It’s no secret I’ve kind of loved this entire series so far. Sure it’s $8 per issue, but you’re getting 80 pages and four stories with at least two of them nailing it every month. When all four stories nail it it’s like winning the lottery! Did we win this week? Is it good?
Legends of Tomorrow #4 (DC Comics)
The first story of the bunch is about Firestorm, who’s currently a captive of the government. Then there’s Metamorpho who’s trapped in another dimension seeking the power that may turn him back into a normal person. The third story features Sugar & Spike, who are two very normal human detectives (okay maybe not “normal”) who do work for superheroes. The final story revolves around the Metal Men, awesome robots that have varying powers and quite a lot of spunk.
Why does this book matter?
DC was pretty smart to slap these characters together in an anthology type package; I’m not sure there’s a big enough fanbase to warrant purchasing each character on their own, but together readers can expect surprises, exciting action, and a whole lot of stories made for comic book fans across the board. Plus if you don’t like a specific story one month you’re still in store for sixty or so pages of other stories too!
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
Once again Keith Giffen and Bilquis Evely win my heart over with Sugar & Spike. The story focuses on the two figuring out what happened to Green Lantern’s flower friend, which leads them to an ex-supervillains Meta Human Museum of Oddities. How fun is that? Throughout the adventure the characters bicker – as they’re known to do – run into some dicey situations and solve yet another mystery. It has an old school flavor of fun you just can’t find every week. On top of that, the art is jaw-dropping good with a very thin line that’s architectural and very sure of itself. I finished reading this book feeling like I’d pay $8 for this story alone — it’s just that good.
Poor guy is really sad!
The Metamorpho and Metal Men stories continue to progress nicely too with some major developments kicking things up a notch. Coming from writer Len Wein you know the Metal Men story will have a classic feel (the man is practically a legend at this point) and it does. It’s a bit campy, but that’s part of the fun. The art continues to look gorgeous with pencils by Yildiray Cinar and colors by Dean White and Ulises Arreola. The Metamorpho story written and penciled by Aaron Lopresti has really ramped up the action – maybe he heard my complaint of the earlier chapters – and it’s great superhero fun to see how the powers are put to use. There’s a plot twist that isn’t entirely surprising, but we learn a bit more about his powers which is quite an advancement!
The Firestorm chapter continues to be one of the more realistic looking stories of the bunch too. Eduardo Pansica pencils in quite a lot of detail and inker Rob Hunter adds a lot of dark angst in between too.
Can this be a real place? I want it to be a real place!
It can’t be perfect can it?
Judging by the length of my positive statements on the Firestorm story you can probably guess it wasn’t my favorite. The problem is it feels way too convoluted and decompressed for its own good. The actions in this issue were mostly of table setting fare and they involved a few eye rolling developments too. The story isn’t bad per se, it just feels as though it is written for a younger audience. Much younger than the other stories in this collection.
Khaleesi is going to be pissed.
Is It Good?
Once again two out of three ain’t bad! This is by far my favorite anthology series on the stands today. It has everything you’d want in a superhero comic and then some!
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