Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #35 (Spoilers)

Cover: Calero's cover is his best yet. It is one of my favorites of this series, and as we've come to expect from this series over the past three years, it has little to do with the content of the issue.

Lots of dangling threads from #34 tied up.

Shady, Brin, and Vi are on Lallor where we left of as of #34 -- fighting ERG-1 while Randall looks on. Randall is constantly urging ERG-1 to use lethal force against the Legionnaires. Brin's fireproof or at least not subject to roasting by ERG-1's emissions, however he falls to a kick in the gut by ERG.


Shady picks up the attack on ERG while Vi accuses Brainy of being in control of ERG-1, since Brainy knew how the battle with Brin and ERG would turn out. Brainy denies it and says that he will reveal the source of his information in time.

Vi makes it to the Lalloran president's office and greets ERG-1 there when he overpowers Shady and the Lalloran Secret Service and makes his entrance.

Vi engages ERG-1 in a little warrior flirtation. ERG-1 unplugs his com link to Randall. ERG-1 explains how he has to kill the president or his brother will not restore him to the containment tank. Apparently he can only be out of the tank for an hour at a time. Vi convinces ERG-1 that killing the president is unnecessary and that Brainy can help out with his ... you know... premature dissipation issues.

ERG-1 calls Randall via archaic land-line; Vi Ray Palmers herself along for the ride. In an action scene that's a little confusing to me, I think she zaps Randall with her gun-thingy when he's reaching for a firearm. (Calero clarifies below that I'm wrong.)

Vi says of traveling through the fiberoptic line, "My twenty-first century namesake pulled that trick all the time. It's in the histories." Seemed to me a little out of line with other references in the series to the loss of knowledge of earth's past.

Brainy arranges for ERG-1 to not be arrested and says "we'll make a Legionnaire of him yet."

Report from Lightning Lad (Gobi Rainforest): Supergirl is gone. In a flashback to 37 minutes earlier we hear Kara tell Irma that she's been taking Brainy's advice on organizing missions.

In a high-tech Mayan-temple-like structure in the Gobi, a being is levitating in a dark room filled with gadgetry designed in the Star Wars / Electrolux style. He identifies himself as "what all human beings may one day become a billion years hence, if the genetic potential of homo sapiens is utterly fulfilled." (Definitely an addition to the "greatest pick-up lines I learned from LSH comics.")

He's telekinetic, telepathic, he morphs into a caveman-like person. he takes down Kara and Garth. Irma signals Brainy to send in reinforcements. The last scene shows the Star Wars / Electrolux device with Black Adam and Martian Manhunter scuffling and the caption "Chrono-capacitors fully charged. Temporal window activated. Initiate 21st century incursion."

Next month's issue -- The Quest for Cosmic Boy: E.R.G.onomics part 2 of 2. (Man I love reading stories that have an end.

Fans of the Bedard/Calero run will enjoy this installment. Detractors will not. I remain on the list of people who feel there are not enough issues from this creative team.

I totally called the Ray Palmer move ahead of time. I never thought Imskians could get small enough to do that, though.

if they can vacation on a hydrogen atom . . .

I liked that Wildfire has been left an option for future writers. The story was not that bad at all really. The art is still not my taste but better than the last few issues.

I hate the cover. I can not stand pinup covers that don't even reflect what is going on in the book. Lightning Lad was the only one to even appear in this issue. I wish they would have redone this one like they did last month. At least have the main characters from the story on the cover. Like LB said the covers fro alot of this run have been guilty of not being about the book itself, but these last few issues have been worse than before.

I also liked the way the story ended with Wildfire as a possible member (and yet he's not in the early promo art? bodes not well) Good to know he really was being manipulated by Randall rather than being an actual killer. (same for Atom Girl - I guess the question of her "bodycount" has been put to rest)

I really wish the colorist had gotten the red in his torso right.

Wildfire in two books in one week! I'm still reeling...

the art seemed cleaner this issue. good story.

Randall: what a scum bucket. reminds me of that saying:"Fear your enemy once. Fear your brother a thousand times."


landlines: hey, hey. sometimes low tech is the best tech.

Brin: exotic radiation. gee Brainy. could your pseudo-science be any more vague.

