Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes A Look Back: Shady's finest hour in the Baxter era (LSH v.3 #56)

Since we're currently discussing the story which first introduced Shadow Lass (Adventure 365-366) in the Archives Re-Read, I thought it might be nice to add a review of the Legion issue that introduced me to her, and made me a fan of hers for life.

Legion of Super-Heroes v.3 #56

CREDITS: Paul Levitz, writer - Eduardo Barreto, pencils - Mike DeCarlo and Al Gordon, inks - John Costanza, letters - Carl Gafford, colors - Karen Berger, editor

THE COVER: A magnificently dynamic portrayal of Blok, courtesy of Baxter Era cover artist supreme Steve Lightle.

PAGES 1-3: Blok struggles to break out of a dimension of pure darkness in which he has been trapped by an imp who serves the villainous Inquisitor, who thinks he might find the secret of immortality in Blok.

The late, great Eduardo Barreto was the main reason I bought this issue in the first place, because he was my kind of artist: a solid storyteller with gorgeously clean draftsmanship. The kind of artist who could drawn anything, and make it look hyperrealistic. Such challenging characters as Blok and the Inquistor look full convincing and almost tactile.

PAGES 4-7: A Legionnaire team of Dawnstar, Wildfire, Ultra Boy, and Element Lad is searching for the recently escaped Emerald Empress. They don't find her, but they find some monstrous constructs she created, and fight them.

Paul Levitz was always good at knowing when to throw in an action sequence to keep readers on their toes. And once again, Barreto is up to the challenge, making it dynamic yet fully comprehensible. And Dawnstar looks gorgeous, despite being in her horrible post-Conspiracy costume designed by Keith Giffen, my personal bete noire among comic book creators.

PAGES 8-10: At Legion headquarters, Lightning Lass flirts with Magnetic Kid and scares him away. Shrinking Violet flirts more subtly with Lightning Lass.

Again, the women look stunning and the storytelling is pristine. I don't like the Ayla/Vi romance, though. It doesn't feel progressive to me, more of a straight man's wanky fantasy. I don't like whatever Levitz thought he was doing with the Ayla/Pol thing, either.

PAGES 11-14: At last we get to what I consider the real meat of the issue, Shadow Lass's ongoing quest to find someone who can heal Mon-El after his injuries at the hands of the Time Trapper in issue #50. On the planet Verzwei, Tasmia discovers to her shock that the doctor assigned to Mon-El is working for the Inquisitor. After fighting off robot guards, she jumps into the teleportation portal that has swallowed Mon-El.

As beautiful as the other female Legionnaires in this issue look, Tasmia's portrayal by Barreto outshines them all. Mike DeCarlo, an inker who in my opinion gets a bad rap, matches Barreto every step of the way. But Tasmia doesn't just look great, she also kicks robot ass and shows incredible courage and passionate love for Mon-El.

PAGE 15: The Inquisitor and the imp watch Tasmia and Mon-El tumble into the dark prison. The imp thinks Mon-El might hold the answer they're looking for, the Inquisitor isn't so sure.

PAGE 16-17: In Metropolis, Earth President Desai transfers SP Chief Zendak to the outer reaches of the galaxy.

Barreto shows his talent for characterization by making Zendak and Desai look distinctive yet attractive.

PAGE 18-23: The Inquisitor's probes put Mon-El in great pain. Tasmia and Mon-El meet up with Blok, and they combine powers to break down the darkforce walls holding them prisoner.

More well-crafted action from Levitz and Barreto, and Tasmia continuing to be wonderfully brave, noble, and heroic.

PAGES 24-27: When the Legionnaires break through into the Inquisitor's master control center, the villain teleports away, leaving the imp to the heroes' mercies. Being Legionnaires, of course, they're lenient with the imp, who teleports them out of there. Blok returns to Earth while Tasmia's quest continues.

SUMMARY: In the big picture, this was not the high point of the Baxter era. That, in my opinion, would be issues #14 through #45, with The Universo Project (#32-35) as the peak. Levitz actually had wanted to leave after Conspiracy, but Giffen convinced him to stay one more year. Despite a lot of bad stories and art, this was actually a blessing in disguise. Levitz had never quite gotten Tasmia until this issue. Shame that her quest subsequently took a backseat to other, less interesting characters and stories, until its truncated, unsatisfying end during the Magic Wars. And whatever the circumstances that necessitated the assignation of Barreto to draw this particular issue, I am grateful to the Higher Power for making it so. Otherwise, I may never have become a fan of the Legion, and of Shadow Lass in particular.

I also felt that issue #4 in the TMK run followed up this story well.*

It shows Tasmia in mourning** to the extent that she has been removed as planetary protector. While not exactly proactive, it does show the depth of her grief.

When Lar returns Shady is tearful (we get to see the missing finger with the wedding band again) yet very strong in getting Lar to Brainy*** to figure out what they can do to solve the issue at hand. She's proactive and positive.

There's a text piece that shows Shady as by far the strong one in the relationship when Lar was having his personality issues. It cites the Lady Memory episode on Talok that was one of my first Legion issues.

Shady is also the one who dispatches the Time Trapper's very creepy zombie android thingy. Her combat skills kick in immediately, even if Brainy is kept in the dark. She uses both her shadow power and her close combat skills. Plus a little ruthlessness.

Considering at least part of this issue was done in a hurry due to the editorial spat over wiping out Superboy, it's a very strong issue****.


*As if my reactions to the Avengers and Shady falling over a lot in Adventure 365/366 didn't push me far enough onto thin ice, now I'm in Giffen territory

** I take it it's Lar she's mourning for, and not Brainy locked up in his lab, as per 365/366.

*** No, I'm fairly sure it wasn't just an excuse to get close to Brainy again.

**** As good as it was, you could take it out of the main point of the first arc without it making a difference. But it had to lead to the Glorithverse to get them out of a editorial hole.

LOL

Funnily enough, I re-read LSH v.4 #4 as part of my research for my current fanfic, and I thought it was better than I remembered. Even though I have a lot of things against the TMK era, I do think the first few issues had their moments and showed promise.

Of course, Giffen being Giffen, it eventually turned into a mess.