Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes The 5YL Legion: Reviews by Kappa Kid

IMO one of this run's real weaknesses was the creative team's need to "retell" previous stories to show readers how the forced retcons fit within original continuity rather than continuing uninterrupted with the new story Giffen wanted to tell. In hindsight it might have been better to let the fans fill in the blanks on their own.

That's a good point, Rob, though I don't know if I place all that blame on TMK's shoulders. The aggression from the Superman office was really tying their hands behind their backs and forcing them to explain all of the continuity for the readers. I doubt the subsequent stories would have had as much impact or made as much sense if we weren't given a proper explanation for characters like Laurel Gand and Glorith. Could the story have been written better? Yes. Should the problem be laid entirely at the feat of the writing team? No.

This was one of the weaker stories and I agree that the art didn't help. It would have been strange to just have Laurel Gand appear out of nowhere but her backstory could have been developed in a text page, which TMK often used to great effect, or given in short form in some panel flashbacks. KK may be right that editorial had a big hand in making Laurel's story a full issue and managing the
story itself.

The one good thing was that it explained why Laurel loved to bash Khunds. This singular devotion distinguished her from the original Supergirl story.

FC, I agree that the relationship with the Khunds was a good addition and would be used well in subsequent stories. On the other hand, I do find it odd that Eltro would just dump her in an orphanage instead of keeping her safe himself.

Thanks for taking on the 5YL stories, Kappa.
I had a real fondness for these stories for the first year or so, and then a real bitterness about it as the series went on. It's interesting to see everyone else's reactions too...

I totally agree about your analysis of Giffen's weird artistic commitment to the 9 panel grid. The fight scene in #7 was particularly confusing.

The high mark of the series though (at the time) was Rokk's dinner with Mordru. For me, that moment made him a great leader for me - and it's carried over in every iteration of the character since. TMK rocked the house on that one.

The retcons began as awkward and became really cumbersome. I really love what you said about the lack of "organic" development in this version of the Legion. It does lack the scope of a futuristic universe - tied ever tighter to 20th century Earth.

I found Laurel confusing at first. I knew she was a retcon, but she was such a mannequin to me. Only later would she develop real relationships, roots and personality.

Oh, and why is Mysa such a wimp? I couldn't ever get over that abuse of her character

Laurel seemed to me much less a re-do than Supergirl. Given the writing teams had to cut the cord, this seems a good character born in conflict that gave future writers something to work with other than, "Superman's cousin."

Having Roxxas to react off gave me a more fun POV than would the usual tropes of Laurel or someone close to her like Brainy telling the story through reflection. It also kept the issues flowing and connected.


If not for the "re-telling" these stories would have seemed exactly replacements redacted. Issues like this gave me a new book, different from the old. I generally enjoyed them even if in my old age they tend to blur across boots.

Oh, wow, I just found this thread, and I am so eager to go through it, being such a big fan of 5YG Legion. Thanks for posting, Kappa Kid.

Thanks, rokk!

That reminds me: I really need to get around to updating this thread at some point...

I'm secretly hoping I can get round to doing the Karate Kid reread thread first...

...I say secretly in a broad sort of way I guess, having just posted it. Crumbs you're at 9 already!

I just finished reading the entire thread, and I would certainly love to see any updates, Kappa! I am especially interested in which issue gets the A+,

Its amazing how many people seem to remember or pick up the same things... for example, many remember Rokk's dinner with Mordru as a highlight (and it is a highlight for me as well, but then Rokk is my favorite Legionnaire, and this is one of his best moments, so of course I feel that way).

I remember being entranced, sometimes mystified, and slightly horrified, at what was happening to the Legion in this book, but I mostly loved every second of it in the early goings. I felt like I was growing up at the same time as my favorite characters, because this run coincided with some big life changes of my own.

I probably hated what they did to Sun Boy more than anyone else. I felt deeply for Mysa. Hated Blok's death. And yet somehow I loved the thing in its overall scope and ambition. I prefer interesting failed ambition than boring same ole, same ole.

Yeah, this era has some of my favourite Legion moments. Even when the wheels started to come off as early as #4, it still produced some real magic.

Looking at the cover for issue 9 I can't imagine it without a mark on the right hand side, half way down. Which is where there's the mark of a biscuit I was dunking in tea fell onto my copy. We've all got heart wrenching, personal stories about our comics. That was mine

S'funny, but as I read this entire thread, I was amazed at how often I could recall exact panels (or series of panels) of the events being described. Very distinctive in my memory, in every respect.

