Following the King: Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes

Crossovers rarely work as anyone who has ever seen one of the forgettable attempts to have the Flinstones meet the Jetsons can attest. We don’t need to see Harry Potter enter Narnia or have Darth Vader leading Sauron’s armies.

Earlier this year, a comic mini-series featured the Legion of Super-Heroes, DC Comics’ premier team of the future, meet up with Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and the crew of the Enterprise from the original Star Trek series.

I’m a huge fan of both the Legion of Super-Heroes and of Star Trek which makes me the ideal audience for Chris Roberson's attempt to bring them together. But, despite some solid art from Jeffrey Moy, I was less than impressed with the series which is now available as a book and on Kindle.

There are some similarities between the Legion and Star Trek. Both are products of a more optimistic age when creators and writers could envision a future presided over by an intergalactic body much like the United Nations. The United Planets from the Legion and the Federation from Star Trek peacefully oversee scores of worlds with different races. Having Cpt. Kirk join forces with Cosmic Boy and the Legion should have been a natural fit.

But there are problems with Roberson's attempt to bring the Legion and Star Trek together. The plot is, at best, mediocre with an anti-climatic ending that wraps things up a bit too easily. While Roberson has our heroes tackle time travel and other dimensions, the plot makes little sense and does little to hold the reader's attention.

Where Roberson helps salvage the book, though certainly he does not totally redeem it, is with characterization. It's fun to see Mr. Spock and his fellow intellectual giant Brainiac 5 interact. Roberson is also excellent with Cpt. Kirk, with his attraction to female aliens, flirt with Shadow Lass from the Legion.  Some of the dialogue is very memorable. Perhaps the character who stands out the most is Dr. McCoy as Roberson is excellent on pulling the strings on the good doctor.

Despite these fine examples of characterization, this story is not memorable in the least--even to a fan of both Star Trek and the Legion. While not a bad book, the Star Trek/Legion crossover is disappointing despite some fine moments from Roberson and a solid job by Moy.