Two surprise guest stars in two issues... Is this some kind of a record or do they just not want to focus on the Legion?? We look at Legion of 3 Worlds #2 & 3

Legion of 3 Worlds #2

First, the recap. R.J. Brande is dead. The Legion is scattered. Earth still hates aliens and the U.P. hates Earth. The Time Trapper has brought Superboy-Prime to the 31st Century, and the evil Kryptonian has massacred tens of thousands of beings to free everyone on Takron-Galtos. The Legion has pulled Superman to the future to help stop him. And Superman's plan? To talk to him and get Superboy-Prime to remember that he used to be good. Yep, that's gonna work.

This issue is written by Geoff Johns, pencilled by George Perez, and inked by Scot Koblish.

We begin in the void. Shikari is flying through an empty void, in limbo, where nothing exists. But she can sense a path to freedom coming. One that will allow her Legion to be found.

That's right, I had almost forgotten that the reboot Legion had been dumped into limbo at the end of the Legion/Titans crossover. What I didn't forget was that Shikari wasn't stuck in limbo. She went to the Threeboot universe. So first mistake...

Shall we take a shot every time that happens? Are we going to be incoherently drunk by the end of this story?

We move to Sorcerer's World, where the White Witch, or Mysa, has been imprisoned by Mordru after Earth-Man gave her to the evil wizard to keep him away from Earth. She sees into limbo, sees Dreamer and Shakari (yep, that's how they spelled her name - 2), sees into the Threeboot universe, and sees Superboy-Prime marking every member of the Legion of Super-Villains with his "S." But the Time Trapper shows up to prevent her from seeing  the future or seeing the other worlds.

Blok bursts through the cage with a single punch, Wildfire and Dawnstar behind him. They've come to rescue her, which makes me wonder why the rest of the Legion didn't know about this plan last issue. Mysa grabs Blok's face in her hands, gazing at him lovingly, and I would feel better about this scene if I didn't know that Giffen and Levitz wrote Blok as if he was much younger than the rest of the team. Like pre-teen young. Let's forget that, huh?

As the White Witch talks about getting her revenge on Mordru, even if that takes her delving into the Dark Arts, Wildfire and Dawnstar argue about whether following your heart is a good thing. Drake is the romantic here, saying that following your heart is something that should be done. Dawnstar says that this took them off the path towards rebuilding the Legion and getting the Earth back into the U.P. When did Dawnstar become such a hardass?

The fourth member of this rescue team is having trouble fighting off Mordru. Rond Vidar, the last Green Lantern, is fighting off an angry sorcerer who doesn't want to give up his property. Mordru resurrects the dead bodies of those he's defeated (Glorith, Dragonmage (really? he's gone this quickly?), and Evillo, among others) and sends them against the Legionnaires. Since they're just dead bodies, the Legion doesn't hold back.

As the fight continues, and Rond fights valiantly against Mordru, Mysa keeps talking about the new Legion, the new team she saw in her nightmares. Mordru goes off on a horrible rant that further confirms we're in a different, more violent timeline:

I will slit your throat and hang you like a pig, Green Lantern. I will use your stomach lining and teeth to perform an incantation, removing all willpower from your fellow Legionnaires. The White Witch and I will feed your organs to your friends, then make love bathed in your blood.

Not quite Lord Romdor, huh?

Which new Legion has Mysa seen and have just arrived? The new Legion of Super-Villains, led by Superboy-Prime. They've got everyone you can think of from Lightning Lord to Earth-Man to the Fatal Five to Universo.

As Green Lantern's ring panics and tells them to get out of there (it's afraid of Superboy-Prime and reveals that he's responsible for killing over 55 Green Lanterns), the villains offer Mordru something. The four (five if we're counting Rond) Legionnaires need to regroup and escape.

Which means, of course, that we're cutting to Metropolis, and Legion HQ. The Legion begins arguing with Superman, and with themselves, about what to do about Superboy-Prime. Lightning Lad curses up a storm as he points out the maybe it's the right time to break the Legion code. Timber Wolf and Shrinking Violet agree. Lightning Lass doesn't and Cosmic Boy is even more forceful: "Not now. Not ever."

