Week of 20 June 2007

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

THE BRAVE & THE BOLD #4 (8/07)
"The Garden of Destiny"
ROLL CALL: Fatal Five, Luck Lords, Supergirl; Cameos by: Atom Girl, Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Light Lass, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Star Boy, Triplicate Girl, Ultra Boy

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Looks like the Legion is going to figure prominently in the next issue...




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COUNTDOWN #45 (6/20/07)
"Monitor Duty"

ROLL CALL: Dream Girl, Karate Kid, Star Boy/Starman

Two pages of the classic LSH, set early in the JLA/JSA "Lightning Saga." (see below)

I hope that future issues of COUNTDOWN will answer some of the questions that the "Lightning Saga" brought up.

"History of the Multiverse Chapter Five"

ROLL CALL: Cameos by Chameleon Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet, Ultra Boy, Mordru



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JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #10 (8/07)
"The Villain is the Hero of His Own Story" (Lightning Saga Conclusion)

ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy (cameo), Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Karate Kid, Lightning Lad (cameo), Lightning Lass (cameo), Mon-El (cameo), Saturn Girl (cameo), Sensor Girl, Star Boy/Starman, Sun Boy (cameo), Timber Wolf, Wildfire

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Uh...okay...so members of the classic Legion came back in time to bring back Barry Allen, and instead they brought back Wally West, Linda, and their two mysteriously-aged children? And for some reason, Starman and Karate Kid are staying behind in the 21st century? And somehow, Wildfire is Red Tornado (huh?) And to top it all off, Sensor Girl has two hearts?

I guess I'm dense or something, but this series left me with more questions than it answered. Why the classic Legion, and not the current Legion? How did the whole lightning rod thing bring back Wally & family...and were they really after Barry? In short, what the sprock is going on here?

At least I know that this version of Karate Kid died defending Orando from tehe LSV. (This was before Jeckie adopted her Sensor Girl identity -- Karate Kid and Sensor Girl never served together.) I suppose he's one of the anomalies who's ben running around since Infinite Crisis -- which kinda explains his presence in COUNTDOWN.

But in a larger sense, there's something anomalous about the whole LSH now. There seem to be two versions of the Legion linked with the present-day DC Universe. There's the classic Legion from this issue (call them "Superman's Legion") and there's the Legion in their own book (call them "Supergirl's Legion").

Damn, I hate it when the rest of DC gets too involved with the LSH...it usually means that there's massive retconning ahead.

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #3 (8/07)
"The Powers That Were"

ROLL CALL: Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Chlorophyll Kid, Color Kid, Double-Header, Infectious Lass, Invulnera-Boy, Lightning Lad, Night Girl, Phantom Girl, Polar Boy, Porcupine Pete, Saturn Girl, Stone Boy, Superman, Timber Wolf

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: It's nice to see the Subs again. And very nice to see Legion tryouts, which were always a fun part of the classic Legion stories. (At least this time around, none of the rejected applicants swore revenge and stalked off to become super-villains...)

The whole concept of the Legionnaires swapping powers was well done. In classic LSH style, something that started out as a joke and a disadvantage turned out to save the day, especially with a little teamwork added to the mix.

The LSH TV show does a great job of being faithful to the traditions of the Legion...and this new comic is doing the same.

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