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

The continuity error I noticed was one internal to the story. One of the Gulz twins tells Ayla they will wait for her in their truck after she visits the monument to her brother. But at the monument, she encounters Mekt and walks away with him. There's no indication of her telling the Gulz twins not to wait for her. No wonder they wanted to kill her!

I enjoyed the characters, certainly. Its nice to get a dash of the parental characters every now and then. The Ranzz's appeared, what, about two or three times pre-DnA?

Wow, this is a really good take, Ibby. Using the "solo" as a label - its funny how the concept of labeling seems to be increasing over time!


LOL I know - I overthink and overfocus on totally irrelevant things. But hey, that's what fans are for, right???


Mekt as Bucky, ala Falcon and the Winter Soldier, sounds like an interesting concept! However, to me Lightning Lord always needs to be the opposite of his siblings. Looking back, I'm really surprised that neither SWMP nor DnA did any LSV stories.

LOL - I did notice that but failed to mention it. I remember thinking as she walked away with Mekt -"is she just gonna leave her friends hanging out there? That's kind of a jerk move!"

hahaha! oh I remember that... I always figured she went to tell the Gulz twins, but it would be hilarious if they waited there for a bit before realizing she wasn't coming back

at least, yeah! the Ranzzes, the Krinns, the Ardeens, Winema Wazzo, Azra Saugin, Jeven Ognats, and quite a few more parents. The Legionnaires had strong family lives pre-DNA.

and thanks GL, glad my comparison made sense

This issue reads like a suspense film, you're almost waiting for the horror elements to kick in. The troubled farmlands, the unbalanced clingy brother and the uncertainty of motives, the storms, Garth's tilted gravestone, all very ominous. Even when Mekt has been proven innocent of weather tampering, his psychological health is uncertain. He's obviously able to overcome or disable the lightning-inhibiting bracelets and doesn't stutter in the heat of action and when he's alone at Garth's gravestone.

The whole solo thing, how uncomfortable others are with it, adds to the discomfort of the story. There must be others who are without twins on Winath, whether by birth or loss through death, but it seems to be considered almost taboo.

Ayla's gone from high adventure to common tasks, fixing fences, washing dishes. It's as though her Legion experience is barely acknowledged or needed on the farm. As if to distance herself from the unpleasant task of finding her brother is causing the weather damage, she changes into her Legion uniform to track him.

Winath is an odd mix of future tech and present day (or earlier) farming practices with pressures, as HWW pointed out, much like today's pressures on agriculture. The robotic cows bugged me as well, but maybe they're some engineered contraption to consume grass and produce milk without the messiness of living creatures. Does that mean no hamburgers on Winath?

The Darwyn Cooke story, man I love Darwyn Cooke but agree this story seems a bit out of place. It's more Bonanza or Little House on the Prairies than Legionverse. It does add more understanding to the state of United Planets as well as the Ranzz family dynamics but is quite upbeat, especially with big-smiling Ayla arriving at the end - a totally different tone from the main story.

The discomfort from the reader's perspective is an interesting observation - the combination of the illustration style as well as Ayla alone with her thoughts certainly helps cast the mood. My challenge as a reader was that I was ready to get past that style of Legion Lost storytelling, and that's what it reminded me of, I think.

I had a similar notion in my head about why she changed into her uniform to track Mekt; she's comparmentalizing, as that's what she's been used to doing for so long.


Well, we know that Ayla's shown distaste in the past for the use of livestock as meat within the reboot context.


Funnily enough, the more we talk about this section, the more I find myself liking it, especially the end.

I likes me some upbeat Ayla, is all I guess.

good point FC about Ayla changing into her Legion outfit to track Mekt down!

and it does make me think, how other solos on Winath fare...

In keeping with the Winwood theme, DnA considered including such a character. His name would have been Barl E. Kornz, and he would have died in a shootout with the Gulz twins at the Fanta-Sea Factory. But McAvennie rejected the idea because it would require a lot of blind faith for fans to get the reference.


Thanks. It's always nice when Legion stories touch on topical news events and extrapolate from them like the best of science fiction.


I see your point. After thinking through the canopy of trees and the effects of the loss of stargates on the Winathian economy, it's a letdown that DnA resorted to such obvious and unexplained depictions of robotic livestock. Perhaps they included these as shorthand reminders that we are in the future--totally unnecessary, of course.


It's amazing how many ideas for future stories were set up in these first two issues alone. Yet a disappointing number of these ideas were never followed up on.

It was a Split Decision so McAvennie decided to Take it as it Comes.

