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

Superboy #21
Making History - Future Tense, part 1 of 3

Issue Information

Summary:

As Superboy ironically races to history class, members of the Legion of Super-Heroes arrive in the 20th century. One is missing though - XS! Brainiac 5 insists they look for her later and find Superboy. They can always time travel again to save her, so he views it as a moot issue.

Superboy has returned from class and is distraught his artificial knowledge has now caught up to where they are in school. Now he'll have to *gasp* actually study. Just then, the Legion bursts in! The typical super-hero battle ensues, as the Legion can't get a telepathic earplug into Kon's ear to translate Interlac for him. Superboy realizes something is off and his telepathic roomie, Dubbilex, links them all together.

Learning the Legion has arrived to rescue Valor, Superboy takes them to S.T.A.R.labs and relates how he saved Lar. The blueprints from holding the projector together are still in Superboy's mind, so Saturn Girl links him and Brainy. Everyone is hopeful Brainy can use his smarts to rebuild the machine, but the materials are too obsolete. Brainy gets huffy and triggers a time jump back to the 30th century, taking Superboy with them!

Thoughts:

This may be the first time the Legion bursts into Superboy's home in the 20th century, but it certainly won't be the last time. In fact everything is feeling very deja vu about this. It probably doesn't help that Cos, Imra, Brainy, and Lu all return to Superboy's home at some point as those stranded in the Team 20 era.

I always hate when Saturn Girl's telepathy gets written as more incapable than it is. Here it's Dubbilex that gets to be the psi that links everyone together - Saturn Girl never seems to think to try it in the battle. I'd rather a line about her fear that she couldn't understand old English herself anyway or just have her knocked out for the sake of the plot.

Poor XS. While Brainy's argument is valid, they do give up on looking for her quick. Cosmic Boy is the most concerned by her missing status - something Jenni would be blushing about had she known.

Despite taking 22 pages to tell, the plot here is very straight-forward. If it wasn't for the subplots, arbitrary hero fight, and throwing in Superboy's roommates for fun ... the whole story could have been cut in half. Valor's origin is retold I suspect less for Superboy readers but more for Legion fans who are tuning in for the first time due to the team's guest appearance here.

Legion of Super-Heroes 74
Prisoner of the Super-Heroes, Future Tense part 2 of 3

Issue information

Summary:

The Legionnaires and Superboy return to the 30th century, much to Superboy's annoyance. Brainiac 5 realizes that the Phantom Zone Projector's parts are too primitive to replicate with the materials he has on-hand. A team of Legionnaires, plus Superboy and Ultra Boy, travel to planet Korr to search its technological archive only to find that the piece they need has been stolen... by the Scavenger! The issue ends with the Scavenger using the Philosopher's Stone to vanquish the entire team!

Plus, a careless Superboy inadvertently reveals the Valor rescue mission to the UP public, stirring up extreme reactions from believers of different worlds.


Thoughts:

This issue was a pretty good read. It ably handled the series of conflicts - Triad's internal disagreements; Superboy's conflict with Brainiac 5 and much of the Legion; and the debate on how to handle Valor's rescue mission.

Superboy has every right to be annoyed at Brainy; as Future's review told us, Brainy had already asked Saturn Girl to link him to Superboy's mind, and had already realized how obsolete they were:



Yet Brainy pulls the specs AGAIN this issue. Ah well, the writers had to make sure Superboy was "needed" in the future, or this wouldn't be much of a crossover. I actually think Superboy's reaction was justified, and though he used machinery to attack Brainy, it was mild compared to what, say, Wolverine would do. And Superboy's right - you need help, just ask!

Having Triad be the Legionnaire whose belief in Valor is strongest is a good move. Her three personalities allow us to see just how extreme these feelings can get. It's also a way to further develop her, as we see that their emotional and mental differences extend even to their faith. Ooh, blasphemy. Triad must be really mad at Purple now. (By the way, the panel of Imra frowning in the background as Superboy is distracted by Triad's lust, is priceless).

Speaking of, Superboy's inadvertent Valor slip is unfortunate but not unexpected. He picked up on Triad Purple's interest and tried too hard to impress her. He got careless. A lot of teenage boys do that.

We don't see much of the UP's reaction to the Valor rescue mission, but we don't need to. Triad's reaction and Chu's call with Cos are enough to drive the point home. The writers also took a good opportunity to look in on the Ranzzes; it seems Winath is also a world of believers. The reactions of Spark and Live Wire are not nearly so extreme as Triad's though. Spark even chooses to stay home on Winath, and nobody admonishes her for it. Even if she were just humoring Garth, I'm sure her dad at least would have told her to go. If this were really the "most important event of their lives", of course. No, Triad's beliefs are a lot stronger.

Imra also knew about Valor's religious significance, though it doesn't seem as though she believes in him as a religious figure. And none of the other Legionnaires we see show signs of it.

By the way, Leviathan's explanation to Superboy on page 10 - "Sure, we're all from other worlds, except me", is a bit misleading. To Superboy's, and the readers', perspective, it makes it sound like Gim is from Earth while Lyle is not. Superboy, for all intents and purposes, sees himself as an Earth native. Or Kryptonian. Either way, Gim is from Mars; even if he had come from Earth, Lyle is also from Earth. But eh, it's a minor quibble and Gim is hardly the best at seeing things from others' perspectives.

Finally, we see quite a bit of action at the end. Interesting that Scavenger is still alive after a thousand years. His collection is amazing - I see two versions of the Batmobile, a Preboot Legion clubhouse, a ball with coloring matching that of Plastic Man's, Ray's helmet, Blue Beetle's bug and costume, Luthor's battlesuit, Brainiac's ship, Batman's giant penny, McDonald's arches, Guardian's shield, Hawkman's helmet, Flash's ring... and this is besides Superboy's jacket, Steel's staff, New Genesis aero-disks, Blue Devil's trident, the Philosopher's stone... and is that Captain Cold's gun that he uses to freeze so many Legionnaires?

Oh, and on page 19, 2nd panel... is that the Emerald Eye that bounces away from the shattered display case? UH-OH. Boy, I hope this is just a replica, and not the REAL eye...

The battle itself is well-choreographed. Things happen really quickly, though most of the Legionnaires get something to do and we do see them engage in some teamwork. The storytelling also makes it just abut plausible that Scavenger can easily take down 7 super-powered youths all by himself. The artwork gives us a sense that he's moving really quickly, and he does have access to a huge arsenal of weapons (thankfully most of them non-lethal). The only element that didn't go well? That one panel where Superboy and Ultra Boy go "where did he go?" Um, he seems to be right there in the panels before and after; you can see him in the foreground with Leviathan in the background, and he's close enough to zap Ultra boy too. Also, Triad doesn't get any action.

All in all a good second part to the crossover. The ending definitely leaves me wanting more.

Legionnaires 31
One Thousand Years of Solitude, Future Tense part 3 of 3

Issue information

Summary:

The away team manages to beat Scavenger without any casualties. The Legionnaires make a big show of activating the Phantom Zone projector to release Valor, only for the projector to fall apart in front of the gathered crowd and the news cameras!

