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

I thought Ayla coming round to Cham was the Emerald Eye's shenanigans but looking back on that now, the implications are a bit icky if that's the case

Same with the Imra/Rokk thing. Especially as both Cham/Ayla and Imra/Rokk continue to develop even after the Eye’s influence is supposedly gone

The cover hinting at the end and then supposedly being revealed not to be Tinya only to see Tinya actually revealed at the end reminds me a bit of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The plot point of Spock dying had been leaked to the fans so they added the scene at the start of him dying only for it be revealed as a simulation, so as to throw off expectations and then suddenly reveal the truth of it at the end. I don't expect a 22 page comic to be able to achieve the same level but the twist at the end still worked that way.

Legionnaires #39: Moy's art is great and has definitely been one of the highlights of this series for me. Lots of slightly peculiar things happening here. I can't remember how I picked up on it on first reading years ago. Now of course its all obvious knowing what's coming but I have to wonder if for first time readers it just felt weird. Another thing I have enjoyed is all the character moments, which is very interesting to me with Roger Stern scripting. Tom McCraw still has his hand on the wheel but Stern does a great job with the dialogue fitting right in to the characters as they have been developed. A bit surprising to me, in a good way, as I have always liked him as a writer but I have never seen him on a "teen" book before and this is so different to his Avengers or Superman, and it is great to see that he can handle this group so well.

One other thing I noticed from the recent trivia question about Vi's uniform changes. It was in LSH #82 that she first starts wearing her sleeveless version as she takes over as leader.

Legion of Super-Heroes 83
Big Tears
Issue information

Summary:

Rather an ominous issue title, no?

The tears aren't being shed by McCauley. With power - including lie support - failing all over Gallan, Evolvo has already ordered a planetary evacuation. McCauley rages, saying they could have worked them for another half day! Spider-Girl and Evolvo are more sensible, and McCauley is convinced to trigger his escape pod to bring the three of them into orbit so he can keep tabs on Gallan from a safe distance. To Spider-Girl's and Evolvo's protests, McCauley thinks the Legionnaires can take care of themselves, and that anyone on the Workforce is replaceable.

As the Legionnaires and their allies recover, Chameleon's squad bursts in to confront Regulus. Regulus blasts open some old transformers, which are "pre-regulatory models" that contain pure dichloraxin - one drop of which could paralyze someone. On Vi's orders, XS and Cosmic Boy try to contain the chemical. Apparition tells Ultra Boy to dodge, despite his invulnerability; if any drops get on his costume, he would be the hazard. A grateful Jo didn't think of this, and air-kisses phantom Tinya. Triad notices and Purple flirts with Jo ("Hey loverboy! Kissing air? Come here and I'll show you something better!"). Neutral and Orange admonish her and suggest they attack Regulus, but the three can't seem to get their act together and crash into each other - a sign that they are no longer truly Carggite? It's hard to say, because all three bodies disagree on who goes high and who goes low.

Violet orders everyone out, as the atmosphere is becoming too toxic. An angry Dirk Morgna refuses to listen, and blasts Regulus. Inferno joins him.

More weirdness afoot: The Triads can't recombine, and Cosmic Boy sees Saturn Girl... who turns out to be XS. Whoa. XS calls Cos her "heart's desire". Vi, at a loss, calls Gim, saying she can't get Inferno and Dirk to listen. Regulus quickly blasts the two fiery friends down; Vi has Inferno and Gim rushes in to save Dirk. A disappointed and surprised Vi calls out to him, to which he replies, "Sorry Vi honey, but I'm not letting another kid die because he's too stubborn to follow orders." Gim shows that he's still thinking of the first Kid Quantum, which is something we didn't see an issue ago (LSH 82). Gim finds Dirk, who isn't glowing anymore - he's powerless, but alive!

Outside, Regulus cracks open the ground and unearths McCauley's nuclear waste. In orbit, McCauley decides to unleash the rest of his waste to overwhelm Regulus, thinking that if he stops the threat now he could recover some hardware. Evolvo agrees, much to Spider-Girl's shock and consternation. She questions McCauley's willingness to ruin the ecosystem and let the Legionnaires die, to which McCauley responds, smugly, that he will simply build them a magnificent monument.

