Is there a preview yet?

I just picked up and read the issue. The artwork continues to dazzle, especially the scenes on Durla. The storytelling, however, continues to be weak with too many subplots and tortured exposition. On the other hand, there is a lot good character development, especially of Tyroc. Developing existing characters is Levitz's superpower. Creating new characters and writing crisp stories is not.

Preview on Newsarama:
http://blog.newsarama.com/2011/01/1...heroes-9-time-masters-vanishing-point-6/

I liked this issue for the most part. However, I agree with Brody27's comment about "too many subplots and tortured exposition." The exposition is sometimes used for character development, which I like, but I don't like it stalling the momentum of the story. It's like following a driver who keeps alternating accelerator and brake.

There were also quite a few panels that retold things we'd learned before, without adding anything new to the story. That's not unique to this issue.

I like the exploration of Tyroc's powers. It's logical that he could accutely discern the sounds he hears and is trying to develop the usefulness of that ability. It was cool to see the pairing of his hearing and Timber Wolf's sense of smell.
TWolf: "Smells like the old man."
Tyroc: "No, sounds like he used to...."

What was the point of having Gates pop in to join Tyroc and Brin? Supposedly to teleport them to wherever the assassin appeared. But when the Durlan showed up right where they were, why didn't Gates teleport the assassin out of the Council room? Instead, Gates was nowhere to be seen.

It was nice to see Gim and Gigi talking, and Gim's reference to "old times." But it seems like Gigi and Tellus have been hanging around Dawnstar's hospital room a long time now. This part feels like a soap opera--melodramatic but not much really happening.

I like, though, how Levitz is exploring the unique perspectives of the Legionnaires, like he does with Tellus (his worldview grown in Great Mother Ocean) here and in the previous Adventure story. It was also nice to see how Dawnstar's mental tracking looked to Tellus as he searched her mind.

I don't remember, or never knew, what cancellite is supposed to do. It's failed against Durlans twice now. What's the point?

Brainy's immense intelligence would, you'd think, include the knowledge that it's not productive to drop onto someone's world and call them names and insult their "sacred soil." I don't understand the logic of depicting Brainy this way, except that his antagonistic ways are just fun to watch.

I was a little disappointed with this issue as it seemed a little rushed to me, lacking in its usual quality and quantity. I would much rather have a late Legion issue than a "rushed issue" just to satisfy deadline/release obligations. It just wasn't its usual "busy" (multiple subplot) Legion issue that we've come to expect (in my case, since 1980) from Levitz. LSH issue 9 could have easily been a back up to a full story.

Edit:

After seeing the preview pages, I have to say that I don't think that Brainy's reaction was that out of line.
The Durlans were pretty nasty from the beginning and perhaps, they needed a little reminder that the Legionnaires weren't there on their own but were part of a much bigger organization, the UP.

I didn't know that Cham was cold blooded.
I'm not sure what an 'egg son' means, exactly.
hmmmm

I loved the pages I saw, they were very beautiful and quite other worldly.
I really enjoyed Cham in his dragon look, too, similar to R.J.'s escape form.
Cham is very unique, even for a Durlan.
I am in awe of his new found toughness and drive.

These few pages typify why I love the Legion.

I love how Mr. Levitz is turning Tyroc into a better character after finding no use for him during the 80s.

The use of sound has come such a long way in the last 30 years!
Ultra sound is use to see through us, we use sonicare tooth brushes that break the cilia/flagella off of bacteria.
We use sound in many ways that can be expanded on with Tyroc!

It is supposed to freeze the Durlan in whatever form they are currently in. It was used against Yera to prove she wasn't Violet. After being sprayed with it she couldn't return to normal size, proving she was a Durlan. Not sure what the point of 'freezing' the Durlan when it was in 'Monster' form unless it was to keep it from shape shifting into something smaller and getting away.. guess that would have been the point. If it had worked. Time to update the formula or make a fresh batch. The old one seems to have gone bad.

Supergirl invented cancellite in Adv. 326. At that time it could freeze a shapeshifter (Protean or Durlan) in its current form. Brainy later modified cancellite (Adv. 334), so that it could return a shapeshifter to its original form. Presumably it was Brainy's version that T Wolf's gadget contained, but it looked like the Durlan's tail knocked it out of his hands before he could use it, so I don't think it failed, Wolf just didn't get a chance to activate it.

