Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion of Super-Heroes #11 - Preview and Spoilers

At least there was a bit of momentum in this issue.

Just read it. Actually, from a general comic perspective, I think one of the better issues. Extremely action packed but with some further character development, in particular Triplicate Girl.

SPOILERS:


Yeah, it's a pretty decently written issue. The distinct scenes on five different worlds all advanced the plot and meshed nicely to add up to a pretty decent story advancement. And there's some nice interactions between small groups of members on each world.

In addition to the previously discussed detail about Gim's birth, we get the "Hey, look how alien the Legionnaires are now!" bit with the revelation that Triplicate Girl does not dream, and that the whole concept had to be explained to her with Nura joined. Except, one of the Trips is dreaming, of (the great) darkness, which, combined with things we seen in the Future States preview, makes me thing that this is foreshadowing the death of one of Trips bodies. And speaking of deaths, a member apparently disintegrates this issue, but I have my doubts about them being gone for good.

On Rimbor, Ultra Boy takes command of his world only to announce democratic elections, and Dawnstar admires him. On Xanthu, Jon, Imra, and Fate discover the remains of Superman's cape. And, yeah, I got the impression that Fate triggered some sort of booby trap. On Daxam, Rose tries to use her underground connections to get a lead though Blok's presence makes them super-conspicuous. We get another discussion of the fact that Rose is a thousand years old, but this time it actually serves a purpose in-story, as we apparently see Thorn emerge for the first time in a thousand years. Mordru appears, leading the Horraz. It's not clear how and why one of the most wanted criminals in the U.P. turns up even on the lower levels of the capitol world of the U.P. with a bunch of Horraz, but whatever. Apparently he needs Cos for some reason? On Earth, the Trips interrupt a class being taught by Dream Girl to seek her help, and Brainy and the White Witch are eager to learn more about Gold Lantern and the awesome origin of his gold ring. Everyone heads to Krypton after Rogol Zarr attacks, but he apparently wipes out not only the Legionnaires there but all of their reinforcements from Earth by the time Imra and Jon arrive.

And apparently we do get some sort of big conclusion next issue before Future States arrives.

So, yeah, lot of stuff happening. I think if the previous issues had been more successful about making me actually care about these incarnations of these characters, and Future State didn't look like complete crap, I'd be pretty excited to read the next issue.

I think what Bendis really fails to grasp here is that he is the only person who cares about Rogol Zaar.

There certainly was a lot going on in this issue, but I'm not sure if we're going to get a resolution to most of it before we're thrown into Future State...

Lots of cliffhangers, the story moves along quickly for all its detail. I don't see how everything could be resolved in the next issue either, so it must spill into Future State or fall by the wayside, temporarily or permanently.

Mordru looks great and sounds... not so great. Like whatever, dude. He does deploy his sorcery without bombast, though, as though it's effortless, which emphasizes his level of threat.

I had to go back and find Rogol Zaar leaping off the flying beast as well.

Uh-oh, Darkseid mention - foreshadowing or misdirection, it fit in well.

Was Dream Girl teaching the Legionnaires as children, reaching into their dreams in the past or are these children avatars of the actual Legionnaires? They disappear when the Trips speak to Nura.

Once again, the team appears to lack basic knowledge about one another: Blok asking Rose if she's really 1000 years old, Brainy introducing Gold Lantern to White Witch.

Random thoughts;

Ultra Boy needs to calm right down. He's always wide-eyed and shouting. Dude, chill. It's just Rimbor. It's always like this. Pace yourself.

Mordru makes a pedantic correction that sorcery is different than magic, but since *I* don't know the difference, the words are just spilling out of his face-hole and obscuring perfectly serviceable art. Oh, and he says, 'but, whatever...' Pfft, don't 'whatever' me, Buffy.

Doomsday's brother Roger or whatever is apparently a big deal. Whatever. This is why you don't invite a Superboy to your super-teen club. You get Superboy-sized problems that have been not problems for 1000 years dusting themselves off and becoming problems again...

"Are you really 1000 years old Rose? Wow, between Jon Kent and Lar Zod and Rogaine Kryptonbuster over there, 1000 year olds are the new 20! That must be kinda sad for you, since it's your one thing, and everybody else has that and Superman-powers, too..."

OMG, can someone finish a damn sentence without another emergency interruption? It's been eleven months. Learn to talk in monosyllables, and stop burying the lede, since y'all have to have noticed that you never get to finish a sentence!

I don't blame Ultra Boy for being like that. Look at who his father is, after all.

And yeah, Rose may not have any powers, but at least after 1000 years, she seems to have integrated her personalities.

Felt this issue was good as well but 11 issues in feeling like 5-6 worth of content is rough and the fact that after next issue it might be months before we check back in is brutal.

This was easily the best issue yet. Unfortunately, since the previous issues have all been so bad IMO, that's not saying much.

