Week of 23 March 2011

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

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #11 (2011/05)
"False Start"


ROLL CALL:

Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Lightning Lass, Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Shrinking Violet, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Timber Wolf, Tyroc, Ultra Boy, Wildfire, S.P. Chief Gigi Cusimano, Dr. Harmonia Li, Warden Marwat (corpse), Frost, Fume, Micro Lad (corpse), Sun Emperor

CUTE BOYS: Brainy, Brin, Dirk, Gim, Jo, Lar, Rokk, Troy

Another issue with a lot going on.

On Rimbor a Lgion team (Colossal Boy, Lightning Lass, Phantom Girl, Sun Boy, Tyroc, and Ultra Boy) goes after escaped villains. One pair, Fume and Frost, talk about Saturn Queen's new LSV.

At Headquarters, Gigi calls for help from Brainy, saying that there are escapees on a dozen worlds. Brainy says he has everything under control. Yet he gets frazzled when Dawnstar refuses to retrun, and Dream Girl walks in with an unconscious and still-deranged Star Boy. When Mon-El shows up by Power Ring projection, he unwillingly takes command and sends Brainy to the lab to work on Thom.

On Takron-Galtos, Chameleon Boy, Comic Boy, and Shrinking Violet are working clean-up when they run across Micro Lad's corpse -- Vi spits on him, which sums up her feelings about their past history. They also find Marwat's corpse, spotting the signs of Lightning Lord's handiwork.

Meanwhile, Timber Wolf goes to Tokyo in search of Sun-Killer. Instead, he finds Sun Emperor, and the two have an epic battle that leaves Sun Emperor defeated.

Finally, Brainy is worried about what's taken Colu off the grid, and in walks Dr. Harmonia Li with an announcement that it's all her fault.

The art in this issue (by Daniel HDR & Wayne Faucher) is okay, but it lacks Cinar's sparkle -- and his nice touch with wild hair. Notice how smooth everyone's hair seems.

The lettercolumn gives the numbers from the Leader election, and promises that XS will be spotlighted in Adventure 526, which is good news indeed.


BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

This is a great example of why it's a good idea to ignore advance solicitations. First, the cover shown in advance solicitations was different: It showed Dream Girl with Star Boy thrown across her shoulders. Second, the text of advance solicitations read:

A jam-packed extravaganza! Star Boy returns from the 21st century! Sensor Girl searches for Karate Kid! The team trails the escaped Legion of Super-Villains! And Saturn Girl seeks Harmonia Li's blood-and the reason why will shock you!

Okay, Star Boy came back, and a team did trail the LSV (sorta). But Sensor Girl and Saturn Girl were nowhere to be seen.

Obviously a lot of changes happened between the time the solicitation went out and the time the issue was published.

On Rimbor there are a number of Interlac signs. They say things like "XXX DRINK X" "DRINK SEX" "ALIEN SEX" and "OPEN BAR" -- about the kind of things you'd expect to see on Rimbor.

Star Boy is suffering from "multiversal disorientation accelerated schizophrenia" made worse by the connection of his uniform to the multiverse.

In Tokyo there is a holo of a bespectacled man with an Interlac legend that reads "C'ABIO YABV PARK." I suspect an anagram of sorts, although the only thing I can come up is "Via Cab Boy," which sounds like a Legion reject. Anyone?

Brainy's speech to Dream Girl is typically arrogant, and about the sweetest thing Brainy has ever said.

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COMIC SHOP NEWS SPRING PREVIEW

This is a free newspaper-style handout that most comic book shops have. The cover features the Legion against the LSV.

Week of 16 March 2011

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

I'm sorry this entry is so late; it's been a crazy couple of weeks. But enough of that, on to the comics --

ADVENTURE #524 (2011/05) 
"First Night"


ROLL CALL:

Bouncing Boy, Cosmic Boy, Duplicate Girl, Chemical Kid, Comet Queen, Crystal Kid, Dragonwing, Glorith, Gravity Kid, Lamprey, Nightwind, Power Boy, Variable Lad, Dr. Gym'll, Father Jamik, Mother Jamik, Black Mace, Name Unknown, Shagrek Look-a-like #1, Shagrek Look-a-like #2


CUTE BOYS: Chemical Kid, Chuck, Crystal Kid, Gravity Kid, Power Boy, Rokk


The trainees are grounded. Chemical Kid decides to go to Phlon to find out why his father's credit was cancelled. (I just figured it was Luornu, trying to teach the trainees a lesson.) He talks Comet Queen, Dragonwing, Glorith, and Gravity Kid into going with him. Gravity Kid, at least, implies that he came along because he didn't want to let Chemical Kid go into danger alone.


And danger there is...in the person of Black Mace, working for a newly-reformed Taurus Gang. They're attacking Father Jamik, presumably to get money or corporate secrets. The trainees seem about to win the day, when a mysterious woman with blue hair takes away their powers and knocks them unconscious.


Meanwhile, back on Earth, Cosmic Boy has a talk with cadets Crystal Kid, Lamprey, Nightwind, and Power Boy -- he seems to be discouraging them from Legion membership. He encourages them to think about other possibilities: joint he S.P.s or go solo on an outerworld. Cosmic Boy says that no decisions have been made yet -- while implying that the decision is already made.


A lot more happens in this issue than it appears at first reading. 


BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:


Glorith doesn't remember her parents. She also makes reference to being "...in service to the Endless Ones." Does this tie in with the immortals that Saturn Queen is seeking? Could the third planet of immortals be the Sorcerer's World? "Endless Ones," eh? You don't suppose she's referring to the Endless from Gaiman's Sandman mythos? That would certainly be interesting.


Speaking of the Endless, Death appeared before in a Legion comic: in the Giffbaum years, in the issue where Earth was destroyed. Except that's not part of this continuity, is it?


We learn a little of Chemical Kid's backstory: his rich scientist father broke the law, using a virus graft to give his son Chemical King's power. (Chemical King was also from Phlon; apparently something about the Phlono physiochemistry predisposes them to this sort of transformation. 


Variable Lad is Dr. Gym'll's nephew. That's a nice touch. Apparently he got his powers through some accident. (Gym'll shows two arms, although there may be a third behind his back that we don't see. Maybe his kind have some limited shape-shifting powers.)


The Taurus Gang was last seen in Adventure 374 (1968/11), when they were revealed to be under the command of S.P. Chief Zoltorus. Along with Black Mace, the other members were Mystelor, Quanto, Rogarth, and Shagrek. This new version has two Shagrek look-a-likes and a blue-haired lady who might be Mystelor (or might not). Quanto was an interesting case: He is a member of a highly-advanced race, sent from another universe to aid Taurus...or, possibly, to help Mystelor improve herself. At the end of the story, he declares his mission over and vanishes in a beam of light, presumably gone back to his own universe. It would be interesting to see more of his story.


The senior cadets (Crystal Kid, Lamprey, Nightwind, and Power Boy) are all from Earth. I guess Earth-Man would be happy if any of them joined the Legion. I could hope that all four of them get their chance to try out for the big leagues. These guys have been around for a long time, they've fought valiantly alongside the Leigon, they've seen some of their classmates join...it's about time they got a break.


