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Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
#835868 01/19/15 10:06 PM
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(See the previous threads on Archives #8, Archives #7, Archives #6, Archives #5, Archives #4, Archives #3, Archives #2 and Archives #1 and feel free to add in your two cents on those stories. It's NEVER too late! shake )


For the next month or two, we'll be reading and discussing the stories re-printed in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Volume 9. Archives 9 looks a li'l somethin' like this:

[Linked Image]

It was kind of the worst of times, as the Legion ended its long run as the lead feature of Adventure Comics and got relegated to backup status in Action Comics. The only lower point in Legion history, imo, is the one we're in right now, as the LSH has had no feature of any kind to call its own for going on a year and a half with no end in sight--just some scattered guest appearances of varying significance. I mean, right now a backup feature sounds pretty good, right? frown

Anyhow, the goal here is to read and review approximately at least one story a week. If it's a 2-parter, then it counts as one story. But seeing as how these are mostly short backups, we may fudge with that a little if the mood hits. Cool?

For those of you who own the floppies or are following in Showcase, the stories reprinted within are, in order:

Adventure 377-380 and the Legion backups in Action 378-387 & 389-392

(Action 377 & 388 reprinted earlier Legion stories.)

Got it? Good!

So....let's go Legionnaires!

Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #835869 01/19/15 10:11 PM
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Oh, and here's a review of 377 from some buttface ( tease ) who jumped the gun and posted it in the Archives 8 thread:

Originally Posted by Cobalt Kid
And to keep the ball rolling...

Adventure #377

At first glance, it’s easy to focus on all the flaws in Adventure #377, but after spending some time reading and thinking about it, you can see there is a real lot going on there, and for that alone, I think Shooter deserves some praise. The general structure of the story is a traditional 1950’s / early Silver Age one, where the good guy(s) are pretending to be mad in order to trick the criminals into thinking they’ve turned and are one of them. But Shooter does a great job at showing the other side of the equation which we never really have seen in the numerous Superboy stories its been done: the social ramifications for the Legion and the regular citizens of the United Planets. Typically we’d get a single panel showing this, but here we see the genuine fury and outrage expressed at the Legion—which is very topical for the late 1960’s.

So once again, Shooter is “ticking off a classic Superboy / LSH trope’ but giving it a “modern” twist (late 60’s modern that is). There is a lot of “youth rebellion” vibes going on, and a lot of the fear that the youth don’t want to work for anything but expect it nonetheless…hell, those things are more relevant than ever in 2015. Shooter also either very sutbly or accidently adds in other connected elements to this: the opening sequences involve would-be drug stealers / dealer and then a drug-addled Brainy experiencing what looks like an LSD trip (which a LOT of comic books in 1969-1970 were doing, as this was a major trend in the industry). We also see the Science Police using a robotic being called “the Interrogator” which forcefully reads the minds of criminals against their will, which is about as Big Brother as it gets. These are all heavy topics, and they all coalesce together to paint a picture of 2969 that is all too similar to the present.

A choice Shooter makes that I like is that he doesn’t trick the readers though. We quickly can tell this is an act and part of the plan, and its reinforced by Jeckie and Val having a tough time dealing with all the anti-Legion sentiment. That’s nicely done and shows there are high consequences for playing such a high stake charade. All the best undercover crime and spy dramas touch on this, and it adds the necessary weight to the story to make it dramatic.

Interestingly enough, Leland McCauley III doesn’t come off bad at all here, IMO. Sure, he’s super-rich, but that doesn’t automatically make him a bad guy. In fact, just about everything he does and says seems pretty reasonable to me, considering he’s being blackmailed. It’s interesting how the McCauley name—though obviously more because of his son, McCauley IV and the Reboot version—invokes thoughts of corporate villainy.

