This is my first time reading this miniseries. I’ve never heard any Legion fan actually liking this one, and it’s even considered worse than the Karate Kid series.
Will the series itself manage to change my mind, or just to damage it further?
Timber Wolf #1 (1992)
by Al Gordon & Joe Phillips
We’re not off to a great start, considering this ugly cover.
But hey, it’s the first Fast & Furious spinoff.
It doesn’t help that this is a direct continuation from Annual 3, because if you haven’t read that you have no clue who either Timber Wolf and Aria are.
Even if you were a Legion fan, Timber Wolf looks nothing like himself. And the only way to understand who Aria is would be reading the Quiet Darkness… which is already bad enough, but good luck understanding ANYTHING from that saga!
Timber Wolf is now stuck in the 20th century, so the best way to spoil any potential drama is for characters to immediately know he’s a time traveler.
Also continuing from the Annual, Timber Wolf is currently fighting a guy named Thrust.
His choice if wardrobe is as bad as his choice of codenames.
Timber Wolf is not from Earth, so the best way to spoil any potential drama is for characters to immediately know he’s an alien.
Thrust’s gimmick is that he can copy superpowers. We could have the heroes needing to figure that out, but that would make things almost interesting.
Also: is Thrust the only half-Durlan we’ve ever seen? I can’t think of another one.
This comic is aggressively 90s slop. You know those countless minor series that were mimicking the early wave of Image comics, with the same level of nonsensical superficial plots but without an ounce of uniqueness to the artwork?
In case you forgot the Quiet Darkness… first of all you have no idea how I envy you, but also: Aria is explicitly 12 years old despite having the body of a grown woman.
Just thought I’d mention it to ruin your day.
But then again if you’re reading a summary of the Timber Wolf miniseries, your day was already bad.
We spent NINE PAGES on a boring fight scene that went absolutely nowhere.
Hey maybe this IS a Fast&Furious spinoff after all!
And things get even more confusing when Timber Wolf is caught between two different governmental agencies, one of which uses the ridiculous term “P-Geeps”.
Which doesn’t just sound stupid, but it’s also redundant when it’s in the same sentence of “meta-humans”, which was the post-Crisis term used by DC for people with superpowers.
On a pure technicality it’s not a synonym… meta-humans are all being with powers, regardless if they have the “meta-gene”… but it’s a difference too subtle to bother.
Also: since when is that called “para-gene”? This support my accusation of this feeling like any generic new superhero universe, if they’re coming up with synonyms to terms already used.
At least we acknowledge the Legion connection… with Al Gordon insisting on the retcon that all of Timber Wolf’s powers are due to super-steroids that made him suffer his whole life.
I have no doubt that the reason for this miniseries existing, not to mention Timber Wolf’s new look, is that Wolverine was REALLY popular in 1992. So the comic is now officially turning Timber Wolf into Discount Wolverine, down to giving him super-senses.
The premise of the book isn’t even internally consistent. This government organization recruits Timber Wolf, a guy THEY JUST MET, because they’re looking for superhumans with a good reputation…
…but they take Timber Wolf SPECIFICALLY because he’s unknown!?
He hasn’t even told them he’s an experienced hero!
Flawless operation, no notes.
Timber Wolf injures this guy (I’m not bothering trying to remember his name), and he’s EASILY convinced to trust him despite having shown no signs of competence.
Man, this smarts. (WTF does that sentence mean in this context!?)
Oh good, Thrust is going to be in the rest of the series.
And could anyone please tell these guys that Aria is TWELVE!?
If you thought Thrust was the worst superhuman involved in this… oh boy.
Timber Wolf #2 (1992)
by Al Gordon & Joe Phillips
Having a cover uglier than the first issue is an accomplishment.
We’re never explicitly told who is Thrust’s father. Given his choice of fake swears and references to him being the worst, it’s kind of implied to be Lobo of all people.
Both Timber Wolf and Thrust are attempting to pass as humans. Which should be pretty hard, but this IS the DC Universe.
They’re looking for an informant in a bar for people who have the potential to become superheroes.
Notice we’ve dropped the term “para-gene” to return to the standard “meta-gene”.
This is a great idea that belongs to a better series.
Has Astro City done something like this? It would be perfect for Astro City. Or for a good writer.
Although I’m pretty sure most of the customers are here just for the sexy cosplayers.
This is where the duo runs into Captain Flag. And since is the Timber Wolf book, it means that Thrust does all the fighting while Timber Wolf just watches.
At least until Timber Wolf gets his fur handed to him.
Until Timber Wolf unleashes his full ripoff powers and goes feral.
I feel weird calling him a ripoff considering he’s a much older character than Wolverine, but this is exactly what EVERYONE was doing in the 90s to copy Wolvie.
This agency is starting to make the Science Police look competent.
And then Captain Flag flees by summoning this crime against flying.
This has been completely pointless.
Turns out Aria has been kidnapped by a cell of 20th century Dominators, so here’s hoping the story eventually goes SOMEWHERE.
