The White Triangle is getting bolder: they're destroying Stargates around the galaxy and killing inter-species couples. Cosmic Boy tries to have Andromeda expelled from the team due to her White Triangle connections, but the secretly White Triangle-aligned Ambassador Roxxas ensures she'll stay - after she gives up the lead antidote. Things are looking very grim indeed.
Thoughts:
The Legion and the UP are in over their heads, and this issue does a good job of highlighting that. The White Triangle is moving fast on many fronts; destroying Stargates not only costs lives but compromises transportation across the galaxy, and also causes paranoia. Heck, with all that happened this issue I'm feeling pretty scared for our characters myself.
I love that RJ Brande takes it upon himself to investigate. After all, he created the Stargates. Every time he appears I find him more and more likable.
The "evil eye" being used by the White Trianglists is chilling, and the deaths senseless and pointless. I shudder to think of something like that happening to me while I'm kissing Blaze. Though the killings are heinous, I have to admit the scene is extremely well-choreographed. Having Tinya and Jo's kiss lead right to a Triangle attack is a great way to further their relationship, and to further the story as well. The fight scene is very well done, with each of the 5 characters playing an important role. I love how Apparition's brains and tactical ability are just as important, if not more so, than her phasing powers her. Ultra Boy's machismo and lack of battle smarts helps limit his effectiveness and tempers his (already bad) one-power limitation, and this helps heighten the drama during the battle. Also love the sibling rivalry between Spark and Live Wire being alluded to in the end.
The Andromeda plotline also picks up, and proceeds quite well. Andromeda knows she's found out, and in her desperation to avoid expulsion she gives up the lead antidote. Her hesitation and her reaction in the last panel show that she knows it's the wrong thing to do. She's being set up to be a very tragic Legionnaire, indeed.
Other things I liked:
Marla Latham finally makes an appearance as adult Legion advisor, and he and Rokk play off each other nicely.
Having Roxxas be a White Trianglist, and being of a higher rank than Obin Der, adds important context to Andromeda's Legion membership and explains why the UP allowed a xenophobe to join.
Live Wire's visit to Saturn Girl is a test that for Garth. What does he really feel for Imra? Is he willing to let Mekt wait so he can stay with her, and will he really be able to help her?
Tinya's being upset with Jo is natural. I'm not happy with how she forgives him so easily after a little sweet talking, but I have to admit it seems realistic.
XS, Spark and Apparition looking at preboot Phantom Girl and Shrinking Violet costumes is a nice nod to the Preboot.
This is a wonderful issue: it's a good standalone read in itself but it also moves the White Triangle plot along marvelously. It heightens the tension and drama and sets up a lot of dominos which are sure to converge soon. Now that I'm reading this in the proper order I'm amazed at how much impact it has on me.
The White Triangle escalate their attacks to outright murder in this issue as well as blowing up stargates, the latter being a direct hit on the U.P.'s economy. You figure that would get some attention. However, they're not taking credit for any of these attacks and their immediate intent is just to stop other races moving around the galaxy. Just happy being racists, I guess.
The White Triangle plot has been chugging along for quite a while; this escalation is welcome in the sense that it's finally bringing the group to centre stage.
Their racism has been a bit hard to grasp up until now: how do they know who's an "alien"? For Andromeda, most Legionnaires look just like her, yet she considers them all inferior. She has been particularly repelled by the visually-different, Chameleon, Tangleweb and Brainiac 5. In this issue, the attacks focus on clearly non-Daxamite sentients and mixed relationships; easier to understand as racism, but less interesting than that elusive racism of earlier issues. Their death-zapping eye foretells our own time's targeted drone attacks as well as drawing inspiration from the Emerald Eye.
I like the moral conundrum in which Andromeda finds herself: bargaining the lead antidote to stay in the Legion, where she's clearly uncomfortable, rather than face shame and failure at home - and feeling some resentment/anger towards Rokk for confining her to quarters. Of course the name Roxxas sets off alarm bells for anyone familiar with Legion history.
Garth appears to be wending his way back into the Legion. He's quit the Workforce and his plan to get a ship from Brande to find Mekt has failed in the panic over the failed stargate. He visits Imra in the hospital, clearly his interest in her is still strong, but he can't deal with her condition - which puts him nicely in position to help out the Legionnaires and Jo, fighting the White Triangle. I'm curious to see how he gets back into the Legion. In a similar fashion, Jo is becoming part of the picture and will surely be following Tinya into the LSH. I know both Garth and Jo join later in the series, but it's interesting to see the set-up here.
I viewed the White Triangle behavior in this issue to be them turning up the heat on the stove, so to speak. At first they are content to harass and mug people on the street, then they beat people and leave them for dead on the street. Now they are going into the active murder and mayhem stage, but on a small scale. At this point I knew we were on a pretty wild ride with this storyline, as that group would need to keep escalating in order to be taken more and more seriously.