As had happened so many times though with late Silver Age single issue stories, the whole thing starts to fall apart with 4-5 pages left, because it feels like the story truly needs another 20. Instead of the outcome that should have happened-- the Legionnaires are invited onto Modo where they capture the criminals and discover the secret of Modolus, and clear their names--things happen at a rapid fire pace. Instead we get a convoluted solution involving the various currencies the Legion have collected which makes no sense, and probably would have resulted in the economic collapse of the UP for the next 20 years; and a one-off panel tells us Modulus is captured though we never really find out what it was, how it functioned or how exactly he was captured and imprisoned. This is probably the most disappointing crash & burn ending yet!

Oh and Chemical King shows up out of nowhere for one panel to do something…CLASSIC CHEM!

So, once again, so much potential built up but no ending to speak of. To quote a famous writer: the first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book. If I was a Legion fan I would be getting pretty freaking burned out on these endings by now. The sales numbers are included in the end though, and it looks like the series was averaging about 402,000 paid circulation copies at this point—meaning the Legion was still the best selling superhero team in comics.

Lastly, I’ve never liked this cover. The reason it is leads to so many jokes about Superboy being Jeckie’s pimp. An easy gag, sure, but a little too easy and a little too crude.


Still "Lardy" to my friends!
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #835917 01/20/15 01:20 AM
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Originally Posted by Paladin

Adventure #377

At first glance, it’s easy to focus on all the flaws in Adventure #377, but after spending some time reading and thinking about it, you can see there is a real lot going on there, and for that alone, I think Shooter deserves some praise. The general structure of the story is a traditional 1950’s / early Silver Age one, where the good guy(s) are pretending to be mad in order to trick the criminals into thinking they’ve turned and are one of them. But Shooter does a great job at showing the other side of the equation which we never really have seen in the numerous Superboy stories its been done: the social ramifications for the Legion and the regular citizens of the United Planets. Typically we’d get a single panel showing this, but here we see the genuine fury and outrage expressed at the Legion—which is very topical for the late 1960’s.


[/quote]

As much as I've complained in the past about Win Mortimer's art, I have to say that having Jack Abel as inker makes the art look 10 times better. Abel is sort of like the infamous Vinny Colletta in that their inks are so strong that they can make a weak pencils artist look good or ruin the work of a great pencils artist. Here Abel cancels out Mortimer's sketchy lines and produces a more appealing end product. And Shooter gets really creative on his layouts - especially the full page panel of Brainy doing too much LDS as Spock would say. It almost has a Nick Cardy feel to it.

One other thing, with Abel inking the Legionnaires really look their age (17-19) more than ever. I love Swan's work but one downside is he tended to make the Legionnaires look way older than their actual age. My first Legion was SLSH #208. After reading the lead story and being blown away by the Grell art, I read the Luck Lords reprint and was very confused. This was supposed to be a story from the Legion's past when they were younger yet they all looked like 10 years older than the same characters from the Grell story.

As Paladin pointed out, it's very interesting to see the protesting from the civilians caught up in the Legionnaires scheme to catch the bad guys. Of course what we don't see is the after effects once the bad guys are behind bars - how easy or hard will it be for the Legion to explain things away and restore their reputations?

As always with his last several stories, Shooter has way too much going on plot wise to fit into one issue. One head scratcher for me is that I still don't understand exactly what Modulus was. at first read it sounded like an evil sentient planet descendant of Mojo from Green Lantern. But then the Legionnaires at the end of the story refer to Modulus as a "he" that can be removed from the planet. So who knows.

the "meet the press" segment was a hoot with it's 20th century TV studio. I could almost picture Leland McCauley as a commentator for FoxNews. Plus once again we get evidence that printed newspapers are alive and well in the 30th century.

The ending involving all of the different currencies was very convoluted, but at least Chemical King got to save the day without having to die to it. Go CK! It kind of reminded me of a season one episode of Super Friends where they had to rush in Plastic Man out of the blue at the last minute for the big save.

I've been pleasantly surprised at how often CK appears in Adventure and Action stories once he joined. He actually was used pretty regularly up until about a year before Levitz bumped him off.