Back to Sorcerer's World, where Rond has created a massive shield that's protecting the Legionnaires from the LSV's attack. Mysa has absorbed enough magical energy to create a stargate and, with Dawnstar's help, they have a path back to Earth. Rond pushes the others through the gate, deciding to face the LSV by himself. To no surprise, Mordru isn't happy he's lost Mysa but Superboy-Prime is happy to meet the last Green Lantern.

The argument continues at Legion HQ with Garth and Rokk fighting over what to do with the Legion moving forward. Garth wonders why Rokk is always the leader, why he's always the one making the decisions, why everything is on his shoulders.

Rokk slams him into the wall, pointing out that he's done this so the responsibility isn't Garth's or Imra's. He's sacrificed everything so they can have a life outside the team.

If this is the OG Legion, Rokk's only been leader once. The first one. Imra was leader for longer, as was Garth. And considering we haven't seen either Garth or Imra with a family in these stories, I'm going to say 3 & 4.

The four Legionnaires have returned, barely getting through the stargate, and let everyone know that Rond stayed behind to face the LSV alone.

While Mysa tries to reopen a stargate (why doesn't the Legion just have access to one?) we get to watch Rond fight back against the LSV while his ring identifies who everyone is. I can't imagine a worse way to fight against a ton of enemies than being constantly told everyone's name as they're hitting me.

Saturn Queen enters his mind and starts toying with him, telling him that every Legionnaire is only pretending to be good - they all have evil in them. Superboy-Prime grabs his left hand, crushing it below the ring, when Saturn Queen stops him from doing more.

She points out that Rond is Universo's son and he should be able to decide what happens. Universo doesn't care about Rond, only about the ring. So Superboy-Prime snaps Rond's neck, killing him.

Mysa screams out in pain and we watch Vidar's body fall to the ground. The ring flies away, unable to scan the space sector, and the villains argue. Again. Mordru attempts to use magic on Superboy-Prime, which doesn't work, and doesn't want to follow him. But the promise of killing the Legion brings them all together.

Okay, Superman, do you still want to try to talk sense into Superboy-Prime.

It's time for the Legion to act, knowing that the villains are coming directly for them. Dawnstar has somehow gained the ability to sense where everyone is heading at all times (that's gotta be a massive pain) and Brainiac 5 states it's time to show the universe how smart he is.

The ring flies back to, I'm guessing, Oa, which is a dead, almost deserted planet, because it's unable to find a "replacement sentient." Really? There is no being, in the entire universe, capable of being a Green Lantern? Someone grabs the ring, powers it down, and dumps it on a huge pile of other rings.

The Legion has gone to Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, the site of the first Justice League of America HQ, to find something they need. Once again, I'm always impressed these places lasted 1,000 years with nothing rotting, nothing developing mold, and no dust anywhere. Brainy goes off on a rant about bad organization and filing systems. What is he looking for, you may ask? "A sphere made up of the crystallized nexus of all Earths from all parallel universes."

If he knows this exists, why would he just leave it in an abandoned HQ? Why wouldn't he have grabbed it years ago? Once again, Brainy is both the smartest and the dumbest person in the Legion.

The team has been split up. Some are heading to face the LSV over Metropolis. Polar Boy, Wildfire, and Dawnstar are heading back to the 21st Century to do something they won't tell Superman about. Mon-El and Shadow Lass have headed to Sorcerer's World to get Rond's body and bring him to Oa to meet a Daxamite.

Using the sphere, Brainy gets the White Witch and Phantom Girl to help him conduct a seance to connect with the other worlds. I have no idea why Phantom Girl is there - it's not like she has any mystical powers at all. They want to meet one Legion Lost and one Legion that's far more important that the White Witch believed.

I always thought a seance was to speak with dead people. Yep. According to the Oxford dictionary: "a meeting at which people attempt to make contact with the dead, especially through the agency of a medium."

