Review: Legion of Super-Heroes: Hostile World by Paul Levitz, Francis Portela, Walter Simonson, et al.

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2012 (contents: 2011-12) 
Acquired August 2015
Read May 2016

Legion of Super-Heroes, Volume 1: Hostile World

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Writer: Paul Levitz
Co-Plotter: Walter Simonson

Artist: Francis Portela
Penciller: Walter Simonson
Inkers: Dan Green, Sean Parsons
Colorist: Javier Mena
Letterers: Pat Brosseau, Travis Lanham

This is the first proper volume of the "deboot" Legion I've read-- by "proper," I mean stories that don't cross the Legion over with present-day DC characters, like in Superman and the Legion or Legion of 3 Worlds. It's confusing. It's dull. It's terrible. Levitz throws tons of characters at you, but gives you no reason to care about any of them. I've been reading the Legion for years now, and I don't give a shit about these people. How on Earth is a new reader supposed to? The extent to which the deboot Legion deviates from the core premise of the Legion is staggeringly misguided. Like, it's supposed to br about teenagers in the future, yet in this version they're all adults. What's going on? Who thought this was a good idea? I don't care for Francis Portela's stiff and posed artwork, but not even an issue drawn by Walt Simonson can get me involved. Is the deboot Legion a lost cause from its very inception?

Next Week: We warp back around to the beginning... or pretty close to it, anyway, with Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, Volume 3!