So the Adventure Legion was selling around 402,000 at this time. Does anyone know how that stacked up to other DC titles at the time? And then did sales go up or down once Supergirl took over Adventure? I wonder how many of Mort's titles were in DC's top ten at the time. Did Mort hand off the Superman title directly to Julie Schwartz or was there an interegnum editor? Could the Legion's (temporary) demise be as simple as Schwartz didn't care for the Legion (not his idea of science-fiction superheroes? too juvenile?) and no other editor wanted them, so they faded away.




Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #835920 01/20/15 01:24 AM
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One other thing about Adventure #377. Shooter managed to write this issue without using "Fool!" or "Fools!' in the dialogue at all. if you go back to archives 7 and 8 and count how many times Shooter has someone say "Fool", you could make a drinking game out of it. And every time I come across that bit of dialogue, I read it in my mind Mr. T style.

Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #835987 01/20/15 09:36 PM
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I thought 377 showed considerable improvement in Mortimer's art. I immediately noticed a more unconventional panel layout, not unlike what Swan had been doing on the book. And, of course, the psychedelic sequence was entertaining and a welcome diversion.

However, with Shooter continually being credited with "layouts", I don't know how much credit (or sometimes blame) to give Mortimer. I would very much like to see an example of Shooter's layouts at some point, so I can make a better judgement of where the ideas and designs come from. I wonder if anyone, here or elsewhere, has a typical script with layouts from Shooter during this era for us to see what he did. If one were available, it would certainly be an invaluable resource for us Legion fans!

But as it stands, this was probably the most entertaining and imaginatively illustrated of Mortimer's tenure to date. Aside from the stand-out psychedelic sequence, I thought he did good work on the characters' facial features and hairstyles. He wasn't far off from Swan in that regard, imo.

Speaking of the drug exposure, I toyed with the idea that maybe it was the cause of the Legionnaires' misbehavior. Certainly, another well-trodden LSH trope, aside from the one Cobie mentions that is more apt to this tale, is that of Legionnaires behaving badly due to some outside influence (such as the recent Thora tale). But as I read on and took in the clues, everything slowly pointed to the other trope. That said, the sequence where Superboy apparently endangers the child by withholding aid seemed like the ruse was being taken too far. I know Kal wouldn't have let the baby perish, but this seemed a fair bit over the line.

I wouldn't classify this as a particularly strong Shooter story, but I do like how he kind of touches on youth culture. On one hand, he acknowledges drug culture with the "mind-expanding" chemicals. On the other hand he exposes what every generation's adults (especially after "the greatest generation") seem to fear from the youth--that they are too materialistic and only out for themselves. It's not the most deft handling of the idea, but again there's that subtext that I really have noticed a lot in Shooter's Legion stories. It's always appreciated by this reader.

I do agree with CK and CB that this could have been extended into a really nice 2-parter like others that Shooter wrote. You're absolutely right that Modo and Modulus were potentially great concepts that could have been developed and explored. Honestly, lots of writers, past or present, rarely show as much imagination as even those displayed in Shooter's throwaway concepts! nod

Otherwise, I really wish that Condo got more than a cameo in the story. He's notorious for being under-utilized in his comparatively brief tenure as a Legionnaire and then getting killed off. But I do appreciate that his appearance is set up by several allusions to Duo Damsel's mysterious mission, rather than his just being a maguffin. It also shows the complexity of all the elements of Brainy's plan, something we don't see enough with his usage.

Overall, warts and all, this might be the best of the 5 post-Swan Legion stories so far.


Still "Lardy" to my friends!
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Colossal Boy #835988 01/20/15 09:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Colossal Boy
As Paladin pointed out....


While it's true that I posted the above review, it was merely a re-post of Cobalt Kid's review in case anyone missed it. His words, so credit where it's due. nod


Still "Lardy" to my friends!
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #836033 01/21/15 09:46 AM
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Its seems like everyone's immediate reaction at the end of the story is going to be "...uh, so what the hell was Modulus?" I also pictured him as a Mogo type sentient, which could have ended up being an awesome Legion villain to return to. It's a shame this was never picked up on in later decades, especially by Paul "mine the past for gold" Levitz.

