Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archive 36

Cosmic Boy continues to be calm and even-tempered, a big departure from his recent tantrums. He definitely shows his compassion here - being appalled at Mano's poor cell conditions, and also reminding the Legionnaires (especially Leviathan!) to stress communication with the Fatal Five over confrontation.

It was also good seeing some scenes of what is happening on Earth, what with the Sun-Eater panic. That way, this issue does not feel so much like filler, but more like "what is everyone else doing?" Interestingly, none of the support staff register even a bit of worry about the Sun-Eater itself, though they are probably just confident in the Legion.

Some of the saboteurs run away, but others were killed, except for one that Lori rescues. We eventually get back to these folks, but not for quite some time.

This was good to see. Cos acting like a jerk was disappointing, even if understandable. Maybe the writers felt they were pushing him too far - there was a letter from a big Rokk fan complaining about his poor behaviour.

Lori started out as "10-year old girl annoying" to me, but she did have some good scenes and I was wondering what would make a kid so oblivious to danger. Loves adventure or living in a fantasy world, or maybe she just saw enough with her father that she can handle this.

and I agree that this Empress is just a total psycho, with none of the elegance of dear old Sarya!

This Empress is indeed a complete psycho, none of the sexiness, allure or physical beauty of Sarya. Mano is probably the most decent sentient of the group - he just wanted to avenge his people! This FF is a whole lot less cooperative than the original.

Legion of Super-Heroes 79
The Fatal Five!

Issue Information

Summary:

On Takron-Galtos, the Fatal Five ambush the Legionnaires (Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Triad, Chameleon, Invisible Kid, Leviathan, Spark, Shrinking Violet, Gates, Star Boy). The Warden jettisons the deck they are on away from the rest of the prison planet. Violet enlists Brainiac 5's help. Gates, Star Boy, Leviathan, Validus and Mano are separated. Gates and Star Boy manage to defeat Validus and Mano, and get rid of the malfunctioning engine. Upstairs, Tharok, Empress and Persuader defeat the rest of the Legion. Gates is the only one left standing. The issue ends with a big explosion on the ceiling.

Thoughts:

I like the cover blurb better than the actual title. "Fatal fight!" is a nice play on words. The actual title is the generic "The Fatal Five!" As if We've already forgotten who they are.

I like the Warden a lot. She seems to be a reasonable authority figure, and is tough and decisive. She is also snarky; I loved her internal monologue when she realized Tharok had gotten into the security systems. "Then you can write your resignation letter to those liars on the Corrections Board. Yes, Ms. Wafil, Takron-Galtos is the most secure prison ever! No Ms. Wafil, an insect couldn't breach it." You go, girl.

Artwise, we have now seen the same scene (the initial squaring off between the LSH and the Five) done by both Lee Moder this issue and Jeff Moy in Legionnaires 35. I prefer Moy's art, not just because I like his style better (and his Legionnaires are cuter!), but because of the way he positions the characters. Moy had the Legion clustered together in the middle, surrounded by the Five. Moder has the Legionnaires just sort of randomly spread out; most of the Five are together but for some reason Mano is across the floor.

I was not a fan of how the plot flowed this issue - it felt a bit hard to follow. On the plus side, it did make for an interesting 22-page (or so) skirmish. What I really liked was the dialogue. Lots of "punny" moments and snark from the Fatal Five. And the dovetailing of Warden Wafil's "insect could not breach it" comment, to a shrunken Vi walking into Brainy's cell, was lovely.

As to the battle itself - it left me with a bad taste. It seemed more like the Legionnaires were being played for fools, than a highlight of how dangerous the Five actually were. I don't know. I liked the Gates/Star Boy vs. Validus thing, but...

The Legionnaires -

Okay, in general, this seemed like amateur hour. They've done so much better in battle before (like against the White Triangle Daxamites, and they were arguably more out-powered then!) They did use a lot of good tactics, but I felt they were too overconfident and too careless.

The only ones who really shone in battle were Gates and his quick thinking against Validus, and a semi-conscious Star Boy who was clearly not smart enough to figure things out on his own. Everyone else?

1) Leviathan is so not a leader. I was expecting him to take charge and be the brains, but all he did was insult Gates. As Gates said, what a nasshead. Gim has apparently been such a jerk to Gates, that Gates leaves Lyle and Lu alone against three Fatal Five members just so he can see Leviathan admitting he needs help. That says a lot about Gim and a lot about Gates. Though, Gates redeems himself versus Validus; what does Gim do? Continue to complain while Gates does all the thinking. Bah.

2) Thom was lucky his powers emerged, else he would have been a stain on the floor courtesy of Mano. Also (and this will become a defining characteristic for him in the Reboot), his "jokes" suck. "You know what your problem is, Validus? You're stupid... you're mean... and you don't weigh enough!" A galaxy away, Shikari has just barfed into her sleeping pod.

3) A triplicated Triad and Violet together couldn't take out the Persuader? And they left themselves open to the Empress, who could have slaughtered them any time. That was their downfall.

