It doesn't look like reading the current stuff will be all that necessary, and #1 even catches you up mostly on the stuff that happened in Johns' "Superman and the Legion" story in Action Comics. But I'd certainly recommend getting those issues or the hardback if didn't read it.

keep in mind that this may be the LAST story of all the Legions before the new reboot. this could be the LAST story of the classic Legion. If all will dissapear anyways they may have the right to make memorable deads (if they are cool and kind like the dead of Mr. Brande.) Think on LO3W like the "What happens to the man of Tomorrow" story when the Silver Age Superman have his last story in Superman and Action Comics by Alan Moore just before the Crisis On Infinie Earths reboot by Byrne.

OMG! THAT is a kinky beauty story! why comics and movies can't be like that with woman always in love and not kicking ###, and insthead just waiting to be saved.

Well, we've had that story a few times with the Legion. I, for example, thought their "final send-off" in "End of an Era" was a great bit of "Farewell and thanks for all the great stories"-writing by Mark Waid.

I'm always happy to read about folks loving Legion stories...but the L3W book was not my cuppa.

There were a couple of things I really liked (Hall of 1000 Olsens, Time Trapper 'plinking' Superboy-Prime) but there were a LOT of things I didn't like. The major dislikes: The inking was too dark, it didn't serve the Perez art well at all, and...

The story didn't ring true as a Legion of any era for me. I especially didn't like the broadly accepted, trivial assertion (by Querl Dox) that the multiple LSH exists in different universes. As much as Geoff Johns may "love" the DC multiverse, the Legion has (for better or for worse) never been subject to the JLA/JSA Earth-1/Earth-2 sort of editorial hijinks.

This bothers me on many levels.

L3W #1 has several pages devoted to a "rescue mission" to the Phantom Zone, and make it appear as if that mission is at least dangerous/has consequences...and so the "solution" of getting more firepower from the form of other-universe Legions hits a sour note.

As a solution (i.e. "We are outnumbered, so we'll get help from ourselves!") it's an absurd basis for a story...presumably the LSV/Time Trapper could just do the same thing...I'm reminded by "The Curse of Fatal Death" argument between the Doctor and the Master.

The Legion has ALWAYS had more help available: The "pre-Crisis LSH" had the Subs, they have the Academy, they have the Heroes of Lallor, they have the Super-Pets, they have Kid Psycho and the reserves...post-Crisis they had the SW6 batch, post-Zero hour there were multiple options including Time Travel to the post-Zero Hour 20th century, etc.

The Legion has always played fast-and-loose with Time Travel, but "alternate dimensions" has ALWAYS caused them limitations: Quislet's dimension was a loner. Invisible Kid II's home dimension was extremely limitted in access. The Phantom Zone has always been a risky proposition. Even the 5th-dimensional interference of Mxyzptlk (or his brother, or descendent) never interested the Legion in actually going there. They were "fooled" into visiting a pocket dimension without ever realizing it! It may seem like semantics, but I was extremely bothered by the casual transition of a 31st century Legion book into essentially an early Silver Age "Crisis on Earth-3!" type story.

See I always thought it odd that the Silver age didn't have an "Earth-2" Legion or the like. If the multiverse is back (or 52iverse at least) and people are already jumping back and forth, it makes perfect sense to me that Brainiac 5 would be able to accomplish the feat in his sleep. The Legion has encountered various versions of itself many times before. As you've said they've always had plenty of help before now and I imagine that the effort (and probably risk) was not needed. Now the Legion is scattered with no real standing in the UP, and little chance of backup against the entire inmate population of Takron-Galtos and Superboy Prime. You wanna call on The SP and Evolvo Lad or maybe rustle up a few extra dimensional Mon-els?

But at least as of 52, travel from one Earth to another seems easier than time travel. I mean you could just as well wonder why the old "time travel is easy-peasy" Legion never just imported all the Powerful Heroes from the 20th-30th centuries to help save the Universe from the "giant Mordru sized threat of the year."

So I'm happy with the 1st issue.

Tarnish

Obviously, we all have our tastes, and I certainly don't begrudge any hardcore LoSH fan theirs. I'm more of a casual fan of the Legion myself. Still, out of all the comics I bought last week, it was this one that I kept going back to over and over (in a week when Captain America came out no less!), and it wasn't because i didn't like the story. Quite the opposite. I can see immediately how the fast and looseness of playing with Legion history could incense a longtime fan, but honestly, the constant reboots getting explained and yet not done away with should give good vibes. I'm interesting in WHICH Earth each Legion is coming from and all that. I think it's a fairly...simplified...way to explain the different Legions we've been exposed to over the years, but not completely out of left field in justifying either. Now, do i think the solution to bring in 2 other Legions is worthy of 12th level intellect? Probably not, but then again, he's probably the only one who'd have all the facts. And...according to DCU 0, it's apparently not as 'easy' as you intimate either - they are going to use the ol Crisis on Earth-2 Style Crystal Ball, and aren't going to just 'go get them' via some already invented Brainiac 5 device.

I hate Superboy-Prime, but I even found myself enjoying his role in the story and some of his lines 'Yeah, I'm in the stupid future.' I thought it was hilarious, cause he's such a punk-###. I dunno, all these strict adherences to old stories makes some of you guys seem like old men. I know i probably do anytime i bring up Steve Rogers or Kal-L. But we aren't talking about me right now.

I'm in this series for the 5 issue duration.

I just picked this up today (was out of town last week and didn't have a chance to swing by a comics shop), and I loved it. Frankly, this is how Final Crisis should have been handled: The good guys are in a terrible, terrible position, the universe is about to go to ####, and everything is set up in one issue. It feels epic and exciting, and I can't wait for issue #2.

I just got back from vacation and won't be able to pick it up until Friday.

EXACTLY!

I liked it. Definity excited for this series.

No great surprise to most folks that I'm a longtime heavy LSH fan and I have to say while it's a bit "pat", I don't object to the parallel universes solution. It's not even the first time we've seen it - heck, it was even shown to us as recently as "Infinite Crisis" where we found out the post-ZH Legion had ended up on a parallel universe.

Or, before that, the Fatal 500 seen in the Legion/Titans sendoff of the first reboot Legion. Technically, that may have been a product of "Hypertime" rather than "parallel Earths," but that's semantics.

That's why I said "as recently" but, yeah, that's another good example. Tales of parallel earth Legionnaires have been around since the Silver Age though, albeit usually as "evil twin"-types or something similarly wacky.

I am open to be swayed by future issues. It's just that the LSH tends to become ugly whenever the 30th/31st century title gets shoe-horned into trying to fit in with whatever crossover/event is happening in the mainstream continuity: Millenium (it was just silly how that crossed over) is probably the dumbest, and then the relatively "neat" pocket universe solution to the post-Legends Superman reboot was going well until the editorial fiat that removed Superman from both JLA and Legion history.

OTOH, when the Legionaires were stuck in the 20th Century (and Brainy used a responsometer to make COMPUTO) I thought that was a relatively clean crossover, since part of the Legion was essentially isolated from the future.

I just have this bad feeling that Geoff Johns is going "Alex Luthor" on us to try to make his own, favorite 30th/31st century. Ultimately I am not going to be a good person to judge, since this will likely be the only "Final Crisis" series I will buy.