Now that's what I call a really good comic book. Not so much with the fighty-fighty, but lots of interesting developments and character stuff. More Dream Boy, more of Brainiac 5's plans for Dream Girl, Cosmic Boy's crush, the reason why there are giants running around on Earth and more on the devil's bargain Lightning Lad signed.

That last point: it's a tribute to how well characterized everybody has been that the first few pages are funny even though we can't see any Legionnaires' reactions.

ETA: There's a character named Raymond Luxury Yacht! How great is that?

Sounds like competition for Lester...

Pretty funny. He's the Ryan Seacrest of 31st Century Earth.

I liked DeKraker's pencils much more than the previous issue he drew. The work on that issue looked a little rushed.

Things I really liked.

A L.E.G.I.O.N. appearance
A Bizarro origin
Rokk made speechless (by a girl) BWAHAHA
The poop hitting the fan on the UP/Legion deal.

Strong hints that there's another super team recruiting youth who consider the LSH sellouts.

Everybody Snorgs Blargrux brings you: Real Rebels Embrace Authority! *snerk*

I don't believe that the U.P. is treating the Legion with the utmost respect, as they claim. They must have had a very good idea what their propoganda would accomplish, turning other teens against the Legion. Whether or not they intended to fuel the development of a rival group remains to be seen. Manipulative hoodwinkers, taking advantage of the underagers' gullibility. Who reads contracts when you're 18 years old?

A couple of Brainiac tie-ins: a Bizarro Brainiac created Earth's giants (the reverse of shrinking Kandor, he magnified McMurdo City) about 200 years prior, after the pole shift. Since we also see giants with green and blue skin, there must have been several different races in town at the time. They must also self-police or be very benign since the giants agreed to stay in "Big City" to avoid harming other people (like stepping on them). Gim must be the exception who can shrink.

Some L.E.G.I.O.N. hardware comes in handy, although Brainy regards Vril Dox as a bit of a dimwit. The Nura Revival Project advances, and Light Lass & Element Lad are indeed there because B5 needs their particular powers, not their spiritual advice. It all makes sense, if you read a lot of sci fi where people are teleporting or faxing themselves around the galaxy. I have a bad feeling about this, though; something is going to go spectacularly wrong, as it only can when the green kid is running the show.

Supergirl upstages everybody, to the great annoyance of the Legionnaires. Dream Boy hangs around like the unwanted kid brother. And we find out who Rokk has a crush on: <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Supergirl</span></span>.

We certainly get the impression that the other super team is hostile to the Legion - specifically, to their "alliance" with the U.P. No hints as to who is backing/organizing them.

I enjoyed DeKraker's art much more in this issue, as well.

Okay, things that annoyed me:

--The whole "Let me tell you about that big fight we just had" manner of dealing with the action is kind of getting on my nerves.
--Dream Boy falling into the role of the new kid that everyone hates. Wasn't this Lyle's role a year ago?
--I'm still not digging DeKraker's art, but I suppose it was *better*.
--Brainy's revival plan just sounds really goofy.

Things I really liked:
--The Origin of Big City.
--Cosmic Boy's crush.
--Raymond Luxury Yacht.
--The L.E.G.I.O.N. tie-in.

Speculation:
--The transmat mystery: Could Zymyr be responsible for transporting the giants out of Big City?

LOVED...

The acknowledgement of an interesting aspect of Triplicate Girl's powers. She has 3 unique perspectives on any scene which she can access once she integrates again. She'd make a great accident witness...and a great debriefer as she is seen to be here.

HATED...

The continued incorrect colouring of Phantom Girl's skin tone. I can see this happening on one issue but for it to happen again is just WRONG! She is a ghostly phantom...get it...pale, pale skin is the only way to go. FIX THIS!

I'm sure there are plenty of people on the UP's side who are capable of thinking about it like you just did. I'm equally sure that there are plenty, possibly including the ones who put together the propaganda campaign, who really think that the campaign represents the way the Legion must think.

Not exactly. They were fine with Lyle until his errors in judgment started surfacing. They hate Dream Boy just for being there.

sorry to say i've lost a lot of interest in the book at this point. the visuals are so watered down, it looks like nothing special.
the "new" clubhouse unveiling was pretty lackluster and uninspired. i don't like how the traditional supergirl/brainiac 5 romance is ignored. i hope that cos's "crush" is due to something suspicious rather than LOVE. wish the storyline would heat up already. ho hum.

A Reminder:

It's spelt "Raymond Luxury Yacht", but it's pronounced "Throatwobbler Mangrove".