A while later, the Phantom Zone spits out Valor - Brainiac 5 had triggered a time delay so Valor could exit the Zone in secret! The lead serum is successful and Valor is finally free, though he is forced to lie low due to his status. An upset Valor turns on Triad, who is consoled by Superboy. Superboy is made honorary Legionnaire before being returned to the 20th century.

Thoughts:

This was another fun issue with effective storytelling. The layout of the panes in the battle with Scavenger us superb, as is the teamwork: Chameleon gets Scavenger to drop the Philosopher's Stone, Triad catches it, Leviathan coaches her to use it to save Violet, who follows and defeats a shrunken Scavenger. And Ultra Boy's penetra-vision finds the missing piece they need, with Superboy's guidance. The pacing was just right and the excitement was kept up all throughout.

The Legion's solution to the Valor mess is inspired, and the storytelling is very effective. We don't get a hint at all that the Phantom Zone projector is meant to fall apart; the only clue is the last panel on page 14 where Superboy and Brainiac 5 grin as they run away, and that's already after the projector fails. That is good writing.

I do feel a bit bad for Brainy. He probably doesn't care much, but Cos yells at him a lot this issue. He's pretty much the only one Cos yells at! I do share Cos' concern for XS though. "XS is lost in time, and you're making toys?" Yeah, it's not like Brainy's forcefield is urgent. But I guess Brainy is just that confident about being able to find XS.

Superboy really redeemed himself this issue! He shows a lot of the depth that Future stated was present in his own series. I wouldn't call him manipulative, but he certainly knows how to make amends. Telling Saturn Girl he's a screw-up, apologizing to and flattering Brainiac 5, and consoling Triad at the end. And, as I forgot to mention in last issue's review, his budding friendship with Chameleon - who actually cries when he leaves.

Valor's anger at Triad and his disappointment at being asked to lie low is very realistic. After being trapped for so long, he must be itching to explore again; in the 20th century, he had the same lust for exploration. As someone who eagerly trawls through the Internet to find cheap flights and to research on far-off lands, I can relate. It's worse for Valor, as he easily has the powers and means to explore; the only reason he can't go out is because of his believers! His outburst is right in that the believers do use him to add meaning to their lives, but of course we can't blame them. His legend has been built up for over a thousand years, after all; and his deeds were great. It's nice to see the world seeding still a part of continuity too.

More Easter Eggs in Scavenger's lair - Quislet's ship, a GL power battery (?), Data's (from Star Trek's) head, and Atom's belt.

Scavenger's cybernetic enhancements also help explain why a) he's so tough, and b) why he's so long-lived.

I'm also pleased by how the creators managed to show - in one panel on page 8 - the gravity of the Valor leak. The two beings from different worlds arguing about how Valor looks like? Comedic AND effective.

The issue also has some choice comedic bits, like:

1) The ongoing flirtation between Purple and Superboy. When Purple whispers something to Superboy, Triad Neutral's and Orange's are much less violent. "Valor's watching!" I wonder how they knew what she was whispering to Superboy? Does she have some sort of telepathic link, or is it just from experience? Also, when Superboy whispers (possibly the same thing) back to an integrated Triad, her "WHAT did you say?!" line is priceless.

2) Chu asking who Superboy is. When Cos says he's a friend of Brainy's, Chu goes, "Brainiac 5 has friends?!"

3) The initiation prank at the end, where the Legion pretends that the time machine failed. A nice homage to the Adventure Era.

All in all, this was a nice, fun issue and helped us forget for a while just how bad the political climate around the Legion has gotten. It was a welcome break from the doom and gloom immediately following the White Triangle saga's conclusion.

mega thanks for starting /re starting this, GL!

1) Agree with Future re Saturn Girl's telepathy. she's quite capable, so having her act as some rookie telepath really does not sit well
3) Agree that the plot structure of the first issue was meh. Obligatory misunderstanding and fight, and of course the star of the book (Superboy) gets to realize something is off!

2) classic Brainy, not worrying about XS. "We're time traveling anyway, so what does it matter if we find her later?"

5) very much AGREE with your points, GL, on the issue of Superboy leaving Valor in the Zone for 1000 years. Yes, we can't rescue him earlier cause he's still in the Zone now! and we get some good moments showing Superboy's guilt, and Valor's trauma (not even saying bye to Superboy, and lashing out at Triad when Cosmic Boy tells him he needs to keep hidden...) 1000 years like that, I don't know if I could handle it!

7) lol re Kinetix being absent, indeed how would she relate to Superboy's tactile telekinesis? also Vi's crack about not telling Kinetix that they would throw away the Philosopher's stone...

also, I thought it was a hoot that the writers used the Stone... they hadn't been able to use Jan Arrah's powers a lot yet, so is this their way of showing "hey, we can too write some good transmutation..>!"

re time travel, yeah! one can go any-when, so Brainy could wait a month and still time travel to the exact time they lost XS... though, she would be slowed down in aging, compared to everyone else. well, one month behind anyway

Legion of Super-Heroes 75
2-Timer
Underworld Unleashed Tie-In, Part 1

Issue Information

Summary:
We finally find the missing XS, who herself finds the 20th century villain Chronos! Like other villains at that time, Chronos has been powered up by the demon Neron as part of the Underworld Unleashed event. And like other villains, Chronos suffers a drawback. In exchange for being able to time travel at will, Chronos ages every time he uses his power. He has managed to temporarily stop the aging by transferring its effects to others; mostly young children like Lori Morning.

Lori, the daughter of Chronos’ henchman Ronald, befriends XS despite the language barrier. They discover that Chronos has kidnapped several children and aged them several decades. They manage to stop Chronos in the 20th century, only for another version of him to appear and bring Lori to the 30th century where he attacks the Legion in order to steal Brainiac 5’s time platform! And XS remains in the past, though it seems that events will lead her to the current Flash, Wally West.

Thoughts:

Tie-in issues to company-wide crossovers are hit or miss at best, but this one is a hit. The linkages to the Underworld Unleashed event are minimal, and no additional knowledge of the event is needed to understand or appreciate this story.

The action is fast-paced and few panels are wasted. XS, despite us not understanding her speech (unless you have the Interlac guide handy) shines. She manages to understand Lori’s coaching and she also figures out how to use Chronos’ glove. And like the hero she is, she risks remaining aged bin order to restore the five boys that Chronos kidnapped first. Of course, she restores herself next before Lori, but I don’t hold that against her; Lori’s been aged only a few years at most and Lori doesn’t mind the aging at all. I also like the scene where XS is still lost in the timestream, and she uses the memory of Cosmic Boy’s encouragement to calm herself. XS’ heroic journey is nearly complete; she comes across as a very mature young hero. It’s also a nice reminder of Cos’ excellent inspirational leadership, which has sadly been waning in recent issues.

