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Now this is more like it!

Always bet on Nura Nal. That cover is still ... ridiculously awesome!

This whole storyline has been like Nura Nal Is Awesome week! I approve!!

I also wonder if maybe Paul's trying to sell her and Brainy on becoming the new leadership pair? They have been consistently together for ages now and they bounce off each other well...Dreamy seems to be the only mildly humanizing influence Brainy's had since his Johns-mandated personality overhaul...

In Paul's stories, B5 always had a grudging admiration for Dreamy's brain, and she enjoyed flirting with him. Perhaps the popularity of the Brainy-Dreamy romance in the 3boot encouraged him to focus on the two of them. They really do make an interesting couple; it doesn't have to be a romantic liason, just very complementary teammates.

Well, lot's of fighting this issue. The "ragtag band" acquit themselves fairly well before Mon-el and Ultra Boy show up to save the day. The genetically modified Daxamite/Dominator cross was pretty much a yawn, as was this arc as a whole.

Not anything bad, but I'm sure hoping space pirates and the Fatal Five pick up my interest in this series.

The conclusion felt rushed a bit. Perhaps Levitz had to end the storyline sooner for the big #0 issue event, but I was waiting for a bigger battle scene to unfold. I didn't like how Bouncing Boy was able to take down all of the Daxam/Dominator eggs so easily. They could have posed a very serious threat. I wish a few more had hatched first. Other than that, this was a fairly decent issue. It is interesting to see how severly injured Star Boy actually is in this issue.

WOW! This was one of the best issues in a long time. A lot of elements that make the Legion special were present--teamwork among members without spectacular powers, the surprise cameo appearance of a favorite member (although she would have been more effective in her original identity instead of the silly one), good villains with a plausible plot and good characterizations. I especially liked seeing Duplicate Damsel and Bouncing Boy portrayed as competent superheroes, Mon-el's politicking and Dream Girl's strength. One small quibble--I prefer when the characters refer to each other by their code names instead of their first names. Great issue!

Any issue that features Dream Girl, Star Boy, Bouncing Boy and Duplicate Damsel in such a positive light can only be a good thing. I really wish Levitz would write Nura in as team leader again.

It's also nice to see Mon-El portrayed in a postive light with the respect he got from Otaki.

And I do hope that we see repurcussions in the UP from the Dominators actions. And maybe this Daxamite/ Dominator hybrid just might pop up again?

And yeah, it was great seeing my favorite Legionnaire in a cameo.

Projectra appearing as "Sensor Girl" made absolutely no sense at all, especially since she's busy being Queen. And I'm not sure if I was on the council that having someone whose basic ability is to create illusions showing me what was supposedly going on on the Dominion homeworld would really qualify as evidence. And finally, it was bizarre that the Legion was supposedly waiting for authorization from the UP council, but the council still doesn't actually give them authorization, but Mon-El apparently decides at that point they can go anyway?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by EmeraldEmperor:
[QB] Any issue that features Dream Girl, Star Boy, Bouncing Boy and Duplicate Damsel in such a positive light can only be a good thing. I really wish Levitz would write Nura in as team leader again.

I agree about Dream Girl as Leader. In the history of the Legion, there have been four especially effective, natural leaders; Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Mon-el and Dream Girl.

Has been good to see Jeckie still in this horrible mask. Since almost for two years we did not have news of her.
The actions of Luornu and Chuck have been fabulous. I wait to see them in the active group, or less to Duplicate Damsel.
I was thinking that a great group of legionnaires would be going to save his companions, not only Mon El and Ultra Boy.
Only I hope that Projectra, Imra and Garth come back soon.
And for me, the one that can go not be returned is Ayla. I'm a Garth Fan.
And kill Comet Queen, Dragonwind and Glorith!

SOOOOOOOO SICK OF BRAINY!

