Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Reboot Re-read: DnA Legion

I liked the Ayla arc! And I agree with you, it was much more satisfying because it had a clear resolution and pay off. It didn?t drag on too long (Ayla first acts snippy to Jasmin in, what, issue 10?) and by issue 15 they?ve resolved the conflict.

Nice beginning, middle and end.

The Legion #16

Released January 29, 2003
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

Five Reasons to Call in Sick
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Kev Walker - Pencils
Andy Lanning and Al Milgrom - Inks
Jason Wright - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

This issue picks up right where we left off in #15 with the Fatal Five standing off against the Legion team of Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, XS, Wildfire and Shikari. Combat begins as Brin and Jo snipe at each other. Wildfire goes after the Persuader, who easily spits Drake's energy with the Axe. XS goes after Mano, who then rips the ground out from under her. Shikari squares off against the Empress, and the bickering duo take on Validus who zaps them both, but doesn't take them out. The Persuader, cuts open Wildfire's suit, distracting Shikari, who is then knocked out by the Empress.

Empress is just about to terminate Shikari when Validus reminds her that they were to keep all Legionnaires alive for bargaining chips. Jo goes on the offense with Validus and is promptly mentally zapped, leaving Brin to face off against Mano and Validus while Persuader and Empress wake up Tharok using the Eye. Timber Wolf gets tossed into the wall by Validus. The group schemes on doing one last big score before going back to the shadows now that the Legion is back. Unfortunately, they can't go anywhere as Brin has sabotaged the drive while the five were scheming. Brin stalls for time while Tharok tries to come up with a plan.

Empress, Mano and Persuader try to flush out Brin. Empress goes first, and they tussle but Brin ends up getting the best of the Empress. Brin then attacks Persuader and knocks him out with his own axe. Facing off against Mano, Brin leaps up and comes down on Mano's helmet, shattering it and dispatching him easily. Brin, with the Atomic Axe goes to confront Tharok who threatens to order Validus to tear XS apart, quite literally, unless Brin hands over the engine part. Brin tosses it over to Tharok who then orders Validus to kill Brin. Brin throws the Axe at the Eye, which shatters. Tharok picks up Brin and slams him to the ground. Tharok prepares to execute Brin when the Legion appears.

Commentary

Love the title of the issue and the framing of this as Brin's mission report. This was a decent read, but in the end I don't think it lived up to the build up from the prior issue as much as it probably should have. Typically the five members always devolve into some kind of bickering, but here the re-insertion of Mano into the mix doesn't seem to work well after the build up of a post-Robotican Tharok is released. There is some good here, with the united five that had the mission of releasing Tharok easily dispatching the Legionnaires, but then it falling apart after Tharok is released; once they are motivated by their own self interests, they fail to work as a team and Timber Wolf is able to pick them apart. Clever use of the axe to damage the Eye. I was kind of surprised that the five tooks out the Legion so quickly, but its a T-Wolf spotlight, so it makes sense to focus on him so quickly.

I'm glad they pulled Mano back in; he was missed in the last encounter just before DnA took over. I was hoping DnA would stop with the Eye talk. Oh well.

A couple other comments about things that stuck out to me.

They say that Tharok was in statis a long time. I guess they consider a few weeks a long time, as that's been, at most, the length of time that has elapsed since the Legion's return, and the last time we saw Tharok was the day prior to the Legion's return.

Why would the Emerald Eye be affected by the Blight?

Big Vi coming thru the portal. Sigh.

Cute misspelling at the end there.

Overall grade: B-. Fun read, but nothing special, and Kev Walker's pencils did nothing for me.

Mano?s change of heart was interesting and unexplained. We last saw him turning on Tharok in LSH 80, to stop Tharok from murdering millions of innocents in order to incite war between Braal and Titan. And Mano was left out of the Fatak Five reunion in LSH 120-121.

I don?t mind too much, but I do wish there had been a better explanation, as Mano?s misguided quest for vengeance in the Boot made him a very complex character

I agree - in the first appearance, he was kind of done with them, but didn't get a seat at the table and was replaced by the Emerald Eye itself. Now the Eye is depowered and he's back on the team, which is great, but you're right - there's no good explanation given except they all want a lot of money (which now that I think about it, is not their typical MO, right?). Mano's original appearance was definitely deeper character-wise, and this is a much shallower version.

No, I remember specifically LSH 79-80 and 120-121 specified - Persuader was in it for money, but Empress just liked to kill, and Tharok was all about power.

The Legion #17

Released February 26, 2003
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

Revival of the Fittest Part One
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Alejandro Barrionuevo - Pencils
Lanning - Inks
Jason Wright - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

This issue starts with a cold open of M'Onel and Shvaughn Erin visiting a prisoner in an as yet unspecified location to meet Ra's al Ghul, who has used the last thousand years to amass a legal army that was apparently able to force the bureaucracy to pull Ra's out of the stasis chamber he was in at the end of Legion # . Ra's hand, previously sliced off by Gates, has apparently grown back. He is confident that he will be released given that his rights are being violated from being held without trial. He's also concerned about his clones. M'Onel asks Ra's for help for a situation.

