Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Young Animal Thread

Doom Patrol has its own thread, but I figure it would be easier to have a single thread for the other titles (similar to the Vertigo thread).

Up first: Shade the Changing Girl #1

A sequel to Milligan's Shade the Changing Man sees an alien from Meta named Loma rebrand herself "Loma Shade" after the legendary Rac Shade, steal his jacket from a museum, and use it to project herself to Earth just like he did a generation ago. She lands in the body of comatose teenager Megan Boyer, who was brain dead after an overdose of pills.

Turns out Megan was the Alpha Queen mean girl at the school and her former friends aren't exactly thrilled when word gets around that she's back (especially since a lot of them are complicit in the original overdose). Shade has her own issues trying to control the Madness and make sense of an Earth she only saw through sitcoms and Shade's poetry.

It was a pretty groovy start, with a lot of continuity back to the Milligan series (including a lot of Shade's poetry). Loma's likeable if naive, and the upcoming clash with high school life looks fun. It's original, but not trying to hard to "vertigo" it up.

SPECIAL SURPRISE BONUS: Unknown to me anyway, was that Shade has a back-up feature. This issue was a far-out Space Ranger & Cryll story drawn by Gilbert Hernandez! Don't have to hype GH in any way I'm sure, but he draws some pretty cool aliens.

Did anyone ever read Cecil Castellucci's work for the defunct Minx line?

HOLY EFFING FECAL MATTER! SPACE RANGER? A character I've been dying to see for ages! And by Gilbert Hernandez? I would pay $3.99 for this back-up alone!

PS - your review actually has me enthusiastic about the main Shade series too, Dave! I was kind of on the fence but this pushes me over. I'll be grabbing it this weekend.

No Sarky, I'm afraid I didn't catch any of that. Shade sounds promising. A teen movies with superpowers.

Space Ranger is probably worth a look on it's own.

Cave Carson has a Cybernetic Eye #1 was a pretty good set up issue. Cave is in mourning for the loss of his wife, trying to stay connected to his now grown daughter, and also trying to figure out what his cybernetic eye does and why it's suddenly spawning hallucinations. Along the way we get some fun guest stars in Doc Magnus and the Metal Men, Wild Dog, and Ace Morgan. As Cave is sorting things out, it seems his old company, EBX is meddling with underground civilsations, bringing a warning to his doorstep in the form of a tentacle monster. Of all the YA stuff so far, this has been the most straightforward on the surface, but it was still fun and loaded with potential.

The backup by Tom Scioli is a "Super Powers" feature split between a Wonder Twins origin story and Batgirl (on a BMX) vs. the Joker's army of henchmen. I'm digging the backups here and in Shade so far.

I also loved Cave Carson #1. As you say, a great set-up issue with some really interesting cameos but at the heart of it is a man dealing with the loss of his wife and his relationship with his daughter. He also just happens to be one of the coolest obscure characters in DC history and has a strange cybernetic eye. This is the series I've always wanted, I just hadn't realized it.

Meanwhile, Shade the Changing Girl #1 was pretty good too. At first the Meta-related stuff was jarring, but I just have to get used to it, I think. Overall the issue was strong, and grew stonger by the page, culminating in a really terrific surprise ending.

Naturally, I loved, loved, loved the back-up by Hernandez, which was more about Cyrill than Space Ranger. It was brilliant and DC should do about 1,000 more of these. It made me chuckle at the end, and its really kind of all-ages, so they should reprint and use this one again.

So far, 3 for 3 IMO.

DOOM PATROL 2, SHADE 2, and Cave Carson on tonight's list to read; Back with any thoughts tomorrow...

How much of this builds off the VERTIGO series? I'm enjoying this book and am wondering if I should get the Milligan run in trades. Would be esp. interested if they collected the run in one HC...

WHERE IS GROO?!

Ah well, While I'm here I might as well look at Shade...

Not much of a meta-plot (tee hee). There's getting to know the new host, getting to know the inhabitant of the new host, an investigation, and Heathers.

My memory cell tells me that Milli-Shade had arcs involving travelling around to stop some sort of madness invasiony thing affecting the US. There's not really anything like that here.

On the other hand, some of that felt a bit forced "oh look I've discovered poh-lih-ticks" and I like this Shade more than the last. As good as Kathy was in the old one, there's a bigger cast of interest here.

The little poetry balloons become little bubbles and bounce off my disinterested brain. Fortunately, there are more interesting words still left in there.

Distortion keeps things visually interesting. I was thinking of saying that the story depends on the art a bit. But actually, I think the writer is comfortable to let the art show us the various perception shifts, rather than beat us about the head with a meta vest about it. That's a plus.

As for Pov's question, there's the clothing, the fan of the old Shade and the investigator. But I've never felt that anyone went to great pains to build worlds out of any of what went before. So you can read the old ones on their own merits, and not feel you have to.