However, the powers-that-be at DC seem to have this thing about limiting Legion membership to 25. I can see the reasons...you don't want to overwhelm new readers. (Funny how X-Men and the Avengers never seem to worry about that, with their own casts-of-thousands and convoluted histories.) However, I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's the Legion of Super-Heroes, not the Two-Dozen-and-One Super-Heroes. 


I wouldn't mind seeing the Legion divided into teams, along the lines of Justice League America & Justice League Europe, or the way they've divided the JSA recently. Maybe this run in Adventure is a preliminary run-up-the-flagpole for a future Legion Academy title. I'd buy it! (Look at the Legion Academy -- there's already a continuing cast of 12, 14 if you count Night Girl and Cosmic Boy. Spin off a few more Legion members, and you'll have 20-25 in each book.) (Or, since the Outerworlds seem to be fairy lawless, how about spinning off the senior cadets with Mon-El, the new Green Lantern Corps, and maybe the Wanderers to make a Legion Outerworlds comic.)


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R.E.B.E.L.S. 26 (2011/05)


I haven't found a copy of this comic yet; when I do, I'll update this listing.


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SUPERMAN 709 (2011/05)
"Grounded Part Seven"


ROLL CALL:

XS

CUTE BOYS: Young Clark Kent, Young Lex Luthor

XS appears in a cameo when Flash (Barry Allen) is telling Superman about all the other Flashes he knows.

Barry Allen says that Bart will "do his Grandfather proud" and muses that he doesn't feel old enough to have a grandson, or even a son, for that matter.

First of all, since all of this involves time travel, Barry can easily have any number of great-great-grand-flashes without being any older. But more to the point, he has a granddaughter too. I guess the fact that Jenni is a Legionnaire means that she doesn't matter in the framework of the rest of the DC Universe. Pshaw!

I must say, I'm not that impressed by Barry Allen since his return. If you were a guy who could travel through time, and you discovered that you had a son and daughter in the future, wouldn't you at least want to go take a look at them? But I suppose Don & Dawn's connection to the Legion makes them personae non grata as well. Double pshaw!


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Week of 9 March 2011

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

LEGION OF SUPER-VILLAINS #1 (2011/05)
"When Evil Calls"


ROLL CALL:

Black Witch, Ultra Boy, Wildfire, Wynn Allon, Warden Marwat (died), Mysterious Arm, Akka, Hunter (Adam Orion), Immortus, Lightning Lord, Micro Lad (died), "Obedient One," Questor, Saturn Queen, Sun Killer, Zymyr


CUTE BOYS: Jo, Wynn Allon, and Micro Lad doesn't look bad with his hair cut

Saturn Queen manipulates Warden Marwat into releasing her from containment on Takron-Galtos. In the ensuing riot, Marwat is killed and Saturn Queen escapes with a new, hand-picked Legion of Super-Villains: Old-timers Hunter, Lightning Lord, Micro Lad, and Zymyr; Sun Killer; and three brand-new villains -- Akka (a Sklarian), Immortus (an inertron cyborg whose true identity is unknown), and Questor (a renegade Coluan). One of her other helpers, "Obedient One," is present on Takron-Galtos but never seen again. Poor Micro Lad doesn't survive long; Akka kills him for sassing the Queen.

Saturn Queen has come unglued; she is now a disciple of a powerful blue flame -- gotta be related to the mysterious blue baby from a few issues back. The blue flame seems to be a servant of anarchy (or Chaos), and Saturn Queen's mission is to destroy civilization and allow anarchy to reign.

Apparently, three worlds of immortals have watched over the sentient races. One is Oa, home of the Guardians and powered by will. Another is the Rock of Eternity, home of the Wizard Shazam and powered by faith. The third, whereabouts and inhabitants currently unknown, is powered by wisdom.

Saturn Queen wants to destroy Oa, but a blue voice tells her to wait; the other two places must go first. (Apparently Arnachy must be achieved in an ordered, regimented series of steps. Go figure.) So the LSV hies off to the Rock of Eternity, which they destroy by the time-honored method of smashing it between two runaway planets (shades of E.E. "Doc" Smith!) But a Mysterious Arm emerges from the debris, so perhaps no immortals were harmed in the making of this comic.

Leaving Lighting Lord and Akka on Rimbor to gather cannon fodder recruits, Saturn Queen proceeds to Colu with Hunter, Immortus, Questor, Sun Killer, and Zymyr to search the databanks for some clue as to the location of the immortal home of wisdom. (The blue flame guided her to the Rock of Eternity, but I guess it doesn't know where the third place is.)

In the midst of all this fun, Ultra Boy and Wildfire accompany Admiral Allon to Takron-Galtos to clean up after the riot/jailbreak. Meanwhile, on the Sorcerer's World, the Black Witch knows that something is up -- a flame that's always been yellow has turned blue, and she's struggling to contain the evil of Mordru that she absorbed in L3W.

The story ends with a promise that it will be continued in Legion of Super-Heroes #11.

On the whole, a great beginning to what promises to be an epic story, told in inimitable Paul Levitz fashion. Saturn Queen and her new Legion are just plain creepy-bad, and the whole blue-flame/three-immortal-homes thing is intriguing. Dollars to donuts Harmonia Li is up to her neck in this stuff.

The art is very dynamic and on the whole quite good...although I do miss Yildiray Cinar's clean lines and uncluttered backgrounds. And surely there have to be more sound effects than "Krakooom!" On one hand there are two colliding planets, on the other is an exploding starship -- and you're telling me they both make the same sound? I mean, the identical sound...down to the exact same letters. This strains my suspension of disbelief.

Obviously this whole mess involves the Green Lanterns somehow, but thank goodness it doesn't seem to tie in with the Blackest Night/Brightest Day/Endless Crossover multi-hued scheme of colors and emotions -- at least, blue doesn't seem to represent hope here. To which all I can say is "good," because if the Legion goes all Green Lantern on me I swear, I will flush this white plastic Power Ring right down the toilet. Don't think I won't.

In any case, I'll be counting the hours until LSH #11 comes out.


BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

Akka's name recalls AKKA, the super-weapon in Jack Williamson's The Legion of Space. Yet another classic science fiction allusion from Paul Levitz.

This whole good/evil/anarchy, faith/will/wisdom thing smells vaguely of the Lords of Order and Chaos. Especially since Mordru is somehow involved; he is/was a notorious Lord of Chaos.

Gim's father, Admiral Wynn Allon, is alive and well in the U.P. military, right where he belongs. Hooray! I've been worried about him ever since he was conspicuously absent from dinner with Marte and the kids.

What's with Takron-Galtos? After several riot/jailbreak cycles, it was destroyed in the Crisis on Infinite Earths and replaced by Labyrinth. Then it came back, only to be destroyed the last time the Legion of Super-Villains escaped (in L3W). Now it's up and running again, only to have another jailbreak/riot. Me, I'd spread the prisoners out all around the planet, rather than keeping them in one central (and very vulnerable) location. Or maybe even set up a bunch of prison planets, each one with a particular big baddie. At the very least, you'd think they'd have learned by now not to keep Lightning Lord and Saturn Queen within walking distance of one another. (At least the Fatal Five Four didn't get involved this time around...they're probably all in a single minimum-security cell playing poker together.) (Validus? The Fatal Three? I'm not going there.)