Agreed, jim.

Read the whole issue.
Loved the whole thing.
Missed Gates in the fight, though.

Beautiful work.
Tyroc and Wolf make a good team, one that I can't really remember seeing before.
Brainy and Cham were great, too.

I really like the three panel scene where Timber Wolf springs into the air, snatches one delegate away from the Durlan, kicks it in the head, snatches the other Durlan, and then takes a blow to protect them as he's landing.

His strength, whatever it is, has never been his real power, IMO, it's his agility. He's the DC version of Spider-Man or Nightcrawler, fast and mobile, but not Flash-fast, just uncanny reaction speed fast and inhumanly acrobatic.

After the poor showing last issue (and getting KO'd off-panel against the Earth Force), it's nice to see him getting to show his stuff. (No great surprise that the Legionnaires get to actually look competent when Earth-Prat isn't written into the scene as showing up to save them, again.)

The Durlan's comment that it didn't matter, because she'd already done what she came to do, makes me fear that she showed up to deliver a biological agent or radioactive toxin (perhaps related to that cesium that Brainy was talking about, in the Durlan soil) or something into the air, infecting all of the delegates, and that she didn't care if she actually got to skewer any of them.

Or maybe her goal was just to tell everyone why the Durlans were pissed, because of Brande's death. But that would have been as easily delivered with a manifesto or some graffiti...

I'm liking the increased range of abilities that Tyroc is displaying. Even regular 'sonic powers' characters like Black Canary, Thunderlord, Banshee and Siryn haven't traditionally gone for sonar or echolocation, so much as just powerful sonic attacks, and maybe some subsonic subliminal suggestions. It would be a natural fit for him to have superhuman hearing, and it looks like Paul has gone with that. Very cool, both limiting his powers (from the original random screams do random magic things) and expanding them (subsonics, echolocation, recognize people by molecular harmonics, invasive sonar scans, etc.) at the same time.

I much prefer this, as the random magic screams ran the risk of becoming a Deus Ex Machina, with Tyroc busting out new screams as new stunts are needed, and stomping all over other Legionnaires 'thing' by using his teleporting scream or his set-stuff-on-fire scream or his make-stuff-intangible-and-passing-through-it scream, and possibly pulling new screams out of his ass, like a 'make-plants-grow-really-fast' scream or a 'banish extradimensional creature to it's home dimension' scream.

Agreed on all counts, Set. I also agree with Legion Tracker. I thought this issue was kind of boring due to too much exposition, some of which was kind of nonsensical and/or redundant and/or contradictory.

I thought the explanation of Brande's speech patterns changing was pretty lame. Brainy's deductions were circumstantial and convenient. Cham's melodrama "eggson of Brande! EGGSON OF BRANDE!" was annoying. First Tellus says Dawnstar's chances are good, then bad, then good again. And why would the Durlan assassin draw attention to him/herself by appearing as Brande in the middle of the council chamber and making an announcement?

The art was so-so. A fairly yawn worthy issue imho.

I think a drop to 20 pages, from a formerly over-sized book is going to take some adjustment, both on our part and the creative team. It did feel oddly rushed, yet overly talky at the same time, probably as a result of the difference in pacing. Pretty sure if we had the old page count, the Durlan story would be over this issue, instead we get it drug into next month's issue.

Really happy to see Gates again, though I don't know where he vanished to in the fight.

When danger called, he did not hesitate. He ran like hell.

Well, physically he's not much help in a fight, but I could have at least done with a background scene of him moving delegates to safety or something. If' he's only going to be in 1 issue out of every 4, I'd like to see him do something.

I took another look and I agree that from the illustration it appears that the canister was never actually used so the formula may still be effective. However I disagree that it forces a Durlan back to it's true form. In Adventure #334 when it was used on Proteans it forced them back into their natural forms and prevented them from changing form. When sprayed on Cham, a Durlan, it still just froze him in the form he was in (the now known to be Brande paid for designer body) rather than forcing him into his true form.

We should consider the possibility that when the Durlan in the UP Council room suddenly disappeared, it was because Gates, unnoticed in the chaos, teleported her out. Especially since it's noted that Tyroc and TWolf can't detect her sound or smell.

You probably already know this, but for those who don't, super-agility was originally Timber Wolf's ONLY power. He was the first character "fixed" during the silly-powers purge of the early '70s.