PS - glad to see the Archives 9 thread wink. I'll probably end up posting a review of the first Archives 10 story at the tail end of it. Ain't got no time to keep track of all that.

Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Cobalt Kid #836062 01/21/15 01:44 PM
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Originally Posted by Cobalt Kid
Its seems like everyone's immediate reaction at the end of the story is going to be "...uh, so what the hell was Modulus?" I also pictured him as a Mogo type sentient, which could have ended up being an awesome Legion villain to return to.


Yeah, the picture near the end clearly depicts a dude being overwhelmed by the paralyzing rays, so Modulus was a person. Even then, it would be interesting to see whether it was some power of his or some symbiotic relationship with the planet or some sophisticated technology he was controlling. In any case it would have been interesting to learn more. nod

Originally Posted by Cobalt Kid
PS - glad to see the Archives 9 thread wink. I'll probably end up posting a review of the first Archives 10 story at the tail end of it. Ain't got no time to keep track of all that.


Nice to see ya here, pal. Hopefully, more will pop in than just you, myself and CB. Now, if I can just get you to write that essay I was expecting on that "It's a Wonderful Life!" thread on Anywhere.... tongue


Still "Lardy" to my friends!
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #836068 01/21/15 02:42 PM
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I'll chime in towards the weekend, if not actually in it.


"...not having to believe in a thing to be interested in it and not having to explain a thing to appreciate the wonder of it."
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #836110 01/21/15 03:42 PM
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I'm wanting to chime in, but need to get the Archives purchased on eBay.

Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #836121 01/21/15 05:44 PM
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Sorry I won't be participating in the Archives 9 re-read, Lardy. But if I can get myself to do it, I might post something about the story that deals with Matter-Eater Lad's family life.


Read LEGIONS OF 7 WORLDS in the Bits forum:

Retroboot (Earth-7.5) Arc 1 (COMPLETED)

Retroboot (Earth-7.5) Arc 2 (WORK IN PROGRESS)

"Don't look for role models, girls, BE the role model."

- Legion World member HARBINGER
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Fanfic Lady #836186 01/21/15 10:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Fanfic Lady
Sorry I won't be participating in the Archives 9 re-read, Lardy. But if I can get myself to do it, I might post something about the story that deals with Matter-Eater Lad's family life.


Please do when the time time comes, as that was a hidden gem of a story. But then many of the Action stories are suprisingly good and feature some nice moments of characterization.

Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #836193 01/21/15 10:53 PM
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Yeah, Fickles....I wish you'd read along a story at a time and share your thoughts, positive or negative. Some of them might even surprise you in a good way. Plus, the time commitment is minimal with so many of these being shorties. nod


Still "Lardy" to my friends!
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #836288 01/22/15 05:47 PM
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Lardy, Colossal Boy, you guys have convinced me.

I may lag behind a week or two while I finish reading A Distant Soil, plus I've got the Hulk re-read still going. But I'll chime in as much as I can.


Read LEGIONS OF 7 WORLDS in the Bits forum:

Retroboot (Earth-7.5) Arc 1 (COMPLETED)

Retroboot (Earth-7.5) Arc 2 (WORK IN PROGRESS)

"Don't look for role models, girls, BE the role model."

- Legion World member HARBINGER
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #836290 01/22/15 05:52 PM
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love


Still "Lardy" to my friends!
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #836294 01/22/15 05:59 PM
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Awww...thanks, Lardy. And I return the love. love


Read LEGIONS OF 7 WORLDS in the Bits forum:

Retroboot (Earth-7.5) Arc 1 (COMPLETED)

Retroboot (Earth-7.5) Arc 2 (WORK IN PROGRESS)

"Don't look for role models, girls, BE the role model."