On to XS’ new friend Lori. She enjoys being physically aged because she wants to be taken more seriously. But she doesn’t realize that the aging doesn’t come with mental or intellectual maturity. She does decently though, coaching both XS and the 30th century Legionnaires about Chronos’ glove. Her nicknames, Speedy and Barbie, were cute and descriptive. And to her credit, Lori doesn’t fall apart even though she sees her dad die. Nor does she have any misplaced loyalties towards Chronos.

Chronos’ aging shtick reminds me a bit of Glorith, though his is out of necessity. True to his villainous nature, he isn’t the least bit apologetic when Ronald catches him aging Lori. His villainy is characterized more by selfishness than sadism; besides his one-panel mention of destroying the Atom, all his actions are towards the goal of obtaining a time machine so he won’t age anymore.

We don’t get to know Ronald Morning enough to mourn him, though his belligerence towards Chronos – even before he realizes what has happened to Lori – puzzle me. Why exactly is he working for Chronos in the first place? He doesn’t seem to have any respect, much less actual loyalty, for Chronos. Ah well. Lori, of course, is distraught when Ronald dies but things happen so fast she doesn’t really get to mourn him.

On to the 30th century. Enter Rond Vidar! This Rond seems older and more “nerdy” than the Preboot version. His history with Brainiac 5 is a nice touch.

The Legionnaires in the 30th century do their best against Chronos. They do manage to stop him, but sadly not the effects of his glove. It’s great how five of the seven Legionnaires get to do something in 4 pages (2 pages, if you consider that only half of each page takes place in the 30th!).

The juxtaposition of 20th and 30th centuries is interesting, but confusing. I do like how the events mirror (but don’t completely copy) each other. Raises a lot of questions though. Chronos (unsurprisingly) and Lori (a little more surprisingly) have the same lines. I’m still confused as to where the second Chronos came from though. This one doesn’t seem to have any memory of fighting XS or of “dying” in the 20th century, yet remembers his mission to get the 30th century time machine. His dialogue also indicates that he just left for the 30th. What crazy time loop is this?

The art is good, though Lee Moder’s deaged kids seem a bit too old. Lori talks like she’s maybe 10, the boys seem to be in their preteens. Maybe they’re not in the same year. The action was very easy to follow though, and the layouts (especially for the pages with the battles against Chronos) were good.

All in all a solid issue, and a good setup for future development for XS. Sadly, I don’t have copies of her adventures in the 20th century, so if anybody else does, go for it!

Legionnaires 32
Here and Now
Underworld Unleashed Tie-In, Part 2

Issue Information

Summary:

The Legionnaires survive their battle with Chronos, though he doesn’t. Lori is now aged to early adulthood. The Legionnaires seek Rond Vidar’s assistance, but a slip by Cosmic Boy leads to Chu ordering the Science Police to shut them down! The Legionnaires barely manage to extract Brainiac 5 from the timestream, and the issue ends with him arrested for time travel.

We also revisit Kinetix after about 10 issues (5 months of real world time). She’s close to death, but a white glow surrounds her ship and apparently teleports her away. To safety? Time will tell.

Thoughts:

Much like the previous issue, this one manages to pack in a lot of fast-paced and easy to follow action. It also gives almost every character a chance to shine despite limited panel space and a cast of over a dozen.

The opening scenes are very well-done and heighten the tension and suspense. Does everyone make it? Having the scene be from Valor’s point of view keeps us guessing, and also gives some much-needed panel time to our new character. It’s really a testament to his power (and maturity) that he saves the Athramites and Shvaughn without them realizing it is him; he also keeps himself hidden despite wanting to burst free and explore his new world. I can empathize; I daydream about and make plans for travel a lot, and these restrictions can chafe. Valor’s inclusion also helps bridge the language gap with Lori.

The succeeding scenes are well-paced, and each furthers the plot along. Cos’ inadvertent slip leads Chu to send the Science Police down on everyone; Lyle’s tinkering brings Brainy back and Rond’s tinkering leads him to the Time Institute. And somehow, the chronal energy resurrects Chronos. What?I don’t get it myself, but at least Chronos gives a one-panel guess that it must be Neron’s work. Lori, once again, proves she is someone great to have in a crisis. She gives Brainy the key to escaping the timestream, and gives the Legion the key to defeating Chronos. Lobe her stamping his foot too. Well done!

There’s a teensy error on page 5 though. Valor is speaking in Interlac in the first two panels, but Lori somehow understands him. Why does he have to switch to English in the next few panels then?

Triad’s suspicion of Lori is a nice touch, and might hold some jealousy. I’m sure she must be glad that Valor helped her first though, and that he doesn’t seem to be mad at her anymore.

Lyle’s “friendship” with Brainy, though not really seen before this, is refreshing. It looks like Lyle respects Brainy after all, despite their early rivalry (in Planet Hell, when Lyle invented the flight ring, and to an extent during the Composite Durlan battle) it does seem a bit odd that Lyle would think of Brainy as his pal (“he hasn’t said two words to me since Andromeda died” – why? It’s not like they were particularly friendly before, despite being the two smart guys on the team!). And true to form, Lyle doesn’t follow orders and isn’t afraid to tinker with things by himself.

This Rond is definitely more “nerdy” and research-minded than the Preboot Rond. His history with Brainy is a nice touch. I’m VERY interested in why Chu seems to be so eager to clamp down on time travel, and share Cosmic Boy’s surprise that you can’t talk about time travel in the Time Institute! I’m also glad that Rond, though definitely not Brainy’s equal, is capable enough to enable Brainy to “bounce” to the Time Institute. Good job! And it looks like Lori likes Rond’s brains, too.

I’m also very annoyed at the gung-ho, by-the-books actions of the Science Police this issue. Except for Shvaughn (good girl, siding with the Legion like that! And a good continuation of events in LSH Annual 6), they don’t even seem to care that blasting the equipment could kill Brainy or innocent bystanders. Excuse me? Surely there are better ways to shut down equipment than by blasting them. I don’t mind them obeying orders to shut down experiments with time, but doing so in such a careless way is just moronic.

Lori is easily distracted, like many children her age. I barely understood her explanation myself, especially at the end. And this comes from me reading the previous issue! (Rond’s “you lost me” line is comedic and perfectly executed by the way).

Cos’ concern for XS is on-the-spot, and Jenni would surely have been happy to know that Cos was concerned. Sadly, he doesn’t seem to be at all concerned for Brainy. First time I read this issue I was perplexed; Cos is the leader! Didn’t he authorize Brainy’s invention? Of course, reading all the issues in order made me realize that Brainy invented the time machine himself; but it just seemed odd that Cos wouldn’t defend Brainy. President’s orders, huh? But how will they find XS now with Brainy in jail and time research outlawed? Surely he could have tried to explain that?

Imra’s a bit like a Mama Bear here. “Cos, give it a rest! Lori, SPEAK!” Heh. That is so Imra.