A few hours earlier on "The Murdered World of Xanthu" XS and Star Boy are discussing the impending revival of the world while Thom pines for Nura and the Terrorforms hover in the distance - he feels that since they spent so much time there dealing with Robotica, she'd want to be there to help it back. The two discuss for a bit until Insect Queen and Atmos deliver some assignments and XS rushes off to meet with Kid Quantum and Sensor. Via M'Onel's voiceover, he tells Ra's that the Terrorforms turned 1/5 of the population of Earth into seed pods and have been hanging around useless since the Robotican crisis resolved. Brainy's idea is to take the seeds and Terrorforms to Xanthu and have the Terrorforms release their energy to restore the seeds back to human form coordinated by Kinetix.

Then things all went sideways. The energy release reactivated a dormant Robotica drone that was missed by the bomb squad, which follows its programming and starts killing the revived humans. Star Boy goes on the attack but Thom seizes up in a strange purple energy leaving Sensor to deal with the threat. She starts whipping the drone with her tail, disabling the drone, but a stray shot hits a terrorform, releasing an explosion of Hypertaxis energy that takes out Sensor and Kinetix. Having been taken to Legion World, Kinetix is fine, but Sensor is dying. M'Onel wants Ra's to help save Sensor in exchange for a change in Ra's conditions. Ra's offers to help but needs to see her in person, as he has the genetic and Hypertaxis knowledge to save her.

Back on Legion World, Sensor is in bad shape genetically. A worried Cham looks on as Brainy, Lyle and Dr. Gym'll try to help. Some kind of sheath has wrapped itself around Sensor. Tinya with Cub comes to check in on Sensor and Cham talks himself into the fact that they will save Sensor. The reminder of Cub's need for medical attention makes Tinya run from the situation through the station just to find Jo and Imra in a friendly embrace as Imra departs for Titan and draws all the wrong conclusions, as Imra tried to ring Tinya before leaving. Tinya phases out before they see her.

On the Command deck, RJ addresses the assembled Legionnaires about his envoy status to the Kwai galaxy when Triad interrupts to tell the group that M'Onel is bringing a manacled Ra's aboard. M'Onel, Shvaughn and Ra's arrive with a bunch of other SPs and they zip through the transit tunnels in the artificial satellite aboard a floating barge. Ra's bites down on his lip and spits some kind of red substance on a nearby SP guard throwing everything into chaos to initiate his escape attempt. He knocks Erin off the transport barge and is rescued by M'Onel as the emergency sirens blare. Ra's' barge goes out of control and slams against the tunnel wall in a fireball.


Commentary

First of what looks like a two-parter. So it looks as if we're finally handling the Terrorform situation. I'm not a big fan of the whole concept at all, nor with the use of Ra's, so I'm going to hold my nose and plunge in here.

Outside of the core concept of the plot being savagely ridiculous, the story moves along pretty well. We get some good reprise of the Thom/Jenni interplay from Worlds as they try to heal Xanthu via the Terrorforms. Decent enough concept to help deal with the dangling plot thread of the people seeds and the Terrorforms, but it still seems to me that Robotica could have fixed the place up again as they did Earth. Also it seems to me that Sensor is a bad choice for a team member here and only seems to be around in order for DnA to Do Something To Her(TM). One needs to plan for bad contingencies therefore needs to have a power player around. Sensor doesn't fit that bill. Once the background narrative is done and things start to go wrong, the issue starts to pick up steam with the jeopardy to Sensor and the threat that Ra's presents and provides. Some good interplay between the characters here. I really like the Shvaughn/M'Onel interplay since Legion Worlds. DnA has a good chemistry going there. But I really don't know where they're going with Thom/Nura, so some of these little character moments end up spinning some plot wheels that go nowhere. We also get more of the Tinya/Jo mess that doesn't help the book. The cliffhanger of Ra's being incinerated in a fireball provides to be rather effective given Ra's penchant for coming back from the dead, however the ending is dulled by the preview image for the next issue showing M'Onel and Ra's fighting (one would assume they are one of the clones being stored).

Barrionuevo's art is a nice change from what we had before, but its not at the level of Coipel by the end of his Legion run. I don't know if I've been as happy with the art generally since McCraw left the Legion.

Hmmm. So mass genocide attempts can be staved off via legal injunctions in the 31st? Okay. THAT's a bit ridiculous given what he did and, like Hypertaxis in general, a rather horrible background point on which to hang an entire plot.

I tend to agree with Thom on the Xanthu thing regarding Nura, and his thought about her being embarrassed about being wrong is interesting.

So did the hypertaxis energy only transform Humans? I guess that makes sense, but I'm assuming 1/5 of the population of Earth is not just human in the 31st century.

The sequence with Cham fascinates me, as DnA seems to be falling into the same mode as the prior writers around Sensor and Spark. Cham always seems to spend a lot more concern around Sensor than he does Spark. Again, this is something which I'd expect the writers to follow up on since they referenced a possible Cham/Ayla relationship in LW2, but its been over a year since that point and we've seen maybe two or three panels that hint at it. Its a nice callout to the relationship Cham and Sensor had in the prior run regardless.

Another note that I will likely repeat in 18, as I know where the Sensor thing is going. I have a massive problem with DnA breaking characters they don't understand. A lot of people had problems with the snake. A lot of people had problems with Zoe. I'm not a fan of what they continue to do with these characters.

I found the whole jargony procedural of Ra's coming through the threshold was unnecessary. It could have been page space for story. I know that's DnA's thing for background dressing, but it seemed to me to be unnecessary and we could have inferred that they were taking precautions - not that it would have mattered anyway.