To everyone else, I truly apologize.

Legion Worlds #3

Released June 27, 2001
DC Comics, Color
39 Pages

Story #1: You Are Here: Braal
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Paul Rivoche - Artist
Tom McCraw - Colors
Mike McAvennie - Editor

Synopsis

After the tidbit in LW1, where Zoe tells us that Dyrk has been stationed as a SP officer on Braal, we are dumped in media res with Dyrk 12 hours in on the job and dealing with crazy Magnoball fans. Nice bit of exposition on the fact that he's lost his native magnetism powers, but his SP and Legion training sees him through without the need for backup. We get a little conversation with Dyrk's partner that this is taking place within 12 hours of the events of LW1, so that's a nice little advancement of the timeline. The conversation reveals details about Dyrk's brother Omar, also a SP officer on Earth, as well as the introduction of the Footstep stardrive technology (originally mentioned in LW1). Rapid interstellar travel IS possible without stargates, but very rare and expensive.

As Dyrk and Kolkin travel back to HQ, they fly over a stadium just prior to a big game. The police captain gives the squad their marching orders, revealing the current problems on the street - ticket scalpers, drugs, and few UP's most wanteds, including two mystery vigilantes. The captain pulls Dyrk aside to discuss his posting, and the discussion reveals that Braal has a significant amount of xenophobia running through it. We're left with a mysterious panel of the captain silently staring after Dyrk as he leaves.

Dyrk and Kokin are staked out at the top of the stadium during a snowstorm, giving room for a "don't eat the yellow snow" joke. We find out that Pol Krinn is playing for the Meteors in the game below. Kolkin asks about what Rokk Krinn got up to after the Legion disbanded but is interrupted by action in the game and Dyrk finding Kroll, the drug pusher in the stands with others. The SPs follow the perp and watch the drig deal go down, when suddenly the two vigilantes, a man carrying a shield with a suspicious 'L' and a large female (its hard to tell if the other is a woman, we are just told that through dialogue). The man drops down from the ceiling and the woman apparently appears out of nowhere.

Dyrk & Kolkin make their move after the perps are taken out by the vigilantes. The last perp is mysteriously knocked out after the female vigilante points him out. Dyrk holds the vigilantes at gunpoint while Kolkin calls in for backup, while also muttering that Dyrk should have ignored the situation. The vigilantes tell Dyrk they are all on the same side when Dyrk's gun flies out of his hand. The two vigilantes split up, with the female apparently disappearing, while Dyrk chases after the man. The two tussle in a melee that Dyrk ends by blinding his opponent who turns out to be Cosmic Boy!

Back at base, Dyrk talks with his captain about the media frenzy that this is starting to generate and the question of old loyalties to the Legion. He's given orders to grill Rokk about his teleporting associate and Dyrk and Kolkin head to the other SP base where the Footstep ship is also docked. In their discussion, they talk about how bad things are and the dream of the Legion and Rokk's desire to make a difference. As Dyrk leaves, the prison is suddenly under assault by a spherical craft bouncing around and causing damage, including critical damage to the Footstep ship seen earlier that apparently threatens to explode on the dock. The ship is ejected into the atmosplhere, but during the confusion, Rokk apparently escaped.

Dyrk jumps into action with his flight ring and flies to the rising ship. On board he sees Cosmic Boy, Inivisible Kid, Violet and Chuck Taine, all in their Legion uniforms. Chuck had been piloting the spherical ship - the "Bouncing Boy". Rokk refers to the crew as "Subs" as in the Legion SUBterfuge team. It turns out the whole thing was a planned heist to steal the drive! Rokk allowed himself to be caught, Vi (the larger vigilante) shrunk to be on Rokk, and Lyle just stayed invisible. Rokk stays coy and doesn't tell Dyrk the reasons why they are stealing the ship, but promises to do so as Dyrk boards an escape pod back to Braal. The Subs fake the explosion of the ship and head to Earth to help their newly-returned friends.


Story #2 - On the Net
Dan Abnett - Writer
Rick Burchett - Art
Tom McCraw - Colors
Mike McAvennie - Editor

Synopsis

The secondary story continues the trend of adding backgroud flavor to the Legion universe. This tells two stories - one of how Titan has stepped up to handle the FTL communications for the UP by way of the TitanNet Relay as well as personal telepath adepts for more specific and direct communication, and another of Vice President Winema Wazzo dealing with various UP crises.

