Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion of Super-Heroes #9 (Spoilers)

Is there a preview yet?

I just picked up and read the issue. The artwork continues to dazzle, especially the scenes on Durla. The storytelling, however, continues to be weak with too many subplots and tortured exposition. On the other hand, there is a lot good character development, especially of Tyroc. Developing existing characters is Levitz's superpower. Creating new characters and writing crisp stories is not.

Preview on Newsarama:
http://blog.newsarama.com/2011/01/1...heroes-9-time-masters-vanishing-point-6/

I liked this issue for the most part. However, I agree with Brody27's comment about "too many subplots and tortured exposition." The exposition is sometimes used for character development, which I like, but I don't like it stalling the momentum of the story. It's like following a driver who keeps alternating accelerator and brake.

There were also quite a few panels that retold things we'd learned before, without adding anything new to the story. That's not unique to this issue.

I like the exploration of Tyroc's powers. It's logical that he could accutely discern the sounds he hears and is trying to develop the usefulness of that ability. It was cool to see the pairing of his hearing and Timber Wolf's sense of smell.
TWolf: "Smells like the old man."
Tyroc: "No, sounds like he used to...."

What was the point of having Gates pop in to join Tyroc and Brin? Supposedly to teleport them to wherever the assassin appeared. But when the Durlan showed up right where they were, why didn't Gates teleport the assassin out of the Council room? Instead, Gates was nowhere to be seen.

It was nice to see Gim and Gigi talking, and Gim's reference to "old times." But it seems like Gigi and Tellus have been hanging around Dawnstar's hospital room a long time now. This part feels like a soap opera--melodramatic but not much really happening.

I like, though, how Levitz is exploring the unique perspectives of the Legionnaires, like he does with Tellus (his worldview grown in Great Mother Ocean) here and in the previous Adventure story. It was also nice to see how Dawnstar's mental tracking looked to Tellus as he searched her mind.

I don't remember, or never knew, what cancellite is supposed to do. It's failed against Durlans twice now. What's the point?

Brainy's immense intelligence would, you'd think, include the knowledge that it's not productive to drop onto someone's world and call them names and insult their "sacred soil." I don't understand the logic of depicting Brainy this way, except that his antagonistic ways are just fun to watch.

I was a little disappointed with this issue as it seemed a little rushed to me, lacking in its usual quality and quantity. I would much rather have a late Legion issue than a "rushed issue" just to satisfy deadline/release obligations. It just wasn't its usual "busy" (multiple subplot) Legion issue that we've come to expect (in my case, since 1980) from Levitz. LSH issue 9 could have easily been a back up to a full story.

Edit:

After seeing the preview pages, I have to say that I don't think that Brainy's reaction was that out of line.
The Durlans were pretty nasty from the beginning and perhaps, they needed a little reminder that the Legionnaires weren't there on their own but were part of a much bigger organization, the UP.

I didn't know that Cham was cold blooded.
I'm not sure what an 'egg son' means, exactly.
hmmmm

I loved the pages I saw, they were very beautiful and quite other worldly.
I really enjoyed Cham in his dragon look, too, similar to R.J.'s escape form.
Cham is very unique, even for a Durlan.
I am in awe of his new found toughness and drive.

These few pages typify why I love the Legion.

I love how Mr. Levitz is turning Tyroc into a better character after finding no use for him during the 80s.

The use of sound has come such a long way in the last 30 years!
Ultra sound is use to see through us, we use sonicare tooth brushes that break the cilia/flagella off of bacteria.
We use sound in many ways that can be expanded on with Tyroc!

It is supposed to freeze the Durlan in whatever form they are currently in. It was used against Yera to prove she wasn't Violet. After being sprayed with it she couldn't return to normal size, proving she was a Durlan. Not sure what the point of 'freezing' the Durlan when it was in 'Monster' form unless it was to keep it from shape shifting into something smaller and getting away.. guess that would have been the point. If it had worked. Time to update the formula or make a fresh batch. The old one seems to have gone bad.

Supergirl invented cancellite in Adv. 326. At that time it could freeze a shapeshifter (Protean or Durlan) in its current form. Brainy later modified cancellite (Adv. 334), so that it could return a shapeshifter to its original form. Presumably it was Brainy's version that T Wolf's gadget contained, but it looked like the Durlan's tail knocked it out of his hands before he could use it, so I don't think it failed, Wolf just didn't get a chance to activate it.

Agreed, jim.

Read the whole issue.
Loved the whole thing.
Missed Gates in the fight, though.

Beautiful work.
Tyroc and Wolf make a good team, one that I can't really remember seeing before.
Brainy and Cham were great, too.

I really like the three panel scene where Timber Wolf springs into the air, snatches one delegate away from the Durlan, kicks it in the head, snatches the other Durlan, and then takes a blow to protect them as he's landing.

His strength, whatever it is, has never been his real power, IMO, it's his agility. He's the DC version of Spider-Man or Nightcrawler, fast and mobile, but not Flash-fast, just uncanny reaction speed fast and inhumanly acrobatic.

After the poor showing last issue (and getting KO'd off-panel against the Earth Force), it's nice to see him getting to show his stuff. (No great surprise that the Legionnaires get to actually look competent when Earth-Prat isn't written into the scene as showing up to save them, again.)

The Durlan's comment that it didn't matter, because she'd already done what she came to do, makes me fear that she showed up to deliver a biological agent or radioactive toxin (perhaps related to that cesium that Brainy was talking about, in the Durlan soil) or something into the air, infecting all of the delegates, and that she didn't care if she actually got to skewer any of them.

