I guess my question would be, how many times can we see a take on the Superman origin and find it interesting? Legend is based on Philip Wylie's novel Gladiator, reportedly one of the sci-fi influences on Superman's creation, but the fact of the matter is that adapting it to comics now casts it not as a forerunner but an afterthought, and given that we've seen the Superman origin retread so many times with so many analogues, it was going to need something notably different to really stand out. I don't know whether to blame Chaykin or Wylie or maybe a little bit of both, but Legend #1 doesn't really have that. It's full mostly of also-ran Superman style moments with a more realistic touch, something we've seen plenty of before, and lacks a consistency of character that makes it hard to take seriously besides. The artwork by Russ Heath is, as you would expect, beautiful to behold, but the story has nothing new to offer.
It's not just that Superman has been done to death in three monthly comics for so long that hurts Chaykin's story here. The realistic superhero and examination of Superman as icon has been done too many times as well, everywhere from Supreme to Warren Ellis's Stormwatch to Supreme Power, and so most of the scenes Chaykin offers up here have been seen fairly recently in comics. The kid hurting another kid with his super-strength? Seen it. The kid exploring his powers on his own? Seen it. The kid's power giving way to a foreboding moment where he threatens someone and seems ready to abuse his power? Seen it. Even the mad scientist who created the superhuman is a cliche, and while his actions may be more horrific than the ones we saw in Golden Age comics, really the oddly named Abednego Danner is not that unlike Dr. Sivana or any other mad scientist from bygone superhero ages.
Of course, you can still do new things with familiar genre tropes, but Chaykin really doesn't in the pages of Legend #1. Every single scene is just remarkably predictable and pedestrian. The characters don't even ring true. Abednego drowns kittens in the toilet and experiments upon his own wife, and then transforms himself into a paragon of moral virtue when trying to teach his son? Not buying it. What's more, his wife Matilda finds out about all these things and expresses horror and dismay, but she doesn't leave him? Or even do anything but settle back into what seems a relatively happy marriage? Really not buying it. These aren't characters. They're props, being moved around as the plot dictates. I will give Chaykin credit that he avoids his usual storytelling tricks in Legend. There's no nudity or sex to be found in these pages despite it's mature readers tag, and Matilda is actually kind of frumpy rather than being super-hot. It doesn't read like a typical Chaykin book. It just reads like a typical "mature readers" superhero book, and even if it were more interesting on its own, it would still compare badly to other modern efforts like Planetary or Supreme Power.
The artwork on Legend is the best feature of the book, as veteran creator Russ Heath handles the art chores. The thrust of Legend is that it takes place in a real world setting, and Heath does an excellent job of conveying how run of the mill the daily existence of the Danners is. The backdrop is very much small-town America, and the clothing and hairstyles indicate this sort of older, lost American time as well. The actual storytelling isn't as flashy as many modern artists, so moments like Samson's burst of violence or the discovery of Hugo's powers aren't as powerful as they otherwise could be, but the storytelling is certainly clear and the joy that Hugo feels as he unleashes his powers for the first time is definitely there.
If Gladiator was indeed an influence on the creation of Superman, than the comics industry owes Wylie and his novel a debt. However, I'm not sure the best way to repay the debt was to do an adaptation of the novel into comics, because after all this time, and under the pen of these creators, it just looks kind of dated and familiar. Which would be more forgivable if the storytelling itself were more interesting, but I don't buy into the characters at all, and so I'm left mostly with a premise that I've seen explored numerous times before, being explored in a fairly obvious and boring way. 3/10