Back at Legion HQ, Gates is surprised that Invisible Kid and Star Boy are listening to his political opinions; that anyone would listen to him has always been his "heart's desire". Imra rushes to Element Lad, who is visited by visions of his dead parents, urging him to commit suicide and join them. Jan explains to a panicked Imra that, in Trommite culture,death is a reward and hs also been his "heart's desire". Garth comes in, showing Imra that his arm has been restored magically. And Brainy tries talking to everyone in the room, but nobody seems to notice him, causing him to question his existence.

Regulus continues feeding into the nuclear wastes on Gallan, and begins to grow. Kinetix leads Spark, Ultra Boy and Cosmic Boy in sealing off some pipes spewing acid. Cos cracks me up by saying "How could anyone - even McCauley - not see these as an environmental outrage? We should probably have come here long ago and kicked his butt!" To which Leviathan gleefully says he sounds like Gates. McCauley rants about this, to Spider-Girl's amusement.

Regulus has grown to gigantic size, and boasts that he controls the planet. Violet orders everyone into a nearby cruiser so they can escape. Leviathan is determined to stop Regulus, because he knows everyone will die if they can't get off-planet. He digs into the ground and grabs some acid pipes, and... breaks them open on Regulus! Regulus melts, and Gim falls to the ground, horribly scarred. Violet reaches him first, telling him he died a hero - which Gim says was his heart's desire. Violet begins glowing with green energy, which a scared Kinetix recognizes as the Emerald Eye... just before Vi teleports everyone back to Legion HQ and changes into an Emerald Empress-y outfit. Oops.

Thoughts:

Sigh, McCauley. What a nasshead!

Regulus - I wonder if the Eye had a hand in his increased power levels, to help fulfill Leviathan's wish of being a big hero. That's the only real explanation I have for why he can suddenly do what he did this issue.

The writers did do a good job of seeding us with clues that something was afoot. All the odd happenings with various Legionnaires, for one. Vi being the Emerald Empress was not obvious, but also not completely out of left field (as next issue will show).

The action, just like last issue, was kind of boring - though there were some good power uses again, such as Chameleon morphing into a ballon to gather everyone and XS dragging people to safety; Kinetix fusing pipes together for Spark, Cos and Jo to seal. I was hoping Violet would be more proactive and "leaderly", but she doesn't get to do that much here. Other Legionnaires like Cos, Gim and even Zoe take charge more than she does. The Legionnaires as a whole are also reactive, I never see them get together and think of strategies for stopping Regulus - instead, they react to the things he does (bursting pipes full of acid, unearthing nuclear waste) without trying to tackle him directly. The only ones who do are Inferno and Dirk (who fail), and Gim (who dies).

As for Dirk - not sure what his purpose was. He just loses his powers, he doesn't even get to be a hero.

But I guess that's realism, huh? In any crisis, people do not always know what to do. And the Legionnaires ARE young, and their inexperience shows.

Triad's powers - it's heavily implied that Carggites are able to excel at trijutsu because of, well, something inherent in their being Carggite. That's why the Triads' attack on Regulus fails. We will see hints of this much later, in LSH 107, where Triad proves to be a better trijitsu fighter than the Composite Durlan.

This issue goes a long way towards showing that Spider-Girl isn't all that bad, while Evolvo is incredibly greedy and possibly as amoral as McCauley is. Inferno is a mixed bag, she's clearly brave and all but is also hotheaded and impulsive, and I can't forget the time she killed a man way back in Legionnaires 22.

I did enjoy learning about the "heart's desires" of various Legionnaires. The writers remembered that the desires of Cosmic Boy and XS would be contradictory, and they seemed to consider that Live Wire's would be too. Here's a list:

Cosmic Boy - the love of Saturn Girl
Live Wire - to get his arm back and "be whole" for Imra
Saturn Girl - ? (guess the writers didn't want to spoil the love triangle)
Triad - to be three separate people (although Orange wasn't happy!)
Apparition - ? (likely not affected by the Emerald Eye)
XS - the love of Cosmic Boy
Chameleon - ? (it's not certain if Spark's about-face was this for him)
Invisible Kid - ?
Leviathan - to die in battle?
Spark - ?
Brainiac 5 - for nobody to notice and bother him
Kinetix - ?
Violet - ? (though we learn that being leader was part of it)
Star Boy -?
Gates - for people to listen to his opinions
Element Lad - death (!)
Ultra Boy - ? (though later, he and Tinya will question if Tinya's return is it)
Dirk Morgna - ? unlikely that his loss of his powers was it, as Violet would later say that she only commanded the Eye to fulfill the wishes of Legionnaires; plus, his power loss wasn't reversed, unlike the other changes