We meet Winema apparently distracted by her male telepath adept, who has been providing the exposition and explanation of TitanNet. In turn we get to see what's going on with the Athramites, who are facing economic crises due to no one buying their things, the Carggites facing a crisis of five thousand abductions, and the Coluans threatening to withdraw from the UP if the Robotican threat is not dealt with. Attempts to reach Xanthu and the AP worlds are unsuccessful.

In the midst of that, news comes of the Legion outpost's return and a stunned Winema communicates with a trio of men on Rimbor.

Commentary

By far, this is the best Legion Worlds issue to date and probably the best Legion issue since before LotD. Everything in this story was a home run, IMO. First, let me start with the art. Burchett's style was solid, very reminiscent of late Bronze Age or the mid 80s. Great inks, colors and - best of all - designs. His vision of Braal is an amazing mix of Star Wars and Blade Runner. Both the tech and the people were very well drawn and it was easy to follow the action, which was presented extremely well. My one single beef is that it was difficult to tell that Rokk's vigilante companion (Vi) was a woman - it was only through the dialogue that I understood that point. But we've talked a lot about DnA and world building - here it comes together so well with Burchett. Even the tiny aside of Dyrk tasting the metallic-tinged snow was a nice little moment.

The story works so well, starting as a police procedural and shifting into a heist with our favorite characters, and the story is set up with the police breifing very naturally. The reveal of the Subs made me SO HAPPY - I literally had not had an emotionally happy reaction reading a DnA Legion title up until that point. LW1 was a breath of fresh air compared to the gloom of Lost and LotD, but - even with a stormy alien environment, this issue was like sunshine. The pacing was perfect.

I think the best part of the story is when the subs are revealed, its never specifically said what was going on or who did what - Vi was the large vigilante and Lyle was whacking people left and right - the reader is assumed to be intelligent enough to come to these conclusions on their own. Also, small details of the universe are slowly revealed, like the Footstep drive.

The reveal of the Bouncing Boy was just awesome. The only downside to the story is that I knew we were only halfway through the LW series, so the mission to help their friends would have to wait.

Similarly, this issue's backup story is also very well done. Unlike the previous issues, the details of the universe are naturally revealed as part of Winema's conversations. It was fun to see the Athramites again, so kudos to Abnett for bringing them back. The details about Cargg were interesting - more details from the quick mention in LW2's backup story, although Abnett seems to have a penchant for always showing Carggites in their triplicated form to drive the funny hat point home. It also sets up future LW stories, namely Rimbor and Xanthu. Its curious to me that the Vyrgryan crisis is not mentioned at all, despite being referred to in the two prior issues.

Overall, this was a fantastic comic book and a fantastic Legion issue all around. In this issue, the entire creative team is firing on all cylinders on every page.

Yeah, I really liked this issue as well. The main story was a nice done-in-one that furthers the plot. I thought it was a treat (and expected) to see SOME Legionnaires still together and carrying on the good fight. Cos as founder/first leader made sense, as did Lyle and Vi (Espionage Squad members), and Chuck (a big Legion fan!). I was tickled pink that non-powered Chuck was in on this, and a bouncing ship called the Bouncing Boy was genius fun.

Also agree that the Winema story worked well, as the exposition was done in a natural way, as part of real-life scenes. Titanet was a great innovation as well, a telepathic gestalt capable of sending messages far and wide. Whoo!

Having Dyrk as our main character helped build the mystery up too, and showed us someone who had decided the Legion way was not working - but turned around in the end out of trust for his old friends. That was a nice bit, and I'm a little bit sad that Dyrk never appears again under DNA.

Had a nice mix of mystery, action and character moments. A solid, fun issue!

Totally - It's called LEGION Worlds, right? So it was nice to see more than one person in action and fighting the good fight! I think that is exactly why I love this issue so much as compared to everything since LSH 125.


Ugh, I didn't realize this. They could have used him instead of Rokk in that weird diner sequence later in the run. But I'm starting to get used to things put out on the shelf here that are never touched again based on everyone's comments.

yeah, as many of us here have observed, sadly a lot of things were dropped / not followed up on later. Too bad. Though as a fanfic writer myself, I do get that it takes time to follow all plot threads through... it took about 2 real-life years before Legion Worlds 5 was followed-up on, for example

So basically, Rokk never followed through on his promise.

"You are Here: Braal" is another example of DnA using a conventional story structure with a single protagonist to great effect. It begins as a police procedural with the rookie cop partnered with the grizzled veteran. The rookie learns of the political agenda behind his appointment, and then his loyalty to the system is tested when one if his friends and former teammates turns out to be a vigilante. Many cop movie tropes are found in this story, but they are offset by the world-building, which add depth and uniqueness to the story. Braal is a world of metallic snow where cops are issued plastic equipment and the sport of magno-ball is the chief export. The seedier elements of Braal seemed too reminiscent of Rimbor, but they are used mainly as a backrdrop.