Ra's apparently knows a ton about the makeup of Legion World despite having been held captive. That's very interesting in and of itself and implies that he has spies in and around Legion World itself. This could be a really interesting plot thread.

I never took Shvaughn as being religious, but her explanation at the end makes me assume she was raised a nice Irish Catholic girl.

Holy crap - there were a LOT of apostrophes in this issue: Ra's al Ghul, M'Onel and Gym'll in additon to the posessives! And one more issue of this!!!

Overall Grade: B-. Decent art and a story that starts to move halfway through is saddled by the underpinnings of the plot.

I completely agree that the underlying plot is ridiculous.

Ra's being held without trial - um, isn't he in pre-trial detention? I can imagine he must have been charged with something by now. There's plenty to charge him with. Kidnapping thousands of Carggites and Winathians, mass death and destruction from the moon, and turning people into seed pods or terrorforms...

Character bits:

1) Cham's friendship with Sensor is highlighted, a good throwback to pre-DNA

2) Tinya/Jo drama, hated it. Also, Jo thinks there's nothing wrong with hugging Imra (and there's none of course), yet is jealous of Brin. While Tinya doesn't understand why Jo is jealous of Brin, and thinks Jo is cheating with Imra. It's all so stupid, and I jsut want them to both sit down and tlak to Dr. Ryk'rr again, like they did ages ago. Again, this drama never gets resolved, which is why I've lost patience with it in re-reads.

3) Shvaughn and Mon is the highlight, they have amazing chemistry.

4) Thom and Nura, poor things, I'll just say. This one at least gets SOME resolution.

I really don't understand how Kinetix gets taken out by a stray blast of Hypertaxis energy, but whatever. She's deus ex machina anyway. I was really hoping that the Terrorforms expending energy would also restore Zoe to her normal self, and was bitterly disappointed this did not happen.

Shvaughn has used Catholic exclamations before - such as Saints Preserve Us. A nice nod to her character through the Reboot.

I will say that while this issue was fairly ridiculous because of the underlying plot, I found next issue even worse, and am eagerly awaiting to tear it apart

I'm not rereading through DnA - it is depressing somehow for me to read through that. But I don't know whether to cheer them for trying to change the characters that people didn't like again and again until someone liked them. I mean Sneckie wasn't the best idea that the Reboot came up with and changing her made her even less enduring to her (two?) fans who liked her as a snake. And Kinetix being changed again and again and again just makes no sense. I mean, most people liked her when she was introduced and then she went downhill from there with all the changes. We don't even have the chance to like any of her before they change her again.

I especially hated that DNA's change to Kinetix took away her distinct personality, which was really one of the things that made her unique. And that I personally liked. I just wish she had been left alone after returning to the Legion from her catgirl phase. The Anomaly changes were terrible, but I could accept them because they only lasted about 9 months in real life...

At least Sensor's change left the door open for her to retain her personality - though of course she became much fiercer because of her grief over her change, but at least there was hope that would be retained.

Or at least have the orders get "lost" in the bureaucracy. I'm sure that hasn't changed in a thousand years.


I didn't have patience with it in the original reads.


Yes, they are well written together, so I can see why you paired them up in your fic, Ibby.


Don't blame you. I've found so far that its mostly well written, but very much a downer in mood with a few up moments.


Sensor is an interesting case, as I think it depends on when you came to the Legion. I came on with the reboot, so Jeckie-as-snake didn't bother me. As I read through the classic Legion, I can definitely see where folks would be upset by that change. That being said, Sensor in the reboot was written much better prior to DnA because that team followed closer to the classic Legion's stories which occasionally included magic and mysticism. DnA had none of that in their Legion, which was harder sci-fi and psionics, so Kinetix and Sensor really didn't have much of a place there. Sensor had her uses with regards to Legion World, but after that never really did much of anything, while Kinetix, as we've discussed at length, became a plot savior. Honestly, had Sensor been the original humanoid from the 70s & 80s, I think DnA would have done something similar, or had her killed, which was the other route they took with editorial support.

And while there was a LOT of controversy about Sensor, there was much less around Zoe. She DEFINITELY had her own haters, many of whom appeared to be at influential levels in the DC back office, but she had a ton of people who enjoyed her character on the team. Honestly, what they kept doing to Zoe was a microcosm of how the Legion itself would be treated over the years.


Oh there was so much of Levitz's Anomaly that was introduced that McAvennie fumbled, Zoe just being one unfortunate bit of collateral.

But the more I read DnA's Legion I'm more convinced that their change to Zoe was due to them not being able to write magic-based powers. They obviously were able to find her a well-written voice.

Indeed, it practically wrote itself, Mon and Shvaughn just got along well so swimmingly!


I also read the Reboot first, so I was basically introduced to Sensor as snake first - and then became familiar with humanoid Jeckie. So I can definitely understand why (some) fans of the humanoid Jeckie were so upset at her rebooted into a snake. If that had happened to Kinetix or XS, I would have been angry too.

