LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #10 (2011/04)
"Hiding in Plain Sight"
ROLL CALL:
Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Chameleon Girl, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Gates, Lightning Lad, Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Tellus, Timber Wolf, Tyroc, Ultra Boy, Wildfire, Dyogene, Dr. Gym'll, R'Aesha (aka Ji Daggle)
CUTE BOYS: Brainy, Jo, Lar, Rokk, Troy (Garth would be on the list if his face wasn't covered with Gates's ID bubble)
Ultra Boy and Wildfire accompany a fleet of U.P. Councillors fleeing to Weber's World. Meanwhile, Mon-El learns that he's been elected Leader, and Cosmic Boy tells him to come back to Earth asap. Mon resists until he learns that Brainy was elected Deputy Leader...then he agrees to return to HQ.
Brainy takes command in typical Brainy high-handed style. Chameleon Boy, Chameleon Girl, and Phantom Girl head out to Brande's estate. They enter and Cham tries to access Brande's data systems...but the computer tells him Brande is already logged on and triggers an alarm. A fight ensues, first with security bots and then with R'Aesha (aka Ji Daggle).
On Medicus One, Dawnstar emerges from her coma. Tellus briefs her telepathically, then she heads off to find the little blue critter that blasted her and Wildfire in Adventure 521.
Brainy, Gates, Timber Wolf, and Tyroc teleport into Brande's estate to assist with subduing R'Aesha, but Cham waves them off and clobbers her himself. The others pull Cham back before he hurts her more. Brainy congratulates himself on a successfully-concluded case.
The whole Durlan assassins thing? Yeah, the Durlans wanted to steal the money that Brande left to the Legion -- in order to use it to rebuild Durla. They killed Zendak in order to take his form so that they could alter S.P.monitoring programs to conceal the transfers. They wanted to take Rokk's form so that they could alter things on the Legion's end. R'Aesha was taking Brande's form in order to finalize things with his data system.
Really? All this fuss and bother, just for money? Okay, I guess there's a long tradition of villains being after money -- how many times has Superman foiled bank robbers? -- but it seems rather anticlimactic. I suppose that not every story arc can deal with universe-shaking events, but...really?
The whole thing seems rushed. I gather that DC reduced page counts so they could include teasers for other comics -- in this issue another tedious, convoluted Green Lantern "blockbuster event" -- and this threw off Levitz's pacing.
On the whole, I found myself a bit disappointed at the resolution to this whole storyline. It just seemed too banal for the Legion.
BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:
Pheebes is dead.
Brainy says that if Dyogene's quest is that important, the Legion will get him more support. I wonder if this will tie in with the Legion Academy?
Mon-El says he'll be back as soon as he can. Considering his speed, augmented by the power ring, you'd think that "as soon as he can" would be measured in nanoseconds. Maybe he got lost along the way.
On that topic: Oooo, oooo, oooo, who else wants to see a Mon-El vs XS race? I do, I do!
Brainy tells Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad to stay on Winath on vacation.
Yera reminds us that she has a career as an actor ("Three acting gigs lost because they suddenly didn't want a Durlan..." and "I'm an actress, not a combat vet.") This probably explains why we haven't seen her in action very much. (And while we're on the subject, who wants to learn more of Yera's back-story? We know when & how Cham left Durla -- what about Yera?)
Tyroc and Timber Wolf restrain Cham from doing more harm to R'Aesha once she's subdued, and Brainy muses "Hmm...undoubtedly the moment that Beren foresaw of Legionnaires attacking Reep." Attacking? More like "gently restraining." Beren must lead a quiet, peaceful life, if he thinks that was "attacking."
CHRONICLER'S ERROR?:
We aren't told where Brande's estate is, just that it's "beyond the weathercon satellites' reach." This is an odd lapse; Levitz usually includes geographical references as a way of broadening our experience of 31st century Earth. I wonder if a text box fell off the page at some point.
Come to think of it, there's no text box identifying Medicus One when the scene shifts there. Note to DC: get better glue for those text boxes.
Dr. Gym'll has four arms, pictured symmetrically with two on each side. In the past he's also been depicted with three arms: one on each side and one in the back.
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2 comments:
I agree that the motive behind the Durlan takeover seemed rather anticlimactic and a bit absurd almost. Oh well, as you say, not everything needs to be universe shaking.
By the way, I really enjoy your blog. It shows a real love of the Legion combined with a wonderful and quirky sense of humor. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the kind comments.
These fictional characters have been my friends longer than a lot of my real-life friends, and it's potentially embarrassing how much the Legion informs my life and personality. I love gossiping about these folks, and I'm glad that other people enjoy my rantings.
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