's wanted her to find, and she stops running. An energy form stands there stating that it(the energy)feels much better now. Superboy Prime breeches the layer of the Brainiac 5's and rushes into the room just in time to see the energy take it's true form, that of Kid Flash!

Wooooooo-boy... Where to start? I'll start at the obvious. IF, and let me emphasise that, IF, that Kid Flash is Bart Allen, then I'll be doing frigging backflips, because, believe it or not, Bart Allen IS my favorite DC character. I proudly own Bart's first appearance in the Flash comic book, as well as his other early appearances in Flash, every single issue of Impulse(including the annuals and specials)the whole Young Justice series, all of Bart's run on the Teen Titans, and the Flash: Fastest Man Alive series that starred the adult Bart as the Flash. So, if this Kid Flash is who I hope it is, then this mini-series will go down as one of my favorites of all-time, solely due to the fact that it brought Bart back to life.

Now, there is a tiny little piece of me that is worried that this isn't the Bart Allen I've spent so much time reading about. The only reason I have any doubt that this isn't Bart, is the fact that the Kid Flash at the end of this comic book had blue eyes, and Bart had yellow eyes... Most likely this was just a coloring snafu, because EVERYTHING in this comic pointed to this Kid Flash being Bart Allen returned to life. The fact that Superboy Prime feared Kid Flash as much as he did leads me to believe that this Kid Flash HAS to be Bart, since it was Bart who posed such problems for Superboy Prime during Infinite Crisis.

Besides Bart's apparent rebirth, I have to say that I also enjoyed the antics of Superboy Prime. Yes, SuperBOY Prime. I loathe calling him SuperMAN Prime, due to his childish behavior/antics. I was also kind of pissed that out of all of the Legionnaire's present, Superboy Prime manages to kill the Sun Boy from my threeboot Legion. What the hell?!? As I've already stated previously, the threeboot Legion is the one I am most familiar with, so I was disheartened to see one of the Legionnaire's I cared about killed in such an offhanded manner.

Honestly though, that was the ONLY complaint I had about this comic. To me, a huge fan of Bart Allen, this comic book was practically perfect. Although Sun Boy's unnecessary death really bothered me, the return of Bart Allen trumps that by leaps and bounds. As such, for a score, I'm going to give this issue the score every comic book desires, a perfect 10 out of 10! This comic righted a wrong that has bothered me since I read the end of the Flash: The Fastest Man Alive series, which chronicled Bart's death. If this truly is Bart Allen returned from the dead and de-aged back to his Kid Flash days, then this comic will forever hold a special place in my heart. I CAN NOT wait for the next issue of this series!!!