I find it interesting that you think Sensor and Kinetix were changed because DNA didn't know how to write magic-based powers. Kinetix, it's so easy to ignore the magical element and just focus on her alpha-class telekinesis and matter rearrangement / animation (as DNA showed they sort of knew how to do, at least in her few appearances using her powers: Damned (trying to smash Apparition and taking out Particon), Rifts (repairing the Outpost), Worlds (levitating coffee cups) and Legion (saving Trudi Trusoe, telekinetic shield against debris, and transforming debris - the only mess up is that she should have been altering the size of debris rather than turning it into flowers).

as for Sensor, DNA showed that they knew how to write illusion powers: see, hiding the Legion from Robotica, hiding Legion world, fooling people into thinking LW had been destroyed, and later in Dream Crime, fooling Universo and brainwashed Legionnaires into thinking they had captured Sensor.

I very much agree with you, that while Zoe had haters, she also had fans. And... well... there was nothing unsalvageable about Zoe.

Sensor... well, I think nothing short of turning her fully humanoid would have appeased some fans. Though of course, that couldn't happen without something drastic. Her half-snake/half-human form is a compromise move I think. Make her more humanoid, but not completely... I for one found it OK, but I can imagine many saw as a copout.

I see what you're saying - yes, they did that, but there wasn't any creative use - in Damned it was just a generic zappy power, Rifts was also generic, Worlds was useless telekinesis. Her saving of Trudi was the only time that her portrayal came even close to the Zoe we'd seen before.



Yes but all kind of one trick. My sense is that they driven her into a dead end, as she barely had any panel time.

I could be totally wrong here, but it does seem suspect that the only characters that DnA mutated to this degree are the ones with mystical capabilities. Again, DnA definitely skewed more to the Sci-Fi angle of the book versus the Super Heroes, and I don't think that left any room for characters like Zoe or Jeka without breaking and rebuilding them.



Yes, its the one mystery around this time that I would love to hear a creator talk about - why all the damn changes?

The Legion #18

Released March 26, 2003
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

Revival of the Fittest Part Two
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Alejandro Barrionuevo - Pencils
Andy Lanning & Simon Coleby - Inks
Jason Wright - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

Part 2 of the story begins with Star Boy and Invisible Kid confer on Legion World. Thom thinks its about whatever happened to him on Xanthu the prior issue, while Lyle and Brainy really want his opinion about the death of Ra's al Ghul in the prior issue, with a nice summary of what happened - namely his collision with a wall. But Brainy has a problem in that the mass of the remains don't add up properly.

Shifting over to the command deck, we learn that M'Onel had retrieved Ra's without consulting Kid Quantum, who's not happy about the situation. Gym'll lets us know that Sensor is mutating into deformity. Back in the lab, Brainy theorizes that Ra's is now essentially sentient blood, which is why his arm regenerated, and that he escaped the explosion. M'Onel, Jazmin, Thom and Lyle rush to the clones. M'On realizes that Ra's entire plan was to get to Legion World in order to get to the bodies and all the clone bodies activate. The real Ra's takes down Star Boy and steals his flight ring, then uses a command word - Talia - to activate the clones to attack M'Onel. Ra's flies off.

Back with Kid Quantum's group, they start to track Ra's clones all over the station as the clones begin to wreak havoc. Gates is scared of Ra's coming after him for revenge. The rest of the Legion starts canvassing the place for the clones. M'Onel revives Star Boy and tells the team to track Thom's ring, which makes Ra's ditch it. Shikari tells Gates and Kinetix to hang back as she realizes that Ra's is moving without the ring. Gates teleports the three of them to the Threshold room to find Ra's. Kinetix and Shikari go on the attack. Ra's dodges an eye beam blast from Kinetix. Ra's shoots Shikari with a blaster, knocking her out, then throws the overloading blaster at Kinetix. The blaster explodes, knocking her out as well.

Ra's moves in for the kill on Gates but is interrupted by M'Onel. The two begin a brawl with Ra's mopping the floor with M'Onel as Ra's monologues. After defeating M'Onel, he coerces Shikari to open a portal. When asked for his destination, Ra's suddenly backs down, saying they'd keep repeating this encounter over and over with M'Onel tracking Ra's down and Ra's kicking his ass to escape again. Ra's submits.

They take Ra's, now finally clothed, to the Medbay to look over Sensor. After a bunch of technobabble from everyone, Ra's indicates that Sensor can be saved, but is irretrievably changed.

On Xanthu, the project to turn the seeds back to human has completed, with the Terrorforms returning back to human again after having expended their energies. XS tells us that it will be a long time before Xanthy is viable again. And we are shown Sensor's new form.

We then go to a coda of sorts with Ra's and M'Onel. Ra's has been officially transferred to Legion World for detention. Ra's makes a joke.



Commentary

Well. This issue highlights a lot of the bad side of bringing a character like Ra's into the Legion. It begins with a nice hook - the mass differential with the debris - and quickly gets to the action, but then things go really sideways for me at so many levels. The attack of the clones (ha!) was actually well done with Ra's taking Thom's ring. But the main bit - getting to the real Ra's then the fight - was not great. They are able to pinpoint Thom's ring, but then Shikari tells only two others - Kinetix and Gates - NOT to go to where the rest of the Legion is headed because it's false. Why does she not tell the ENTIRE Legion?? Then, when the three arrive, Shikari is quickly shot, then Kinetix is taken out quickly for the second time in two issues. I never thought this version of Kinetix was this fragile.

Then the M'Onel showdown with naked Ra's. Please tell me why a human - granted a human with the blood of the Lazarus Pit or whatever, but a human nonetheless - is able to kick M'Onel's ass without a red sunlight beam as had been shown previously. And then he just gives up and goes to look at Sensor. And I'll also say this - any story that has this much pseudo-evogenetic technobabble has big problems, as it highlights why the hypertaxis concept is so bad from the get-go.

