posted
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LSH 41
"Introducing THE LEGIONNAIRES"
A "split" issue, half Immonen, half Sprouse, that serves effectively as LEGIONNAIRES # 0, a launching pad for the upcoming LEGIONNAIRES series (which I was mad crazy excited about!).
There's some real drama in the Immonen half, with Jacques deciding to ditch his role as earth president (turning it over to former Legionnaire Tyroc), a scene between Sean and Jan which shows that the two are still friends, the revelation that the SW6 Luornu can triplicate and a scene with the recently traumatized Dawnstar.
But most dramatic of all is the reunion between the long-dead Lyle Norg and his parents. Whoa. Heavy.
The second half with THE LEGIONNAIRES features something long-missing... bright, super-hero costumes and an upswing in the general mood of things.
You gotta love such things as the snappy patter between older-Cham and Danielle, Laurel's "Valor-Girl" costume, Tenzil's one liners ("Thank God for short skirts."), Dirk's passionate itch getting scratched (perhaps TOO deeply!) and the overall "FEEL" being established by Tom, Mary, Chris Sprouse/Karl Story and Tom McGraw (Legion colorist SU-freaking-PREME).
I'm telling you, I was so hyped for LEGIONNAIRES to launch like for no other series, before or since. Can't wait to reread those early issues and review 'em here.
I would be remiss to not point out the LSH 300 homage cover by Sprouse/Story, probably my favorite homage ever.
I should also state at this point that Tom and Mary's lettercols were probably some of the best, possibly THE best, of any comic, ever.
quote:Originally posted by MLLASH: I would be remiss to not point out the LSH 300 homage cover by Sprouse/Story, probably my favorite homage ever.
Actually, it's a homage to ADVENTURE # 300, not LSH (v.2) # 300 (although the motif was repeated on 301).
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I'm coming to this thread a bit late but count me among the fans of the 5YL Legion. I found the whole thing refreshing. Taking characters I loved to a new level that wasn't all bright and shiny and there were threats beyond gaudy super villans. A lot of people have gripes about it; Profem, the destruction of earth, batch SW6, etc. None of that bothered me particularly. It was gripping and well written. Personally, I miss that Legion and even though it had changed considerably by the end of the run, it seemed like a natural progression even though they had stupid costumes again (loved the non-costume costumes). I miss you Tom & Mary (and Keith).
-------------------- Is that a moon?
From: Portland, OR | Registered: Aug 2006
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I am not going to edit the original post but it should be VERY LOUDLY STATED that the plot for issue 42 is from TOM McCRAW and not the Bierbaums. I swear I never realized that for some reason!!
Sincerest apologies to Tom!
LSH 42
"The Enemy Within"
Starting with page 1, we know we have a spotlight on Luornu Durgo Taine, who had been at best a second-tier character throughout the 5YG.
Someone's been kidnapping Legionnaires, very specific ones.
Turns out it's Glorith of Baaldur, vixen villainess supreme, as revenge for the whole CONSPIRACY thing from the Levitz era.
"What's that?", you ask, a pinched expression on your face, "The Time Trapper was the villain of the Conspiracy storyline, dumbass! Everyone knows that!"
And you are correct.
However, with TMK's LSH # 4 and 5, we experienced a "mini-boot" (forced by DC's then-PTB) which retroactively altered certain things about the LSH's history. Important to this issue: it whited out all reference to Superboy and Supergirl, and inserted Glorith into the Time Trapper's place in continuity.
Therefore, Glorith was the villain of the CONSPIRACY storyline, and her crime wasn't killing Superboy, but destroying Daxam.
The Bierbaums used this miniboot loophole to do something nice for Luornu Durgo... they restored her second body (the Time Trapper didn't KILL her, Glorith de-aged her to protoplasm, and restored her to help enact revenge).
They also used established continuity to play up the differences in Luornu's bodies (an idea which carried over into the reboot) and even gave her force-field powers to further protect her! Not too harsh a stretch, as they used Brainy's force-field belt gift from the CONSPIRACY aftermath as the launching point for this idea. You got the feeling that they were feeling overprotective of her, really cared about her.
The issue really served as a love note to Luornu Durgo, and helped make me a huge fan of the character.
Tom and Mary were very good at turning my minor infatuations with certain characters into full-blown love (see also Matter-Eater Lad, which Giffen also deserves credit for).
-- Shrinking Violet was a Legionnaire longer than Matter-Eater Lad. Surely she knew what the Planetary Chance Machine was.
-- It's hard to believe it was that easy for Jacques to give up being president. Didn't the people elect him? Wouldn't they have something to say about him ditching his duly sworn duties? (Not that Jacques was a very good president. In the previous issue, he tells Troy that he has no interest in work until Danielle is found. Hardly the most responsible attitude from any president, let alone one who was trying to lead after a crisis.)
-- Jacques is so bad at being a leader that he can't even recruit new members for the Legion. The Subs (who've waited so long to join the Legion) are hardly enthused at the offer, and even Jacques' own sister turns him down!
-- I'm not sure what to make of Sean and Jan's scene. Jan sounds lonely, as if he wants Sean back. But Sean's later comment to young Jan makes it clear that he regards Element Lad as part of his past.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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I'm telling you, I was so hyped for LEGIONNAIRES to launch like for no other series, before or since. Can't wait to reread those early issues and review 'em here.