Timber Wolf #3 (1993)
by Al Gordon & Joe Phillips
If you have a Legionnaire stuck in the 20th century, a team-up with a local hero is a no-brainer.
But the Creeper would be far, FAR below in anyone’s expectations.
Timber Wolf was focused on recovering Aria, meaning he has time for the Legally Not The Danger Room.
Hey don’t make fun of the story for being boring, that’s MY job here!
We spend SIX PAGES in this training session, by the way.
And that’s not including the pages where Timber Wolf succumbs to his Ripoff Rage and has to be calmed by a woman who I don’t think we’ve even seen before.
I’d much rather hang out the Dominators. Something I’m pretty sure nobody has ever said in-universe.
Captain Flag has been working with an organization that may or may not be the same one Timber Wolf is working with. I’m sure the comic DOES address this, but I really can’t bring myself to actually care about any of this.
Captain Flag is a patriotically-themed psychotic drug addict who gets powers by taking pills, because I guess this comic wasn’t content in just ripping off Wolverine and now has added Nuke from Daredevil’s Born Again saga to the list of better things it’s copying.
We briefly see Aria again, stuck inside a 9-panel grid talking to a mental projection of her mother.
The connection to the Creeper is that Timber Wolf’s silhouette currently KIND OF looks like the Creeper.
This somehow ends up with the actual Creeper looking for him.
I’m kind of indifferent towards the Creeper, but he’s a breath of fresh air considering the other heroes of the book: Timber Wolf barely talks and thinks in generic angst captions, and Thrust is… well he’s Thrust.
IN THEORY, a fight between these two heroes makes a bit of sense: not a lot of DC heroes have super-agility as a major part of their powerset. Too bad Timber Wolf is way too removed from his old “super-acrobatics” days for this to work, or even be acknowledged.
I really shouldn’t root for the guest-star against the supposed protagonist of the series, but I’m actively wishing for this to suddenly turn into a Creeper miniseries.
Timber Wolf #4 (1993)
by Al Gordon & Joe Phillips
Finally a cover that fits the tone, representing the pain of reading this series.
We begin with Timber Wolf having a nightmare about failing to save his mother.
I have no idea where this is coming from.
His nightmare also includes the Legionnaires mocking him. Although I have no idea who the guy on the right is supposed to be.
I’m sure this nightmare would hit differently if there was any emotional connection between Timber Wolf and Aria, but the two BARELY interacted.
Thrust reveals that one of his contacts knows where to find Aria.
I’m with Timber Wolf on this: end this storyline as quickly as possible.
More dream sequences, because I guess Joe Phillips agreed to draw this atrocity of a miniseries if he got to draw hot women in swimsuits.
It’s all happening while the Dominators are transferring powers to Captain Flag.
Tough choice here.
But the Dominators put all their faith in Captain Flag.
Aaaaand he sucks, what are the odds.
But once the Dominators give him a bit more power, he manages to knock out Thrust…
…and turn Timber Wolf into THIS.
“Yikes” indeed.
Timber Wolf #5 (1993)
by Al Gordon & Joe Phillips
And we’re already at the final issue. Of a series that has felt interminable despite very little of anything happening.
Sounds like the perfect occasion for technobabble that makes no sense.
The Legion’s fandom opinion of Thrust, I’m guessing.
I get what there were trying to achieve with Thrust… a wisecracking hero with a bit of narcissism, kind of a cross between Spider-Man and the early post-Crisis Superboy.
Too bad he comes across as just annoying.
As a reminder: during the Quiet Darkness, Aria managed to KILL DARKSEID.
Now giving her powers to Captain Flag isn’t even enough to defeat Ripoff Wolverine and Tryhard Mimic here.
I don’t care if they’re only extracting a tiny bit of that power, it’s still unbelievably underwhelming.
That’s right, this miniseries is so bad it’s making me use the Quiet Darkness AS A POSITIVE EXAMPLE.
Once Aria manages to stop the transfer, however, Captain Flag just runs away.
All this does is lead Timber Wolf right to the Dominator ship, where they’re keeping Aria.
I’m not gonna lie, seeing Timber Wolf knock Thrust out of the story TWICE was cathartic.
Which is absurd because this is immediately before Thrust rescues a former colleague who has been kidnapped by the Dominators. He was namedropped a couple of times before.
Aria is still talking to her mother. I originally thought this was a hallucination created by the Dominators, but I’m guessing it’s the real deal.
Her words of wisdom to her daughter are “don’t think”.
Don’t worry lady, nobody in this book has ever had a single thought.
No wonder this is the last issue, Timber Wolf keeps shoving characters out of the story.
Aria then turns Timber Wolf into a more human form.
Naked.
Did I mention she’s twelve?
Captain Flag still didn’t get the hint that he’s not plot-relevant anymore.
Also, does this series think that shoving people out of the way is the only way Timber Wolf can fight!?
