Saturday, March 29, 2008

Week of 26 March 2008

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

COUNTDOWN #5 (3/26/08)
"End Times"
ROLL CALL: Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

Una perishes fighting a bunch of rats, and Buddy Blank's grandson becomes Kamandi.

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #40 (5/08)
"Enemy Rising Part One: Headlong Into Darkness"
ROLL CALL: Atom Girl, Chameleon, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Star Boy, Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl, Ultra Boy

Lightning Lad seems to be getting accustomed to his role as Leader, although there's still trouble with government bureaucrats. Projectra is sued by Orando's creditors, And meanwhile, monsters are attacking all across the Galaxy.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Projectra's full name is "Wilamena Morgana Daergina Annaxandra Projectra Velorya Vauxhall."

Saturn Girl's invasion of Timber Wolf's mind leads to great dissension in the ranks and furious arguments among the Legionnaires. And without Wildfire around, either.

Lightning Lad has various sportsl posters hanging up in his room, including one of Magno Ball champ Rokk Krinn. (Another is a Rollerball poster, doubtless a reference to the awful movie.)

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY: Tomorrow's Heroes trade paperback

(This actually came out last week, but I missed it.)

Trade paperback reprinting the first seven issues of the comic. With all the attention paid lately to the Lightning Saga Legion and the Jim Shooter's version of the Teenage Revolution Legion, I've seen very few comments on the third current version of the LSH. Coupled to the cartoon, this comic is doing some really nice things, while being pretty faithful to the history fo the classic Legion. Definitely worth a look.


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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Week of 19 March 2008

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

COUNTDOWN #6 (3/19/08)
"Outbreak"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

It appears that Val is dead and his body is in stasis at Cadmus. Meanwhile, Una sets out with Buddy Blank into an Earth in the throes of morticoccus pandemic.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: This Earth is not the same one from which our heroes started; on this Earth, Buddy Blank is a lab assistant at Cadmus.

Una explains that in the 31st century, medical nanites keep people healthy and, presumably, young enough for Legionnaires in their 20s and 30s to still be called "Boy," "Girl," "Kid," and such. (This idea, minus the nanites, was first proposed many years ago in the time of the classic Legion.)

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Friday, March 14, 2008

Week of 12 March 2008

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

COUNTDOWN #7 (3/12/08)
"Gone Tomorrow"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

The folks have been sent to an Earth on which they never existed (echoes of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #11, when various heroes found that they had been erased from history). Meanwhile, Una starts to regrow a backbone, but quickly lapses back to being Whiny Woman. Karate Kid dies (again!).

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Karate Kid has died a couple of times before, both times because of a fusion powersphere. In the Classic Legion, he threw himself into a powersphere to protect Orando from the Legion of Super-Villains; the SW6 Karate Kid died in the explosion of a fusion powersphere in Metropolis.

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #12 (5/08)
"Lone Wolf"
ROLL CALL: Bouncing Boy, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Sun Boy, Phantom Girl, Shrinking Violet, Timber Wolf, Tyroc (Animated Legion)

While the rest of the Legion goes to be feted at a Legion Day ceremony, Timber Wolf goes off on his own and foils a bomb threat directed at the ceremony.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: This comic came out on a Wednesday; the Saturday before, the Legion TV show also dealt with a Legion Day ceremony. Based on the Legionnaires in attendance, it looks like these are two different ceremonies.

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SUPERMAN #674 (5/08)
"Shadows Linger Part One: Bright Tomorrows"
ROLL CALL: Mon-El (Lightning Saga Legion)(?)

Conversing with Mon-El via Phantom Zone communicator, Superman learns more of Lar's history. On Daxam, Lar found an ancient starship and flew away from Daxam, an act which was prohibited ("PROHIBITED! PROHIBITED! PROHIBITED!") by the tyrannical Priest-Elders. At the end of the issues, the Priest-Elders show up on Earth demanding that Superman turn Lar over to them for punishment.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Okay, Lar Gand's story here is substantially different from the one in the Classic Legion...or other subsequent versions of the LSH. To my mind, more than anything else, this establishes the Lightning Saga Legion as yet another distinct version...albeit one whose history hews pretty close to the Classic Legion's.

Lar Gand has been in the Phantom Zone for, what, fifteen or twenty years by now? And Superman is just now getting around to asking him about his past? Okay, I know Superman is a busy person, but sheesh!

I wonder if Chris Kent is being groomed to be the next Superboy (once DC recovers the right to use the name "Superboy"). If so, I predict that we'll eventually see Chris Kent/Superboy hook up with the Legion. You read it here first!

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WONDER WOMAN #18 (5/08)
"Expatriate Part 1: That Which Wears the Crown"

No Legion appearances as such, but Wonder Woman begins an adventure with the present-day Khunds (aka Klingons), in which she is taken to the Khund homeworld to help defend them from an invasion. The story is continued in next issue. Fantatical completists will want this issue, and probably the next few.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: The Khunds originally appeared in the chronicles of the Legion. As far as I know, they became part of present-day DC Continuity duing the INVASION miniseries...which introduced many elements of the Legion universe into the present.

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Sunday, March 09, 2008

Week of 5 March 2008

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

COUNTDOWN #8 (3/5/08)
"Homeward Bound"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Source Legion)

Val is still alive, but dying. Una is no longer an Omac, but the experience has left her weepy and whiny.

And now everybody's back on Earth, where Val might spread the morticoccus virus to everyone on the planet....

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GREEN LANTERN #28 (4/08)
"The Alpha Lanterns Part III"

No actual Legion appearances in this issue, but diehard completists will want to know that the Controllers show up. The Controllers ("Once rivals to the Guardians, these immortals are now on the verge of extinction") are the race that made the Sun-Eaters. They originated in the annals of the Legion, and only later were grafted onto the Green Lantern universe.

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