With years spent reading single issues here and there, juggling storylines of dozens of titles, I decided it was time to find a better way to read comics. So, it was off to the back issue bins armed with the longest want list you’ve ever seen! Putting together series after series and reading them in their complete goodness, I was reborn as the Retro-Reader!
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Number of Issues: 3
First Issue: May 2009 ($2.99)
Last Issue: July 2009 ($2.99)
Writer: Frank Tieri
Artist: Mateus Santolouco
Cover Artist: Tommy Lee Edwards
Not all of the super-criminals in the Marvel Universe were happy about Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign over the United States. With that in mind, the Grim Reaper assembled his Lethal Legion (along with Nektra, Tiger Shark, Mr. Hyde, the Absorbing Man, Grey Gargoyle and a surprise hero!) to take down Osborn and indeed, they even managed to capture him! But, a member of the team sold them out by releasing Osborn while they were distracted. The members of this Lethal Legion were then rounded up and imprisoned in the Raft where the Grim Reaper was lethally stabbed in the chest.
Now, a lawyer is investigating the crime … interviewing each of the Lethal Legion members. Analyzing how things went down and who was out to get who. Can you guess which member of the team sold ’em out? I sure couldn’t … but it was a cool reveal!
The Bad: Tommy Lee Edwards moody cover art wasn’t really to my liking.
The Good: This story was a great set up to provide wonderful insight into these characters as each team member got to tell their story.
The Verdict: Frank Tieri created a cool thriller here with very little action. The story was moved along quickly as each member told a different part of the flashback and set up the mystery as to who the sell out was. Lots of neat (and even fun) character moments here – one of which was the Grey Gargoyle proposing (in all seriousness) to be the Thor of the Dark Avengers. And, to top it off, the interior art was better-suited for the story than the covers were.
On Ebay: Lethal Legion | Dark Reign | Frank Tieri