Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Dan Mora
Color Artist: Alejandro Sanchez
Cover Artist: Dan Mora
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Superman has come face to face with Darkseid’s Legionnaires, and had to be rescued by Time Trapper of all people. But the unlikely team ups didn’t stop there as Time Trapper brought him to the one person who lives outside normal space and time – Superboy Prime! Read Superman #29 as the Man of Steel and his unlikely ally journey to the future to find the true Legion of Superheroes.
Review:
So, last issue, Superman came under attack by Darkseid’s Legion of Superheroes. After Time Trapper rescued him from Saturn Girl’s mind trap, he took Supes to the one being outside of the main multiverse who can help him fight these new Legionnaires: Superboy Prime! A reformed Superboy Prime, as the story reminds readers of an actually great tie-in story in the Death Metal event where we see Superboy Prime actually change and become a hero for all the right reasons. And now, he’s stepping up to help Superman fight these new evil legionnaires. Or he says anyway. Prime will be very meta in his dialogue and sort of fourth wall breaking here and there throughout the comic.
Of course, Superman distrusts Prime because of their prior history, but both Prime and Time Trapper point out they’re low on options and he’s got the strength and will to do what Superman might not be able to do. Wink, wink. But Time Trapper disappears for plot reasons, while Prime gets them to the future his way – by punching through the space-time continuum and traveling through it so they can’t be monitored by the evil Legionnaires. Once they get to the future, it doesn’t look. Things are straight post-apocalyptic and Superman is heartbroken to see a field of his friends dead and defeated.
There’s some tension between Supes and Prime, from mostly Supes who’s clearly angry at what’s happened and misinterpreted what Prime means. But it’s not long before hope somewhat returns as we find living Legionnaires and learn more about what transpired in the future. Turns out Darkseid used his Legionnaires to fight a war against all Legions of Superheroes across all time…and won. But hope’s not entirely lost, and now that Superman and Prime are there, hope rekindles in the remaining Legionnaires, but there are some interesting developments in this book that leave readers wondering what lies in store next issue.
Here’s a quick spoiler: I’m pretty sure that Superboy Prime is tricking Darkseid’s Legion and his “betrayal” of Superman is just a ploy to help him out and get one over Darkseid’s Legionnaires. But I am curious how this will turn out since this isn’t the Legion of Superheroes but Darkseid’s entire army of Legionnaires that Prime and Superman will be fighting, and who knows what they will have to do to just escape. Once more, Dan Mora kills it with the art and double page spreads and Williamson is continuing to do a good job with the dialogue, pacing and progression of this story arc on an issue-by-issue basis.
Final Thoughts:
Superman #29 delivers the second part of the Legion of Darkseid story with a surprise team up between Superman and Superboy Prime. Now, some fans might be discouraged by Prime’s appearance, but thankfully he is a solid character here who’s used well, and despite his meta dialogue it’s not cringey. Once they get to the future, the story picks up with various developments that show why Darkseid’s Legionnaires are so dangerous, even for Superman and Superboy Prime. The art is great as usual, and the story continues to deliver, though the “twist” cliffhanger at the end is either going to be very good or very predictable depending on how things turn out in the next issue.