In some ways it felt like a treading water issue with not much actually achieved at first and yet

I love to hate this McCauley. He's just a narcissistic jerk. I'm still disappointed that he was replaced by Ra's. In today's climate he portrays a realistic villain, unfortunately.

I wonder if Dirk losing his powers and turning normal was also a heart’s desire? Though why would Vi and the Eye care, right?

....

and I agree, Vi's leadership seems to take a small nosedive here. she was much more the able leader in the previous issue. was it the influence of the Eye waxing and waning? was she subconsciously showing some weakness so her love Gim could step up?

I thought the three pages with Gim and Vi were terrific and very emotive and well done. Their interactions a couple of pages earlier though are confusing for me.

Why is Vi suddenly calling out to Gim for advice and admitting not knowing what to do? In the previous issue of Legionnaires they did spend a fair amount of time together talking but that was mostly Gim debriefing new leader Vi on what happened on Xanthu. On the way to Gallan, Gim is more grumpy with Vi and her decisions regarding Dirk than anything. Now suddenly she is turning to him for urgent advice and support and he is referring to her as "honey". I'm not sure if this is meant to be more weirdness or not. Also immediately after her "comming" him for help she is upset with him for going back into battle when she is trying to get everyone out. I think how Gim reacts in all this is fine and fits perfectly with his story (apart form the honey thing). It's Vi's comments that confuse me. Sounds like they are meant to be an item but this is all too quick for me, even with the original Legion pairing.

The art is a bit of a problem for me too but not the same way as for you GL. Lee Moder's art has always been a bit hit and miss for me, sometimes great and other times not. Particularly this issue there are times when his thin young teens look a bit more like Cham stretching or Mr Fantastic. I know he is trying to emphasise their youths but sometimes it is just too much for me. Unfortunately the final splash page falls into this category for me. I don't find this portrayal of Emerald Vi attractive at all, more grotesque. Probably just a personal taste thing but that's how it is. As for the Moder/Collins split there is definitely a difference but I think Collins did a good job trying to match with with Moder. Compare the face of Regulus on page 6 (Moder) with page 7 (Collins) or Triad on page 6 (Moder) with page 8 (Collins). Not a bad matching of style in my opinion.

Having said all that, Moder's Gim/Vi three pages are beautiful, really working with the script and conveying the emotion of the scene and the story behind it. Great stuff and the highlight of the issue for me.

McCauley was an entertaining "villain" who was a bit more shades of grey. Immoral? yes. does illegal things? yes. would probably have a line that he does not cross, of course. would balk at anything that would actually get him caught, in jail, and away from his riches. he was quite unique.

I agree....I didn't dislike a lot of the Ra's stuff, but it sucks that they killed McCauley off to do it. I felt the same way when Johns killed him, Brande, Myg and Rond off in LO3W (and later on when Levitz killed Micro Lad).

I am not opposed to characters dying if the story is in service to them and the death is memorable. Ferro Lad sacrificing himself to stop the Sun-Eater is a good story. Karate Kid dying to try and stop Nemesis Kid (even though it doesn't really stand up to too much scrutiny narratively) is thematically a good death because it calls back to them joining the team at the same time and it's very in character for Val to go up against an unbeatable opponent with just martial arts. McCauley dying off panel so that the Legion can fight a Batman villain? Eh. You're giving up a lot of potential stories for one just okay story.

I think this kind of thing is even more important with the Legion to be honest...with such a large cast, there are so little supporting cast members who have been developed enough to matter narratively, and McCauley was one of them who lasted across different incarnations of the book. It's really short-sighted to get rid of one of the few real background characters with lasting power just for shock value for a single story.

I agree....I didn't dislike a lot of the Ra's stuff, but it sucks that they killed McCauley off to do it. I felt the same way when Johns killed him, Brande, Myg and Rond off in LO3W (and later on when Levitz killed Micro Lad).

