REVIEW: ‘Legion of Super-Heroes,’ Issue #11

Legion of Super-Heroes #11 is published by DC Comics, written by Brian Michael Bendis, art by Ryan Sook, inks by Wade Von Grawbadger, colors by Jordie Bellaire, and letters by Dave Sharpe. With Mordru having joined forces with Rogol Zaar, the entire Legion, in fact, the universe might be in danger. And the first planet to feel the wrath will be New Krypton.

As is often the case with youth, the Legion is filled with lots of energy and enthusiasm, but little focus. As this issue opens, our heroes are scattered across the galaxy, and it seems like their goal is to kick every hornet’s nest they possibly can while they are at their most spread out. And then there is Zaar’s return as he opens an assault on New Krypton. I hope the Legion can keep that youthful energy going for another issue or two. They are gonna need it.

Legion of Super-Heroes #11 begins with New Krypton’s idyllic existence coming to a shattering end as Zaar makes his presence known. Immediately after his arrival, however, the story jumps planets to Superboy and Saturn Girl who, along with Doctor Fate continue to track Mordru’s movements to a dead planet. This planet appears to be absent of any signs of Mordru. Though it does reveal a concerning artifact.

The rapid jumps continue as we see Triplicate Girl pay a visit to Dream Girl, we get to see how Ultra Boy’s difficulties with the Rimbor government is going, and a meeting between Gold Lantern and Brainiac. Phew. Needless to say, Legion of Super-Heroes #11 covers a lot of ground. And while it is planting seeds for further storylines, none of this actually seems to deal with the immediate problems the Legion is currently dealing with. It feels like Bendis may be a bit too focused on what’s to come, at the expense of what is in the now.

The only group during this blitz outside of Superboy’s and the team on New Krypton that deals with the current storyline is one that follows a group of legionnaires including Cosmic Boy and Rose. They take a small team looking for a contact of Rose’s when they get ambushed by enemy forces. Before the attack however we get another moment of the slow drip reveals surrounding Rose and her place in the Legion. With the recent reveal of her millennia-old life span the legionnaires with her have m any questions. They receive some answers, as well as receiving a shocking surprise from her when the surprise attack pushes the wrong buttons for Rose.

The art in Legion of Super-Heroes #11 delivers its extremely busy story with all the clarity one could ask for. Every panel is fully utilized to give as much atmosphere and personality as possible. Helping the reader keep some measure of grounding as they bounce from planet to planet in this whirlwind of stor telling. Though the art’s crowning achievement is its final image. The finale double splash page image captures a sense of the epic in all the best ways.

Just as the art helps keep the book’s individual scenes grounded, the coloring does a great job of keeping each scene separate from the ones preceding, and following it. A huge variety of color pallets are utilized to great effect. And the aforementioned epic final image is also aided greatly by some spot-on colorwork.

Just as diversity is the name of the game for the story locations and the colorwork, so too is it with the lettering. Numerous styles, fonts, and colors are used to give a strong variety to the different lifeforms found throughout the book.

So while I think Legion of Super-Heroes #11 could benefit from a little focus on the part of its narrative, it still manages to deliver an enjoyable read that sets up what could be a huge finale to the Legion’s confrontation with Zaar.

Legion of Super-Heroes #11 is available November 24th wherever comics are sold.