Thursday, February 28, 2008

Week of 27 February 2008

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

ACTION #862 (4/08)
"Superman & The Legion of Super-Heroes Chapter 5: Revenge of the Rejects"
ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Chameleon Girl, Chlorophyll Kid, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Fire Lad, Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, Night Girl, Phantom Girl, Rainbow Girl, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Stone Boy, Sun Boy, Superman, Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl, Wildfire (Lightning Saga Legion)
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF EARTH: Earth-Man, Eyeful Ethel, Golden Boy, Radiation Roy, Spider Girl, Storm Boy, Tusker

I am loving this series. It's so good to see the real Legion back in action (as well as back in ACTION). I want them back for good.

All things considered, I'm kinda sorry that this story will be over next month....

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Rainbow Girl? Huh? When I saw the cover, I thought, "Oh, Color Kid has changed sex. Cool." But no, Color Kid is blinded, and they've created Rainbow Girl to take his place. Probably the only thing in the comic that I didn't like. (OTOH, her "emotional color" powers tie in nicely with what's going on over in the Green Lantern section of the DC Universe.)

It was nice to see an explanation of why Infectious Lass has been hanging around with Doctor Thirteen, and was last seen floating in the timestream in BOOSTER GOLD...Fire Lad says that Earth-Man "tossed Infectious Lass into the timestream." Good attention to detail there.

Brainiac 5's revelation that Saturn Girl scanned the minds of Legion applicants is the good kind of retroactive continuity...it makes perfect sense, it explains why some rejects joined the Subs while others went with the LSV, and it's something that no one would have talked about.

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COUNTDOWN #09 (2/27/08)
"Pay the Piper"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

Um...I think they're using the wrong word for what Brother Eye does to Val. They say "dissection," but I think they mean "vivisection." At least, he's alive when the process starts...don't know about the end.

Una spends most of the issue as an OMAC, but she gets better. Good for her.

And totally unrelated to the Legion...but it's nice to see the gay guy save the world at the end.

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JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #13 (4/08)
"Supermen"
ROLL CALL: Starman/Star Boy is pictured on the cover, and we hear his voice through a closed door. That's it.

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #39 (4/08)
"Evil Adventus Part 3: Downfall"
ROLL CALL: Colossal Boy, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl, Star Boy, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Saturn Girl's mother is a high-ranking politician trying to help Projectra and the Legion. In past incarnations of the Legion, Phantom Girl's mother was a high-ranking politician who hindered the Legion, and Colossal Boy's mother was a high-ranking politician who both hindered and helped.

Can there be any doubt that the mysterious figure in the command center is applicant M.Rissey from last issue, here to save the day through his administrative skills? I wonder what his code name will be? I vote for Bureaucracy Boy.

Light Lass can't sleep, and says, "For one thing, I can't sleep alone." Coming from a planet where just about everyone is a twin, this kinda makes sense. Although it raises questions about the exact relationship between Ayla and Garth. Most of the other Winathians we've seen have been identical twins, but Ayla and Garth are (obviously) fraternal. (And then there's Mekt, a singleton...what's with their family?) Did they sleep together as children? At a certain age, were they separated and made to sleep alone? What did that do to them, psychologically? The suggestion here is that Ayla became a slut...and perhaps Garth just suffered in his loneliness -- or did the parents stick him in bed with Mekt? ("It'll be good for Mekt to have a brother to sleep with, like everyone else...")

And if that scenario is right, what can we read into the relationship between Garth and Mekt? Garth idolized his brother...but Mekt always seemed to resent Garth. Mekt ran away from home...and Garth went after him. Garth founded an organization of super-powered kids so he wouldn't have to feel so alone. Does this all stem from a day when the Ranzz parents told Garth he was too old to be sharing a bed with Ayla, so now he would be sleeping with Mekt?

I won't even get into the question of what kind of power struggles/dominance games might have gone on between Mekt and Garth when the lights were out...although it may explain a lot....

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