And the whole Sensor thing - well, I've opined on this kind of thing already, but to me seemed a useless idea, but we'll see where it takes the character. Clearly Stephen Wacker is not reining in DnA at all, but as this is the end of the initial story arc that launched the Legion, I'm curious to see how things differ from here on out.

The art was pretty solid, although I don't really like Barrionuevo's faces. Not sure if any of that was due to the dual inking going on here.

Other comments:

Wow, Gym'll sure looks like Yoda.

"I'm Batman" - I am guessing it is Cham saying this, not Ra's, but its unclear. I enjoy this reference to the 89 Batman movie, but why is Cham a squid?

And AGAIN with large Vi. Does she EVER do anything at normal size anymore??? This is fully ridiculous at this point.

Hasn't Gates teleported this many people before without feeling this badly?

So are Atmos and Insect Queen an item?? I guess that's fine, as there is a distance shot in Widening Rifts that seems to establish that.

Overall Grade: D-. The showdown was undermined by the bad plot concept and bad choices made by the characters that did not make sense and were inconsistent with prior events.

Also note - this is the last issue of The Legion using the title masthead style that was introduced with Legion Worlds.

I hated, loathed this issue.

Unlike you GL, I hated the attack of the clones. It was just...

Star Boy: "Oh gosh darn it, which clone is the real Ra's? Well, even if none of them are, we don't want him to get a body, right? If only one of us had the power to, I dunno, control gravity and make all the clones stick to the walls!"

M'Onel: "Gee whiz, I wish I were fast enough to catch all these clones! But as the later fight scene will show, I can't even catch one naked elderly man!"

Ra's clones: Bam! Pow! Punch!

Star Boy: "Oh shucks, it's not as if I could have prevented myself from getting punched by taking all the clones out faster! Or you know, it's not like I had this trick before where I used my powers on myself to increase my density!"

M'Onel: "I can't understand you. Stop talking so fast!"

And the rest of it...

Terrorform Kinetix can literally evolve any power she wants, it seems like. She's survived being attacked by Robotican drones, can fly unaided in space, can create a gravity well, has smacked other Terrorforms which have beaten Ultra Boy and Violet... and.. she gets taken out by an exploding blaster???

Gates, we've seen him teleport half a dozen others at the same time before (though granted, many other times his teleport range has been limited to 2 others...) this one wasn't so bad, and we get a nice scene of him being defiant towards Ra's.

Ra's beating Mon up though?

oh, and not super happy with Shikari being so easily coerced by Ra's, though I'll give that she was groggy and in pain then...

but meh, this whole thing blew, and Ra's is now #1 on my Mary Sue Legion Villain list because of this

This is a really good point, Ibby. I didn't even think about Star Boy just going, "everybody hit the deck!" and pinning them all down. My enjoyment was limited by Ra's stealing the ring. Everything after that - nah.


Yeah, its friggin horrible.

So many people got the idiot ball this issue.

And when Shikari stops Kinetix and Gates... I'm pretty sure someone, I think Shvaughn, or maybe Gear, was looking back and would have seen them... you know... not following... sigh

OMG, I didn't notice that at first, but yeah Shvaughn - and Triad purple - is TOTALLY looking back at Shikari!

And the eyerolling continues lol. My gosh, this issue was the first DNA one that really made me facepalm!

Yeah I felt Brin in #9 was enough of a factor for me not to COMPLETELY trash the issue, but yeah.

I actually went through and averaged out the run so far based on my grades, as this stretch of "The Legion" is effectively the DnA/McAvennie run, even though Wacker replaces McAvennie around issue 14 or so.

The first storyline - The Return and Terrorforms - rates at about a B-, as does Computo. Both cases had pretty well written storylines with a couple stellar issues in each, but also dogs that dragged the score down, mainly due to reliance on too much offscreen storytelling or deux ex machinae.

The final batch - Fatal Five and Ra's Redux, which are only four issues compared to 7 or 8, is a C+ primarily due to the train wreck of 18.

The total average of the run so far is at a C+, but ALMOST a B-.

The Batista era starts next.

The Legion #19

Released April 30, 2003
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

Dream Crime - Part One
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Chris Batista - Pencils
Mark Farmer - Inks
Jason Wright - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

The beginning of Dream Crime features a new masthead logo for the cover, and a new introduction style that recalls the Legion books of the early 80s with a small blurb describing the setting of the 31st century and the Legion, as well as a quick summary of Saturn Girl's and Dreamer's trip to Titan. The pair are on Titan to see if Dreamer's visions can be used as a UP early warning system paired with Titanet. A voiceover talks about being more.

Dreamer and Saturn Girl emerge from the portal on Titan and are greeted by our old friend Aven. Nura and Aven stare at each other for a beat before Aven realizes they were talking telepathically when Nura isn't telepathic. Imra notes the amount of chatter going on around them while Nura notes how quiet Titan is.

On Legion World, Shikari is cussing up a storm in front of Brainy, who notes that they haven't heard anything from Ferro or Karate Kid since the Legion's reformation. He's located them on Steeple, but is unable to reach them due to the gravitic stress.