Oddly, while he was made to look more like his namesake, he still didn't have "wolf" powers, at first. IIRC, that came along while Gerry Conway was writer when he referred to tracking powers Brin didn't actually have.

Paul Levitz fixed the error when he retook the reins, revealing that the same surgery which had changed Brin's appearance was periodically imbibing him with things like claws, fangs and super-senses. While Brin became a fully rounded character for the first time, power-wise he's been a poor man's Wolverine ever since.

Which is so terribly unfair since his first appearance predates Wolverine's first appearance.... and since Wolverine was originslly intended by his creator to be a villian in a planned LSH spin-off called 'The Outsiders'. Go figure. *sigh*

Well, I sort of feel that if Brin's going to be called 'Timber Wolf' his powers should have some resemblence to his name sake.
Wolves aren't really known for their acrobatics, I'm afraid.
Grey Squirrel or Lemur would have been better, I think.

I don't want him to loose his acrobatic moves, of course, but I have no problems with his powers maturing to include his feral namesake's true abilities.

I find it slightly amusing that we expect everyone to remain exactly the same as they originally appeared 50 years ago.
That's a state that almost none of the heroes in comics have done, really, and why should they?

Most athletes don't peak in their early teens, they usually add to their abilities as they mature.
And if all Brin has is acrobatics, one of the most unforgiving of physical abilities in sports, he'd have to retire, super power or no, by the time he hit 28 or 30, and that would be pushing it.
Some thoughts on this subject.

And maybe Paul should stay away from here or just ignore our comments.
There is just no pleasing this fan base.

Since we're praising him for playing up Timber Wolf's original super-acrobatics, I'd say we aren't all bad.

Remember the name "Timber Wolf" was not originally intended to be descriptive of his powers-- it was a variation on his original nomme de guerre,"Lone Wolf", which became inappropriate when he joined the "family" of the Legion.

Actualy, when you think about it, Brin never made and sense, either as Timber Wolf, or Lone Wolf. I mean, of what use is a super-agile android in a mine? You get many opportunities for acrobatics down there?

The one way which in which the feralistic aspects of Brin do work for me is that they continue the whole "doubts about his humanity" aspect of the character from his first appearance.

I absolutely hate the blatant ripping off of Wolverine by giving him claws (which wolves don't really use) or a "healing factor". The werewolf-y aspect of him I can live with.

Though sometimes I also wonder if the character wouldn't have been a lot more interesting through the years if they hadn't just let him be an android all along.

And in other wolf news today:
Norwegian Boy Scares Off Wolves With Creed

EDE- I agree the brooding, doubts-about-his-humanity angle is/was the most interesting thing about Timber Wolf. I lost much interest in him as the team's mental deficient wolf-boy.

I seem to recall the face chance in S/LSH #197 was something Brin did to himself, so he'd look less like the folks he did not feel like he fit in with. Today, we might make that plot device analogous to a troubled teen cutting on himself.

Oddly, in the current boot, I like Brin as he is seeming more self-assured. I almost want him to grow a pencil-mustache so he'll look more like his Errol Flynnish Adult Legion self. That, of course, swings the pendulum way from one side to the other, so I guess I don't know what I want.

I too have often thought it would have been a kick if Brin had been the android, and, early in the reboot, before he appeared, I recall writing some fanfic to that effect.

Yep.

Costume and all. I especially liked the dramatic look it acquired when thrown mostly into shadow. Thumbs up also for his interactions w/Wolf. My favorite part of the issue, actually.

Despite the slim, slim amount of story, I did enjoy this issue quite a lot. Very happy to get at least a little more insight into what Durla is like at the moment.

Is shrinking down to microscopic size really an effective means of escape? Sure they may be out of sight but how far is it at that scale to the nearest doorway?

I've always maintained that there should be an upper and lower size limit to a Durlan's capabilities. Say, no smaller than a mouse or larger than an elephant for example. Otherwise, the suspension of disbelief as to where all that body mass is supposed to go/come from is stretched a little thin, imho.

Yes.

Failing that, I'd like some kind of hand-wave along the lines of: Brande picked these particular Durlans to work for him precisely because they had exceptional abilities beyond what you'd normally expect to find from the majority of the species.

Also, what's the point of having Vi and Gim on the team, if Cham can do what they do?