Dyrk Magz was an interesting choice for a protagonist. As Magno, he was introduced as a replacement for the time-lost Cosmic Boy--so we knew his association with the Legion was likely temporary. Indeed, he lost his power, forfeiting any chance of rejoining the team. But instead of whining over his lost magno field or turning villain in order to regain it, Dyrk has moved on by joining the Science Police. The good-natured, law-respecting young rookie is a textbook example of an old-time movie hero. He even has a sci cop brother who serves as his role model.

DnA take these highly conventional patterns and infuse them with witty banter, well-choreographed action scenes, and claustrophobic crowd scenes (ably assisted throughout by the art team) to make the story pop and sizzle. It almost doesn't feel like a Legion story until Cosmic Boy enters the picture as one of the vigilantes.

I read Gas's review before I re-read the issue, so the emotional impact of the Big Reveals was muted for me--and I don't remember how I felt when I first read the issue back in 2001. The various twists and turns are clever, but I think some are overdone. Calling Cos's team "The Subs" and Chuck's ship "The Bouncing Boy" are unnecessary callbacks to the preboot. It's as if every reboot team had to throw in something from the original incarnation of the Legion and change it order to put their own stamp on it. Some of these changes worked better than others. For example, it made sense on paper that Gim should be the first Legion leader, not Rokk; it also made sense that "on paper" isn't always the best way to make a decision. The change in first leader was used to make a point about what truly makes a good leader. In this case, the "Subs" name seems like a throwaway idea, and, while "The Bouncing Boy" is useful in the story, the name and concept seem overly cute to me.

As well done as this story is, reading it now makes me more than a little uncomfortable with its premise. The conceit that the Legion knows best and only they can save the galaxy from slipping further into darkness is problematic--as is Dyrk's rather easy switch of sides. This conceit harkens back to the fundamental but understated philosophy that the teen Legionnaires are the greatest heroes in the galaxy and that adults, generally, cannot be trusted. (This philosophy became a major point of the threeboot.) Cosmic Boy even says, "The only people we can trust are ourselves." However, this philosophy seems heavy-handed, trite, and even dangerous now.

This issue is cover dated August 2001. One month later, 9/11 would happen, and we would see the all-too-real consequences of revolutionaries taking matters into their own hands. I cannot read this story without thinking of this context. Fortunately, the purpose of Rokk and company's mission is only to steal a ship--but they do steal it. There is little that separates their actions or reasoning from those of others who commit similar crimes.

As for Dyrk, I'd like to see him struggle a little more before betraying his ideals and the law he has sworn to uphold. But I guess belonging to the Legion, even in spirit, matters more to him than either.

The backup story is much more purposeful than either of the first two backups. However, there is way too much exposition. In my opinion, the story should begin with Eidoor addressing VP Wazzo in the middle of Page 2 and then filling us in on what little we need to know. Since Eidoor demonstrates his abilities as a Titanet adept, we don't really need the long expository build-up.

Of course, the most significant aspect of the backup is the revelation that Winema is sending three imposing toughs to bring "her" back. We can all guess who "her" refers to.

Although this was an enjoyable issue, it stops short of being a classic, in my opinion, because it doesn't ask the hard questions about why our heroes are doing what they are doing.

And there was friction with Dyrk and his Brother about the situation prior to the DnA involvement. And the brother WAS on Braal then apparently transferred to Earth. Dyrk was also given a stabilizing presence pre-Lost, which was kind of refreshing. Chuck and Dyrk are both non-powered at this point, so provide a grounding element to the super powered Legion members. This is highlighted in Widening Rifts.


HWW, I'd disagree - It's a Legion story because it's a Dyrk story. Then its elevated because of the other Legionairres.


So first - apologies for the spoilers. But partial agree here - Subs was fun - but honestly, I'd have loved to have seen an actual Legion of Substitute Heroes group as introed in Legionnaires (I'm a sucker for Lydda, what can I say?). But I really did enjoy the Bouncing Boy - honestly after over a year of death and depression, this issue was like we are getting an actual Legion back. I'll take the cute if it means less dystoopia (Yeah, I know, DnA, so just wait for the other shoe to drop... more Eeyoreverse....)