Back to Titan, Aven, Imra and Nura float on Ethane seas to the Titanet powers. Aven and Imra laugh together at a telepathic joke, and we get a quick update about Nura's powers as well as that of native Titanians not to force themselves into another's mind. They quickly brief Aven on their purpose and he makes the arrangements to meet with Lena Erqol to discuss over dinner. The mysterious V/O appears saying "I am MORE" that Nura hears, but no one else does and she suddenly sees everyone as burnt skeletons and reacts. Imra think she may be having a Pre-cog vision, but Nura just says she's tired.

On Legion World, Tinya is fretting over cub as he is ageing a week per day. Gym'll can't determine a cause, but Jazmin offers to create a time sphere to slow time for Cub. Jaz asks if she should also consult Jo or her mother, and Tinya angrily tells Jazmine to move forward and Cub is contained in a quantum bubble.

Back on Titan in their suite, Imra calls BS on Nura's "tired" defense. She isn't sure what she saw was a pre-cog vision or not and comes clean about her uncertainty about seeing Thom's memorial. Because of this, and the fact that his death may still be to come, Nura feels uncomfortable around him. She convinces herself that the telepathic power on Titan is interfering with her pre-cog.

Speaking of Thom, he's back on Legion World in the Gym with Super-Size Vi. Thom sets a 100 ton weight to work with. Thom loses control and Vi saves him.

The dinner on Titan is taking place very silently before Erqol realizes that they are being rude excluding Nura in the conversation. We get a recognition of the trauma Imra's been through and a quick summary of Legion Lost's last months. She will be in therapy provided by Aven. Erqol agrees to meet to get deeper into the early warning idea, but senses something else is wrong with Nura.

We return to Legion World to find Cham checking in on Jeka after her transformation last issue. She's having problems adjusting to her new form. Cham tries to help her see change differetnly, but it just makes her angrier. Shikari and Brainy discuss Computo's fate and Brainy being driven since his evolution and they go to dinner. Just as they leave, Karate Kid's message comes through the portal.

On Titanopolis, Nura gets a tour of Titanet by Erqol. She provides a quick background on the function of Titanet's communications capabilities across the UP. She also brings up Nura's feelings of foreboding, when Nura hears another foreign thought no one else has heard, but this time the vision is much worse. Nura collapses and realizes that she heard the voice of Darkseid. Imra is in therapy with Aven and seems to hear the same voice as Nura. She calls out for Garth.

Commentary

Overall, I really enjoyed this issue. DnA excels at the setup of a storyline. Lots of great items here, and it was a meaty issue; you can see just from the synopsis that there was a lot going on with a lot of dialog, but in a way that picked up from past events and moved things forward during all the cut scenes (very unlike the "Meanwhile" issue during Computo which did the opposite). Also - OMG this is the best the Legion has looked in YEARS. I love Chris Batista's art so much. The new intro also gives the series a kind of "Star Wars" feel with the scroll at the beginning which is a nice touch. Nura's foreboding visions are very compelling and keep driving the narrative forward with the mysterious voice overs, whom we are led to believe are Darkseid. Portraying Titan as a largely silent world is slightly different from pre-DnA, but here it really works well and Nura constantly getting the silent treatment is written and drawn very well to have the readers be in her shoes. We get a little more recap here than I would like, but I'm saying that from having just read Legion Worlds a few months ago, however it is refreshing to finally confront the fact that Imra is dealing with serious PTSD. The issue leaves on a great cliffhanger, with Nura thinking she's contacted Darkseid and Imra reaching out to Garth. I felt with this issue's combination of art and writing, we were finally back to a more Legion-y Legion vs Warhammer with Legion characters.

Other rando comments:

I've never liked any Legion story putting a year in text unless its done from the get go and the writers and editors stick to it. I'm not going to go back over the prior 18 issues and see if they referenced the years 3001 or 3002, but having the 3003 AD is bad. I think its a really bad idea to track the current year + 1000 in these books. Either two years have advanced since the end of the last issue or time itself is askew. Just reference the century, please.

I was a little confused with the issue's lead in, as it indicated that Imra and Nura were on a specific mission, when I thought the original purpose for her visit was R&R/therapy. We finally do get to that on page 12, but it had me confused as we had not seen Nura in the infamous "hugging Jo" scene a couple issues back. Speaking of Imra's traumas, they didn't even talk about her impersonating Tinya.

Again, Large Vi here is stupid stupid stupid. It would be better to show Vi working out in a normal size then GROWING to save him. This would better show her power. If I've just picked up the book, I'd think Vi is a giantess by nature. I understand this is their way of showing her power, but its starting to backfire as she's only been tiny once since the series started. Also, again, they are on a space station. Space is always at a premium, I don't care. That said, I *did* enjoy the scene with her and Thom. I always feel like they are looking out for each other, even prior to the DnA run.

Jeka's reaction is very realistic, but its a shame that they had to break her personality to do it. Another good reflection of the Reep/Jeka friendship.

Overall grade - A. The story moves well without too many nits to pick that affect the story, and the art is fantastic.

The Legion #20

Released May 28, 2003
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

Dream Crime - Part 2
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Chris Batista - Pencils
Mark Farmer - Inks
Jason Wright - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

Issue 20 begins with the same style of background crawl that was introduced in the prior issue. The background drawing centers on Imra flanked by an embracing Tinya & Jo on one side with Jo glaring at an annoyed Timber Wolf on her right with XS just below. The figures are surrounded with images of various other Legionnaires' heads with their eyes closed. The story itself starts with Imra reading a comic book.