Gim is the quintessential soldier here. I don’t begrudge him his siding with the Science Police; surely he didn’t know they would shut down the machinery so violently, and potentially kill Brainy. I do agree with him though – don’t mess with things you don’t understand, especially when the Legion is already consulting an expert who could possibly properly extract Brainy.

Brainy is, as usual, smart and arrogant. He shines in his scenes here.

Finally, we devote one page to Kinetix. Poor Zoe, she looks in dire straits here. I’m surprised she survived so long myself; maybe the Stargate space warped time somehow and she exited some time in the future. I mean, we last saw her in LSH 71, before the White Triangle members attacked Earth. That has got to be at least a few weeks in Legion time (since then, they buried their dead, fought Dr. Regulus, Garth and Ayla defeated Mekt, and they freed Valor from the timestream). In any case, it’s good they haven’t forgotten totally about her.

Violet certainly hasn’t forgotten; her few panels show she’s still very much worried about Zoe. I think this is the first we’ve seen (of actual worry, I mean) since the White Triangle war. Good to know Vi’s continuing her search; looks like their friendship remains strong.

All in all, a good and enjoyable issue. The art is good, the action is easy to follow, the characters are developed further with the cast being juggled well. Of course, more and more questions arise – why does Chu hate time travel so much? Why is Cos acting the way he is? And how the heck is the Legion supposed to survive, with a wrecked HQ and a dwindling membership? Since LSH Annual 6, we’ve lost Kinetix, Apparition, Andromeda, XS and now Brainiac 5! The memberships of Live Wire, Element Lad and Ultra Boy have also been blocked, and Spark is on Winath – we’re down to only 7 Legionnaires from a peak of 13. Grim times, indeed…

I agree that this two-parter did a good job of showing the past/future action seamlessly. Those pages with things happening in parallel were gold. still confused as to how we had a "dead" Chronos and a new Chronos showing up later. but I try not to think about that too much lol

I, sadly, read the main Underworld Unleashed mini. The first issue was solid enough, but the rest were terrible.

re Lori's actual age, I think her age after Rond de-ages her in Legionnaires 44 is her true age. So basically, when we first meet her she's aged just enough that her dad would notice... so a few years. Basically, hitting puberty a tad early

XS got some good use in the 20th C from what I remember

a few issues later will make it clear Cos was playing along, but without that foreknowledge this seemed really bad!

For bonus points, the section of the collapse maps directly to the location of Brainy's lab as depicted in the map in the Year One annual.

That's part of what I'm a bit confused about - Is Rokk already playing her at this point?

At least Chronos got a costume upgrade - goodbye to those striped pants!

This was a pretty fast-paced story, especially part 2. We were kept up to date on Valor's situation and Kinetix's status (unclear, but she's still in the story - and I thought about how happy IB must have been when her page appeared). It's good to see Lyle demonstrate his scientific skill - and still at odds with Rokk's orders.

Cos does come off as a jerk (and I don't recall if he was on to Chu at this point and if Brainy was also in on it), but it's consistent with his play by the rules approach to leadership. Others might not like it, but they probably wouldn't be surprised that he let Brainy be carted off by the SPs.

Lori Morning was usually a character that elicited groans from me, but she seemed authentic here, except that she didn't appear to greatly bothered about her father's death, just excited that she had aged into a young woman.

He should be. In Legionnaires 29, we have a page where Cos is talking to Chu, and in the background we see an Omnicom "flying" around - Cos can see it as it is behind Chu. The flying around bit is likely an invisible Lyle's work.

If I am right, Brainy was not in on it - Brainy mentions later in LSH 80 that he was also fooled by Cos' act.

And agree re Lori, she comes across as more likable and mature here, than in many of her later appearances! (even when she gets aged to adulthood!)

Legion of Super-Heroes 76
Bouncing Back

Issue Information

Summary:

New members Star Boy and Gates, as well as architect Chuck Taine, meet a frosty reception at Legion HQ. The team's morale is at possibly its lowest point yet, as Leviathan comes to blows with Cosmic Boy while Invisible Kid pulls Triad, Chameleon and Violet together into an Espionage Squad.

Spark returns and is punished by Cos. Valor leaves, frustrated at having to remain in hiding. Violet has a crisis of confidence after feeling ignored and searching for Kinetix in vain.

Kinetix awakens on the Sorceror's World, tended to by an old hag called Mysa who hints about power!

Winema Wazzo confronts Ultra Boy, who confesses his love for Tinya and wished that he had died instead. In a fit of emotion, she urges him to destroy Legion HQ to prevent more teens from dying.

President Chu shuts down the Time Institute in order to clamp down on time travel, and the issue ends with the Institute being attacked by a villain who looks like Starfinger... and who was sent by a mysterious woman!

Thoughts:

A lot happens in this issue - most of it unrelated, but at the same time there is a sense that many plot threads (the Xanthian member mentioned in LSH 66, Kinetix's fate, Lyle's dissatisfaction with Cos, Valor's fate) are starting to progress. But the threads are discrete enough that it feels like a jumbled mess with too much going on. It's easy to empathize with the overwhelmed Legionnaires.

The issue itself reads like a mish-mash of fleeting scenes with little true resolution. Lyle, Cham and Lu are together in one scene; suddenly, we see Lyle alone in one scene and Lu alone in another; then the three are together again. Gates and Star Boy join together but don't do anything. We don't get any hints as to what Lyle is planning.

On the plus side, there were plenty of little character moments. I know I was tickled pink by the introductions of Chuck Taine and Star Boy, and the return (and membership!) of Gates!

Gates easily stole the show, his snarky and opinionated comments had me cracking up (. And teleportation is way up high on my list of cool, tactically advantageous powers.

Chuck looks to be on his way to becoming unofficial Chief of Morale yet again (a moniker he took early in the Preboot!), and it's a welcome ray of light in these depressing times. Having him be an architect adds a nice dimension to the character. And his speech at the end - "We'd all be dead if not for the Legion!" - made me cheer. Come on Legionnaires, get your act together!

Finally, Star Boy's intro also is a nice nod to his Preboot days - the space-cruiser accident (which caused him to miss out on a lot of action!) and his friendliness.

Leviathan vs. Cos - Cos at least had the wits to stop the fight. At least he's still not a total wreck (though he does diss Marla and yells at the other Legionnaires). I don't side with his decisions, but he came out better here. Gim pushes an innocent Cham without provocation, and I'm sure he threw the first punch. Gim does have a point, though. Poor Marla tries unsuccessfully to diffuse the tension; it seems the Legion's adult advisor doesn't hold much sway here.

Kinetix is safe (thank grife!), but is still intent on power. Let's not forget that her lust for power caused her to be depowered in the first place, and nearly got her killed. Having her be found by the magical Mysa is a slight confidence booster, but doesn't soothe my fears entirely. Remember, Mysa as the Hag was one of the bad guys. So it remains to be seen - will she ultimately be evil in this reality?