I am not opposed to characters dying if the story is in service to them and the death is memorable. Ferro Lad sacrificing himself to stop the Sun-Eater is a good story. Karate Kid dying to try and stop Nemesis Kid (even though it doesn't really stand up to too much scrutiny narratively) is thematically a good death because it calls back to them joining the team at the same time and it's very in character for Val to go up against an unbeatable opponent with just martial arts. McCauley dying off panel so that the Legion can fight a Batman villain? Eh. You're giving up a lot of potential stories for one just okay story.

I think this kind of thing is even more important with the Legion to be honest...with such a large cast, there are so little supporting cast members who have been developed enough to matter narratively, and McCauley was one of them who lasted across different incarnations of the book. It's really short-sighted to get rid of one of the few real background characters with lasting power just for shock value for a single story.

Legionnaires 40
Emerald / Violet

Issue Information

Summary:

Kinetix tells her teammates that they need to get the Emerald Eye away from Violet. Violet laughs as she blasts everyone back. She then teleports away non-Legionnaires Inferno, Dirk Morgna and Karate Kid, while teleporting all the Legionnaires to her - including M'Onel from deep space. M'On recognizes the Eye from his time in the 20th century. Vi forces the Legion to call the roll, then dispatches Brainiac 5 to place Leviathan's body in stasis. Kinetix tries to talk Vi out of using the Eye's power; Vi counters by pointing out Zoe's powerlust; how "playing with molecular bonds" wasn't enough for her! Vi adds how lonely and outclassed she felt, by just being able to shrink. Zoe asks why Vi never said anything, as they were friends. Vi counters that Zoe was missing. She reveals that she encountered the Eye in the Scavenger's lair, and that the Eye gave her energy and confidence. She blames the Legionnaires for not giving her attention and friendship, something which the Eye took advantage of.

She is interrupted by Shvaughn firing at the Eye, causing it to break apart - until it reforms an instant later. Violet quickly deages Shvaughn into infancy. As Kinetix and others try to talk Vi down, she keeps ranting about how the Eye made her feel wonderful and how people began noticing her, about Leviathan noticing only Kinetix and not her, about slowly becoming more assertive and finally becoming Legion leader. She had to keep her distance from Zoe, for fear Zoe would detect the Eye. Then Vi says she began using the Eye to grant everyone their "heart's desire", leading Ultra Boy and Apparition to wonder if the latter's return was the Eye's doing. Jo tries to question Vi on this, but is blasted back. She angrily turns some Legionnaires into frogs to punish them for failing to save Leviathan. Then she dispatches M'Onel, Live Wire, XS and Ultra Boy to help her bring Gim back to life, and leaves the few remaining Legionnaires alone.

Cos goes to check on the staff, while Saturn Girl, the Triads and Kinetix gather. Zoe wonders why she wasn't sent, as she has healing experience. Imra says she planted a telepathic suggestion in Vi to leave Zoe, as Zoe has the most knowledge about the Eye.

M'Onel materializes in the Anterean System, questioning the Al'Khaulytes on their reanimation of the dead. When they rebuff him, Vi takes control of M'On and makes him attack the acolytes.

Upon claiming Leviathan's body, Garth, Jenni and Jo are told there is no hope. The coroner's scanners suddenly pick up a concenrtation of ectoplasm in Jo's body. An angry Violet pops in and asks the three why they haven't done anything; she takes control of XS and spurs her to tear up the lab looking for research. When Garth says they can't bring Gim back, Vi punishes him by removing his restored arm. Luckily for the acolytes M'Onel is attacking, M'On is freed of control at this moment.

Jo and Tinya use the opportunity to run away. Tinya uses the scanner as evidence that she really does exist independently of the Eye. Vi confronts Jo, and doesn't register Tinya's presence. Vi grabs Jo and disappears.

In the VR Room, Triad has the idea of using the VR systems while she, Zoe and Imra plot against the Eye. Theoretically, the VR array should interfere with any eavesdropping, telepathic or otherwise. Sadly, it doesn't work, and Vi teleports in and tries to drown the three of them plus Jo. The Eye manifests an image of Violet, who is meaner. Zoe and Imra try to convince Vi that the Eye is twisting her. Vi tries to stop her double, and begins questioning it. But the Eye overpowers Vi's doubts, and takes over the rest of the Legion's minds - turning them into the Emerald Legion!

