Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! LEGION #32-- SPOILERS

Next issue, #33, is their last. T-27 days and counting.

I liked the cover. Well, I liked the art and how the logo was brought into it--not that Jarth was depicted on it.

Everyone who is trying to re-ignite my hope that something will happen to bring Element Lad back should immediately stop. It was bad enough when I had hope and issue after issue went by without addressing it.

Someone else slaughtered right in our headquarters. Ho hum. Look, Monel's back!

When did Jazmin get so smooth and speech-ey?

Yet another issue in which I got to the last page and uttered, "That's it?"

For what was there, though, it was a nice set up.

Of course, there is the question of why the crystal guy with his own electrical powers and Jan's transmutative ability is letting himself get dragged off like that.

And if Jarth is really all-crystal, why doesn't he get himself resculpted into his own face? Never mind wearing Jan's costume.

I haven't gotten the issue yet but I know this crystal and costume thing keeps coming up. The only reason, beyond laziness on the scripter's part, I can come up with is that Garth can't resculpt his face or change the costume. Maybe there is something of Jan in the crystal that will not allow Garth to assert that kind of will over the body. Jan can't speak but he can make himself known by making Garth keep his appearance and costume.

Jarth was wearing SA-Garth's costume in L31 (Albeit miscoloured), remember.

And on the face - note the "get himself resculpted." I wasn't thinking of him doing it, more something involving a hammer and chisel... [Hey Gary - can we get an "evil grin" smiley please?]

Sorry, I've blocked anything to do with that issue from my memory. It didn't happen.

Maybe they could film it for Extreme Makeover.

LOL! Thank you, APB! I agree completely.

Last night I was grousing to myself about "why do we need a whole race of Shikaris?" when I realized that we need them for alien invasion fodder. Pass out those red Star Trek shirts, lackey! Every K'wai needs one!

D&A have consistently portrayed the Legion as being pretty unperturbed when somebody ELSE is getting killed. They apparently only care about themselves. Remember the issue of Lost where Shikari and Monstress sat around chatting while a whole race was being evaporated? And Saturn Girl told them it was more important to find the engine room than to save the hostages? Then there was the issue where Ra's sets a Sci-cop's head on fire and strangles another one and M'Onel chooses to save Shvaughn from falling off the flying platform. Not to mention that countless millions are being slaughtered in the 2nd galaxy and Kid Q and the Legion simply leave the Credo to the task and return home.

Yet a Legionnaire dies and everyone's all weepy about it for months afterwards.

Without having read anyone's elses posts in this thread I'm just going to give some thoughts of my own on this issue.

The Goods :

* The art and the colours! As always - excellent! (With the small exception of Dr Gym'll - back to purple please.) Am so going to miss Batista and Wallace!

* Speaking of the art - I was really glad to see Batista include some of the Credo aliens from that previous Legion issue, even though they weren't very important. That sort of basic eye for continuity is enormously satisfying for me as a reader and not hard to do, but you'd be amazed how many artists (and writers) are too lazy to do it.

* Another Batista plug - all of his alien designs were excellent! Loved that weird flame-face guy.

* Quite liked the way M'Onel was portrayed in this issue. IMO he more than fills Superboy's shoes in the reboot. We really don't need that stupid clone hanging around.

* I also quite like Singularity and the Credo as villains. They are kinda like the anti-Legion. A collection of people from different planets, with different powers and abilities all united in one cause - destruction!

* Small Vi! So she can still shrink! Who else thinks that Vi just looked *so right* sitting on Cos' shoulder like that? God, how much do I hate the fact that she has growth powers! Shrinking is a cool enough power on its own, she doesn't need to grow too. It's not working for Wasp in the Avengers and its not working for Vi here either. Someone, get rid of them! And (yes, here it comes) bring back Gim Allon while you're at it!

The Bads :

* It is now painfully obvious that DnA have exactly ONE story in them! Here we have once again the entire Legion fighting a nameless, faceless horde (with absolutely zero characterization thrown in except for zingy one-liners) while a handful of others swoop in to save the day. Every single one of their arcs has had the exact same pacing, threat level, sudden surprise and limp conclusion. To think how much I used to like their writing...

* "Think fast" - NEVER want to read those two words together again!

* M'Onel's costume change. While I don't mind the Valor suit, I gotta say the new one had really grown on me. And are they going to give us an explanation as to why he's made this sudden change?

* Jarth. Anything and everything to do with him. Am fervently hoping that next issue ends with either Garth and Jan still dead, or with Garth back in his own body. Never wanted Garth back before but with DnA having so monumentally cocked up the legacy of the best (and only?) good Legion story they've ever done, having Garth back as Garth is probably the least bad option left.

* Kinetix - should really not still be on this team! And how ridiculous is it that she has gone on this diplomatic mission?!? She's a big, orange blob with completely undefined powers who can't talk except in enigmatic prophecies! What on earth good-will is she going to be spreading?