- Legion World member HARBINGER
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #836369 01/22/15 11:18 PM
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I'm glad Fanfie is on board. nod

This story is another of those in which a series of complicated, bizarre, out-of-character actions is used for the sake of plot/drama, when a much simpler solution would have worked. I mean, couldn't the Legion have just borrowed or exchanged for the various currencies they needed, rather than disrupting people's lives and livelihoods while earning a mercenary reputation for themselves in the process? Couldn't they have found another way to bait the thieves and get their spaceship onto Modulus? Couldn't a few Legionnaires have disguised themselves and landed the ship? That 2960s Brainy sure came up with some kooky ideas...perhaps they all really were affected by the mind-expanding gas.

Quip of the ish:
Karate Kid: "Zowie! This has driving the old, dull computerized air-car way beat all hollow!"


"Everything about this is going to feel different." (Saturn Girl, Legion of Super-Heroes #1)
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Legion Tracker #836460 01/23/15 06:26 PM
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Originally Posted by Legion Tracker
I'm glad Fanfie is on board. nod


Thanks, LT. I've already dug out the fourth LSH Showcase volume and everything.


Read LEGIONS OF 7 WORLDS in the Bits forum:

Retroboot (Earth-7.5) Arc 1 (COMPLETED)

Retroboot (Earth-7.5) Arc 2 (WORK IN PROGRESS)

"Don't look for role models, girls, BE the role model."

- Legion World member HARBINGER
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #836473 01/23/15 10:17 PM
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I re-read 377 earlier today. Some random thoughts:

--The opening psychedelic scene is well designed, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the story. Like Lardy (I think), I was primed to expect it to be a contributor to the Legion's aberrant behavior, but this doesn't happen. It's not the first Legion story to begin with a non sequitur, and it's well done for what it is, but I found it distracting.

--It does, however, introduce psychedelic themes and imagery into the book, which a lot of comics were doing in those days. I imagine this was an attempt to reconnect with youthful readers.

--A more successful attempt, I think, was one Cobie pointed out, which is the generation gap and the alleged materialism of youth. There is something disconcerting about Superboy saying things like, "... we can't stop the crimewave ... so why knock ourselves out trying?" A bit of laziness as well as materialism? The fact that the public turns against the Legion probably connected with how a lot of teenagers felt at the time.

--As others have pointed out, though, Shooter does a masterful job of planting clues to keep us caring about the Legionnaires: their pained reactions to the public outcry and allusions to DD's mission. There's an ambiguity in these scenes, particularly the former, which leave you wondering what, in KK's words, truly is at stake.

--Duo Damsel has absolutely nothing to do except serve as Chem's chaperone. She could have been replaced by a server droid or a deep-space message sent to recall Chem.

--The Legion's scheme certainly is wonky. They're lucky that the only criminals who took advantage of their absence chose to rob banks and mug pedestrians. Where were all the murderers, rapists, and saboteurs? The team took a huge gamble with the lives of millions of people in order to shut down Modo.

--I got it that Modulus was simply a guy in an "imperial palace" who possessed some kind of technology which gave the appearance that he had control over the entire planet. I'm fine with that. I really don't need to know anything more about him or how his scheme worked. This guys is an afterthought, really. The focus of the story is kept on the Legionnaires.

--Overall, not one of my favorite stories but a fairly competent and imaginative one for its time.


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Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Legion Tracker #836487 01/24/15 12:00 AM
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Originally Posted by Legion Tracker
I'm glad Fanfie is on board. nod

This story is another of those in which a series of complicated, bizarre, out-of-character actions is used for the sake of plot/drama, when a much simpler solution would have worked. I mean, couldn't the Legion have just borrowed or exchanged for the various currencies they needed, rather than disrupting people's lives and livelihoods while earning a mercenary reputation for themselves in the process? Couldn't they have found another way to bait the thieves and get their spaceship onto Modulus? Couldn't a few Legionnaires have disguised themselves and landed the ship? That 2960s Brainy sure came up with some kooky ideas...perhaps they all really were affected by the mind-expanding gas.



