Week of 31 December 2008

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

JSA #22 (2/09)
"One World Under Gog Part VII: Thy Will Be Done"
ROLL CALL (Lightning Saga Legion): Star Boy/Starman
ROLL CALL (Earth-22/Kingdom Come Legion): Andromeda (?), Bouncing Boy (?), Brainiac 5, Catspaw, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dragonmage (?), Dream Girl, Element Lad, Ferro Lad, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Kid Quantum (or is that Star Boy?), Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Shrinking Violet, Star Boy (or is that Kid Quantum?), Sun Boy, Superboy, Supergirl, Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl (twice?), Ulttra Boy, XS

Gog is gone, the Kingdom Come Superman is back in Earth-22, and at least part of Thom's confused timeline is straightened out: he left Earth-22 at the moment of Kansas explosion, presumably arriving in the JSA's 21st century immediately thereafter.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: There's been a lot of talk about whether the Earth-22 Legion is one of the Legions of Three Worlds. Apparently, according to Kingdom Come annotations, the Legion portrayed in Kingdom Come are an idealized version, distinct from any others.

Presumably, there could be a distinct Legion on each of the 52 Earths (except Earth-2?) The three in L3W just happened to get together.

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #49 (2/09)
"One Evil: Enemy Manifest Part 4"
ROLL CALL (Teenage Revolution Legion): Atom Girl, Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Element Lad, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Sizzle, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy

Jeckie's powers continue to develop -- she now has the ability to manipulate illusions within people's minds. This gives her a level of mind control that approaches that of Saturn Girl (which is why the two of them are fighting on the cover). My guess is that Timber Wolf has been under Jeckie's influence for a while.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: With Garth & Imra broken up, President Kin'thea is putting the moves on Garth. Meanwhile, the whole Imra/Jo thing might have been in Imra's mind rather than in the physical world...but to Imra, there is little distinction between the two.

I am continually impressed by how the writers have stretched and redefined the powers of the various Legionnaires in this version of the LSH. I will be sorry to see this version go...although I am also happy to have the Classic Legion back.

Here's a thought: Everyone is panicking about the new Adventure Comics being an anthology series with a changing cast of characters ("oh no, it won't be a Legion comic after all!") -- wouldn't it be cool if Adventure becomes a Legion anthology, featuring a rotating cast of different Legions?

...Just a thought.

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