This was an interesting issue; lots of good action involving Chuck, Lu and Nura; The appearance of Jeckie was great too - even if she was wearing the ugliest mask in comicdoms history - and it's nice to be reminder how awesomely powerful she is - able to sense what is happening on the Dominion world while project illusions to another, though did she show them Brainy and Nuras escape attempt from last issue?; Otaki seems interesting though personally I'd like to know exactly what 'mind sense' really is; the art was delicious in parts and passable in others, and; my favourite thing was the absolutely stunning use of colour! Wow!

Things that didn't work for me were; Chuck being able to knock down the dominion Tree - not sure he's ever been shown to be that tough; Mwindaji's costume - omg it's ugly!; the dominion daxamite gene spliced monster was just a muscly guy with bad teeth - I was hoping for something more alien and monstrous; the lack of other Legionnaires - come on, a couple of them had been kidnapped and they weren't all saying anything about it? That doesn't ring true - Cos wouldn't have been the only one asking Mon what was happening surely?; the ending seemed a bit abrupt and didn't really let us know what was going on - did Mon and Jo just smash things up a bit then leave with the others? Did they destroy the Daxam Dominion gene matrix so others couldn't be bred? Did they have a word with Dominus Rex and say "do that again and we'll melt you down for soap"?

Overall it was perhaps the best issue in a while (and it hasn't been bad lately) though it wasn't as good as the latest Stormwatch.

Have to agree, it's time for us to see more of Jacques, Vi, Alya, etc and where is Quislet?

THE GOOD:
The "ragtag team" kicked an awesome amount of ass. Very happy with Chuck, Lu, Nura and Thom's performance.

The art was excellent as usual. My hat goes off to you again, Mr Portela!

THE BAD:
WTF was the point of the whole Sensor Girl thing? As a million other people have pointed out, the one thing Jeckie is famous for above all else is that she projects illusions. So who in their right mind would think her actions on their own would change the Council's minds?

The annoying thing about this is that it would be so easy to fix as well; just have a few Titanians on the Council to verify that what she was showing them was true and then it could have been a stroke of genius. Instead, it looks like Mon-El wasted all this time sitting on his thumbs when he didn't actually wait for the UP's approval anyway before heading off on his rescue mission. So what exactly WAS the point?

While I am not sick of Brainy, I am a little sick of not seeing the rest of the team. Glorith has been a member of the team for twelve issues now and hasn't been on a single mission. She is taking a spot on the team from any number of characters who are more loved by fans, and she's not even DOING anything with it! When's the last time Vi did anything? This kind of mission is tailor-made for the Espionage Squad, and seeing Vi or Tinya take out the Dominion's pet Daxamite clone-thing through a clever internal attack would have been more interesting than seeing Mon-El and Ultra Boy fly in for the umpteenth time and just beat things up again.

Comet Queen's betrayal last issue was kind of a big deal but she didn't even get a line in this issue. And with next issue being a focus on Brainy, I doubt we'll have any follow-up then either.

I'm also really really over Levitz's inability to wrap up a storyline properly. This has been a problem with literally every single multi-part story he's written since the start of the LAST series. It's like he gets to a point where he just doesn't care anymore so does whatever he needs to do to wrap it up so he can move on to something else. It's REALLY ANNOYING. I actually was really enjoying this storyline up until this issue, and then the whole thing was deflated, and I really am on the verge of just not buying the book anymore because I have better things to spend my money on than a bit of a poor exercise in nostalgia.

I feel like with every storyline, the quality of the writing improves and then slumps back down again by the final chapter, and then the cycle starts again with the following story. Not really loving it.

I agree completely with your statement about Paul's inability to finish a storyline on a strong note. I really did enjoy this story till the end. It just wrapped up too quickly. And it didn't make sense for Mon-el and the team to sit back and just wait or to let two Legionaries resign and then go?

I have a feeling their was editorial changes at the last minute and that's why we had fill in pages the last two issues. Perhaps certain elements were changed at the last minute and Frances was unable to redraw those pages so another artist was brought in and those pages inserted over two issues?

