Review by Karl Verhoven

The Legion are having an especially bad time, stymied and manipulated by malign administrators within the United Planets and facing the threat of aliens capable of devastating a planet. The end of Enemy Rising at least saw new character M’Rissey and Brainiac 5 begin to reassert some control. That process is completed over the opening pages, with the Legion the only force capable of facing a galaxy-level threat, which they’ll attempt once all contrived charges and financial restrictions are dropped.

It’s a convenient ending to a problem accelerated through the previous volume, and all the more so for involving a character then barely seen again, although M’Rissey’s power set isn’t appropriate for a massive planet manifesting from nowhere. Jim Shooter recalibrating the personalities of assorted Legion members has produced interesting results. The most obvious is that some are no longer very likeable, extending beyond brief moments of emotional conflict. Had the series continued, seeing where this led ought to have seen sparks fly. Shooter also continues to make thoughtful use of the assorted powers. Element Lad didn’t feature much last time, but here changes the air breathed by a thug to helium: “You’ll pass out in a few seconds from lack of oxygen and until you do you’ll sound really silly”.

Four of six chapters are drawn by Francis Manapul, an artist coming on rapidly. The storytelling difficulties from Enemy Rising are gone, and despite Shooter packing so much in, Manupul ensures both the events and the reactions can be understood. His people remain stylised, but consistent, and for all that look better than the pinched faces supplied by Ramon Bachs for the final chapter.

Shooter’s major plot is very clever, an idea not previously seen in superhero comics, and deserves more praise for originality than this series received at the time. It’s possibly because Shooter’s more interested in the characters than the plot, and eventually that’s a letdown because so much of what’s bubbling nicely just grinds to an unresolved halt as the series is cancelled. It’s not apparent from the collection, but Shooter didn’t write the final chapter, and while there’s online speculation, there’s no definitive identification of who did. They resolve the main plot adequately enough, but this incarnation of the Legion of Super-Heroes ends here.