4) We didn't even see Lyle go down. I guess Persuader hitting Brainy on the head... I don't know, knocked Brainy backwards into Lyle?

5) Cos and Spark getting taken out by Tharok was not so bad - it was a sneak attack, and they almost had him. They did freeze for a couple of panels though... I was also expecting more able field leadership from Cos. Especially after Validus, Mano, Thom and Gim sank down one level - that left 3 of the Fatal Five against 4 conscious Legionnaires (him, Ayla, Lyle, Lu). Did both Cos and Ayla really need to gang up on Tharok together to save Lyle? If he had sent Ayla after Empress, for example, maybe they would have won.

6) Brainy. For such a smart guy, he proves yet again that he is not sensible or practical at all. "Oh, please, the Axe can't pierce my forcefield!" No, but it can still knock you unconscious,you ass. And I am reminded again why I didn't like Brainy until the late Reboot, and especially under DNA.

7) Despite my praise for Gates, he does lose points for standing there while the Empress pretends to be "politically conscious". And... she actually asked him that in LSH 78, so why was he so surprised now? He doesn't have short-term memory loss, does he?

Empress and Persuader were rather impressive this issue. Empress knows a lot about physiology, taking Cham down just like that. And she's definitely a skilled fighter, grabbing Vi out of the air. Persuader is clearly not just strong, but skilled; he was able to aim his Axe properly to KO Brainy and cut Ayla's lightning. But I do think the Legionnaires were freaky careless too. The fight was just too unbalanced.

Ah well. Overall it was still decent, and had its moments. The Legionnaires were way, way lucky, though. Extremely.

Legionnaires 36
To the Rescue!

Issue Information

Summary:

Live Wire leads the Legion Rescue Squad (Valor, Andromeda, Ultra Boy, Jan Arrah and XS) to save the Legionnaires! Kinetix also teleports in during the battle. The Fatal Five escape to Drak IV and uncover an arms cache. Putting all their knowledge together, the Legionnaires realize that Tharok is working with someone in UP HQ on Earth; that the arms cache on Drak IV contains Braalian arms, and that the Five intend to use this to restart the Braal-Titan war. Titan has already heard news of a Braalian army build-up on the Braalian frontier, which Drak IV is part of, and is preparing for war despite the efforts of Imra's old teacher Micah Aven. The Legion splits into three - one team to stop the Five, one team to stop the Titanian Army from attacking Braal; and one team to stop Wazzo. The issue ends with Wazzo escaping, seemingly killing Invisible Kid and Chameleon (oh no!), and shooting President Chu and Brainiac 5.


Thoughts:

Artwise, I appreciate more and more Jeff Moy's talent for conveying so much information in a small amount of space. We pick up so many tidbits just in a few panels of the Legionnaires milling around and talking.

As HWW said in his review of L* 35, the writers are giving us intelligent stories. They are crafting a mystery, and the Legionnaires unravel it in a natural, intelligent way that does not spoonfeed us. Best of all, the revelations (oh, so that's why there are Braalian arms on Drak IV... they must be using this to reignite the war!) are delivered with convincing dialogue. And although the flashbacks of Live Wire forming the Legion Rescue Squad were delivered in battle, it felt organic - a telepathic peek by Saturn Girl while she is recovering behind a shield.

The action in this issue wasn't much, but it moved the plot along really well. And everyone got a couple of lines in at least - enough to highlight their personalities.

I certainly liked this much better than the long battle in LSH 79.

Legion of Super-Heroes 80
Trust
Issue information

Summary:

As Live Wire, Spark, Star Boy and Ultra Boy distract the Titan fleet, Saturn Girl and Gates board the lead ship. Saturn Girl's teacher Dr. Micah Aven helps telepathically shut down the commander to stop the fleet from attacking Braal. Ultra Boy experiences a surge of pain, but brushes it off.

Leviathan, XS, Kinetix, Andromeda, Jan Arrah and Valor stop the Fatal Five from launching Braalian weapons at Titan. Mano turns on Tharok, as Mano is not willing to mass-murder innocents. Andromeda tries to save an injured Tharok's life.

RJ Brande joins Cosmic Boy in the Legion Monitor Room. They watch as Winema Wazzo tries threatening Brainiac 5 and President Chu into using Brainy's time machine to save Apparition. For some reason, Winema is broadcasting her actions to the entire galaxy. To pressure Brainy, Winema cites her accomplishments: sending the Fatal Five to ambush the Legion; brainwashing Jan Arrah; setting up the Sun-Eater hoax; and inciting the first Braal-Titan War so the United Planets could gain prestige by ending it. Brainy tackles Winema and gets shot by accident. Chu destroys the cameras and questions Winema as to how she knew of all these plans, considering they were Chu's. Winema reveals herself to be Chameleon; Cosmic Boy arrives and reveals that there was a second hidden camera broadcasting Chu's actions to the galaxy. Invisible Kid, Brainiac 5, Shrinking Violet and Triad are all alive as well. Cham reveals himself to be fluent in Interlac, and was pretending to have trouble speaking it to make his impersonations more effective.