Speaking of which...did anybody else wonder where Cosmic King is? I know there are theories floating around that it might be his brain in Immortus's body...but really, I don't see it. Wouldn't his brain retain transmutation powers? (When you think about it, we don't really know that much of C.K.'s back-story other than his oft-told origin. We know tons about Mekt, and we've learned more about Eve Aries...but Cosmic King hasn't really faced the teen Legion very often, and his past is largely a mystery. I'd like to see Paul Levitz turn his attention to Cosmic King's story sometime.)

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Week of 2 March 2011

Second week in a row with no Legion content in DC Comics. I do not approve of this trend.

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Week of 23 February 2011

I did not see any Legion content in DC comics this week. What's wrong with DC?

  ----------

Week of 16 February 2011

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

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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Week of 9 February 2011

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

I bought four DC comics this week, and all four of them had Legion-related content. That's what I call "a good start."

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ADVENTURE #523 (2011/04)
"First Night"
ROLL CALL:

Black Witch, Blok, Bouncing Boy, Duplicate Girl, Night Girl, Chemical Kid, Comet Queen, Dragonfire, Glorith, Gravity Kid, Harlak, Lamprey, Power Boy, Variable Lad

CUTE BOYS: Chemical Kid, Gravity Kid, Harlak, Power Boy (particularly check out mostly-naked Power Boy on page 17, and half-naked Gravity Kid & Power Boy being all buddy-buddy on page 19)

Adventure begins a series set at the Legion Academy; knowing Paul Levitz, there will be a lot of crossover with the rest of the Legion. In a way, this is reminiscent of those heady days of Legion of Super-Heroes and Legionnaires.


Night Girl, Power Boy, and Comet Queen come to the Sorcerer's World to pick up a new cadet -- a magic user named Glorith, who has been under tutelage of the Black Witch and Blok. Back on Earth, Glorith is overwhelmed, and falls into the orbit of bad-boy Chemical Kid and bad-girl Dragonwing.

The three cadets go out for a night of private clubbing; wet-blanket Luornu decides that she has to teach them discipline. She wakes them up at sunrise for a practice session led by Night Girl (and also attended by the irrepressible Comet Queen, a sleepy Variable Lad, and teacher's-pet Gravity Kid). Chemical Kid passes the test with a smart-alecky attitude that disturbs Luornu and turns Lydda on a little.

Lamprey and mostly-naked Power Boy have a moment of exposition when they explain that Comet Queen has been re-admitted, while the two of them are getting ready for graduation (which is coming "soon.")

That night, the three miscreants sneak out (along with Comet Queen), incidentally interrupting Power Boy and Chemical Kid in the middle of some passionate lovemaking. The Foolish Four find that Duplicate Girl has anticipated them, and they are under arrest for trespassing.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

Harlak is a Khund who renounced his world's violent lifestyle and went to study on the Sorcerer's World. He figured in the Magic Wars storyline, and we never really got to see his story progress. I'm glad Levitz has brought him back.

Glorith. Long ago the Time Trapper had an assistant named Glorith; her one and only appearance was in Adventure 338 (1965/11), where she was devolved to a blob of protoplasm. Later, Giffen and the Bierbaums resurrected her and she took the place of the Time Trapper in her own self-created universe (the "Glorithverse"). She was a major pain in the butt to both the Glorithverse Legion and the readers. When the Time Trapper finally defeated her, there was great rejoicing across the land.

In the Earth-247 universe, young Lori Morning was a chronal traveler associated with the Time Trapper; there was much speculation that she would become the new Gloirth but that never actually happened.

What relationship exists between that Glorith and this new one, if there is any relationship, is unknown. However, the old Glorith was (in one reality) Mordru's chief wife and a powerful magic user. This new one is a student of the Black Witch, who absorbed Mordru's energies in Legion of Three Worlds. In addition, the new Glorith wears a purple robe not unlike the Time Trapper's. The Trapper is currently missing and presumed dead -- but you can't keep him down for long. Paul Levitz is having a lot of fun with this, and it's going to be a great ride.

The Black Witch says that she cannot set foot on Earth "lest the darkness within escape." She's referring to the energies she absorbed from Mordru.

Mirrorkins. What a great science fiction touch.

Chuck is just so perfect in this issue...with his bathrobe and Legion pajama bottoms, he's the perfect blend of wisdom and comic relief. The man is truly a Legionnaire.

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 DCU: LEGACIES #9 (2011/03)
"Knight After Night"


ROLL CALL:

Earth-247 Legion: Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Ferro, Saturn Girl, Ultra Boy, Shvaughn Erin, Impulse, Inferno, Superboy (Conner)

CUTE BOYS: Brainy, Captain Marvel Junior, Conner, Damage, Jo, Robin, Rokk

This series, which recaps the history of the DC Universe, revisits the events of the Final Night miniseries (1996). During this period, several members of the Earth-247 Legion were marooned in the 20th century, and participated in Final Night.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: There's some question about whether Inferno was ever an official Legionnaire. She was the only one in the group who stayed behind; she had a miniseries of her own and appeared in various other DC comics of the period. Presumably she is still around in the present-day DC universe.

The Earth-247 Ferro was born in the 20th century and accompanied the Legionnaires back to the 30th century when they returned.

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R.E.B.E.L.S. #25 (2011/04)
"Starstruck Part 2"


ROLL CALL:

Adam Strange, Amon Hakk, Captain Comet, Ciji, Lobo, Lyrl Dox, Starfire, Tribulus, Vril Dox, Wildstar, Xylon, Astrild Stormdaughter, Smite, Starro


CUTE BOYS: Adam Strange, Captain Comet, Lyrl Dox


Starro's people kidnap Vril Dox and take him to the Psion homeworld. There, the Psions are breeding Czarnnians...Lobo's people. Starro's plan is to control these Czarnians -- but for some reason, Czarnians don't yield to the control of the face-huggers. Starro puts Dox under control, and wants him to figure out how to control the Czarnians.


Meanwhile, the rest of L.E.G.I.O.N. is on their way to rescue Dox. But as Admiral Ackbar would say, "It's a trap!"At the same time, the face-huggers on Rann are taking over the planet.


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SUPERMAN #708 (2011/04)
"Grounded Part Six"


ROLL CALL: 

Infinite Man


CUTE BOYS: Various members of the Superman Squad and disaster victims in Lincoln, Nebraska

Supes meets the Superman Squad, "a group of Supermen from various eras who've banded together to defend the time stream." Among the many sights Supes witnesses is a spacetime window showing a group of Supermen as they "face off against the Infinite Man in the conflagration known as the Crisis in Infinite Eras."

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Week of 2 February 2011

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

 LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ANNUAL 1 (2011/02)
"Here Eye Am"


ROLL CALL:

Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Gates, Lightning Lass, Sensor Girl, Shrinking Violet, Sun Boy, Emerald Empress (Falyce), Emerald Eye, Falyce, Duke Pharos

CUTE BOYS: Dirk (Rokk is also in this story, but doesn't look particularly cute)

 Since Jeckie's departure, Orando has fallen on hard times -- or, rather, pretty normal times for a planet on a medieval level. About a year ago a girl named Alyce was running from a cruel Duke when she stumbled into some ancient, cursed ruins and awakened the Emerald Eye. She becomes the new Emerald Empress.