Good point. It didn't even dawn on me until reading your post, but couldn't they have simply went behind the scenes and borrowed whatever they needed through Brande? Also something else I just realized - Brainy's plan is very much a Rube Goldberg device.

Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
He Who Wanders #836518 01/24/15 11:02 AM
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Originally Posted by He Who Wanders

--The opening psychedelic scene is well designed, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the story. Like Lardy (I think), I was primed to expect it to be a contributor to the Legion's aberrant behavior, but this doesn't happen. It's not the first Legion story to begin with a non sequitur, and it's well done for what it is, but I found it distracting.


That scene does lead the reader (as noted by HWW and Paladin) to falsely assume the drugs were the reason for the Legionnaires' change of behavior. It was intended as a red herring, and it works.


"Everything about this is going to feel different." (Saturn Girl, Legion of Super-Heroes #1)
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Colossal Boy #836530 01/24/15 01:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Colossal Boy
Originally Posted by Legion Tracker
I'm glad Fanfie is on board. nod

This story is another of those in which a series of complicated, bizarre, out-of-character actions is used for the sake of plot/drama, when a much simpler solution would have worked. I mean, couldn't the Legion have just borrowed or exchanged for the various currencies they needed, rather than disrupting people's lives and livelihoods while earning a mercenary reputation for themselves in the process? Couldn't they have found another way to bait the thieves and get their spaceship onto Modulus? Couldn't a few Legionnaires have disguised themselves and landed the ship? That 2960s Brainy sure came up with some kooky ideas...perhaps they all really were affected by the mind-expanding gas.



Good point. It didn't even dawn on me until reading your post, but couldn't they have simply went behind the scenes and borrowed whatever they needed through Brande? Also something else I just realized - Brainy's plan is very much a Rube Goldberg device.



The Legion needed a plausible reason for criminals to attack their cruiser and take their loot back to Modo. If they had simply borrowed the money, they wouldn't have had enough reason to "turn greedy" and abandon earth. Their scheme rested on the loot sitting out there in space and waiting for thieves to snatch it.

(Of course, the whole scheme would have collapsed if the thieves had decided to take it somewhere else. There must be other safe havens for criminals out there in space besides Modo. Previous stories had even introduced a few.)

I suppose they could have borrowed some of the high-end currency, but the contradiction in their actions might have leaked and undermined their scheme. (Why borrow money if you're going to extort it?)

What I would like to have seen, however, is some indication that Mon-El, Ultra Boy, and other Legionnaires were there in the background, "invisibly" making sure criminals did not go too far as I suggested above.



Check out my new Power Club website!

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Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
He Who Wanders #836667 01/24/15 10:44 PM
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Wanderer
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 8,758
Originally Posted by He Who Wanders


The Legion needed a plausible reason for criminals to attack their cruiser and take their loot back to Modo. If they had simply borrowed the money, they wouldn't have had enough reason to "turn greedy" and abandon earth. Their scheme rested on the loot sitting out there in space and waiting for thieves to snatch it.



There would be any number of ways to get the word into the criminal community that there was a ship loaded with treasure. And the ship would have been an easier target if no one knew the Legion had planted it. But then, that just wouldn't make a very interesting story.


"Everything about this is going to feel different." (Saturn Girl, Legion of Super-Heroes #1)
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #836675 01/24/15 10:59 PM
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 24,141
Not much between despair and ecstacy
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Not much between despair and ecstacy
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There probably could have been more logical ways to get the money into space. However, the scheme works precisely because the Legion got a lot of publicity by charging for their services and hoarding their profits aboard their ship. In this respect, I think the story works quite well.



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The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
Re: Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 9
Lard Lad #836683 01/24/15 11:25 PM
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 8,758
Wanderer
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And I could set my neighborhood ablaze in order to get the fire department to come inspect my fire alarm. Newsworthy story but immensely poor judgment. wink


"Everything about this is going to feel different." (Saturn Girl, Legion of Super-Heroes #1)
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