Thoughts:

Interesting slash in the title. A play on the fact that both "emerald" and "Violet" are colors?

Well, the story isn't much, a lot of it is Violet acting irrationally under the thrall of the Eye. She's grieving and under mind control, so that explains some of it, but... I wish the writers had revealed more about the reanimation of the dead ritual in Antares. Unlike the Adventure Era story of Lightning Lad's revival, we are given no clue here as to why the ritual couldn't work on Gim. I wish that had been addressed, it's a rather glaring blind spot especially given how desperate Violet was.

Again, I love the little bits that Jeff Moy works into his art. When Vi blasts everyone,you can see Triad Purple's arm slamming into Inferno's nose, and Inferno glowering at her a panel later. The roll call is another great look into personalities, with some Legionnaires looking more agressive than others - such as Garth and Jo and Gates. The Emerald Legion costumes are great too - Brainiac 5 becomes a mini-Brainiac, complete with the wires on his head; Kinetix's costume reminds me of a genie; Jo gets facial hair and a beard; Spark's hair is all spiky; and interestingly, M'Onel gets headgear similar to Leviathan's.

The dialogue continues to shine. Little things like Gates snapping he doesn't appreciate being teleported against his will; Garth trying to give Vi a piece of his mind during roll call; XS barely whispers. I laughed at Gates' line when Violet punishes him and others for failing to revive Leviathan by turning them into frogs - "But I wasn't even there!"

Other nice bits: Jan admonishing Shvaughn for drawing her blaster right away, as he believes in peace. In one panel, Triad Purple sticks her tongue out at Emerald Vi.

Zoe does have a bit of an ego, wondering why Vi didn't send her along to help save Gim because she has healing experience. Expecting rationality from the Eye And Zoe also kept thinking that she could have used the Eye's power to save Gim, while warning against using the Eye. I can understand Vi's annoyance during those instances.

I can understand why some people feel that Vi's possession by the Eye ruined her. As Vi monologues, the background art contains many instances of the new, confident Vi we have been seeing for nealry a year - her defeat of Scavenger and a brainwashed Jan Arrah, becoming Legion leader. It certainly seems like all this is the Eye's doing, and none of it Vi's own growth.

Legion of Super-Heroes 84
Emerald Legion
Issue information

Summary:

In Workforce HQ, Inferno is keeping tabs on the Legion. Despite McCauley ordering her to stay, she blasts a hole in the wall and goes to check it out.

Violet seems to have forgotten her mission to resurrect Leviathan - possibly a reflection of the Emerald Eye's stronger control over her. She leads the Emerald Legion in "changing the world". First stop? A Science Police officer in a shoot-out with two bad guys and a hostage. The officer and the two bad guys get turned into animals, but the hostage is left alone. Apparition tries to snap Ultra Boy out of it by reestalishing a psychic link (?!), but can't. She zips away, only to phase through Saturn Girl, awakening her.

Tinya dashes back to Legion HQ. Lori is cuddling the baby-fied Shvaughn, who still has her adult mind. Marla Latham is trying to man the Monitor Board. He gets a call from a familiar face, Nura Nal, who sounds very ditzy - completely unlike the self-assured Nura of the Preboot. "Nura Nal? But you can call me Nura? But please, not Nurry? Well, I get these sort of visions? Like dreams? but they come true? And I dreamt the Legion was in this explosion? And only half of them came out? so..."

Marla cuts her off, telling her to check back when she hits reality. Oops. Inferno burns her way in, looking for Violet.

Imra tries to reach Violet's mind; just as she succeeds, Vi and the Eye are alerted and blast her. Imra links with the Eye and tries to turn it on Vi, but Vi shrinks out of the way and lets Imra get hit. She suffers no damage, but is instead turned normal and without any of the Eye's power. Members of the new Emerald Legion group mind try to retrieve Imra, but Vi stops them. She says "part of Eye" wants her back, but that they must reshape the world first - a clear sign that the Eye is dominating Vi, and explaining why we seem to have forgotten about the resurrection of Gim. Vi and company teleports to a satellite around Earth, molding it in their image.