Flash forward to now: The Empress has plucked a passing starship from space and crashed it on Orando. Inside are Lightning Lass and Shrinking Violet. Some time later, Ayla and Vi awaken as prisoners; they fight their way to the Empress' throne room, where they find her completely insane on power. She shows them that the Eye is transforming Orando into a weird-looking garden. The Empress reveals that she's wearing a Legion flight ring and decides to use it to summon more Legionnaires.

Back at Legion Headquarters, the distress signal arrives. Jeckie says that she's just sensed a wave of energy from Orando, as if a curtain was drawn back to reveal that everything she'd sensed about Orando in the last few months has been an illusion. She tells Cosmic Boy where they're going, then orders Gates to teleport her and Sun Boy directly to Orando.

They arrive to find Ayla and Vi bound, and the fight begins. (Meanwhile, back on Earth, Rokk seeks reinforcements but Dream Girl says she saw that they were going to be too late.) Much fighting ensues on Orando; the others distract the Empress while Vi shrinks down small enough to slip in between the molecules of the Eye.

Inside the Eye, Vi finds a weird, impossible landscape that resembles the new form of Orando. She hallucinates the history of the Eye. She enlarges, shattering the Eye from within and breaking the spell that held Falyce.

Later, Ayla and Vi make ready to return with Gates and the others, but Jeckie chooses to stay behind o Orando to repair the damage. In the last panel, some kind of weird green energy appear around Vi's left eye, and the caption says "The End?"

A pretty good story, and Keith Giffen's art isn't as bad as it used to be -- although he does make people look pretty grotesque. Instead of the nine-panel grid, he now bases his pages on a six-panel grid; fortunately he does vary it a little by merging 2 or 4 panels, and there's an occasional full page.



BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:


Dream Girl's prediction is nonsense. She says "I just woke up -- and saw that we're going to be too late." How so? No one else goes to Orando; at the end, Vi makes a point of saying that Gates is taking them home. Who was too late? Too late for what? Remember, Nura's predictions always come true. Is this another hint that the woman we think is Dream Girl really isn't?

Sun Boy is playing a VR game that seems to be set in World War II. Gates enters the game, where he is depicted as wearing an army uniform and helmet.

The Monitor Boards are now mobile displays that chase the Leader around.

Lightning Lass's monitor symbol has changed: it's now a classic female symbol with a crossbar made of lightning.


CHRONICLER'S ERROR?:

The nobleman at the beginning is called Duke Pharos. In the past, Jeckie had a nasty relative named Pharoxx; is this guy the same person?

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There are two reference features in this Annual: Legion History, the Board Game and Interlac A to Z.  The first is the most interesting, as it lays out the general history of the Retro Legion and allows us to judge how well it fits with the Classic Legion. There are several notable entries.

° Supergirl joined after Superboy. This fits with what was established in the recent Supergirl Annual.

° Garridan Ranzz was Validus. Since we recently saw him alive and well, he obviously got better. But we also saw Validus in action in L3W. The mystery has yet to be explained.

° "Superboy killed in battle with Time Trapper?? Error in historical records -- try not to think about it." The Conspiracy to kill the Trapper still happened. Personally, I'm glad to see this remain part of continuity; the Death of Superboy series was a great story.

° Mon-El was still beaten badly by the Time Trapper, and Shady still married him.  That was so touching, I'm glad it's remained in continuity.

° "The Mystery Years! Lose a turn trying to figure out what happened."

° The last entry is "Shadow Lass divorces Mon-El, shacks up with Earth-Man."

This clears up the question of how much of the Second Levitz Era remains part of continuity: al of it, through the Magic Wars. The Mystery Years stand between the Magic Wars and the Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes series.

The Interlac A to Z feature is fun. The most interesting bit, to me, is V is for Validus: "This monster killed the first Invisible Kid. It's believed to be a twin son of Lighting Lad and Saturn Girl, evolved into a twisted creature by Darkseid."

With The Validus/Garridan connection mentioned twice, I would not be surprised to see the matter addressed in the near future.

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Week of 26 January 2011

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

However, this big guy came to visit:

He actually arrived in pieces, most of them from eBay. After he had a look around, he decided to stay.

Here he is in his permanent place amid the other Legion collectibles:

Click either picture to embiggen.

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Week of 19 January 2011

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

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #9 (2011/03)
"One Last Durlan"


ROLL CALL:

Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy (cover only), Dawnstar, Gates, ightning Lad (cover only), Saturn Girl (cover only), Sensor Girl (cover only), Tellus, Timber Wolf, Tyroc, Ultra Boy (cover only), Wildfire (cover only), S.P. Chief Gigi Cusimano, Durlans


CUTE BOYS: Brainy, Brin, Garth, Gim, Jo, Rokk, Troy

With six pages taken up by something I care less about than Brightest Day, and two pages devoted to a letter page announcement that contains a total of zero actual Legionnaires (I'm not counting Superman and Conner), there's not a whole lot left for Legion content in this issue. Maybe they should change the title to Advertisements: featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes?

Ahem. The main plot of this issue involves Brainy and Cham on Durla as they try to reason with the Durlan leaders. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't work. There are some nice echoes of the last time Cham was on Durla, in Legion of Super-Heroes #301 (1983/07). In the end, Brainy figures out that they need to talk to Ji Daggle, Cham's aunt.

Meanwhile, in the U.P. chambers, Timber Wolf and Tyroc continue to defend the Council. Gates arrives (very dramatically, courtesy of a great rendering by Yildiray Cinar). One of the Durlan assassins shows up in the form of R.J. Brande -- but the Legionnaires are onto him in an instant, and a tremendous fight ensues. The Durlan escapes at the end.

On Medicus One, Gigi convinces Tellus to enter Dawnstar's mind and use her power to find Zendak. He does (in another visually-impressive sequence), and reports that Zendak is dead.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

When Brande's hologram recited his life story a few months ago (Adventure 516), there was much weeping and wailing in the online Legion community. "Brande doesn't talk like that," they said. "Brande doesn't have that much of an accent." "Paul Levitz doesn't know what he's doing." "Worst...comic...ever."

Well, guess what? Levitz did know what he was doing, Brande did talk like that, and this is the BEST...comic...ever. Listen to Tyroc talking about the phony Brande: "Sounds like he used to...before Brande got so wrapped up in that put-on theatrical voice he fell in love with a couple of years ago."

We last saw Ji Daggle in the same issue, by the way, as a flashback in Brande's story. Prior to that, she was last seen in a cameo in Who's Who in the LSH #7 (1988/11); the last time we saw her in action was as a captive of Dagon the Avenger in Legion of Super-Heroes #263/264 (1980/05-6).

Tyroc continues to develop his powers, which is nice to see. He's fast becoming a stalwart of the Legion, both strong and wise -- the years seem to have tempered his anger but left his passion alive. He's definitely someone I would want in my corner during a fight.

Timber Wolf expresses the soul of a true hero when the Durlan is batting him around while attacking the Council: "Hit me all you like, ugly -- but no Councillors for you!"