Except its not Imra. She is inexplicably in a retro-diner called RJ's Clubhouse Diner as a daydreaming waitress ignoring her customers. Jenni is another of RJ's waitresses serving Jo, Tinya and Wildfire, who hits on Jenni. She notices two science police sitting down and she moves to attend to Rokk Krinn and Zoe "Saugs" Saugin. She notices Rokk's handsomeness, and Zoe's confidence and wishes that she could be a Sci Cop. She's daydreaming about leaving Titan where she's stuck due to her lack of Telepathy. She shouts an order back to Tenzil then goes to serve Jo's group their food. Jenni warns they are part of the "Emerald Dragon" gang and Jo proceeds to hit on Imra in front of Tinya. Jo continues to silently flirt with her.

When Imra gets off shift, Jo's waiting for her on his bike. She politely refuses and gets on the bus. Some time later, RJ calls her in to cover Luornu's shift, but at triple pay. She sees Rokk at the diner and embarrasses herself when Jo rolls in and tries to aggressively get to know her. This is interrupted by Timber Wolf's arrival. TWolf makes short work of Jo when Rokk draws his service weapon on them. The whole scene deteriorates; Timber Wolf attacks Rokk, RJ pulls a shotgun out; Jo draws his gun in return only to have Imra swing across the counter and kick Jo in the face. Timber Wolf leaps at Imra, only to have her mentally shut him down. Imra realizes who she is and that this is some kind of illusion.

Imra is surrounded by faces of sleeping Legionnaires as an unknown voice comments on her strength and the need for the person to reveal the truth.

Imra then wakes up after the events of Legion Lost 7 after having retrieved Umbra from her fugue. Monstress and Apparition are still with them. Imra insists that they found the way home and does the fastest summary of the end of Lost and the prior 18 issues than I've ever seen. Garth walks in and Imra forgets all her protests.

In the outpost hydroponic garden, Imra and Garth have sexy time and she tells him about what happened to him at the end of Lost and tells more of the tale. Some time later, the Lost crew is approaching the Progenitor's Rosette. Imra insists that the Progenitor is Jan, much to Candi's annoyance. Their ship is spotted and the Lost Legionnaires spring into action.

We change focus and see Imra held in some kind of stasis chair where her dreams are being manipulated and read by... Universo!

Commentary

Just as a housekeeping note that as of this issue we are across the halfway point of the series, as odd as that sounds.

So, I'm a sucker for dream sequences, etc, when they are done well. This, I thought was done well, with the mining of Imra's subconscious to create the fake diner full of alternate Legionnaires in various roles in the middle of a gang fight. Seeing the characters act in odd ways was fun - the undercurrent of attraction between Imra and Rokk, the rivalry between Brin and Jo, Jo as the Bad Boy, the reference to Imra being paid triple for Luornu's missed shift. Although I REALLY liked RJ pulling out a shotgun. Super fun until Imra realizes something's going on and that it *is* a pretty dumb setup - Gangbanger enters a diner to hit on a girl when there's a cop car in front, then a rival banger barges in to start a fight - and the manipulated dream shifts to Legion Lost where the events of the last 19 issues have all been a dream and Monstress is still alive. This is evidently much more grounding and believable for Imra, and rightly so since Garth is back, making her forget the horror of Legion Lost's events, but also for the reader. It makes sense for Imra to sense herself in an odd dream and make her way out of it, but to wake up in another where the worst part of her life never happened but she is essentially herself. Good reveal with the manipulator as Universo. The seeming misdirection of the person being Darkseid was done well. Its good to see another classic Legion villain after so long.

That said, I've noticed a lot of parallels here between the first few issues of The Legion and the first two of Dream Crime, with the main antagonist reveal. Its fine, as it works well, as does Batista's art, but it is repetitive after seeing it a few times in the last two months. This kind of reveal definitely works better with a monthly release cycle.

Other random comments:

As noted the Diner was a fun sequence. RJ going on about Legions of diners, Zoe as a normal person again, Jenni as the fast waitress, Tenzil as the cook (I think this is the only time we see him in DnA, sorry Tenz).

I was kind of hoping the alternate Lost sequence was what really happened.

Again liked the continuity from the LL perspective - the hydroponics were still intact, Monstress was still alive, etc.

Overall grade - A-.

I'll have to read this in more detail, but I felt issues 19-20 had stellar pacing. We start with some quiet moments for once. Finally, we learn what's up with Nura acting weird towards Thom. I definitely liked the Dream Sequences

Jenni and Lu as waitresses, Tenzil appearing (and indeed his only appearance under DNA), I'm thrilled we get to see human Zoe (and as a Sci Cop too!) Someone commented before that the "casting" in the dream sequence was spot on: Zoe and Cos joined the Legion to help people; Jenni and Lu maybe enjoyed the companionship more... Tinya, Jo, Wildfire, maybe wanted more prestige...

I'm a sucker for exploration of different worlds and cultures, so was pleased with the depiction of Titan - of course telepaths would prefer to speak telepathically! Seeing poor Nura being left out, and Chief Adept apologizing for that, were nice

Also nice to see Aven, DNA has tended to shelve many of the early Reboot supporting cast so it's good to see another one again. He does seem less smug than before, but hey I'm not complaining too much about that.

Agree that Sensor's reaction is realistic, and also glad we don't have to wait a while to see it. Also appreciate the Reep/Jeka friendship nod.

