Week of 27 July 2011

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

I did not see any LSH content in DC Comics this week. However, I do have this:

DC COMICS: THE ULTIMATE CHARACTER GUIDE (2011/07)
Amazon Listing here


ROLL CALL:

Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Karate Kid (Val), Lightning Lad, Mon-El, Saturn Girl, Sensor Girl, Starman/Star Boy, R.J. Brande, Sodam Yat

Just in time for the reboot of the entire DC Universe, here's a beautiful hardcover guide to the major heroes and and villains of the DC Universe. This book seems aimed at kids and casual comics fans, not the sort of well-informed readers who hang around here. OTOH, it does have Legionnaires: one listing for the Legion of Super-Heroes, along with individual listings for Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Karate Kid, Lighting Lad, Mon-El, Saturn Girl, and Starman.

I don't know the source of all this informaton; it seems drawn from various different versions of the DC Universe, and there are some odd things out of left field here and there. Karate Kid, for example, is described this way: "Though fast on his feet, he's not always the quickest of his team to leap into action -- he always looks for a peaceful way to victory first. Karate Kid uses his fighting skills only when he must!" (It also notes that recently "...he was exposed to a rare version of the OMAC virus which left him incredibly sick" - which seems to be another way of saying "dead.")

My guess is that the book was edited with an eye toward impressionable kids, and they didn't want to encourage children to go out and emulate Val by dashing off after the Fatal Five alone, or leaping up to smash power spheres to save Orando....

Saturn Girl's write-up notes that she "...sometimes flies using her flight belt, rather than her Legion flight ring." Uh...yeah, sure.

Most interesting, however, is a note in Starman's entry: "Dream Girl (a.k.a. Nura Nal) is Starman's 31st century girlfriend and Legion teammate. Nura's power to see the future recently drew the attention of the evil Doctor Destiny, who kidnapped her and transported her to the 21st century. But Starman and the rest of the Legion of Super-Heroes were quick to travel back in time to save her."

Say what?!

I have a theory. Remember that Dreamy was one of the missing Legionnaires in L3W? Remember that panel in Adventure that showed the Legion rescuing Dreamy from 21st-century imprisonment? Remember how that whole thing was never addressed? At the time, I guessed that Dreamy was supposed to have been captured by Brainiac, but the writer just forgot and left her out.

Perhaps not. Perhaps there was a storyline somewhere involving Doctor Destiny. Anyone know anything about this?

Bottom Line: I wouldn't treat this book as canon in any way, and you've seen all the art before, but it's an attractive volume at a pretty attractive price ($16.99 undiscounted). To this Legion completist, it was definitely worth the price.

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