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SUPERMAN/BATMAN #80 (2011/03)
"World's Finest Part Two"


ROLL CALL:

Kent Shakespeare

CUTE BOYS: Kid Flash, Robin (present-day), Robin (31st Century)

I never know what to make of this title. Is it in continuity, or not? Isn't Batman dead right now? And which Robin is this? (It would probably help if he took off his mask and costume.) Nevertheless, every commentary I've found seems to indicate that we're somewhere in the current DC Universe (whatever that means).

If so, then we just saw the Retro Legion version of Kent Shakespeare.

Here's the relevant panel. The bad guy, Epoch, is careening out-of-control through time, and he passes through the 31st century. (click to embiggen)

The narrative, provided by Superman One Million, says:

"It appears he next appeared a thousand years later, in the midst of the Miracle Monday celebrations. He managed to incapacitate that era's Superman, Kent Shakespeare, but was defeated by Brane Taylor and Elna Kent -- the 31st Century Batman and Superwoman."

There's an awful lot to unpack here. For the story of Miracle Monday I'm going to refer you to Wikipedia. The "thousand years later" starts with "decades into the future, where the original Batman's son and the second Superman easily defeated him."

Get ready for a headache. If the Legion's time is exactly a thousand years after Superman's (the present), then we're talking about a thousand years from a generation in our future. If the Legion takes place in 3010, then this panel is set in, say, 3040 or 3050. Yes, it's the 31st century...but it's a generation after the Legion's time.

In that future, Kent Shakespeare is Superman, Brane Taylor  is Batman, Elna Kent is Superwoman, and a cute blond boy wearing altogether too many clothes is Robin. (I have to pull out my issues of Generations to see if these names are in there...Superwoman looks a little familiar.) (Note that this is not the Kristen Wells Superwoman usually associated with Miracle Monday.)

Kent Shakespeare, I suppose I don't need to tell you, was a late member of the Legion in the Glorithverse version. Now it seems that Kent turns up a generation later, going under the name Superman.

Now, Kent Shakespeare was one of the characters I actually liked from the Glorithverse Legion. (I liked Kono as well.) Now I want to see more of this late-31st-Century world. Did Kent Shakespeare get his early training from the Legion? How about Superwoman? Batman seems to be shooting a ray from his hand...does he have super-powers, and might he have been in the Legion too? And above all, what's the story with that cute Robin, why does he have his hand comfortingly on Kent's shoulder, and what does he look like with his clothes off?

Ahem. Incidentally, there's another minor Legion reference in the next panel: "...at the dawning of the 46th Century[,] the Unknown Superman and Batsman were busy contending with the Greater Darkness..."

Maddening yet evocative, these glimpses of fascinating futures are fun.

----------

ADDENDUM:

Other folks have caught what I totally missed, that Laurel Kent used the name "Elna" when she first appeared. Check out Legion Lad's comment, suggesting that Superwoman might be Laurel or her daughter. I particularly like the "daughter" theory...dare we imagine that young Kal-El and Laurel had more than a platonic relationship? That Kal might have a little girl in the 31st century that he's not aware of?

[Yes, yes, yes, I know Laurel turned out to be a Manhunter android. But that was in the Original Legion timeline, in which Mon-El never had a 21st-century career. In this Retro Legion timeline, maybe Laurel wasn't a Manhunter. Maybe Fortress Lad didn't turn into the Legion Clubhouse, the Legionnaires never tormented Superboy to make him forget that they lived forever, and (dare we hope) Dr. Mayavale died in infancy.]

On the DCU message boards, reader littlekonel identifies these characters a little better:

The Unnamed Robin is from the book Robin 3000 and his name is Timothy Wayne. He's the last of the Wayne family and he's an alien hunter. Brane is also an alien-hunter who takes on the role of Batman because he's rebelling against aliens who had taken over Earth. 

Laurel Kent (or Elna as she is known here) is wearing an outfit that seems to be across between her "Poncho" look and the Superwoman look. I liked the idea that they used the name "Elna" is both an anagram to Lane and the name she once used when she interacted with Kal-el/Superman. This Superwoman looks like a much older Laurel Kent with Super-strength (she's shown punching Epoch...if she just had invulnerability, it wouldn't make a difference. It also mentions that, at least in the 31st century, they celebrated Miracle Monday: the Superman holiday which Kristen Wells witnesses and ends up donning on the Superwoman outfit. It makes sense that Laurel would be at such festivities.

Next to Elna is Brane Taylor, the 31st century Batman. Unlike the Robin mentioned above, Brane is not a direct descendant but instead dons on the Bat-costume to stop an alien threat. We can probably assume that the alien threat that Robin 3000 battles is the same alien threat that leads Brane to become the Batman. 

littlekonel goes on to wish for these characters to appear in Legion comics, suggesting that they could be part of the Legion Academy series. What a great idea!

The bottom line is, we've (possibly) had a tiny glimpse of the time a generation after the Legion. And like many other Legion fans, I want more.
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Week of 12 January 2011

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

R.E.B.E.L.S. #24 (2011/03)
"Starstruck Part 1"


ROLL CALL:

Adam Strange, Captain Comet, Lobo, Starfire, Tribulus, Vril Dox, Astrild Stormdaughter, Smite, Starro

CUTE BOYS: Adam Strange, Captain Comet

Okay, this is getting more interesting. I'm a little dubious about bringing Starro back so quickly, but Green Lanterns and various Vegans weren't working, so why not? (Still, a visit from the real Legion couldn't hurt. Or how about the Legion of Earth-Prime, since it was Earth-Prime's Brainiac 5 who started Dox on all this stuff to begin with?)

Anyway, Dox goes on a date with Blackfire, Adam Strange has a nice evening at home with his wife and kid, and Captain Comet runs into Lobo in a bar while moping about Starfire.

Astrild Stormdaughter lures Lobo away with pheremones, and drains his life-force to restore the parasite on Starro's chest. In turn, it births a bunch of little starros. (This is confusing...the name "Starro" refers to the space-starfish as well as to the big bald guy with a star-shaped scar on his face.)

Finally, Smite crashes into Dox's ship with a big Skroom!, carrying Tribulus away.

BITS OF L.E.G.I.O.N.NAIRE BUSINESS: Is it just me, or has Tribulus done nothing much up to this point? Other than occasionally acting as bodyguard for Dox (who doesn't really need a bodyguard, and anyway I thought that was Lobo's job).

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Week of 5 January 2011

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

ADVENTURE #522 (2011/03)
"Consequences"


ROLL CALL:

Black Witch (cover only), Dawnstar, Lighting Lass (cover only), Mon-El, Phantom Girl (cover only), Saturn Girl (cover only), Tellus, S.P. Commander Gigi Cusimano, Dyogene, Dr. Harmonia Li, Saturn Queen, Sun Killer, Unknown Blue Critter

CUTE BOYS: Mon-El, Various S.P. Officers

An S.P. cruiser taking Saturn Queen to Takron-Galtos is attacked by a new villain named Sun Killer. His mission is to free Saturn Queen, but the S.P.s aren't carrying the equipment to release her from her inertron shackles. ("Crew carries less than 100 credits.") Green Lantern Mon-El responds, under the tutelage of Dyogene. Mon-El fumbles his use of the power ring, but defeats Sun Killer using his old-fashioned Daxamite super-powers.