Imra returns to HQ, and she can see Tinya too. She also shuts up a snarky Inferno. Imra commandeers a cruiser and invites Inferno and Tinya along. Shvaughn insists on going, and Imra agrees much to everyone's surprise (including Shvaughn's!)

The Emerald Legionnaires are spreading out, transforming sections of the Earth. There are some traces of individuality; Brainy's landscape looks like a computer, while Jan turns his into crystal. They are all speaking in a group mind though...

... except Gates. As someone says, "All who live will live as EYE wish," Gates begins to question. "That's imperialism!" he thunders. With some effort, he remembers his beliefs, saying "the only legitimate power belongs to the masses! They must be free to exercise their right to self-determination..." And is stopped by Kinetix turning him into an egg! The Emerald Legion is outraged that she has fractured the group mind. Violet says she could have compensated for Gates' independence, as he is all talk. Kinetix says she's not, and fires upon the Eye. Kinetix and Violet get into an all-out brawl for the Eye's power, much to the shock of the Emerald Legionnaires. All are confused, and can do nothing. Enter Imra's crew; Imra transmits a feeling of thinking independently, and this is enough to shake Brainiac 5 and M'Onel from the Eye's control. Guess we know which Legionnaires are the most independent, huh?

Despite Brainy's warnings, M'On tries to block the Eye's energy, and gets thrashed for his efforts. Imra, Shvaughn, Inferno and Tinya burst in, and Tinya tries to reach a catatonic Jo. Some Legionnaires remain catatonic, while some attack Inferno and Shvaughn.

Violet gets the upper hand and tells the Eye to show Kinetix that the Eye chose Vi; the Eye zaps Zoe, draining her and turning her into a wizened crone. Zoe still tries to reach the Eye despite all this. Violet reacts in horror, and at the battles between Legionnaires. Her speech is telling: "We weren't supposed to hate each other! Eye just wanted to be part of the group, Eye didn't want to destroy it! None of this should have happened! Eye want it undone! Take me back! Back in time! Undo it all. Eye! I command you - take me back!"

And then everything goes kablooey!

Thoughts:

Love the cover. A bunch of Legionnaires blinded by a big explosion of light. Very dramatic.

Well, some more inconsistencies. Some Legionnaires fight back against Imra's crew, others just stand there doing nothing. It does convey the tug-of-war between Vi and the Eye for control. though, and how the Eye overextended itself trying to control so many Legionnaires at once. Again, I can't say that the action in this issue was very compelling, though.

Inferno - well, I still don't get what drove her to investigate, besides curiosity. She seems shoehorned in, unlike Shvaughn. Imra certainly told Inferno off, grabbing her arm before she could throw her flame. I love her line, "I have just been through a majorly weird ordeal, and am in no mood to patronize a strutting bully."

I do like the inclusion of Shvaughn. I have always been a big fan, and it's nice to have a non-powered supporting character get more screen time. (minor note: last issue, she seemed to be mentally a baby, spouting baby talk. Now she speaks like an adult...)

Lori thinking baby Shvaughn was cute was hilarious.

We get another familiar face - Nura Nal. One of the last Adventure Era Legionnaires to not yet have been reintroduced. Sadly, I agree with many others - this Nura is nothing like the self-assured, vampy yet smart Nura we all knew - the one who had a clear handle on her act, with every move calculated just so. This one seems like a valley girl.

Gates and Kinetix are the first two Legionnaires to resist the Eye, without outside help. Not too surprised, nor am I surprised that Brainy and M'On were the two most receptive to Imra's telepathic interference.

Oh yeah I forgot about Cham - he had the Chthulhu head, right? That was cool too!

Zoe’s ego is also a tad apparent in L*40. “Why didn’t Vi send me on her Gim mission? She knows I have healing experience!”

And I get that everything was happening so fast, so the team didn’t really have time to mourn Gim

Vi turning 5 Legionnaires into frogs was funny, and Gates being all “ but I wasn’t even there!”

Using eye instead of I also annoys the crap out of me and has annoyed the crap out of me every time it's appeared...To me it's like the comic book equivalent of when you see the boom mic in a TV show.