Poor Violet is burning herself out with worry over Zoe. Vi seems to be the only one who IS worried; she was closest to Zoe, but I'd still expect the others (including the besotted Gim!) to worry about her a little bit. To add to her inner turmoil, Gim remarks that he should be the one worrying about Zoe, because of the way she used to smile at him. An annoyed Violet shrinks away with the classic line - "maybe she was laughing at your hat!", which causes Gim to remove his headgear.

Anyway, poor Vi's feelings are sad AND realistic; her closest friend is missing, Spark gets so much attention, and it looks like Vi has a crush on Gim - who has a crush on Zoe! Oy! She knows they are her friends, and she knows she has to be more assertive. I look forward to seeing a more confident Vi.

The Spark secret admirer subplot is revisited again, though all we really know is that someone is going through a lot of effort! Tenzil? Lyle? Someone else entirely? I don't mind Cos' punishment of Spark too much, though the unspecified duration IS a bit harsh. But we can't have a superhero team whose members just go running around without at least keeping the leader informed.

Touching moment between Jo and Winema is ruined by Winema's deep-seated anger and hatred. She accepts that Jo loved Tinya, but then urges him to destroy Legion HQ. Whooo. Say... wasn't there some other powerful being who is being used as a puppet by someone? Someone who wants to take the Legion down?

The mysterious Starfinger is eerie AND terribly powerful, and like in the Preboot seems to be a puppet. I'm interested to see where this goes.

The hormones are flying! Lori hates being treated like a kid, but still acts like one. Rond is devastated by the Time Institute shutdown, but we know he'll be okay.

And of course, the Science Police are being a tad bull-headed. Ah well.

Overall, this story was a big jumble. There's a sense of movement, but it's all confused. Too much is happening, and it's a big change of pace from the last few 2-parter stories. I got the sense that the writers were making up for lost time, so to speak; they just finished a couple of tie-in/crossover stories which they were forced to tell, and as a result a lot of the other scenes and developments they had been meaning to work on were bumped to this issue.

On the plus side, the massive number of developments does make me excited to see what happens next. It also gives a feeling that - maybe - there will be some sort of grand culmination of all these plot threads soon.

The art is serviceable, and Lee Moder is doing a good job helping us follow the action.

Legionnaires 33
The Inhuman Touch

Issue Information

Summary:

We continue from LSH 76, with the mysterious masked man who looks like Preboot Starfinger attacking the Time Institute. Despite antagonism from some Science Police officers, Saturn Girl and Rond Vidar manage to stop him, though he escapes.

The masked man later appears on Guron, a technologically backward world that is negotiating to join the UP. Chu sends the Legionnaires to stop him, but he takes most of them out - disintegrating the Legion cruiser AND Invisible Kid's flight ring, sending a tower crashing onto Leviathan's head, and "disintegrating" the oxygen around the others. Only Shrinking Violet remains, and she charges him as the issue ends.

Subplots:

1) We see a gift flying invisibly towards Spark while she's on Monitor Duty. Spark immediately figures out that it must be Lyle's doing, as he's the only male on the team who could have left it without her noticing.

2) A call from their mom shows that Live Wire left Winath almost immediately after Spark did.

3) Leviathan puts Star Boy and Gates through training. An injured Star Boy suddenly manifests electrical vision powers which he can't control. Gates continues to show contempt for the Legion, while Leviathan is still angry at Cosmic Boy for admitting Star Boy and Gates, but not Ultra Boy or Jan Arrah.

4) Lori Morning explores Metropolis on her own. She mistakes an alien shop owner for a pet. The Science Police are called in after the alien accuses her of harassment.

5) Violet's bravery at the end of the issue is also highlighted in more quiet scenes. She steps in to stop Cos and Imra from arguing heatedly about Lori by reminding them they are supposed to be friends. And when Spark gloats about Lyle being her secret admirer, Violet simply says she used to be jealous, but thought about it and would rather be happy for her. (A sharp contrast to LSH 76, where she was crying in bed about being ignored!)

6) On Takron-Galtos, the warden tries interrogating Brainiac 5 to figure out what he knows about time travel. He promises to try worse.

7) Kinetix recovers on the Sorceror's World. Mysa shows her an image of the Emerald Eye and says they need to find and destroy it before it possesses anyone else. Enthralled, Kinetix thinks the Eye is beautiful.

Thoughts

A lot happens this issue, with all the subplots being developed. And most of those don't seem related to the main plot. Instead, the Legion's diverse cast continues to get developed.

Right now it still feels a bit like the Legion is caught up in events, rather than shaping them. Mysterious masked man out to destroy them (we know his "master" wants him to destroy the Legion, but is the Time Institute also a target?). Using him to lure the Legion to Guron was clever, it's not a UP world so there would be less of a chance of someone assisting the Legionnaires.

Star Boy's electrical vision powers are a throwback to the Adventure Era, where he temporarily had Superboy-like powers. Poor Star Boy is a bit of a clumsy knucklehead here. In training, Leviathan tells him to stop Chameleon - Thom does so by sinking him into the ground with his gravity powers, damaging the gym. Gim predictably gets mad, and I agree with Gim here. Powers should be used responsibly, people.

Gates, on the other hand, shows much better power control. And nearly every line is a gem. "Training for what? Assassination? Torture? No thanks!" Later on when Cos tells the Legion to "watch him for cues", Gates goes, "have no fear master, we wouldn't DREAM of thinking for ourselves!" (to which Cos retorts, "Gates...SHUT UP!" That made me laugh out loud. Two issues in and I already love Gates.

Lyle's fear of heights is mentioned again, in battle - did the Masked Man know that, and is that why it was Lyle's flight ring he destroyed? Lyle does sneak in a fun snarky line. Leviathan tells him to hold on, to which Lyle responds, "If there was anything to hang on to, there wouldn't be a problem, would there?"

Imra's hand-to-hand continues to shine, by the way. She beats the masked man at the Time Institute with her fists and flight ring as she can't hit him telepathically.

All in all, a nice issue. Lots of character moments, some good action. The main drawback is that the overall plot does not seem to move forward so much, and the Legion is still stuck in a rather unpleasant relationship with the UP and the Science Police. On the plus side, while that atmosphere is felt this issue, it's quite a bit more upbeat than the last one was and the Legionnaires act like a much better unit in battle.

Lastly, as a Kinetix fan, I have to comment - the cover features her finding the Emerald Eye, but she only gets two pages in the issue! Whaaaat!

Gates mentions weight when teleporting, and we see some attempts to limit his power. It IS a useful one... we've also seen attempts to limit Saturn Girl's telepathy, and of course for Andromeda we have that handy lead weakness too.

thanks for that bit of science re Gates teleporting from orbit!

Chuck giving everyone a small wake-up call was great.

and indeed, some great hand-to-hand from Imra vs. Starfinger - I think her first really good hand-to-hand fight since her introduction, if I am right.

in this case when Chuck told them to check their attitudes at the door

I remember this bit!

I remember I wasn't wild about Chuck being relegated to support status in the reboot, but that speech was a really good way of very quickly showing that he was going to be treated respectfully as a member of the cast and not just be an easter egg.