During the battle, a little blue baby flies through, prompting Dyogene to say, "The Adversary was here...newborn, but strong...That which the Guardians decreed I battle lives. If there is war among the immortals again, what time have we for less?"

Meanwhile, Tellus and Gigi despair of Dawnstar's chances of awakening from her induced coma. Gigi, ever the soul of tact and empathy, is concerned because Dawny is her only chance of finding Zendak.

At the same time, Harmonia Li is on a ship bound for Earth as it passes through the debris of Titan. (Me, I'd've taken an orbit that went a few million miles away from the debris field. But what do I know?) Little bits of Titan start thunking against the ship's hull, and Dr. Li opines that the universe has a grudge against her. (Her exact words: "The starwinds bring my failure to me, reminding me of what I could have prevented. The cosmos has a long memory.") She seems to be talking about the destruction of Titan, but that "long memory" thing makes me think that perhaps she's referring to something that happened much longer ago.

(I swear, if this all hooks up with that lame, endless "Brightest Day" nonsense, I will get one of them white plastic power rings and flush the damn thing down the toilet. I mean it. Don't think I won't.)

The story ends with Saturn Queen still immobilized within her bindings, but Tellus can sense that her dreams are stronger and are suffused with a blue glow (i.e. the little blue critter) and he despairs. I thought blue was supposed to be hope? (Okay, I guess Tellus despairs pretty easily, so the point may be moot.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

This is the month in which DC comics all have really cool covers -- this one is no exception. Be aware that the cover is iconic; it has no relationship to the story inside. Of the ten boobs on the cover, only two of them (Dawnstar's) actually appear in the comic.

Since this cover features Legion ladies with their bulging bosoms,  is the cover of Legion of Super-Heroes going to feature cute Legion lads with bulging trousers? As if! Take a look:

Okay, Garth and Jo are showing some nice muscle, but what's Imra's arm doing blocking Jo's naughty bits? And I'm sorry to say it, but none of the boys are looking particularly endowed. Meanwhile, of course, Imra and Jeckie are thrusting their prominent chests forward, and Dawny is (once again) absolutely flaunting her bozongas.

Notice how Mon-El's costume reverts to his old red-and-blue when he loses control of the ring. It's a neet effect, but why-of-why couldn't it have left him nekkid? Hey Mon: next time you conjure up your Green Lantern uniform, do it right after you step out of the chem-shower, okay?

This issue announces the return of lettercolumns to DC comics. Does this mean we'll see the return of The Legion Outpost? As far as this blogger is concerned, this is a positive step. (Hmmm...maybe I should put together a list of the titles of various Legion lettercolumns. My very favorite was the lettercolumn from the short-lived Valor comic: "The Letters Part of Valor.") (My husband Thomas reminds me of the lettercolumn from the old Green Lantern Corps: "Written to the Corps.")


CHRONICLER'S ERROR?:

Sun Killer gets the drop on Mon-El by emitting red solar rays. In the olden days, Mon's anti-lead serum also gave him powers under a red sun. It was Superboy who was was always getting knocked for a loop by red-sun radiation. I'm going to charitably assume that Mon was just taken by surprise, not physically weakened.

I think Sun Killer puts his finger on Mon's real problem with the power ring: "It is no stronger than your will." When I try to come up with words to characterize Mon_El, "willpower" is not all that high on the list. Courage, intelligence, strength, endurance, unbelievable hotness...but willpower, not so much. I'm just not convinced that he's such a good choice as a Green Lantern.

I keep coming back to the four Legionnaires who were established as having the greatest willpower: Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Dream Girl, and Saturn Girl. Hmmmm...a while ago Dyogene approached Dream Girl and said she would be a good candidate, but not yet. Is that yet another clue that this woman is not actually Dream Girl, is maybe a Durlan assassin instead?

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Week of 29 December 2010

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

So I've been working on a chart of alternate Legions, of which I have 19 listed so far. (There are more to come -- both alternates and Legionnaires.) Take a look and see if you like it.

Meanwhile, this week Adventure #522 and possibly Superboy #3 (alien terrorists from the future).

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Timelines: Divergent, Parallel, and Otherwise

I just realized that the current (Retro) Legion is something that we've seldom seen in science fiction. Bear with me, and we'll get to it in a moment.

In SF we're used to the idea of divergent timelines: two or more universes that share the same past, but have different futures. To borrow Doc Brown's graph from the Back to the Future movies, divergent timelines look like this:

The best Legion example is LSH v.2 #300, when Douglas Nolan showed glimpses of these alternate timelines.

Somewhat related, and more familiar, is the idea of parallel timelines: two alternate universes that have different past, present, and futures. The graph looks like this:

The most familiar Legion example is the Legions of Three Worlds. More fundamentally, this is the concept behind the whole DC Multiverse.

The two concepts overlap; if you follow parallel timelines far enough back into the past, you may find that they diverged from a common history.

Now here's what's happening in the Legion that is very seldom seen: convergent timelines. Here, two parallel timelines come together to the same future. Here's the graph:

And here's how the concept relates to the Legion:

The Original Legion and the Retro Legion have different histories. As a minor example, in the Original Legion Mon-El visited Krypton, met Superboy, went into the Phantom Zone almost right away, and stayed there until the Leigon let him out. In the Retro Legion, he didn't visit Krypton, met Clark Kent, went into the Phantom Zone...then was released by Superman and had a 21st century career (including seeded the U.P. worlds) before going back into the Phantom Zone until the Legion released him.

If I understand DC's philosophy, though, the Retro Legion and the Original Legion share the same 31st century "present." The assumption seems to be this: If Levitz had continued writing Legion after the Magic Wars, then the group would have wound up in the same place it is today*. In Legion terms, the timelines look like this:

This idea of convergent timelines isn't brand-new in science fiction...in Doctor Who there has been talk of collapsing timelines together, and also of "fixed points in time" which may represent the same idea. In written sf, Poul Anderson and Fritz Leiber have played around with similar concepts. But convergent timelines are still largely unexplored territory.

Anyway, for me this insight provides a satisfactory answer to the question of whether the current Legion is an alternate version or the real thing. That answer? It used to be an alternate version, but now it's the real thing.

Thoughts?

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*No, I don't actually believe that if Levitz had continued the Legion, it would be in the same place today.  In fact, I would vigorously argue that it would be very different. But I'm willing to accept this as an assumption for the sake of argument.

Look at it this way: The Original Legion could have ended up with today's Retro Legion. The Earth-247 Legion and the Earth-Prime Legion couldn't have ended up here. That's good enough for me.

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Week of 22 December 2010

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

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #8 (2011/02)
"The Shape of Death"


ROLL CALL:

Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Earth-Man, Element Lad, Ferro Lad (memorial statue), Invisible Kid (Jacques), Kid Psycho (memorial statue), Karate Kid (Myg) (memorial statue), Karate Kid (Val) (memorial statue), Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Shadow Lass, Tellus, Wildfire, S.P. Chief Gigi Cusimano, Dr. Gym'll, Pheebs, Durlans

CUTE BOYS: Brainy, Brin, Cham, Dead Val, Gim, Jacques, Jan, Mon, Rokk

Brande's private secretary Pheebs is the latest target of the renegade Durlans, but the Legion is there first to protect him. He explains that Brande was trying to rebuild Durla and bring it into the United Planets, and that he, Pheebs, chose the Durlan leaders who have now started a vendetta against the U.P. Council in Brande's name.