Will Brainy's experiment recreate The Menace of Dream Girl? Is Rokk the new Dick Malverne? Will Garth earn fame and fortune as the poster child of the U.P.? This story was fun and unpredictable, and Tony Bedard's collaboration seems to have injected it with a dose of pure, unadulterated madness. I liked it.

I wish I could say the same for DeKraker's artwork. I can't recall ever seeing Kara, Shady and Tinya look so homely. Still, I would have paid extra for a flashback of Bizarro Brainiac's attack on Antarctica.

Whoever is operating behind the scenes (LSV?), they're extraordinarily clever to exploit the growing anti-Legion sentiment and cull disenfranchised kids like Seiss and the giants. Maybe stealing the objects was a test of some sort. I'm not sure why HQ was rebuilt in the image of the original, but the way things are going for the Legion, it's possible this one will be blown up, too.

Oh, and Star Boy *is* named Thom (last page). That comforts me.

I liked the story, but DeDraker's art, though better, is just too stiff. I will say he did a pretty nice job on the group shot, especially Cos, but why did he draw Colossal Boy at the debriefing when he's at home interrogating prisoners?

The most distracting thing I've found about his art is all these solid black teardrop things he draws that make people look like they have round black sideburns, no matter what color their hair is.

And the colorist has got to go. I guess I can finally accept that Tinya will be orange about 80 percent of the time, but in that big group shot, half the team is orange, and the one member who's supposed to be orange, Cham, is yellow!

Working for a newspaper, I know that sometimes presses can do wonky things to your colors. But once you know that, you then adjust your colors so they come out correctly on the press.

Storywise, there were several nice touches, and this issue does a great job of setting up the major pieces to come. (So do they not speak Interlac, or do all the Legionnaires study ancient English to honor their old heroes? Just wondering how Light Lass read the side of the ship. But I guess they must know English if they read comic books.)

Man, I'm just in a nitpicky mood this morning.

That's what I thought too, but that's not Colossal Boy at the meeting. It's Invisible Kid in his new costume. They do look similar--red shirt, shaggy brown hair, chunky build.

For me the issue moved certain plots along but I echo EDE's sentiment about how off-putting talking about a battle off-panel has become.

I'd hate to be in Garth's shoes this issue. Guess he never took seriously the notion that intent and outcome are never ever the same. I kinda get a sense though that it may wind up like the reboot Legion where Pres. Chu had them under her thumb. Also, I didn't realize how manipulative Imra's mom could be, but it sure shines through this issue.

On the art, I was thinking with the reduced page count we'd get Barry regularly but it appears that it won't happen at all. Same price, fewer pages, irregular artwork. I like Barry's art and the fact that he drops in here quite regularly but I have to admit a certain amount of disappointment with the fact that I have to endure fill-ins. Why not just get a regular fill-in artists or something to introduce some stability in that area.

No, there really is Colossal Boy. At the top of the page, it's Invisible Kid with Phantom Girl but under in the panel where we see the team it's Colossal Boy on the left sitting in his chair, it's pretty clear from its costume.

Invisible Kid has always his jacket on him and he doesn't wear gloves. However, in this panel, you can clearly see it's not a shirt, it's Colossal Boy costume, with the red on top and the blue/black for the under part of his arms and he has his gloves, etc....

So that's strange because the next panel, Dream Boy enter in the room and later, Supergirl announce that she left Colossal Boy in Big City.

Maybe Projectra thought she needed a little more practice with that spell after it didn't work so well in subduing the giants?

Obvious question time: While I dig the origin of Big City, why don't they just use Coluan technology to re-shrink the city?

Re: Big City: Remember that Brainy had to explain at length the shrinking technology to Light Lass, Saturn Girl and Chameleon. I'd guess that access to and maybe even knowledge of many 'alien' technologies is quite restricted.


Regarding the language they speak. I interpret that scene like this: Ayla misreads the English acronym for L.E.G.I.O.N. as just 'legion' thinking that the thing was some ship B5 commandeered for offical business. This indicates she's not familiar with all the conventions of English usage though she can get by.

Give this man a no-prize!

D'Oh! Maybe they don't want to be shrank back down and like being giants stuck in a city?

I liked this issue a lot. I do agree though that DeKraker tends to make everyone too cartoony looking by over-exaggerating reactions and expressions and it's a little off-putting. Especially, when you're filling in for someone of Barry's caliber, who gets visual clues across far better and more subtly.

Plus, Mr. Wacker, I hear that Ronda's available to color the series. Not only does she not make everyone orange, she's a step above everyone else in the field. Please think about it.

