quote:Originally posted by jdpinball: yeah except that in the recent Legion origin mini series it states the Legion has been active for 5 years and they keep referring to the Legion Lost crew as teens"
Hopefully he does ignore that editorial dictate...because it just doesn't work but then agin it's a comic book so...
Recent DC editorial policy seems to boil down to "anything that'll make a quick buck", with little regard for the long-term harm they are doing to their franchises, so if PL chooses to ignore their edicts in favor of writing good stories, I'm good with that.
-------------------- First comic books ever bought: A DC four-for-47-cents grab bag that included Adventure #331. Been addicted ever since.
From: Stuck in the Psychedelic Era | Registered: Jan 2010
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cleome46
or you can do the confusion 'til your head falls off
posted
It's things like this that make me wonder: Why even invest in trying to keep up? I don't worry much if a character's inexplicably shown in gloves for one issue when he normally doesn't wear them. I don't care if a regular blonde is a platinum blonde this time around, or vice versa. It's annoying but it's a minor annoyance, all told.
On the other hand, I docare very much that nobody in charge agrees about what freakin' age group the characters are in. Seriously, how can I gauge what feels in character and what doesn't if I have no idea whether the character I'm reading about is meant to be 16 or 30? Whether they've been "on the job" for five years or fifteen years? It does kind of make a difference, DC.
It's one thing to produce a story where enigmas are the point of the exercise. Quite another to produce a story where crucial factors can never be pinned down because nobody in charge cares enough to commit to them. Or where the staff can't even work together effectively enough to all be on the same page about it.
-------------------- Hey, Kids! My "Cranky and Kitschy" collage art is now viewable on flickr. Drop by and tell me that I sent you.
From: Vanity, OR | Registered: Dec 2008
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I am SO SO glad with Dreamy's treatment in this issue...she utterly kicked ass and looked awesome doing it. Two thumbs up!
Art was totally sweet. It will be a sad day when Portela leaves this title.
Levitz REALLY doesn't wanna let go of Cos as leader, does he? Star Boy is already out of action anyway (for a reason that makes no sense)...why not let Thom be the monitor guy and throw Cos on one of the teams?
I think Harmonia bringing up Titanfall (is that what we're calling it now?) was a mistake. Her not doing anything to stop it from happening is the elephant in the room and if we're ever gonna get past it we either need a definitive reason that she stood by and passively allowed a world to die around her, or we need to stop referring to it.
I get the weird treatment of Ultra Boy's powers mentioned in another thread now....unless that goop had the consistency of soap suds, he shouldn't have been able to fry it off of his hand without burning himself. Which wouldn't have been so noticeable if he hadn't JUST brought up his own power limitations himself.
Star Boy's decision seemed unrealistically dramatic. I could see him doing what he did after a big argument, but not at the very first opportunity with no lead-up.
The bad guys were interesting and appropriately creepy. I don't expect them to appear beyond this storyline, but unlike every other villain we've been introduced to in this book so far, they don't seem like they're being built up as anything OTHER than grunts, so I'm okay with that.
All in all, I quite enjoyed this issue....Dream Girl's fight was probably my favourite sequence that I've read since the launch of the series leading up to this one. The whole issue did feel like it could have benefited from being longer, but it also felt a lot more well thought out than this book has thus far.
-------------------- Read the alternate adventures of the Legion after Legion of Three Worlds! postlo3w
Registered: Nov 2009
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
quote:Originally posted by razsolo: The bad guys were interesting and appropriately creepy. I don't expect them to appear beyond this storyline, but unlike every other villain we've been introduced to in this book so far, they don't seem like they're being built up as anything OTHER than grunts, so I'm okay with that.
Given the Dominators historical fascination with gene-tampering and meta-human abilities, it was interesting to see what sort of superhuman flunkies they would be constructing.
It's possibly telling that they seem to meta-enhance flunkies, and not themselves, at least, so far. (The cover image of an upcoming issue suggests that they also will enhance themselves, with suitably awesome powers.)
Dys' powers were perfectly chosen for dealing with Brainy, who is very reliant on his force field belt (and, to a lesser degree, Flight Ring), when the chips are down. I wonder if the Dominators have also crafted some flunkies specialized towards dealing with other potential threats?
For a race mucking around with ultra-powerful Daxamites (like Res-Vir) and potentially going head to head with a group led by a Daxamite (Mon-El), it would almost be crazystupid to not have some sort of anti-Daxamite weapon in their biological arsenal, such as a red sunlight generating mutant, or a yellow sunlight draining mutant, or something to that effect (which would be even more relevant if they are running around injecting Daxamite DNA into people, and creating more potential problems for themselves down the road).
Having been previously suggested to use some plant-based organic technology, an aggressive form of photosynthesis might exist in some alien plant that allows it to drain stored solar energy from life-forms (like Kryptonians and Daxamites) that store it. A 'grenade' that causes vines to wrap around such a person, and sap them of their stored solar energy, using it to fuel the growth of more vines, leaving them wrapped up in an ever-expanding sphere of that alien plant matter, would make sense, although I'm sure many other options could exist.
