Two words: continuity porn.

For me, that’s the only fun in this series. It’s also its ultimate downfall. If you’re one of the seven people on the planet who have read all of these incarnations of the Legion, you’ll see the cogs spinning in Geoff Johns’ head as he tries to connect as many dots as he can. It’s an admirable effort, but I’d rather see Johns wrap himself around a great character than play “continuity hall monitor” like this.

The story, three issues in, is very simple. Overly simple. There are a few “shocks” and cliffhangers, but really, it feels like a lot of moving chess pieces around on a chessboard. Stories are connected, aligned, and undone — all within pages. It’s an interesting exercise, but I’m just not emotionally invested in any of it. If you can’t make me care about one Ultra Boy, hitting me with THREE Ultra Boy’s isn’t really the solution to the problem.

Perez’s art is very nice here, and Johns is definitely playing to the artist’s strengths here as each panel is incredibly busy. It really “looks” like the original Crisis series in many ways — stuffed with action and characters. No space is wasted here.

Still, I really would have preferred a smaller story with a smaller cast so that Johns could have focused on what it means to have characters from three different futures teaming up. Instead, what we’re getting is a lot of meaningless action peppered with bits and pieces of continuity from numerous Legion reboots.