FC, your point about "who is an alien" is an interesting one - Is it just humanoid quardapeds descended from homo sapien stock? Or something else? Once they could clean out "the rabble" I could absolutely see a group like this turning in on itself to see who would be the most "pure" which would basically be a struggle of superior strength.
Interesting take on the zapper - I hadn't thought of it as a predecessor to the Emerald Eye, but it sure looks like that in hindsight.
The art in this issue is interesting - it's Mike Collins filling in for Jeff Moy, but with Carani, who is a frequent collaborator of Jeff's, inking the pencils, the style doesn't seem that far off of Moy's. In fact, some panels looks like Jeff's work.
Other interesting aspect, when I first read this, I had absolutely NO idea who Roxxas was. It wasn't until much later when I read the original silver age stories when I appreciated what this reveal would signify.
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The writers did a good job of raising the threat of the White Triangle. It's also interesting that the White triangle members have links to Daxam... but most of them aren't Daxamite. Certainly not the thugs that needed armor, or the ones Andromeda caught and let go in Legionnaires 23, or the ones who beat Triad up (else she would not have survived). Or even Warden Bur-Rac back on Planet Hell.
And yet, later on I would come to associate the White Triangle with Daxam - and we know why, later. but as FC said re Garth and Jo, it's interesting to see the set-up here.
RJ Brande visits Trom to get Tarn Arrah to make more tarnium for the stargates. Tarn declines as he must represent Trom at a UP teleconference to negotiate for Trom's membership. However, Jan Arrah reveals that he's also adept enough to make tarnium. The paradise that is Trom is suddenly attacked by a dozen Daxamite White Triangle members, who callously raze the whole planet with their heat vision. The only witness to the massacre is RJ Brande, and there's nothing anyone can do.
In other news, Kinetix's search for power takes a bad turn. Her destination Stargate is destroyed; she exits "no-space" with a damaged cruiser and rapidly failing life support.
Finally, Invisible Kid pulls together Apparition, Triad, Chameleon and Shrinking Violet to form a squad and investigate the White Triangle. They begin connecting the various events that have happened since the Legion was formed.
Thoughts:
This is one of the most powerful single issues in all of the Postboot era. If we didn't hate the disgusting beliefs of the White Triangle before, we certainly do now. If last issue accelerated the plot, this puts it into overdrive.
The script complements the plot very fell. The text boxes that accompany the razing of Trom and its aftermath just fit. I'm not ashamed to say that I still shed tears every time I read this.
Excessive violence in comic books is deplorable, but here it makes sense. If I were intending to weaken the UP, and I knew of a world which could manufacture the very element that was lethal to me... that's what I would do. It is also a nice nod to the Preboot history. Trom once again dies, and Roxxas (that @&!(!(&) is once again behind it. As an extra dose of coincidence, he himself is present during the teleconference.
I am glad the writers gave us a glimpse of the simple and spiritual life on Trom before it was destroyed. Change is very important to the people, and makes sense given their transmutation powers. It also made the destruction even more powerful.
Perhaps one criticism I do have? Touching up on HWW's point before, we are not given any further insight into why the White Triangle thinks the way they do. Andromeda said it's just love for her own race, but whatever insights we get from her can't begin to explain the brutality of these White Trianglists. It's hard to believe she would go as far as they would, despite having been raised with the same beliefs. And her time with the Legion has been too short for that to be the reason why she isn't as extreme as they are.
It's also a bit odd - of the 12 Daxamites who destroyed Trom, one has African features and two could possibly be Asian. I suppose the 30th century definition of race means coming from the same planetary stock, as opposed to our present day definition. A nice touch, in my opinion.
The Moder/Boyd art is a bit distracting this issue. Tinya's odd pose on page 11 is weird, and Zoe's eyes on pages 4 and 5 make her look like a tarsier. But the portions on Trom are well-drawn.
Subplots:
Lyle's formation of the Espionage Squad is inspired. It gives these "weaker" members a chance to shine, and their conversation shows that Lyle isn't the only one with brains in that group. They deduce that events as far back as the assassination attempt on RJ, and the Planet Hell breakout, are connected too. I look forward to what they will turn up.
As for Kinetix, boy is she unlucky. It looks like her path is leading her towards... well... hard to say what she will find. Her (mutual) attraction towards Leviathan is also touched on her, but sadly, neither one made a move. In fact, LSH 67 was the last we've seen any traces of it before now.
This issue was very well-executed. Even though the cover (and Preboot history) already tell us where it will lead, it still makes me feel. It also makes me hate the White Triangle even more; they are villains, through and through. It's hard to believe that any of those participating in this issue's massacre could ever be redeemed.
This was a truly enjoyable issue - odd thing to say for a story that ended with the destruction of an entire planet of peace-loving people. What led up to that point - the brief insight into what Trom and its inhabitants - made the loss feel more tragic. In the original Legion, Tromians were killed in a few mild Adventure-era panels and we later saw Jan return there with Shvaughn, but it was just a place with ruins and crystals, a tragic memory for Jan. In this issue, we lost a real world. (We don't know what happened to Jan yet, but suspect he's aboard R.J.'s ship).