Registered: Aug 2006
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quote:Originally posted by razsolo: I get the weird treatment of Ultra Boy's powers mentioned in another thread now....unless that goop had the consistency of soap suds, he shouldn't have been able to fry it off of his hand without burning himself. Which wouldn't have been so noticeable if he hadn't JUST brought up his own power limitations himself.
Yeah, I'm thinking blowing the goop off with ultra breath might've been a better option.
Totally agree with you about Harmonia/Titanfall btw. Reminds me of when Orando was destroyed and Sun Boy trotted off to join its murderers. Really doesn't hold water.
-------------------- Buy my new graphic novel! http://www.dodeka12.com
From: Champaign, IL | Registered: Jul 2003
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[ May 25, 2012, 10:52 AM: Message edited by: Lone Wolf Legionnaire ]
-------------------- I tried to rip their soul out.I tried to make them forget Superman. But they won't.
From: Kentucky | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
I love Portella. So glad he was back for this issue. His Dream Girl may be the best ever.
Speaking of Nura, it was great to see her in action. And Dys's comments about her intelligence and relationship to Brainiac were interesting and insightful.
Speaking of Dys....although I'm sure he will never make it as one of the all-time greatest villains of the Legion, he was creepy, effective and interesting.
More Academy students? Yes, please!
From: Southern Oklahoma | Registered: Jan 2011
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
quote:Originally posted by EmeraldEmperor: Speaking of Nura, it was great to see her in action. And Dys's comments about her intelligence and relationship to Brainiac were interesting and insightful.
She has come off lately as ultra-sensible, always having the practical and no-nonsense comments, and very competent in fights. Phantom Girl, Colossal Boy, Invisible Jacques and Shadow Lass have consistently been shown getting smacked around, getting hurt, and / or forgetting to use their powers, while Dreamy has consistently been shown as punching well above her weight.
quote: Speaking of Dys....although I'm sure he will never make it as one of the all-time greatest villains of the Legion, he was creepy, effective and interesting.
I like that his powers aren't something we've seen a hundred times before. The universe is *crawling* with people who have Kryptonian class powers or people who shoot fire blasts or big strong dudes, so Dys is refreshingly new.
Registered: Aug 2006
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quote:Originally posted by razsolo: I get the weird treatment of Ultra Boy's powers mentioned in another thread now....unless that goop had the consistency of soap suds, he shouldn't have been able to fry it off of his hand without burning himself. Which wouldn't have been so noticeable if he hadn't JUST brought up his own power limitations himself.
Yeah, I'm thinking blowing the goop off with ultra breath might've been a better option.
Although Levitz has been starting to write this Ultra Boy as an intelligent user of his powers, it's been inconsistent. Sometimes he's crafty like the 5 Years Later version, and sometimes he's a dumb lug like the Threeboot version.
quote:Originally posted by Set:
quote:Originally posted by EmeraldEmperor: Speaking of Nura, it was great to see her in action. And Dys's comments about her intelligence and relationship to Brainiac were interesting and insightful.
She has come off lately as ultra-sensible, always having the practical and no-nonsense comments, and very competent in fights. Phantom Girl, Colossal Boy, Invisible Jacques and Shadow Lass have consistently been shown getting smacked around, getting hurt, and / or forgetting to use their powers, while Dreamy has consistently been shown as punching well above her weight.
And THAT is how Nura should be written, IMHO. Combining the sexy vamp with the ambitious, strong-willed mind = character gold.
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From: Wouldn't you like to know? | Registered: Oct 2003
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Silver Age Lad
Part-time member living in another century
posted
quote:Originally posted by razsolo: Thoughts about this issue:
I think Harmonia bringing up Titanfall (is that what we're calling it now?) was a mistake. Her not doing anything to stop it from happening is the elephant in the room and if we're ever gonna get past it we either need a definitive reason that she stood by and passively allowed a world to die around her, or we need to stop referring to it.
It's not just Harmonia, what about Saturn Girl? It's her world that has been destroyed, her people died or made refugees. What about her family? and yet she just disappears on a break with Garth and the kids as if nothing has happened.
-------------------- "Our devotion to each other was unexplainable" "You were kids" "No Batman, we were Legion"
From: Ancient Kingdom of Northumbria, UK | Registered: Aug 2007
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posted
I agree that it's ridiculous to destroy Titan and then send away the only characters who have a direct link to the place so we never get a reaction from them. Imra being Imra, I would expect her to not be overly expressive about her grief anyway, but it would be nice to see it at least referenced. Without seeing how she and her family are affected, what's the point of doing it?
I feel like it's worse with Harmonia though....at least with Imra there's a certain amount of hand-waving we can do; maybe the reason she took leave was partially to deal with the destruction of her homeworld. It wouldn't be too hard to throw in a footnote a couple of years down the track saying she had extensive therapy during this time, but being a private person she saw no reason to tell the rest of the Legion. Maybe the "happy mother and wife" front she's been presenting to everyone IS her coping mechanism and it's all leading to a breakdown at some point (I don't really believe this to be true, but it's conceivable at least).