There's a massive explosion and the room is filled with Legionnaires. The bad news? The sphere exploded so there's no way to return them home.

The good news? We have our reinforcements.

Brainiac 5 (the OG one) addresses everyone to try to explain what's going on and why they're on this Earth. This, of course, leads to all three Brainiac 5s arguing with each other. If you thought the Threeboot Legion went a little overboard with their hatred of adults, that version of Brainy hammers the point home within two panels. Nope, no subtlety here.

And... Sun Boy's drinking...

The battle is getting worse and Metropolis is burning. The Legion and the LSV are fighting for supremacy. Unfortunately, only Superboy-Prime gets any dialogue. As he batters Superman, he talks about how he's going to destroy everything and how the "S" is his symbol now.

Thankfully, time works differently in the future so Mon-El and Shadow Lass have already grabbed Rond's body and reached Oa. I guess they have an incredibly fast spaceship. They're stunned by all the rings lying on the ground and a mysterious figure in the huge lantern tells them to leave. Mon-El says they need help avenging Rond and the being says they're unwilling. Who is he?

It's the big reveal. It's Sodam Yat! He's the real last of the guardians of the universe. Does this mean that Rond Vidar was a Green Lantern for at least a few years and had no idea this guy existed?

Don't worry, I don't know who he is either. Let's go to Wikipedia...

Oh, okay. He's a Daxamite Green Lantern who was created in the 80s by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill and wasn't seen again until about a year prior in the Green Lantern Corps comic book. I know I'm naive to hope that the big reveal would be someone Legion related, but really? This is the big surprise at the end of issue two?

Wouldn't it have been amazing if it had been the real Universo, desperately wanting to be a Green Lantern again, and we'd get our first big twist? Or a different Daxamite, like Laurel Gand? Or Kent Shakespeare so we get another Superman connection? Or Celeste Rockfish, who was also a Green Lantern in the Legion universe?

But on the positive side, only 4 obvious mistakes. Let's see if they can do better next issue.

Legion of 3 Worlds #3

One of the best things about a mini-series is that we get the same creative team issue to issue - Writer Geoff Johns, penciller Geroge Perez, and inker Scott Koblish are all back.

We begin with Rond's funeral - he's lit with green flame, the fires turn into a lantern, and then they dissipate. Sodam talks about how this is the last time he's going to bury an officer of the corps and that he will continue the honor of acting as the sole guardian of Oa.

We also get the explanation of why the rings can't find any new Lanterns. The soul that guided the rings, the lantern Mogo, was destroyed a long time ago so now the rings have no "moral compass."

Let's talk about that plot point for a second. if Mogo was destroyed a long time ago, then how did Rond get his ring? If the rings have no moral compass, then why would they care who they were used by? This would explain how Universo got one... 

Once again, Mon-El and Shadow Lass ask for help and Sodam talks about how Superboy-Prime is the one who poisoned him when he shoved a lead rod into his abdomen. He talks about how he's alone, how he's watched every Lantern die, and how he's been alone for centuries. Who could understand him?

Mon-El, of course, who's kinda been through the same thing. In four panels, Mon is able to convince him to join them and Sodam spends an entire page recharging his ring and promising to join the battle. He also swears that, somehow, the Green Lantern Corps will live again.

I may be in the minority here, but I like the idea of the future being Green Lantern-free. It elevates the Legion and makes them even more important to the universe. Also, when you get writers like Johns, who love the Green Lantern Corps to an unhealthy degree, they shove the Legion into the background of their one book.

I swear, if the final battle of this book is Superman and a Green Lantern against Superboy-Prime... with the Legion just standing around and watching... ugh...

Speaking of battles, we get a great two-page spread showing the Legion against the LSV while Metropolis suffers incredible damage. The Legion is trying their best to fight two battles - one against the villains and one to try to save as many innocent bystanders as possible. Now we don't actually get to see the Legion saving anyone, but since they talk about it, it's all good, right? 