The Bouncing Boy was another one, but I guess that's a long time coming yet

The multiple plots were a plus for me - kept every pot boiling. It did feel a bit chaotic, but the Legion is in a bit of disarray at this point. Cos seems to be in over his head with no deputy-like support. He's got two new members, one who isn't 100% functional and one who absolutely doesn't want to be there, one other member in prison, one missing, one pretending to be dead, Valor under wraps and a time-displaced kid wandering around. It's pretty sneaky of Lyle to organize action against Cos, but that's espionage for you. Don't know if they'll ever really resolve their differences.

Chuck does shine here, the outsider voice that can speak to everyone. It's cool that he's an architecture student and not some slacker cutting out of work to go to a ballgame.

Mysa the Hag AND the Emerald Eye - that's an interesting mix of Legion history. You just figure Zoe's headed for big trouble here.

A few teasers for Spark's admirer. Whoever it is is going overboard with the gifts. Violet's reaction shows that she's growing in self-confidence; I wonder if she was a favourite of Peyer and McCraw.

GL has a point that Jo is unbelievably devastated by Tinya's death - he's supposed to be a tough guy - but maybe it's partly guilt that he couldn't save her.

Always liked Lee Moder's skinny Legionnaires! I may be in the minority and have only encountered one other fan as enthusiastic as I am.

great point, FC. I remember feeling sympathy for Cos at times during this era - who would not be stressed, with all that going on? also with Brainy in jail, nobody can search for XS...

re missing Zoe, it was an interesting / nice touch that Mysa mentioned casting a spell so nobody else would worry. Did Gim already start flirting with her at this point? ah yes, Gim mentioned that to Vi in the scene where she insulted his "silly hat" (and immediately shrank out of sight, lol!) And the Mysa scene ties into this, with Vi's friendship being stronger than Gim's crush - I liked that bit

Legion of Super-Heroes 77
Lock Up
Issue information

Summary:

The Warden of Takron-Galtos illegally enlists Nara Minsork, a roge Titanian, to probe Brainiac 5's mind and learn the secrets of time travel.

Minsork uses illegal technology to dig into Brainiac 5's mind, and finds his memory of the last time he felt pleasant - the day he was born.

Yet, Brainy's memory of that moment is objective because he already forgot what he felt. And that's why he wanted to travel through time - it was the only way for him to see his mother's face again, as Colu expunged all records of her. Brainy uses his complete control of his mind to threaten Minsork that he will trap her in it, unless she gives up this memory and allow him to suppress it again.

Thoughts:

The issue is told from the point of view of Nara Minsork, not of Brainiac 5. It actually works here; Minsork's telepathy allows us to see how a Coluan's mind would differ from an ordinary sentient. And to also see how far advanced Brainy's 12th level intelligence is from the typical Coluan's.

It also makes for more dramatic reveals of Brainy's time on Colu. He was bored to death simply because he was so much smarter than everyone else. This lets us see his isolation. I'm reminded of a similar insight with Marvel's Quicksilver, where he likens his super-speed to living in a world where he is always "stuck in line" with slow-moving people - explaining his impatience. This explains Brainy's own impatience with much less intelligent people.

The issue gives more key insights into Brainy:

1) He does not attach much emotional significance to most of his life

2) Besides his birth, a key event was when the Coluans kicked Brainy out of Colu because he kept running experiments without proper clearance. Nobody else on Colu was smart enough to understand what he was doing, so to prevent him from "destroying the planet", he was "given away" to work for RJ Brande.

3) Brainy kept blowing up Brande Industries labs. Brande found him an internship at the Time Institute...

4) ... but Brainy was pulled away from there when he was drafted into the Legion. His Legion career was full of boredom and annoyance at being distracted, and jealousy at the attention Invisible Kid got from inventing the flight rings from Brainy's discarded experiment...

5) Except for Andromeda, whom he was fascinated with. He was genuinely sad at her death. but the issue implies that he didn't so much as crush on Andromeda, as he was fascinated because she physically resembled Brainy's mom (tall, blonde). Andromeda's death saddened Brainy because she reminded him of his mom.

All in all, a good story that really lets us get to know Brainiac 5. Nara Minsork isn't a shabby character either; an amoral woman who uses technology to break into Brainy's mind even though it risks shutting his mind down permanently. The Warden is also a good example of the corruption under Chu's UP - he knows hiring Minsork, a rogue telepath, is illegal; and he blackmails her into working for him. Yet, he is willing to do these because Chu is leaning on him to discover Brainy's secrets of time travel - despite time travel being outlawed by the UP! If we didn't already know Chu was bad news, this cements it for us.

Legionnaires 34
Fallen Star

Issue Information

Summary:

Picking up from the cliffhanger in L* 33, Shrinking Violet charges Starfinger. Too small to be affected by his powers, she manages to get close and beat him - though not without minor injuries. She finds, to her shock, that Starfinger is really Jan Arrah!

Back in Legion HQ, Saturn Girl telepathically probes Jan Arrah along with Cosmic Boy and Leviathan. From his memory, they see it was Winema Wazzo who captured and brainwashed him, in order to get revenge on the Legion for Apparition's death..

Cos, Gim and Lyle interrupt a UP session to show their video of Winema attacking Jan. President Chu and the other UP delegates start questioning Winema, but Chu interrupts to order Cos to freeze his video. In a scene showing Jan traveling as Starfinger, she points out a background image of a Sun-Eater! Chu brings the Legionnaires to the UP Secret Archive, and tells them about how dangerous the Sun-Eater is - that it can literally destroy stars. She also introduces the villains that Legion fans will know as the Fatal Five - besides Mano, there are Tharok, Validus, Persuader, and Empress (no Emerald!). In this reality, each was genetically engineered by their homeworlds to fight the Sun-Eater (or so Chu says). Lyle references his Earthgov past, saying the five were unoffically called the Fatal Five because of how dangerous they were.

Cos convenes the team, and the 10 remaining Legionnaires agree they are short-handed and need all the help they can get. Only Gates dissents; everyone else agrees to enlist the help of the Fatal Five.

Finally, Tharok gets a call from someone who says that the UP has dispatched the Legion to collect the Fatal Five, as planned. Tharok agrees to hold his end of the bargain - to kill the Legion.

Elsewhere...

1) We see Valor on Drak IV. A bunch of scavenging nomads have found a cache of very high-powered arms. After beating off their attack, Valor questions the nomads on where they found the arms; they say they just found them there. Valor destroys the arms and leaves the scavengers for the Science Police.

2) On the Sorcerer's World, Mysa restores Kinetix's power and sends her after the Emerald Eye.

3) Saturn Girl is called to pick up Lori Morning. The sentient that Lori petted is filing a complaint; Imra scolds him for not understanding that Lori made an honest mistake. Lori gets off with a warning.