That, too, EDE. Violet would still likely feel more at home in the micro-verse than Cham would. Why in blazes should she be on leave if the team knows they're facing foes who can shrink to that degree?

(Yeah, I know. Because It's In The Script™)

The pace of the main story is a bit slow, but issue #9 had some interesting moments. The artwork and coloring on the Durla scenes was top notch. It was interesting to see Chameleon Boy grow back the ripped uniform. The insults that Brainiac 5 hurled at the Durlans were a bit juvenile for someone with a 12th level intelligence.

The interactions between Brin and Troy were handled well. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a friendship that will continue to be explored. Brin needs somebody new to pal around with now that Blok is off with Mysa. Troy never got enough panel time in early incarnations for us to ever get a feel for the relationships he had developed with other members. There was a hint of a friendship between him and Shadow Lass in his exit story. It would be interesting to see that followed up on now, in light of their respective relationships with Earth Man.

The image of Tellus at the bottom of page 13 was striking. Again, it was enhanced by a nice color job.

I had originally added a number of examples from posts on this thread, of how he can't win here. His addressing our questioning and dislike of Brande's accent was one but I included others.
Then, I thought I was being too cranky or something, so I erased them.

I think that even without the examples, though, people should know that it's a fairly valid observation, sometimes.

Yes, I thought about that too.
Vi's power really only works because she has the flight ring. Again, I agree.
In Tepper's books on kids with various superpowers, the shapeshifters had to add to their mass by ingesting things, depending on what they shifted to, or release mass, which they tried to do out of sight.
Ugh.

The point being, getting bigger or smaller wasn't instintanious, but rather took time which extended according to how big, especially, that they could get.

Shifters who were more energy based might be able to shift quicker since they might actually be more holographic in nature, I think.

I also think that most or all, Durlans should not be able to get too big or small because that's more of a copying of Vi's or Gim's powers, which they're not supposed to be able to do.
It's one of the reason's that I could never really buy or enjoy Yera's supposed taking over of Vi's position in the Legion.

The Atom and Ant-Man, etc. seem to get away with this sort of nonsense all the time.

"Watch me shrink to the size of a paramecium! And now I'll go over to that machine on the other side of the room and sneak inside and crawl around and find some circuits and bust them up!"

<Six weeks later.>

Huff, huff, huff, "Almost there! Just gotta climb up this cable, which, from my perspective, is a mile long..."

In theory, the shapeshifters actual cells might be inflatable, kept compressed and 'dehydrated' at it's core when not in use, and when it needs to expand dramatically in size, it 'inhales' with it's entire body and puffs up, sucking in surrounding air to expand these cells, like ten billion tiny balloons, all at once, causing what, on the outside, appears to be a sudden change to a twenty foot tall tentacle monster.

The cells would have to be very elastic, and surprisingly tough, more like the cell walls of plant cells than the cell membranes of animal cells (and yet incredibly permeable, like animal cells, perhaps changing from one state to the other really fast, just as the outer membrane of an egg cell transitions from permeable to 'closed for business' the second that first sperm cell contacts it).

Being able to fill the cells with something more durable and weighty, like water, would make for an even sturdy 'giant form,' although, in the process of expelling this mass later, and contracting, the shapeshifter would be expelling a massive wave of water from it's 'pores' as it shrinks. With a bit of training, the shapeshifter could even learn to expel this water in a slightly slower aerosolized vapor, rather than a torrent, making it appear that it has 'dissapeared in a cloud of smoke' or pulled a vampire stunt and 'turned into mist.' (It's now much reduced form would escape during the visual concealment provided by said vapor, completing the illusion of 'teleporting' or 'turning to mist.')

Still, there's only so much compacting that could go on. Even if a cell could be 'dehydrated' and packed up to take only a few percent of it's regular size and mass, like some dried up husk of a 5000 year old kernel of maize waiting for moisture to bloom back into life, the shapeshifter couldn't get much smaller than a rat, and in that form would be unable to think much more than rat-thoughts, as the vast majority of it's brain cells would be dehydrated and packed away with the rest of it's mass...

It's possible, though, that like the maize kernal above, that these dehydrated cells could be shed and left somewhere. A shapeshifter of this sort in a hostile environment might hide for weeks, storing up nutrients to produce cells, then packing them away in caches all over the local area, so that he can locate them in a hurry and assimilate them to use to drastically expand his size (or replace mass that has been blown off of him by energy weapons, or that he has had to abandon to escape a situation by shrinking to small size and shedding excess mass, perhaps even in the form of a 'corpse' to fool his attackers into thinking that they've killed him).

