Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5

Book Five

Geoff Johns – Writer
George Pérez – Pencils
Scott Koblish – Inker
Hi-Fi – Colorist
Nick Napolitano – Letters
Adam Schlagman – Assoc. Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor
Cover: George Pérez & Nei Ruffino
Sliver Cover: George Pérez & Ruffino

Our main cover features Dawnstar, which I find to be an unusual choice for the finale of this miniseries. Not to discount Dawnstar, but I don't consider her to be as essential to the Legion as Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl and Brainiac 5. Regardless, it is a very pretty cover.

Confession time: This whole series I thought this was called the "Silver Cover," which never made any sense. Today I finally realized it's the "Sliver Cover," which makes a whole lot more sense. I could go back and fix my mistake on the past reviews, but I'll leave them up as a monument to my stupidity. Anyway, this sliver cover puts the spotlight on Superboy, recently revived from the dead. I'm glad Kon's getting some love, but this image is a bit underwhelming. I'd like something brighter, something happier.

Our story begins at the end of time, where the Time Trapper is still attacking Superman, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl. Meanwhile, in the 31st Century, Time Trapper's younger self, Superboy-Prime, is trying to kill Conner with a big chunk of ice. Conner makes fun of Prime for his weak attempt at a "death blow," which makes Prime start stuttering about how he was going to do something way cooler. Conner says he doesn't know how or why he's here, but he does remember dying in Wonder Girl's arms. So Conner now wants revenge against the one who forced Cassie to watch her boyfriend die.

Conner worries that Prime had hurt Cassie, but Prime cowardly confesses he didn't. He quickly catches himself, though, and tries to threaten that he will fly back in time to punch Cassie in the face, lamely adding that a punch to her ugly face would be an improvement. As Prime takes way too long to explain his stupid joke, Sodam Yat hits him from behind with the full force of the Green Lantern Corps. Bart and Jenni are right behind him, and Bart can't help but ask Conner how sweet this reunion is. Conner asks if Bart wants to say their old battle cry, and Bart admits he's been dying to. And as they hit Prime again, Bart shouts, "Titans together!"

Prime angrily starts to fly away, complaining that Conner isn't Superboy, but Super Annoying. Demanding to know who found the clone, Prime eventually spots Dawnstar and blames her for using her tracking powers to bring everyone here (he's not entirely wrong). Dawnstar's boyfriend, Wildfire, flies in front of Prime, absorbing the full blow of his attack, creating a large explosion. As Dawnstar and Wildfire's counterpart from another world repair his containment suit, Conner quickly begins punching Prime again. This time, Prime promises to actually go back in time and break Cassie, just like he broke Conner.

Conner says he wants to rip that smirk off Prime's face, but he realizes Prime isn't worth hating, and he even admits he feels sorry for Prime. But Conner does insist that Prime stop wearing the "S" and he uses his heat vision to blast a line across Prime's "S" scar. Prime cries that his logo has been ruined, but this has far more important repercussions in the future. At the end of time, Time Trapper's scar suddenly gains the Conner-inflicted mark. Saturn Girl manages to contact the Adult Brainiac 5, asking him what this means. Adult Brainy hypothesizes that Time Trapper may have seen one potential future where the Legion lost today, but he must have seen a dozen others where the Legion won, and he can't possibly differentiate between them all. In fact, Adult Brainy, theorizes, the Time Trapper has probably always merely been a sentient alternate timeline rebelling against theirs, as his own history and even his identity changes as the true timeline marches on. Adult Brainiac 5 then formulates a plan and asks Saturn Girl to weaken Time Trapper as much as they can.

So Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy combine their powers to send out one massive distress call to the end of time. If there were any Legionnaires who were absent in this story so far, they're here now, as dozens of heroes answer the call. Everybody who has ever been a Legionnaire, honorary or otherwise, is here now. Even Supergirl and the Super Pets. Meanwhile, the White Witch finally defeats Mordru by absorbing all his magic powers, but this causes her to become the Black Witch. Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl/Duo Damsel make an appearance, but now she can make an unlimited number of copies of herself, and is calling herself Duplicate Damsel.

Finally, the Time Trapper is knocked unconscious, so Adult Brainiac 5 has Gates open a portal to bring him back to the 31st Century. Just as the Time Trapper wakes up, he finds himself face-to-face with his younger self. Prime doesn't believe that Trapper is himself, saying he'll never get old and wrinkly and grow a beard. Trapper tells Prime to shut up and listen to him, since he's smarter, but Prime refuses to take orders from this "grandpa." As they argue, Adult Brainiac 5 advises everyone to keep their distance.

Trapper is shocked to see how stupid his younger self is, and Prime prepares to punch Trapper's dentures through the back of his skull. Trapper tries to warn Prime to stay away, but Prime doesn't listen. As he punches his older self, he creates a weird, blue, reality-alternating blast. Everyone can only stand by horrified (except for the Other Brainiac 5, who calls him an idiot), as the Time Trapper and Superboy-Prime fade away from existence. Prime calls out for help, but no one can do anything. Soon, all that's left is the Time Trapper's ragged purple cloak.

Now that the battle is finally over, Superman gets a chance to embrace Conner, who jokes about having a stiff neck after being in that chrysalis for a thousand years. Clark says Ma Kent is going to be thrilled, and Conner looks at Bart, saying a lot of people will be. Bart, meanwhile, is trying to convince Jenni to come back to the past with him, saying he feels something different, which he thinks means Max Mercury is back. (Sadly, because of publication delays, we know Bart was feeling the return of his grandfather, Barry Allen, and not Max.)

Some Legionnaires are understandably worried that they broke their most important code and killed Superboy-Prime. But the Brainiacs explain that when Time Trapper interfaced with himself, he altered the history of him becoming the Time Trapper in the first place and ceased to exist. Adult Brainy describes this event as "hitting a giant cosmic reset button," which he believes caused enough trauma to Prime's body to leave him powerless. And for now, he's essentially under "house arrest."

We see that Superboy-Prime has awoken on Earth-Prime. Once again, he's entirely naked except for a thin rag conveniently keeping him modest. And to his astonishment, Prime came to right in front of his house. He gleefully runs back in to see his parents and girlfriend, whom he thought died a long time ago. But his girlfriend, Lori, runs away from Prime in terror, fleeing out the back door. Prime's dad darkly shows his son that they've been reading this very comic series, including the Sinestro Corps War and Infinite Crisis. Prime's family knows exactly what he's done, and they are both disgusted and horrified by him.

Back in the 31st Century, all the heroes stick around for a week to clean up the damage their battle caused and rebuild the prison planet. They hold a memorial for all the heroes killed in the fight, and Sodam Yat begins sending the Green Lantern rings across the universe to find new members of the Corps. And the Brainiacs set to work on sending everyone home. Superman asks the Adult Brainy how Prime was sent back to his Earth if it was destroyed in Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Adult Brainy explains that Earth-Prime was reborn during Infinite Crisis. He says this became obvious when the Element Lad of the "Other Legion" was able to make kryptonite that affected Prime. The "Other Legion" is from Earth-Prime. "Our Legion" (the Legion we've interacted with the most on this blog) is from Earth-247, which was not reborn during Infinite Crisis.

So the Legion of Earth-Prime prepares to head back home, given strict instructions to keep an eye on Superboy-Prime. And the Legion of Earth-247 decides to venture out into the Multiverse to look for other people like themselves who are stranded without a world. Bart again asks Jenni to come with him to see Wally and their grandma Iris, but Jenni decides to stay behind. Even though her parents (and Bart's) left this world because of the Reverse-Flash, Jenni wants to look for any remaining relatives here.

With everyone's fate decided, the three Brainiacs build two Cosmic Treadmills attached to large platforms for each Legion (although the Brainiacs do have to have one last argument about who deserves the most credit for this). With Jenni powering one treadmill and Bart powering the other, everyone cries out, "Long live the Legion!" as they disappear in a flash of light. Now that everything is finally back to normal, Adult Brainiac 5 takes off for a long overdo haircut.

In the present day, in the Teen Titans Tower in San Francisco, we see Nightwing, Raven, Robin, Supergirl, Wonder Girl, Donna Troy, Roy Harper, Beast Boy, Starfire, Cyborg and Wally West. Apparently Superman had asked them all to meet there, but didn't tell them why. Before too long, Superman makes his dramatic entrance, presenting the revived Conner and Bart. Wally says, "Ohmygod." Conner casually greets the stunned faces with, "'Sup?" Bart cheerfully adds, "Hi, guys!" Cassie, in disbelief, asks Conner if he's really back, and with a massive grin, he says, "Isn't it cool?" Conner and Cassie quickly embrace, and Wally is the first to hug Bart.