And on a different note; didn't Bouncing Boy essentially kill that whole tree of the new Dominators?

Pretty much, but this whole arc started with a battle in which Sun Boy, Phantom Girl and Polar Boy were competing to see who could blow up the most Dominator ships, which, as Cham found out by picking one randomly to infiltrate (he even flat out noted to himself that he was lucky, and guessed the right ship to infiltrate, which proves that neither he nor his teammates had any clue which was the command ship and whether the others were full of people or not), were full of Dominators.

The Legion code against killing seems to have gone the way of the Fatal Five.

Having the Legion's code against killing *include* unborn Dominators, or in fact unborn anything, opens a really big can of worms and may end with the Legion raiding abortion clinics.

Let's just look at it as ruining a science experiment and move on....sorry I even brought that up

I heartily agree. This reminds me of the old Annual Levitz wrote, LSH Annual 3 (where the Legionnaires prevent some sorcerers on Zerox from reviving Mordru). A bunch of Legionnaires were involved but in the end, it seems only Mon-El, Ultra Boy, Wildfire and the White Witch saved the day AGAIN. I get that Jo and Mon are the fastest and strongest, but the Legion has always been about a) strength in numbers, and b) even the less powerful ones have something to contribute.

No, don't be sorry. Your point was valid and this board welcomes open discussion

Yeah, I agree...nothing to be sorry for.

For my part, I didn't have that much of an issue with Chuck knocking the tree over because I interpreted it not so much as killing fetuses, but just keeping them from waking up...I figured they needed to be supplied with whatever nutrients/chemicals/etc as part of the blooming process to take on full consciousness, and until that point they were just blank templates? I could be wrong, but it makes me feel better about it thinking of it that way anyway

And why is Element Lad shown wearing a very old costume?

Well, if written correctly, no one outside of the Legion is supposed to *know* Sensor Girl is Projectra in order for her to keep her effectiveness. That's kind of blown when she mentions her position on Orando though. I assume that they expect people to trust her vision, as she's never given reason to doubt her and it is part of her power upgrade to "see things beyond what others do". I agree it was messy though. There should have been a dozen other ways to collect evidence that Brainy and Dreamy were taken by Dominators.

It does appear that the 'mystery' of Sensor Girl is no longer relevant. Everybody seems to know that she's Projectra.

Perhaps that was the point. The UP council might be willing to accuse a Legionnaire of falsifying evidence, but they might be a little less likely to accuse the Queen of Orando of falsifying evidence to her face...

About the only thing I really liked about that scenario was Mon-El admitting that the events were occuring beyond his range, and then Projectra turning out to be capable of beating that.

Finally read 12--

Well done, Mr. Levitz! I was terrified he was going to mishandle Chuck and Lu but he did all of the crew justice! Plus he threw in the old "last minute rescue by stronger Legionnaires" Levitzism. Now let us not see that trope again for a long while. Find a way for the crew to emerge victorious themselves next time!

^^That trope goes back at least to the Super-Stalag of Space!

Maybe Levitz can borrow the "three girls save everyone" trope from Mordu the Merciless next!

Except <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">in all probability those three girls would be Harmonia, Dragonwing, and Glorith! </span></span>

That would literally piss me off!

Loved the art on this issue, and the team - both newbies and vets - performed well. Have the Dominators been portrayed as eating humans before?

Regarding the rushed ending, the part that bothered me most was lack of resolution regarding Brainiac 5's force field belt. Too much time was spent setting this plot point up for it not be resolved. This series is just rife with unresolved plot threads. This has been true of the past few Legion series, and it's getting old. I guess it is one of the disadvantages of working with a large team, but really wish more effort would be put into answering all my burning questions.

As far as I know, the Dominators eating humans (as well as one another) was an innovation of this storyline, as were the different caste/subspecies of Dominators.

I'd assume the force field belt will be followed up on /n the Brainy spotlight next issue.

Hmmph. Brainy is the LAST Legionnaire who needs a spotlight. IMHO Lad.