Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 1 #1
Returning back to the reads and reviews of the current Legion of Super-Heroes comics, here's the start of the Great Darkness storyline involving the Legion and the Justice League. Enjoy! :)
Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 1 #1
March, 2022
"The Gold Lantern Saga: Part One"
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: Scott Godlewski
Inker: Scott Godlewski
Letterer: David Sharpe
Colourist: Ryan Cody
Cover: Scott Godlewski (pencils) and Ryan Cody (inks) (signed)
Variant Cover: Travis Moore
Associate Editor: Chris Rosa
Editors: Mike Cotton and Paul Kaminski
Mission Monitor Board:
Gold Lantern, Wildfire, Ultra Boy, Dawnstar, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lass, Monster Boy, Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5, Dream Girl, Chameleon Boy, Triplicate Girl, Timber Wolf, Blok, White Witch, Lightning Lad, Mon-El, Karate Kid, Shadow Lass, Matter-Eater Lad, Element Lad, Bouncing Boy, Colossal Boy, Dr. Fate, X-Ray Girl, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Shrinking Violet
JLA Roll Call:
Green Arrow, Naomi, Black Adam, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Batman, Aquaman, The Flash
Supporting Cast:
Superman (Jon Kent); MadamHonor President Brande
Opposition:
A Garfu; The Great Darkness
Synopsis:
The story begins in the Legion's future, as Gold Lantern (Kala Lour) is somewhere on a planet out in deep space. He provides some narration about why he thinks he was chosen to be a gold lantern, and discusses how the ring has given him some richness to his life, but also another great gift: membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes, and a whole group of new friends. More importantly, the Legion has brought a diverse group of beings together who also have a diverse range of powers and ideas and cultural beliefs. Speaking of whom, Gold Lantern's thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of the (entire) Legion pretty much, who have come to deal with a space creature that is attacking the people of the world. Saturn Girl asks around with her teammates if any of them know what the creature is, and informs Lightning Lass that she's picking up the creature's thoughts, none of them pleasant. Monster Boy says that he doesn't know what it is, but Brainiac 5 informs the other Legionnaires that the creature is a Garfu from the asteroid belt of Orion Seven. The Legion takes the fight to the Garfu, each of them attacking it in their own fashion. Once the Garfu has been captured, the Legionnaires congratulate themselves, but the Triplicate Girls seem to have a beef to pick among themselves.
However, in the middle of all this Legion internal business, there is an unnatural shuddering of space and the world goes dark. One of the Triplicate Girls (call her Magenta) is pulled elsewhere, vanishing, and leaving the other two Triplicate Girls in disbelief, panic, and shock.
Realizing that the Great Darkness is beginning to manifest, the Legion heads to Daxam and the top brass of the United Planets to warn them. Brainiac 5 warns the President and the United Planets Council of what they know, hoping to alert them to the danger(s) well in advance and allowing the various factions to share the information they have in the hopes that it will allow them all to prevent the darkness from becoming...too great. The Legionnaires are somewhat surprised when the President turns to Gold Lantern to confirm Brainiac 5's pronouncements, Gold Lantern thinking to himself that he's never seen Querl Dox so "disregulated." Furthermore, he feels that many of his fellow Legionnaires are struggling with what has happened and what they've learned. The Daxamian ambassador tells the Legionnaires that all of the United Planets' resources are at their disposal, but advises them to "consider all of your goals."
Meanwhile, in the 21st Century, the present day, the Justice League members have just defeated the Legion of Doom in a series of actions that Green Arrow calls their best moment ever and that Wonder Woman calls efficient and to the point. The heroes engage in some banter and discuss what to do with all the villains, but their witty ruminations are marred as the terrain shakes violently and the world goes dark. The same thing as happened in the Legion's time. The disruption attempts to pull Wonder Woman somewhere, but unlike Triplicate Girl Magenta, she is able to hold her ground and resist the pull. When the disruption ends and the dust settles, the recovered Wonder Woman, who is unable to describe what the experience was like to her fellow Leaguers, and the others are surprised to find there is a new arrival from the disruption - Triplicate Girl Magenta! Magenta Luornu is in shock, but more frightening is the fact that she has aged! Recognising when she is, Luornu Magenta asks for Jon Kent, Superboy, before she goes unconscious. Batman places a call for the current Superman.