PRO: The cover is beautiful. Nicely composed, illustrated, inked and colored. Ryan Sook always turns out great covers and this series has been no exception (I still think that cover with Saturn Girl holding up the flight ring with the rest of the team assembled behind it is one of the best Legion covers ever).
CON: So why does the interior art always look so flat and unexciting? Studying it a bit more closely this issue, I think the inker and colorist are to blame. The pencils and composition are still there, but the other two are so much weaker than what we get treated to on the covers. It's a shame because this could have been one of the all time greatest artistic runs otherwise.
PRO: Splitting the team into three different groups in three different locations to tell three different stories is obvious Team Comics Storytelling 101 but it was engaging and gave us the most characterization we've received in a long time so that's why it's still such a popular trope.
CON: I'm not even going to get into whatever that weird new twist to Gim's origin is. Is he Benjamin Buttons now? I would bet money that neither Bendis nor any other writer ever follows up on this again.
PRO: The attack on Krypton was nicely done. Good use of double page spreads.
PRO: The font used for the different planets is nice.
CON: Despite my earlier praise of Sook, the break between panels 4 and 5 on page 8 was very sloppy and amateur. It initially made it appear that Saturn Girl and Superboy were looking at a second Superboy.
PRO: The death(?) of Doctor Fate was a surprise and (since I don't care for her) also a welcome one.
CON: Ultra Boy has easily one of the worst redesigns in this era. His costume is boring and infinitely worse than his classic one, those blonde bangs he sports are a fashion crime, and I can't shake the feeling that Sook is basing his face on a not particularly attractive real-life person.
CON: This Rimbor sideplot is so uninteresting.
PRO: "So no matter what horrible damage those monsters did to what was then known as the Multiverse..." I can't help but feel that this was Bendis making a dig at DC's writers and editors. lol
PRO: I really like Computo, Triplicate Girl and Dream Girl as a trio and love the latter two's redesigns.
PRO: This Triplicate Girl/Great Darkness "dream" subplot feels like the first actual subplot that's been allowed to develop naturally behind the scenes (instead of the all the random messy sideplots, like the Rimbor one, that get introduced and then just float around unfinished all series) and that makes it infinitely more interesting than anything else we've seen to date (even if it does just threaten to be an unneeded Great Darkness Saga rehash).
CON: Bendis was obviously a fan of all that annoying "Eye am... / Eye will..." Emerald Eye-speak from the Reboot because this "We/I" stuff from Luornu is rivalling that for tiresomeness.
CON: Until some reason is given for Rose and Thorn's presence in this book, I will continue to view her as an annoying and pointless distraction.
PRO: I like Mordru's redesign and his catty attitude.
CON: When did Mordru become such a big deal (in this version)? Wasn't he just some crime lord who got taken out by Karate Kid in the first issue?
PRO: The way Blok got dispatched was great.
CON: Rogol Zaar? Bendis is terrible at coming up with names for Superman villains. Also, who?
PRO: Next issue is "To Be Concluded..." With no word of what's happening with this book after Future State, could it mean...

I assumed the children were other inhabitants of the "Legion HQ" city thing and that either the Trips did wait until after class or Nura finished the class early between panels 2 and 3, although it isn't clear just as the scene Blakula mentioned where it looks at first like Jon, Imra and Doc Fate have found another Superboy or someone.
Agreed.

Millennium 2 showed Rose in space being Thorn sometimes so I don't think it's been a thousand years but it did seem that she had become a bit more integrated at the end so I didn't see this coming. It seems Rose/Thorn's purpose in Bendis Legion was to connect to the "Age of Heroes" and give them some guidance on what being a superhero was really like, perhaps. Anyway it's one more idea that hasn't been developed much so far.

The use of Rogol Zarr is problematic. Being a more recently created villain who played a major role in the Bendis Superman family comics meant anyone who read those knows exactly who he is (or rather as much as anyone knows - there were still a lot of his backstory that hadn't come out when the S's finally defeated him) and that he is a significant threat. However it also means that to anyone who hasn't read those issues he is just some unknown big guy that we must assume is a threat, although he does quite a bit in this issue to show how dangerous he is like taking down most of the Legion AND all the locally living Kryptonians. Suffice it to say that he is a powerhouse perhaps beyond Kryptonian level, at least with his axe, he has a long running (still largely unexplained) hatred of anything Kryptonian, and he is responsible for the destruction of Krypton and Kandor. So yes this does not look good for Jon.

v8 Issue 11

As mentioned elsewhere, I don't think there's enough output from the opening pages of the volume considering the amount of limited space it takes up. I'm sure they'll look better in the trade, as little chapter pages. But it's another nail in the idea of buying single issues.

This is a much stronger issue. Bendis has shown that he can provide a solid plot in previous books like Powers. It ahs been frustrating to know that, and see the definite energy and great art the book has, fritter away.

Krypton: I find Wildfire's dialogue a little odd. He might be saying that if he had any sort of body, he'd like to be "fertile." Tinya not knowing about Lar's family seems odd, even for a couple that may have only been together briefly. It's not unheard of here though. The one thing that the opening page reminds us of, is that Lar isn't with the others when the villain attacks. Will Lar be earning his Superman stripes in the Great Darkness and the next issue. Will this result in Superboy returning home? Will Lar sacrifice himself earning that accolade? >gasp!<

Xanthu: Fate's destruction was certainly unexpected. But it does lead me to wonder why there wasn't a much higher body count across the rest of the team. Seeing Superman's cape, reminded me of the cape in Electric Warriors, shunted out of continuity's way by this series.