LSH no kill policy: well, for those who have been anxious about it, there were plenty of allusions to the fact that they have a reputation for not killing.


time travel guy: well, I guess Brainy won't be the one to invent time travel. by the way, Geico called, they want their caveman back.
and at long last it looks like supergirl will go back home and this book can be properly titled LSH. Great Rao! it's about time.

Salu was amazing in this issue!

Who says that Brainy isn't involved in this anyway... I mean, wouldn't he want Supergirl out of the way in the first place... i.e. send her back to the past. It seems all too convinient that "Evolvo-Lad" would just happen to have a time-travelling device keyed exactly to the 21st century. IMO pretty much all of the missions have somehow served Brainy's agenda to some degree. (1) he got rid of Mekt, (2) he did some PR work, and got a new member, (3) sends Super-Girl back home. None of this really has anything to do with Cosmic Boy - at least that we can tell so far.

Dennis Calero has used the term "cleansing the palate" a couple of times in reference to his Legion work with Tony Bedard. Jim Shooter has said that his approach will be one of "organic change" with the current version of the team. This issue incorporates both concepts. I posted on another thread that I thought Bedard had made Supergirl nicer in her own magazine, and pointed the book in the right direction. He seems to be doing the same thing with the Legion. These aren't the "Eat it, Grandpa" kids. Brainiac 5 appears to have noble intentions. Still a mystery, and he isn't taking a very honset approach, but I'm getting a feeling that he's going to come across as heroic by the end. That is not a description I would ever have used for him during the WaK run. This issue makes it clear that Drake is not a killer, Atom Girl is not into killing, and Brainiac 5 is offended at the thought that he would be considered a murderer. It's shame that things have gotten so muddied that Bedard practically had to hit us over the head with idea that these are the good guys, but that's what he did. It was a good move and will help Shooter start his run with fans feeling that the Legion are heroes, not anti-heroes. At the same time, the Legionnaire's personalities are very much in line with what Waid established. No sudden jerks. Pretty smooth going.

Evolo-Lad? That caught me off guard. Fun.

Thanks to the powers that be for allowing the solicited cover to actually make it onto the book this month. Dennis continues to challange us with his fascinating, realistic, non iconic people. I see his work as a simultaneous "tribute to" and "antidote to" the work of Alex Ross. I'm not sure how much sense that makes. Can anyone think of another way to put it?

Only one more issue for Bedard and Calero. I'm really looking forward to S & M, but I'm going to miss these guys.

Ladies and germs, as always, I will try to restrict my commentary to where I feel I can shed direct light. Thanks to everyone who buys the book, love it or hate it.

" hate the cover. I can not stand pinup covers that don't even reflect what is going on in the book. Lightning Lad was the only one to even appear in this issue. I wish they would have redone this one like they did last month. "

I agree with your comment about pinup covers, but this is the way it is right now and most fans like it. I know, I know, but its true! And I'm aguy who grew up reading comics with covers that actually had a scene from the interior story!!!

The cover replacement last issue had nothing to with the characters. In fact, the original cover had MORE charaters than the replacement.


" I see his work as a simultaneous "tribute to" and "antidote to" the work of Alex Ross. I'm not sure how much sense that makes. Can anyone think of another way to put it?
"

Well I think you nailed my intentions on the head. I love Alex Ross's realism, but I like to depict characters that are human than super.

"the art seemed cleaner this issue. good story.
"

Oh, and there were some resolutions to some printing issues that may have given the impression that this issue was murkier or darker than the previous issues. Interested parties can go over to the Pulse comics site...

http://www.comicon.com/pulse/

and see my interview there with some black and white legion art.

Why did Vi shrink to kick Randall in the head? Seems like it would've been more effective to just kick him at normal size.

This is some good comic book candy for Halloween.

Tony gave an exciting story. I wish the Brin/Drake throw down got more time, but I liked seeing Atom Girl use her brainis and her brawn too.

Dennis, your art realy worked here. It has the rough sci-fi feel you mentioned with last issue.

I can't wait to see next issue. I double checked this issue's number to see how many more BnC books we have left. I wasn't happy with the number.

I guess her fighting style relies heavily on her opponents not being able to cope with someone her size. Plus, we could fanwank something about the conservation of momentum or conservation of kinetic energy, because I don't think either of those laws take size-changing powers into account.