And so we end with Timber Wolf leaving the organization, to go on a bike ride with Aria.
And that was the Timber Wolf series! Did it manage to beat its bad reputation?
Believe it or not, but yes it did.
IT’S EVEN WORSE.
Legion significance: 0/10
This has the flimsiest connection to the Legion anyway. There’s BARELY any mention of these events once Timber Wolf returns to the 30th century.
Silver Age-ness: 3/10
There’s SOME in the utter randomness of the stuff introduced, but the heavy lifting is the Misunderstanding Fight™ with the Creeper.
90-ness: X-TREME!!! / 10
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
I’ll start with the positives: the idea of a bar with people just waiting for an origin story has great potential (which is never used) and, uhm… let’s see… I like the Timber Wolf logo.
That’s it.
The artwork is mostly serviceable, with some occasional interesting details (I liked the Dominator with glasses).
What really, REALLY brings this down is the writing.
Al Gordon is mostly known as an inker, and between this and the Quiet Darkness I can definitely say that as a writer… he’s a good inker.
Timber Wolf is not only COMPLETELY unrecognizable, he’s barely a character in his own miniseries. He’s either a rabid werewolf or he’s just droning on and on and on about his sudden angst. Thrust is an interesting concept but gets annoying FAST.
Aria is even less of a character, and all the talk about her significance and power end up feeling VERY underwhelming.
The whole idea of the government agency hiring superhumans to deal with stuff in the background isn’t bad, but it’s been done WAY better so many times. It doesn’t help that the plot regarding them is simultaneously too simple and too complex, and that all characters revolving around it are as boring as they come.
It’s also as generic as possible: not only Timber Wolf feels like he was added to this at the last minute, it doesn’t even feel like it belongs to the DC Universe.
The plot has absolutely no focus, jumping around from scene to scene without a consistent theme or goal in mind. Stuff happens to facilitate action scenes and overwritten pseudo-intellectual tripe.
I often end up defending comics from the 90s as the decade gets the undeserved reputation of being terrible from beginning to end, but… when people talk about quality taking a nosedive in 90s superhero comics, THIS is the crap they’re thinking about.
To be avoided by Legion completionists, fans of good superhero comics, and honestly even by fans of bad superhero comics. This miniseries can’t be put in the same category of the Karate Kid series of “so bad it’s hilarious”… this one is just BAD.
The guy on the right is apparently supposed to be Star Boy, judging by the starfield parts of his costume.
Far be it for me to judge a series I haven’t read, but the artwork alone would have put me off. It reminds of some ’90s cartoons in which everything was in your face all the time–continuous excitement for viewers with short attention spans.
I’m pretty sure the “guy on the right” is meant to be Kent Shakespeare, in the costume he wore as “Impulse” during his 5-year gap membership.
That’s really all I have to add to your review. Unlike the stuff in the first three years of the LSH series, I didn’t find this to have any hidden layers of meaning or plot to understand. It’s just what it is…Image envy.
I hadn’t thought about Kent Shakespeare. It’s a bad design. The “glasses” look more like black eyes or makeup.
The miniseries Lobo: Infanticide features one hundred of Lobo’s illegitimate children teaming up in an attempt to kill him. Naturally, the series ends with all of them dead. If only Thrust could have been one of them. On the other hand, Timber Wolf’s return to the Legion features a character many times worse than Thrust.
Would it be wrong if I said Timber Wolf isn’t shoving people away; he’s thrusting them?
Al Gordon will pack up Aria after this, rename her Skylark, and move her over to Image, because that’s where 90’s excessive nonsense belongs. As Skylark, she can’t directly reference the Legion, but she does tell people she’s the step between god and man, and she’s from the future. See the Wildstar miniseries for her entry to that universe.
Alan Moore’s Top 10 takes place in Neopolis, a nexus city between realities, where everybody has super abilities and a publicly known, not-secret identity. Parents send their kids to “origin camps”, because every kid wants a secret origin. Alan Moore is a better writer than Al Gordon, but that’s kind of like saying the Grand Canyon is deeper than the hole I just dug to plant a flowerpot. Some people should probably stick with inking.
Funny how when I discuss this series, I find myself mostly referencing other series. Maybe because this series sucked.
This smarts means this hurts. It’s more commonly that smarts, but I guess his whole body is hurting. Like the reader’s.
This mini series doesn’t appear to overwhelmingly use the Grid, but I’m still taking the repeated instructions to “increase grid tolerance” personally.
As should we all.
The panel of Aria raising her hands to her face in the 9 panel grid from issue #3 is a swipe of a Giffen panel from LSH v4 #22. I’m genuinely astounded that anyone would want to lift a single thing from Giffen’s artwork from that period. It’s like breaking into your neighbor’s house to steal a scoop of used cat litter.
What a horrible mess—like every bad comics idea of the era stewed together and dumped on the table. Compared to the Karate Kid series… I think we all owe David Michelinie an apology.