Or maybe her goal was just to tell everyone why the Durlans were pissed, because of Brande's death. But that would have been as easily delivered with a manifesto or some graffiti...

I'm liking the increased range of abilities that Tyroc is displaying. Even regular 'sonic powers' characters like Black Canary, Thunderlord, Banshee and Siryn haven't traditionally gone for sonar or echolocation, so much as just powerful sonic attacks, and maybe some subsonic subliminal suggestions. It would be a natural fit for him to have superhuman hearing, and it looks like Paul has gone with that. Very cool, both limiting his powers (from the original random screams do random magic things) and expanding them (subsonics, echolocation, recognize people by molecular harmonics, invasive sonar scans, etc.) at the same time.

I much prefer this, as the random magic screams ran the risk of becoming a Deus Ex Machina, with Tyroc busting out new screams as new stunts are needed, and stomping all over other Legionnaires 'thing' by using his teleporting scream or his set-stuff-on-fire scream or his make-stuff-intangible-and-passing-through-it scream, and possibly pulling new screams out of his ass, like a 'make-plants-grow-really-fast' scream or a 'banish extradimensional creature to it's home dimension' scream.

Agreed on all counts, Set. I also agree with Legion Tracker. I thought this issue was kind of boring due to too much exposition, some of which was kind of nonsensical and/or redundant and/or contradictory.

I thought the explanation of Brande's speech patterns changing was pretty lame. Brainy's deductions were circumstantial and convenient. Cham's melodrama "eggson of Brande! EGGSON OF BRANDE!" was annoying. First Tellus says Dawnstar's chances are good, then bad, then good again. And why would the Durlan assassin draw attention to him/herself by appearing as Brande in the middle of the council chamber and making an announcement?

The art was so-so. A fairly yawn worthy issue imho.

I think a drop to 20 pages, from a formerly over-sized book is going to take some adjustment, both on our part and the creative team. It did feel oddly rushed, yet overly talky at the same time, probably as a result of the difference in pacing. Pretty sure if we had the old page count, the Durlan story would be over this issue, instead we get it drug into next month's issue.

Really happy to see Gates again, though I don't know where he vanished to in the fight.

When danger called, he did not hesitate. He ran like hell.

Well, physically he's not much help in a fight, but I could have at least done with a background scene of him moving delegates to safety or something. If' he's only going to be in 1 issue out of every 4, I'd like to see him do something.

I took another look and I agree that from the illustration it appears that the canister was never actually used so the formula may still be effective. However I disagree that it forces a Durlan back to it's true form. In Adventure #334 when it was used on Proteans it forced them back into their natural forms and prevented them from changing form. When sprayed on Cham, a Durlan, it still just froze him in the form he was in (the now known to be Brande paid for designer body) rather than forcing him into his true form.

We should consider the possibility that when the Durlan in the UP Council room suddenly disappeared, it was because Gates, unnoticed in the chaos, teleported her out. Especially since it's noted that Tyroc and TWolf can't detect her sound or smell.

You probably already know this, but for those who don't, super-agility was originally Timber Wolf's ONLY power. He was the first character "fixed" during the silly-powers purge of the early '70s.

Oddly, while he was made to look more like his namesake, he still didn't have "wolf" powers, at first. IIRC, that came along while Gerry Conway was writer when he referred to tracking powers Brin didn't actually have.

Paul Levitz fixed the error when he retook the reins, revealing that the same surgery which had changed Brin's appearance was periodically imbibing him with things like claws, fangs and super-senses. While Brin became a fully rounded character for the first time, power-wise he's been a poor man's Wolverine ever since.

Which is so terribly unfair since his first appearance predates Wolverine's first appearance.... and since Wolverine was originslly intended by his creator to be a villian in a planned LSH spin-off called 'The Outsiders'. Go figure. *sigh*

Well, I sort of feel that if Brin's going to be called 'Timber Wolf' his powers should have some resemblence to his name sake.
Wolves aren't really known for their acrobatics, I'm afraid.
Grey Squirrel or Lemur would have been better, I think.

I don't want him to loose his acrobatic moves, of course, but I have no problems with his powers maturing to include his feral namesake's true abilities.

I find it slightly amusing that we expect everyone to remain exactly the same as they originally appeared 50 years ago.
That's a state that almost none of the heroes in comics have done, really, and why should they?

Most athletes don't peak in their early teens, they usually add to their abilities as they mature.
And if all Brin has is acrobatics, one of the most unforgiving of physical abilities in sports, he'd have to retire, super power or no, by the time he hit 28 or 30, and that would be pushing it.
Some thoughts on this subject.

And maybe Paul should stay away from here or just ignore our comments.
There is just no pleasing this fan base.

Since we're praising him for playing up Timber Wolf's original super-acrobatics, I'd say we aren't all bad.

Remember the name "Timber Wolf" was not originally intended to be descriptive of his powers-- it was a variation on his original nomme de guerre,"Lone Wolf", which became inappropriate when he joined the "family" of the Legion.

Actualy, when you think about it, Brin never made and sense, either as Timber Wolf, or Lone Wolf. I mean, of what use is a super-agile android in a mine? You get many opportunities for acrobatics down there?

The one way which in which the feralistic aspects of Brin do work for me is that they continue the whole "doubts about his humanity" aspect of the character from his first appearance.

I absolutely hate the blatant ripping off of Wolverine by giving him claws (which wolves don't really use) or a "healing factor". The werewolf-y aspect of him I can live with.

Though sometimes I also wonder if the character wouldn't have been a lot more interesting through the years if they hadn't just let him be an android all along.