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

I ponder sometimes, what was the original plan with Dirk? He was introduced early enough to have joined the big shebang vs. the Fatal Five, but I guess there wasn't space to work him in - and with Brainy imprisoned (as Brainy and Jan together had to temporarily solve Dirk's problems), there was no way Dirk could be on the rescue squad?

re Cham and Lyle, both of them dropped the ball, but good point GL - if Lyle messed up, so did Cham. (I found that whole scene hilarious though)

re Zoe and Brainy, that was wonderfully entertaining - and Zoe really would make a bad, but hilarious, leader and this is coming from a big fan

cool trivia re the phrase "if there's no one there, it's Norg" and its origin!

oooh, Imra's parents being named after fans is so cool. I love how so many bits are taken from UseNet, shows the creators made an effort. love!

also not really sure how Magnoball works, and how teams from other worlds can hope to compete vs. Braalian players. (I get that they use magnetic gloves...) but oh well. I can suspend my disbelief
!

Lydda was playing magnoball with Cos and Pol and Pol's beard*coff*girlfriend in the 70s or 80s I think? I assumed it would just be magnetic gear

These issues were strong on showing the emotional relationships between the different characters. I also enjoyed the Zoe-Brainy dynamic, much less angst-ridden than Laurel-Brainy. Zoe's fun, Brainy's not... it works. And I wonder what Vi said to get him to stay? Vi elected as leader was a surprise.

Harsh on the physical side, though - Dirk's physical status unresolved, Jan blinded, Garth losing his arm.

Legion of Super-Heroes 82
Lifestyles of the Dead
Issue information

Summary:

An explosion destroys Brainiac 5's lab, to which his only reaction is "interesting". He rudely tells Chuck Taine and Violet to "be quiet" as he walks away, protected by his forcefield. He further tells Chuck that he could rebuild the lab by Tuesday, if he hurries. Violet soothes Chuck by saying that it would be nice for his employment to be extended; she also says that Brainy's intellect has been very useful, which is why they put up with his lab-destroying ways. Cos and Imra come running in alarm, and Vi tells Cos she is handling it. Cos apologizes for taking charge, and the two founders congratulate Vi on her recent leadership win.

In another lab, Brainy makes a note to invent something for Violet as thanks for increasing his lab time. Minor error: he credits Violet for bringing Dr. Gym'll in, though in Legionnaires 38 Triad claims credit for calling him. But Triad did give Violet credit for convincing Brainy to stay with the team.

Dr. Gym'll is examining Live Wire to see if he can regrow Garth's arm.

Ultra Boy wakes up in his quarters in pain.

On Xanthu, Leviathan is mercilessly teasing Star Boy. "Next stop: Hickworld!" An annoyed Thom tells Gim he comes from a city of 17 million; Gim retorts with "I've never heard of it!" Thom tells Gim to talk louder and be proud of his ignorance. Gates also calls Gim out for "perpetuating hateful stereotypes".

Invisible Kid finally tells Spark that Chameleon is her real secret admirer, to Spark's consternation.

The Legionnaires are met by Xanthu's local superteam, the Uncanny Amazers - much to Thom's embarrassment. He even tries to pretend he doesn't know them, at first.

We meet: Lonna Leing, Insect Queen (nice play on Lana Lang there). Monstress is feeling the inferiority complex; she tells I. Queen "I guarantee you, they ain't heard of none of us!". She introduces herself as "The Monstress, that is my only name". Then she whispers, "Grife, that sounded stupid...". Boy, she sure is a far cry from the sweet Monstress we would come to know later. Rounding out the group are Atom'x and Kid Quantum II, with the latter being extremely hostile. Monstress tells Thom to forgive Kid Q's attitude, as she's been like that ever since her brother James died. Thom wonders if that's why Gim hates him so much. Thom surprises the Amazers by saying he doesn't plan to leave the Legion and return to Xanthu.

Jo's pains end when he calls Tinya's name. He jumps out of bed, thinking that he felt a rush of something undefinable... some "Tinya-ness". He goes into her room to investigate, only to scream as a hand phases through his chest and a voice tells him to get out!