Cosmic Boy explains to the Legionnaires that Aven had shared his suspicions of Chu before. Cos believed him, and only pretended to follow Chu's orders so she would trust him; Live Wire, Invisible Kid and the Espionage Squad (Chameleon, Triad, VIolet and the deceased Apparition) were helping him behind the scenes. He apologizes for fooling everyone, as he could not risk Chu catching on.

Chu is imprisoned and the real Winema Wazzo cleared of all charges. RJ Brande is elected United Planets President. He pardons Brainiac 5 and Andromeda, clears the Legion of charges related to drugging Winema (so Chameleon could impersonate her) and "kidnapping" Chu to expose her, and abolishes the draft. The Legionnaires smile happily as they realize things will get better for them.

Thoughts:

The story unfolded excellently. The writers kept the suspense up, and made sure that readers would be kept guessing despite leaving clues. Little things like Cosmic Boy pretending to believe Triad and company were dead; and Cham-as-Winema mentioning casually that Brainy's presence was unexpected, really helped.

The art is also great. Moder worked in many subtle, little things that add to the story. Like Lyle trying not to laugh as Cham reveals his fluency in Interlac, or Andromeda standing in front of Brainy as Brainy pauses while reasoning out Cos' secrecy (remember, Cos didn't tell Brainy that Andy was alive). The Legionnaires' groupings in the final page also show their relationships: best friends Vi and Zoe; Triad gushing over Lord Valor; Brainy behind Andromeda; Jo with a hand on Jan's shoulder (both are newbies); Gates and Thom, who joined together.

Likes:

Andromeda taking the Empress out with one tap. Hah! I was getting tired of the Empress endlessly talking about how much she loves killing. Thanks, Andy, for shutting her up (and really, any Legionnaire with long-ranged powers could have taken her out, so I'm glad she went out in a really funny way).

At first, having fake "Winema" broadcast her dramatic kidnapping seems odd. But a) Chu calls her out on acting like a cheap-vid villain (hah!), and b) the story is paced so well that I didn't really question it on my first read-through. And in hindsight, it helped lull Chu into a false sense of security; she never expected there would be a SECOND set of cameras hidden because the first were in plain sight!

Aven's line when he shuts down the minds of the smug Titan soldiers: "Stupid, overbearing, overconfident, blind, unreasonable. The perfect soldier." You tell it like it is, Aven.

Cham using his shapeshifting to fake Winema's phasing, and Lyle's partial invisibility to pretend to be a skeleton. Violet shrinking down to give the impression she had been vaporized as Gullo; and Triad helping fake Lyle's and Cham's deaths. All smart uses of their powers and abilities.

Not everything is swept under the rug; Leviathan grouses about Cos not taking him, his deputy leader, into confidence. And even though Brainy rationally agrees to it, he pointedly pauses and looks at Andromeda while saying so.

Many other lines are great:

1) Kinetix - "lose your footing, Validus?" and when the Persuader says that Gim "makes an irresistible target", she quips "so do you, hatchet man!"

2) Jan gleefully telling Leviathan to catch the Atomic Axe... and turns out, he had turned it into cheese spread

3) The rioters and Science Police reactions to the "confessions" of Winema and Chu. "You've got to be sprocking kidding me!"

4) Brande can't understand how Cham impersonated Winema, as Cham doesn't speak Interlac. Cham's line: "Mr. Brande... did you honestly believe my linguistic instruction would require such a protracted apprenticeship? In actuality, I maintained the appearance of lexical difficulty merely to abet this charade. Comprende, senor?" And Brande just goes... "By... damn." Priceless.

Quibbles:

1) I read a comment in another thread, where a fan complained that Cosmic Boy crying was over the top. Only RJ Brande saw him at that time, and there was no reason for him to go so far to keep the pretense up. What was Brande going to do, anyway? I have to agree; even if Cos was hesitant to confide in Brande as the sting was already in progress, him crying seemed over the top. Didn't he trust Brande? Or did he just want to go for the best actor award?

2) Star Boy. I know he's not the smartest kid on the block, but does Spark really have to explain to him again that they are flying around the Titan ships to jam their sensors? What, wasn't he listening when the Legionnaires were planning? Or is he really that dim? Live Wire, Spark and Ultra Boy didn't get much else to do, but I guess the writers couldn't fit that much more action in.

3) Jan transmuting the Persuader's Axe into cheese spread. That's pretty sophisticated! I don't know that I like Jan to be this powerful (for most of the Reboot, this won't be an issue though; a lot of his future appearances will have him making more simple element-to-element transmutations.

4) Leviathan. Not only did he not contribute much to the battle, but he was barely a leader! Insulting Jan as a "sprocking pacifist" for not wanting to turn the Five into cheese spread? Uh, Legion Code, anyone? And he didn't take leadership either; Kinetix, XS, Valor, Jan and Andromeda all acted autonomously. Yeah, we need some prickly characters on the team to make things interesting, but Gim is supposed to be a tough leader type. At least show him leading!