Invisible Kid takes a nasty blast to the back from Dr. Regulus and Night Girl has to stay under Storm Boy's dark clouds to have any superpowers. Yeah, as much as I like having her team up with Shadow Lass, when Tasmia isn't there, Night Girl's kinda useless, right? There is a reason why she didn't make the team and I don't think anything's changed to have her earn her membership here. Maybe Cosmic Boy pulled some strings.

Superman flies Superboy-Prime away from the battle and tries to talk some sense into him. He tries to remind him of his past, of his parents and friends who he used to care about. You know, those people who died. Always good to remind a psychotic murderer that the only people he cared about are gone, right? Then Superboy-Prime unleases his heat vision into Superman's hand, blasting a hole through it. And uses his cold breath to blow him away... get your minds out of the gutter, please...

The Legion regroups around the Daily Planet (it's so cute that a newspaper is still around 1,000 years from now) and try to figure out where the heavy hitters, like Earth-Man, are. 

Earth-Man and Tusker have attacked the U.P. Council, ready to execute them for treason. Myg jumps to the rescue, kicking Tusker and bragging about how he doesn't believe in the superiority of the human race. So Radiation Roy blasts him and kills him.

It's the Legion to the rescue (too late for Myg, of course) and they try to rescue as many U.P. dignitaries as they can. To further convince me Lightning Lad has lost his mind, he spends more time boasting about he knew the U.P. would come begging for their help. Anyone else remember when Legionnaires were altruistic?

It's a showdown with Earth-Man and if that wasn't enough of a threat, Ol-Vir arrives with what looks like the unconscious body (at least I hope he's only unconscious) of Colossal Boy.

Mordru is still focused on getting Mysa back and he sends shadow creatures to kill as many Earthlings as he can. Blok gets in front of one to save some people and Night Girl is suddenly effective again - shattering the shadow creatures is making her stronger. No, this doesn't make any sense to me either, but we have to somehow justify her not just getting destroyed here.

As the Legionnaires start falling (Black Mace takes out Timber Wolf? How? And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Lightning Lass' only comment when she gets captured is to say "Brin"), Superboy-Prime returns and starts burning down the Legion statues on the Avenue of Heroes. I guess his lack of focus does help our heroes, doesn't it?

Superman returns and this time, he's got reinforcements. The Legions of the other two worlds have arrived and I'm so happy that the only bit of dialogue shows two Brainaic 5s arguing like children. Is the sarcasm clear enough?

The new heroes turn the tide, or Johns has just forgotten about everything else, as we get some interesting "reunions" and some fun moments. Lightning Lad is just a little shocked that, in a different universe, he's Element Lad.

While everyone else is still fighting, OG Brainiac 5 tells some of them that the second part of his plan requires every lightning wielder and the others are waiting for them at the clubhouse (or HQ). Gates shows up to take everyone needed and throw in a political comment or two. How would anyone from either team know Gates is a teleporter? Does OG Brainy have files on the other teams? Does anyone care for anything to make any sense here?

But what's the third team doing? Back in the 20th Century, in Smallville, Polar Boy, Wildfire, and Dawnstar head away from the Kent farm to their real target - Lex Luthor's house. They head inside and grab a single hair from Lex's bed. Polar Boy comments that they're happy this is the first day Lex started losing his hair - I guess they don't know that people lose a lot of hair every day.

Man, you'd think they'd have a better grasp of basic science in the 31st Century.

Also, we learn that Wildfire is only there because he wanted to stick close to Dawnstar. I have no idea why Polar Boy is there, either, and no idea why Brainy didn't keep as many people in the 31st Century that he could. This is literally something Dawnstar could've done by herself...

In the clubhouse, the Brainies continue to be insufferable, arrogant asses and we get a great moment regarding how to pronounce Winath.

OG - Wine-ath

Threeboot - Win-ath

Reboot - Win-athe

In my brain, it's always been Win-ath, but if I've learned nothing else while writing these columns, I've learned that I've been mispronouncing almost everything. Don't get me started on the Khunds...

