Anything LoSH Can Do, LL Can Do Better
Aaron Kuder really shows you how you can turn a simple generic idea into an actually quite compelling cover. Its not the best, but there's a lot of nice things here. The way the buildings create an X right over the protagonists, Tyroc and Chameleon Girl backed into a 'corner' right in the center, with CG's arm perfectly place, the way the MetaMarines are closing in, appearing out of the nothingness of 'outside the image'... it all works perfectly for such a seemingly boring concept.
Pete Woods delivers exactly the kind of art I've come to expect from him. The action scenes and facial expressions are nice, the panel layout's nothing special, but it works. I'm also super intrigued by the designs for the teams' civilian guises, especially Dawnstar's t-shirt with the angel decal.
To say there's a lot going on in this issue would be an understatement. DeFalco is just slamming us with plotlines one after another. The team is still getting used to being trapped in the past, still trying to figure out what killed the future, still trying to track Harvest, Wildfire needs a new containment suit, Wildfire and Dawnstar might be having relationship troubles, Chameleon Girl and Tyroc are fighting the Metamarines, there's a dead body aged 100 years in the hospital, Timber Wolf has a flashback with some epic dark implications, AND Alastor is back with new powers. That's.... A LOT, but I have to say that this issue does an impressive job at trying to balance them all. It doesn't fully succeed, but it comes damn close. Splitting the team into temporary groups was definitely the way to go in this situation, as surely some of the conflicts will overlap. But still.... I'm feeling just a little overwhelmed
And not all of the conflicts are action based. The team still has casual drama, I really feel for Wildfire, I can definitely sympathize with him to a degree, and I've been a little disappointed at his lack of focus lately; so I like seeing him highlighted more again.
Basically what this issue does, is actually succeed at what the main Legion of Super-Heroes constantly fails to do. It gives focus to ALL the characters in the same issue and still manages to keep its pacing. EVERYONE gets important moments or developments in this issue, and I, personally, love to see this as a sarcastic triumph over Legion of Super-Heroes. "Anything you can do, I can do better!" or something to that effect.
In Conclusion: 4/5
It doesn't balance ALL of its plot elements perfectly. Towards the end things do get a bit overwhelming. You keep thinking you're going to see connections drawn, but instead it just offshoots more tangents. It really does make nearly off of them work though, and that's pretty admirable.