5) Although the panel payouts were generally good, there was one page - where XS wakes Valor and Andy up - that got the speech bubbles reversed. It was a little bit confusing.

Overall, though, this was a GREAT issue which neatly wrapped up many storylines from the past year or so and explained a lot of odd behavior (like Cos suddenly being a jerk). Many plotlines were resolved as a result of the Chu sting - Andromeda's "exile", Brainy's imprisonment, the rift between Garth and Cos, the status of the Espionage Squad. This was also a very satisfying story, as the Legionnaires triumph not just against the Fatal Five, but against a controlling government. This is a majestic victory, and one they won through both brains AND brawn. This remains one of my favorite issues of all time, and the overall story is also one of my faves.

Legionnaires 37
Decisions

Issue Information

Summary:

The Legionnaires and RJ Brande deal with the aftermath of Chu's exposure. The galaxy at large is abuzz with recent changes.

Valor is encouraged by RJ Brande to continue involving himself with the Legion. Valor decides to take up the Legion's offer of special Detached status, giving him the flexibility to be a Legionnaire and still have plenty of time off to go exploring. He takes the name "M'Onel", ancient Martian for "He Who Wanders", to give himself a cover identity.

Cosmic Boy, Live Wire, Saturn Girl, Leviathan and Invisible Kid draft a Legion Constitution. Key developments include "encouraging a diversity of powers", though without a hard ban against it (to protect Live Wire's and Spark's concurrent memberships, among others).

Andromeda thanks Brainiac 5 for saving her before, and tells him of her decision to leave the Legion. Brainy coolly dismisses her by saying she was an asset, but they will get by - to Andromeda's surprise and annoyance.

Kinetix, Leviathan and Violet question the Empress about the Emerald Eye. Zoe is upset at the dead end and ponders continuing her search. Violet retorts that Zoe would leave them again so soon, and that Mysa turned her into a "tattooed albino with a tail!" Gim convinces Zoe to stay by promising all the resources of the Legion to help with her search. Zoe gratefully flirts with Gim, to Vi's annoyance.

Gates asks Vyrga's matriarch for permission to return home, citing the end of the draft. He is refused, as his membership brings much honor to Vyrga. Star Boy has the opposite problem - Xanthu wants him home to increase its local prestige.

Jan Arrah formally takes the code name Element Lad, and Ultra Boy gets a new costume (dropping his Preboot threads for the SW6 style costume). Jan transmutes Jo's costume to change the color; Jo suddenly collapses, brushing it off as residual pain from the battle with the Fatal Five. To Triad's surprise, Jo orders a Bgztlian Blue - Apparition's favorite ice cream flavor.

Invisible Kid and Chameleon try examining Proty as Lori looks on. Cham only knows that Proty is not Durlan, but is unable to truly communicate with it. Lyle alludes to Cham's duties back on Durla - referencing earlier scenes that implied Cham would have to take up the mantle of Spiritual Leader from his deceased father. However, Cham stresses his commitment to remain a Legionnaire.

Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl have been making plans together to ease Braal-Titan tensions. As they prepare to depart for Titan, a jealous Live Wire forces himself onto the mission team.

Detailed Summary and Thoughts:

I'm mixing these parts together because a lot of little things happened; it does not make sense to have a shorter summary and a longer separate one.

Overall, the story does a good job of updating us on each individual Legionnaire, and a few of the supporting cast members. We get just enough information on each to develop their characters and set up future plot points. The script is well-written, packing a lot of information into the space we have; Moy's art also adds a lot. He has a talent with using body language to complement the story.

The opening two pages serve as both a roll call, and a perspective on what the galaxy thinks of recent events. It is well-done, as the reporters ask some questions that readers would no doubt have been asking, while other questions show repercussions of the Legionnaires' actions on the galaxy at large.

Picking up on HWW's thoughts on LSH 80, it seems that Chu's hidden camera confession was admitted as evidence, and enough to impeach her.

RJ Brande's reluctance at being UP President is emphasized yet again - and if his treatment of the Legionnaires hadn't already established it, this is more evidence that he will be a good President out of altruism.

Now for the roll call:

The three founders - can they hold a growing membership together? This cleverly refers to the fact that the Legion's size has pretty much doubled - before the Fatal Five/Chu storyline, there were only 10 active Legionnaires (Cos, Imra, Lu, Cham, Lyle, Gim, Ayla, Vi, Thom, Gates); the story returned 8 more to us (Garth, XS, Brainy, Zoe, Andromeda, Jo, Jan and Valor) to us.

XS' and Kinetix's long absences were remarked upon, as were rumors of XS being lost in time, and Kinetix's pointy ears, odd face tattoo, and her tail.

Andromeda's return is also mentioned, as was the fact that the UP said she was dead.

Chameleon, Invisible Kid, Triad and Violet's covert ops are highlighted, and the reporters ask - can they be trusted?

Poor Leviathan's status as Deputy Leader is questioned, including his authority and his access to information. Perhaps someone was eavesdropping on the Legion's debrief last issue, where Gim yelled at Cos for not bringing him into the secret plans.

