LSH(5) #1-3

NOTE: This is the first of four catch-up posts reviewing the first 11 issues of the Legion’s “Teenage Revolution” reboot.

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comic.)

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (v. 5) #1 (2/05)
(L 2005-1)
"And We Are Legion"
ROLL CALL: Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Light Lass, Phantom Girl, Shadow Lass, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Triplicate Girl, Ultra Boy

This new reboot of the Legion begins in medias res. This time around (in the 31st century), the Legionnaires are at the center of a galactic movement of young people rebelling against a staid, boring, conservative society. In an interesting echo of ADVENTURE 359’s “The Outlawed Legionnaires,” the Science Police are against the Legion.

One particularly fun bit, making fun of the adults: The Science Police leader carries on a conversation with his Captain via visiplate, even though the Captain is standing in the same room.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:
“Colossal Boy” calls himself “Micro Lad” -- in a reversal of Gim Allon’s historic powers, he is from a race of giants, and he has the ability to shrink to only six feet tall.

The Legion Headquarters is a nice echo of the original inverted-spaceship Clubhouse.

Among the features of the lounge are two racks of DC Comics. (There are also two unidentified figures on the couch; one of them might be Princess Projectra.)

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (v. 5) #2 (3/05)
(L 2005-2)
Untitled (Cover title "Tomorrow’s Heores Today"
ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Karate Kid, Shadow Lass, Sun Boy

After the Legion stops an assassination attempt on the U.P. Council, a team is sent to Naltor to deal with a dream-related crisis.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:
An android that exhales a dangerous gas...recalls the attack of the Molecule Master in SUPERBOY 201’s “The Betrayer From Beyond.”

Element Lad’s power only works on things that he is touching.

The crisis on Naltor is an echo of similar events in ADVENTURE 362/363 “The Chemoids Are Coming” & “Black Day for the Legion.” But this time around, I doubt that Mantis Morlo is behind the trouble.

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (v. 5) #3 (4/05)
(L 2005-3)
Untitled (Cover title "It’s a Magic Number"
ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Sun Boy, Triplicate Girl, Ultra Boy

Spotlight on Triplicate Girl, as Luornu’s three bodies go on simultaneous dates with Element Lad, Sun boy, and Ultra Boy. We learn about Luornu’s homeworld, Cargg, and the origin and nature of her powers. Meanwhile, Cosmic Boy prepares for “some sort of mysterious apocalypse on the horizon that could claim billions of lives.”

This issue abounds in great lines, among them: “I only have six hands,” “I like being naked,” “That’s if you’re trying to prove I’m Superman,” “She can’t be Triplicate Girl...I am,” “I don’t call you ‘Not Light Lass’ when you’re not using your powers, do I?” and the classic “What makes you think I’m not?”

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:
Although Luornu’s clothes triplicate when she does, her flight ring does not.

Flight rings are rare and expensive, so only a limited number can be made. Each one is coded to its wearer’s DNA, and cannot be operated by anyone else.

Phantom Girl is reading a Batman comic. I’m sure it’s possible to identify the exact issue from the pictured cover.

The effects of Element Lad’s transformations only last a maximum of sixty seconds.

Luornu originally had the power to manifest enough copies of herself to repopulate a planet. The three bodies which came to Earth to join the Legion were subsequently rejected by the rest of the Luornus on Cargg. (This is a really cool twist on Luornu’s powers.) Since she has the fused knowledge of an entire planetary population, it’s no wonder that Triplicate Girl is so smart.

Lurornu and Dirk’s play-acting recalls Lana Lang’s endless attempts to prove that Clark Kent was Superboy. The writers have a tremendous amount of fun with this sequence, especially with Chameleon’s clumsy befuddlement. (Cham’s muttered “Stupid, stupid Legionnaires” echoes the oft-repeated refrain “stupid, stupid rat creatures” from the comic Bone.)

We hear a scrap of a joke that Sun Boy is telling: “...and then the Rokynite says to the Naltorian...” In pre-Crisis continuity, Rokyn was “New Krypton,” a planet settled by ten enlarged inhabitants of the bottle city of Kandor.

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