Justice League United #10 - The Infinitus Saga Concludes! Hopefully we get to see this Legion again!

 

Released March 11, 2015
DC Comics, Color
27 Pages

The Infinitus Saga: Conclusion

Jeff Lemire - Writer
Neil Edwards - Penciler
Jay Leisten & Keith Champagne - Inkers
Jeromy Cox - Colorist
Travis Lanham - Letterer
Amedo Turturro - Assistant Editor
Brian Cunningham - Group Editor

Synopsis

Everything's gone to hell, as Brainy's missile created a black hole meant for Infinitus to absorb. Byth goes nuts and attacks Colossal Boy/Lad (who shrugs off the attack) and Equinox, who is dragged into the singularity. Stargirl goes after her and blats Byth, who descends into the maelstrom as Supergirl flies out and pulls Stargirl and Equinox away. But all is not yet safe - Star Boy and Cosmic Boy are doing their best to contain the situation to an extent, but Thanagar itself is at risk.

With that knowledge, Hawkman flies down to Thanagar and urges a planetary evacuation. Dream Girl sees a situation where they need to move Thanagar itself. Brainy freaks out and orders Sardath to get all Raan ships with Zeta tech to each pole of Thanagar. Brainy asks White Witch to cast a previously used spell (against Universo, no less) to spread out the Zeta energy. 

The operation works, and now Raan and Thanagar are in the same orbit. Brainy frets about coming back in time to his journal but is interrupted by Supergirl.  He muses whether his fate with her has changed. Brainy and Dreamy spar a bit - apparently Brainy was leader and Dreamy was deputy? But he wants to cede leadership to her. 

Dawnstar says goodbye to Equinox, saying she was an inspiration to Dawnstar growing up. Ultra, in a stasis tube, will go back to the 31st century with the Legion. Brainy has solved the Zeta beam paradox with Adam and Alanna Strange and reunites them on Earth. 

After goodbyes, the Legion returns to the 31st century, while the JLU returns to their Canadian HQ (outside to let the Stranges get... strange?). TheJLU team goes their separate ways for now. 

In the distant past, Byth arrives and begins his schemes on prehistoric Thanagar...

THE END

Commentary

I noted on Bluesky that when this issue starts, the Saga is shown at being a *5* part series, but at issue #8, this shifts to a *6* part series.  When reading this, I noticed that there is no roll call - we just jump right into the action here, and I wonder if this was originally meant to be a special larger issue that ended in part 5, or the office realized that they needed to just make this a regular issue for printing and production (and selling) purposes, and so just chopped the issue into two.  While I don't have major complaints about that, this situation highlights DC's editorial planning issues, which have become more apparent under Dan DiDio's leadership. 

But in a multi-part story, it's fine to start an issue, especially the last issue, in media res, especially if it's an action cliffhanger.  This would be absolutely no problem reading in the trade paperback edition, but this works here as well within the individual issue. There are a few beats that don't really work here for me - Hawkman racing off to help evacuate Thanagar, then barely ever being seen again, Supergirl coming out of the black hole in a bit of a deus ex machina moment.  Hawkman felt shoehorned into the story here just because Thanagar was at risk, but he didn’t really DO anything.  Supergirl’s appearance also didn’t have much of an explanation, she just kind of appeared.  Its challenging to handle all of that with so many characters, and I think the story hit critical mass in that department, so its understandable that a few things don’t land perfectly. 

Otherwise, the book is a lot of fun to read and wraps up the storyline decently. We get to see Dream Girl use her powers in a way that blends elements of all the other versions we have seen - She gets a waking glimpse of the two planets together in the future - and Brainy understands what that means, so a neat blend of the Brainy/Nura combo there. The teleportation of Thanagar via Zeta beam AND White Witch's powers were an interesting touch.  A bit over the top, perhaps, but interesting in a sci-fi way that in true Legion tradition blends both science and magic.  It is interesting that Nura had that planet-boosting spell ready to go.

Other nice little touches as the story wrapped, like Dawnstar fan-girling over Equinox, the reunion of Adam and Alanna, and Brainy and Nura talking about leadership (but apparently Brainy was leader?  I thought Nura was based on what was happening in the 31st century earlier in the story. Hello? Editorial?) We get a nice denouement with the Legion giving their farewells, and the young Justice Leaguers feeling like they are really part of a team now. Byth being sent into the distant past makes an interesting time loop. 

The art in this issue is as it's always been the entire story - extremely good and consistent.  I will say that we get a bit too much of panic Brainy face, as it detracted from the flow of the art for me, but it is what it is.  I'm just glad that we get to see an entire Legion as it's meant to be. 

While I'm on the subject of the Legion, I'm going to reiterate my stance on how it should come back, as of this writing, there is news that the Legion may be returning to DC in some form.  *THIS* is how you do it.  Lemire had the exactly correct idea on how to approach this team.  Bring in the entire team as it's been over the years with all the established characters across the OG and Post Zero Hour series'.  No extreme redesigns, no weird societal backdrops, just tell fun spacey, futuristic, sci-fi stories.  We don't need a full Legion origin again, we just want the Legion back, and in a form that a reader from 1985, 1995 or 2010 can connect with as well as - and especially - new readers. If DC tells great stories with great art and great characters, the books will sell themselves because people will WANT TO READ THEM. I’m not saying this is a Great Darkness Saga by any means, but a new reader can pick that story up and figure out the characters and the story.  

Bring the Legion back like this.  Make it fun to read. Once there are stories under the belt, someone can write a flashback story about how this Kinetix wound up in this Legion and have her be friends with White Witch, for example.  I dunno, get creative with it.  But don't get tied to any continuity OR DC era.  That way madness lies.  I'm looking forward to hearing what comes next.

Grade: A.