Legion of Super-Heroes #8: Now That’s More Like It

One of the biggest issues with Bendis’ LOSH is that his writing stretches things out, taking events that could normally take place over the course of a single issue and making them last six. His instincts for good dialogue and snappy banter has only gotten better over time, but the series has so far been bogged down in non-existent plot movement and sparse action, which is a little easier to overlook when the art is good.
Thankfully, that’s not a problem. Not only does Bendis deliver an issue packed with exciting action (even dynamic talking head scenes) and a good amount of plot, every single page is illustrated by a different artist. It’s a gimmick to get people interested, but when talent of this calibre is involved, it’s impossible to skip.
The conceit to justify using an all-star cast of artists is simple: single page scenes of Legion try-outs, and Chameleon Boy recalling the attack on the Legion by Crav and the Rimborians. The Legion conquers their foes, and the trial hinted at over the last couple of issues is now coming to fruition by the end of the issue.
Comparatively, it’s a much denser read than the series has managed so far.
Every dialogue scene seems to pop more, because it seems Bendis is delivering banter that rises to the level of his collaborators. Every action scene roars off the page, each having an artist that takes chances with their layouts and storytelling choices.
And the desire to push through each page to see the next artist certainly helps keep things lively.
This issue is still somewhat featherweight in terms of its plot, but underneath the old criticisms, there’s something else here: Bendis knows how to write to what his artists are good at. David Mack gets a full painted splash page that could have easily been a variant cover. Darick Robertson gets a bloody and violent page. And Dan Hipp gets a page that just looks cool, with his cartoony style mismatch managing to work.
Overall, there’s not much more to say—Bellaire’s colors and Sharpe’s letters help keep things unified (the only other artists with color credits are Evan “Doc” Shaner and David Mack). This was a sorely needed shot of energy for the series, and maybe things will stay this exciting.