I love these explorations of different planets that comprise the Legionverse. Trom looks like a true Utopia; wealthy R.J. is a great counterpoint to Tarn's complete disregard for the rest of the galaxy's value of gold and diamonds. Life is more than money to R.J. Brande, but Tarn Arrah and his people take it to a new level. The planet looks like a paradise. It would have been nice to have more time with Trom, but we got a good sense of the place in those few pages.
It baffled me why the original Tromians were extinguished by Roxxas and his pirates. Such a power should have enabled them to disable the pirates even if they were taken off-guard by an attack. A coordinated attack by Daxamites, however, makes more sense, especially since the Tromians appeared to be such innocents. It's unlikely that they trained for such an attack or even anticipated it. The White Triangle have rapidly escalated their violence to a nearly inconceivable level. Seeing Roxxas on the U.P. delegates' call to Tarn Arrah just before the attack was chilling, in retrospect. If the U.P. thought they could keep the acquisition of Trom quiet, they were sorely fooled by the traitor in their midst.
There is a question surrounding R.J.'s involvement. He and Tarn were friends; Tarn supplied the crucial element to build R.J.'s stargates. We don't learn the backstory of how they met, but it looks like R.J. found the Tromians, got Tarn, with all good intentions, to help him and alerted the U.P. to the potential of Trom as a member - thereby opening up the path for their destruction. Maybe it didn't play out like that, but I certainly would be interested in reading that backstory about unintended consequences. It's along the lines of those stories about rationing technology to some U.P. planets - or Star Trek's prime directive. Some societies are better left alone, although one wonders if contact with Trom wasn't inevitable.
The light-hearted part of the issue was the formation of the Espionage Squad. It was funny, with the members hiding themselves and their meeting from Rokk, and made sense that Lyle and Triad, who clearly resented the "weaker members" label would get together with others and form their own sub-group. They're off to a great start.
Kinetix' journey to restore her powers might have delivered some boring scenes of an introspective (but not too introspective) girl in a spaceship, but for the exploration of what is between the stargates and some of the dangers involved when things go wrong. I had never thought about the space in between gates being anything other than an instant blankness. Zoe got to show her mettle by keeping cool and accepting her fate. We certainly haven't seen the last of her - I'd be sure of that even if I didn't know how it all ended.
Indeed, excellent point FC - this issue made us care for Trom before it was obliterated. And the last page/panel with RJ shedding a tear, and that last heart-wrenching quote...
Also makes a lot of sense why RJ and the Trommites were so careful about revealing Trom's existence.
I like the logic behind this Espionage Squad. If I recall in the Preboot, the Espionage Squad basically pulled in members at any time, even if their powers might not be best suited for Espionage (see: Action comics backup with Brainiac 5 and Karate Kid and Timber Wolf, etc.)
Here, it's confined to the members whose powers are truly sneaky.
Kinetix's subplot takes a chilling turn. I know I was worried...
Great points about this particular issue. This is the story intensity for the White Triangle moving to 10 before Legionnaires Annual takes it to 11.
I know that I'm just blown away by the destruction of Trom every time I read this issue. The whole thing was chillingly done well. FC, your comparison of the original Roxxas gang to these Daxamites is interesting - it certainly makes the tale much more believable in the world of the reboot versus the Silver Age story.
The Espionage squad scene was fun - I definitely enjoyed that.
Originally Posted by Fat Cramer
Kinetix' journey to restore her powers might have delivered some boring scenes of an introspective (but not too introspective) girl in a spaceship, but for the exploration of what is between the stargates and some of the dangers involved when things go wrong. I had never thought about the space in between gates being anything other than an instant blankness.
This is an interesting point. At the end of the day, the stargates are there to do just what the writers need them to do, as we've seen them used as instant portals, as well as a gateway to a hyperspace, as that is how the Blight came to discover the Legion. There are also, according to the later DnA stories, anyway, hundreds of thousands of them across the galaxy.
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The Espionage Squad catches and interrogates (tortures, to use Triad's words) some non-Daxamite White Triangle terrorists. We don't learn any concrete plans, but we do get some insights into their thoughts - they love their own races and believe that mixing races together leads to war so they drive away and kill those who are different. Their hate is fueled by ignorance.
Violet pushes for the investigation of the Daxamite connection, but Lyle brushes it off.
RJ Brande informs Cosmic Boy of the destruction of Trom. He accurately reads that this is just the beginning of something much worse.
Roxxas and his "direct action cadre" take the anti-lead serum. Now that they're immune, they decide they no longer have to rely on White Triangle members from other worlds. Andromeda learns of this and rushes to confront them - but it's too late. Four Daxamites are about to attack Earth.
Thoughts:
This issue heightens the tension, but not quite as well as the last two issues did. You get a sense that the Legionnaires are running around putting out fires, but can't really do anything because they are too disorganized.