We then leave that happy scene to return to Earth-Prime. Unfortunately, Prime has decided to use his parents' fear of him to bully them into acting as his personal servants — ironing his Superman T-shirts and preparing him grilled cheese sandwiches. But no tomato soup, since he hates vegetables. Prime also ominously hints at some horrible fate that befell Lori. Prime spends his time reading comics in the basement, and complaining about how stupid they are. As he reaches the end of this issue, he turns and yells at the reader, saying he was supposed to be the real Superboy and that he's not going away. He then logs on to the internet to continue his war against stories he hates. But while he types out his trolling comments of disgust, his eyes begin to glow red, indicating that his powers have returned.




What a phenomenal series. And I'm not even a huge Legion fan! But it was incredible seeing all these characters come together for one massive battle. Everyone's here, and everyone has something to do. And even though we had to wait quite a while for Pérez to finish his work, at the end of the day, the story is so much stronger to have the same penciller and the same inker on each and every page. This is truly one of the most impressive achievements we've seen on this blog.

It probably isn't the most natural thing to have Bart and Kon be revived in a Legion story, but they both have had their fair share of adventures with the Legionnaires. But more importantly than that, this is the story of Superboy-Prime's defeat, and such a story could not be told without the two heroes he hates and fears the most. Fittingly, Prime was the one who actually defeated himself, but that wouldn't have been possible without the psychological trauma of Kid Flash and Superboy haunting him from beyond the grave.

And what a poetic ending for Prime. He's finally given everything he ever wanted. He gets to go back home and be the world's only superhero. But his past actions have tainted his arrival, and his mind is too warped to progress past the whiny brat that won't eat his vegetables. Despite this opportunity to start with a clean slate, Prime chooses to remain embittered and lash out against the universe that rejected him in his own impotent way. Like so many internet trolls, Prime is unable to understand that change is a constant in the world of comics. And just because things change, that doesn't negate or diminish any of the old stories. And if you don't like the new stuff? So what? Don't be a jerk about it online.

So now Bart is finally, truly back! Granted, he's still Kid Flash, and we'll have to wait another 10 years before he gets to be Impulse again, but we'll still try to have fun with his second run in the yellow suit. For the meantime, let's check out the new ads:

The Soul. A new way to roll. Kia.

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MattyCollector.com. Exclusive toys, news and more!

Splat. Rebellious colors. Long lasting, semi permanent hair paint.

The DC Nation page is Dan DiDio talking about how Orange County, Florida, recognized George Pérez for his accomplishments in the field of comics and with the Heroes Initiative charity.

We have a five-page preview of Adventure Comics #1, which we will review in due time, as Kid Flash does make a cameo in it.

Knowing and Push on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II on DVD.

Next time, we'll return to The Flash: Rebirth #4.

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #4

Book Four

Geoff Johns – Writer
George Pérez – Pencils
Scott Koblish – Inker
Hi-Fi – Colorist
Nick Napolitano – Letters
Adam Schlagman – Asst. Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor
Cover: George Pérez & Tom Smith
Silver Cover: George Pérez & Hi-Fi

Our main cover features the adult Brainiac 5. But unlike the past two covers of this miniseries, we don't get small images of the other two Brainiac 5s here. Instead, we get an exciting glimpse of the figure that has been contained inside Brainiac 5's lightning rod since Justice League of America #10. I love that Pérez chose to highlight the plot of Bart Allen's return rather than displaying the other versions of Brainiac 5. I also enjoy this cover a lot more than the others Pérez did in this style, confirming my suspicion that it was the coloring job of those previous covers that I didn't like.

I do not own the variant cover of this issue (this was the lone installment I was able to find the main cover for at my local comic shop), so I took this image from MyComicShop.com. Unfortunately, I think Pérez tried to cram too much action into this tiny space. It is nice to see Bart and Jenni in action, but I can't quite tell what they're supposed to be doing amidst all this chaos.

Our story begins in the present day in Metropolis. Starman, a mentally ill Legionnaire, who was left behind in the 21st Century, enters a graveyard in Metropolis in the middle of the night and begins digging up the grave of someone named Kent. This is a crucial element of the third stage of Brainiac 5's plan. Back in the 31st Century, the battle against the Legion of Super-Villains continues in the streets of Metropolis, while the Legion Headquarters is engulfed in lightning heralding the arrival of our beloved Bart.

Bart immediately begins pounding on Superboy-Prime, mocking him for being so scared by the return of the fastest boy alive, Kid Flash. Prime retaliates with some blasts of heat vision, but he's unable to hit Bart, and is unable to prevent himself from stuttering as he says Bart got "old and dumber," became the Flash and was killed by the Rogues. Bart joyfully dodges Prime's attacks and says the Rogues tried — he guesses. Jenni is so excited to see her cousin again, she runs right through Superboy-Prime and gives Bart a big hug. Bart says it's nice to be "lightning out of a bottle" and he quotes the Genie from Disney's Aladdin about having "phenomenal cosmic power," but "itty-bitty living space." Superboy-Prime interrupts this touching reunion by shouting, "Dodge this, Impuke!" But Bart holds his ground and confidently says, "You first," as the various lightning-wielders blast Prime from behind.

With Prime momentarily immobilized, Kid Flash and XS begin racing around him to push him up with a whirlwind. Adult Brainiac 5 explains to the others what just happened, while Bart tries to answer Jenni's questions. Brainy says they have just reconstituted a part of Barry Allen's grandson. Bart tells Jenni that he "kinda" died. He starts explaining by going back to his first fight against Superboy-Prime, where Bart became entangled in the Speed Force. Brainy says Bart's aging was once again accelerated artificially at that point. Bart says he remembers the exact moment the Rogues attacked and he lost his speed. But then it was like an out-of-body experience, as the lightning pulled his spirit away, Bart saw the adult part of him die.

Adult Brainiac 5 theorizes that if he hadn't sent a team of Legionnaires back in time to bottle up Bart's youth, then regardless of the Rogues' attack, Bart would have died within a month of old age. The younger Brainiac 5s joke about how this means the adult part of Bart was like a cancer — as it is with everyone. Adult Brainy doesn't appreciate the joke, and he goes on to explain that he knew to prepare for this because Dream Girl saw a vision of Bart Allen's return and Superboy-Prime's attack.

Bart and Jenni's whirlwind manages to lift Prime up and out of the Legion Headquarters, and Bart tells Jenni he's never felt so fast before. Jenni says she also feels the surge in the Speed Force, and she asks Bart what he thinks it means. Bart hopefully suggests that Max Mercury is running right next to him. Prime shouts that when he gets his hands on Bart, he's toast. Bart retorts, "With jelly," and he and Jenni take the fight outside. Adult Brainiac 5 says Kid Flash, XS and the Legion will keep Prime unfocused for the moment, giving him time to attend to the third and final stage of his plan.

Sodam Yat hits Prime with a big blast of Green Lantern energy, and Bart follows that up with a whirlwind around Prime's head to take away his air. Prime can only whine, "S-stop, Speed J-jerks —" Bart then becomes distracted by the arrival of Superman, which he thinks is pretty cool. Superman is surprised to see Bart and asks if this is a result of time travel, but Lightning Lad explains that Brainiac 5 has apparently brought Kid Flash back from the dead. Superman then turns his attention to Prime, once again asking him what his parents would say to all the destruction he's caused. Prime says it doesn't matter, since his parents are dead. Superman says that even thought they're dead, they're still watching. Suddenly, an enormous purple fist reaches down from the sky and grabs Superman, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl. Other Legionnaires recognizes this as the Time Trapper, but they're unable to rescue their teammates before the fist disappears.

The Time Trapper took those four crucial heroes to the end of time to "witness the fall of the Superman dynasty." But nobody left behind knows that, and a magical powered hero named Kinetix attacks Superboy-Prime, demanding to know where the Time-Trapper took those four. Kid Flash tries to warn Kinetix that Prime isn't vulnerable to magic, but he's too late, and Prime kills her with a blast of heat vision. This is third Legionnaire that Prime has personally killed, and he's met with a swift, passionate response from our heroes. One of the Element Lads turns all the rocks around Prime into kryptonite, and to the surprise of Prime and Bart, the kryptonite actually hurts Prime — a lot. Prime swiftly kills Element Lad by throwing a kryptonite rock through his heart, and Cosmic King quickly heals Prime by converting the kryptonite radiation in him into yellow sunlight.