Using 31st century technology, which has been demonstrated as having extradimensional storage devices (perhaps using Bgtzln tech?), he could even carry packets on his belt (or inside his body!) that contain hundreds or thousands of pounds of his own tissue and / or the 'filler' (water, air, whatever) he uses to expand his cells, stored away for when he needs it, and into which he can shed it when he is done using it.

The Durlan shapeshifting thing can be rationalized with a dash of pseudo-science and some logical connections to the rest of the setting (using Bgtzln tech to store mass 'off-site' for ease of transport, for instance).

It's the sort of thing that Waid probably would have devoted an issue to, what with his explorations of Naltor and Cargg and 'Big City' and Colu, but he never got around to developing Cham / Durla.

The Atom's mass apparently shifts to another dimension when he shrinks. (citation needed)

It is possible that a Durlan's natural form is vaporous, (rather than, say, an orange humanoid, or writhing mass of slimy tentacles and eyeballs) but they need at least miniscule solidity in order to maintain conscious interaction with the universe.

Or maybe the law of conservation of mass-energy don't apply in the Earth-Overse.

Or maybe its all Quantum and Dark Matter and hand-waving.

We know from Cham that they are cold-blooded and born from eggs. They were probably reptilian or amphibian, but all that radiation killed off a majority of their population and the survivors did seriously mutate.

The good thing in this issue : no Earth Man.
The bad thing : No female legionnaires (except the comatose Dawnstar).

The thing that puzzles me about Durlans:

If their shapechanging works by scanning/copying other things, then where the heck does their standard "offworld" form come from? Is there some species that actually looks like that that they are copying? Or how does it work?

I assumed the standard form was meant to copy/echo the one they had before the Six-Minute War. Didn't we see as much recently when Cham and the others went back to "our" present to stop Brainiac's plan?

Wasn't there something about the form being 'assigned' them by the UP? Maybe in SECRETS OF THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES?

As I recall, at one point there were numerous different Durlan forms corresponding to different tribes (hence the "Chameleon Men" from that old Supergirl story were retconned into a tribe of Durlans).

Also of note: Chameleon Chief, who is *not* a Durlan, but uses a Durlan-esque form.

There's a pretty good book about the periodic table called The Disappearing Spoon. I remember one passage about some element, I forget which, that mysteriously gains and losses mass when iteracts with other elements. I remember thinking of Cham when I read it, wondering if Durlan life might be based on that element rather than carbon. I'll have to see if I can find the relevant passage again.

As for Durlan's standard forms, I too recall that each tribe was supposed to have its own standard form, and that Chameleon Boy's usual appearance was a UP mandated standard form, designed to be humanoid enough so as not to incite panic but distinct enough to mark a person as Durlan as a warning to others, much like the reboot Saturn badge worn by Titans.

Is that Sheri Tepper? Which of her books were about kids with superpowers? I haven't read anything of hers in quite awhile.

[snip]

Oh, I wanna' read this! Is it accessible to those of us who haven't seen a periodic table since, oh, about 1983?

Well, I enjoyed the issue, more for the character interaction than the plot, although the plot is becomeing more intriguing. It's not the first time Paul has worked with on the question of Durla, and how and if can or should be "saved." I like that Durla is an odd man out among the UP, that those differences are exacerbated by the Durlans being cold blooded, egg-laying shapeshifters. I like the mistrust and prejudice and between the Durlans and the Legionnaires. I like that Brande, in his well-meaning hubris, was trying to "fix" Durla, and so far all it's achieved is the murder of UP delegates. And I do look forward to seeing how and if the story resolves. Having said all that, I'd take the plot as vehicle to throw interesting people together, and seeing Brainy and Cham and Tyroc and T Wolf chew the fat was the highlight for me.

That would make perfect sense to me. Most 'fixed-form sentients' would find it disturbing that a Durlan could appear to be anyone or anything, and, I could see it being illegal to commit fraud or to misrepresent oneself as being a member of another species.

For that reason alone, there might be a few 'approved' Durlan forms, for travel off-world, which other UP citizens would never mistake for a member of another species. (Like orange antennae-headed humanoid or green tentacle-monster in purple robes, for instance).