With Harmonia though, while she didn't actively press the button as it were, she definitely stood by and watched it all happen, and we never even saw her do anything to try and help people escape the planet's destruction (which her powers would be a lot better for than a lot of the other Legionnaires who were there). We haven't seen enough of her to be able to handwave any of that, so we need to either be given an explanation or just have Levitz acknowledge that it was sloppy writing and try to never bring it up again...
-------------------- Read the alternate adventures of the Legion after Legion of Three Worlds! postlo3w
Registered: Nov 2009
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
quote:Originally posted by razsolo: With Harmonia though, while she didn't actively press the button as it were, she definitely stood by and watched it all happen, and we never even saw her do anything to try and help people escape the planet's destruction (which her powers would be a lot better for than a lot of the other Legionnaires who were there).
Wow, I didn't even really think about how her fuzzily-defined air/earth/elemental control powers would have been incredibly helpful during that scene, where two of the things going explicitly said to be going wrong were the weather control systems breaking down and massive earthquakes!
On the other hand, I kind of got the idea that Harmonia wasn't intended to have any powers, at that point, and they were added later, as Levitz grew more fond of the character and chose to keep her around. If that was the case, it would be less a case of Harmonia 'standing around' than it would be a case of her being retconned by the writer into having powers that would have been pretty darn specifically helpful, ten issues ago, when she was introduced!
Indeed, by the time we see her using powers, it's to shove Dreamy away from a control console with a gust of wind, IIRC, which is *exactly* what she could have done to stop that Time Institute researcher from pushing the button... Being irrational, I'm a little peeved about anyone showing off their powers for the first time ever by dissing Dreamy or pushing her around, for that matter! Boo hiss!
That whole scene was a bit dodgy (not even counting Imra flying around trying to stop falling pillars with her telepathy, or Brainy slow-mo-walking past dying people, bitching about how he might not get to loot all the stuff he wants before their planet explodes...). The Time Institute was around for years, possibly even decades, and no one thought to look back to the big bang before? The two scientists who did it weren't from Titan (or Earth), but physically distinct 'aliens,' meaning that their decision to fire up the chrono-viewer and watch creation had nothing to do with the move of the Time Institute to Titan (since, in post-xenophobe Earth, they could have done it there, just as easily), it was all just a freak coincidence.
In a bizarre way, it made the Earth xenophobes look *right,* too. "See, we used the Time Institute's technology responsibly for years, and we allow some *aliens* to get their hands on it and they blow up their planet and create an exciting new threat to the entire galaxy!"
Meh. Add 'Harmonia Li for Legion Leader!' to the list of threads that I won't be starting.
Registered: Aug 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Set: [QUOTE]...I kind of got the idea that Harmonia wasn't intended to have any powers, at that point, and they were added later, as Levitz grew more fond of the character and chose to keep her around.
Oh yeah, I totally agree! The real reason Harmonia was a bystander to genocide was undoubtedly because at that point she was nothing more than a cliched inscrutable Oriental....it was only after all of that happened that Levitz decided bizarrely he wanted to keep her around as a member of the team rather than just supporting cast to pop up from time to time.
The annoying thing is, that could still have been accomplished - Harmonia Li's first character arc as a hero could have been her learning that standing by and allowing the universe to work around her is sometimes destructive, and that with great power comes great responsibility, and yadda yadda yadda...instead, we get this kind of smug character who KNEW something terrible was going to happen, did nothing to stop it, nothing to help people survive it, and now for no particular reason has decided she's gonna pretend to be a hero (though she doesn't seem all that enthused about it half the time). And the team seems to have let her join just because she decided it was something that was going to happen.
Very very bad storytelling.
-------------------- Read the alternate adventures of the Legion after Legion of Three Worlds! postlo3w
Registered: Nov 2009
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Silver Age Lad
Part-time member living in another century
posted
Harmonia's inability to help on Titan could easily have been explained by saying her powers are somehow linked to utopia and had faded during the time away. Her return with the Legion reestablished a level that was more than just able to blow Nura over.
Could have been explained but wasn't. Sadly PL just isn't following through this time around.
-------------------- "Our devotion to each other was unexplainable" "You were kids" "No Batman, we were Legion"
From: Ancient Kingdom of Northumbria, UK | Registered: Aug 2007
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posted
I enjoyed this issue, the art was delicious, Brainy, Nura and Cos were all perfectly written, even Thom blowing up. At end seemed good- how frustrating it must be for him to be stuck in that clunky hover chair while his girlfriend gets kidnapped. Two potential new recruits- ace! The group has lost so many members lately they desperately need them. I only hope they aren't more point and zap types. The group needs more physical members. I also like the potential political fall out fromthis, with a big chunk of the galaxy under their remit it really is time they left Earth as their base. Also, Harmonia, well while there's no explanation yet about Titanfall I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt while we get to know her better. Mon checking on Validus himself rather than trusting the SP was a good nod to his independence, nice to see G Kid in an SO uniform too, much better than the ugly outfit he had bwfore. Overall the series goes from strength to strength, I feel we are on our way to epic status again.
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
From: here, more often than not | Registered: Sep 2003
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