Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Adventure Comics #518 - SPOILERS

That was actually quite good, which is refreshing as I thought the book might be heading into a tail-spin.

This is all set-up for Adventure #304, but the retcons really work IMHO.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">I've always thought it made more sense for the Naltorians to be the ones who predicted the Death, and I'm glad Paul made the switch. Even better that it's young Dreamy.. I also like having "Ghost" Mon-el spooking the Legion out.</span></span>

Tinya was fun and playful and Brainy was handled more like his old self. I just got a good vibe from it all around.

I have to say this was the best issue so far featuring the Legion. I really appreciated the introduction of Nura as a kind of "national treasure" on her planet. I liked the element of danger that her accuracy presents in that it is always right to some degree.

Brainy and Tinya behaved normally, and their youth and inexperience came through with the writing Paul gave us.

Superboy seemed genuinely scared about the future bad guys he has to fight. The artist did a good job with his facial expressions to convey that.

Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, Ultra Boy and Sun Boy all acted like themselves too.
I truly enjoyed this installment of the book and look forward to next issue.

So true. I just happened to be reading the "Tales" issues last night that delve into White Witch's background, and there was Nura and Brenen talking about Nura's destiny and the scope of her power. This story could flow flawlessly out of that one.

I know I've made this comment about other issues in the past, but it is true once again. The cover on the actual paper copy is much more powerful than the online images. Nice use of colors.

The story was pretty good, even though it was a quick read. Hopefully those complaining about the focus on the founders and Brainy will be a bit more satisfied. There was still plenty of focus on those four, but Ultra Boy, Sun Boy, Phantom Girl and Nura all received some quality on screen time. The team battle scenes definitely made it feel more like a classic Legion story.

This was Kevin Sharpe's finest effort to date, The colors were nice too. My only complaint with the art is that Nura was drawn with a bit too much cleavage. Yes, her outfits have always been sexy, but never quite this revealing.

My quick comment:

- Best issue so far but not exactly a "true champion" (especially compared to a triumph like Doom Patrol, which is getting more and more interesting and unpredictable). It's a nice 3 minute read, which is nice but ultimately underwhelming.
- Kevin Sharpe did his best job so far, which is worse than any other artist currently on any DC book. I don't understand why can't DC get a better one, like the guy who did Johns' issues.
- Didn't get the "ghost" clue before, but well played.

A 5 for the effort, out of 10. Which is way below what I expect from Levitz and Legion.

This issue is great!
Especially after 517.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">I was thinking it might be Ferro, but Lar makes more sense. Thanks for the insight.</span></span>
Loved the look at Nura, Tinya and Jo.

My comic shop was sold out and it will take 2 weeks to get a reorder! Spinning satellites! How will I survive for that long without my silver age Legion fix?

I really enjoyed this issue. All the pieces of why Imra rigged the election to save Garth & the rest of her team from being killed by Zaryan in Adv.304 are falling into place nicely.
The intro & sudden death of the SP officer last issue was a nice additional motivation for Imra's steadfast resolve to be the one who is killed instead.
I loved it when the High Seer of Naltor mentions the crystal message capsule!! Having the prediction come from Nura instead of the Trylops council of Mernl is a great touch!!

Since Rokk started at 14 and all the Legionnaires are about the same age, she's around 15 in this story...

Just in theory. She has the body of a porn star around 25. Kevin Sharpe does not master nuances.

I'd say these kids are well past early puberty, 16, at least.
I remember how young Jan look when he joined and he was 14 (correction: 13).
I thought that HE was the youngest ever to join.

In the previous Adventure, when Rokk and Imra had their one nighter, they were 15 .
This is a year or two later, isn't it?
Jo's there than he joined somewhat later, not in the first flush of membership.

I have the Legion Companions, the later issue when the Legionnaires were shown after the 5 year gap.
I think the ages are given, so I can compare them.
I wasn't aware that Nura was that much younger than the general Legion population.

Edit:
It says she was born 2957 and joined the Legion the first time in 2975, that's 18, right?
The second time she joined was in 2978, at 21.

Ayla and Garth were born in 2959; Kem in 2958; Dirk in 2958; Salu - 2960; Thom - '57;
Chuck, Jo and Brainy in '59; Lyle - '58; Gim in '56; Reep, Lu and Tinya in '57; Rokk & Imra - '58.

The Legion was founded in '73.
Rokk and Imra were 15 and Garth 14.
Nura is actually a year or 2 older (not counting months and days stuff) than the founders.

This book was written by Tom and Mary.

I could see the dates changing, but not the relative dates.

I don't know if Paul is using this sourcebook, though.
In his first sourcebook he doesn't give dates, just yearly summaries.

He says that Rokk, Imra, Garth, Gim, Lyle, Reep, Brainy and the 2 Supes join the first year.

I thought they had to be between 15 and 18 to join.

I don't know, Jim, I'm only going by the dates in the Sourcebook.
Of the original group who joined in the first year, Gim was the oldest, at 17 (born in 56.)

Laurel Gand, who was born July 27, 2960, joined Sept. 5, 2973, just over 13 (if my math is correct.)

Jan, born Aug. 20, 2962, joined March 5, 2975.
He wasn't quite 13, right?
I suspect, even in the original Adventure stories, that he didn't see much activity the first year or so, did he?
Their time, of course.

