Who's This Mystery Woman?

At the end of Legion: Secret Origins #6, Triplicate Girl shows a slate of potential Legion candidates. This is set just prior to the Legion's recruitment of Superboy.

So who are these? The top row is easy: Star Boy, Superboy, and Shrinking Violet.

The boys in the bottom row are Brainy and (I presume) Sun Boy.

But who's the girl in the bottom row? She's not Phantom Girl, who was already a member at this time. There's not another dark-haired female Legionnaire until Shadow Lass (this ain't her) and then Dawnstar (also not her).

Night Girl, maybe? Laurel Kent? Life Lass? Yera in disguise? Supergirl in her secret identity? (Does Supergirl even have a secret identity any more?)

I'm baffled. Anyone?

Week of 23 January 2013

Legion content this week:

Legion of Super-Heroes 16 (2013/03)

Cham and Vi go on an Espionage Squad mission, Validus is missing, Brainy discovers something about Glorith, and the results of the Leader Election are in. I'm not going to tell you who won, but if you click on the cover to the left there's a spoiler.

Let me just say that I'm happy with the results, perhaps happier than the winner is.

I'm less happy with the art. Cos looks downright homely, Tinya looks silly, and Vi just looks odd. The depiction of Cham is okay, it makes him look more alien, somehow.

I understand that Keith Giffen is coming back soon, so maybe they're trying to get us used to ugly-looking people. (Look at Saturn Girl in the viewscreen -- she has a very Giffen-esque look about her.)

---

Over in Marvel-land, I got Young Avengers #1 (2013/03). It features Hulkling and Wiccan, one of the most adorable gay male couples in comics today. The art is nice, the story is comprehensible, the dialogue isn't stilted, the cliffhanger ending is suspenseful...I had to keep looking at the cover to make sure it was a Marvel comic.

Definitely recommended for anyone who likes to see cute boys in love.

Week of 16 January 2013

Legion content this week:

 Legion Lost #16 (2013/03)

 This is the last issue.

 Well, folks, apparently it's over. Nobody important died, most of the unimportant people lived, Nathaniel Adym has gone into the past -- and good riddance to him. Our time-lost Legionnaires are still in the 21st century.

 Now it's left up to Brainy and Paul Levitz to clean up the mess. I'm not worried, both of them are up to the task. Brainy's research on Glorith's time powers is certainly headed in that direction. And as for Paul Levitz...well, he's used to cleaning up the messes that the rest of DC makes of the Legion. He's done it so often.

I fully expect that the Lost crew will be reunited with the rest of the Legion in due time, that Gim will come back where he belongs, and that there will be much rejoicing.

As for the secret missions that half the Lost Legionnaires were on, as well as the mysterious Echo division of the Science Police -- I trust that we can forget all about that.

Phew!

Week of 9 January 2013 Part 2

Legion Content This Week:

Action 16 (2013/03) - has two Legion stories: The Second Death of Superman and Future Tense.

The first story is the Adult Legion that's appeared in Action before, but with more detail. The second one is, presumably, a story of the teenage years of that Legion.

Except, speaking as a demented fanboy, it's all a mess. The adult Legion is based on the Earth-247 Legion: Shadow Lass is "Umbra," Sensor is a giant snake with robot arms, and Chameleon Boy is just "Chameleon."

But the teen Legion in the second story are based on the original Leigon. It's "Colossal Boy" instead of "Leviathan," Chameleon is Chameleon Boy, and Chuck Taine is Bouncing Boy.

Yet the two storylines are obviously linked -- these are clearly supposed to be the same Legion at different points in time.

Needless to say, this Legion is incompatible with the New52 Legion that Paul Levitz has been writing about.

I'm calling this a legitimate alternate version, which I'm designating "Morrison New52" until a better name turns up.

I understand that creative teams need their freedom, and that there are many versions of the Legion to pick and choose from. But people, this is exactly why readers complain that the Legion is too complicated. A new reader who's been following the New52 Legion faithfully suddenly runs into an incompatible version..."Umbra, I thought her name was Shadow Lass?" "Sensor...is that the same person as Sensor Girl? Why is she disguised as a giant snake?"

Me, I don't care. Another alternate version of the Legion is fine with me. I've been reading the Legion for nearly 50 years, and am an obsessive fanboy. But wasn't the point of this whole New 52 thing to attract new readers?

Week of 9 January 2013

I did not see any Legion content in comics this week.

Addition: However, an alert reader did...so I'm going to talk about that Legion content in another post.

However, in working on my new Legion site, I did find a 47-year-old blooper chronicler's error.

Cast your minds back to Adventure 341, part two of the two-part Computo saga. In the previous issue, Computo executed Triplicate Girl. On page 3 of the current issue, the Legionnaires assemble to grieve for her:

But wait, who's that in purple-and-orange, with her back to us?

After the Legionnaires construct a memorial that gathers Triplicate Girl's disintegrated particles and sends them to Shanghalla, they get a surprise:

There she is again!

"But we saw you die!" says Superboy. More like "But we saw you standing in between Ultra Boy and Light Lass, just a second ago!"

I guess the other Legionnaires were too grief-stricken to notice that the woman they're mourning is in front of their eyes the whole time. "Super-senses" indeed!

Actually, my real guess is that this figure is supposed to be Phantom Girl, but the colorist messed up.

A little digital recoloring, and voila!...Phantom Girl:

Week of 2 January 2013

I did not see any Legion content in DC comics this week. I didn't see any Legion content outside DC comics this week.

I have been having a tremendously good time working on my new Legion site, which is filled with all kinds of Drupally goodness (I've been learning Drupal), and I estimate is going to take me roughly until the Legion's time to finish up.