The Durlan ambassador could be arguing before the council to approve a few new forms, saying that it's as unreasonable for the UP to restrict natural shapeshifters to only a couple of approved forms as it would be for a race with a limited visual spectrum to forbid others to see any color other than red in their presence.

The arguments could get heated, with delegates insisting that adding too many approved forms would create an unrealistic burden on other citizens to be able to remember them all, with the Durlan countering that they shouldn't have to remember them all, since there's no reason they should specifically know they are talking to a Durlan, unless it's because they want to be prejudiced against them. It's not like the average UP citizen can visually tell if they are talking to a Titanian, or a Braalian, or a Carggite, for instance, so why should the Durlans be required to wear a scarlet letter?

Politics! Racial profiling! Fraud! Fifth Column paranoia! Oh, the drama!

So far in the retroboot, most of the Durlan's can only become winged, exaggerated forms of the orange form, that I can remember.

The two, other than Brande and Cham (and Chameleon Lord?) has been the one who copied Zendak and the one who copied Brande.

The planetary Durlans kept the winged/orange form only blue.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that maybe most of the Durlans can only change minimully.
In which case, why not just limit them to their original, wormy form?

Easier even is people like Brainy insult that form.

They turned into birds in the same issue they replaced Zendak. I doubt that they are limited to minimal changes. And, if they are, it is just another retcon for the sake of a current story being more important than established history.

Every month I'm enjoying the Legion books more and more, but every time I get to the end of an issue it feels like there were too many ideas jammed in. I don't know if it's just me, but I kinda wish that (a.) there was more book each month to spread those ideas out (I know larger books are not going to happen), or (b.) simplify it a bit more. Some pages and conversations feel rushed and hurried. Hang, maybe it's because I'm not used to Pauls writing.

The birds is a good point.
But we knew that these Durlans, the assassins, were going to be able to change some, perhaps more than the rest of the species.

Is it history that ALL of the Durlans could shapeshift into any complex shape that they wanted to?

In this boot, we've been shown by Brande's version of how he progressed in his shapeshifting efforts.
He seemed to be very out of the ordinary with his abilities and drive.
Cham's changing into a similar shape when he was threatened to confirm that Brande was his eggfather seemed to confirm that the ability to reach that form was genetically related.

We also found out in the Robinson stories that the original Durlans of Supes time were basically in the orange/Cham form.
I don't recall them shapeshifting at that time but that may have been because they didn't need to.

Levitz has shown that in the retroboot, Durla is somewhat different than before.

LOTS of things are different from before, I guess.

Are you sure about that? In his first appearance, Lone Wolf picks up a giant spotlight with one hand while swinging on a rope with the other to stop the out-of-control circus beast. Someone even comments that "He must have terrific strength to lift that spotlight so easily."

So I'm pretty sure he always had super-strength, just not at the Superboy/Mon El/Ultra Boy level. And strength alone would not have gained him entry, because it duplicated others' power. It was the agility that gave him a "unique" power for the purpose of joining.

You're right about him having strength as well as agility going back to his first appearance. However, there was no "duplication of powers" rule when he joined, so the "uniqueness" of agility really wouldn't have mattered.

First of all, Paul is actively ignoring a few things from Johns' and Robinson's spin with the characters so I wouldn't place too much credence on the last issue of the New Krypton stuff (which Robinson couldn't even be bothered to write).

I'd also point out that in all boots Durlans have only been shown to be able to copy what they personally know, and given the hellhole that Durla still is, I don't think bio-diversity is one of their strong suits. That's why Cham was able to win the challenge back in #301, because he could take unfamilar shapes (like the hummingbird) and outdo even the best Durla-bound shifters.

In the past, that was true, but Brande turned into shapes he IMAGINED.
He did that for several panels, I think.
That was how he came up with the shape that he could fly off/escape Durla with.

And Paul hasn't really ignored what Robinson and Johns wrote, he's just worked around/with those issues if he wanted to, like the Lotharian telepaths being settled on Titan dying off.

Paul's changed things just to change them, as well.
He's said so, like no jet packs, etc..

Brin was always 'strong,' but I always saw him as strong like Spider-Man or the Beast (from Marvel who could lift 10 tons or so), not anywhere near Superboy or Mon-El's level. His super-agility / super-acrobatics would make him a far more spectaular / visually impressive hand to hand fighter than Superboy or Mon-El, since they don't generally use their super-speed, unless the plot calls for it.