4) Chuck Taine walks in on Violet as she changes. A stammering Chuck apologizes, while Violet is cool as a cucumber. Triad is surprised that Violet wasn't even embarrassed. Violet responds that she grew tired of resenting her teammates for just relaxing and having fun; she even chides herself for spending so much time searching for Kinetix, "like she isn't fully equipped to take care of herself!" Violet changes into a more revealing costume.

Thoughts:

I like the cover blurb (Shrinking Violent!) way better than the actual title (Fallen Star). Shrinking Violent is a nice play on words. Fallen Star does not really seem to fit, unless it refers to the brainwashed Jan? Or to the stars being devoured by the Sun-Eater? Or to Winema being caught in wrongdoing?

Speaking of, Winema's grief over Tinya's death, her previous animosity to the Legion, and her temperament all combine to make her a plausible villain.

Most of the issue's events seem to be a roller-coaster: first we have a brainwashed Jan Arrah (a powerful weapon indeed) attacking the Legion; then his memories show a Sun-Eater, which Chu immediately picks up on. Then the Legion is sent to gather the Fatal Five, and in the end someone is revealed to be pulling the strings to have the Fatal Five kill the Legion. I read these issues out of order, so I cannot say for sure if I would have been suspicious way back then... but the writers drop enough hints that I can imagine many savvy readers start questioning these events.

Valor acts a bit cocky here. After felling the nomads, he goes "Oh, come on. That was one punch." When he escapes the arriving Science Police, he tells the one conscious nomad, "Listen, I have a problem. I;m famous, see? And right now, I can't afford to be seen except by the stupid, the out-of-it...people like you." Whoa. Can't imagine Preboot Mon-El saying these things. But then again, we know this version of Lar Gand had a somewhat different reaction to his Phantom Zone imprisonment... and of course, he has his messiah status in this reality to deal with. I can understand him getting a bit of an attitude.

Leviathan is impatient and brash as usual, while Cos is much calmer and more even-tempered this issue. Lyle managed to weasel his way into confronting Chu, even if he wasn't part of Jan's mental probe. Did Cos decide to bring in him because of his experience with Earthgov?

Gates continues to be a star. With just one line, he probably brings in 90% of the humor in this issue - "I suppose if our reactionary president told you to jump into a black hole, you'd do that, too!" interestingly, Spark and Triad and Chameleon are among the ones to defend Cos, despite Spark and Triad at least having serious disagreements with him recently.

Violet's bravery against Jan isn't new - she showed the same fire versus Micro in LSH v4 66. But her demeanor outside of battle - not being fazed by Chuck walking in, wearing a more revealing costume - are completely new. Perhaps the writers had already decided to make her the Emerald Empress by this point, which would explain her sudden confidence boost. Of course, to the reader it should be a big clue that something is amiss, as she was so softspoken outside of battle before! Remember when Zoe was changing her outfits in Legionnaires 23?

As Future mentioned above, Kinetix's subplot moves along without developing her character any. In her one-page scene, she is still as eager as before to get power; and she never even thinks of the potential dangers of the Emerald Eye. She's my favorite Legionnaire, but I have to admit her subplot hasn't been doing her many favors yet.

Lori's subplot is almost as bad. Her running off is realistic, but what purpose does it serve? She got into trouble, then Imra got her out of trouble with her Imra-ness. Plenty of build up, no pay off.

As for the Fatal Five, not much has changed for Tharok, Validus or Persuader. We already know Mano is a very different character this reality. That leaves Empress:in terms of power, a big step down. No more Emerald Eye, so she is just a cruel killing machine - "she knows a thousand ways to kill a hundred different species". No evidence of any super powers. She likes to pass herself off as a political freedom fighter, so we are told. Maybe that is why she calls herself the Empress, I don't know.

This is another solid issue. Subplots don't add that much yet, but the main action is pretty gripping, if a bit fast-paced. It does move the overall story along quite a bit.

you got it signed by Jeff Moy! Lucky you, and happy for you!

lol at your comment re Zoe not getting any sense

Jan as Starfinger was a great way to show how versatile and dangerous his powers can be! and it all made sense too in the end, as to how he could do all the Liquefying and Burning and all that

also funny re the team Cos brought to the UP - his deputy Gim, and spymaster (lol) Lyle. not even Imra, who did the telepathic scans. but of course, Gim and Lyle would have pushed for going, while Imra would have been more OK to step back

and yeah, the look at Brainy's history was nice and revealing. he was already coldly arrogant from the beginning of his life, but the abandonment by his mom Brainiac 4 does humanize him a little. and him threatening to trap Nara Minsork in his brain shows just how advanced his mind is. also love that he does not really mind being imprisoned, as it lets him think free of distraction!

I do appreciate the plotting done by the team, by the way. Brainy being imprisoned leads into a spotlight issue, for example. the timing of Vi's new confidence is also spot-on as to the ongoing story. all the individual threads re Jan going to Trom and getting kidnapped, Winema's reactions to Tinya's death, etc. are also woven in and starting to converge...

Valor acts a bit cocky here. After felling the nomads, he goes "Oh, come on. That was one punch." When he escapes the arriving Science Police, he tells the one conscious nomad, "Listen, I have a problem. I;m famous, see? And right now, I can't afford to be seen except by the stupid, the out-of-it...people like you." Whoa. Can't imagine Preboot Mon-El saying these things. But then again, we know this version of Lar Gand had a somewhat different reaction to his Phantom Zone imprisonment... and of course, he has his messiah status in this reality to deal with. I can understand him getting a bit of an attitude.

As Future mentioned above, Kinetix's subplot moves along without developing her character any. In her one-page scene, she is still as eager as before to get power; and she never even thinks of the potential dangers of the Emerald Eye. She's my favorite Legionnaire, but I have to admit her subplot hasn't been doing her many favors yet.

Lori's subplot is almost as bad. Her running off is realistic, but what purpose does it serve? She got into trouble, then Imra got her out of trouble with her Imra-ness. Plenty of build up, no pay off.

The other big flag that something is off is the revelation and confrontation about Winema Wazzo. They deliver seemingly hard evidence, and nothing is done but focusing on a small background detail that sends the story off into an entirely different direction, which is confirmed when we meet Tharok at the end. But the Five are what we'd expect - we've met Mano, Persuader and Validus are exactly the same as before, and the Empress is pre-Eye - all pretty cool starting points.

LSH 77 is one of my favourite issues from this run. Nara Minsork is unique - she's dressed like a dame in a Marlowe novel (30th century style) and she's trouble - an immoral telepath. She just wants to make a living, it seems, not take over the universe. It's a refreshing take on a citizen of Titan.

That scene seemed unbelievable to me. The Legion just bursts into the meeting, accuses Winema in front of everybody, then it's all dropped with the SunEater revelation. Will we later find out that Chu knew about Jan/Starfinger and that's why she so easily dismissed the accusation?

And I totally missed Vi's green eyes - and took her new outfit as just a sign that she was gaining confidence as a Legionnaire.