Back on Xanthu, the Legionnaires mingle with the Amazers and other locals. We see many Xanthusians look down their noses at the Legion, though in a way that also suggests an inferiority complex. "We're as good as they are!" The Xanthusian President holds no illusions; he candidly tells Leviathan that, being on the edge of the galaxy, Xanthu has great need of its own defense force. He even says, "and, well, you saw the super-heroes we got. We could really use Star Boy." Gim is only too happy to let Thom go back to Xanthu, prompting Kid Quantum II to call him out for not standing up for Star Boy. "I see your leader's really sticking up for you, Star Boy. Just like he was there when my brother needed him." A shocked Gim stammers out an apology - "I'm very sorry for your loss, but I swear to you we did everything we could..."

Prefect Lamar (is a Prefect a Prime Minister?) whispers to the President about his plan: to have the Amazers face the Legion in a cage-match for the right to keep Star Boy. The President says he hates the plan, but reconsiders; he thinks some of the Amazers, suich as Kid Q, probably hate the Legion too much to work with Star Boy, so the plan does make sense. Let them get their aggressions out in the open, eh? Thom quickly accepts before a stunned Gim can say no.

The phased hand through Jo's chest is revealed to be Winema Wazzo, cleaning out Tinya's quarters. Jo tries to empathize with her pain over losing Tinya; she tells him not to touch her. "If you ever soil me with your touch like you soiled my baby, I'll have you killed!" Jo grits his teeth in anger, then suddenly collapses. And things begin flying around Tinya's room! Jo gets knocked out.

Cage match timne on Xanthu. Prefect Lamar tries to goad M'Onel into joining; he doesn't rise to the bait, but picks up the cage with one hand and says he needs to move it out of the draftg so he won't catch cold. Lamar eats his words, heh.

Kid Q has second thoughts about something she agreed to help Lamar do. Lamar tells her to stop thinking and just follow orders.

Match time: Star Boy, Spark, Leviathan, Chameleon and Gates (I guess Lyle was too busy being Invisible) versus Konk! (Floating Head Girl - thanks for the nickname, Gates!), Insect Queen, Monstress, Atom'x and the bald kid whom everyone insults and whose powers remain unknown. As the match starts, the Legionnaires find themselves inexplicably slowed down; Monstress scores an easy victory on Leviathan, Insect Queen wraps up Chameleon in webbing, and Konk headbutts Gates. Oops. Lamar cheers, telling Kid Q to keep up her quantum field. "If you win this for us, you will undo all the damage done by your br... errrrr." An angry Jazmin tells him off for not appreciating James' sacrifice in the line of duty, and tells him to fix his own match! With the quantum field off, Gim and Cham bounce off the floor and knock out Atom'x and the bald kid. And I assume Star Boy and Spark mop up the rest of their opponents - or Jazmin owns up to the cheating - because the next thing we know, M'Onel is congratulating Star Boy for keeping his Legion membership.

Vi, Cos and Imra rush to help Winema deal with the disturbance. Winema uses Jo's flight ring to bring him to the infirmary, thinking to herself that she "can't hate a sick child" despite despising Jo for so long. She interrupts Dr. Gym'll telling Garth that he can only regrow his other armif he gives up his lightning powers. Gym'll finds an unknown variety of ectoplasm in Jo's body, which turns out to be...

Apparition!

Tinya reappears, and the flying objects stop. Tinya says she somehow hid in Jo's body when they were atacked by the Daxamite (Legionnaires Annual 2), and has been trying to get out ever since. Except, she can only be seen and heard by Jo and Winema... and nobody at all can touch her. Jo and Winema are just happy to have her back, though.

Thoughts:

Rather a gorgeous and dramatic cover, of an intangible hand phasing through Ultra Boy's chest!

Well, we get quite two subplots wrapped up here - Jo's mysterious pains, Thom's Legion membership. That's quite a lot of developments. I don't know if I'm particularly satisfied with how they did it. I did like the exploration of Xanthu's inferiority complex and views towards Earth, and it was good seeing another side of Winema besides the harsh tiger mom.

Gim is such a jerk here, but I can't 100% blame him. Back in college, I used to act that way towards a classmate whom, I felt, was pig-headed and arrogant and incompetent. I can see where Gim is coming from; it's not the best behavior, but it's so very human AND understandable. Two quibbles: one is Gim is teasing Star Boy by belittling Xanthu (and not Gim himself); and as Gates observes, this is very much against the Legion's mission. Two, is his poor handling of expressing condolences to Kid Quantum II, especially when he himself was so broken up over Kid Quantum I's death way back. I felt this was a missed opportunity to give Gim some depth and show another side to him. Actually, a third quibble, and possibly the greatest - Gim directly disobeys RJ Brande's orders, and tries to foist Star Boy back on Xanthu. For someone who prides himself so much on his discipline and his background...! Gim must really think Thom is unsuitable!