Back in the 31st Century, on New Earth in Legion Headquarters in New Metropolis, the Legionnaires are still reeling and attempt to come to grips with their (presumed) loss. Blue Luornu wants to merge immediately with Yellow Luornu, as this is the custom in Carggite culture when one of a triad dies. However, Yellow Luornu isn't sure what happened to Magenta Luornu, so thinks that perhaps they shouldn't merge just yet. There's a lot of emotions going through the ranks, not just with the two Luornus, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Superman Jon Kent. He requests that the two Luornus come back to the 21st Century with him for just a few moments, but in the end a large mission team (composed of Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Phantom Girl, Blok, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Dream Girl, Element Lad and Monster Boy at least) accompany Superboy and the two Triplicate Girls via a time bubble back into the past.
Arriving just outside the Hall of Justice, Superman introduces the Legionnaires to the Justice League - Wonder Woman, Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Black Adam, Aquaman and Naomi. Superboy tells Blue and Yellow Luornu that they don't know what's going on but they're all there to support her/them. The missing Magenta Luornu comes out to confront the Legionnaires, and Blue and Yellow Luornu are shocked not just that's alive, but that she's aged so radically. Shortly, the two groups of heroes have an informal meeting, set of introductions are made, and a grand tete-a-tete takes place.
Triplicate Girl (all three of them), Blok, Monster Boy, Brainiac 5, Dawnstar, White Witch, Bouncing Boy, Gold Lantern, Lightning Lass, Dream Girl, Karate Kid, Timber Wolf, Wildfire, Ultra Boy, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, Superman (Jon Kent), Lightning Lad, Dr. Fate, Phantom Girl and Element Lad have an informal chat with Aquaman, Black Adam, Wonder Woman, Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Naomi and the newly arrived Flash. The three Luornus discuss whether they should merge, Blue and Yellow arguing they have to go back to Cargg for some help with this matter. Brainiac 5 and Batman discuss the need to collect more data on the "darkness outbreak(s)", all the while Flash is in awe of meeting a Brainiac and a Gold Lantern. White Witch tells Dawnstar that she's making a fool of herself fawning over Wonder Woman and the Lasso of Truth. Blok realises that he's told Green Arrow and Black Canary too much about what Oliver Queen "did" and tries to get out of the situation. Lightning Lad and Lightning Lass talk with Naomi and she learns they know her whole history (Lightning Lad wrote his doctoral thesis on the entire family) and what happened to her when she got older. Wildfire tells Timber Wolf that he wants to punch Black Adam or perhaps burn him, but Timber Wolf says he shouldn't and wants to bet Wildfire that Black Adam can hear him. Saturn Girl, Jon Kent and Cosmic Boy debate the Great Darkness and the fact that it's happening in multiple time periods. Brainiac 5 laments to his friends that he can't figure out what's happening, and that his data is disastrously incomplete.
Before the Legionnaires or the Justice Leaguers can take any other action or discuss matters further, another attack happens, as the disruption occurs once again, seemingly focused on Wonder Woman once more. When the darkness fades away this time, everyone is gone seemingly...except the Gold Lantern. The story continues in the next issue.
Commentary:
And so it has arrived... Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes, a mini-series to be presented over six issues. I was quite pleased to hear about this comic finally arriving, as Legion fans were left on the abyss at the end of Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 8 #12. The Legion had defeated Mordru, been victorious in their efforts against Rimbor and the United Planets oversight, and were just about to start investigations into the Great Darkness when the comic was ended. That universal threat has arrived, an almost Crisis-like event (Dark Crisis?) that is attacking all places and all times simultaneously.
The story begins with a focus on Gold Lantern, which seems to make sense given the overall title of the story. In many ways, part of the problem here is that the readers who've kept up with the Legion series under Brian Michael Bendis still don't know a lot about the character, so in some ways there is very little reason to care. Here's hoping that the story of this Kala Lour character gets some resolution before the end of the mini-series. However, it does raise a couple of questions. Who is watching Gold Lantern at the beginning of the story? And for that matter, who is Gold Lantern talking to at the beginning of the story? I assumed at first it was the Guardians, but that doesn't really make all that much sense. Given that there is a whole spectrum of Lanterns these days in the DC universe, and that the yellow lantern energy was from Qward, that argues ominously to the origins of the yellow lantern ring that Kala Lour wields. Hopefully the story will answer these questions before it's over. Another issue that gets raised here is the similarity between the uniforms of Naomi (whom I know little about) and Gold Lantern. This makes me wonder if there's a connection, familial or otherwise, between the two characters, something else that I hope gets resolved.