Brainiac 5's pardon for conducting illegal time travel research is noted. Will he continue them in the future?

Spark, Star Boy and Gates are called the replacement Legionnaires, and their continued membership is questioned. Now, I never thought of Spark as a replacement, given her membership is the officially sanctioned one; but perhaps I am being too unkind to Garth and his founder status. It seems that the galaxy (or the reporters, at least) did not put much stock in Ayla's official status. Gates and Thom make sense in hindsight, and I am sure many readers agreed with Gim when he yelled at Cos for letting Gates and Thom be added to the team when Garth, Jo, and Jan were turned away by Chu.

Jo and Jan's lack of official Legionnaire status is mentioned, but I certainly had no doubts they would be full members.

And finally, the mystery Legionnaire. There are rumors that he resembles Valor, which shows that Lar was not 100% careful about not being seen. His scenes in earlier issues (L*34) do show he took some pains to keep hidden - when he beat up the scavengers on Drak IV, he kept out of sight of the Science Police - but now I do remember him being rather visible outside the UP Assembly in LSH 80.

We cut to RJ Brande welcoming Valor to the former's mansion on Mars. I know Cos kept Valor's return a strict secret from everyone who was NOT a Legionnaire - Valor took great pains to keep hidden from Shvaughn Erin and the Athramites in - but it makes sense that RJ would...wflat&Number=936946#Post936946]L* 36), the Empress showed she knew something about the Emerald Eye. Empress claims she knows it only from legends; that two hundred years ago, the people of Venegar fought a civil war over it, that it brings immeasurable power... but at a price. Empress taunts Zoe by saying that if she finds the Eye, she can bring it to her. An enraged Zoe's line is telling - "Murderess! You think I can't handle the power!" Other Legionnaires might have reacted with disgust - "I will never give it to a mass murderer like you!", but Zoe has to make it about power. Gim and Vi calm Zoe down, and they exit. Gim and Vi question Zoe over whether it is such a good idea to find the Eye; Zoe mentions her promise to Mysa, and that she only has her powers back because Mysa helped her. Vi counters that Mysa turned Zoe into a "tattooed albino with a tail", which is an apt description (missing only the pointy ears). Gim tells Zoe she can have all the Legion's resources to search for the Eye, causing Zoe to flirt with him. Violet glowers at them - this is the second time we see Vi get annoyed at Gim's feelings for Zoe (see LSH 76, when she snaps at Gim that Zoe only smiled at him because she was laughing at his headgear!)

Gates petitions the Matriarch of Vyrga to allow him to return home, now that the draft is abolished. Matriarch will have none of it, telling Gates that his continued membership s giving Vyrga the recognition they deserve. The art is wonderful here - Gates' room is decorated to look like Vyrga, complete with plants and giant mushrooms and bits of rock. His facial expressions are also easy to read. Gates mis-teleports into the Hall of Heroes, saying he never understood the custom of erecting "effigies to dead meat". Ooh. But it makes sense that some cultures would not have this. Star Boy shows a bit of knowledge, saying he is surprised Gates is there as he didn't know Vyrgans paid respects to the departed. Thom finds Gates' situation ironic, in that Thom himself is being asked to return home to Xanthu against his will. Thom cites two main reasons for staying: in the Legion,he is just one among many super-powered individuals, and that he believes Brainy can help him control his newfound powers. As an aside, the dialogue here is tops - Thom reacts to Gates' plight as "funny", before apologizing to an annoyed Gates that he meant "ironic" instead. I know I have had to explain my English to many of my non-native speaking friends!

Gates leaves Thom to go to the cafeteria. Jan hits on the Element Lad code name because RJ always calls him "Lad". Interesting that the writers departed from the trend of dropping the Girl/Boy/Lad/Lass kid names with Jan - he is the only Legionnaire to have gotten a new code name in the SW6 era (Alchemist) to revert to his original Preboot name in this reality! Gates asks for a bowl of slugs, prompting Ayla to gag. Love the lines here - Tenzil goes, "a bowl of slugs, coming up!" and Ayla thinks, "they're not the only thing coming up..."

Jo walks in with a new outfit, which is his SW6 look. Triad's personalities make themselves distinct, with Purple flirting and Orange shushing him. Violet comments that the color is too dark, prompting Jan to transmute some pigments. Jo suddenly collapses, and a horrified Jan says nothing should have happened. Jo brushes it off, saying it's residual pain from the Fatal Five battle. I like Jan's line - "By the change! What have I done?" A recovering Jo asks Tenzil for a Bgztlian Blue, prompting Triad to remark to her selves that it was Tinya's favorite flavor.

Cham and Lyle try to examine Proty. Cham can't communicate with it, but he transforms into a series of forms, and Proty follows. Lori's panicked reaction to Cham transforming into Tangleweb reminds us that, despite physically being an adult, she is only mentally 10 years old. Lyle also reminds Cham about his responsibilities on Durla, alluding to Cham's being next in line for spiritual leader (his father was murdered by the Composite Durlan). Cham, annoyed, says he is committed to stay with the Legion, as his membership will help the galaxy become more comfortable with Durlans.

