Legion Lost #3

The Good: This issue does a lot of what impressed me last issue. Introducing us to the next Legion Lost member by focusing the narrative entirely around one character without neglecting the rest. I'm impressed that this issue didn't fall into the obvious trap of repeating last issue's hook; having the Hypersapien be transforming into an alien the same type as the focused character to make things more personal. Because that worked for a character like Wildfire, this issue DOES get us deep into Timber Wolf using the latest 'monster-of-the-week,' but it frames it in such a way that suits a deeper look into Timber Wolf. Things are less hectic. They're cooped up. Something that may or may not be a hypersapien is hunting innocents. The wolf must hunt.
And again, it's not just Timberwolf. Like last issue, we got some fairly deep insights to the rest of the team through our focus's eyes. Timber Wolf has different observations and interactions with the team than Wildfire, and that serves to help flesh out the group extremely well. I'm completely blown away by how excellently done this is. Although I do feel like we've gotten more of a look at Dawnstar than the rest, but that's a minor nitpick.
Something that's been REALLY interesting, yet subtle, and outside the norm is the level of awareness the public has. The Legion Lost team is so concerned with staying hidden, but this is the DC FREAKING UNIVERSE. People are USED to this kind of shit. People aren't wrapped in disbelief at the existance of stuff, THEY SEE IT ALL THE DAMN TIME. So things like Dawnstar's flight are registered as 'Metahuman?' 'Yeah... Flag it for metacontrol." Even the police frequencies Timber Wolf listens in on treat the idea of a metahuman with urgency, but not confusion. I'm really proud of this series for those tiny touches.
The Legion Lost team really isn't sure of what direction they want to take. Each issue seems to take a different tone within the theme of 'negativity,' and this issue is a lot about a sense of almost listless confusion. Timber Wolf kicks things into gear by deciding to just take things in EVERY direction as the directions approach them.
It was just so much fun to read. The story is interesting and engaging. Also the final twist was a fantastic shock.
 
The Bad: Compared to the first two, this cover is pretty boring and standard, not to mention basically could've been a simple panel. But what really bothered me was the tagline. "Who or what is Red Rage?" I was pretty confused by that, Red Rage never actually got mentioned as a thing. Well.... until I was reviewing the issue when I realized, the aline thing they mentioned, Rdrayyj.......Rd rayyj. Red. Rage. UGH. Puns to the heinously worst degree. Fuck you.
A lot of this issue was just a little too vague. I never really felt the full grasp of the 'mystery' Timber Wolf was investigating. He was treating it like a mystery, but his assesment was always either far too vague to make sense, so seemingly very straightforward.
 
In Conclusion: 4/5
I thought this would be a series I would drop, but it has turned out to be one of the more fun and interesting of the New 52. If you hate the Legion like me, give this a shot anyways. As the title suggests, this series has "Lost' the Legion, becoming something far superior. And honestly, the big hook is the incredibly deep character insights slowly being built up. That's REALLY impressively done.