IIRC, 'super-agility' or 'super-acrobatics' was his official 'power' when he joined the Legion, but, like many Legionnaires, it was hardly all he could do (Blok's power was listed as super-density or something, clumsily giving him an excuse to be admitted, even though his powers were basically invulnerability and super-strength, the same as a half dozen other people).

Yeah, I definitely think the "almost-as-strong-as-Superboy" thing really began with the Cockrum portrayal. Beast is a pretty good comparison, imo.

She wrote the True Games stories and the Mavin Manyshaped books, 6 in all, I think, unless she's added some that I don't know about.

The first 3 are about Peter, who's at a boarding type school in a middle ages type of world.
Powers manifest at puberty and no one knows what they'll get/become.
Single powers are the most rare and coveted because they're the strongest.

The more powers in the combination that is inhereted, gives then diversity but at the cost of weaker power levels and often less control.

Mavin has a single power, shapeshifting and is extraordinary in a very repressive culture.

I won't say more, but they're quite wonderful.

List:
King's Blood Four
Necromancer Nine
Wizard's Eleven
The Song of Mavin Manyshaped
The Flight of Mavin Manyshaped
The Search of Mavin Manyshaped

The Coluans' confusion over the appearance of RJ Brande at the UP council proves that their politicians are as dumb as everyone elses!!

Querl's the only 12th level.
And having a high IQ doesn't always mean you think on your feet or aren't easy to fool, imo.


ML - I thought the Tepper books I listed weren't the whole series.
I remembered there were at least 3 more, about Jinian , Peter's girlfriend that he meets part way through his trilogy.

I think the first one is something like 'Jinian FootSeer'.
Mavin's stories tend to stand alone most of the time, Peter's and Jinian's books are mostly meshed.

I found this a pretty ho-hum issue. The Durlan Assassin plot is well past its use-by-date as far as I'm concerned now. It started off well but has just spun it's wheels for about 3 issues now - and it's still not over. I definitely do not think this is a storyline anyone will remember fondly.

It also seriously bugs me that every Durlan we see change form (including Cham now) turns into a single-coloured creature (in this case - orange). They're not bloody Garfield Logan!

Brainy's attitude at the beginning with the Durlan welcome committe was over-the-top rude and pathetic IMO. Gah! How I want that character taken down a peg or five thousand!

Harmonia Li was about the only interesting thing about this issue. I hope that storyline goes somewhere more interesting than this Durlan one has.

I quite liked Troy and Brin's interactions too actually but Tyroc's costume is still one of the worst I've ever seen in this or any book. SO boring! And just SO doesn't look right on him. I'd love to get past this problem but I can't.

---

The Timber Wolf discussion upthread was interesting to me. Timber Wolf has always been the quintessential "just there" character on this team for me (neither particularly liked nor disliked) and I've never been able to pin down just what it is about him that leaves me so "meh". Especially when I've loved nearly all of his costumes, and costumes usually go a long way toward influencing my attitude toward a character.

I think the vague, redundant and boring powers are the big problem for me. Super-strength is the most boring power in all of comics IMO so that's a big minus (not that I remember many times when he's used it) and while I love super-agility on my favourite member of my favourite team to never receive their own series (Impala in the Global Guardians) it's just always seemed a little weird on Brin. Maybe because when I think of a Timber Wolf, I do not think of super-agility.

And the only other option with him is to go down the Wolverine-clone road. And that's equally as unappealing.

Timber Wolf needs some work IMO. It feels like forever since we've seen him take centre stage in a story (I've purged DnA's awful 'Brin against the Fatal Five' story from the reboot from my mind thank you very much. "Think fast. Think fast. Think fast..." Ugh!).

I'd actually be very open to seeing him take the spot-light for a good extended storyline that really sorts out his character and brings him back with some real purpose and sense of a definition of who he is as a character. If that means re-working him from the ground up then I'm all for it.

Strangely, the thing that made me like Brin was his time as Furball - or more accurately, how he interacted with people after being Furball....gave me the sense of someone with lots of streetsmarts but not much in the way of booksmarts and the actual tragic backstory that someone should have whose Dad experimented on him and who was made to believe he was an android for a while.

I think transposing him to the 20th century (21st maybe?) was pretty inspired, because he was ahead of the curve technology-wise, but still not actually intellectually clever...

