Saturday, July 25, 2009

Are You Prime or Brek?

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

Geoff Johns was not dissing all comic book fans...just the obnoxious ones.

Before you go getting all insulted about his satirical portrait of Superboy-Prime as an obnoxious comic fan, take a look at his loving portrayal of Polar Boy as the greatest comic book fan in the universe. A hero who saves the day by inspiring a friend with his joy and enthusiasm.

Geoff Johns is obviously an uber-fan of the Legion, the Green Lanterns, the Flash mythos, and the entire Superman Family. You need only glance at his work to know this. The man is not making fun of all comic fans...just the ones who like Superboy-Prime.

So before you get your knickers in a knot, ask yourself: does the shoe fit? Am I Superboy-Prime, or am I Polar Boy?

And if you're Superboy-Prime...well, then, take Sodam Yat's advice and exercise your right to be silent. People might start liking you a little better.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Reflections on L3W #5

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

Well, the dust is settled and we finally know the fate of the Legions, Superboy-Prime, the Time Trapper, and all the other related characters and institutions. What a long, strange trip it's been.

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THE LEGIONS

Everyone thought that this series would end with only one Legion in existence. Happily, that was not the case.

There are now three main Legions. There's the Legion of Universe-0, which is the Classic/Retro Legion with the addition of XS and Gates. There's the Legion of Universe-Prime. And there's the Legion formerly-of-Universe-247, possible now the New Wanderers.

In addition, there is a multiverse of potential other Legions. We saw the SW6/New Earth Legion, the 5-Year-Gap Legion, and various earlier incarnations of the classic Legion.

If I had my way, there would be a Legion for each of the 52 Universes (add Universe-Prime and the Wandering Legion, and that would give you a total of 54).

And here's the best news: Apparently, at a Comic-Con panel today, Geoff Johns said that we will see all the Legions in Adventure Comics. I couldn't be happier.

Remember the old days, when the JLA and the JSA had their annual meetups -- and all the Legion fans were jealous because there was no Earth-2 Legion? Well, boys & girls, wouldn't it be cool to see annual meetups between different Legions? Wouldn't it be excellent to see a team composed of (say) Saturn Girl, Gear, Gates, Kono, the L-Prime Shadow Lass, and (I dunno) Furball? Wouldn't it be superb to see a Boy's Night Out featuring L-247 Invisible Kid, L-0 Element Lad, Classic Chemical King, Sean Erin, and L-Prime Colossal Boy's brother?

Or think of the erotic potential of a M'Onel/Valor/Kent Shakespeare teamup. :)

Seriously, though, there are plenty of open threads for each Legion to pursue. Missing members of L-0, plus Thom and Tellus in the 21st century. All the unfinished business with L-Prime, from Cosmic Boy's leave-of-absence in the future to Lightning Lad & Saturn Girl's future as a couple. And with L-247 prowling the white spaces of the multiverse, who knows what they'll turn up?

There were some personal transformations that made things interesting. Luornu is now Duplicate Damsel, and can manifest as many copies of herself as she wants. That's kewl. And the White Witch is now the Black Witch, with all the Mordru/Kinetix magic to deal with -- you just know we haven't seen the last of Mordru.

And the Time Trapper? Hey, he'll be back. He's inherent in the nature of Time itself. He can never be pinned down to a definite origin or identity.

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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Week of 22 July 2009

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

LEGION OF 3 WORLDS #5 (9/09)
"Legion of 3 Worlds Book Five"

ROLL CALL (Classic/Retro Legion): Blok, Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy (image), Chameleon Girl, Chemical King, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl (image), Duplicate Damsel, Element Lad, Ferro Lad, Green Lantern (Rond) (statue), Invisible Kid (Jacques), Invisible Kid (Lyle), Karate Kid (Myg), Karate Kid (Val), Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, Matter-Eater Lad (image), Mon-El, Night Girl, Phantom Girl, Polar Boy, Princess Projectra, Quislet, Saturn Girl, Sensor Girl, Shadow Lass, Shrinking Violet, Starman/Star Boy, Sun Boy, Supergirl, Superman, Tellus, Tyroc, Ultra Boy, White Witch, Wildfire

ROLL CALL (Earth-247 Legion/New Wanderers): Andromeda, Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Ferro, Gates, Gear, Inferno, Kid Quantum, Kinetix, Leviathan (Gim), LeVIathan (Salu), Live Wire, Monstress, Saturn Girl, Sensor, Shikari, Spark, Star Boy, Superboy (Conner Kent), Thunder, Timber Wolf, Triad, Ultra Boy, Umbra, Valor/M'Onel, Wildfire, XS

ROLL CALL (Earth-Prime Legion): Atom Girl, Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dream Girl, Element Lad (statue), Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Projectra, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Star Boy, Sun Boy (statue), Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl, Ultra Boy

ROLL CALL (SW6/Legionnaires): Catspaw, Computo, Dragonmage, Inferno, Matter-Eater Lad

ROLL CALL (5-Year-Gap): Devlin O'Ryan, Furball, Kent Shakespeare, Kono, Laurel Gand, Neon (Celeste), Vi