Element Lad Garth uses his transmutation powers, and the living lightning in the lightning rod OG Brainy has been carrying around, to turn himself back into himself. No point trying to make sense of this - we want three Lightning Lads so we're not going to spend any time worrying about whether this "works."

XS and Gates talk about how they're noticing they don't have any versions of themselves on these worlds and OG Brainy gets to explain how all these different versions came to be.

XS was born on this Earth (is it still Earth 1?), the keystone of the multiverse.

I'm going to try to give you the short form of all of this, but this is two pages that look like they're summarizing a six-issue miniseries.

• Barry Allen went to the future and started a family.
• He disappeared and Professor Zoom went after Barry's kids, the Tornado Twins, one of which is XS' mom.
• The Twins tried to use a cosmic treadmill to shift to another universe to save their families.
• Zoom busted the treadmill, causing an explosion that opened the multiverse and brought the Legions of Three Worlds together. They fought Zoom but were stranded on an unknown parallel Earth.
• The three Brainiacs redesigned Starman's uniform to act as a map to the multiverse and then Thom opened up black holes to allow everyone to return to their own Earths.
• The Tornado Twins and their families headed to Earth-247 and the twins died soon after.
• XS, and her cousin Impulse, were reunited with their grandmother Iris and grew up to be teenagers in days.
• We also learn that time travel also allows you to shift into the multiverse - which is why Supergirl joined the Threeboot Legion

I think that story is better than the one I'm reading now. Does it actually exist? Did I miss something?

Also, I guess this means that we're not just rewriting the OG Legion and changing their past, we're also rewriting the Reboot Legion and changing them as well.

OG Brainiac 5 tells XS to get on the cosmic treadmill again and start running.

Back at the battle, numerous Legionnaires have come together to try to stop Superboy-Prime. Threeboot Sun Boy starts bathing him in red flames to sap his power (which shouldn't work, but he wouldn't know that... and by he, I mean Johns) and Threeboot Element Lad starts creating Kryptonite.

Superboy-Prime throws everyone off him, grabs Sun Boy, and freezes his head with a blast of cold breath. Then he shatters Dirk's frozen head. Sad, because Threeboot Sun Boy was one of the only likable Legionnaires from that book.

OG Sun Boy clutches his chest, drops his drink, and stumbles forward.

Mon-El, Shadow Lass, and Sodam have come back to Earth (again, space travel takes no time at all... if only they showed they were using stargates...) and Sodam tells Superboy-Prime that he's under arrest for the murder of all the Green Lanterns. Not for killing Sun Boy. Also, what is the statute of limitations on murder? 1,000 years?

The LSV start attacking the clubhouse, the Legion combines their powers to weaken Superboy-Prime, and XS runs, surrounded by the lightning blasts of five Legionnaires. I'm actually surprised they didn't just wave a magic wand and turn Threeboot Light Lass into Lightning Lass to have six.

Superboy-Prime decides to attack the clubhouse himself because no one can stop him and he can do whatever he wants. Seriously?

XS gets closer to what she thinks is the Speed Force but hears a mysterious voice. "That's not the Speed Force, Jenni - It's me."

Lightning explodes, Superboy-Prime busts in, and OG Brainiac 5 tosses the lightning creature on the treadmill a ring.

The ring opens, showing a Flash costume. Superboy-Prime is not happy.

Who's arrived? Kid Flash. Really? That's the big reveal? First the Legion does the lightning trick in the 21st Century and brings back Wally West. Now they do it in the 31st and get Kid Flash. Brainy's just recycling his ideas. Who's next? Max Mercury?

If you're getting deja vu because both issues ended kinda the same way, with the reveal of a 21st Century hero, you're not alone.

If you're getting deja vu because this whole story feels like the previous Action Comics story, where the Legion is getting defeated by second-tier LSV members, you're not alone.

If you're getting tired of watching Legionnaires and their supporting cast die, you're not alone. I'm also wondering why, if Superboy-Prime was so willing to kill Sun Boy so quickly, why didn't he do this to everyone? Couldn't he just kill 95% of the Legion without breaking a sweat?

Thoughts? Please share in the comments below or on Reddit.