Vi and Gim see Cos and Imra off. The latter two are heading to Titan to meet the UP Ambassadors from their homeworlds for a goodwill tour. It is telling that Vi is along - trying to get more time with Gim? Gim remarks that he wishes Cos would stay, as things are in a state of flux. But Cos says he has faith in Gim. Nice to see they have ironed things out a bit. Valor returns with a new costume, saying he wants to accept the offer of Special Detached Status. According to the new constitution, if leader and deputy agree, Legionnaires may take this status. They are active Legionnaires, but have more freedom to come and go as they please. The dialogue makes it clear that Cos and Gim both had a say in this. In response to Imra, Valor also says he thought of a new identity to prevent from being recognized as Valor - M'Onel, ancient Martian for "He who wanders". (Hi HWW!) A nice nod to his Preboot codename of Mon-El, which would not have made sense in this reality (or I think; his introductory issue never included him being called Mon-El). Garth walks in to interrupt M'Onel's welcome, saying he is joining Imra and Cos on their tour. Garth says he thinks three founders instead of two will be better for the goodwill tour, but it is clear he just wants to stay close to Imra. Cos sharply says it is fine with him, if it is OK with Gim... and Garth gives Gim the evil eye, rendering him speechless. Whoo! Garth scaring Gim, who would have thought?

The issue ends with a reporter talking about the Founders' trip, asking if it will ease passions... or inflame them?

A solid issue indeed, and one that whets the appetite for more!

Yeah, poor old Gim remains unlikable - even as the mission leader vs. Fatal Five he gets barely any good moments - the one he does is related to his powers (grabbing a handful of missiles) than related to his leadership!

What struck me was how dense these issues are - meaty is a good word for them. I looked at the page count at one point because it felt like a double issue.

Cosmic Boy crying - hadn't really thought about it, but he is pretty emotional. Maybe cracking under the stress.... although I don't think they follow that line at all in future issues.

Good to see the Espionage Squad made official and Cham's reveal of perfect Interlac. I did find it interesting that Invisible Kid was included in the drafting of the Constitution. It figures they would include Leviathan as the first, U.P.-appointed leader and the three founders, but I wonder if this was a peace offering from Cos, who has had a difficult relationship with Lyle.

(On a side note, the Canadian government is looking to ban imported hand guns, using the same legislation as for imported cheese - so Jan changing the Persuader's axe to cheese gave me an extra laugh.)

Legion of Super-Heroes 81
Sundown
Issue information

Summary:

We revisit Dirk Morgna, last seen in Legionnaires 29. He still radiates intense heat and light. Since his confinement, his father Derek Morgna has not called nor visited. Dirk uses his powers to escape from the hospital.
Brainiac 5 is incensed at being turned into the Legion’s go-to physician – examining Kinetix’s physical transformations, XS for after-effects of time travel, Element Lad for after-effects of brainwashing, Ultra Boy’s cramps, and Star Boy’s new powers. Ultra Boy brushes off Star Boy’s concern and runs off. Star Boy chases Jo and crashes through the new façade of Legion HQ, to Leviathan’s rage and Chuck Taine’s despondency. An outraged Leviathan drags Thom off to see if he can get him out of the Legion.

Saturn Girl, Live Wire and Cosmic Boy arrive on Titan. Garth’s thoughtless jokes cause Imra to argue with him, to Rokk’s delight – further deepening the love triangle between the three.

A floating package arrives for Spark. Everyone figures out it is Invisible Kid – proven when Kinetix telekinetically traps him, to Ayla’s delight. Chameleon is enraged, as Lyle was only supposed to help him impress Ayla.
RJ Brande reopens the Time Institute, despite Winema Wazzo’s protests. RJ sarcastically suggests that Winema join his staff to show him how to run the government… an offer she accepts, to his consternation.
Star Boy asks RJ for help to fight against Xanthu’s recall of him. RJ asks Leviathan to visit Xanthu and convince them to let Star Boy stay, much to Gim’s rage.

Leviathan leaves Kinetix in charge. She barges into Brainy’s lab to see if any of his equipment can be used to track the Emerald Eye. However, she is interrupted by a distress call – Dirk Morgna has returned home, but his powers are still out of control. Kinetix, Triad, XS, Violet, Ultra Boy and Element Lad try to stop him. Dirk blinds Jan, causing XS to spirit him off to Brainy. Derek tells Dirk he never called on him because of shame; he feels that he failed Dirk. Dirk says that the loneliness and isolation was killing him. Derek offers to let Dirk touch him, just to remember what it is like. Before Dirk can do so, XS arrives with Brainy’s solution – a transuit tinted with inertron. Brainy calls Kinetix, telling her that he is sick of being abused by his teammates, and that they have gotten lazy about thinking because of his presence. He ends the call – and the issue – by tendering his resignation.