The evil sorcerer Mordru then receives a vision of the future, and he warns Prime that the Legionnaires are going to win unless he destroys Superman's Fortress of Solitude right now. So Prime immediately flies toward the North Pole, which Bart notices and calls out for everyone to follow him north. Meanwhile, the three Brainiac 5s (and a couple of other Legionnaires) are impatiently waiting for the three Legionnaires to return from the past. Adult Brainiac 5 claims they're late, but Other Brainiac 5 says the adult's internal clock is running fast because he's panicking. He tries to call the moment the time-travelers will return, but he's also too soon. But Our Brainiac 5 is able to correctly anticipate the exact moment the time sphere returns and Polar Boy presents them with a fresh strand of Lex Luthor's hair. Our Brainy asks what the hair is for, and Adult Brainy asks if he's ever read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Other Brainy decries that as a book for children, and Our Brainy complains that it's incomplete — he apparently followed it step-by-step with little success. Adult Brainy laments that his younger doppelgängers are missing the point — that with the right amount of genius and a touch of perceived insanity, science can conquer anything.

Luckily, Superboy-Prime's ego prevented him from flying straight to the Fortress, as he insisted on blasting another massive "S" into the ground with his heat vision — a fact picked up by Bart, while he and Jenni were following Prime. This diversion gives Sodam Yat time to catch up and put a helmet over Prime's eyes. Inside the Fortress, Adult Brainiac 5 explains that he had Starman bury a Kryptonian Chrysalis here a thousand years ago. He has Light Lass pull it out of the ice, and he says this is the same device that regenerated Superman after his battle with Doomsday. But whereas the chamber took only a few months to heal Superman from those wounds, in this case, the healing process has taken over a thousand years, and it still isn't complete. Adult Brainiac 5 inserts the Lex Luthor hair into the Chrysalis, saying this fresh human D.N.A. will finish the other half of the healing. But now he needs to carefully select the correct crystal to complete the process. Other Brainiac 5 insists he can choose the right one, citing his experience with Supergirl, but Adult Brainy warns "Baby Brainiac" that if he so much as taps the wrong crystal, he'll trigger a complete meltdown.

But while they were arguing, Superboy-Prime broke free from Sodam Yat and threw all the nearby heroes (including Kid Flash and XS) through the ice and into the cavern under the Fortress, causing a minor collapse that conveniently knocks out the Brainiac 5s, but leaves Polar Boy, Dawnstar and Wildfire still standing. Polar Boy heads out to hold off Prime, which he tries to do by freezing every drop of water in Prime's blood. But that doesn't slow him down long, and Prime is just about to kill Polar Boy before Sun Boy arrives in the nick of time. Inside the cavern, Dawnstar and Wildfire finally express their love for each other, which somehow sparks Dawnstar's power to find the right path and choose the correct crystal. Bart is naturally the first one to recover from being knocked out, and once he sees what's happening, he excitedly exclaims, "NO WAY."

Superboy-Prime says he'll surrender to Sun Boy and Polar Boy, but then knocks them down by clapping his hands at super speed. As he laughs at how he was "totally being sarcastic," Dawnstar and Wildfire join the fight outside. Wildfire tells Prime he's in for it now, since they just got another Superman on their team. Prime looks up and weakly says, "Not him too." And on a big, two-page spread, Conner Kent punches Prime, while telling Wildfire to call him Superboy.

Superman sees this from the end of time, and he proudly tells the Time-Trapper that even though he doesn't know how or why Superboy and Kid Flash are back, he knows that with them fighting alongside the Legions of three worlds, Superboy-Prime doesn't stand a chance. He begins attacking the Time-Trapper, and rips off his cloak while Conner rips off Prime's shirt. In a neat, split image, we see that Time-Trapper really is an older version of Superboy-Prime, and he confidently tells Superman that even though Conner is back, the Legion is destined to lose.




What a terrific issue. Bart is back and is leading the charge against one of the most powerful beings in the universe. And now his old friend, Superboy, is back! The drama of choosing the right crystal was kind of lame, but Superboy's return was still pretty exciting. And the way he was brought back makes enough sense for me — let Kryptonian technology work on him for a thousand years, then add some fresh human D.N.A. at the end to complete the process. Bart's return, though, is a little more complicated.

Ultimately, this feels like Geoff Johns wanting to have his cake and eat it, too. He wanted Bart back, but not as the adult version nobody really liked, nor as his original Impulse version that Johns never really liked. So he used some convenient comic book science to say Brainiac 5 "bottled up" Bart's youth, letting his "adult self" die. This really doesn't make any sense. And the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. It especially becomes confusing when Bart says he remembers that final battle and being killed. Does this mean he remembers the whole year he spent as a 20-year-old? Does he remember drinking alcohol and having sex and all that stuff? Is Bart essentially an adult trapped in the body of a teenager now? These are questions that will never properly be answered. And that might be primarily because Bart's sudden aging from 16 to 20 was never properly explained to begin with. So, I guess all we can really do is sit back and enjoy the ride. Kid Flash is back, for better or worse.

Despite that, this is another incredible issue in this miniseries. Tremendous artwork. Great action. And I absolutely love watching the three Brainiac 5s bicker among themselves. Now let's check out the new ads:

Nothing hits harder than vengeance! The Spirit on DVD and Blu-Ray.

War. Perfected. KillZone 3 on PlayStation 3.

The fate of the world is in your hands. Dragonball Evolution on PSP.

Do you have an eye for design? If you're an aspiring graphic designer, this is your chance ... 2009 Design Scholarship Challenge.

DC Nation talks about the upcoming Wednesday Comics, which we will be taking a peak at before too long.

A five-page preview of The Last Days of Animal Man.

Beware of the darkest waters ... Vampirates: Black Heart.

Next time, we'll begin another massive miniseries that just couldn't wait for this one to end — Flash: Rebirth #1.

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3

Book Three

Geoff Johns – Writer
George Pérez – Pencils
Scott Koblish – Inker
Hi-Fi – Colorist
Nick Napolitano – Letters
Adam Schlagman – Assoc. Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor
Cover: George Pérez & Dave McCaig
Silver Cover: George Pérez & Hi-Fi

Our main cover features Cosmic Boy, with the two other Cosmic Boys appearing in the magnetic force fields coming from his hands. It's the same idea Pérez used with Lightning Lad on the first issue of this miniseries, and once again, the end result just feels off. Perhaps it's McCaig's coloring, perhaps it's Pérez trying something different. Whatever the case, it just doesn't look that great.

Our variant cover is a tease to a subplot we don't care that much about. Essentially, it's two Legionnaires convincing the galaxy's last surviving Green Lantern, Sodam Yat, to end his life of exile and help them battle Superboy-Prime and the Legion of Super-Villains. I suppose this is a fine cover for the cramped space Pérez had to work with.

We skipped the second issue of this 5-part miniseries, but we really didn't miss too much, as far as this blog is concerned. Basically, all we need to know is Superboy-Prime has freed all the villains of the 30th century and is leading them on an all-out assault on Metropolis. To combat this threat, the Legion of Super-Heroes has recruited two alternate versions of themselves, so we now have three separate Legions to deal with. The "main" Legion of this Earth that is coordinating everything, are all adults, while the other two Legions are still teenagers. Of those two teenage Legions, we only recognize one of them — the Legion that includes Bart's cousin, XS, and had several adventures with Impulse and later Kid Flash before being lost into a void of emptiness at the end of the Teen Titans/Legion Special. I'm going to call them "Our Legion." The "Other Legion" are also teenagers and share a lot of similarities with their counterparts, but we don't have any history with them. And I'll call the main Legion the "Adult Legion," so hopefully this doesn't become too confusing.

Anyway, let's pick up with Superboy-Prime attacking the Daily Planet in a vain effort to destroy everything connected to Superman. Our Superman from the 21st Century, attacks Prime from behind, puts him in a head lock, and covers Prime's eyes with his hand to prevent him from using his heat vision. Superman still wants to try to redeem Prime, so he begins calling him Clark and urges him to remember his supportive adoptive parents from Earth-Prime and his best friend, Laurie. Superman asks Prime to consider what they would say if they saw him acting this way. But all this only makes Prime angrier, and he manages to shoot a blast of heat vision through Superman's hand.

The fighting continues to grow more chaotic in the streets, and it seems like the Adult Legion is about to be defeated, until the Adult Brainiac 5 arrives with the two other Legions, shouting, "Long live the Legion!" Our Brainiac 5 is supportive of his adult counterpart, but the Other Brainy has a cynical view of adults and often chastises his his teenage doppelgänger for sucking up to the Adult Brainiac 5. The combined might of the three Legions is able to turn the tide of the battle for the moment, but the Adult Brainiac 5 explains that the war against Superboy-Prime is as psychological as it is physical. Bringing the three Legions together was just the first stage of his three-stage plan. For the second stage, Adult Brainiac 5 requests all the lightning wielders to follow him back to the clubhouse. For stage three, he has sent three Legionnaires back to Smallville in the 20th Century to collect a single hair from a young Lex Luthor.