OMG this is an awesome take, which can be flipped in a number of different ways. From the straight up LE monovision to the "person on one side of the law working for the man" take. I think Dyrk is a person who came late to the Legion game, so is still a bit malleable, but also Cos and team have a slightly different view as to what's going on, given prior dealings with McCauley. I'd argue, as someone living REALLY close to the power structure in 2021 that the "powers that be" as of 2016 had a great chance of altering constitutional norms, so whomever owns the reins of control isn't necessarily "right". It's a good philosophical question. But I don't think there's a question these days as to where Cos and team are sitting.


I don't agree with this critique, as a core element of the Legion's mission is to never take life. The Legion does not commit murder or assist in it. WHich is a critique I don't see very often regarding Legion of the Damned. IMO its a HUGE problem for DnA's Legion, as many Legionnaires led innocents to "the stem" from which "no one returned". Was that ever redressed as a plot point?


I think the early exposition was to establish HOW FTL comms were able to be set up in the intervening year - which I wondered as well after Ayla's comments in LW2.


And I think this is for future reveal. As I mentioned in the review, I think its a classic, especially if read in sequence, because its a puddle of water in an oasis.

lots of good points, but I'll focus on this one for now


Dyrk's brother Omar was a big jerk in his Legionnaires 53 and 55 appearances, not even sparing a smidgen of sympathy for Dyrk's power loss. I did think Dyrk's very sober reaction to the chief's mention of his brother was a call-back to that. "Yeah, Omar, that jerk. But fine, he's a good sci-cop..."

re the point on taking life - the last time this was addressed was, I believe, in Widening Rifts where the general populace on Earth showed distrust of the Legionnaires for their actions while Blighted. Also led to the UP debate and vote on disbanding them. This was largely forgotten by Worlds due to the Legion closing the Rift and being hailed as heroes.

The next time the taking life thing comes up is the Robotica story.

I don't really think there's a basis for disagreement--it's just a feeling I had. Without Rokk and certain other elements, it could be the story of any young cop in a futuristic setting.


No worries. One thing this has taught me is that LW 3 seemed to be more plot-driven whereas the first two issues were more character-driven. I was invested in Mon's fight with Tharok and in Ayla's suspicions over her brother. LW 3 relies on surprises in the plot more than the characters' emotions, like most murder mysteries and detective stories do. Neither is necessarily a good or bad approach to writing fiction.


Well, it is the Legion's book, so of course they're on the right side. I guess my concern is that this assumption, when viewed from a larger context, is never questioned. People who fly planes into buildings think they're right. People who rob banks and use the money to support whatever cause they think the establishment has overlooked are still people who rob banks and put a lot of people in danger.

Of course the establishment is not always correct; in fact, it's frequently wrong, but that doesn't change the fact that Cos and company went to great lengths to steal a craft. Sure, they thought they were right (and would eventually be proven right), but this assumption goes unexamined in the story. Dyrk takes it at face value that the Legionnaires know what they are doing and can be trusted because (as Cos said) no one else can. In the real world, we've seen the dangers of this kind of thinking.


I haven't read "Legion of the Damned" since it was published, so I don't have the benefit of taking a larger view of DnA's work as you are doing. I do think you are conflating that story with this one.

Legionnaires do not take life, but in this story they do commit a crime. The ramifications are never dealt with (I don't think they are ever addressed in The Legion series.) To complicate matters, Cos lets his entire planet think he is a dead criminal (unless he got word to his family, but there is no indication that he does so). I can't help but draw parallels between Cos and the people who stormed the Capitol on January 6. They, too, thought they were "right." They committed numerous crimes in order to get the political outcome they wanted. Cos's shadowy explanation that "These are bad times. There are dangers you can't even see" rings as hollow as their rationale.



Sure, but the exposition can be done a lot quicker and in a more concise way. All we really need to know is that Titanet is a network of adepts who can broadcast long-range telepathic messages. That can be done in a sentence or two and maybe with one image after we've established the main characters (Winema and Eidoor). To me, this would have been a lot more effective than beginning the story with a lecture.

You raise some good points about Cos' deception, HWW. Though in the end, it paid off so to speak, we never do see the hurt feelings or possible legal implications. Unlike, for example, Cosmic Boy's actions in the Chu sting / Fatal Five story - Cos had kept most Legionnaires in the dark about his suspicions re Chu, and everyone except those involved thought Lyle and Cham and Andromeda had died.

Cos had also sent Live Wire on a secret mission, while publicly everyone thought they had a big falling out.