Thoughts:

Let’s get it out of the way: there is a lot of stupid going on in this issue. Compare LSH 79 and 81 to Legionnaires 35-37; the quality of writing, plotting and script on the LSH books has been markedly worse than the Legionnaires issues. Could it be because of the writing/scripting credits? Legionnaires is handled by Tom Peyer and Roger Stern, while LSH is handled by Tom Peyer and Tom McCraw. All I know is I am becoming a big fan of Roger Stern…

Dirk’s plight is understandable. His powers are out of control; he is confused and isolated, and his father has not even spoken to him. For some reason, the sedatives being used on him prove ineffective, allowing him to escape. I really don’t understand the point of the scene where the Science Police try to drop a gas canister on him, and he destroys it. To establish that the Legion is needed to subdue him? I’d say that was a given – he burned through a hospital wall on his own. Oh well. We will get back to Dirk later.

Kinetix, despite being my favorite character, does not come across as sympathetic even to me. She teases Brainy the whole time he examines her. Brainy says she is healthy despite her physical changes, and lucky that her depowering and encounter with Mysa didn’t do anything worse. To add to her snarkiness, she also comes across as power-hungry, reckless, thoughtless and completely not self-aware. She does say she wanted her powers back so she could help the Legion more, which is consistent with her characterization in LSH Annual 6. Brainy sarcastically questions her sincerity with the lovely line, “I am certain the purity of your motives will inspire many rousing songs. Now, bye.” Zoe’s tone-deaf behavior worsens when she returns to Brainy’s lab, disturbing him in the middle of an experiment and messing with his equipment. She could have asked nicely! And when she tells him to guess who Gim made acting leader, Brainy goes… “Stalin? Roxxas? YOU?” Brainy -2, Zoe – 0. Zoe never seems to realize, through the whole issue, that Brainy is close to snapping. I thought she had more insight than that!

Legionnaires 38
Trouble on Titan

Issue Information

Summary:

Saturn Girl, Live Wire and Cosmic Boy are facing a warm welcome on Titan. Garth gives a rousing speech about the Legion's origins - with two of them coming from warring worlds - and how they learned to overcome their differences and work together, just like what the United Planets worlds are doing. With Imra and Rokk encouraging him, Garth lets loose a blast of lightning to even greater applause. Then his robot arm bursts apart to reveal his flesh-and-blood arm, and Imra kisses him out of passion and confesses her love... only for Garth to wake up, still out in space, as Cosmic Boy wrangles with customes who won't let them through until they are called for, despite the UP giving them diplomatic clearance. Garth barely notices; to his embarrassment, some Titanians are laughing at him; he suspects he may have been broadcasting his dream. Thankfully, Imra doesn't seem to notice...

... and we see she is "being alone with her thoughts". We see her flying through her own mind, as it seems to be, sorting out her memories and emotions. She thinks that she cares for Garth and appreciates how he has always been there for her; but she also cares about Rokk, and thinks that all three have been through so much. Her old teacher Aven pops up, saying that it is difficult to choose a life partner. Imra protests that she is not ready to choose. The pair encounter Imra's memory of the Composite Man, being surrounded by some sort of darkness. Imra thinks the darkness is trying to submerge the memory. Aven says this darkness is part of Imra's subconscious, and has been for many years, even before her time as a Legionnaire. The darkness grabs Imra; Aven holds her arm, but tells her she must be the one to defeat it herself.

Imra wakes up with a scream. Aven appears in "real life", saying that Imra must learn to confront the darkness herself, lest it destroy her. He also has used his telepathy to make sure the brueaucrats don't delay them anymore (we see a Titanian official saying "no... further delays...").

The three Legionnaires end up at the Ardeens' house. Father Bertor and Mother Sydne are happy to see them, but younger sister Jancel is all over Garth. She's incredibly flirtatious - "So, why do they call you Live Wire? Do you live up to it?" Garth quickly changes the subject to asking about family portraits; Sydne explains that there are few because Titanians share memories telepathically, thus having no need for portraits. To Imra's embarrassment, she shares memories of her childhood - being such a gifted telepath, Imra was taken away at five years old to study at the Titan Institute. She was one of the few students adept enough to study under Aven, and graduated with the highest honors. We see a hint of sisterly rivarly, with Imra beating Jancel at video games, and Jancel reacting in annoyance to Sydne's gushing. Garth, on the other hand, almost sheds a tear at the thought of little Imra being taken away.

Cos takes time to phone home; Triad is busy getting things in order in Cos' old office as Legion leader. She informs Cos that Leviathan took a team to Xanthu to settle Star Boy's Legion membership, and complains that Gim is a horrible administrator. Triad is keeping on top of things, AND organizing the Legion leader election; Triad Purple (of course) points out they wouldn;'t have to do that if Cos hadn't decided to step down! Other updates: Kinetix has been tying up monitor channels searching for the Emerald Eye; the Legion has had to house Dirk Morgna; and Violet managed to convince Brainiac 5 not to resign (the cliffhanger from LSH 81!). Cos' team and Gim's team already submitted their voted for Legion leader. Dr. Gym'll walks in right this moment; interestingly, Triad Orange was the one who called him in, and Neutral and Purple have no knowledge of that. Purple is annoyed that Orange "forgot to tell them", but Neutral says "like you've never done that before". Hmm, must be interesting being a Carggite. Triad sympathizes with all the red tape Cos must have had to deal with during his tenure. Cos replies there is still a lot of that on their trip to Titan, but accepts it with his characteristic good grace.