Pheebs' ultimate fate is uncertain...at the end of the fight he's on the ground, bloodied and unmoving, and Dream Girl says "Poor Pheebs." Alive or dead? We'll probably find out next issue.

In the meantime, Tellus brings Dawnstar to Medicus One (attended by a suitless Wildfire), where Dr. Gym'll puts her into a recovery coma. Chief Gigi asks Tellus to telepathically interrogate the Durlan prisoner, but all Tellus learns is that if even one of the Durlans lives, the U.P. Council will die. Is this yet another clue that there's at least one disguised Durlan floating around? Cos says sp explicitly: "Who knows how many Durlan assassins are on the loose?" And Phantom Girl replies, "Or who they're disguised as." (I've still got my eye on Dream Girl, who rather conspicuously did not use her power this issue.)

Cos calls for help from Brainy and Cham; Brainy decides that the two of them will head for Durla to investigate the situation there. Cos leads the phony Zendak to Brainy's lab, where the Durlan sheds his disguise and attacks Cos -- seems that since Cos was there when Brande died, the Durlan has decided that Cos must die for not having done enough to save Brande. Element Lad saves the day by imprisoning the Durlan in an airless shell of what I assume is inertron.

And finally comes the news we were all waiting for: the winner of the election for Leader is Mon-El, with Brainiac 5 as runner-up (and therefore Deputy Leader). Since Mon-El left to become a Green Lantern in the last issue, this is going to be an interesting next few issues. No wonder Paul Levitz said he was furiously rewriting a full year of plots!

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

Did anyone else squee in delight when Dr. Gym'll wanted cred vouchers authorized? ...And then laugh out loud when Tellus refused to put up with it? Ah, good times.

The Mission Monitor Board shows six groups of Legionnaire symbols. At Headquarters are Cosmic Boy, Phantom Girl, Invisible Kid (Jacques), Earth-Man, Shadow Lass, and Element Lad. Wildfire, Tellus, and (presumably) Dawnstar are at Medicus One. Sun Boy and Quislet seem to be off together on some adventure. Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, and Tyroc are presumably still guarding the U.P. Council. (Jo and Troy's symbols are largely obscured by Tinya's head. At first I thought Tyroc's symbol was Bouncing Boy's, but then I realized that Tyroc's symbol is now the lines-and-circles doohickey from the front of his uniform.) Cosmic Boy's speech balloon obscures at least one symbol, probably Mon-El. And Sensor Girl seems to be on a mission with the One Ring. No, wait, that must be Gates. Not appearing on the Board: Colossal Boy and Dream Girl (fighting Durlans three pages earlier), Brainy and Cham (off to Durla),  Ayla and Vi (off to Imsk), Chameleon Girl (last seen at dinner with Gim and his mother), and Polar Boy. Yera and Brek are probably both off-duty, (unless Yera has gone underground and is infiltrating the Durlans), but I don't know why the others don't appear on the Board.

Interlac translations: On page 9, "Gate 5." On pages 25-26, drawers in Brainy's lab are maked with alhpanumeric codes like 87-C and such. Page 29, Mon-El is "elected."

From drawer 87-C Phantom Girl produces "Brainy's old cancellite formula." Cancellite is a spray that neutralizes Durlans' shape-shifting powers. It would have been the perfect weapon, but ultimately it isn't used...Element Lad saves the day.

In the Hall of Heroes, there's a statue of a chubby guy with a mask and cape. My first thought was "Wow, Reflecto has really let himself go," but then I realized that I had no idea who this guy is/was. Anyone? Bueller, Bueller?

Election Stats:


Votes: Mon-El (7); Brainiac 5 (6); Polar Boy (3); Earth-Man and Sun Boy (2 each); Cosmic Boy, Dream Girl, Gates (1 each). Dawnstar registered no vote because she is in a coma.

If Dawnstar had voted for Brainy, there would have been a tie. I think Dawnstar has better judgment than to vote for Brainy, but I thought the same thing about Imra and she voted for Brainy. Anyway, if Briany wants to contest the election, he may have a valid point. In fact, he may have more than one: see the next point.

There were  25 candidates and 25 voters -- but they weren't identical. Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl voted but were not candidates...they are on a leave of absence, but are you going to tell them they can't vote? Chameleon Girl and Mon-El didn't vote and were not registered on the tally board. Okay, Mon-El is theoretically on some sort of detached duty...but then wouldn't he have been ineligible to win? And what about Yera? She vanished from the Monitor Board and from the vote tallies. Yep, something's up with her. Like I said, probably infiltrating the Durlans.

Dream Girl voted for Sun Boy, who lost. Hmmm...wouldn't she already know who was going to win? More evidence, perhaps, that Dream Girl is not displaying any predictive ability. Yep, something's up with her. Like I said, probably a Durlan.

Brainy and Polar Boy both voted for themselves. This used to be somewhat of a Legion taboo, but I think I remember that Brek voted for himself last time he ran, also...and if Brainy reasoned that he was the best candidate, no mere taboo would keep him from voting for himself.

Mon-El has been Leader at least twice before: for a half-term that began in Action #392, and a for a full term beginning in Superboy #190. There have been at least two three-term Leaders before: Element Lad and Cosmic Boy. (I say "at least" because we don't know for sure who served (if anyone) between Jeckie's term at the end of the Magic Wars and Cosmic Boy's term at the beginning of Superman and the LSH.) However, both Mon and Jan served incomplete terms: Mon's half-term, and Jan's takeover when Lightning Lad resigned the position in LSH (v.2) #287. So Cosmic Boy remains the champion, having served at least three full terms.

CHRONICLER'S ERROR?:

When we first met Brande's personal secretary in Adventure #516 (2010/09), his name was spelled "Pheebes." Here it's "Pheebs" without the third e.

Pheeb(e)s speaks of Brande's desire to bring Durla "back into the United Planets" -- but as far as I know, Durla was never actually in the U.P. to begin with. Unless it was a U.P. protectorate or something.

Dr. Gym'll is shown with four arms. Historically, he has had three...but this isn't the first time we've seen a fourth arm. I suggest that Gym'll's people have a retractable fourth arm that emerges when needed.

Up until now, symbols on the Monitor Board have been in alphabetical order (within teams). Now they're all over the place.

FINAL THOUGHTS: With Mon-El winning the election, it's going to be a fun year. I can't wait!

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SUPERMAN/BATMAN #79 (2010/02)
"World's Finest Part One"


ROLL CALL:

Mon-El, Phantom Girl

CUTE BOYS: Mon-El, of course. Robin. And then there's Robin the Toy Wonder...there's a certain charm to a robot that looks (somewhat) like Robin...I'll bet I could think of a way to make him shut up, nudge nudge wink wink.

This takes place in the 853rd century of DC's One Million. But the Legion cameos came as a complete surprise; they come as the Lord of Time is traveling backwards through "tesseract space," which seems to be the Phantom Zone. He passes Phantom Girl (in her pigtails and bell-bottoms) and Mon-El (looking all butch) as well as Zod, Ursa, and Non. I was hoping for a glimpse of Chris Kent as well, but alas, no.

