Mild Mannered Reviews - Classic Post-Crisis Superman Comics

Legends #1 (1986)

Legends #1 (of 6)

Cover date: November 1986

Plot: John Ostrander
Script: Len Wein
Pencils: John Byrne
Inks: Karl Kesel

"Once Upon a Time...!"

Reviewed by: Christopher Evans



Apokolips. Darkseid has quelled a rebellion by the Hunger Dogs, yet feels ill at ease. Desaad suggests that Earth's heroes could be the cause of his master's ill feelings. Darkseid muses about how the heroes are legends, inspiring others to greatness. He decides to destroy the concept of these legends and summons Glorious Godfrey and Doctor Bedlam, telling them to prepare for a job on Earth - Operation: Humiliation.

At the New York branch of S.T.A.R (Scientific and Technological Advanced Research) Labs, Professor Martin Stein (one half of the hero Firestorm) prepares to test a fusion reactor, when Darkseid deploys a techno-seed into its core. This seed erupts into a giant flaming being calling itself Brimstone. Stein summons Firestorm, merging himself with freshman Ronnie Raymond, who, miles away; is taking a shower. Firestorm attacks, but is grabbed and hurled to the ground, surviving only by turning the air around himself to asbestos to avoid being fried by the giant's grip.

On Wall Street, the Flash foils a robbery by Deadshot and heads for the Titans Tower to muse over his reduced powers (affected by a blast from the Anti-Monitor). There, Changeling watches Billy Batson interviewing a man named G. Gordon Godfrey (aka Glorious Godfrey) who insists super-heroes pose a threat, a negative role model for children, emphasising violence as a solution to problems. Flash arrives and as he and Changeling talk, their TV screen suddenly goes blank.

In the television studio, reports come in that a costumed giant is attacking the building. Billy Batson slips away from his guest and uttering his magic word, transforms himself into Captain Marvel. Flying outside, he sees a giant armoured figure attacking the city. This Macro-Man threatens to level the city unless he receives $50 million dollars by sunset. Marvel engages the giant, but is grabbed and slowly crushed. Unable to escape, Marvel shouts SHAZAM, so that he can slip through the giant's fingers as Billy Batson. But the magic lightning strikes Macro-Man, setting him ablaze and causing him to topple from a rooftop, falling to the streets below.

At the Pentagon, Colonel Rick Flag reports to Amanda Waller about the reactivation of 'Task Force X'.

Cosmic Boy sits in a New York diner, enjoying his hamburger, when the windows blow in as the huge form of Brimstone thunders past. Cosmic Boy arouses the giant's wrath by using his mastery of magnetism to pelt it with smashed cars. An angry Brimstone responds by bringing an entire building down on the hero, who barely repels the falling rubble. Someone asks Cosmic Boy if he needs a hand and he looks up to see the Justice League of America (Vibe, Elongated Man, Vixen, Martian Manhunter, Gypsy, Steel and Firestorm) assembled and ready to fight.

Billy Batson looks down at the charred body of Macro-Man, horrified at what he has done and decides that he can never become Captain Marvel again...

5Story - 5: How much packed into 22 pages!? Now, back when I first read this in 1986, I was pretty new to the DC universe. Up until then, I'd mainly read the adventures of a certain web-slinger and shell head from a rival company. I'd started reading the 3 Superman titles and had tracked down and read all 12 issues of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Suddenly I've got Flash, Firestorm, Captain Marvel, Changeling, Cosmic Boy, the JLA, Task Force X (whatever the heck they were) not to mention these cool-looking and sounding villains like Darkseid, Deadshot, Brimstone and... er, well, the pretty dumb-looking Macro-Man. But the thing was, I felt to have some idea of what most of these characters were about. Flash was a speedster with self doubts, Captain Marvel was a kid TV reporter who could turn himself into the world's mightiest mortal, Firestorm was a nuclear man made up of a professor and a student, Darkseid was a bad, bad scheming tyrant. Ostrander and Wein do a great job of not only setting up the storyline (Darkseid sets out to discredit and destroy the legends of Earth's super-heroes) but introducing a whole slew of characters and giving the reader a feel for what many of them are about. Each character who gets some internal dialogue reveals to the reader that they are an individual with their own life and issues. An issue with this many characters and this much exposition should feel forced and be a mess. But the exposition isn't banged into our skulls with a concrete block and the result is an effective, forward moving and above all fun read. With heroes, villains, city block-wrecking battles, nefarious plots, character and some mystery and suspense (what is Task Force X, what'll happen to Billy Batson, how will the JLA fare against Brimstone?) this mini series grabbed my attention right from the start.

(My favourite sound effect this issue was SPWEE-PWEE-PWEE! As Flash deflected Deadshot's bullets with a steel pipe.

4Art - 4: How many books was John Byrne pencilling per month back then? Good artwork, let down by my usual gripe of an occasional lack of background detail (there's none on page 16 at all.) and scratchy looking inking over John's pencils. With the 'right' inker, I think Byrne's work at this time was the best - absolutely top notch stuff. The inking here isn't quite up to that standard for me, hence the 4 out of 5, but don't get me wrong, it's good. And the design of Brimstone? Simple, effective and awesome.

4Cover Art - 4: Nice metaphoric cover, with Darkseid holding all the major players in his hands- emphasising how he is treating them all as mere pieces in his deadly game. Brimstone looks particularly impressive here - I'd have picked up this issue just to see who and what this cool-lookin' baddie was. The only reason this isn't a five for me is the colouring. I appreciate that a lot of work had gone into this cover for comics at the time. It was well before the computer colouring that we've got used to and are spoilt by nowadays, but the fine work on the purple backdrop doesn't hide the fact it's a big, blank space and the texturing on Darkseid's face just doesn't work for me. I know it's supposed to exaggerate his granite-like features, but it somehow looks oddly like it as done in crayon. Heck, it could just be that I'm far too fussy for my own good, but like I've said elsewhere, I save my 5 out of 5's for when I consider something to be really special. This cover's good, but not quite great.


Classic Post-Crisis Superman Comic Book Reviews

1986 1987 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Back to the Mild Mannered Reviews contents page.