The three Brainiac 5s gather at the clubhouse with all the Lightning Lads and Lasses, as well as XS, who says she has the strangest feeling of deja vu. Adult Brainiac 5 says that's to be expected, as XS wasn't born on the recently destroyed Earth-247 like her teammates, but she was born on this Earth, the keystone to the multiverse. He leads Jenni over to the Cosmic Treadmill, which is placed in front of a couple of portraits of Barry Allen and his wife, Iris, as well as two statues of the Tornado Twins, Don and Dawn Allen. Adult Brainy plays a video showing how Barry and Iris retreated to the 30th century to start a family. They had twins, Don and Dawn, who married Meloni Thawne and Jeven Ognats, respectively, giving birth to Bart Allen and Jenni Ognats.

But after Barry went back to the 20th Century and disappeared while fighting the Anti-Monitor, his greatest rival, Eobard Thawne, traveled to the 30th Century to attack the Tornado Twins. So Don and Dawn modified the Cosmic Treadmill and loaded up their families as passengers behind them as they attempted to run away to a parallel world. But Professor Zoom sabotaged the treadmill, causing an explosion that tore open the multiverse, resulting in three Legions from three different worlds being pulled together. Professor Zoom apparently had an army of "speed soldiers" with him at the time, but they were all defeated by the three Legions.

The three Brainiac 5s worked together to send everyone back to their proper world, except for the Tornado Twins and their families, who stayed hidden on Earth-247. However, Don and Dawn were killed shortly after this adventure. But Jenni and Bart remained safe and were reunited with their grandmother Iris. And Adult Brainiac 5 says that Iris watched both Bart and Jenni age to teenagers in days. Jenni is shocked by this information overload, and asks Adult Brainiac 5 why he's the only one who remembers it. Our Brainiac 5 (and Jenni's) hypothesizes that the turmoil of the event erased it from everyone's mind, but the mental capacity of an adult Brainiac 5 would somehow be able to retain this information.

The Other Brainiac 5, however, calls this story "completely illogical," pointing out that his Legion has interacted with Supergirl in the past, implying they can't be from a different world. But Adult Brainiac 5 explains that when people travel through time, they often shift into the multiverse, and actually end up on a parallel world. So even though the Legion we knew and loved during Final Night and all those adventures were interacting with our world, they were really from Earth-247. The Other Brainiac 5 asks Adult Brainy which Earth his Legion is from, and Adult Brainy says it's an Earth that is vital to this war, but he declines to elaborate. He then turns to Jenni, telling her bad things have happened to the Flash family since she last saw her cousin, and now it's time for her to help them. Adult Brainiac 5 shows Jenni his lightning rod and says all she has to do is run.

Meanwhile, the Cosmic Boys manage to take off Superboy-Prime's armor to make him vulnerable to red sunlight again. But the evil Saturn Queen managed to read the Adult Brainiac 5's mind, and she warns Prime that the Legionnaires are working to bring "him" back. Prime panics and begins stuttering, saying, "N-n-no. Not him! I won't let them bring back HIM!!" One of the Sun Boys hits Prime with some red sunlight, but Prime angrily fights through the pain and freezes Sun Boy's head, killing him. Prime tries to head for the Legion Headquarters, but he's stopped by Sodam Yat. However, the rest of the villains notice a surge of lightning emanating from the clubhouse, so they all begin working on breaking through the force field set up by the Brainiac 5s.

Inside the headquarters, Adult Brainiac 5 restores the powers of one of Lightning Lads with the "living lightning" in his lightning rod. This gives him five lightning wielders to surround XS on the treadmill and one Light Lass to control Jenni's weight. As XS runs, the Speed Force begins to break down around her and the laws of physics come into play, meaning the faster she runs, the heavier she gets. So Light Lass has to counteract that to prevent XS from becoming a singularity that will rip open the universe. As XS approaches light speed, Adult Brainiac 5 orders the five lightning wielders to pour lightning into the treadmill and the lightning rod attached to it.

Superboy-Prime breaks free of Sodam Yat's chain and begins to smash his way through the Legion's force field. As he pounds away, a voice from the lightning rod calls out, "Hello?" XS says she can hear the Speed Force reaching out for her, but the voice says, "That's not the Speed Force, Jenni — it's me." There's a big explosion of lightning on the treadmill, and Jenni falls off, exhausted from her run. Superboy-Prime finally breaks through the force field and heads toward our heroes, saying, "He's just a stupid kid! He doesn't matter!" The lightning around the treadmill begins to take a humanoid shape, saying, "Hi, guys! Man, do I feel better."

Adult Brainiac 5 tosses a ring at the lightning, and a human hand catches it, releasing the Kid Flash uniform inside. As Superboy-Prime approaches, he begs himself to not be scared now. But once he turns the corner, he can't help but scream at the sight of Bart Allen saying, "Boo."

BART IS BACK!

Almost two years after being killed as the Flash, Bart Allen has been brought back to life. But he's not that mopey 20-year-old anymore — he's the more light-hearted and fun 16-year-old Kid Flash. (Not as fun as the 14-year-old Impulse, though, but beggars can't be choosers.) It's a very exciting — and confusing — development that we'll get more into next issue. But for the main takeaway of this issue, I found it highly satisfying that Superboy-Prime completely lost his mind at the mere idea of Bart returning. Prime absolutely loathes Superboy and carries an intense hatred for all things Superman. But Prime is only truly afraid of one hero — our beloved Bart Allen. As Kid Flash, Bart handed Prime his first real defeat by carrying him off to the Speed Force. Prime was able to immediately break free of the Phantom Zone, but it took him a bit longer to escape from the Speed Force. This gave him a general fear of all speedsters, but Bart holds a special place in Prime's deepest fears. And I think that's because of the pure courage Bart demonstrated by continuing to run forward even after Jay and Wally fell away. Bart was clearly outmatched, and he wouldn't have been able to accomplish this task without the aid of Barry, Max and Johnny from the other side. But he still persisted in an act of selfless sacrifice — a courage that Prime had long ago forgotten and is now incapable of feeling. Years later, even with a massive army at his back, Prime is still haunted by the memory of Bart.

Now, we unfortunately have some retconning to address in this issue. It does make sense, though, as reality has been massively altered once again after Final Crisis (this miniseries ironically still carries the Final Crisis name, even though that event has already concluded). We are now told about what was surely a thrilling adventure with the Tornado Twins, Professor Zoom and the combined might of the three separate Legions. Although, I'm reasonably certain this event has never been depicted in the comics. If it has, and you know where it is, please let me know, because I would very much like to see it.

Anyway, the main takeaway here is that the Tornado Twins took their families to a parallel world that no longer exists. Unfortunately, this raises more questions for Bart and Jenni. Remember, originally, Bart's grandfather, Thaddeus Thawne, was President of Earthgov and the main antagonist of everything bad that happened to the Allen family. He had the Tornado Twins killed, cloned Bart, and forced his daughter, Meloni, to remain separated from her family. But if Meloni went to a parallel world, did any of that happen? How did Bart's dad die? Is Bart's mom still alive in this new reality?

Adult Brainiac 5 also delivered a very problematic line for me. He claimed that Iris Allen watched both Jenni and Bart age to teenagers in days. Originally, only Bart suffered from accelerated aging, growing to the age of 12 in two years. And it was precisely because of this aging problem that prompted Iris to take him back to the 20th century so Wally could save Bart's life. Jenni, originally, didn't display any super speed powers until she was a teenager, enabling her to grow up normally, and later join the Legion of Super-Heroes when she was ready. But if Jenni also had that accelerated aging problem, then why wasn't she also brought back to the past? How was her problem solved? Of course, the simplest explanation for this is that Brainiac 5 misspoke when he said both of them rapidly grew up (or rather, Geoff Johns made a mistake — it should be noted that George Pérez only drew Bart growing up quickly).

Setting all that aside, though, this was an incredible issue. Johns and Pérez are dealing with so many characters and alternate versions of those characters, yet have somehow managed to keep everything together as one cohesive, thrilling story. It's great for Bart Allen fans like me, but I'd imagine it's even better for long-time Legion fans. The only weakness this miniseries had was its slow release schedule, but looking back at it years later, I'm grateful to have the same art team on each issue. Now let's check out the new ads:

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Next in ... Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #4, will evil win the future? Also, you know, Kid Flash!

Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #3

Book Three

Geoff Johns Writer
Scott Kolins Artist and Covers
Dave McCaig Colorist
Nick J. Napolitano Letterer

The main cover is Kolins at his best. No, I still don't like his style that much, but I do have to admire the loving detail he puts into every drawing of the new Trickster. Kolins takes the time to draw every single "Yo" on his gloves, each stripe and pattern on his clothes, as well as a plethora of gadgets and gags just falling off his person. All in all, this is a great cover.

Our variant cover, which I got from dc.wikia.com, shows the Rogues reflected in the pool of blood coming from a red-gloved individual. This is a striking image, but unfortunately, not entirely accurate. As we'll see at the end of this story, that glove is supposed to be yellow.

Our story begins with the Rogues reaching their old observatory hideout — a place that troubles Mark Mardon, as it was the scene of him first becoming the Weather Wizard and killing his brother. The Rogues boot up the old monitor equipment, and Mirror Master gets to work with his mirrors. It doesn't take him too long to locate Inertia. Trickster initially thinks it's Kid Flash, but Mirror Master realizes it is Inertia, just wearing the Kid Flash uniform, because he sees Inertia is running around with Zoom at the moment. Heat Wave wants nothing to do with Zoom, but Captain Cold doesn't seem concerned, and he leads them off.

Zoom, meanwhile, is teaching Inertia how to manipulate time and perform his devastating super-speed snap. But when Inertia snaps his fingers, nothing happens. He wants to stop training, but Zoom insists they stick with it. Inertia asks why he teamed up with Libra and the Secret Society, and Zoom explains he wants to create more tragedy to make the heroes stronger. He says Bart Allen did not survive because Inertia pushed too hard, and now he's going to help him make the ones left better, such as the Titans and the Flash. Inertia asks Zoom why he didn't let him kill the Flash's kids, and asks to do it right now. But Zoom demands he keep training. He tells Inertia to feel his internal clock, saying he can change it in himself and others. Finally, Thad begins to get what Zoom has been telling him.

Suddenly, the train yard these two have been training at (no pun intended) becomes covered in thick fog. The Pied Piper approaches from the shadows, declaring it "Show time." Zoom urges Inertia to stay put, and a huge chunk of ice crashes right in front of the speedsters. The Rogues appear in the ice's reflection, and Captain Cold tells Zoom to run away, as they only want the boy. Zoom says he hates Rogues and destroys the chunk of ice, leaving the Rogues exposed. Weather Wizard jokes that Zoom's sidekick is Kid Zoom, and he lifts Inertia up in the air with a whirlwind. Zoom catches Inertia, pulls him down to the ground, and tells him to stay out of the way.

Zoom lands a punch on each Rogue, telling them they only occupy the Flash's time and don't contribute to his growth like he does. Zoom then prepares to snap his fingers in Captain Cold's face, but he's interrupted by the Pied Piper's music. The music immobilizes all the Rogues and Zoom, and Piper first kicks Mirror Master in the face for killing his parents. But Piper is immediately stabbed in the shoulder from behind by Libra, who says he doesn't believe the rumors that Piper is able to conduct the powers of the Anti-Life Equation through his instruments. Libra is also holding the Weather Wizard's young son in his arm, which makes Mardon quite mad.

Libra tells everybody present that they all have a place in his Secret Society, and Heat Wave seems to begin to be hypnotized by Libra's voice, so Captain Cold tells him to focus on the fire instead. Zoom tells Inertia he believes Libra is wasting his breath, as the Rogues will never want to be a part of this. Libra continues, however, telling Weather Wizard that if he wants his son back, he needs to pledge his loyalty to the god of evil, and if not, Libra vows to drink the toddler's blood in sacrifice. With lightning shooting out of his eyes, Weather Wizard tells Libra that the only person who ever cared about him when he was younger was his brother. But Mardon killed his brother to avoid going back to prison, so he asks Libra what makes him think he cares anything about that child. But Libra believes he's bluffing, and urges Mardon to just say "No." As Weather Wizard and Libra become locked in an intense stare down, Mirror Master nervously begins to ask Cold what to do, but Captain Cold chooses to let Mardon make the choice for himself.

Inertia, however, becomes impatient with this, and before Zoom can stop him, he runs up to Libra and snaps his fingers in the toddler's face, saying it's "Nap time." Inertia successfully pulled off Zoom's favorite attack this time, knocking down everyone around him and completely disintegrating Weather Wizard's son. Zoom grabs Inertia by the scruff and demands to know why he did that. Inertia says he's just listening to his clock, like Zoom taught him. And as he escapes Zoom's grasp, he spins around in a whirlwind, saying he does want to become Zoom's sidekick. He changes the colors of his costume, saying he's not Inertia, or Kid Flash, but Kid Zoom. Thad's new costume has red boots and a red top, with yellow pants and yellow gloves. And he declares his intentions to cause a whole lot of tragedy.

Libra asks Kid Zoom to join him, but Thad becomes unnerved by Libra's hypnotic voice and begins attacking him. But right before Thad can kill Libra, Zoom stops him, saying tragedy cannot be random — it must be calculated. Thad argues that Zoom isn't taking things far enough, saying he doesn't want heroes to merely fail — he wants them to lose and be in pain when they do. Thad then grabs Zoom's head and the two become enveloped in red lightning. Thad explains that Zoom gave him the other end of the string of his "time power," and now he's unraveling the sweater, pushing Zoom backward and stealing his time. As Zoom cries out in pain, he relives key moments of his past, until the whole thing ends with a big explosion.

When the lightning clears away, Zoom is left as Hunter Zolomon, stuck in a wheelchair before he tried to use the Cosmic Treadmill. Hunter slowly begs for his powers back, saying he needs purpose. Thad moves in to kill Hunter, but Captain Cold stops him, calling him classless for going after babies and cripples. Thad says there's no honor among thieves, and turns on the Rogues. Heat Waves shoots a blast of flames at him, but Thad confidently proclaims he can run through fire. Heat Wave tells Thad he can't run through his fire, and sure enough, Thad's boots begin to melt and become stuck to the ground.

Trickster then throws a small bomb at Thad, which does hurt him, but also frees him from Heat Wave's fire. Thad responds with a fierce counterattack, landing a blow on Mirror Master, Trickster and Captain Cold, while proclaiming that none of them would have been able to hurt Bart if it weren't for him. But the Pied Piper plays that special frequency once again and freezes Thad in place. Captain Cold asks Weather Wizard if he wants the honor of killing Inertia, but Weather Wizard says they should end this together. Thad tries his best to fight through Piper's paralysis, but he's unable to break free as each of the Rogues points their weapon at Kid Zoom. They say this isn't for Kid Flash, or Mardon's son. "This is one $%@#$@-up year." And the Rogues kill Thaddeus Thawne.

Captain Cold mocks the Pied Piper for still trying to fit in, but Piper says he just stopped Inertia, that's all. Cold points out that Piper is an accessory in this murder, and he threatens to spread that word around if Piper comes after the Rogues again. By this point, Libra has recovered from Thad's attack, and he congratulates the Rogues. He does say it's a shame about Zoom, though, as he was to be the messenger of Darkseid. Hunter weakly says he needs to get back to the Cosmic Treadmill, but Cold is more concerned about Libra's mention of Darkseid.

Libra says he is the reverend of evil incarnate, and he tells the Rogues they're now ready to take on the Flashes. Cold says Libra doesn't have anything to offer them, but he says the first Flash they battled in Central City (Barry Allen) is back from the dead. Cold doesn't believe him, but Libra insists it's true, citing the lightning storms with no rain and the Speed Force being turned inside out. He warns the Rogues that the Flash will hunt them down when he learns they killed Kid Flash. But Cold says they aren't in a hurry to begin that battle, and he has Mirror Master takes them away through a large sheet of ice he shoots on the ground. Before they disappear, Cold tells Libra if he has any strength left after the Justice League gets through with him and Darkseid, then he should tell him to stay off Earth. Libra manically shouts that they have to join him because evil's going to win.

We then cut to Keystone City, where the Pied Piper has apparently turned himself in to the police. As Detectives Chyre and Morillo deal with this, someone calls them outside. They're greeted by the sight of the deceased Kid Zoom, next to a note that reads, "Tell the Flash we're even. — The Rogues."