I love the Xanthusian President. Candid, honest, and with a keen knowledge of human nature! Certainly one of the better politicans we have met.

The Amazers:

Monstress sounds more like The Thing here, certainly a far cry from her "sweetie" speech patterns later on. I suspect that she was initially intended as a joke character and pastiche of The Hulk/The Thing, and when the writers decided to make her a Legionnaire they went in a different direction, making her "sweet" to make her more unique.

Atom'x. I read that he was supposed to be Atmos, but the art went wrong. Explains why Atmos would appear later in the issue without any lines. Remembering back to Legionnaires 0, Atmos was mentioned (and had a cameo), along with Star Boy and Kid Quantum I.

And, here's my corroboration on Atom'x's origin.



Kid Quantum II. Why not? A direct legacy character! Stasis fields are a useful power anyway. I liked her standing up for her brother James, but I like even better that the writers let her have second thoughts even before Lamar insulted James. Shows her good character.

Insect Queen is a nice update on Lana Lang.

Legionnaires 39
Wishful Thinking

Issue Information

Summary:

Kinetix meditates in her room, trying to find a trace of the Emerald Eye. "Why must power be so elusive?" She thinks to herself that she searched for powers so she could continue to help the Legion. Lori peeks in and disturbs Zoe's concentration. Zoe snaps at her, then apologizes. Lori came to ask for advice, as Violet recommended Zoe as a "worldly person". She wants a guy (Rond!) to notice her; Kinetix tells her to slow down and remember that, while physically she is an adult, mentally she is only ten. Lori walks out, annoyed.

In space, a quartet of Science Police officers are flying Dr. Regulus to Takron-Galtos. Regulus burns out of his prison, and we hear the pained screams of two of the Officers.

Violet greets Leviathan's team on their arrival from Xanthu. Gim congratulates Vi on winning the leadership election, and complains about his mission - Thom gets to stay; he kept trying to fly the cruiser (despite everyone NOT wanting "Crash Kallor" to do so!), Spark is hostile to both Chameleon and Invisible Kid, and apparently Gates never stopped speaking the whole time (to which Gates retorts, "Oh, like you're such a great conversationalist!"). In the commissary, Gim is concerned about M'Onel's Detached Agent status letting him take off pretty much whenever he wants. He thinks it will be bad for morale. Vi counters that it IS a special status for him, and the rest of the team is on board and in good shape.

Ultra Boy tells Spark "Everything's wonderful, we're very happy," a reference to Apparition's return in LSH 82 (though only Jo and Winema can see her).

XS asks Spark about her secret admirer. When Spark reveals it was Cham instead of Lyle, XS blurts it out to the whole commissary - much to Ayla's, Cham's and Lyle's consternation.

Triad argues amongst herself, with Orange freaking out that Cham's not humanoid and Purple being supportive. An annoyed Neutral forcibly reintegrates, embarrased that they were arguing so in public.

Zoe chases Lori to get her to calm down. "Nass, I sound like my mother!"

Brainy suddenly realizes that nobody has pestered him the entire day.

Gallan is a remote world owned by McCauley, and we see how grim the pollution situation is. Spider-Girl wakes up fellow Workforce member Inferno, who sleeps with ALL the lights open. Hmm.. McCauley complains about falling production levels, to which a worker explains that most other employees have left because of the poor environmental and health situation. McCauley will have none of it, and further complains about the Science Police cruiser which landed without notification. Uh-oh...

Zoe is still looking for Lori, and encounters Triad. Poor Lu has a horrible headache. Zoe offers to help as she has some healing experience. Triad mentions that she cannot find Brainy.

Lori is in Rond's lab, and kisses him. A surprised Rond falls down, and an annoyed Lori says she felt nothing despite always believing the first kiss would be special.