We at least see Leviathan angrily questioning cause about not sharing these with him (Leviathan was Deputy then). and Brainiac 5 steps in somberly to say Cos did what he had to do... but the panel implies Brainy wasn't particularly happy with that.

There's none of that in DNA's writing. Cos'/the SUBS actions (or Dyrk's, considering he did aid them in committing a theft!) were never addressed later on. A couple of panels would have been enough - something like them being pardoned because their actions helped expose Ra's. (Referring to the Chu sting, this DID happen - Marla Latham explained that RJ Brande, as new UP President, told the Science Police not to prosecute the Legion for kidnapping Chu (who was then a sitting President), among other actions that could be considered crimes.

Not much to add that hasn't been covered above by GL, HWW & IB.

This issue was my least favourite of the Worlds series; Braal looked so dismal and Dyrk Magz was a complete unknown to me at that time. Kept trying to figure out if they meant him to be some magnetic version of Dirk Morgna, given the name similarity, and that just didn't work. I liked that they mentioned Pol Krinn and the big game, but all the action was backstage. Some of the metal references seemed overdone, but you do get that in industrial towns and I also liked the scene with Dyrk tasting the metallic snow. More hints of xenophobia, distrust of the "not us", with Braal happy to have natives as SPs. Nothing like a robot invasion to unite sentients, but it's odd to be reading the beginning reboot with its hint that racism is going to be a problem, then to see the idea picked up again at this stage.

The Legion's theft of the footstep drive certainly is problematic and could have been explored at length, if DnA had wanted to take the series in that direction. It might be justified in a Legion on the run scenario, when Universo had mind-controlled everyone else and law-breaking/vigilante action was necessary. However, this Legion was disbanded; they're not criminals according to the state. It could be explained if they knew McCauley was a fake, RJ is planning a coup to restore freedom to the U.P. and Robotica is on the doorstep threatening everyone. At this point, we've only got the Robotican threat and it's not clear how widely known that is.

It's a good cop story, addressing mixed loyalties, although the Legion's stunt depended on an awful lot of things to happen in the right order to work.

The second story was fascinating but pretty high on the creepy scale for me with that gigantic tower of cubicled telepaths providing communications. Dehumanizing to me, but maybe it's your life's calling if you're a telepath. Good set up for developing events, though, and presented Wazzo as a powerful official. That earring looked like a dangling spider and suggests a sinister side, weaving her web of alliances in the political game. Plus those snooty Coluans, always a treat. They're arrogant but bear listening to.

Oh yeah nice point on the dangling spidery earring, I remember thinking of that before too!

Wow! Lots of really great discussion here! Let me see if I can roll this all up into one message!



re: LotD, I think I was conflating - or at least relaying that Legionnaires "going against code" is too often overdone. At least in my 1AM brain when I was writing!

But as Ibby mentioned, they aren't officially Legionnaires at the time of the story. But you raise an excellent point about the ends justifying the means. Its one of those things where its always a bad thing... until it isn't, especially if the rules are in place to subjugate one's freedoms.

But something to point out here is that Rokk's actions are not without consequence. He's now labeled as a wanted criminal and a vigilante. His family has a PR nightmare that they have to deal with. This is actually something I hope gets addressed later on, because as you said, the ends should not justify the means, so how that gets resolved should prove to be very interesting given Rokk's celebrity status.



I'd say that's a valid point. It could have definitely cut down one of the pages told. This is one of the moments where I'd love to see the original script of the issue handed to the illustrators. If it was specifically framed out this way by Abnett via layout or description, or if the artist just did his own thing. As an aside, I really wish they had some library of all these Legion scripts at DC that was accessible to the public.


Wait, what? So my comment about Rokk being labeled a criminal on Braal is never addressed in the next two years? You gotta be kidding me...


You've touched on one of the things about Dyrk's character that has always been problematic to me. His name is way too close to Morgna's, whom the writers had already introduced. And he's Braalian, so why they didn't just introduce Pol as a Legionnaire at that time, I'll never understand.

And regarding the prejudice, its a little discouraging that this is one of those darker societal aspects that we can't rid of in 1000 years, but it definitely adds conflict!


Telepaths fascinate me, as the natural blending of thoughts makes for interesting situations, so the more personal adepts need to be people who are extremely controlled in their compartmentalization of experiences AND very trustworthy, as you have the UP VP basically opening her mind to this stranger.

The initial comment too, of Winema losing herself in thought was kind of weird - I read it as she was ogling the telepath.

I do like how DnA seem to be angling at making Winema more of a calculating antagonist versus a mother screaming at people all the time.