I haven't read through all of this thread yet, but this is the series that got me into the Legion and I LOVED it! As crazy as it might sound considering all the backstory that this series is based on, but from a newbie standpoint, TMK actually did a good job of world-building for me. I knew I was missing some stuff, but it's like getting into a story where there was already a rich history and that made me more into it, rather than turning me off. The drama and emotions are all there even though I didn't know everything about their previous lives as Legionnaires. I had no expectations and didn't know that it was odd for Roxxas to be such a threat or that Jo had been portrayed as a meathead jock previously. It all still worked, even though I didn't know what "LLL" stood for at the time. I knew that these guys had been heroes and a team at one point, but they weren't anymore and that was as interesting to see unfold as it was in "Watchmen."

Ah those were the days... so many fond memories...

My five cents on this topic:

I totally loved the 5YL run and it is among the comic books that I reread the most often.
I got into it after I had not read any DC comics for about ten years cause in Germany all of the DC books had been canceled around 1984. So all this was a large puzzle to me, a post-adolescent meeting his favorite superheroes again: What had happened since LSH #300 (last German Legion story), who was who and still alive. And though many fans later on caused their concerns about how complicated everything was, I had a lot of fun finding out what was going on even though I was totally untrained in reading English and had missed so many stories of the Levitz era.

If I remember correctly I started with #13 & 14, and hunted down all the other issues within a year or so. I really got into the dystopian future scenario (still am very fond of similar ones today) and totally liked the storyline up until #38 when Terra Mosaic ended.

Of course, for me it was a rather eery feeling to get into a book where all the characters had aged just about the same that I had aged since 1984 as well - kind of a perfect fit, which is a personal thing that makes these comics so special to me. All the more frustrating it was when all of it was wiped out by the Reboot a short time later, and back then there was no Internet to express my frustration.

But I cherish the times when I really got into US comics with the Legion as my most important target to collect, and the 5YL run as my personal jumping on point. Giffen and the Bierbaums made it hard, but possible (and satisfying!) for a German guy to rediscover his childhood love. That's a feat that not that easy to achieve!

In issue #2 (I think) Jo Nah returns to his destroyed apartment. He collects a rock (from Rokk) with LLL on it. At the time I didn't know what it meant either. I must have read it before then, but not connected it. I think it was a little more subtle than a constant "Titans Together"/ "Avengers Assemble" battlecry?

Really liked hearing your history with the 5YL book Chemical King.

Legion of Super-heroes (1989) #10



"Roxxas Strikes"
Writer: Keith Giffen, Tom Bierbaum, Mary Bierbaum
Pencils: Keith Giffen
Ink: Al Gordon
Color: Tom McGraw
Editor: Mike Eury

Grade: B-

Summary: On Winath, the former Legionnaires are catching up before the big reunion can begin. Garth, Jo, and Rokk catch up while Ayla revisits the old Legion space cruiser. Meanwhile, Devlin and Bounty are snooping around the Ranzz plantation when Bounty catches scent of Roxxas and runs off. Mekt Ranzz comes across Roxxas in disguise and Roxxas reveals himself, thinking Mekt wants to kill the Legionnaires first. Mekt tries to talk Roxxas down and urges him to reform his ways, but Roxxas refuses and the two fight. Bounty is caught in the crossfire and though she puts up a fight, is quickly put down. The other Legionnaires eventually notice the commotion and join the battle, though Reep is shot in the head and Salu is badly beaten. However, Jo is able to arrive just in time to beat Roxxas badly, though Roxxas uses a grenade of some kind to escape. The issue ends with the Earthgov officials realizing that Roxxas is going to come for them for betraying him and Tenzil Kem trying to negotiate through customs.

Thoughts: Giffen is back on duty doing the pencils for the entire issue and I’m glad. Pearson’s style contrasted a bit too much for Giffen’s for my taste and prevented a proper sense of cohesion for the last issue. However, Giffen’s style really adds to the brutality of the fight scenes, as his jagged line-work makes bones appear broken and misplaced in some of these panels.

The issue itself offers a mix of some good character interaction, much of which I wish had been focused on instead of doing another “fight issue” so soon after the last one. Saul and Kono’s interactions are fun, really emphasizing that Kono, for all her bravado, is still a snarky teenager at the end of the day. I did find the scene where Jan informs Imra that Roxxas has broken into their home interesting in the way that Imra’s powers work. When she catch the thoughts of those injured in the battle, her nose starts bleeding and she’s suddenly come over by fatigue. Other than giving me Maxwell Lord flashbacks, I was curious whether this was ever shown in prior stories. Was Imra every negatively effected physically by bad thoughts when she detected them?

It was the multiple personalities within Roxxas' mind that overloaded Imra's powers. It not only reinforced his unpredictability, but added to his tactical threat against the Legion.

Ah, thanks for the clarification, thoth!

Just wanted to point out another couple of TMK threads on the boards, for more 5YL fun.

Let's Talk Tom & Mary

Dev Revisits the 5YG

Like a Legionnaires spin-off both have links to other reviews too.

Thanks, thoth!