I really remember the colouring on it, and there's cues to that here. But I'm sure there was lots of other things too. ...thinks... some of it's coming back. >pops back up post to insert "Kathy" line as if I remembered all along< I did buy the thing so it can't have been that bad.

Li'l thoth liked Heathers, but how much of that opinion can be trusted?!

I liked Space Ranger but was a bit meh about the Legion/Wanderers one.

So far it is a direct sequel set an indeterminate amount of time later. A lot of the poetry she quotes is from the Vertigo series, and of course it's Vertigo Shade's Maddness Vest she steals, and all the trappings so far are direct from that as well (the vest rots your "real" body while you are on Earth, etc.) . All that said, the series so far has been readable on it's own and you don't need the Vertigo to enjoy it (but the original is one of my all-time favourite series, so I'd certainly recommend it).

After three stellar Young Animal launches, "Mother Panic" falls flat for me. I get they want to do an "Adult" noir story in Gotham, but it doesn't offer anything new and all the mysteries fail to get me interested.

Young Animal backups continue to pull in all sorts of strange and wonderful combinations. In the Cave Carson #2 back-up we have:

- Flipper Dipper from the Newsboy Legion teaming up with the Sea Devils
- Freddie Freeman crucified on the Rock of Eternity
- A warning from the wizard Shazam
- The Thaddeus Brown Mr. Miracle conning Nazis
- The Wonder Twins trying to release Gleek back into the wild.

I bought "Mother Panic" for one reason - Tommy Lee Edwards. I'm a big fan. The story didn't totally grab me, but I'll check out a few more to see where it goes and to see MP's origin explained.

I was a HUGE fan of the Milligan/Bachalo "Shade" series, so I checked out the new Shade series. It had a lot of interesting elements, but it somehow didn't add up to something I need to pick up.

Latest issue of Shade has a "Dial H for Hero" backup. It revolves around a waitress at a hero-themed restaurant who discovers their H-Dial memorabilia is the real deal. What starts out as an exciting adventure though, quickly devolves into horror and despair.

Like last issue's backup, it's a meditation on transformations or "Change".

Absolutely loving the back-ups. The Sea Devils / Flipper Dipper one was wild, and the Wendy & Marvin one was actually kind of surprisingly heartwarming.

Loving Cave Carson, which is emerging as a new favorite series for me. The whole thing is just enjoyable weird but played straight. And I love the inclusion of Wild Dog.

DP rocks--loved the recent issue.

Shade I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about.

Mother Panic #1 was okay. I have to give it a few more issues before I can see if its really grabbing me. Its certainly good enough to keep going. And the back-up story was really interesting...I want to see where it goes.

All in all, I'm looking forward to the next issue of each series!

Shade didn't appeal to me but the Dial H backup is enticing. I may wind up getting these for the backup stories. Haven't tried Mother Panic - yet another Gotham character, just didn't have enough pull, and the reviews have been tepid.

I'll stick with Cave Carson & DP, though.

Continuing with The "Super Powers" backups in Cave Carson, this issue has:

-More Wonder Twins
- Superman Robot as a suitcase 'Build-a-Friend' (from OMAC)
- The REAL Origin of Green Arrow (Featuring Starro and Xeen Arrow, as well as some potent "herbs")

I give up. This line is "too cool" for me. I don't get Doom Patrol at all. Cave Carson and Shade are just trying too hard IMO.
I will take another issue of Mother Panic (but I don't have high hopes)

Shade just feels like a comic book version of "Girls" for me... and I can't get into either

I enjoyed the back-up feature in Shade more than the actual comic, mainly because it had the return of a famous Sandman-related character.

I'm still liking Shade, but it is starting to drag out the whole "how do I cope with being a vicious teenage girl" bit. There's a lot of character progress, but it does need to introduce a bit more plot to keep things moving, or it will start spinning it's wheels on this.

The Element Girl backup was decent. As per the last few, it's another meditation on the theme of "Change".

Cave Carson is just getting better and more fun with each issue. It's one of my favorite series right now, and I love the batshit crazy feel to it within the narrative of a traditional superhero story.

Meanwhile, both Shade and Mother Panic are losing me. I haven't quite decided but I may not pick up the latest issues when I go to the CBS next. I appreciate what they're trying to do, but it just isn't working for me.

SHADE really speaks to my "Alien Trapped in a Bitchy Teen Girl" side...

Latest issue of Cave Carson continues with the mystery of what happened to the underground civilisation Cave's wife came from, while giving hints about EBX's motivations.

In the "Super Powers" backup, we get movement on a few of the stories:

Etrigan the Angel is tempted in a very Miltonesque way with the coming of Man.

The Wonder Twins learn the astronaut they saved was carrying genetic samples of Superman. Unknown to thme, the "Sphinx" has the samples and is trying to build a clone army.

Batgirl follows Wonder Woman's Lasso (a sentient "Lassie") to the Invisible Jet and rescues/revives an unconscious Wonder Woman, just as the Green Lantern Corps arrives to take control of Earth.