Once again, the writing here by Brian Michael Bendis is a bit generic for my taste, though there are some wonderful moments and some decent humour that were counter-balanced by the grimness of what was done to Triplicate Girl's Magenta self. The aging of Magenta Luornu was somewhat shocking to this reader, though at first I had wondered whether she was dead after being taken at the end of the fight with the Garfu. The anguish of Blue and Yellow Luornu afterwards, thinking that Magenta was dead, and their fear about merging was an interesting part of the tale and one that was quite a good focus for this reader, but it was what the readers learned about Carggite culture in this version of the Legion history that made this issue more palatable. The writing in this issue also has a very strange pacing. The issue opens and closes around the central conflict, but everything else that happens in the story is very much social. Heroes talk to heroes and get to know each other, and at least Bendis renders the meeting of the two teams with a breezy wit that seems at odds with the seriousness of the rest of the situation. The art here by Scott Godlewski with colours by Ryan Cody is quite nice. I have to wonder whether Godlewski loved or hated this job, based on the sheer number of characters and two-page spreads he needed to do for this issue. However, based on the lovely art gracing the pages and the expressions of some of the heroes at times both funny and scared or horrified, he must have enjoyed this. My favourite panels this issue is the double-page spread on pages 18-19, as the Justice League and the Legionnaires get to know one another. It's a classic Legion style page, as many of the double-page spreads in the Baxter series period were pieces showing the LSHers partying, hanging out in their lounge, or in battle. It's also a classic type of page that one would find in the old Justice League/Justice Society team-ups when the two teams got together annually. The conversations in these two pages were intereesting, and it was a lot of fun to see how the Legionnaires were all knowledgeable about the Leaguers, almost like they were mythical heroes. Also found it interesting that Brainiac 5 referred to the incursions of darkness as "darkness outbreaks" and we also learn they are happening elsewhere as well.
There are some questions that I do have about the darkness outbreaks, to be honest. When Magenta Triplicate Girl is taken out of time by the darkness (the Great Darkness?), was it a planned attack or was it a random snatching? And if it was not random, why Triplicate Girl? Given that the reader already knows from the Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes (and various other Legion continuities) that Triplicate Girl has lost one-third of herself, perhaps this is the reason for that? Given the disruption's attempt to also take Wonder Woman from the present time, was this also deliberate and aimed specifically at her, and how was she able to resist "being pulled" elsewhere the first time? And then with the arrival of Magenta Luornu in the 21st Century, why dump her in the past - and why has she aged? Some interesting questions that will hopefully be resolved as the story continues. Another element that struck me in the story is that every time there was a "darkness outbreak" (as Brainiac 5 called them), one of the heroes would say, "Did we do something wrong?" I'm not sure why the heroes and everyone else believe they might have done something, or perhaps this is just an affectation of the situation, but am wondering if that's a clue of some sort as to what's going on in the plot.
One thing that was not made clear at the end of the issue was whether all the Legionnaires and Justice Leaguers were taken, leaving Gold Lantern all alone, or whether some of the heroes were still left behind as well. I guess that will become clear over the course of the second issue. This story, like all the Bendis Legion tales to this point, is lacking in the dialogue regards, although the added presence of this Justice League gives the story a bit of a lift in this regard. However, it was certainly an entertaining tale and an intriguing one, setting up a variety of mysteries that I hope Bendis can fully resolve in this six-issue mini-series.
Final Notes:
The story continues, sort of, from Justice League Annual Vol 4 #1, though the Legion does not appear in that issue...
This story is the first in a six issue mini-series called Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes. The story ties in with the Dark Crisis series that is on-going in the DC Universe these days...
One thing that is not clear is that given in Dark Crisis Pariah has captured the classic Justice League members (though the Justice Leaguers are supposedly dead), when does this story take place? After all, Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, and a couple of the others should be missing from this tale if it's simultaneous with the Dark Crisis storyline...
This story continues in the next issue...
The Interlac at the bottom of page 22 reads,
"To be continued..."...