* Small quibble re: the art - OK, I may not like it but I can handle the fact that we're starting to lose the signature Legion 'look' (ie that stripe down the middle of their costumes) but they should at least all still be wearing Legion belts! Those things serve a purpose as well as being a symbol of their allegiance. Umbra, Triad, Apparition, Shikari, Superboy, Wildfire and Dreamer all seem to have stopped wearing theirs. What's up with that? And also, what's happened to that patch on their hands that used to signify they were wearing transuits?

Conclusion :

Overall, I didn't mind this issue. There was nothing in it to make me want to throw it down in disgust which was a nice change, and the story, while nothing original or particularly interesting, was at least fairly entertaining.

I was sitting in a McDonalds while I read this issue and I think that sums it up perfectly. A quick, cheap, colourful read that looked good and went down easily but was over in a few minutes and immediately forgotten once it was done.

One issue to go...!

Yeah it is a pretty well established habit for DnA's run. 1000 years in the future...and life's still pretty cheap.

I'd like to think DnA have one last surprising twist for us waiting next issue, but I just don't think that they've shown the work ethic or care to detail to do that next issue. I think we're going to see a strightforward issue with no real closure on the myriad of plots that have been building.

EDE, I don't think you're too far off with your theory of Violet's plan. Have you seen the cover to next issue yet?

It's possible that Garth's surrender is an *intentional* subterfuge and not only is Violet with him, but Lyle, too.

I smell the return of either The Bouncing Boy (odd how Chuck was standing behind Vi & Cos with his non #31 look), the Legion SUBS or the Espionage Squad to distract the Credo & possibly Singularity while they zip in and rescue the hostages. They must be imprisoned in some kind of force field or have those explosive power dampeners that the Progeny used before. That might explain why Gates & Chameleon weren't able to teleport/morph respectively away from danger. I wonder what could affect Zoe in her new form? She seems very powerful in this state. Maybe RJ was threatened and Cham, Gates, M'onel & Zoe surrendered to protect the Legion founder. I could see them possibly doing that. I also wonder when & how exactly Singularity found out the connection between the Legion and Element Lad. Another thing that just struck me, in Lost #8, the Lost are on that planet facing Singularity for the first time. The four simulacrum illusions that Saturn Girl mentally created are also there too. Wouldn't Singularity have recognized the phoney Jan as the Progenitor even after the illusion of Lorcus Prime disappeared? Ah, maybe not.

I had forgotten about his seeing Jan with the Legion in Legion Lost #8. Good catch. I suppose that he didn't know what the progenitor looked like then but it helped him to make the connection to the Legion later.

Wildfire wasn't tossed back into time as far back as Jan. Shikari and her people were following him because he was a new star -- I think she said that he had appeared "several seasons" ago whatever that means, but it was certainly not millions of years. Interesting though that Wildfire's time in isolation allowed his mind to become integrated and whole while Jan's time caused his to fracture.

Regarding the rest of the issue, I agree with a lot of the criticisms so I won't retierate them so as not to seem like we're ganging up on DnA. I think part of the disappointment with them is that they started out so great and had farther to fall because of how much excitement they generated when "reloading" the book.

Not a bad issue but it certainly seems DnA either have to cram a whole lot into their last issue, or they're just not going to resolve most of their lagging plotlines. Frankly I can't imagine why this story is being shoehorned into two issues when Foundations got 5.

I liked this issue well enough. A lot of nice details:

- Dr. Gym'll, not just Brainiac 5, supplying some scientific explanations
- a slightly different typeface for Shikari's speech, suggesting a "foreign" accent
- bad stuff coming back through the Threshold - I knew they were too good to be true
- increasing acceptance of Jarth as Garth, but he's still the outsider, standing in the background
- Singularity wagging the finger right back at Kid Q - a good reply to her somewhat arrogant (and empty?) threat.
- aliens who don't look like Earthlings!
- some interesting suspense: what can scratch up M'onel that badly? Was he under a red sun? What is happening with the captured legionnaires? What was Vi saying and why was she addressing it to Cos, rather than Kid Q? Is Chuck involved? He looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. Does Brainy have some idea what's going on, or what to do about it? He was unusually silent. What will Garth do?

You have to wonder if they dispatched the second tier legionnaires to the 2nd galaxy with R.J. Brande - Gates, Cham, Zombie Zoe, and M'onel, who keeps losing fights... these don't seem to be DnA's favourites... I hope they don't get sacrificed....

Hmmm, REALLY big-boned girl? As in Monstress?

Nah, they were very close, but I don't think he'd incinerate the mother of this child...unless it slipped his mind.