Timber Wolf is a much more fun character to write in fanfic than comics I would say...

I like how Paul writes TW as relying on his instincts & senses rather than strategy.

I actually though Waid's "too cool for school" version of TW was a pretty solid portrayal.

Oh God! I HAD purged that from my memory but then you just HAD to remind me, didn't you? 100 pushups for you, Mister!

My favorite, unfortunately I guess, version of Brin is the reboot wolf pack leader and protector of the pregnant Tinya.

I don't want him as an android trying to be human since that was done so spectacularly and memorably by Brent Spiner as Data on STNG.
Period.
There is nothing that can be added, imo.
At least, not in a comic.

I love his wolf identity because it DOES give him purpose and personality, if it's actually done correctly, as I think DnA did.

And actually, a wolf is VERY different from a wolverine, even if 'wolverine' means little wolf.

Wolves are group/teamwork animals. They're very pragmatic and thoughtful and protective, clever and loyal.
No claws, no over the top rage and no grudges.
I'm talking about the American Timber Wolf, here.

They have good senses, plan their attacks, withstand the cold, love their leaders and families and are territorial.

I too, liked the original version better after he was Furball. I really liked him better AS Furball.

Troy and Brin should make good partners, bouncing sound around, trianglating, messaging and etc. as long as Troy remembers about the upper level hearing issues that dog types have.

Brin would be good paired with Brek, too, as I think that wolves are better functioning in the colder areas than a lot of creatures.

Cham would avoid Brek, as his power tends to shut down cold bloodeds - which is why I don't understand the Legion not bringing Brek into fight the Durlans.


Anyway, I know that many fans here don't like Brin being more like his namesake, but I do.
sigh

The Wolverine is also known as the Gulo-gulo, Gulon, Glutton, Carcajou, Quickhatch, and Skunk Bear.

The Wolf is also known as Lobo, Lupus, Loup, Lykan, Amaruq (Inuit), Ukami (Japanese)

I can see a super-hero named Lykan or Amaruq, but Skunk Bear?

I could see the current Wolverine as a skunk bear.
He smokes cigars, after all.

Lobo is taken, Lupus is a disease, Loup sounds like loop(y), doesn't it?
Lykan is rather generic and sounds like, well, like.

I like Amaruq and Ukami but they seem to be rather culture specific.
I wouldn't mind Brin's past being slightly reworked, like all of the Legionnaires, imo, to have him come from a more culture specific world.

The Inuits would be lovely.

You know, I just want to say how much I like how Tyroc is being portrayed. I started reading the Legion back when Mike Grell was the artist, and Tyroc was the first new member I saw join. So, I've always wanted to see him really 'make it' as a member. Tweak his costume along with his powers and he'll be set.

I also liked his interaction with Timber Wolf, a character I've always been indifferent to, but who I'm liking more and more.

That was my favorite take, of what I've seen. Also liked the cartoon version.

I loved DnA's TWolf & I'm lovin' Paul's current take.

I enjoyed the issue, particularly the art work. It gave me the impression of a "set-up" issue preparing for the conclusion of the Durlan Assassin saga and jump into the Harmonia Li mystery, which is ok so long as the next issue or two gives resolution to some things.

Brainy/Cham and Brin/Tyroc were two more interesting team-ups (like Dream Girl/Colossal Boy last issue). I think Mr. Levitz has done a great job with mixing up the line-up.

I know we're only nine issues in, but there are still some Legionnaires who could use some real panel time in the near future:
Chameleon Girl, Quislet, Element Lad, Polar Boy, Gates, Invisible Kid, and Ultra Boy come to mind. I leave Shrinking Violet, Black Witch and Blok off the list because they look like they will be up next month in the Annual and Legion Academy stories. Star Boy looks like he'll be featured in LSH #11

I also applaud the break from not seeing Earth-Man for an issue. I would like to see some of the above heroes before another dose of him.

I know Levitz is getting a lot of criticism for not much happening in the Durlan storyline, but getting to see Dream Girl in action, plus Tyroc featured with some work on his powers, have all been great. Add in a visit to Durla and seeing Timber Wolf trusting his instincts have been some nice moments. I'll accept a slow-moving storyline if it means some character development.

My feelings exactly! I'm just enjoying all this Legion goodness, and I can't wait for the Academy story.

Ditto!