There is a lot of idiot ball passing among the Legionnaires. RJ tells Cos about the destruction of Trom; but Cos seems to fail to make the connection with the Daxamites. And he doesn't tell Lyle or the other Legionnaires; if he had, Lyle and company would definitely have figured it out. Lyle isn't exempt either; he doesn't tell Cos about their investigations. If he had, I am certain Cos would have supported them. Cos' decision to leave them out of the Tangleweb mission was because he didn't think their powers were useful IN THAT SITUATION. We know he'll go to bat for his team.
In fact, Cos' line "I don't have time for your nonsense" is very uncharacteristic. I can't for the life of me think what happened (besides the Tangleweb mission) that could have driven such distrust between Cos and Lyle. And that mission ended well! All the above seems like a very clumsy way of keeping the Legionnaires from putting things together in time. It's very sad, as Lyle, Violet and company have very good ideas while Cos and Gim also begin watching out for unusual phenomena. I keep thinking that if they had involved all the Legionnaires (including Imra and her telepathy and Brainy and his super mind!), maybe, just maybe, they could have done something in time.
Speaking of, Brainy shows quite a bit of frustration and emotion at Andy chasing him away. It's a bit different from his cold and calm debating and insulting of her thoughts in LSH 70. Yes, I understand he'd be upset but his way of showing it (through shouting rather than calm insults) is uncharacteristic to say the least.
Finally, Roxxas reveals more insight into the Triangle thoughts. We still don't really understand why they hate other races so much, but at least we understand why they are involving non-Daxamites in their schemes - they just need warm bodies to help disrupt the UP. And a very sharp contrast is drawn between the Daxamite Trianglists and the non-Daxamite ones: the Daxamites seem motivated by pure hate and contempt, while the non-Daxamites are fueled by fear and ignorance. Both manifest their thoughts through acts of violence though.
On the plus side, I greatly enjoyed watching each of the Espionage Squad members, with their so-called "weaker" powers, took out their opponents. Buck Bond was a nice touch too.
Subplots -
Apparition finally stands up to Winema by pointing out that Winema was the one who allowed her to join the Legion in the first place. We see that Winema has good intentions but a TERRIBLE approach - and find that her husband and Tinya's dad leeches money off of Winema (and has a bad boy look much like Ultra Boy's!) Maybe that's why Winema is so harsh and protective; she wants to make sure Tinya doesn't make the same mistakes she did.
Spark gives Live Wire a wake-up slap by pointing out that he never actually goes looking for Mekt. She has a point that he didn't do anything concrete until he left the Workfroce, but it's a little mistimed considering he has been trying to get a ship for the past few issues.
Triad's dialogue during the torture scene is a bit odd - and off. In LSH 67 her 3 bodies used "us" and "we" when arguing, but here they act like 3 separate bodies. "They injured Triad, we owe it to HER." "I'll personally turn them in." I always thought the writers were writing her as one "self" in three bodies, not as three separate selves and identities. The disconnect is probably due to the script being done by Peyer, and not Waid; I agree with HWW that Waid has more finesse.
The Joyce Chin/W.C.Carani art is good and I love her characters' expressions. I do think the females' lips are distracting because of how perpetually full and puckered they are, and she seems to favor closeups a lot.
To sum up, this issue moved the plot along and have us some information on the White Triangle, but it just felt out of place somehow. The rising tension of the past two issues is absent here; some of the dialogue is "off", and the Legionnaires really should be working together more.
The White Triangle has the upper hand at this point in the story; they on the offensive, they're organized, no one has connected the dots regarding their activities and now they have the anti-lead serum. Meanwhile, the Legion is suffering from a failure to communicate, as IB points out above.
The Triangle's weakness may well be Andromeda herself. Her ingrained racism is emphasized by the fact that she goes after Roxxas because he calls her "a little fool" and took away her agency, not because she sees the error of her conditioning. Her own insult of Violet, "insect", showed her continued racism, although she might just be angry that Violet was on to her Triangle involvement. I'd like to think she was also very clever to use "insect" to describe someone who can become as small as one, but Andromeda doesn't strike me as that bright.
The Alamo setting was a bit corny as was Texas Science Ranger Buck Bond; he did have a good visual, however, and could be taken tongue in cheek. A bit less over-the-top on the western stereotype and he could have been an amusing, on-going secondary character. I did like the mangled historical explanations, whether a result of 1100 years distance from the original events or just tour guide confabulation.
The Espionage Squad worked together well, making themselves easy targets for the Triangle. Lyle took the hit for his team when Rokk and Gim blasted him for his actions - admirable - and continued his subterfuge by interrogating the Triangle people rather than taking them directly to the Science Police. More deception with the use of V.R. to frighten them into talking - it may not be good Legion procedure, but it seems particularly well-suited and believable behaviour for a covert ops group.
