I was a fan of the first giant-sized issue of Legends of Tomorrow and thought it was well worth its $7.99 price tag. A few of the stories won me over, while others had the potential to get better. We must ask the question though, is it good?
Legends of Tomorrow Anthology #2 (DC Comics)
DC Comics has an official summary of each book. Let’s go one by one as they appear in the book starting with Firestorm:
Multiplex is back—but Jason is in a coma and in critical condition. If Professor Stein is right, finding Multiplex could save Jason—if Stein and Ronnie can fuse together to become Firestorm!
Metamorpho:
Metamorpho and Sapphire are free of Simon Stagg’s control—but can they reach the Pyramid of Ak-Ton and discover the secret of the Orb of Ra before Kanjar Ro hunts them down?
Sugar & Spike:
Grab your flip-flops and sunscreen—Sugar & Spike are going to Superman Island, a tropical resort shaped like the Man of Steel! Their mission? Stop a group of land developers from uncovering the embarrassing and dangerous Kryptonian secret buried beneath the beach!
Metal Men:
The government wants them destroyed. The mysterious hacker called Nameless wants to experiment on them. But Doctor Will Magnus just wants to keep them safe. Someone is going to get what they want…the question is: who?
Why does this book matter?
What we have here are four stories that probably couldn’t sell well enough to stick around on their own. Slap them together and offer it at a price that’s actually reasonable given each story is around 20 pages, and you have yourself a book that is bound to give you some enjoyment if not a lot!
Hurry up then!
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
It’s safe to say this second issue improves on the stories that were lacking and continues the excellence of the great ones too. Each story progresses nicely (Sugar & Spike is another self-contained story) and there isn’t bad egg in the bunch. Let’s break down what’s good in each.
The Sugar & Spike story continues to have great dialogue that makes the duo fun to read about. This time they’re on a mission to help Superman, which makes it feel a bit different for them. Ultimately there isn’t much detective work in play this time (they sort of stumble their way to the finish line), but dang is it pretty. I simply love Bilquis Evely’s thin line as it’s incredibly unique in the current comic world. Seeing how she draws Superman makes me wish she was drawing a main hero book. In one jaw-dropping full page spread we see an island Superman created in his likeness and it’s not only a well composed shot, it’s detailed and downright cool. There’s also a fantastic full page spread inside a secret chamber that’s straight out of a 70s science fiction magazine.
The Metamorpho story gets better in this issue as it’s not dragging its feet quite as much. The villain (or the villain behind the villain) is further revealed and Metamorpho gets to use his powers more fully. The dynamic between Sapphire and Metamorpho is quite nice too and it’s starting to get its footing as far as a buddy adventure book. The art by Aaron Lopresti has a classic 80s feel that keeps the story chugging along. In a flashback as to how Metamorpho was created, both the art and captions detail what happened quickly and effectively.
The Metal Men story is lighter on action but progresses nicely. They don’t get much to do as they’re about to be melted down for scrap, but their creator comes off as much more heroic and cool here. He actually has something to do is probably why and the cliffhanger should get DC fans excited. Yildiray Cinar draws these characters fantastically and their uncanny powers really shine with his pencils and Dean White’s colors.
Firestorm wraps up the cliffhanger of the last issue well (replete with science jargon even the scientist is aware is too much) but instills a new character dynamic that’s intriguing. I won’t ruin it here, but it certainly changes who Firestorm is and potentially creates a new source of drama. The art also continues to do a good job progressing the story even with a lack of Firestorm on the page.
It can’t be perfect can it?
Aside from the new dynamic, Firestorm is still not my cup of tea. The teenagers don’t talk or act like I would expect (and has anyone told the writer what “Netflix and chill” means because I don’t think he knows…or he’s getting one past the editors) and the story is dragging along with one-half of Firestorm falling ill once again.
Now that is cool.
Is It Good?
This is a great bang for your buck anthology book that I’m sure anyone can find entertainment value in. Each story is drawn quite well in different styles mixing things up and making the book feel like it’s well worth the value. After two issues it’s safe to say I’d gladly purchase three of the four stories if they were printed individually.
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