The ambassador from Daxam is referred to as a Daxamian. What the heck happened to the term Daxamite?
Next Issue: Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 1 #2
Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 1 #1
March, 2022
"The Gold Lantern Saga: Part One"
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: Scott Godlewski
Inker: Scott Godlewski
Letterer: David Sharpe
Colourist: Ryan Cody
Cover: Scott Godlewski (pencils) and Ryan Cody (inks) (signed)
Variant Cover: Travis Moore
Associate Editor: Chris Rosa
Editors: Mike Cotton and Paul Kaminski
Mission Monitor Board:
Gold Lantern, Wildfire, Ultra Boy, Dawnstar, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lass, Monster Boy, Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5, Dream Girl, Chameleon Boy, Triplicate Girl, Timber Wolf, Blok, White Witch, Lightning Lad, Mon-El, Karate Kid, Shadow Lass, Matter-Eater Lad, Element Lad, Bouncing Boy, Colossal Boy, Dr. Fate, X-Ray Girl, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Shrinking Violet
JLA Roll Call:
Green Arrow, Naomi, Black Adam, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Batman, Aquaman, The Flash
Supporting Cast:
Superman (Jon Kent); MadamHonor President Brande
Opposition:
A Garfu; The Great Darkness
Synopsis:
The story begins in the Legion's future, as Gold Lantern (Kala Lour) is somewhere on a planet out in deep space. He provides some narration about why he thinks he was chosen to be a gold lantern, and discusses how the ring has given him some richness to his life, but also another great gift: membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes, and a whole group of new friends. More importantly, the Legion has brought a diverse group of beings together who also have a diverse range of powers and ideas and cultural beliefs. Speaking of whom, Gold Lantern's thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of the (entire) Legion pretty much, who have come to deal with a space creature that is attacking the people of the world. Saturn Girl asks around with her teammates if any of them know what the creature is, and informs Lightning Lass that she's picking up the creature's thoughts, none of them pleasant. Monster Boy says that he doesn't know what it is, but Brainiac 5 informs the other Legionnaires that the creature is a Garfu from the asteroid belt of Orion Seven. The Legion takes the fight to the Garfu, each of them attacking it in their own fashion. Once the Garfu has been captured, the Legionnaires congratulate themselves, but the Triplicate Girls seem to have a beef to pick among themselves.
However, in the middle of all this Legion internal business, there is an unnatural shuddering of space and the world goes dark. One of the Triplicate Girls (call her Magenta) is pulled elsewhere, vanishing, and leaving the other two Triplicate Girls in disbelief, panic, and shock.
Realizing that the Great Darkness is beginning to manifest, the Legion heads to Daxam and the top brass of the United Planets to warn them. Brainiac 5 warns the President and the United Planets Council of what they know, hoping to alert them to the danger(s) well in advance and allowing the various factions to share the information they have in the hopes that it will allow them all to prevent the darkness from becoming...too great. The Legionnaires are somewhat surprised when the President turns to Gold Lantern to confirm Brainiac 5's pronouncements, Gold Lantern thinking to himself that he's never seen Querl Dox so "disregulated." Furthermore, he feels that many of his fellow Legionnaires are struggling with what has happened and what they've learned. The Daxamian ambassador tells the Legionnaires that all of the United Planets' resources are at their disposal, but advises them to "consider all of your goals."
Meanwhile, in the 21st Century, the present day, the Justice League members have just defeated the Legion of Doom in a series of actions that Green Arrow calls their best moment ever and that Wonder Woman calls efficient and to the point. The heroes engage in some banter and discuss what to do with all the villains, but their witty ruminations are marred as the terrain shakes violently and the world goes dark. The same thing as happened in the Legion's time. The disruption attempts to pull Wonder Woman somewhere, but unlike Triplicate Girl Magenta, she is able to hold her ground and resist the pull. When the disruption ends and the dust settles, the recovered Wonder Woman, who is unable to describe what the experience was like to her fellow Leaguers, and the others are surprised to find there is a new arrival from the disruption - Triplicate Girl Magenta! Magenta Luornu is in shock, but more frightening is the fact that she has aged! Recognising when she is, Luornu Magenta asks for Jon Kent, Superboy, before she goes unconscious. Batman places a call for the current Superman.