This issue also made Winema Wazzo sympathetic. Somewhat, at least. She's a bit of a harpy with her daughter but we see her at home (the presence of four Bgtzlian cats helps) dealing with her no-good ex-husband. He hits her up for gambling money, he's got that rough man stubble look going and he's a charming rogue. An obvious parallel with Jo Nah, although Jo wants to be a hero; Winema probably just sees her daughter making the same mistake she made.
The story ends with the beginning of what we'd call a cyber attack today, with the Triangle taking out Earth's defense systems. The reader knows it's the White Triangle, now free from lead poisoning (although it didn't seem to slow them down before), but neither the Legion nor anyone on Earth has figured it out yet. It's going to be a rapid learning curve in the next issue.
On one hand, the Espionage Squad is really effective, and that plotline worked for me, as did Andromeda finally getting a clue that she's been used. And the overall plot got advanced.
Heavily agree with the idiot ball problem - most do not comport themselves very well here, including Lyle who basically brushes off Vi's idea, even though she's the only one thinking correctly.
I think I remember seeing the Winema scene when it originally came out and thinking, "ok, here comes the drama" with regards to the Tinya/Jo thing, and boy was I right. Have they revealed him as a Carggite at this point?
Also, I may be a minority on this one, but I found the art distracting. Joyce Chin is a fine illustrator and did a good enough job filling in for Jeff Moy who was likely in the middle of finishing up the Annual, but I found the expressions and poses, especially of the ladies who looked like they were modeling shampoo products and hairstyles (Look at that volume!) and it took me out of the book a little bit.
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Oh, yeah, that big hair. Very 1980s, I thought. Checked out her art on-line and she still seems to favour the big hair look, although a sketch of Duo Damsel was more restrained.
The Legionnaires and the Workforce mobilize to defend Earth against four rampaging Daxamites. Their taking of the anti-lead serum has also made them insane, and the Legionnaires (with the last-minute arrival of RJ Brande and Jan Arrah) are only able to stop them by opening a Stargate in their path. Apparition perishes in battle. Andromeda confronts and exposes Roxxas, which ends with his death and her imprisonment. Only Cosmic Boy and President Chu are aware of her survival.
Detailed Summary:
We open with Evolvo and Spider-Girl confronting White Triangle member Suggin (who has brown hair in a ponytail and a well-trimmed mustache and beard) in Miami. Suggin slams an injured Evolvo into Spider-Girl, telling them to die slowly. Suggin joins three other Daxamites in orbit. To drive home the extreme prejudice and racist attitudes of these guys, another Daxamite, Arns, with long red hair, uses his heat vision to murder two aliens helping one another. Ugh.
Cosmic Boy is visiting Saturn Girl to say goodbye. Poor Imra still thinks like a child. She makes a mistake while cutting paper puppets. As Cos tries to console her, she tells him to go away because she wants Garth. Before Cos can react, the hospital crumbles - a Daxamite smashed through its walls. It is all Cos can do to prop up the building and stop it from collapsing entirely. Making sure Imra is safe, he leaves.
In orbit, Apparition and Ultra Boy (with a jetpack) tackle a bald Daxamite who is destroying the weather control satellites. Jo gets in a punch, with the Daxamite complimenting him on his strength. But the Daxamite super-speeds himself away. Jo despairs that he isn't smart, powerful and crafty enough to beat the Daxamites, especially with his one-power-at-a-time limitation. Tinya interrupts to tell him to use invulnerability. The Daxamite plows through her intangible form and into Jo, sending them both plunging through the atmosphere onto Earth.
On Mount Swan, a volcanic energy plant (heh! nice homage), Leviathan and Inferno face Suggin. Suggin uses super-breath to blow magma onto Leviathan. Inferno absorbs the heat from the magma, but Gim still goes down. Inferno uses Gim's flight ring to ask Triad and Spark for a diversion. She suggests drawing the Daxamite towards Triad (smart move!) Spark catches on, and tells Triad to send one of her selves out as a decoy and integrate at the last moment. Unfortunately, Daxamites have super-hearing... Suggin slams right into the volcano, causing an eruption.
RJ Brande calls Brainiac 5. Cos ends the transmission before Brande and Brainy can say too much, chastising them for speaking while the Daxamites could possibly here. We get a hint of the plan - Brainy asks Brande how he will obtain tarnium for Stargates. Cos leaves Brainy, to find Live Wire entering HQ through a hole he created in the wall. There's a mob outside, and at least one of them is holding a White Triangle sign. Must be non-Daxamite lackeys who believe in segregation. Cos deputizes Garth and gives him a task.
Ambassador Roxxas is being questioned by several UP delegates via videoconference. Obviously, because the delegates are not stupid, they strongly suspect the four men tearing up Earth are Daxamites. Roxxas plays dumb, and cites lack of transuits as evidence. How can the invaders be Daxamites when they are not wearing transuits to avoid lead? Roxxas plays the victim card, saying he won't leave his quarters because the whole galaxy is slandering the Daxamites. Andromeda bursts in, yelling that she knows the invaders are Daxamites and implying that Roxxas gave them the anti-lead serum. Roxxas cuts off the videoconference, attacks Andromeda, and reveals he also took the serum.