Another question. Can Gim's pineapple-pants brother shrink too? If not, why was he allowed to "step out"? (Or was Gim's place located in giant land?)

Maybe they tried to re-shrink Big City but something went wrong and people died. Or the Coluans just wanted too much money to shrink the place back to normal. We really need a Big City origin issue(s).

Good question, if pineapple-pants can shrink as well - a family characteristic, or is Gim truly unique? Are all those young giants recruited for the alternative team just as giants - or is the shrinking power more widespread?

I wonder if Garth's Bizarro Legion story had its roots in the Bizarro Brainiac incident - maybe Bizarros are like zombies in the 31st century, you just throw a few into every other story.

Like OMACs.

Or Wolverine.

Emotion? The magnetic windbag is getting his own Supergirl crush subplot?! Gah!!!

Sigh... Just keep slipping in some some Star Boy & Element Lad. I'll eek by on their patient consideration.

Why didn’t it occur to anyone to read the agreement that they have with the UP? I guess for the same reason no one thought to send Dream Girl’s body to her parents. Have they checked Supergirl to make sure that she’s human and not a techno-organic construct? Legion of asSuming Heroes, perhaps? But thats shows how young they are. I loved that this read more like a Legion story than other issues of this run have.

Am I the only one who felt like nothing happened in this issue? The pacing on this book is so slow I feel like I'm watching a soap opera. I bet I could read every other issue and not miss anything important. Why do they have to drag everything out? Suspense? Suspense about what?

And why does the action always happen off panel? The cover was very misleading. I was expecting a battle royal with the entire Legion fighting a race of giants. Instead, it's treated like a footnote.

I hated DeKraker's inks. His expressions are so over blown and cartoony. In one scene where Jan and Ayla's mouths are supposed to be hanging open in shock, it looks like they're sticking out their tongues instead. Shady and Jo look especially dorky in one panel too.

As for the "story," I wonder if Sun Boy is behind the recruiting of the giants and Seiss. And why does Supergirl care if the figments of her imagination like her or not?

I guess I'm glad Cos is not going to be going after Saturn Girl again, but damn, this just integrates Superbrittney further into the scenario. And it will lead to more angst when she goes home (Grife, let that be soon...go home...or get killed by Mordru, or the Persuader, or Zaryan, or Roxxas, or Zoraz, or Doctor Mayavale...SOMEBODY).

I'll admit Cos has a pretty good shot, though--blue eyes, dark hair. He does look vaguely like Clark...

On to more pleasant things:

Brainy's scheme to revive Dream Girl comes into a bit of focus (not going to say it makes sense, but it comes into focus)...

And the giants were created by Bizarro Brainiac? I'm not sure whether that's funny or more sloppy storytelling. Nah, I'll call it funny for now, especially since by definition Bizarro Brainiac should be a drooling, barely verbal moron ("Narf, Zort...").

Well, I'll give them a pass on the Dream Girl thing; Brainy said he'd taken care of it, and why wouldn't they believe him? I think they did check Supergirl out (didn't they?), but you're right: someone should have read the sale-of-immortal-soul contract. This is the second thing that's come out of it to bite them, Dream Boy being the first. I hope someone reads it now; they really have no excuse for letting everything take them by surprise like this.

I went into this issue being pessimistic(as usual?). Last issue was so good that I was conviced this would be a let down. But I wasn't as let down as I thought. Ofcourse I am back to not buying. I jumped on for the Cham story and decided to give the next issue a try. It didn't convince me.

I liked the main story of how the Legion are seen as sell outs now. Cool and understandable. I thought DeKraker looked good. Good for a fill-in artist. Barry is god when it comes to this series. If anyone replaces him full time I want George Perez. But DeKraker did pretty good here!

I liked the mention of L.E.G.I.O.N. Though it scares me. Any 21st century involvement scares me when it comes to the Legion. Plus while I think L.E.G.I.O.N. to be pretty cool concept I don't like the acronym. Never did. Thought it was forced. Still do.

But I do like the Brainy/Dream Girl/ Lemnos plot. And now I do know Brainy is CRAZY!

I like the UP forcing a member onto the team. Dream Boy though is one of more foolish looking characters I've ever seen. I hope he dies soon.

Bizarro Brainiac? ugh. This title just got a boost from Supergirl. I suggest the Waid dorky fanboy stuff to be left out. I know he did backflips when DC is trying so hard to escape a what they thought was a dark age (aka silver age obssessed eye glasses). And he wanted to make Batman fat and happy. But Bizarro Brainiac? Ugh. Same with the giants? Kinda silly. Do they strive for silly? Atleast Barcelona and Sagrada Familia was in there. I've been there and it's one of my favorite cities and cathedrals in the world. Looks like the cathedral was finally finished by the 31st century.