ROLL CALL (Super-Pets): Beppo, Comet, Krypto, Proty, Streaky

ROLL CALL (Adventure 247): Cosmic Boy, Lighting Boy, Saturn Girl

ROLL CALL (Friends & Relations): Atmos, Bloodclaw, Calamity King, Chlorophyll Kid, Color Kid, Crystal Kid, Echo, Elastic Lad (Jimmy Olsen), Fire Lad, Firefist, Flederweb, Green Lantern (Sodam Yat), Infectious Lass, Insect Queen (Lana), Kid Flash (Bart Allen), Kid Psycho, Laurel Kent, Porcupine Pete, Power Boy (Jed Rikane), Reflecto, Shadow Lad, Spider Girl, Stone Boy, Veilmist, Visi-Lad

ROLL CALL (L.E.G.I.O.N.): Captain Comet, Garryn Bek (image), Garv, Lady Quark, Phase, Stealth, Strata, Telepath

ROLL CALL (LSV): Beauty Blaze, Black Mace, Chameleon Chief, Grimbor, Lightning Lord, Magno Lad, Mano, Micro Lad, Mist Master, Mordru, Silver Slasher, Spider Girl, Superboy-Prime, Terra Man, Terrus, Time Trapper, Titania, Tyr

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WHO WOUND UP WHERE: EARTH-1 LEGION:

On 31st Century arth: Blok, Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Girl, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Duplicate Damsel, Gates, Invisible Kid (Jacques), Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, Mon-El, Night Girl, Phantom Girl, Polar Boy, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Shrinking Violet, Sun Boy, Superman, Ultra Boy, Wildfire, XS

On Sorceror's World: Black Witch

With Teen Titans in 21st Century: Superboy (Connor), Kid Flash (Bart)

Last Seen in 21st Century: Starman/Star Boy, Tellus

Missing: Chameleon Boy, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Quislet, Sensor Girl, Tyroc

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WHO WOUND UP WHERE: NEW WANDERERS (aka EARTH-247 LEGION):

Past the White Void & Into the Multiverse: Andromeda, Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Ferro, Gear, Kid Quantum, LeVIathan (Salu), Live Wire, Saturn Girl, Sensor, Shikari, Spark, Star Boy, Timber Wolf, Triad, Ultra Boy, Umbra, Valor/M'Onel, Wildfire

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WHO WOUND UP WHERE: EARTH-PRIME LEGION:

On 31st Century Earth-Prime: Atom Girl, Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Dream Girl, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Projectra, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Star Boy, Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl, Ultra Boy

Last Seen Leaving for the Future: Cosmic Boy

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More comments later. But basically: SQUEEEEE!!!!!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

PsiScouts #1 on Kindle

Just in case anyone wants to know....

My LSH-inspired young adult science fiction book Psi Scouts#1: At Risk is now available in Amazon Kindle format.

The book, published under the pseudonym Phil Meade, is also available in print format here.

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Week of 15 July 2009

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

ACTION COMICS #879 (9/09)
"The Sleepers Part 5"
ROLL CALL: Mon-El

Chris Kent is looking pretty fine, but the star of the comic is Mon-El. At Lois's request, he uses his x-ray vision to inspect the skeleton buried in her father's grave. It turns out, based on dental evidence, that the body was not Major Lane's. As we already knew, Major Lane is still alive.

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BLACKEST NIGHT #1 (9/09)
"Blackest Night"
ROLL CALL: Starman/Star Boy

At least, I think that's Starman, in the upper-right corner, just over the statue of Dr. Midnight. Take a look:



Here's an enlarged view:



Many JSA members are in evidence in this panel. This figure isn't Atom Smasher or Damage (they both wear hoods, but their costumes are more colorful). And Thom was last seen hanging around a cemetery in 21st century Metropolis. I am reasonably satisfied that this is him.

If so, it certainly qualifies for nomination in the "Most Obscure Legion Appearance of the Year" award contest.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Week of 8 July 2009

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

R.E.B.E.L.S. #6 (9/09)
"Dominator"
ROLL CALL: Amon Hakk, Bounder, Ciji, Strata, Tribulus, Vril Dox, Wildstar

The Dominator world falls to Starro's forces. Dox uses Silicato trigger a backdoor command that put him in charge of the L.E.G.I.O.N. robots; he uses them to bottle up Maltus and the Dominion in an impenetrable force shield.

In addition to the Dominators, we also see several other Legion-related races and planets: The Khunds, Gil'Dishpan, Coluans, and Durlans.

Dox ends the issue with the promise of new members. I'm guessing that he Dominator Fleet Admiral will become part of the team, and Garv is out there somewhere. I also wonder what happened to Stealth. But it would not bother me at all if Lobo is busy elsewhere.

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BOOSTER GOLD #22 (9/09) doesn't have any direct Legion content, but Booster's Legion flight ring is clearly in evidence.

Friday, July 03, 2009

Week of 1 July 2009

I did not see any Legion content in DC Comics this week.

I saw super-powered Daxamites fighting against Mongul; I saw obscure Green Lanterns; I saw a Starman who wasn't Thom Kallor; I even saw Congorilla. But the only Legionnaires I saw were Superman and Supergirl. There wasn't even a Legion flight ring in evidence.

Sigh. Maybe things will get better next week.

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