Nura, born Dec. 8, 2957, joined the first time on Oct. 20, 2975 and the second time, March 31, 2978.
Using months, which I didn't use before in my calculations, she was about a month and a half shy of her 18th birthday the first time and about 5 months over her 20th birthday when she rejoined.

Projectra was born in 2962, which might explain why she and Nura were never close friends in the early years, since 4 or 5 years is a big difference when you're young.
She joined on Nura's birthday, Dec. 8th, on 2977, at 15 (a few days shy of the 15th year if you use days, since she was born on Dec. 19.)

Andy/Ferro was very young, too.
He was born Jan. 11, 2964 and joined Dec. 8, '77.
That's what's written.

Thom was born Oct. 22, 2957, joined May 30, 2974, rejoined on March 31, 2978, so he was 20+ when he joined again.

Mysa was born Sept. '59 and 'walked with the Legion' since Feb. 3, '84, 24+?

Anyway, those are the ones I found listed who are outside the Legion age box, one way or another.
In the Bierbaum's book.

It makes sense that the Legion would "quietly" ignore the under 18 rule for Nura, since she had joined the Legion before. Same with Star Boy who was readmitted after being expelled, even though he must have been over 18 when he joined the second time. (The same rationale applies to Gim, who was expelled in ADV. 371 and readmitted the following issue.)

Mysa's age has always puzzled me; if she were under 18 when she joined, then she must have been *very* young when the Legion first encountered her, back in ADV. 351. (Obviously, she wasn't drawn that young!) As with Nura and Thom, it seems the Legion simply ignored her age when she joined because they already knew her or because it was convenient for them to do so.

The only time it was mentioned that the Legion had waived the age requirement was when Polar Boy joined (after Mysa, at that). Perhaps some Legionnaires asserted the age rule, without success, simply because they didn't want Brek to join for other reasons, e.g., his power wasn't good enough, or his personality was prickly (as later became evident after he was voted leader).

Group politics, Legion style.

It scares me a little that the Legionnaires actually have birthdates assigned to them. Good lord! And I thought I was the biggest Legion geek out there.

Nope, that would be Tom and Mary!

If you don't have their Sourcebook, try to get it.
It is HUGELY entertaining, with personal journal pages, haiku by Brainy, reports, magazine gossip (where most of the birthdays and Legion joining dates appear), and lots of other information.

There's also a lot of references to 'Black Dawn', a story that happened during the 5 year gap.
Maybe, it'll be a story we get now.

It makes sense to me that as the original Legionnaires age, that the over all age of those admitted would get older, too.
With exceptions, of course.
The only way they could practically keep the Legion so young, imo, would be to have two, or more, Legions going at once, or dismiss Legionnaires as they cross the age limit.

I would prefer cadet status for Legionnaires under 18, and have an Academy book.
Some might think that it might be too much like the X-Men but it wouldn't be for me.

The Puerto Rican band Menudo was organized on that principle -- it was a boy band whose members were dismissed when they got too old.

I kind of like the idea of having an upper age limit for new members, though, because it would mean that there would be several generations of Legionnaires at once (Maybe literally, once Graym and Garridan turned 14).

Actually, Paul only downgraded the Mernl council to mere middlemen of Naltor, as Beren mentioned that he would send Nura's warning through indirect agents. The major continuity blip would be Nura seeing a Legion ring which at that original point in time, weren't extant. Considering Naltor's elaborate network of operatives, plus the mystifying fact that Zaryan "The Invader" (not quite the same menacing epiphet as "The Conqueror") had no idea how Naltor knew of their attack, it seems that Paul is establishing their prophetic powers as a planetary-wide secret (much like the Symbiot/Trill revelation in Star Trek:TNG) which presumably is uncovered when Nura initally joins the Legion.

Don't quite get the reasoning that Mon-El is behind the ghostly voice, how could he know of any danger to Kal? Could he spy on Naltor from the Zone? Why only warn Kal and not the rest of the Legionnaires?

This issue was entertaining but seemed a bit short. Can't we have more Legion and less Atom?

We should start an on-line petition to get rid of that pesky little Atom guy who's gobbling up our precious Legion real estate on Adventure!

On another thread, we find out that it's the Legion leaving Adventure, not Atom.
sigh

IMO The Atom's the best part about this book. I'd rather lose a bland Legion story than a good Atom one.

That said, this was probably the best of the Legion in Nu-Adventure stories to date. (Which isn't really saying much, I know.) But the story and art this time were firmly OK, which is an improvement.

The worst thing about this title IMO is that it has exactly none of the charm or imagination that the original Adventure Comics had. I want people who are reading this book who've never read an Advenutre-era tale to be inspired to go back and read all those great stories. But why would they after reading this run?

I agree with Blacula. The Atome is really what's keeping me interested in reading this book every month.

I also agree that this was the best Legion issue since Paul took over.

The Atom stories have been excellent, haven't they? This is the first time I've read Lemire, but I can see why he has the buzz he does. He does something I wish Paul could do a little better, and that's get inside the head of the character with regard to the character's powers. I think Tyroc & Sensor Girl REALLY need this treatment, among others.

Having said that, I really liked the Legion stories the last 2 issues, particularly the portrayal of Cos's powers. First, I love the "sproing/sproink" sound effect. Along with that, I LIKE that Cos is really having to push his powers to do something other than play magnoball. That amateurishness was logical and relevant to the story, for all the Legionnaires.

Hey DC...check out the Atom thread in Dr, G;s forum. Me and Blacula talk about the Ray and the latest story there every month.