The three founders end up at the magno-ball courts, with the Sabers (wearing a Titan insignia) fighting the Bolts (homeworld unknown). Representative Xamuel Ivar of Titan and Representative Arn Kwin of Braal introduce the three; Garth gets a good level of applause, Imra gets the loudest, and Cos gets polite cheering at most. Imra smoothly introduces Cos as a former champion, and he takes to the stadium, showing his clear superiority over any of the players! Ivar and Kwin telepathically share their hopes and fears over this goodwill tour, and reveal they are most definitely more than just colleagues; Kwin holds Ivar's hand as he consoles him. Poor Ivar thinks that Titan still has so many hardliners, in key positions such as Education. Kwin encourages him by saying that building relationships is a long, slow process, and that their worlds have to overcome Chu's manipulations and a past war. The crowd begins to go wild, cheering Cos on as he displays trickier and trickier moves, much to the surprise and delight of Ivar and Kwin.

Garth and Imra join Cos as they thank the crowd for cheering. Suddenly, a bomb xplodes in the Representatives' box! The three rescue Ivar and Kwin, but Garth loses his robot arm.

At the hospital, Ivar has only suffered minor injuries, but Kwin remains comatose. Imra goes to help him. Jancel stops Garth from following, and rages at him for thinking Imra is "so special" and that she was instead a spoiled child. She shares her own memories of Imra crying when she was taken away; that part is a fact, but Jancel's interpretation is colored. She thinks their mom was crying because she was embarrassed at Imra's own crying! Garth tells Jancel off, saying she should stop being jealous of Imra and concentrate on building her own life. Jancel yells at him as he leaves.

As Imra begins her probe into Kwin's mind, Ivar stops her out of fear for Kwin's health. Cos confronts him, asking why he wants to stop Imra. Ivar reveals to Imra that he and Kwin are in a relationship, and that they had to be discreet because of the Titan-Braal conflicts. With Ivar's blessing, Imra enters Kwin's mind. The first memory she sees? Kwin and Ivar being introduced by Chu. Imra thinks that Chu was such a manipulator!

Imra soon encounters darkness again, but realizes this comes from Kwin's mind - it's not her own darkness. She finds Kwin in the midst of it all; he had locked his own consciousness away,using techniques Ivar had taught him. Kwin confesses that he planted the bomb himself, to make it appear someone had tried to kill him. He hoped this would make the more extreme Titanians examine their attitudes nad become more friendly towards Braal. Imra encourages him to stop hiding and to come out in the open, as things would be worse for everyone if Kwin's actions were discovered by someone else. Kwin agrees, and wakes up. He asks the Legionnaires to leave so he can talk to Ivar, and calls for the Science Police to give a statement. Imra takes courage and resolves to confront her own darkness one day.

Back on Earth, Triad announces the election results... and Shrinking Violet is the next leader! No mention of a deputy.

Thoughts:

This issue was very well-done, exploring intergalactic relations. I found it very realistic that Titan would not be so welcoming, but that Cos' performance on the stadium helped him win over the crowd. That's similar to what we see in the Olympics, no? It won't solve everything, it won't erase all memories, but it does make things easier.

Ah, immigration. As someone whose passport only allows him to travel to 60 countries without a visa - and someone who needs separate visas for many neighboring countries (such as the European Schengen Area, the UK AND Ireland, for US and Canada, for Japan and South Korea, for Australia and New Zealand)... I can relate to the bitter frustration at dealing with bureaucrats in immigration But it also gives a good illustration of geopolitics - despite Titan being in the UP, and the homeworld of a founding Legionnaire, they still see fit to thumb their noses at the UP when it suits them - such as when the citizen of one of their greatest enemies, Braal, is visiting.

Aven is crazy powerful, being able to overwhelm other Titanians without breaking a sweat, it seems.

Chu really is quite diabolical; I wouldn't be surpruised if she knew that Ivar and Kwin would be attracted to one another

The writers gave some nice bits into life on a telepathic world - the lack of portraits, for instance.

More insight into Triad's powers: Orange and Purple have both done things that the other triplets never learned about. But, do they learn about these things once they reintegrate? That would make sense, but I can't remember any evidence of that from earlier issues. It would be really weird if that never happened though.

Kwin using mental techniques ivar taught him is our first inkling that some measure of telepathy can be taught to non-native telepaths, though this is more of mental defense rather than true telepathy (thought casting and all that).

Imra's darkness is left hanging; I guess it sets up a nice subplot for later, and the writers may have felt it wouldbe too much for her to resolve it in one issue. In fact, little is resolved among the three founders' feelings, so we're back at status quo. Still, it was a nice exploration into the tangled web of Braal-Titan policies and the love triangle between our three founders.

And Violet as leader... whohoo! This should be interesting.