Back in the 31st Century, on New Earth in Legion Headquarters in New Metropolis, the Legionnaires are still reeling and attempt to come to grips with their (presumed) loss. Blue Luornu wants to merge immediately with Yellow Luornu, as this is the custom in Carggite culture when one of a triad dies. However, Yellow Luornu isn't sure what happened to Magenta Luornu, so thinks that perhaps they shouldn't merge just yet. There's a lot of emotions going through the ranks, not just with the two Luornus, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Superman Jon Kent. He requests that the two Luornus come back to the 21st Century with him for just a few moments, but in the end a large mission team (composed of Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Phantom Girl, Blok, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Dream Girl, Element Lad and Monster Boy at least) accompany Superboy and the two Triplicate Girls via a time bubble back into the past.
Arriving just outside the Hall of Justice, Superman introduces the Legionnaires to the Justice League - Wonder Woman, Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Black Adam, Aquaman and Naomi. Superboy tells Blue and Yellow Luornu that they don't know what's going on but they're all there to support her/them. The missing Magenta Luornu comes out to confront the Legionnaires, and Blue and Yellow Luornu are shocked not just that's alive, but that she's aged so radically. Shortly, the two groups of heroes have an informal meeting, set of introductions are made, and a grand tete-a-tete takes place.
Triplicate Girl (all three of them), Blok, Monster Boy, Brainiac 5, Dawnstar, White Witch, Bouncing Boy, Gold Lantern, Lightning Lass, Dream Girl, Karate Kid, Timber Wolf, Wildfire, Ultra Boy, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, Superman (Jon Kent), Lightning Lad, Dr. Fate, Phantom Girl and Element Lad have an informal chat with Aquaman, Black Adam, Wonder Woman, Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Naomi and the newly arrived Flash. The three Luornus discuss whether they should merge, Blue and Yellow arguing they have to go back to Cargg for some help with this matter. Brainiac 5 and Batman discuss the need to collect more data on the "darkness outbreak(s)", all the while Flash is in awe of meeting a Brainiac and a Gold Lantern. White Witch tells Dawnstar that she's making a fool of herself fawning over Wonder Woman and the Lasso of Truth. Blok realises that he's told Green Arrow and Black Canary too much about what Oliver Queen "did" and tries to get out of the situation. Lightning Lad and Lightning Lass talk with Naomi and she learns they know her whole history (Lightning Lad wrote his doctoral thesis on the entire family) and what happened to her when she got older. Wildfire tells Timber Wolf that he wants to punch Black Adam or perhaps burn him, but Timber Wolf says he shouldn't and wants to bet Wildfire that Black Adam can hear him. Saturn Girl, Jon Kent and Cosmic Boy debate the Great Darkness and the fact that it's happening in multiple time periods. Brainiac 5 laments to his friends that he can't figure out what's happening, and that his data is disastrously incomplete.
Before the Legionnaires or the Justice Leaguers can take any other action or discuss matters further, another attack happens, as the disruption occurs once again, seemingly focused on Wonder Woman once more. When the darkness fades away this time, everyone is gone seemingly...except the Gold Lantern. The story continues in the next issue.
Commentary:
And so it has arrived... Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes, a mini-series to be presented over six issues. I was quite pleased to hear about this comic finally arriving, as Legion fans were left on the abyss at the end of Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 8 #12. The Legion had defeated Mordru, been victorious in their efforts against Rimbor and the United Planets oversight, and were just about to start investigations into the Great Darkness when the comic was ended. That universal threat has arrived, an almost Crisis-like event (Dark Crisis?) that is attacking all places and all times simultaneously.
The story begins with a focus on Gold Lantern, which seems to make sense given the overall title of the story. In many ways, part of the problem here is that the readers who've kept up with the Legion series under Brian Michael Bendis still don't know a lot about the character, so in some ways there is very little reason to care. Here's hoping that the story of this Kala Lour character gets some resolution before the end of the mini-series. However, it does raise a couple of questions. Who is watching Gold Lantern at the beginning of the story? And for that matter, who is Gold Lantern talking to at the beginning of the story? I assumed at first it was the Guardians, but that doesn't really make all that much sense. Given that there is a whole spectrum of Lanterns these days in the DC universe, and that the yellow lantern energy was from Qward, that argues ominously to the origins of the yellow lantern ring that Kala Lour wields. Hopefully the story will answer these questions before it's over. Another issue that gets raised here is the similarity between the uniforms of Naomi (whom I know little about) and Gold Lantern. This makes me wonder if there's a connection, familial or otherwise, between the two characters, something else that I hope gets resolved.