I felt much the same way about Dyrk; although I knew who he was, he seemed to be such a minor character on whom to base a Legion Worlds story. I do think he was a good choice for that reason--he had an insiders/outsiders take on the Legion. But I also think his switch of sides at the end is too abrupt and unexplained.

I had forgotten that Dyrk's brother Omar had appeared before. For all I knew, LW 3 was the first mention of Omar. It's interesting to speculate on their relationship. Omar's a jerk but still a role model. Siblings are so complicated.



Good catch. To me, the earing looked like a twinkling star, but the spider motif makes much more sense.


Now that would have been a plotline worth pursuing.

Legion Worlds #4

Released July 25, 2001
DC Comics, Color
39 Pages

Story #1 - You Are Here:Xanthu
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Duncan Rouleau - Artist
Tom McCraw - Colors
Mike McAvennie - Editor

Synopsis

In the same spirit of Legion of the Damned Part 2, we are treated to a three page summary of the fall of Xanthu at the hands of Robotica, including the brief history lesson of Xanthu formerly being a UP world, then signing up with the Affiliated Planets, controlled by Khundia. As in the Blight invasion of Earth, the Robotican invasion of Xanthu takes no time at all, using high technology and bio-weapons to subdue the planet to the point of hand to hand combat being the last defense.

This brings us to XS, recently arrived on Xanthu after Star Boy/Thom Kallor had been there a while as part of the Amazers. In interesting gear. Just in time to help with the fight. She comes into play with her typical rushed style, which is welcome to see after so long. She tells us the intel she's just delivered came from Dreamer, then she's off. It turns out she's been turned into a super-fast courier, a living voice mailbox, which is a pretty good use of her power.

Her journey is interrupted by forces escorting refugees suddenly encountering a Robotican patrol. The narration states that she is dedicated to preserving the lives of the refugees. All havoc breaks loose. We see acid guns and Jenni being knocked over by a pulse weapon and she is saved by Star Boy himself. The focus shifts to Thom as he adjusts gravity on the drones to turn them into weapons and flattens the advancing robots. Meanwhile, Jenni sends word of an inbound escape route by way of Insect Queen digging tunnels in the form of a giant bug. The effort takes its toll on her, and she collapses unable to close it behind the Xanthian forces. That leaves Thom to collapse the tunnel. (to cool effect)

Back at Xanth Prime, the heroes return and attend to the casualties, including Insect Queen, all while under constant energy bombardment. We meet Q'Bahl, telling us that they've saved roughly 8 million refugees, which seems horrific with a planet in the billions, but they are at the point that they must evacuate the refugees due to food concerns. Thom and Atmos listen to the evac plan. The invaders have their own force screen around Xanth Prime's which will crush the city when unprotected.

We are now introduced to Dreamer, aka Nura. We learn that she's been able to pinpoint the enemy shield source because her precognitive powers have been amplified, and that she's the main reason so many have survived. Arguing with a Khundian major, Krex, Jenni reiterates her philosophy to not kill. Nura forsees Krex's death. We get a nice moment with Nura and Thom before shifting to the next mission.

The Robotican army advances. Jenni moves to scout ahead, but her super speed creates a wake that the enemy can detect. All hell breaks loose (again), and Thom, Atmos and Insect Queen join the fray. Atmos has turned into a berzerker from rage, and Insect Queen is almost killing herself with fatigue. XS and Star Boy enter the generator quipping the whole time, joined by Atmos. Jenni finds the control room but is attacked by the AI, who is in turn attacked by the Khund strike force. Jork has the opportunity to eliminate the AI, but Jenni stops him, saying a captured AI may provide more intel. Cue a "I want my honor" speech from the Khunds. Thom increases the mass of the generator so that it drops down into the planet to be crushed.

Back at the city, we are told that the mission was a failure due to the enemy regrouping, eliminating the launch opportunity, but the captured AI may enable the Xanthians to fake a signal out and get the launch window back. Major Krex again asks if saving any AIs is really worth it due to the sheer destruction without any communications to the Xanthains that the Roboticans have wrought. Then, in a ping pong, we're told by Atmos that there are too many forces in orbit. Thom proposes to stay as part of a rearguard action to enable the evac to happen. Nura and the Khunds agree that Thom should go.

