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Mild Mannered Reviews - Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century

Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #12

Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #12

Scheduled to arrive in stores: March 12, 2008

Cover date: May 2008

"Lone Wolf"

Writer: Matthew K. Manning
Penciller: Ethan Beavers
Inker: Ethan Beavers

Reviewed by: Adam Dechanel

Click to enlarge



Timber Wolf is struggling with his more beast like animal side in the holo rooms, segregating himself from the other Legionnaires. Phantom Girl finds it distressing that after all this time he refuses to think of himself as part of a family.

The matter is made worse by the fact that Brainiac 5 and the other core Legion members seems oblivious to Wolf's pain. Things are heightened even moreso due to the fact that today is Legion Day, and the President of the United Planets is holding a celebration in their honour.

Timber Wolf flatly retorts he will not be attending.

Instead he watches the arena from a rooftop, wallowing in pity... at least he would have if not for a scream! Leaping to the rescue he finds a mugging and promptly stops it.

This however begins a chain of events.

The muggers had attempted the robbery only because they thought the Legion would have been busy with the bomb. Perplexed, Wolf delves further and discovers the two villains had overheard a plan in a bar across the city.

On the prowl, Wolf makes an arduous journey to the bar and after smashing it to pieces in a wild rage, he discovers it's his human side that helps. A lone barmaid reveals Scavengers were talking about a bombing plot.

Journeying back through the city on the scent of the Scavengers he picked up in the bar, he races through dead ends, crowds of Legion fans and down to a basement with sewer tunnel access. There he finds two Scavengers and takes them down, hard.

The last of the whimpering Scavengers reveals the bomb is directly beneath the arena in the sewer tunnels.

Above, the President and the Legion, please the crowd with talk of species unity, health, prosperity and harmony and below, Timber Wolf crawls through sewage, weeds and rusty piping. He finds the device and races as far away wth it as he can till he finds a very deep pit for it to detonate harmlessly.

The celebrations over, Wolf sheepishly returns to his family of Legionnaires, skulking in the shadows. Phantom Girl sees him and invites him to try Clark's homemade hoagies and tells him that he is family no matter what and that....

Wolf interjects that she needn't try so hard to integrate him into things, he knows deep down he's part of this family.

Phantom Girl finishes of her sentence with a sniff.

Next time there's a day in the Legion's honour, perhaps Wolf might take a bath?

4Story - 4: I don't really like Timber Wolf, never did.

This story however shows he has much more potential than just being a Wolverine clone.

It goes to great lengths to show how close the team really is, moreso than perhaps the Justice League. It spends the focus on Wolf and his skills as a solo hunter, but ultimately shows he is and always will be part of a family.

With stories like this and the new developments in season 2 I really am sad the show is getting the axe - very stupid move, but I hope the comic will continue to new heights.

3Art - 3: The artwork was great for the most part, the action was beautifully rendered, the scenery was illustrated well, over all to be honest I can't find much to fault. I am however going to point out the alien species all seems to be modelled on Galaxy High School students - Rick Moranis has a lot to answer for! To show how cool Timber Wolf is, you can't have him fighting what seem to be overweight jelly babies. This is based on a cartoon series, yes but the cartoony muggers and bar drinkers took me out of the story. Also the fact, the potentially most action packed scene was only referenced to was a shame.

3Cover Art - 3: Like I said, not really a fan of the Wolf.

It's a fantastic rendition, dark, mean, moody... all the things it should be.

The covers that seem to focus on one Legionnaire recently lack 'bite,' it is a team book after all! Personal taste I guess, I love the image but as a cover it wouldn't make me pick up the book.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2008

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

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