Once again, the writing here by Brian Michael Bendis is a bit generic for my taste, though there are some wonderful moments and some decent humour that were counter-balanced by the grimness of what was done to Triplicate Girl's Magenta self. The aging of Magenta Luornu was somewhat shocking to this reader, though at first I had wondered whether she was dead after being taken at the end of the fight with the Garfu. The anguish of Blue and Yellow Luornu afterwards, thinking that Magenta was dead, and their fear about merging was an interesting part of the tale and one that was quite a good focus for this reader, but it was what the readers learned about Carggite culture in this version of the Legion history that made this issue more palatable. The writing in this issue also has a very strange pacing. The issue opens and closes around the central conflict, but everything else that happens in the story is very much social. Heroes talk to heroes and get to know each other, and at least Bendis renders the meeting of the two teams with a breezy wit that seems at odds with the seriousness of the rest of the situation. The art here by Scott Godlewski with colours by Ryan Cody is quite nice. I have to wonder whether Godlewski loved or hated this job, based on the sheer number of characters and two-page spreads he needed to do for this issue. However, based on the lovely art gracing the pages and the expressions of some of the heroes at times both funny and scared or horrified, he must have enjoyed this. My favourite panels this issue is the double-page spread on pages 18-19, as the Justice League and the Legionnaires get to know one another. It's a classic Legion style page, as many of the double-page spreads in the Baxter series period were pieces showing the LSHers partying, hanging out in their lounge, or in battle. It's also a classic type of page that one would find in the old Justice League/Justice Society team-ups when the two teams got together annually. The conversations in these two pages were intereesting, and it was a lot of fun to see how the Legionnaires were all knowledgeable about the Leaguers, almost like they were mythical heroes. Also found it interesting that Brainiac 5 referred to the incursions of darkness as "darkness outbreaks" and we also learn they are happening elsewhere as well.
There are some questions that I do have about the darkness outbreaks, to be honest. When Magenta Triplicate Girl is taken out of time by the darkness (the Great Darkness?), was it a planned attack or was it a random snatching? And if it was not random, why Triplicate Girl? Given that the reader already knows from the Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes (and various other Legion continuities) that Triplicate Girl has lost one-third of herself, perhaps this is the reason for that? Given the disruption's attempt to also take Wonder Woman from the present time, was this also deliberate and aimed specifically at her, and how was she able to resist "being pulled" elsewhere the first time? And then with the arrival of Magenta Luornu in the 21st Century, why dump her in the past - and why has she aged? Some interesting questions that will hopefully be resolved as the story continues. Another element that struck me in the story is that every time there was a "darkness outbreak" (as Brainiac 5 called them), one of the heroes would say, "Did we do something wrong?" I'm not sure why the heroes and everyone else believe they might have done something, or perhaps this is just an affectation of the situation, but am wondering if that's a clue of some sort as to what's going on in the plot.
One thing that was not made clear at the end of the issue was whether all the Legionnaires and Justice Leaguers were taken, leaving Gold Lantern all alone, or whether some of the heroes were still left behind as well. I guess that will become clear over the course of the second issue. This story, like all the Bendis Legion tales to this point, is lacking in the dialogue regards, although the added presence of this Justice League gives the story a bit of a lift in this regard. However, it was certainly an entertaining tale and an intriguing one, setting up a variety of mysteries that I hope Bendis can fully resolve in this six-issue mini-series.
Final Notes:
The story continues, sort of, from Justice League Annual Vol 4 #1, though the Legion does not appear in that issue...
This story is the first in a six issue mini-series called Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes. The story ties in with the Dark Crisis series that is on-going in the DC Universe these days...
One thing that is not clear is that given in Dark Crisis Pariah has captured the classic Justice League members (though the Justice Leaguers are supposedly dead), when does this story take place? After all, Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, and a couple of the others should be missing from this tale if it's simultaneous with the Dark Crisis storyline...
This story continues in the next issue...
The Interlac at the bottom of page 22 reads,
"To be continued..."...
The ambassador from Daxam is referred to as a Daxamian. What the heck happened to the term Daxamite?
Next Issue: Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 1 #2