I gotta say, I got into the Legion _BECAUSE_ of this issue and the early Legionnaires. Their short lifespan will always irk me
-------------------- "I weighed the odds of this working versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid and, well, I did it anyway,"
- Crow T. Robot
From: The Evil Anti-Moon!!!! | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
LSH # 42 is another example of the Bierbaums creatively reshuffling the cards they'd been dealt, but it also highlights just how incomplete that deck was to begin with.
I don't understand why Glorith destroyed Daxam, but, assuming she did, why would Brainy, Imra, and Lu participate in a conspiracy against her? In the original story, Lu was secretly in love with Superboy and Brainy's greatest accomplishment had been ruined by the Time Trapper, hence their reasons for working behind the rest of the Legion's back to seek revenge. (Imra's motives were never fully explored.) But, in the revised continuity, we have to accept that Lu loved Lar instead of Kal (which still doesn't make sense, as Lar was not killed in the same manner as Superboy, unless they've rewritten continuity that drastically). Brainy's connection with Glorith remains unclear, at least from this story.
But, assuming the Bierbaums had to address the Conspiracy in some fashion, they wisely chose to focus the issue on Lu. The story becomes a love letter to Lu, as Lash said, and I rejoiced that she not only got her "sister" back, but also an unexpected second power, to boot. There's a very "Legion-y" sentiment here, that things always work out in the end, even if one has to go through hell to get there.
Another pleasant outcome of this story is that I'm liking the character of Laurel Gand more and more. Although retrofitting her into Legion history still seems wrong, the Bierbaums made the best of it by showing her to be a "working" wife and mom (with a stay-at-home husband and dad) -- things they could never have done with Supergirl.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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Yeah the Glorith/Daxam thing replacing the "Conspiracy" story didn't do much for me. It just changed all the motivations. I liked the story but they could've connected it better.
From: Tampa | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
For me, it was just another example of DC attempting to fix a fix of a fix, and just making things worse.
It's the same thing that happened to Donna Troy and Wonder Woman. After the Crisis, they reimagined the Wonder Woman franchise, and in the new view Wonder Woman and Donna Troy weren't connected. So, Marv and George tweaked Donna to alter her origins to break her away from Diana. It wasn't perfect, but it worked.
Well then, down the road, new writers decided to re-imagine things further, making Hippolyte the original Wonder Woman to fill the gap of the Earth-2 Wonder Woman (which had already been fixed), and they brought Donna back into the franchise, further altering her origins and making things more muddled than ever.
The Legion was fixed with the pocket universe. There was a pocket Superboy, who filled the gap left when Man of Steel got rid of the original Superboy. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. New writers down the road decided to fix things again, but in the end all they really did was create more inconsistencies.
DC just needs to learn how to quit while they are ahead
-------------------- Some people are like slinkys: not really good for anything, but they bring a smile to your face when you knock them down a flight of stairs
From: Penthouse atop Levitz Hall, LMBP Plaza, Embassy Row, Legion World | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Yes, this self-referential mode of "We have to go back and fix the past!" draws attention to the fact that these are comic book characters who can be tossed around like a worn-out baseball. It destroys suspension of disbelief. Further, it prevents the characters and writers from looking to the future instead of the past -- ironic since the Legion is supposed to be about the future.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I loved that Luornu issue. I actually found it fascinating how T&M were able to explain how the Conspiracy storyline worked in the new continuity. Obviously, it was too bad DC changed it to begin with, but it was amazing at how T&M could make it all fit together with enthusiasm and make it work to their advantage.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Um, but it didn't fit together, as I pointed out above. The Conspiracy storyline works only if the conspirators have deeply personal motives to begin with. In Imra's case, her motives were already tenuous or, at least, unrevealed. Brainy's motives were unclear, but at least could be inferred (i.e., the Trapper had destroyed his greatest accomplishment, time travel, by revealing it all to be a lie). Lu was in love with Superboy, whom the Time Trapper killed.
Without such deeply personal motives, the conspirators have no reason to go behind the Legion's back in order to seek revenge against the Time Trapper/Glorith. (One might suppose that Glorith, like the Trapper, had destroyed Brainy's time travel achievements, but the reader is left to guess this.) If Glorith destroyed Daxam, then only Laurel and Rond (plus the deceased Valor) have credible reasons for wanting revenge.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: I loved that Luornu issue. I actually found it fascinating how T&M were able to explain how the Conspiracy storyline worked in the new continuity. Obviously, it was too bad DC changed it to begin with, but it was amazing at how T&M could make it all fit together with enthusiasm and make it work to their advantage.
I agree on all points. I didn't necessarily like being manipulated into a revision but T&M at least found a way to keep me emotionally involved in the revision. Their (Legion's) major problem was going at Glorith like the previous team went after TT. Same bad results. They should have hit her with a boobie punch. You've got to bring these god wanna be's down to earth if you're going to beat them.
The clubhouse meeting between the two teams: I want to punch young U-boy so bad. That's a sign of good writing, even though I hate stupid characters. I will never forgive Grimm. I will always love Bounty (she was the one that gave the push, right?) Tenz and Tenz was too much.
Speaking of Bounty. The Bounty-Sade match-up was another high point in T&M's work. Would have liked to see better follow up on this. Bounty deserved a rematch and Sade was one of those interesting gray characters.
[ June 29, 2007, 05:44 PM: Message edited by: Blockade Boy ]
From: East Toledo | Registered: Jul 2003
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