The Rogues, meanwhile, have retreated to the basement of the Flash Museum in Central City. Trickster asks if he's on the team now, and Cold says he's "gettin' there." Heat Wave is still affected by Libra's words, asking Cold if he believes evil will really win. Cold says he doesn't believe in "evil," just different shades of gray. Mirror Master, who has never faced off against Barry Allen, starts recounting stories he's heard of him. Apparently Barry, unlike Wally or Jay, did not treat the Rogues like it was all fun and games. Weather Wizard confirms this, saying Barry took them as seriously as Abra Kadabra or Gorilla Grodd. Heat Wave still doubts Barry's return, but Weather Wizard assures him lightning can strike as many times as it wants.

Trickster worriedly asks Captain Cold if he's really going to hang it up and run away, but Cold says he doesn't like running. Besides, if the Central City Flash really is back, it wouldn't matter where they ran to. Cold concedes that Libra was right about them having unfinished business with the Flash, so he vows once the skies are back to blue, the game's back on. And if the Flash is really back, there's no more rules in this universe to follow. And as they talk, we see that Barry really is, in fact, alive and well, steadfastly running toward the events in Final Crisis.




And thus we come to the tragic end of Bart Allen's greatest villain, his one, true evil clone, Inertia. Todd Dezago wrote Inertia as a complex character, who was truly conflicted by his evil mission and the genuine love he felt while playing the hero. Unfortunately, no other writer picked up on that idea with Inertia, and mostly portrayed him as a simplistic, murderous sociopath. Wally subjected Thad to a fate worse than death for the murder of Bart by placing him in a suspended animation that only made him more insane and murderous. And when Thad was finally freed, he became every bit as impulsive as Bart ever was, except with a lust to kill everything in sight. It was interesting to watch the normally collected and calculating Inertia suddenly being completely swayed by everything around him. He went from hating Zoom to loving him to hating him again so fast, even Bart would get whiplash. And even though I'm sad that Inertia was killed, I kind of think it's for the best. Maybe he now finally gets to rest.

This story as a whole was a lot of fun. Very violent and gruesome — but oddly satisfying in a way. Perhaps I felt like the Rogues and just really wanted to break something after "one $%@#$@-up year." And this story certainly broke a few things. We got to see just how powerful the Rogues and Inertia could be when pushed past their limits. And it felt right rooting for the Rogues in this situation, as we got to understand their trauma, see their code of conduct, and primarily face them off against even more evil and sadistic villains.

I do have a couple of nitpicks, though. One, Trickster's involvement here didn't make any sense. It was convenient plot-wise to have a newbie to explain everything to, but I don't understand why the Rogues would let him accompany them on this deeply personal, highly dangerous mission against Inertia and Libra. I also don't get what Johns was doing with the Pied Piper. If he really wanted to take down the Rogues, then why did he only freeze Inertia at the end? He easily could have frozen all of them (like he did earlier) and have all those villains incarcerated. It felt like Johns was trying to have his cake and eat it, too.

And, for better and worse, this whole story served as a platform to make way for the return of Barry Allen. I felt like Johns utilized some revisionist history in describing how Barry battled the Rogues much more seriously than Wally and Jay. As far as I can tell, Barry came from the happy-go-lucky days of the Silver Age filled with scientific Flash Facts and bad puns and quips. Wally and Jay certainly had their fair share of serious stories in the '90s. But beyond that, look at how Johns eliminated the main rivals of Bart and Wally. Inertia is dead and Zoom is back in a wheelchair, leaving only room for the original Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne. I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of Barry returning, but I don't think it has to come at the cost of the rest of the Flash family and their rogues gallery.

Regardless, this was a very well-done love letter to the Rogues by Johns and Kolins. It was a fun, action-packed story that tied in well to the main Final Crisis series. And it certainly was the biggest story we got to review during the year Bart Allen was dead.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at another alternate version of Bart in Justice League of America #25.

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1

Book One

Geoff Johns – Writer
George Pérez – Pencils
Scott Koblish – Inker
Hi-Fi – Colorist
Nick Napolitano – Letters
Adam Schlagman – Asst. Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor
Cover: George Pérez & Dave McCaig
Silver Cover: George Pérez & Hi-Fi

Just like the Rogues' Revenge miniseries, the main covers here will focus on just one character. But where Scott Kolins went with a more stylized look, Pérez tried a more realistic look, which comes off rather odd. Lightning Lad's face just looks a little off. But I do like the detail of the other two Lightning Lads in the ball of lightning.

I don't know why DC calls this the "silver cover" — there's nothing silver about it. I just know this as the variant cover nobody wanted. When I picked up this series from my local comic shop a few years ago, they only had this variant cover for four of the five issues. Besides the major drawback of the massive red stripes on the sides, this cover isn't too bad. Superboy-Prime is back. Angry as ever, wearing his Anti-Monitor armor again, and no longer looking like a Superman-Prime.

Our story begins at the end. The end of time, that is. We see a figure wrapped in bandages and shrouded by a purple cloak, known as the Time Trapper. He laments his inability to kill the Legionnaires, comparing them to the cockroaches inhabiting his floating city. The Time Trapper decides to reach into time stream to pull out Superboy-Prime and put him in position to destroy the Legion.

Superboy-Prime crash lands into a farmer's field in Smallville in the year 3008. The xenophobic farmers believe this to be another alien trespassing on their property, so they attempt to kill him like they have killed many others. The massive blast from the laser gun destroys all of Prime's clothes — except for a small rag that conveniently covers his genitals. The farmers recognize him as Superboy, but Prime immediately kills them with a blast of heat vision, saying he's Superman.

Prime flies into town, finding the streets empty except for a robot walking dogs. He disdainfully realizes he's in the future, and quickly locates a Superman Museum. The museum isn't open yet, but Prime lets himself in and is greeted by a hologram of Jimmy Olsen to act as his personal tour guide. Prime is quite bored and disgusted by the whole museum, until he comes to the Hall of Villains. Using his x-ray vision, Prime is horrified to find the statue of himself has been buried in the back storage. The Jimmy Olsen hologram explains they're moving the Sepberboy-Prime statue to make way for Neutron, which was being repainted. He says Superboy-Prime was a loser barely worth mentioning, calling him a Clark Kent from a parallel Earth long dead, who was always whining about how our Earth wasn't as "perfect" as his. He then briefly recounts how Superboy-Prime was beaten by Kid Flash, Superboy and Sodam Yat.

Prime begins stuttering at the Kid Flash part, saying Bart Allen cheated by having all the Flashes gang up on him. He also becomes enraged by the museum's portrayal of his other two major battles, claiming "This isn't how anything happened!" He begins destroying all the statues of the villains, saying he's more significant than all of them. By the time he moves on to tearing apart the Teen Titans statues, the security guards catch up to him. But Prime kills them all with his freeze breath.

Prime then begins working on the statues of the Legionnaires, while the Jimmy Olsen hologram tells him all about the Legion of Super-Villains. This catches Prime's attention, so he has the hologram teach him that all those villains are currently on the prison planet of Takron-Galtos. So Prime puts on the clothes his mannequin wore (apparently the Anti-Monitor armor works) and he flies off to that prison planet. He easily fights through the guards and frees Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen and Cosmic King. To Prime's surprise, these three not only recognize him, but praise him as their inspiration and guide. They gladly agree to help him, believing he'll lead them to their final victory.

The Legion of Super-Heroes learn of this, so they call in Superman from the present day. Brainiac 5's message comes from Superman's concealed Legion ring on his finger, asking him to help. When Superman says "yes" the ring becomes a "rip cord" pulling him to the 31st century. When Superman arrives in the future, he sees a monitor showing the prison planet covered in massive fires in the shape of the Superman "S" shield. The Legionnaires explain that a young man that looks like Superman was seen destroying the Superman Museum and all of Smallville, before releasing all the prisoners of Takron-Galtos and destroying that entire planet.

Superman is able to identify Superboy-Prime, saying the last he heard of him, Prime disappeared after killing one of the guardians of the universe. Brainiac 5 says since they're up against a super-powered brat from a parallel world, their solution is obvious. He puts up images of the two other Legions on the monitors and says they need to fight fire with fire. Superman warns the Legionnaires of Prime's rage, saying he won't ever stop ... not unless they do something drastic. Lightning Lad assumes this means killing Prime, but Superman says that's probably not even possible anymore. Instead, he suggests they try to reach out to Prime, to find the boy who helped save the universe during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. In short, Superman says they need to redeem Superboy-Prime.




This is the beginning of a huge, sprawling epic. It's Johns at his finest, teaming up with one of the few artists who could pull off such a feat. To DC's credit, they insisted on allowing Pérez draw each issue of this five-part miniseries. Unfortunately, this task would prove too daunting for even Pérez to meet a monthly deadline. Think about it. Each Legion has more than 20 members, and Pérez has to draw three different versions of all those characters. Not to mention the 20-plus members in the Legion of Super-Villains and any other fun little extras Pérez wants to put in the background. Needless to say, this is a beautiful, well-done series, but it did suffer from some publication delays.

