Justice League United Annual #1 - The Infinitus Saga Begins!!!

Released September 17, 2014
DC Comics, Color
37 Pages

The Infinitus Saga Part 1 of 5

Jeff Lemire - Writer
Neil Edwards - Penciller
Jay Leisten - Inker
Jeromy Cox - Colorist
Dezi Sienty & Taylor Esposito - Letterers
Amedeo Turturro - Assistant Editor
Brian Cunningham - Editor

Synopsis

Mon-El crashes into the Justice League United HQ in Moosonee, Ontario, where he threatens the being named Ultra, who is guarded by Martian Manhunter, Equinox and Alanna Strange. If the child is not destroyed, the Legion will die! J'Onn immediately starts to fight Mon-El. Alanna tries to hold Mon-El at gunpoint, when she vanishes and Adam Strange unexpectedly takes her place.  He picks up the gun and tries to shoot Mon-El, but he easily overpowers Adam.  Equinox temporarily freezes Mon-el as she gets Adam up to speed on where the rest of the team is (outer space). Mon escapes and again threatens to kill Ultra.

Meanwhile, the rest of the JLU is in the Polaris system tracking down Hawkman's signal, concerned that someone stole his dead body. Supergirl, Stargirl, Animal Man and Green Arrow stumble into a Bounty Hunter bar where a brawl ensues and Animal Man realizes that the entire away team is blonde. They quickly track down the person who has Hawkman's tracker and get the location and identity of the real thief - Byth the shapeshifter.

Back on Earth, Mon explains that he's not a killer, but the future is at stake if Ultra lives. Alanna reappears in Adam's place, confusing Mon-El, and Manhunter rejoins the attack on Mon and knocks him out. Manhunter tries to read Mon-El's mind but is blocked by the arrival of Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5 and Phantom Girl of the Legion! Brainy wants to leverage a more diplomatic approach versus Mon-El's fists. 

We get a quick update of what is transpiring - in the 31st century, a time rift in the Polaris system is growing in the future, consuming Thanagar, Rann and is approaching Earth. It is caused by a being called Infinitus, who is the evolved version of Ultra. The Legion has been unable to stop the Infinitus rampage in the 31st century with Shadow Lass being severely injured, so this away team came back into the past to stop Ultra from becoming Infinitus. 

The rest of the JLU arrives on the moon of Ryngor to track down Hawkman. Buddy(Animal Man) calls home via Zeta Beam tech to check on things while Supergirl and Green Arrow investigate. In the middle of Buddy's call home, Byth attacks as a multi-tentacled being with a squad of minions in support. A brainwashed Hawkman, working for Byth, attacks the JLU.  

Back on Earth, Imra and Tinya settle Mon down by letting him know that Shadow Lass is just in a coma, not dead, and that he rushed back into the past. Brainy offers a solution - solve the Infinitus crisis within 24 hours, or the entire Legion comes to the 21st century to eliminate Ultra. They are interrupted by Green Arrow communicating from Ryngor in the middle of the battle with Byth, who is also after Ultra.

The communication ends and we go back to the other team to see Hawkman and Green Arrow duking it out. Byth has transformed into a giant reptilian creature and the battle is everywhere. Supergirl hits Byth so hard that he transforms back to his humanoid state. Byth then reveals all - he is the leader of the church of the Infinite, and he engineered the war between Thanagar and Rann, and created Ultra himself. On Earth, Byth's minions approach the JLU bunker. 

In space, the anomaly opens up.  On Earth Byth's minions attack. 

Commentary

Alright, so now we finally get to start the REAL Infinitus Saga story!  Thanks for being patient as I caught up on things and read the backstory.  

So I'll just say this up front - Its amazing to see the Legion here, but it's a mixed bag.  The Legion stuff is mostly good, but let's just get into the good and bad.  WHat's good?

Top of line, the art here is just wonderful. Edward/Leisten/Cox do a fantastic job of making dynamic, colorful panels that convey a lot of action.  The characters have distinct difference - not an easy thing to do when you have a lot of characters in a cast like this. The aliens looked alien, the Legionnaires looked great, and the new villains helping out Byth look really interesting.  Indeed, Byth himself looks really creepy in almost every form he's drawn in. I'm looking forward to more of this!

It's also great to see the Legion both in the away team we see here as well as the flashback of the entire team together. Interestingly, the Legion that we are shown in the hero shot appears to be the Pre-New 52 Legion/pre-Legion Lost vol 2 Legion, as we see Gates and Dawnstar in the lineup, and we know both of those characters are in the 21st century. 

The overall plot of leading to Ultra as being Infinitus was decently done, as the mystery of Hawkman being a) resurrected and b) controlled by Byth adding depth to the current mystery.  The main problem around this was the character of Buddy, whom I guess is here to be the "jokey guy."  The constant quips, for me anyway, got in the way of the story, not to mention the "Hey we're the blond crew" comments. I get that they are trying to have the one guy to be the class clown, but it needs to be toned down a notch.  Similarly, the conflict between Green Arrow and Supergirl seemed forced.

From a Legion perspective, Mon-El didn't work for me here. Does he get angry?  Yes.  Is he a hothead that will rush into the past and immediately threaten to kill someone?  I don't really think so, even if his lover/wife had been critically injured. So this part just didn't feel right, as did the battle with Martian Manhunter. I don't know about a Martian being able to take down a full powered Daxamite, yet another aspect of this that didn't feel correct. 

But hey, I'm mainly splitting hairs here.  This is a great first issue of an arc, it's extra long since it's an annual, and it has lots of Legion.  Solid B+ here for a start!