As for Rokk and Supergirl. I don't mind them changing some of the relationships. The only classic ones IMO are Garth/Imra, Mon-el/Shady, Ultra Boy/Phantom Girl.

They lost me at Bizarro Brainiac. My usual comment of this Legion has SO much potential but seems to be stuck in that awkward growing phase. I am waiting for them to bloom. Maybe a new writer.

What exactly does this entire city of giants eat? It seems to me they'd wipe out Earth's food supplies in months. And I don't even want to think about where their waste goes when they flush the space toilet. Is there a new McMurdo mountain range somewhere?

They did say that there was alot of unspoiled land out where they are in Anartica. Maybe they farm that since it is no longer the magnetic south anymore.

No Bizarro Brainiac shouldn't be a drooling idiot. After all Bizarro Superman isn't a weakling who cant fly. He's just a twisted imperfect clone with all the powers of Superman.

The now tropical Antartica may very well have giant pinapple trees as well as giant pineapple boxers!

I was actually wondering how they keep giant flora and fauna that get enlarged with the city contained.

So... this unknown threat the legion is facing. This group of teens with powers going about vandalizing things with hints of a larger organization. Wasn't that the same threat they were facing last year around this time?

Not exactly.

Lemnos' kids were manipulated into action because they were being rejected by society, This LSV seemingly have everything but reject society despite that. After this one the only thing left to conquer is a group that has everything and just don't care.

Or at least that's what reading the paper tells me WaK is going.

Maybe next year it can be kids taking action because the society is manipulated into rejecting them. The possibilities are endless.

I don't read the Supergirl title, so I'm not really up on what's going on over there...has it been established that "this Kara" (currently with the LSH) is or isn't the pre crisis Kara returned, or is she another entity altogether? I ask only because just about ever other hero "killed" during Crisis has returned or is rumored to return soon.

We simply don't know yet. All we know is she's being monitored (by a, um, Monitor) because she's some sort of continuity anomaly.

Well Brainy is busy on his insane quest. The rest of them are just dumb kids...underagers.

How many stories out there of child stars or young star atheletes who retire broke cuz they didn't understand the legal work and their agent handled the contracts.

It's safe to say Brainy and Mama Ardeen are the Alan Eagleson to Lightning Lad's Bobby Orr.

Underagers or not, since they were snookered into the agreement with the UP, someone (Rokk, are you listening? Mr.-"you're all dissmissed for now") should have thought to check out the particulars of the deal to see what they've gotten themselves into. They a are very, very trusting/niave group of rebels. They let Dream Boy walk freely around their HQ when I think they should be watching every move that he makes. He's an obvious choice for UP spy, no?

I don't think they were snookered into it. They were offered a deal and given time to read it. They didn't read it. They signed it. Caveat emptor.

(Now, if it turns out that Reflecto and the raid on Dream Girl's memorial service was all manipulated by the UP to get Lightning Lad to sign, then that's different.)

As for Dream Boy... well, the Legion has had an open-door policy right from the start. Lemnos showed them that this policy has its drawbacks, but it'd be hard for them to change the policy while staying true to their concept of what the Legion is; I don't blame them for not having thought of a way out of that one yet.

The raid did seem manipulative. The UP may have been hoping for just the kind of rash decision-making that they got out of LL.

Its not so much the open-door policy, its that once he's inside keep an eye on him. Trust but verify.

I guess I should just chalk it up to growing pains for this kooky bunch of trusting kids. Ya gotta love 'em.

I agree completly, but I don't see why anyone involved in making the book doesn't see that its a terribly slow read.

does dream boy have a flight ring? he seems to fly.

I just finished reading #20 and I thought I'd share my thoughts on it. I didn't enjoy it as much as the previous issue,however it was still a good read. While I missed Kitson's art, I found DeKraker's work better then previous work. He still puts out some odd facial expressions though.
Well it looks like Lightning Lad really should have read that agreement he signed, I forsee even more trouble in the Legion's future as a result of this deal.
A reference to L.E.G.I.O.N......Hurrah!!! And Vril isn't considered to bright...made me giggle. But i sure hope this Dream Girl Storyline is resolved soon, its being dragged out far to long. She's been dead now for almost a year. Either bring her back or bury her. Time to move on. Will Brainy's plan run amok?
Poor Dream Boy, everyone hates him. Is he the new Lyle? Sure seems like it.
Raymond Luxury Yacht...excellent!!! He got a laugh! So Bizzaro-Brainiac made Big City...I like it, it like something that would happen in the Adventure days. Cosmic Boy has a crush on Supergirl....well I didn't see that coming. I guess he thinks there are missions to dangerous for girls!!!
......time to go back and read this thread, see what everyone else thought.