The evac begins, and Thom realizes they won't make it all out in time. Thom and Jenni stay behind to help Jork as Nura is whisked away, even as Jork meets his predicted fate. The evac proceeds and all eight million leave Xanthu. (close to light speeds... six weeks to the Khundian border) Nura looks back at the planet in tears, as we're left with a cliffhanger where Jenni and Thom are surrounded by Robotican Forces

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Story #2 - War Maked us Weapons
Dan Abnett - Writer
Rick Leonardi - Penciller
Al Williamson - Inker
Tom McCraw - Colors
Mike McAvennie - Editor

Our backup story this issue is the real Nura origin of the Reboot Legion. We are shown the Khund Hunago ritual which trains warriors to stay awake. When the Khunds on Xanthu discovered what Nura could do, they trained her to essentially stay awake. We are given a quick summary of Nura from the pre-DnA era where she was essentially Thom's ditzy girlfriend.

Now, she's undergone serious combat training in addition to the wakefulness. She never sleeps, even when she's - ahem - sleeping with Thom. She sees her visions in real time and, apparently, aren't wrong. In addition to Nura, Thom has also been powered up, having refined his skill set for the war effort, and Thom's concern for Nura's bad dreams in Widening Rifts has led them to this moment. Apparently she had a dream about the rift, and Thom blames himself for not being with the Legion. She also predicted the Robotican invasion.

The final bit of the story shows her vision of the end of Xanthu, Naltor, The Infinite Man Progenitor, Shikari, and most ominously, a memorial to Star Boy.

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Commentary

This issue was a bit of a mixed bag for me, but overall very enjoyable, much more so than when I first read it many years ago (even when I did a quick scan of it a few months ago). The primary story's art was again, serviceable, but as in LW1, I found that the art worked better for the environment and technology versus the people. I was very distracted by Jenni's design, for example, but I thought the art worked very well for the Robotican forces as well as the level of destruction and the Xanthuan environment. It is interesting that most of the LW primary stories so far have been one illustrator doing the pencils and the inks. I have found so far from this series that I seem to enjoy stories with separate inkers better than the single illustrator method.

As to the story, I wasn't in love with how this opened. We get yet another variation of the intro of Legion of the Damned where the main planet falls within hours, so DnA going back to the Warhammer well to bust up a planet again. I wasn't a fan of LotD, and this was not a good way to begin the tale for me. The beginning was also a bit confusing as the narration seems to show the pictures of how the invasion happened, but it seems to end up being a slow zoom in on XS herself.

At this point, the story picks up. Jenni's rushing around acting as a voice mail courier, which is a pretty cool idea, given the scenario. That being said, games of telephone always end in problems, so its not perfect. The narration following Jenni is good, as we hear what they are doing and how, using forces like Insect Queen to evacuate refugees, and leveraging Star Boy to crush the robot forces. I noted that Jenni says "mate" to a soldier, so it made me wonder if she had a British or Australian accent.

The banter between Thom and Jenni during this whole story was casual and fun, giving the story a much needed lighter side.

During the evacuation briefing scene, I kept flashing to the Empire Strikes Back evacuation from Hoth. Nura's intro was cool, and its immediately clear that she's not the same Nura that we're used to seeing pre-DnA (which is a good thing). The briefing scenes are probably necessary, but I find that they drag the pace of this particular story.

The next scene where the strike force goes after the shield generator, had a neat Terminator future style to it. Jenni's speed also being her weakness - her wake giving away her position - was well done. And the one-pager sequence of Thom crushing the generator was a neat sequence. I also liked the idea of capturing the AI and mining it for information. I'm not really sure about what Atmos' purpose is.

The final sequence is also done well, with Jenni and Thom in a big cliffhanger situation. I was a bit frustrated with the exposition of "close to light speeds" leading to a six week travel time to the border. Seems to me that the Xanthuan refugees would be sitting ducks to the Robotican forces at that point. I'd have flipped the ending so that the last panel was that of Thom and Jenni, but that's just me.

One other note about this story is that I found that I very much enjoyed the deeper dimensions to the Khunds. They are very much presented as warriors, ala Klingons, but they are given more personality and depth than I've seen elsewhere.

I found the second story, about Nura and how she amped up her powers, to be MUCH more compelling and interesting versus the main story, which had some plodding parts to it. Nura's story is very well told, very well drawn and is a page turner. I love how DnA turned Nura into something of a badass. There were some oddities here - surely she knows Jan Arrah, so seeing him as the progenitor is an odd place to have a narrative not about people she doesn't know, but overall it was a tight story and well drawn. I enjoyed the art in the backup more than the main story.

Interestingly, this is the first LW story where the return of the Lost Legionnaires is not mentioned.

Overall, the main story is good, but I found a bit of a mixed bag from a pacing perspective. I much more enjoyed the secondary story more, which is the first time that has happened as part of this series.