Legenderry: the good and the bad

[Lee Stone]

So, I finally got around to finishing the Legenderry mini-series.
I had stopped reading after a few issues previously because of a minor art glitch that broke the immersion for me.

I was really wanting to read a nice steampunk adventure, and some of the characters in the series are favorites of mine, so I gave it another shot (and overlooked the art glitch on the current reading to avoid losing momentum).

And here's my personal assessment.

The character designs are great. Especially Flash Gordon and Zorro.
The art (for the most part) is amazing. The buildings, the characters, the machinery... Everything looks marvelous.
The story was decent, if somewhat predictable. I had already figured out Magna's secret long before it was revealed. And the Black Mass had me thinking of Buffy for some reason.
The world of Legenderry is well-thought, though. And it would be a perfect setting for a book series or an RPG.

However, there were a few blemishes.
The story progressed much too fast, as each issue was 'a month later' or 'several months later' to accomodate the monthly guest-star or, rather, introduction. Sometimes this even occurred in the middle of an issue.

The editing also needed tightening up a bit.
Case in point-
1. During the dinner scene on Captain Victory's ship, Steve Austin and Oscar Goldman swap seats during the conversation, with Steve on Magna's right on page 3, her left on page 4, and then on her right again for pages 5 thru 7. I thought perhaps it could be explained by the reader maybe seeing a reflection in a mirror, but Magna holds her glass in her left hand on both page 3 and page 4. This was the scene that initially threw me out of the story and caused me to quit reading the first time.
2. In issue #4, during the scene where the villains are revealed, Queen Zora is labeled 'Queen For Zora'. Then in #7, she's labeled 'Queen Flor Zora'. As these are the only two times in the series that her full name is given, the reader is left unsure which is correct, 'For' or 'Flor'.
3. There are a couple scenes where word balloons appear to be in the wrong order. Such as issue #5, page 10, panel one.
4. The man in white in issue #3 isn't given a name, so the reader is likely to assume that he's Dr. Moreau. Only to discover in the next issue that he wasn't.

The fights were over nearly as quickly as they began, yet ripped out arms and decapitated heads were plentiful. For fights that are barely even choreographed, it felt like they only served as a showcase for gore. And ommitting the scenes of gore doesn't remove anything from the story as the fights are generally 'they fight, they win, next scene'.

And by the last two issue, the book devolves into a superhero fantasy with barely any steampunk qualities to be found.

But the real stickler of the series is that after seven issues, the story had no conclusion. The heroes all regroup to stop a group of soldiers and vow to stop the big bad guys. The big bad guys are working on a scheme to take over the world.
And then it stops.

In all, Legenderry isn't a bad mini-series.
It's very inspired, and lovely to look at (the gore not so much, obviously).
But it's kept from being great by poor editing, a sense of being rushed along and a feeling of incompleteness when we finally reach the finish line.

And sadly, Mandrake (who would look awesome, I'd wager) didn't get to make an appearance.

If you cut out the gore, tighten up the editing, add a few more issues to complete the story and avoid the 'months later' jumps, it would likely be a 5 out of 5.
But as it is, I'd give the story a 3 out of 5 and the art a 4 out of 5 (with one point removed for the excessive gore).

Did anyone else read this?
If so, what were your thoughts?

[Güicho]

Did anyone else read this?
If so, what were your thoughts?

I remember randomly picking up issue #7 cause it had what looked like an interesting take on Zorro, and what I thought might be Robert E. Howard's original Red Sonya of Rogatino, which seemed like a great idea for a crossover.

I didn't realize that #7 was the last issue though, so yeah, by the time "The End" came up, I had little idea what was going on. Or why such an incongruous group of heroes were being put together.

I'd read Dynamite's Masks, which I really enjoyed, but similarly thought they went overboard just pulling to many heroes from everywhere, just for the sake of it, and giving none of them enough time to develop.
The more pulpy era heroes I get coming together, but really the random Kirby creations and Bionic man?

Still like the idea, pending reviews I thought of picking up the paperback when it came out, then forgot all about it

Might give it a try, thanks for the reminder and review!

[Lee Stone]

Thanks. The series had a lot of potential, and is indeed beautiful to look at. Especially the first five issues where the locations are airships and the cities.

But yeah, I don't know if I would've gone with Silver Star. He was a bit too super-heroey for the genre, in my opinion.
Captain Victory at least made a bit of sense as the actual captain of a skyship called 'Victory'. But then when he went all 'Captain America' he began to be a little too far-fetched.

Zorro, Red Sonja, Flash Gordon, Vampirella, Green Hornet, Kato, Phantom and Six-'Thousand' Dollar Man at least fit. If you can get past Vampirella ripping people's arm off, of course.

I think I personally would've dropped Silver Star for Mandrake.

[MajorHoy]

So, we have the good and the bad . . . shouldn't there also be The Ugly?

[MajorHoy]

By the way, it looks like a new Legenderry: Red Sonja run will be coming in 2018 from Dynamite.

Marc Andreyko To Write Legenderry: Red Sonja For Dynamite