Makes sense to me that he would have twisted versions of Brainy's skills. I see a character, a super genious that invents useful things that don't threaten to destroy the universe.

I really enjoyed this issue, it was much better than the last one. Even though I enjoyed the Detective story, I love it more when I see all of the Legion! The coolest part was when Cos discovers he has a crush on... Supergirl!

I'm also happy about the Brainy and Dream Girl resurrection plot moving forwards too. I just can't wait to see what happens when he brings back Dream Girl, and I have no doubt that he will too.

I loved seeing the other giants too, and I think they may be the Legion's new enemy. Well, from what one of them implied anyway.

Re: Bizarro-Brainiac? I am usually against such silly stuff in the Legion. Especially since it's a major part of Colossal Boy's origin.

Thing is in All-Star Superman this would be great! Infact I expect (and will probably) LOVE the super sillines Grant Morrison will throw at us with the Legion. It's part of the book. It hasn't really been part of the Legion for quite some time.

DC forces the old school fanboy stuff too much with the Legion. If it's more subtle I don't have a problem. ohwell my usual rant dissing the Adventure era Legion stuff. pay no mind.

The difference is that in All-Star Superman the warped Silver Age stuff is an intrinsic part of the feel of the series. While I really like the reverse Kandor origin of Big City, it has the feel of a bone thrown to fans that is somewhat incongruous with a lot of the rest of what's going on, like Brainy's incredibly goofy resurrection plot.

Read it. wasn't impressed. barely memorable, two days later.

The relative calm on this message board reflects the lack of enthusiasm with the SG&LSH title. I liked the art this issue, and as with the entire reboot, the art has consistantly overshadowed the lackluster, slow paced storytelling. The injection of Supergirl is wearing off now. The "off-panel" action in #20 mentioned by other posters annoyed me as well.

Hopefully, Mr. Waid is wrapping up his writing duties on 52 because the Legion could use some serious attention right now. The Dream Girl thing has dragged on too long, the Dominators appear for a few panels then go unmentioned or hinted at for months, and the LSV thing now is threatening to drag on for no good reason. I'd like to see Lemnos removed forever, and all story telling condensed by half so the pace will pick up. Enough layering - the foundation is there, let's get on with it.

Agee completely with Kid Quislet. Pacing is the essence of story-telling. Its what makes some people riveting story-tellers and other people (like me) yawners. This book has been a yawner.

Gotta agree... it has been sort of a yawn-fest. I really expected a lot better.

Waid doesn't seem to be able to handle such a large cast of characters...

Now if I had my All-Star Legion...

anybody else think lemnos the melony lemon is gonna be transferred into dream girl's body and dream girl will be smushed into lemnos' body? then we can have brainy on lemnos-as-dream-girl action!

Quite possible. I certainly think something bad is going to happen, because you can't bring a Legionnaire back to life without consequences. Proty died (some would say that was a good thing) for Lightning Lad, Garth came back as crystalline Jarth, legionnaires revived as zombies in 5YL, Valor came out of the grave with Eltro within him, only to die again....

So something unintended, and possibly high on the yucky scale, should occur.

This book has potential, it seems to me that Waid is just plodding along.....I still buy it.....but good lord man am I freakin' bored. I don't really even read it, I just look at the reviews here and decide if its worth my time. I never thought that the Legion would become that way to me... I've been reading Legion since I was 5, and this is really the first time that I really just don't care right now....The love I felt for the characters just isn't there...yet. My momma didn't raise a quitter, so I keep the faith.

I enjoyed this issue, the art was okay and the story was fine - nothing extraordinary but fine.

I wondered if Supergirly wanted to catch all of the giants simply to stop any of them telling the Legionaires about the other group that's been formed?

While the plot isn't really a firecracker it does have an underlying sense of building drama - the computer/robot revolution, the Dominators, the new 'LSV', the manipulation by the UP of the Legion (though why they all should be bound by just Lightning Lads signature is something I'll leave to Quis to explain), Brainy's imminent breakdown and the potential damage that Dreamys resurrection could cause! Loads going on but so far all we have had are sideways looks at the big picture so I'm definitely hanging on to see what's coming next.