The good news is that one need not have read part one of this story in the most recent issue of Teen Titans in order to follow along. The bad news, however, to get the full impact of the story, being familiar with recent subplots in both TT and The Legion over the past few months helps, not to mention the Legion's history during its 20th century phase. The main story offers some standard super-hero fare that not only addresses the issue of the time-displaced Superboy once and for all, but it provides an in-continuity explanation for yet another Legion reboot. It's forced and obvious, though.
So I've shared with you the good news and the bad news. There's something else, though... and that's the really good news. In a backup story, Mark Waid and Barry Kitson give readers a taste of what they have in store with the new direction for the Legion of Super-Heroes. It's a radically different take on the concept, and it's perhaps the first that really explores the notion of teenagers taking on adult roles.
The Persuader can use his atomic axe to slice through anything, and now he's used it to slice through reality. He's opened holes into other parallel dimensions and summoned forth alternate versions of himself and his Fatal Five teammates to come over and help them conquer the 31st century. It's a dire scenario, but it's not one the Legion of Super-Heroes must face alone. Joining them in the fight with the Fatal Five Hundred are the 21st century heroes known as the Teen Titans.
It's not easy to tell that two pencillers worked on the main story. Campos brings some consistency to Reis's and Prado's work, I would imagine. Unfortunately, the gritty style they employ is not well suited to the sci-fi, super-hero action here. This is not a grim-n-gritty story, and it needn't look as though it is. I did enjoy the variety of designs for the Fatal Five Hundred, though. Some of the figures are too sketchy; it seems as though this is just too large a cast of characters for these artists to handle.
Kitson's work on the preview/backup story is much stronger. He and Waid have tapped into the same imaginative yet grounded and emotionally charged storytelling within the super-hero genre that they brought to bear in Empire last year. Waid's adaptation of the Legion property as a means to explore teenage alienation and rebellion is brilliant, and Kitson's new designs for familiar characters capture both a simpler, Silver Age sensibility and a more modern approach. It certainly looks as though his and Waid's efforts on the new Legion series will be something truly special.
The same can't be said of Waid and Johns's script for the main story. There's nothing wrong with it, per se, but it's the super-hero team team-up formula story by the numbers. It's all about two things: (a) action, and (b) getting the heroes where they need to be at the end of the story, no matter how obvious a plot device is needed. It's light and fun, but it's hardly the most original genre writing one can find. 6/10
