Image © DC Comics, Inc.

Word is out that this book’s final issue will be #23, until it’s relaunched again for the umpteenth time. Paul Levitz’s run as writer this time is actually longer than that, as he was writing in the previous version, really it was just a reset of the numbering with little or no revamp. I’ve enjoyed this run, though I wouldn’t put it at the top of Legion runs I like. Still, Paul knows the team well, and plays out their dynamics and personal interactions with skill.

Right now in the book, everything’s blowing up, though. Was this an attempt to find new readers? Keith Giffen came aboard in the role of spoiler and destroyer, not for the first time, and things in the Legion universe are well messed at this point. The Fatal Five are loose and killing everyone in sight, some of the group are stuck aboard a sleeping giant who’s not completely asleep, and…well, no one is having a good day.

Giffen seems to be off the book except for plot advice. The art by Scott Kolins and Jeff Johnson is veering toward the cartoony, which has worked okay in the past but doesn’t serve this storyline well. Even the distortions on the faces on the cover, above, seem extreme and unappealing to me, though the cover is by someone else. The book feels like a sinking ship at the moment. We’ll see how the end pans out, I know Paul will deliver a satisfying conclusion.

Mildly recommended.