Customer Reviews

Legion of Super-Heroes: Enemy Rising

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A long time ago, in much simpler times, a teenage boy took over the writing chores for a superhero team comic set 1,000 years in the future. That boy, Jim Shooter, would grow up to be one of the most powerful and famous men in the industry. That team, The Legion of Super-Heroes, would go on to become one of the most popular groups in comics...before being wiped out of existence by a corporate decision in the early '90s. As the saying goes, they got better (actually, they got revamped and reinvented--more than once--in often confusing and irritating ways).

In 2008, decades after they first parted ways, the Legion and Shooter reunited for a story collected in Enemy Rising. The story's a bit scattered, starting in medias res as it does, and newcomers to the Legion will find only minimal assistance here (characters' names, powers, and home planets are identified; the rest you'll just have to learn through context and dialogue). And while I'm quibbling, I might as well get this out of the way: I wish writers of all futuristic or sci-fi works would realize that made-up swear words just sound silly. There's just no reason for them. Your characters are speaking perfect 21st-century English otherwise; it makes no sense that only the cursing is different.

Now that that's out of the way, let's get on to the story. It's fun to see the Legion back in Shooter's hands. He was the one who gave them each a distinct voice in the first place, the reason the 30th (and, later, the 31st) century truly came alive. It was a decidedly difficult task. The Legion grew to include nearly two dozen members, not to mention an enormous supporting cast and a host of planets to keep track of. That enormous canvas has scared off many writers and artists over the years, not to mention readers, who often gripe that the Legion is difficult to get into because it's so convoluted and insular. Those complaints aren't wrong, so it takes a special kind of fan to truly get into the madness. The rewards are deep and wonderful if you choose to make the trip, but you have to want it, definitely. It'll take a while just to figure out who's who. (Also, although the book has always been set a millennium in the future, it has always been tied to the modern-day universe of DC Comics; more often than not, this has only caused problems and lent very little to the creative growth of the book.)

Enemy Rising sends our heroes on multiple missions while a more significant danger lurks in the background. Several pressing matters distract the group, most significantly the inner workings of the government and its effect on the team. The Legion has always featured a utopian one-world government for Earth, which in turn is part of the United Planets, but Shooter, as he did when he first wrote the book, takes the time to delve into this further. While it could be tedious to watch a supergroup get mired in political morass, here it's a fun trip. Watching the team's leader, Lightning Lad, try to keep his sanity while dealing with bureaucracy gone wild is maddening, clever, and intriguing.

The artwork here is wonderful too. If writing so many characters and maintaining some semblance of reality while depicting so many future worlds is tough for an author, it's equally so for an artist to make sense of it all. Francis Manapul Livesay does it with finesse.

Enemy Rising has the air of an old friend coming home at long last and receiving a hero's welcome. For people familiar with the group, it's a wonderful sight. For those not familiar--well, take a deep breath and dive right in. You'll find the 31st century a little confusing at first, but it's a place you'll enjoy settling into.

-- John Hogan

there is some great art in this collection but the writing doesn't live up to it. I too expected something more from the guy who helped reinvent the Legion by actually daring to give the different members distinct identities but I was let down. One of the biggest problems I had was the whole story was bogged down by the arc of "The Legion doesn't have enough money and is fighting the red tape of the system". I don't buy a LoSH to see politics and Lightning Lad taken down by a phone bill. What
I want to see is action and a good through plot of a mysterious villian. As a long time fan the Giffen era still ranks number one of getting it right. A good mix of characterization and action - which was missing here.

More than four decades after he first wrote for them as a teenager, comics writer Jim Shooter returned to the Legion of Superheroes, DC's premier team of the future. Shooter had his work cut for him. This was not his Legion--or the one that came after his. This collection of comics features the "threebooted" Legion crafted by Mark Waid. Shooter inherited the Legion after a series of transitions but he does a a fine job of juggling numerous plot threads while pulling the strings on the ensemble cast of characters. Shooter does a fine job of mixing exciting action plots, intimate moments, comic relief and character development. Having said that, Shooter did spent a bit too much time on the bureaucratic headaches that the new team leader has--and has to rely on a very weak plot device to end that thread. Despite that, he does a fine job in telling the tale. The art by Francis Manapul and John Livesay is, on the whole solid though a change of pace from the earlier comics in the series.

Looking at the series on the whole, the "Enemy Rising" thread must be considered an Indian Summer for the threebooted Legion. While the threebooted Legion had shown a good deal of promise, working in a number of intriguing ideas including generational theory and rebelling against what appeared to be a utopian society, the comic barely lasted four years. Once Waid left--along with series protagonist Cosmic Boy--the comic sputtered. While Waid brought in Supergirl fairly early on, she often served as more of a distraction than anything else--and soon after Waid left, she was gone as well. Shooter inherited the threebooted Legion without two of its main characters and it is a testament to his writing abilities that he was able to continue the tale and even improve over the "Quest for Cosmic Boy" stories.

But Indian Summer quickly turned to winter for the threebooted Legion. Only a few issues after the comics collected in "Enemy Rising," the series was ended. This collection shows a great deal of promise and can still be enjoyed--but fans of the threebooted Legion may find the book a bit painful. What seemed high noon for the team was actually twilight.

I was hoping that Jim Shooter would write a special Legion story set more in the sixties when he did his more memorable writing on the series. 2008 was the 50th anniversary of the legion and it is too bad there wasn't more classic type stories. The unending relaunches of the Legion have ruined them for many of us older readers.

Welcome back, Jim. It's good to see DC's "Shooting Star" return to his roots. Yes, I'm one of those readers who remember some of Jim's stories from his teen years. I like the new direction he is taking the Legion. It should make for some interesting reading in the future. It was enough to lure me back to the Legion after a long absence. And I wasn't disappointed. I very much enjoyed catching up with the Legion again. I'm now awaiting Jim's next issue.