Invisible Kid and Chameleon are in the Church of Universal Being. The Church preaches of a god who loves every species on every world, making it a prime target for a highly prejudiced Daxamite called Fethro Jorn. Cham morphs into a mind-wrencher, a creature from Daxamite mythology that is apparently a Daxamite's worst nightmare. Sadly, Jorn takes Cham out with one punch. Lyle calls Cos, telling him he has no options left - Jorn isn't even wearing a transuit, so lead exposure won't help. Jorn takes Lyle out just after he gives Cos this information.
Cos calls Brainy and says that Andromeda must have given the serum to the Daxamites. Brainy is shocked; he had faith that she wouldn't betray them. Oh, Brainy. Brainy says there's no way a red sun projector will help, as Daxamites can move faster than light. He also doubts he can counteract the serum; it was geared to Andromeda's physiology, and would have driven the other Daxamites insane.
Garth visits Imra in the hospital. She is so happy to see him, it almost melts my heart. Garth gives her a little speech - not about his feeling, not really. "We have a plan, but it won't work without you. We need you. I need you." That's the closest he comes to confessing his love - nice trick, writers! Oh, so close! But it does pull Imra out of her childlike state! Whoa, the power of loooove.
Karate Kid guards Capetown Spaceport alone, as he needs solitude to maintain concentration. Okay. People are, understandably, panicked; Val has contempt for them. Okay, Kid, not everyone is as disciplined as you, kay? Val attacks Arns and makes him drop the ship he is carrying. A piece of debris embeds itself into Val's leg. Uh oh. Arns is already insane, it seems; he can't believe Karate Kid staggered him, and thinks he is dreaming. Thankfully, he chooses to run away.
Back at Legion HQ, a poor Athramite is being beaten up by a racist mob. Garth saves the poor thing. Cos asks Imra to mentally link all the Legionnaires and Workforce members; when Brainy is ready, they have to herd the Daxamites to Legion HQ.
At UP HQ, Andromeda continues her fight with Roxxas. She breaks off to save some delegates from being crushed. Roxxas slams her into what seems to be the control center. Before he can pummel her again, he suddenly loses control of his motor functions.
At Osaka, Suggins is using super-breath to create a gigantic wave. XS tries to carry as many people as she can to safety indoors. Suggins snaps the neck of a beachgoer feet away from XS, just before the wave crashes down on her and the last civilian she is saving. Mercifully, Suggins leaves her alone, taunting her that she could not save everyone.
RJ Brande makes it to Earth orbit. Fethro Jorn tosses the Eiffel Tower at his ship, but it dissolves in his hands. Jorn is smart enough to know what it means - Brande has a Trommite!
We return to Tinya, who finds Jo charging at his Daxamite again. She yells at him to become invulnerable, as there is no way he can win one-on-one. Apparently, Jo listens, and headbutts the Daxamite instead. The Daxamite seems to be out, and Tinya and Jo reunite. Jo calls her a genius and says he loves her. As Tinya is about to say she loves him back, the Daxamite recovers and his eyes glow red. Oh no.
Tinya and Jo vanish in a maelstrom. When the smoke clears, we find Jo was invulnerable... but Tinya was not intangible. Jo cries over her charred body.
Back at Legion HQ, the three founders scatter the mob. Brainy tells them they have to trigger their plan now, while Metropolis still has enough of an energy supply. To up the drama, Brainy says Brande may or may not make it in time; and Imra says she can't contact any of the Legionnaires! In desperation, Cos tells Imra to telepathically call the Daxamites herself! (Which is smarter, in my opinion. No guarantee that the Legionnaires could have lured the Daxamites there - most aren't faster than them!)
Roxxas' problem is revealed to be Violet - she shrank down and thrashed his brain's motor control center. Violet helps Andromeda up and tells her not to waste her intervention. Andromeda pummels him, but Roxxas has enough control to open the lid of the atomic furnace powering UP HQ... and it supposedly has the heat of ten stars. Violet makes it out alive, but Roxxas and Andromeda are lost in the explosion.
Before we have time to process this, the Daxamites rocket towards the three founders as they have a quiet moment of tension. The four Daxamites are already flying at them. Cos apologizes, but Garth and Imra thank him for the chance to be heroes. And at the last possible second, Brande arrives with Jan Arrah to transmute some tarnium and open a Stargate right in front of the Daxamites! As the three founders try not to get sucked in, Imra sees what might be the figure of a person. It's a very vague outline, though. Then Brainy closes the Stargate.
The Legionnaires, Workforce, Brande and Jan Arrah reunite. Last to arrive is Ultra Boy with Apparition's corpse. Leviathan, trying to console everyone, says maybe they should be grateful they only lost one of their own... then Violet appears. The next page drives it home - golden statues of Apparition and Andromeda join Kid Quantum I's.