The story itself has a very strong premise. Superboy-Prime is back and angrier than ever. And now he has a whole army behind him. But, he's still the same, insecure whiney brat, who is terrified of Bart Allen. And that puts a smile on my face. The only part I didn't like is Johns' insistence that every single artifact we see in any museum is the authentic thing. It makes no sense for a museum 1,000 years in the future to put real Anti-Monitor armor on a mannequin. It's just an annoying plot convenience. Still a fun story, though. We'll return to this series, but not for a little bit. Until then, let's check out the ads:

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Next time, we'll wrap up the Rogues' Revenge miniseries and learn the final fate of poor old Thaddeus Thawne.

Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #2

Book Two

Geoff Johns Writer
Scott Kolins Artist and Covers
Dave McCaig Colorist
Nick J. Napolitano Letterer

Our main cover follows the same idea of the first issue, this time giving the focus to Heat Wave. I like the idea, but I have to admit Heat Wave doesn't look quite as intimidating from the side. That bulging gas mask looks pretty goofy.

I pulled the variant cover from dc.wikia.com once again. And I actually like this one. The Rogues are tipping the balance of Libra's scales — figuratively in the story, literally on this cover. I like it so much, I wish we didn't have those big red Final Crisis labels eating up all the space.

Our story begins with a quick montage of the Rogues talking about Libra and Libra's group of villains talking about the Rogues. Captain Cold maintains his disdain for secret societies, but Mirror Master and Heat Wave seem a bit concerned about making enemies out of all the villains who have joined Libra. Most the villains on Libra's side don't think too highly of the Rogues, and Doctor Light wonders why they wouldn't want to be a part of evil's eventual victory.

For reasons I don't fully explain, the Rogues begin their quest to kill Inertia by visiting their old tailor, Gambi. As Weather Wizard explains to Trickster, they liked Gambi not because of his fashion sense, but because he knew how to construct outfits that could withstand the rigors of their work. For example, Weather Wizard's suit is made of fabric that's resistant to 500 mile per hour winds. The Rogues unfortunately see that someone has broken into Gambi's and left a message for Captain Cold by burning a mannequin dressed like his late sister, Golden Glider, and leaving a note on it asking, "Who's next, Cold?"

The Rogues find Gambi beaten and tied up in the back, but still alive. Taped to Gambi's shirt is one of Mirror Master's mirrors. When Captain Cold picks up the mirror, he's greeted by a man who introduces himself as Chill, leader of the New Rogues. He, Burn, Mirror-Man, Mr. Magic and the Weather Witch have been hired by Libra to bring in the Rogues to punish them for being disbelievers. Chill also says that the Penguin was able to acquire some of the Rogues' old weapons to give to this new group. Chill then tells Cold that they've kidnapped his father and will kill him if they don't surrender to Libra. But Captain Cold says he'll find the New Rogues and will kill them and his father himself.

We check in with Inertia, who is trying to run away from Zoom and the Kid Flash costume he wants him to wear. But Zoom catches up, and begins beating up Inertia some more. Inertia says he had heard that Zoom lost his mind when the Cosmic Treadmill blew up in his face, but he never expected that Zoom would actually be on the Flash's side. Zoom says he's only on his own side, and he performs a quick profile on Inertia. Zoom says that as Bart Allen's clone, Inertia became twisted and obsessed with finding his own identity, but he failed, and now he wants to take Bart's identity. So Zoom offers him the chance once more to take it. Thad says he doesn't want it anymore, so Zoom hits him with one of his devastating super-speed snaps. With blood running down his face, Thad asks Zoom why he wants him to put the Kid Flash costume on. But Zoom says he doesn't want Inertia to do this — Libra does.

Meanwhile, the New Rogues are debating whether they should be worried about Captain Cold's threat. Mirror Master appears on the mirror they used to communicate with, and he mockingly points out that it's quite simple for him to track the refraction back to the meat locker they're currently hiding in. Chill realizes how serious this is, and he suggests they turn out the lights to render the mirrors useless, but Mr. Magic refuses, saying he can take on the Rogues with Abra Kadabra's old wand. Suddenly, the Rogues walk right through the reflection of the freezer's door.

Burn is the first to attack, engulfing Heat Wave in a blast of flames. But Heat Wave calmly stands in place, explaining that Gambi designed his suit to withstand much high temperatures than this. He then returns fire (literally), saying that the Flash's suit is able to withstand the friction he creates when running 20 times the speed of sound, but Heat Wave's fire can melt the Flash's boots. Burn's heat suit is no match for Heat Wave's fire, and he's quickly burned alive.

Weather Witch tries to hit Weather Wizard with a bolt of lightning, but he easily absorbs the blast. He then strikes her with a much larger bolt, instantly reducing her to a pile of bones. Chill tries to hit Captain Cold, claiming that he's tougher than Cold since he grew up on the streets of Gotham. But Cold says his dad was a lot tougher than Gotham. Mirror Master has blinded Mirror-Man, enabling Trickster to get a large slinky around his neck, killing him. Mr. Magic turns the slinky into a cobra that attacks Trickster. Mirror Master then creates four mirror clones of himself that all gang up on Mr. Magic, saying that even though he and Axel aren't the original Mirror Master or Trickster, their predecessors aren't alive anymore.

Mirror Master forces Abra Kadabra's wand out of Mr. Magic's hand, which Weather Wizard snaps in two by stomping on it. He tells Axel that if he wants to be a Rogue, then he needs to learn that the weapon doesn't make the Rogue. He then creates a tornado inside Mr. Magic's stomach, causing him to grotesquely explode from the inside out. Captain Cold, meanwhile aims his gun at Chill and pulls the trigger. When nothing seems to happen, Chill mocks him for having a weapon as old as he is. Chill then tries to punch Cold, but his fist somehow becomes stuck in midair. Cold explains that he first a wide beam to create a cold field — an invisible wall of absolute zero. He says he uses this field to slow down the Flash enough to see him, but on ordinary people, it's a lot less pleasant. Cold snaps off Chill's hand, which shatters like brittle ice. Captain Cold puts his gun to Chill's head, saying he wasn't the first to pick up his gun and try crap like this, and he won't be the last, but he is today.

With all the New Rogues now dead, Captain Cold apologizes to the visibly shocked Trickster, explaining that they needed to send a message to Libra and his followers: "Don't mess with us. Don't mess with our families." Trickster says families don't matter to him, but Weather Wizard insists they do, explaining you either love or hate your family — there's no in between. Mirror Master helps Captain Cold find his father, and Len Snart stoically marches into the room, telling the others not to worry, as this confrontation will be quick.

We then see the Pied Piper is also tracking down Inertia. By the time he finds him, Thad has finally given in to Zoom's and Libra's request and has put on the Kid Flash costume. Zoom begins training Thad, telling him that he's not tapped into the Speed Force anymore, and is actually drawing power directly from Zoom. Meanwhile, Iris Allen and the Garricks have visited the West household. Iris tells Joan that she felt Barry reach out to her, explaining that whenever Barry ran, it felt more electric than Jay or Wally running. While they talk, Jay checks in on Jai, who's complaining about feeling weird and tired, in addition to missing his dad.

We return to Captain Cold confronting his father. Len tells his dad that his sister is dead, and his dad immediately blames Len for Lisa's death. Len points his cold gun at his dad, who tells his son he's as weak as his mom. Len punches his dad, then turns and walks away from him, asking Heat Wave to kill his dad for him. Weather Wizard asks Captain Cold if he feels better, and Snart admits he doesn't, but he felt it was worth a shot. Cold then asks Wizard if he'd be willing to let them return to their old observatory hideout to set up base and find Inertia. Wizard reluctantly agrees, and Cold has Heat Wave burn the entire building down as they leave through Mirror Master's mirror. Trickster is still a bit disturbed by Cold leading this slaughter after all his talk about rules, and Mirror Master insists it was necessary after what Libra did. Mirror Master then tells Trickster that if he wants to stay on the Rogues, he needs to tell Cold why he needs — not wants — to be on the team.

Gorilla Grodd is watching the Rogues walk away from a monitor room with Libra. Grodd offers to rip the Rogues apart, but Libra says he wants the Rogues because the Flashes could be a problem and he needs people with experience fighting the speedsters to be on his side. Libra explains that the speedsters are the keys to this crisis as they have been to all others, and that they can unlock the door that their great evil has shut. Grodd asks Libra why he had Zoom recruit and train Inertia, and Libra says it's because he wants the Rogues to kill Kid Flash again to prepare them for the upcoming war against the speedsters. Grodd still believes the Rogues will refuse to help him, but Libra is convinced otherwise. He says the Penguin's goons miscalculated with Captain Cold, but he has a plan to control an even smarter, more powerful Rogue — Weather Wizard. Libra then shows Grodd that he has kidnapped Mark Mardon's toddler son.