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HOUSEKEEPING: The Retro Legion has been around long enough now that I've started collecting custom icons for them. I'll continue using the regular icons for the teen Legion and for dead Legionnaires.

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Week of 15 December 2010

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

In other comics news, apparently Brightest Day is still going on...which means I'm saving a lot of money by not buying the endless tie-in titles.

In the new Superboy comic, the devilishy cute and unspeakably brilliant Simon Valentine (right) continues his romantic pursuit of Conner...who remains oblivious to the adorable young genius. Seems to me that a nice, sweet romance with another boy is just what Conner needs right now.

Simon looks a little like Jimmy Olsen, and who could possibly object to a little Simon/Jimmy/Conner hot action?

Ah. well, Simon will probably turn out to be (a) related to Luthor, (b) evil, (c) an alien, (d) a girl, (e) hopelessly heterosexual, or possibly all of the above. But seriously, I would really respect the creative team if Simon turns out to be gay, have a crush on Conner, AND be so utterly useful that Conner has to keep him around. And finally, after Damian Wayne is a few years older and less of a twit, Simon can get over Conner and live happily ever after with Damian....

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Week of 8 December 2010

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

DCU HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2010 #1 (2010/02)
"Holiday"


ROLL CALL:

Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Element Lad, Gates, Invisible Kid (Jacques), Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Polar Boy, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Sun Boy, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, Wildfire

CUTE BOYS: Brek, Brin, Dirk, Garth, Gim, Jacques, Jan, Jo, Rokk...and don't miss shirtless Anthro in the first story in this comic

Oh Holiday, the UP-wide day of rest and relaxation, there's no rest for the Legion. Science Police Control sends several groups of Legionnaires on emergency missions that turn out to be innocent situations. Brainiac 5 leads them to S.P. Control, which is an artificial intelligence that's been operating continuously for decades. Its false alarms were a cry for help -- help which Brainy supplies by turning off the machine and allowing it to reboot, clearing out decades of accumulated errors.

Control reboots, and says that this was the longest break it's had in centuries. now it feels refreshed enough to face another thousand years. Nevertheless, Brainy says that he will build an annual one second rest into the AI's operating protocol.

All available Legionnaires show up (courtesy of Gates) to answer the alarm of a break-in at S.P. Control. Dawnstar says that it looks like they will be spending Holiday with friends and family after all.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

Holiday: According to Element Lad, the U.P. "combined all of the cultural, ethnic, and seasonal festivals of olden days into this one day...a day where citizens could peacefully celebrate with their friends."

This is the first we've heard of Holiday. In the past, individual Legionnaires celebrated Christmas, Hanukkah, and other "cultural, ethnic, and seasonal festivals." In addition, we've seen the Legion celebrating Klordny.

"Holiday" is one of those ideas that sounds okay when you first encounter it, but gets more problematical the more you think about it. Were all the cultures, ethnicities, and religions of the 31st century happy to subsume their own holidays into Holiday? What about the Earth xenophobes...would they happily accept the U.P.'s imposition of this new Holiday? Or would they fight back?

Plus...are we to believe that everything in the U.P. shuts down for a day? That's certainly the implication: every place the Legion goes is deserted -- presumably everyone is home celebrating. But what about emergency services? Medical emergencies? Law enforcement? Power, water, food? One of the reasons that Christmas and Hanukkah work in today's world is that those who don't celebrate stay on duty in essential posts. If everybody has the same day off, who shows up for work?

Still, it was a nice story.

Control: When Chameleon Boy was in the 21st century during the Brainiac storyline, he masqueraded as a Science Police officer known as "Control." Did he bring that term back with him? And did the S.P.'s keep it for the next thousand years?

Brainy describes the Control AI as "a cloud of nano-mist particles." That's a nice term. I give Brainy an A+ for technobabble.

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R.E.B.E.L.S. 23 (2010/02)
"To Be a R.E.B.E.L. conclusion"


ROLL CALL:

Adam Strange, Amon Hakk, Captain Comet, Lobo, Lyrl Dox, Starfire, Vril Dox, Wildstar, Xylon, Astrild Stormdaughter, Smite, Starro

CUTE BOYS: Adam Strange, Captain Comet, Lyrl Dox, Vril Dox

The interminable feud between L.E.G.I.O.N. and the Green Lanterns concludes amid Psion and Citadellian mischief and attempted double-crossing by the Doxes. But really, the more interesting development is the return of Starro (along with his boy-toy Smite and his dyke friend Astrild).

If they can't bring in any real Legionnaires, I guess Starro and his posse are the next best hope for making this comic fun again. (Time out for musing on how quickly and easily the Legion would wipe the floor with Starro & company.)

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Week of 1 December 2010

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

ADVENTURE 521 (2011/02)
"The Summons of the Ring"


ROLL CALL:

Chemical King (memorial statue), Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Earth-Man, Element Lad, Ferr Lad (memorial statue), Invisible Kid (Jacques), Invisible Kid (Lyle), Karate Kid (Val) (memorial statue), Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Polar Boy, Quislet, Shadow Lass, Sun Boy, Tellus, Tyroc, Wildfire, Dyogene

CUTE BOYS: Brek, Dirk, Gim, Jacques, Jan, Lar, Rokk

Dyogene shows up at Legion HQ in order to examine the Legionnaires to choose a new Green Lantern. Meanwhile, a team deals with the aftermath of an earthquake in east-central Africa. Dawnstar and Wildfire determine that the quake was caused by something emerging from Olduvai Gorge. The mysterious thing speeds off into space, blasting Drake and Dawny when they try to follow. Mon-El accepts a power ring from Dyogene dons a cool Green Lantern suit, and flies off into next issue.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

Shady is (deservedly, IMHO) pissed that Dyogene passed her over for the power ring.

Symbols on the mission monitor board show the following groups:

• Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Sun Boy, Tellus
• Timber Wolf, Tyroc, Ultra Boy (still guarding the U.P. Council?)
• Dawnstar, Wildfire (in space, blasted by a thing)
• Brianiac 5, Chameleon Boy (on Naltor with Dr. Li)
• Earth-Man (blank symbol), Shadow Lass (outside HQ)
• Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl (on leave)
• Lightning Lass, Shrinking Violet (gone to Imsk)

Not appearing on the board, but present, are Colossal Boy, Dream Girl, Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Polar Boy, and Quislet.

Mon-El says to Dyogene, "I...I'm not what you think..." Huh? I'm guessing that we'll come back to this at some point.

Wildfire's containment suit now contains an emergency beacon that triggers in case of system failure. A wise addition, considering how often Drake's suit gets blasted open.

The contrast between Sodam Yat and Mon-El is an interesting one. Both have survived the past thousand years: Mon in the Phantom Zone, Sodam Yat preserved by the power of the Ring. Sodam seems to be broken and despairing; Mon-El is powerful and a symbol of hope. Both are potentially the most powerful beings in the universe.

CHRONICLER'S ERROR?:

Element Lad stops a fire by turning the oxygen in the air to xenon, then back to oxygen before trapped students can choke. I suspect that there would be enough heat left for the fires to start back up when oxygen was restored -- but I'm wiling to give Jan this one.


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