In the Monitor Room, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl kiss. Shvaughn calls in with a report that the Science Police (SP) cruiser carrying Dr. Regulus was diverted to Gallan; and because Gallan is a private holding, the SPs have no jurisdiction. Cos notifies Violet, who assembles a team at once -

Violet leads Chameleon, Cosmic Boy, Leviathan, Kinetix, Spark, Triad, Ultra Boy and XS. We will see next issue that Apparition is along for the ride. And Violet chose to bring Dirk Morgna, despite Gim's misgivings. Dirk is understandably aggressive towards Regulus, which makes Gim push back. As the cruiser dives into the atmosphere, a beam burns a whole in the cruiser, and Violet orders the team to bail. They head for McCauley's industrial center, where we find him cowering in the dark. Evolvo, as an apeman, tries to start a fire. Spider-Girl complains about not going with Inferno and Karate Kid to check on the blackout. The Legion enters, and McCauley tells them all he knows - which is that the SP Cruiser landed, that a petrochem plant was wrecked and that the power went out. Vi deduces it was Regulus' doing, and splits the team into squads. Spider-Girl suggests she tag along with Ultra Boy's squad, but Jo rebuffs her. Poor Sussa.

Squad 1: Cosmic Boy, Kinetix and Triad. Another new thing for Zoe, she uses her telekinesis to agitate air molecules to provide light. Not a magic thing, though. They find and rescue Karate Kid from under some debris. Val was ambushed by someone with armor - Regulus.

Squad 2: Chameleon, Spark, Ultra Boy and XS face a panicked Inferno, whose fear of the dark is causing her to throw fire everywhere. Cham narrowly saves Spark, who warms up to him and apologizes for giving him the cold shoulder. XS zips in and slaps some sense into Inferno.

Squad 3: Leviathan, Violet and Dirk Morgna. As the only one to provide light, Dirk takes point (!). In no time at all they find Regulus, who tries burning them. Dirk realizes that Regulus can "see" heat signatures; and when he tries to attack Regulus, his own fire is absorbed. Regulus gloats that his armor's circuitry is linked to Gallan's planetary power grid, and that he can absorb energy! Cos' squad arrives to reinforce Vi's; and Zoe flirts with Gim a bit. Triad triplicates, only for each of her three bodies to be physically different - each has a different costume and hairstyle. Before they can figure out what happened, Regulus creates a shockwave through his new "command of electromagnetic forces", and tells the Legionnaires they will die!

Thoughts:

I love Jeff Moy's art, and his roll calls are a nice touch. Here we have Spark snubbing a concerned Chameleon as a sight gag. I especially loved the panel where XS blurts out Cham's identity as Spark's admirer - Ayla spills coffee all over her face (with a big SPOOT!), Lyle drops his tray and Cham's antennae stiffen! I also love how Moy worked in clues that Brainy was undetectable - we see Brainy right in the middle of the commissary, and succeeding panels show Chuck, Lori and Zoe all passing him, all without anyone noticing him at all.

I feel that the interpersonal conflicts and little moments were much better than the action in this issue, which consists of the Legionnaires searching for Regulus and stumbling around in the dark. There are some clever power uses though, such as XS outrunning Inferno's fireballs; Spark using electricity to disrupt the flames; Zoe using telekinesis to shield the team from debris; Cos wrapping Regulus up in metal. And Apeman Evolvo is just too funny.

My biggest criticism is the threat of Regulus. I still don't understand how he could get so powerful, even going so far as to create earthquakes and stuff. There isn't even any futuristic science explanation. It feels a bit lazy, unlike earlier stories with more solid science (Planet Hell's magnetic fields protecting it from the sun, the chemistry used to stop the Composite Man...)

The one-liners continue to entertain - Zoe's "Nass, I sound like my mother!" while chasing Lori; Gates' "Like you're such a great conversationalist" to Gim; and Thom's "Crash Kallor" nickname (Thom's pained comment, "one little accident and they never let you forget it", is hilarious too).

Zoe's powers continue to confuse - now it seems she's a generic magic user in addition to having telekinesis (conjuring an image of the Emerald Eye; helping heal Triad). At least the glow-in-the-dark thing is explained by telekinesis.

Bringing Triad along on the mission is an odd choice; her headache was so bad she was crouching in the hallway back in Legion HQ. I would have thought she would have been left behind, as her pain only started easing after the cruiser made the Stargate jump to Gallan. Bringing Dirk is an interesting choice as well - he shows no signs of being trained for these types of situations. And oh, Vi's puppy love is showing - grouping herself with Gim!

Alas poor Sussa, she still definitely has a thing for Jo. Well, he did pretty much drop her to go with Tinya, and we never saw him break up with her for good (the whole time, it was implied that he just "ghosted" her, heh). This always bothered me a bit, and I think that when Sussa finally gets over him she will definitely let him hear about it.