Overall, I liked this issue. Probably one of the best of DnA's recent offerings. While there was plenty to complain about (i.e. How did no one, especially Shikari, notice that someone ELSE was accessing the portal behind Mon? Never mind that Lar's first words are "Shut it down!" and the Kwai is begging them for help in shutting down the portal, they're all clustered around poor, nearly INVULNERABLE, Lar while a military task force is invading their HQ! It's only after 3-4 invaders are already on deck that and the Kwai guide is getting slaughtered, that they even react.)

Something else elses I did like included the return to Mon's red outfit. That's what Mon SHOULD look like, IMO.

Like SLK, I also am liking the way Kon is being used here. Don't think I want him to remain for long but I'm okay with him if they keep writing him as they did this issue.

It was great seeing Vi on Cos' shoulder. MORE SHRINKING VIOLET PLEASE!

Jarth was well written and I liked the interaction with KQ, as well as the scene with Lar.

Loved the artwork, some great pages there and the coloring was tops (except for Dr. Gym'll as mentioned ~ I'm in favor of an immediate change back to purple, please!) I also thought the pacing of the story was much improved over recent issues.

As far as the things I didn't like just about all have been mentioned so I'll just say "ditto"

I do think DnA have left a variety of interesting endings here which would make for a great final story on their part. Unfortunately, I no longer trust them to "bring it home". They've disappointed me too many times recently.

Hope I'm wrong but I suspect we'll be left with lots of unanswered questions and issues next month.

Read it last night.

It marks a TWO-issue turnaround for me.

Last issue and this issue were my favorites in months.

Now THIS seems like a storyline that deserved sevral issues, but DnA are gonna tell it in 2?

Great art, great suspenseful story. So great, in fact, I find myself not caring aout the li'l plotholes mentioned in this thread thus far.

I'm wondering if DnA aren't going to pull one of their infamous "SURPRISE TWISTS" they used so much during LLOST and early issues of THE LEGION.

I read the issue at an IHOP. They've got these swirly pancake things that come with fruit topping. Unlike Blacula, I found both the food and the issue to be more substantive.

My only regret, in fact, is that DnA didn't tell this story 10-15 issues ago, instead of making us wade through Universo and Darkseid. The Credo story may not be the most original idea, but it's a natural follow-up to their best Legion work, and makes a fitting culmination to their run.

I liked the opening focus on Jarth. Even though I don't like what they've done to Jan and Garth, I appreciated Garth's reaction to his predicament ("I look in the mirror and I scare myself"). We also learned that he doesn't need sleep and doesn't know what to do with the "long, empty hours." Isn't that what did Jan in? Perhaps Dreamer should keep Jarth company.

M'Onel's sudden appearance was a pleasant surprise. I don't even care what costume he wears (though I do miss the rounded shirt-tails.) Does a Daxamite really need band-aids, though? The issue contained a nice nod to his relationship with Superboy ("Not now, old friend"), and M'On putting his hands on Jarth's shoulders seemed somehow appropriate. M'On is the "big brother" not only of Superboy, but the entire Legion, it seems.

The scene of Lar's entry was also reminiscent of Star Trek, as others have pointed out, what with the Kwai "red shirt" serving no other purpose than to get offed. DnA seemed to borrow from TV sci fi later on, as well: Jaz's "Don't pick a fight with us" speech evoked Delenn's speech to Earth Force fighters in Babylon 5 ("If you value your lives, be somewhere else.") That's okay --
Jaz handled the bluff quite well. In fact, her depiction here "worked" better than it has in quite awhile. She almost went too far in posturing with Singularity and had to be reigned in by Saturn Girl, reminding us of Jaz's old hot-head personality.

Jarth's willingness to sacrifice himself again is true to character, and makes me almost glad that he's been revived in whatever form. (I prefer dead characters stay that way.) It also makes sense that his appearance as the Progenitor played a major role in this story. I guess DnA did have a reason for it, after all.

It doesn't suprise me that Singularity and his minions are becoming the very thing they despised. Such is the nature of hate. We see ample evidence of this every day. The ending, of course, was no surprise, either, but we needed a cliffhanger, so it served that purpose well.

My only problems, in fact, were with the art (sacrilege, I know). Batista continues to delight in most ways, but what was up with Superboy's fingers on Page 6? Also, one page later -- I thought crotch shots had gone out with Coipel.

So, # 32 was the most satisfying Legion read in well over a year. It proves that DnA still have their chops, but they should have stuck with this story -- being an extension of LOST, as it is -- since they do seem to have only one Legion story to tell.

Wow sounds really good

It was a pretty good read, and it's helped pick up my interest in the Legion once more. I just hope DNA can pull off a wrap-up in just one issue.

I largely agree with HWW, but I do like the art.

My bet is that Singularity is really Mike McAvennie, and he's going to pun three legionnaires to death in #33.

Don't like Jarth, being a Jan fan, but it was an interesting story and the artwork was great. Superboy is a hoot. Looking forward to next issue.