Although Brin and Shady got short shrift this issue, I came away with a new appreciation of Atom Girl. She's adorable as drawn by Dennis (I was surprised by the blue eyes, though. Isn't she supposed to have Asiatic features?). Wildfire does the right and proves he's the same Drake we know and love. Heck, even Brainy likes him!

I'm hoping Saturn Girl takes on Evolvo Lad alone next month because Imra needs the chance to prove her mettle and start filling the role of the Legion's alpha female now that Supergirl is almost history. And I want Brainy to get his hands on Evolvo Lad's machine at the end so this Legion can go time tripping.

I'm happy to chime in with more accolades for the "cleanup" crew of Bedard and Calero. It's been great fun. Love the cover, too.

My impression of AG's powers, and correct me if Im wrong, is that while her size changes, her MASS remains the same, so hat if she were to shrink down to say th size of a doll, and jmp on you, it'd be like getting hit with a 90lb hammer, much more effective than a punch.

Well, it's tricky, because she's also got a flight ring, which sort of fudges things a bit. But I'd say that that doesn't work very well. Could an Imskian sit on a normal-sized person's shoulder? Didn't Brainy have Imskians climbing all over Lemnos doing neurosurgery on him and stuff? If they were normal human mass, they would have crushed him.

The original Atom explicitly had control of his mass as well as control of his size, so he could do the kinds of tricks you're describing. And I think Doll Man had normal human mass, but I'm not sure about that. But an Imskian like Atom Girl... I have to think that their mass gets reduced along with their size when they shrink. Anyone?

(But if this happens when they're plunging toward someone's head in midair... maybe that means that as their mass decreases, their speed increases, to keep the kinetic energy the same, and it's still bad news for whoever's head it is.)

My feeling is she shrunk down to more easily avoid being shot!

Some oddities in this issue, I thougt -

Odd that while a Legion team is on Lallor, Evolvo Lad makes his threeboot debut back on Earth.

Odd that Timber Wolf's major transformation is just sort of left out there and not really dealt with. I guess we'll explore its ramifications next issue.

Odd that Timber Wolf v.2 now apparently comes with some level of invulnerability to energy-based attacks.

Odd that a technology so "archaic" and seemingly rare as a land-line would just happen to be wired into the room where Randall Burroughs is standing.

Archaic technology being present isn't all that unusual. I've been in a bunch of old houses that still had gaslight fixtures built into the walls. I'm sure they haven't worked for close to a hundred years.

I would assume that Atom Girl's mass stays the same regardless of her size. Otherwise the excess mass would be converted to energy or need to be shed into the atmosphere in some sort of chemical reaction (or sucked into some sort of pocket dimension). The simplest solution for how Imskians can sit on people when small is some sort of personal antigravity technology, not a big leap in a world of flight rings and hover cars.

"Odd that a technology so "archaic" and seemingly rare as a land-line would just happen to be wired into the room where Randall Burroughs is standing. "

I think youre wrong on this one. The idea is that this is the President's "panic room", so as the space shuttle has some old fashioned on and off switches that are meant to be last ditch failsafes, the phone is too.

I think what he means is that it's odd, not that the President has such a phone, but that Randall does too.

Oh I stand corrected!

I can live with pin-up covers in certain circumstances. I have enjoyed the relaunched Justice Society book and think that the Alex Ross covers sort of make sense during the "getting acquainted" phase of the title.

For a five-issue SLSH fill-in arc, I think the pin-up style cover is a reasonable choice, too. It'd be even better if it were being used to showcase the actual characters in the issue, but there's been more than enough griping about that for the past three years.

Maybe Randall is the vice-president, so he has a land-line in his bunker. Naaahhh, a vice-president could never be an evil-doer carrying out his plots from a secluded bunker. What am I thinking?

Oh, I almost forgot my gushing fanboy remark to Mr. Calero (I'll be looking for that $50 check soon, Dennis.) I really like Dennis' art in this title. IMHO, JSA, JLA, and S/LSH all have title-appropriate artists in place right now.

Last ditch fail safe, which is how I read the scene as well, implies to me that the President has a land line to the places he might need to reach in an emergency - the senate, the military, high-ranking officials, his mistress, etc.

Having a line connected to Randall's room implines tha the entire planet is still hooked up to a network of lines and central office hubs. I question Randall being important enough to have a land line. Or, if the system is widespread enough for him to warrant one, then Lallor's environment must be pretty darn unstable, making me question how the Legion was able to transmatter there.