Chu meets with Cos, and reveals that unofficially, the prison planet in the heart of the star contains exactly one inmate. One young lady who turned herself in after barely surviving the White Triangle attack. It is Andromeda. Chu swears Cos to secrecy, because public knowledge of a Legionnaire who gave an anti-lead serum to the Daxamites would destroy the UP.
Thoughts:
Wow. This is the Legion's most epic battle yet, and it doesn't have a happy ending. Each scene in this story serves its purpose, and I have to say each scene is heartbreakingly powerful. . . .
Garth makes his way to Imra's side, and realizing how critical Imra's telepathy is to their survival, he goes right for her. It's a nice, touching moment, though I have to suspend my disbelief a bit - Aven wasn't able to heal her, but Garth was? If this is supposed to highlight their "true love" for each other, it falls a bit flat. I can buy that Imra's condition would let her longing for Garth come to the fore, and I can very much like Garth giving her comfort, but it all seems a bit convenient. And I can buy Cos knowing that Imra wanted Garth, but how could he have known it would work? . . .
The final showdown at Legion HQ is masterfully done. The tension is built all throughout, with the Legionnaires 3 fending off rioters while Brainy warns them they're running out of time. And with the other Legionnaires down, Cos has to push Imra hard! They don't even know if the others are alive (though we know most of them are). I can forgive Cos for yelling. He's under a lot of pressure.
The 3 founders make a good team. Cos is still obviously the leader, and the two defer to him. But they're both behind him, and each has their own role in the trio.
I did cheer when the Daxamites flew right into the Stargate, but the victory seems hollow somehow. It's so hard to make sense of all the death and destruction. Oh, those terrible, terrible Daxamites!
In a parallel series of events, Andromeda catches Roxxas trying (in vain) to fool the UP Assembly. Come on, does he seriously believe anyone would think those attackers are NOT Daxamites? I love the writers' inclusion of the scene where Andromeda takes time to save people from being crushed by the UP Globe. This stays true to her character, as we've seen her saving innocents at least once before.
Violet's role is inspired! One of the "least powerful" Legionnaires manages to render a Daxamite almost helpless. Almost. I think having Andromeda almost die, then give herself up is a logical and proper ending to her arc. She finally redeems herself and proves she is a hero, but this isn't enough to assuage her conscience. It also helps Chu and Cos out of having to deal with the fallout of her involvement with the Triangle.
The riots on Earth are sadly not unexpected. I'm sure a lot of those people already had White Triangle leanings (such as the ones beating up the Daxamites and holding up "Earth for humans" placards), but many of them were probably caught up in the fear and panic.
Apparition and Ultra Boy take on the bald Daxamite. Jo would have been toast if Tinya hadn't been doing his tactical thinking for him. Oh, Jo. All that power... And just when we think they actually managed to stop a Daxamite? He wakes up and... and... grife. That scene remains burned in my mind. Tinya is having possibly the happiest moment in her life and she just dies. Just like that. And it's so ironic, because she among the Legionnaires should have been the safest - plus she was always the one telling Jo to stay invulnerable. Oh, how I wished that the smoke would clear away to show that she had survived... Unlike with Kid Quantum's death, Apparition was a Legionnaire I had grown to care about. . . .
On the other hand, the final victory is hollow somehow. Earth is thrashed, and we saw so many innocents killed. The Daxamites don't get their just punishment, as Jan points out. Tinya is dead, Laurel is a prisoner... This victory gives little satisfaction. Even Gim's line - "maybe we should be grateful we only lost one." Or two. It's a heartbreaking issue that pushes the Legion to its limits and leaves us all trying to make sense of what just happened.
This issue was masterfully written and plotted, and if its goal was to get us hooked as to what happened next, it definitely succeeded. But it's definitely not a feel-good issue!
There is indeed a sense of unfinished business in this issue. The White Triangle is defeated - or is it only Roxxas and the four-member assault team? There was widespread destruction and death, mostly of civilians, but possibly two Legionnaires. Tinya is dead and we're led to believe that Andromeda has perished as well in the explosion set off during her fight with Roxxas; her statue remains on the final page.
The issue is mostly battles. The Legion together with the Workforce got into some good teamwork, yet were still outclassed by the Daxamites. This did make their final victory more satisfying, when they started using their heads as well as their powers. Nevertheless, it was a close call.
Brainy and Cos have a scheme cooking, along with R.J.; you figure this is going to be what saves everybody, but it's still a good mystery to guess what they're up to.
I also found Imra's instant cure-by-love to be a bit too blunt and unbelievable, but maybe Garth's lightning power jiggled something in her brain and got it back on track. Regardless, it was good to see her back in action, with a bit of suspense at first: it wasn't clear if she was all there or just following orders.
Looks like Garth's back in the Legion. It's not uncommon to get instant Legion membership in a crisis, but this case makes strategic sense - and Rokk didn't say anything about it being temporary.
