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Mild Mannered Reviews - DC Universe

DC Universe Online Legends #25

DC Universe Online Legends #25

Scheduled to arrive in stores: March 7, 2012

Cover date: Early May 2012

"Battle!"

Writer: Marv Wolfman
Penciller: Mike S. Miller
Inker: Mike S. Miller

Jeffrey Taylor Reviewed by: Jeffrey Taylor

Click to enlarge



The survivors from last issue's battle, including Lex Luthor, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and Shazam swear a battle cry. "Your reign of terror is over, Brainiac. We're taking the fight to you!" Brainiac can't believe that he's been tricked and that everyone is still alive to fight him. He made the mistake of underestimating Lex Luthor, but he won't make that mistake again. He fires a high intensity blast from his ship to take Luthor out, but Superman steps in the way and blocks the beam.

Lex can't believe after all that has happened that Superman would do such a thing, but now isn't the time. They quickly regroup. The new exobyte driven heroes have been broken up into groups of five with one veteran on each team and sent to the various cities in the world to fight Brainiac. Dr. Fate gathers all the magic users together to establish a beachhead. Some of the teams take casualties, but the attacks are slowly beginning to work.

Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner meet up with Lex and offer him some help in the form of a box of Green Lantern rings that the Guardians have decided to allow him to borrow. They warn Luthor that they belonged to their fallen friends, so he needs to treat them with respect. He intends to use them to travel through time. Without warning, another high intensity beam hits Hal Jordan. He seems to survive, but a second shot finishes him off. The ring floats off his finger and quickly finds a new bearer... Lex Luthor. Guy is distraught over the loss of Hal, but tells Lex not to let him down. They both fly away towards Superman's Fortress of Solitude and fight off some of Brainiac's robots on the way.

Flashback to a conversation in space where The Lex from the future contacted Superman when he had exiled himself in orbit. He convinced Superman that with the help of the exobytes, he can stop Brainiac once and for all. The full plan is not revealed just yet, but presumably, Luthor intends to travel back in time and stop all of this from happening. That will probably lead to end of the opening game video where he had met up with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman at the Justice League Watchtower and released the exobytes that created the playable characters in the game itself. This is probably also the only reason that Superman would join in on the plan, which would allow Brainiac to kill all the villains.

Guy and Lex arrive at the Fortress where Guy has to hold off more of the robots while Lex enters. He meets up with his future self and shows him that he has the box of Green Lantern rings. More of the robots prepare to enter and attack, so the future Lex uses the rings to time travel out of there while the younger Lex stays to hold them off.

To be concluded...

4Story - 4: This part of the story is much better than what we've seen over the last half a dozen issues. It's full of action and this story really matters to the plot. I only wish this part could last longer and the story leading up to it had been shorter. The three pages that covered the battles in various cities with the exobyte heroes could have been drawn out more if some of the previous issues hadn't taken so long to tell part of the overall story that wasn't very good to begin with. In fact, it had to happen so quickly that the actual battles were barely seen at all.

At first, I thought it was strange the Lex would be chosen to wear the Green Lantern ring after Hal was killed. Even though he is sort of reformed at this point, he has been responsible for so much evil. But then I had to remind myself that a ring once chose Sinestro and that the capacity for good is less of a direct factor than the ability to overcome great fear. That's actually a quality that Lex has in spades, so the moment makes perfect sense. It was also sad to see Hal die, but at this point, especially if everything is going to be fixed with time travel, anyone can be killed.

The only weakness to the story besides the speediness of the battle sequence with the fledgling heroes is that the Guardians actually allowed Hal and Guy to give the rings to Lex. I just don't buy that at all. These are the most powerful weapons in the Universe and they're just being handed over. I'm also unsure how having so many of them makes time travel possible. It could just as easily have been a piece of technology in the Fortress of Solitude that future Lex could have rigged up to travel back in time.

I'll forgive the flashback conversation where Lex's hologram is able to actually communicate vocally back and forth with Superman whilst in space. That too could have been covered easily enough with an ear piece, but then how would Superman have been able to speak back? Oh well. I wouldn't expect a rigged satellite to have a mask/microphone for him to use.

5Art - 5: It could just be me, but both of the main artist teams on this project have really grown on me. I still feel that Mike S. Miller is the stronger one, but both have improved since the start of the series. He really hit it out of the park this time. Every page of the issue is strong and dynamic. I couldn't be happier with the look of the comic. I have to give some credit to Rex Lokus as the colorist too. Everything is strong and vibrant, but my favorite is the flashback scene in space where the images are slightly darkened and muted. Excellent job.

5Cover Art - 5: I wish that all the covers of the series were this good. First I thought, "not every cover can be awesome," but then I reconsidered. "Why not?" Most of the heroes are showcased here with Lex Luthor front and center. He really was a primary character for the title as a whole. Plus the entire Superman family is present, minus Lois Lane of course, as well as the Batman family, some Teen Titans, some Justice Society, Shazam, Firestorm and so on, plus a few of the new characters who were affected by the exobytes in the Daily Planet building. Green Lantern is missing, but that fits into the events of the story and Lex is already wearing his ring. And again, they look vibrant and intense. Although it's kind of funny if you look at Luthor's face and realize that it's almost a carbon copy of Superman's, just without the hair.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2012

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

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