This was another solid installment in this miniseries. It was nice to have it clearly laid out just how powerful the Rogues are. There's a reason the Rogues have been able to hold their own against the Flash for so long — and Johns showed us that reason. As for Inertia, we didn't get a whole lot this issue — mainly just setup for the climatic finale. I still think it's a little weird that Zoom would work under another villain, but it is actually consistent with him working with the Secret Society of Super-Villains in Infinity Crisis. So I guess you could call it an consistent inconsistency. The art was pretty good once again, except for a few more coloring mistakes and one weird panel where it looked like Mr. Magic had eight fingers on one hand. I am, however, getting tired of seeing Kolins draw characters in the rain. Instead of the characters looking wet, they come across as oddly shaggy. 

Next time, before we can finish this Final Crisis miniseries, we have to begin another one: Legion of 3 Worlds.

Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #1

Book One

Geoff Johns Writer
Scott Kolins Artist and Covers
Dave McCaig Colorist
Nick J. Napolitano Letterer

This is a pretty cool cover by Kolins. Forgive the pun, but I do actually really like this. A simple, yet evocative image of the leader of the Rogues, Captain Cold, presented in minimalistic shades of blue, yellow and white, contrasted sharply against a black background. I think slightly different covers like this are exactly what you need for a special mini-series tie-in to a major event.

I got this image of the variant cover from dc.wikia.com. This follows the Final Crisis format of confining the image to the middle third of the cover, which is a really ridiculous idea. Yes, it does have the added benefit of standing out from all the other comics on the shelf, but it robs the artist of the ability to showcase their skills. Then again, I'm kind of glad this particular image isn't bigger. This is Kolins' take on the death of Bart Allen, in all its horrific gruesomeness.

Our story begins with Captain Cold, Weather Wizard, Heat Wave and Mirror Master finally returning to Keystone City. They fought their way off that nightmarish planet in Salvation Run, and as soon as they returned, they were recruited by the new villain of Final Crisis, Libra. But Captain Cold was disturbed by how Libra so easily killed Martian Manhunter, and he still holds a grudge against all the other villains who refused to help them when they were on the run after killing the Flash. So, under the cover of a rainstorm provided by Weather Wizard, the Rogues return to their old safe house.

However, the safe house has been taken over by the new Trickster, Axel Walker, and his gang of five stooges. The Rogues easily defeat the henchmen and Mirror Master traps them in a mirror. Trickster arrives just after the fighting finishes, and he doesn't seem too bothered by the fate of his gang. Instead, Axel is thrilled to see his heroes have returned. He shows them a wall covered in newspaper clippings of the Flash's death and fate of the Rogues. Axel explains that he heard the original Trickster, James Jesse, had died, and he was worried that the rest of the Rogues had, too. Tar Pit said Zoom had buried them under the Flash Museum, Computron swore they were banished on another planet, and Double Down bet they were locked up in Titans Tower. But now they're here and Trickster praises them for having killed the Flash and won the game.

Captain Cold angrily slams Trickster against the wall, saying the game wasn't supposed to be won — that they've survived by having unspoken rules. And the Number One Rule is to never kill a speedster. The Rogues then sadly engage in some revisionist history, as Heat Wave laments that Flash was always able to run through his fire before. Weather Wizard says his lightning bolts never hurt Flash that much. Mirror Master says that was the case, until Inertia stole the Flash's speed. Trickster is shocked to hear the death of the Flash was an accident, but the Rogues aren't completely honest with him or themselves, since they won't admit that they knew full well that Bart had lost his powers before their final attack. But Captain Cold is the most honest, saying they got greedy and stupid. Which is why he says it's time for the Rogues to close up shop, take off their costumes and disappear.

We then cut to Police Precinct 242, where one of Pied Piper's rats is spying on Detectives Morillo and Chyre, still looking over the case of Bart Allen's death. Morillo insists the murder had to have been a mistake, and is still confused as to why the Rogues followed Inertia in the first place, and why the reformed Pied Piper was with them. As they talk, Piper blasts a whole in the side of the wall and knocks out the detectives.

In Central City, we check in on Iris Allen, who is tearfully poring over photos of Barry, Wally and his family, Jay, Bart, and what looks like a miscolored Max Mercury. As she weeps over her wedding photos and fingers Barry's old Flash ring (which is now her necklace), a mysterious voice says Iris' name. She sits up with a jolt and looks out the window in time to see a massive bolt of lightning.

We then see Libra has had little trouble rounding up most of the other Flash rogues. But in the middle of one of his speeches, Dr. Light gives him a message Mirror Master left behind. The small shaving mirror shows a recorded message of Captain Cold telling him the Rogues won't join his society and that he's on his own when the Justice League comes after him for the death of Martian Manhunter. Libra angrily smashes the mirror, calling Cold a troublemaker.

At the restored Flash Museum, we see that Inertia has been placed on a new pedestal that identifies him as Thaddeus Thawne and explains that he was Bart's rival from the far future. The Bart Allen room has been changed significantly, but Inertia is still forced to stare at an identical statue of Impulse and Kid Flash. But Inertia didn't stay in this new environment for long, as the warden of Iron Heights Penitentiary, Gregory Wolfe, somehow learned that Inertia is alive and obtained the authority to transfer him to his prison. As Wolfe's men take Inertia off the pedestal, Wolfe says the Flash should have chopped off Inertia's legs instead of placing him in suspended animation.

Suddenly, a mysterious voice calls out to Inertia, followed by a red lightning bolt striking him in the chest. To the guards' horror, Inertia slowly begins to move again. They consider using their tasers on him, but hesitate because the lightning set off the automatic sprinklers (a feature that was undoubtedly added because of the fire). Inertia begins to speak, and we sadly see that one year of suspended animation was not good on him. He says he's spent the past year thinking about millions of different ways to kill people. He immediately rips off one guard's head, before grabbing the other and saying he wants to find out if he can stretch his intestines over 20 miles.

We return to the Pied Piper, who has retreated to his Rathaway Estate, reviewing the documents he stole from the police — James Jesse's last will and testament, containing information on the Rogues, written in invisible ink. We learn that Piper and the original Trickster did actually intend to take down the Rogues and were undercover when they went along with Inertia's plan. But they failed miserably, and now Hartley's old friend, Wally, won't even believe him. Hartley sadly laments that Bart Allen will never be replaced.

The Rogues, meanwhile, have learned through the news that Inertia has escaped the Flash Museum and killed at least 10 people so far. Before they even got a chance to pull off their costumes, Captain Cold stands up and says before they quit the game, they need to break their Number One Rule one last time.

At the West family home, Irey wakes up her brother, Jai, in the middle of the night, complaining about feeling "all tingly." Linda tells her kids to get back to sleep, promising to wake them up when their father returns from his latest mission with Jay Garrick. Inertia approaches the West home, saying, "First Bart — now your kids, Wally." But he's suddenly stopped by Zoom, who hits Thad hard enough in the face to shatter his goggles. Zoom tells Inertia he gave him his speed back, and he can take it away, just like Inertia took a great hero trying to be better away from the world. Zoom presents Inertia with a Kid Flash outfit, promising to make him better, too.




This was the necessary story we needed to fully wrap up the death of Bart Allen. Everyone responsible for his death has gone through a year of agonizing punishment, and now we get to see how that changed them. The Rogues recognize that killing Bart was way out of line, and if it weren't for the news about Inertia, they would have completely retired altogether. Pied Piper is finally able to begin resuming his work to take down the Rogues. And poor Inertia only became more insane and murderous during his time spent in suspended animation. It's interesting to see Zoom is also mourning the death of Bart, indicating that he genuinely believed in Iris' mission to save Bart and help him become a better hero. Zoom may be insane and murderous, but his main motivation has always been to improve heroes. We even get to see Iris in this issue, feeling a bit nostalgic, and receiving a premonition of the return of her long deceased husband. The only people missing from this issue who were also present at Bart's death are Val and Abra Kadabra. And that's not a particularly big loss.

I don't care for Kolins' style, but I do appreciate the level of detail he puts into his drawings. And Kolins and Johns both have a deep love and respect for the Rogues, which makes this series a wonderful manifesto on why the Rogues are different from other super villains and how powerful they can truly be.

Next time, we'll follow the path of Inertia in the second issue of this three-part series.