Legion of Super-Heroes 78
The Gathering Doom
Issue information

Summary:

The UP Council meets outdoors. Most delegates are nervous, but President Chu faces up to the situation by describing exactly how scary the Sun-Eater is. She outlines her plans to have the Legion stop the Sun-Eater, prompting an outburst from Winema, who is promptly removed. Chu recovers smoothly, and promises that no UP star-system will be destroyed. We see panicking non-UP worlds rush to join the UP to gain protection.

The Legionnaires split into pairs to collect the Fatal Five.

Cosmic Boy and Violet head to McCauley's base to retrieve Mano. Evolvo devolves into ape form to stall the Legionnaires, but Violet promptly scares him into submission with her shrinking. McCauley, forced to comply, brings the Legionnaires to Mano. The UP makes a generous offer - help against the Sun-Eater, and get a full pardon. Mano accepts, much to McCauley's horror, as nothing will stop Mano from pursuing his vengeance. Cos shows little sympathy; McCauley was keeping Mano in a horrible cell without legal authority - with rats imported from the sewers of Paris! Even if Mano had rejected the offer, the Legionnaires would have had him transferred to a proper jail.

Saturn Girl and Spark head to Pasnic to find Validus running loose. Imra sees Validus' mind is just a "big angry head full of nothing"! Spark resists Validus' lightning but can't affect him in return. Imra manages to telepathically implant a big, scary image of herself into Validus' mind - making him faint!

Chameleon and Leviathan head to an asteroid for Venegar, built specifically to house the Empress. They find her lounging on the bodies of every single sentient there, much to their horror.

Gates and Invisible Kid find Tharok's hideout. Lyle warns Gates not to teleport ahead, despite Gates' difficulty walking; Gates does still teleport, but wisely waits by the entrance to Tharok's lair. Lyle gives a recap of Tharok's history - stupid criminal who got solvent spilled on half his body; reconstructed into a cyborg by a surgeon, whom he promptly killed; cybernetic enhancements make him extremely intelligent. To their surprise, Tharok surrenders without a fight. Interestingly, Tharok is holding what looks to be the Atomic Axe.

And on Takron-Galtos, Star Boy and Triad go on ahead to take custody of the Persuader, sans Axe. We find a new Warden, replacing the one who sicced Nara Minsork on Brainiac 5 in LSH v4 77. She mentions that the old Warden is now behind bars. Triad sees Brainy and tries to talk to him, but he ignores her - too busy thinking. Talk about lost in thought.

As the Legionnaires and Fatal Five assemble, Tharok hands the Atomic Axe to Persuader, gives a shiny dagger to Empress, frees Validus, and rallies the Fatal Five to kill the Legion. Uh-oh.

Thoughts:

The cover is an excellent homage to the Adventure Comics issue with the original Fatal Five story!

The Gathering Doom. Nice title, and a subtle foreshadowing also that maybe gathering the Fatal Five wasn't the best idea.

The writers managed to pack a lot of characterization - both for Legionnaires and for the Fatal Five - into a series of lovely little vignettes. This issue was structured extremely well, and the action was not interrupted at all by any subplots. References to matters outside of the main plot (e.g. Mano's vendetta versus McCauley) are folded into the main story.

On the Legionnaires -

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.

Violet also continues to be confident and clever, scaring ape-man Evolvo without throwing a punch.

Spark doesn't get to do much, but I like her snarky yet professional demeanor. She is good for a few cracks while still getting the job done.

Saturn Girl pulls the big save against Validus; to be fair, she is probably the Legion's only effective weapon against him now.

Leviathan's sense of justice comes through at how disgusted he is of the Empress.

Chameleon doesn't do much, though his Interlac has improved a bit. At least he can be understood without the need for a translator.

Invisible Kid references his spy past again; he shows much more caution this time around. Learning from past mistakes?

Gates, despite his bravado and sarcasm, showed his fear of Tharok. Again, comedy gold for the little bug!

Triad spends most of her lines yelling at Star Boy, and grumbling at Cos for giving her the "easy job" of getting the Persuader, who is already in custody at Takron-Galtos. Neither she nor Star Boy are happy about spending the issue filling up forms to get the Persuader freed.

Star Boy, for his part, seems a bit lost this issue - being yelled at by Triad for touching the controls on their spaceship, and not recognizing Brainiac 5. Ah well, he's only been here a few issues, give him a break...

The Fatal Five's facade ends as expected, and possibly sooner than expected - we didn't even see any real Sun-Eater, and they didn't even move the action off Takron-Galtos!

This issue was great for story momentum; the writers wisely chose not to include anything distracting. instead, we go full throttle into what promises to be a big battle!

Artwise, I commend the panel layouts. They are easy to read and follow. I also think Lee Moder's art has improved at this point; the Legionnaires look more fleshy and less anemic. The action scenes are also very easy to follow.

Legionnaires 35
While You Were Out...

Issue Information

Summary:

While the Legionnaires are away, Metropolis (and by extension Earth) wait for the Sun-Eater. Rond Vidar heads to Legion HQ to examine Lori Morning, under the watchful eye of Shvaughn Erin in her role as SP Officer. Lori brashly uses the Legion HQ holo-projector to tell Metropolis that she, as Future Girl, will protect them while the Legion is away - leading to concern and fear. A furious Marla Latham has to do damage control.

An intruder uses this opportunity to attack HQ with a device that scrambles communications and an army of shapeshifters.

Chuck Taine, Tenzil Kem and Marla Latham successfully fend off a trio of intruders. Rond, Shvaughn, Lori and some Athramites face another group that has a caustics bomb; they are trying to use it on the HQ power core, which would destroy Metropolis! Lori kicks the bomb away from the intruders; it eats away a large portion of the floor, sending most of them plunging to their doom. Lori saves herself and one intruder, who asks Lori to save herself. Lori refuses, and hangs on long enough for Shvaughn and Rond to save her. The Legion support staff decide to keep the intruder, and Lori names it Proty.



Thoughts:

The roll call is, as always, a nice touch. Unlike some other roll calls, the characters' expressions here fit the scene - Shvaughn and Marla register disapproval, Rond is embarrased out of his life, Tenzil is amused and Chuck is gawking at Lori's hideous fashion disaster.

I think the writers did a great job of including exposition. There was just enough to give readers background, and it was worked in organically through conversations that are character-building and that seem natural. They explained things in a minimum of words and had the characters figure things out intelligently enough. Points are lost for the repetitive dialogue on Takron-Galtos and with XS though, that's still 2.5 pages total!

Lori. Though it's not explicitly stated, the Legion is probably keeping her existence a secret from the government. Else, Chu would likely have carted her off to prevent Rond from discovering useful things from studying her.

Nice nods to the Preboot continuity (Chuck being a sharpshooter, the Space Canine patrol) that would still be appreciated by new readers as well.

It was a fun issue, and each of the seven cast members get something to do. Proty, well, it's a nice nod as well, though its inclusion does raise a lot of questions. And at least the Legion / Fatal Five battle got moved on a bit.

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.

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!