Also wonder why Vi has to be large when doing combat training. you'd think she could do that at any size. And she grows proportionally in weight and size and mass no? I'd rather have seen her practicing using her size-changing powers in combat, like the early Reboot did to showcase her amazing fighting abilities.

Well, I can definitely understand the WHY, as movement at different sizes would need practice based on one's surroundings. I'm reminded of Ant Man becoming larger in the Marvel movies. But on a space station, I'd think a gym to house Violet would have to be the size of an arena that no one else should be on for safety reasons!

Its just a consistently weird representation during this run, which I think EDE mentioned way earlier.

The Legion #21

Released June 25, 2003
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

Dream Crime Part Three
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Chris Batista - Pencils
Mark Farmer - Inks
Jason Wright - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

Issue 21's "scroll" intro features Shikari and Sensor in her new form and a description of why Dreamer is on Titan. The story jumps right into the matter of Darkseid. Nura is communicating her vision of Darkseid back to the Legion. Rokk, always mister history, recognizes the name from his studies. Dreamer communicates that the UP is in immediate threat. Triad and Gear get to work researching and as soon as he finds data about a Boom Tube, one pops open on the command deck with parademons pouring out chanting "Darkseid is."

Over on the medical deck, Jo and Tinya start to tangle over the subject of Imra when Apocalypse pops out of space next to Legion World and all hell breaks loose and the Legion jumps into action fighting against the parademons. We see a voiceover of "I am more" that only Shikari apparently hears.

We visit Jeka in darkness in her quarters lamenting the loss of her beauty until she realizes something unusual is going on. Darkseid appears on the command deck. Star Boy charges on Darkseid only to have his powers malfunction and a he generates a singularity on the bridge. Kid Quantum attempts to contain it, draining her power. The fight continues on the Medical Bay, where Jo and Tinya battle their own parademons. Kid Quantum's efforts are causing Cub's statis bubble to malfunction and burst.

In battle, Shikari keeps hearing the mysterious voice and wills herself out of an illustion. The battle disappears and she finds herself in Legion World with all the Legionnaires and other forces standing around in a trance chanting, "I am more." Shikari flies away and runs into Sensor, also on a quest to figure out what's going on. Turns out Jeka's powers make her immune to the illusion. She's also heard the odd voice, but in reality, not as a projection. The pair heads to the command deck.

There, we see Universo on every comm screen intoning his hypnotic mantra. Sensor gives us the background deets on Universo, and Sensor tells Shikari that they need to get to Earth to sound the REAL alert, but power to the Thresholds is shut down. An entranced Spark, Wildfire and Brainiac 5 appear and see Shikari and Sensor as parademons and attack their teammates. The pair runs away and encounter M'Onel, whom Sensor is able to trip up. Unable to get to the hangars, they go to Brainy's lab which contains the last remaining active Threshold, which is open to attempt access to Steeple. Its a risky transit due to Steeple's black hole, but they have to risk it as Ultra Boy, M'Onel and Cosmic Boy blast open the wall. Shikari and Sensor jump in the portal just before they destroy the portal.

Commentary

Another really solid issue here between the twists and the art combo of Batista/Farmer/Wright. The story goes back an issue with Dreamer contacting the Legion about her Darkseid encounter in #19, but we all know that it's Universo, so we know there is something up, but the reveal of how worked very well and was subtly done. The coincidence of a boom tube showing up just as Gear researches it was hint 1, then when Sensor hears everything outside go quiet is hint 2. Then we get the big reveal with Shikari willing herself to hear the voice. So having that not-so-obvious breadcrumb trail was a good element. Universo linking to the screens in Legion World via Nura was pretty cool, and enabled his mass hypnosis to succeed. Its unclear yet if Titanet is able to broadcast his telepathy across all of the UP, but I'm sure we'll get there. The hypnotized Legionnaires were creepy as all hell, especially when M'Onel enters the scene given his power set, and it leaves a great setup for the next issue. I definitely wanted to read more after this issue was done. This storyline is showing a lot more consistency, in art and storytelling, so far than the initial DnA stories.

Other comments:

It was a great nod to Cosmic Boy's legacy that he is shown here being a history buff. Of course, he also spent weeks with the heroes of that time, so it would have been nice of the writers to mention something about that.

Good to see Triad unified, then splitting to get to work with Gear on researching Darkseid.

The portrayal of Jeka mourning her 'beautiful' old self was great - she was used to the beauty of her species, so it makes sense in its own way. Hey, Jeka, you may no longer be a pretty snake, but you don't need to use that waldo anymore!

Chuck holding Triad neutral was a nice touch. Still no relationship from before, but its all an illusion anyway, so what the heck?

Interesting that Sensor knows all about Universo. It would have been great to get more background on him at some point earlier, as the only reference we have to him is in the Titans special from a few years prior. I'm guessing that is what she's referring to here, but that was also mostly a dream sequence. So its a great use of the Titanet as a plot device, but the "surprise" of Universo and his origin does kind of come out of left field.

The only other thing that's kind of a ding is that Jeka's language and voice also has changed with her character. She's much more aggressive and casual in her speech, which is unlike a former princess, even having undergone such a change, IMO.

Overall Grade: A-.

One cool thing about this issue, it was the first that came out after the launch of this website! So it is the first for which we have old reviews preserved on here.