Week of August 12, 2009

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

This was a great week for LSH fans. Forget Blackest Night: the Legion is all over the Superman titles.

ACTION #880 (10/09)
"Codename: Patriot Part 2"
ROLL CALL: Mon-El, Sensor Girl [Wilcox]

Lots of cute super-beings in this issue. Mon-El, of course, who flies into action to rescue a pilot, and then creates a distraction so that Supes and Lois can sneak away for some off-panel canoodling. But there's also Ral-Dar, misguided but totally adorable Kryptonian. And then there's Nightwing/Chris Kent, about whom an onlooker has the final word: "--Oh, he is cute! Wouldn't mind seeing what's under that armor --"

As usual, Mon-El is the most sensible and heroic one around. Although Tellus foiled Mon's chance for hot Daxamite sex with Sodam Yat, perhaps we can hope Mon will step up to the plate and rehabilitate Ral-Dar with some hot hugs & kisses. Or when Flamebird goes crazy (you know she will) or gets killed (it could happen), Mon could comfort Chris and become a true member of the Superman Family as Clark and Lois's son-in-law.

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ADVENTURE #1/#504 (10/09)
"Superboy The Boy of Steel Part One"
ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5 (cameo), Chameleon Boy (cameo), Cosmic Boy (cameo), Lightning Lad (cameo), Phantom Girl (cameo), Saturn Girl (cameo), Superboy (Kal-El) (cameo), Tellus, Triplicate Girl (cameo)

Tellus is hiding in Bruin Lake in Smallville, terrorizing a strange young boy named Simon Valentine. Everyone needs a hobby.

ADVENTURE #1/#504 (10/09)
"Long Live the Legion Part One" (second feature)
ROLL CALL (cameos): Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, R.J. Brande, Chameleon Girl, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Duplicate Damsel, Invisible Kid (Jacques), Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, Night Girl, Phantom Girl, Polar Boy, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Shrinking Violet, Starman/Star Boy, Sun Boy, Superboy (Kal-El), Superman, Triplicate Girl, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, Wildfire
ROLL CALL (speaking roles): Blok, Brainiac 5, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Lightning Lad, Starman/Star Boy, Tellus, XS

There are two covers for this issue. The one Legion fans want is the variant cover (pictured here), which is done in the style of Adventure 300 and countless others, and shows Starman in one of the panels. (The non-variant cover has Superman, Superboy, and Luthor.) This issue is numbered both 1 and 504; the non-variant cover has a huge white 1 and a greyed-out 504, while the variant cover has a white 504 and a huge greyed-out 1.

A lot crammed into eight pages, most of it setup for future stories. The main story takes place in 21st century Smallville. Starman talks to some birds; in the course of the conversation he lets slip that he is part of an Espionage Squad mission ("The worlds still need to be saved.") He also mentions Quislet; it's hard to understand Thom all the time, but the implication seems to be that Quislet is one of the team in the 21st century.

Thom visits Tellus in Bruin Lake and makes reference to "R.J. Brande's Last Will and Testament, aka our battle plan. Legion operation: Spin the bottle." Tellus tries to cure Thom's insanity; Thom criesout "Arrggg! The war. The 31st century. Today. Tomorrow. Beware the Black Witch. Dream Girl!"

Then there are some intriguing preview images ("Coming up for the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 21st/31st century"). In the 21st century there's Element Lad; then Dream Girl, Superboy (Connor), and a mystery boy (who might or might not be Mon-El); and Morgan Edge and Despero. In the 31st century, the cameos show Brainy, Tinya, and Blok (whose wounds have healed with a complicaiton, but who is eager to be off to the Sorcerer's World); XS on the Cosmic Treadmill ("Gotta get back. Gotta warn --"); and a mysterious gloved hand bearing a Green Lantern ring and a Legion flight ring.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: In the double-page spread, the identifying labels for Night Girl and Shadow Lass are switched. Also, Jacques is invisible.

It appears that many of the missing Legionnaires are in the 21st century as part of an Espionage Squad operation: Dream Girl, Element Lad, Starman, Tellus, possibly Quislet...and if the Espionage Squad is involved, could Chameleon Boy be far? Especially since it has something to do with his father's Last Will and Testament? I'm willing to bet that Cham is masquerading as someone we've already seen, or will see soon.

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R.E.B.E.L.S. #7 (10/09)
"No Way Out"
ROLL CALL: Amon Hakk, Bounder, Cece, Strata, Vril Dox, Wildstar

BITS OF L.E.G.I.O.N.NAIRE BUSINESS: Oddly enough, Despero shows up for the second time this week in a Legion-related comic, when he refuses Dox's plea for help.

For the first time, we get to see the Gil-Dishpan at home. Out of their containment bubbles, they look more anthropomorphic than you'd think.

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SUPERMAN SECRET FILES 2009 #1 (10/09)
"Mon-El" (text feature) & "Double Act" (story)
ROLL CALL: Mon-El, Sensor Girl [Wilcox]

Besides the text feature, Mon also appears in a seven-page story of the developing partnership between Jonathan Kent and Billi Harper.

When Billi suggests that Jon might have a boyfriend, he replies, "No. I like girls. It is just -- like I said, my life has been complicated." Hooray for complicated! (I think it's been clear, since Mon's first meeting with Kal-El, that Mon goes for boys as much as for girls.)

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