Rimbor: This could have done with more space. Jo only has a panel to beat back an arena of combatants. An opportunity to have seen Brin reprise the issue on Lythl. A Dawny/ Ultra Boy relationship on the cards.

Earth: Interesting to see if the Legion are also teachers. Are the kids all super powered, or is this just what Dream Girl and Computo do? It's good to see Trips powers explained for newer readers to the Legion. And a hint that we'll find out more about the Great Darkness (still a bit too vaguely foreshadowed after all this time)

Daxam: A hint and an omega symbol that the Horraz are directly tied into Darkseid. Mordru's capture of the trident and the appearance of Superman's capes still reminiscent of Darkseid's artefact grab in the first Great Darkness saga. In that one, Doctor Fate's helm was seen on Earth. Could the helm be an artefact that Darkseid will look for in this version, and that's why Fate was singled out?

I'm wondering if Sgt Blok is Bendis having fun with Sgt Rock. Rose reveals who she was. It would be nice to think there was a pot in her being in the book, beyond the liaison. If only to help offset the cost of Millennium, although Kamandi got a mention in this issue too. Mordru's minions remind me of characters from the Micronauts. Hopefully. Blok doesn't need to breathe or it's another casualty. Even if that's the case, will his Legion ring allow the others to find him. Dawnstar perhaps.

Mordru only seems to take Rokk, leaving the others. So, hints that they'll form the standard rescue party later on. Mordru sacrifices his minions. Odd, since he could have taken the others too. If any of them live, they can spill the beans on their master.

Although we've had lots of fun with it, I've always considered the Guardians to be completely at it, able to write their history as they were there before the other races they'd turn into Lanterns. It seems there's something of that going on here. To be fair to Gold, he's not defensive when his colleagues ask him about his powers. So, it's a plot I am interested in.

In the v4 rereads, Cramer had just mentioned Brainy not opposed to working with mystic powers. Here, he's enlisted the aid of Xola (The name I prefer to think of the White Witch as). Bendis is not opposed to shameless interruption of the plot so the characters to react to the attacks elsewhere.

A teleport Siegel is a lovely nod. Bendis remembering Invisible Kid gets a point, as there's a lot of characters here.

Combining Jon's trip to Krypton with Imra telling him of the culture, works well to build up to the cliff hanger, and to add more world building. I've no idea who Rogol Zaar is. To me, it's another Just Because villain, with an axe. How can he defeat the rest of the Legion? Just because! How can he defeat all the others on Krypton? Just because! I do hope that there's more to him than that. To be fair it's too early to reach a conclusion here. Will the guy with the giant axe actually be able to use it against the Legionnaires? Or is he forever cursed with using it against invulnerable characters, or use the handle of it to thump people with.

On balance this is a much better issue. There are a few bits and pieces, as above. But nothing that can't be pushed forward with some more of the same. Having seen the Legionnaires in Swan teams, it's a bit of a shame to see them lumped together at the end of the issue. But does Rogol know that Invisible Kid was with them?

It would be kind of funny if Blok's first name was Frank.

I totally missed the "Siegel" reference, which is super-cool.

And, yeah, I kind of love the use of the "Xola Aq" name.

Issues with a sort of Siegel device was one of the key subplots in DnA's Hypernaturals. Well worth a read.

Just noticed. The Legion flight rings seem to have had an upgrade. Putting aside whether Jon Kent has the power to fly between planets and possibly stars in the current version, Imra is keeping up with him and flying in a very few minutes "only six planets over". That's pre-Crisis Kryptonian level speed.

They have teleportation in this series, not sure if it's the flight ring or generally available. (Crav Nah appears through portals - but he had been stealing magical artifacts.) Very cool if it's their rings that can do all that, it removes the need for the likes of Jon, Mon, Jo and Dawnstar to carry the others through space.

Good interview with Bendis linked by Supragirl. He clearly has big plans for Mon-el, along with everything else.

And with Legion, I remember one of the thrills of Legion was it was kind of lean-in reading. It wasn?t all spelled out for you on the first page and a giant recap. It was, no, figure it out. You?ll figure it out. Even five years later, oh no, you got to figure it out even more. Part of Legion is a puzzle and letting that puzzle unfold and dropping the reader right into the middle of the story versus walking them in was an interest?

It's just frustrating to have to wait until it unfolds and fear that some shakeup at DC results in getting the book cancelled before its time.

It doesn't seem to be in the flight rings, since they lamented the loss of Doctor Fate's teleportation abilities.

I don't think it's teleportation. All the views we have had of that so far are disappear here, reappear there. This instance (in #11) shows Jon and Imra flying through space in classic flying poses, having a conversation on the way, Brainiac communicating with them during the trip, and at the last moment Imra telling Jon to turn around, to turn back.