I did like the confrontation between Andromeda and Roxxas, her anger at being manipulated and surprise at finding him to be stronger than she is. He would have defeated her but for his collapse from Violet's tweaking of his motor control. I thought initially he had succumbed to the effects of the serum; that it was the result of clever and brave Violet was a bonus. That Violet would be able to do this - have the knowledge as well as the confidence - points to some serious training in espionage and/or defense. Watch out for those Imskians!
That the anti-lead serum was designed for Andromeda alone is logical and also provides an almost-certain message that the Daxamites will fail in the end. The question is how much destruction they may cause before that. Longtime readers have seen a mad Daxamite before - Mon-el on Talok after Lady Memory's assault - and it was no easy job to restrain him.
Jan Arrah destroys the Eiffel Tower. Kinda not cool, but it is a crisis.
Jo and Tinya make a good team. She's the thinker, he's the fighter but that sure looks like a real comic book death for Tinya. Hard to explain away chard remains.
The founders' preparation for and acceptance of likely death feels like a final issue (thinking back to 5YL). Rokk has really played his cards close to the vest, not even telling Garth and Imra until the last minute that there's a plan. Of course, the plan works and the Daxamite threat is ended. I certainly want to read the next issue and find out how the U.P. deals with Daxam after this.
There's more to look forward to: the matter of the Legionnaire death(s), the arrival of Jan Arrah, how he'll react to treatment of the White Triangle and Daxam, and Imra's comment that she saw something of interest in the stargate.
Still one of my fave issues ever. Every time I remember it, I recall how everything captured the feeling of dread and tension - the narrations, the dialogue, the pacing, the scenes, and even the art. And this is Jeff Moy art! After all, the Legion and Earth are facing four people on par with Superman... and someone, cannot recall who, even remarked they were toying with Earth by destroying it slowly... almost makes the destruction of Trom seem merciful in comparison, because it was fast (of course, we know it was done because the Daxamites didn't want to risk being poisoned by the Trommites).
I'm a little upset that the reckoning of the White Triangle wasn't more thorough, we don't really see most of them get punished. (I explored that a bit in my ongoing fic, but we don't really see it in canon... these White Triangle Daxamites committed horrific crimes, the last we see of the 4 insane ones here is that they get sent to a Red Sun world...)
To me this is the defining story of the first half of the reboot era. It was built up to extremely well and the stakes at the end were life & death.
I'm a sucker for Garth & Imra, so I really enjoyed Imra snapping out of her daze because of Garth.
Jenni's futile attempt to save innocents was well done - both in the moment with her saving who she could, but also Spark comforting her at the end.
Vi coming in for the save was great as was the seeming-death of Laurel.
Still, to me, the best part of the re-read is the telegraphing of Tinya's eventual fate right before she's flash fried.
Great point, Ibby, about how the Daxamites didn't really get any comeuppance in the story - they're just teleported via stargate SOMEWHERE, then assumingly dealt with. But the whole of the Annual is just great in about every way.
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Also liked Karate Kid stunning a Daxamite (even with a big jagged piece of metal in his leg!), and Inferno (Sandy) stepping up and thinking of using Triad as bait.
Also found the measures against super-hearing clever: at least, Cos and Brainy made sure to keep referring to "you know what" so the Daxamites wouldn't figure out what they were planning!
I love when Vi does stuff like this, it reminded me of the way she (well, Yera...) took out that Servant of Darkness during GDS - DC's shrinking characters are way underrated, I love when they show how dangerous they can be (Identity Crisis excepted)
I feel like nothing good was ever done with Andromeda again, but I dunno - I kind of stopped reading around about the time the Anomaly stuff came in...this would have been a really good end to her story, and surprising because I expected her to do the last minute repentance and be accepted back with open arms to bring her more in line with Supergirl/5YL/SW6 batch Laurel Gand
With hindsight I can see how Tinya's death was forecast, but at the time it shocked me...I kind of liked her hanging around as a ghost but I didn't love the whole convoluted Phase/Carggite thing...
Tinya?s death was incredibly shocking, and at the moment when she and Jo declare their love for each other too. Also after her smarts help Jo clobber a Daxamite, and after she gives such a snappy reply to Jo?s question.
Basically, making us love her even more before she dies
Was that Yera during GDS? I can never remember, as I know they made the swap during Cham's mission to Khund, but I forget if that happened before or after GDS. But yes, Everyone had a role in this story, it was very well plotted out.
They actually did use Andromeda well again in the Fatal Five story, then they turned her into the space nun, where she was actually still a good character through Emerald War. Then the Anomaly happened....
And Tinya's death was at the time sooooo shocking. I was pleasantly surprised they went there as it added good drama. In the same scene they telegraphed her return, which I did not pick up on until years later, and I wasn't a big fan of her coming back.
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Yeah, Nun Andromeda was good during Emerald War. It just went bad when she went into the Anomaly and came back unrecognizable (interestingly enough, for all their altering of others like Kinetix and Sensor and Live Wire, DNA actually seemed to intend to REVERSE the change to Andromeda - based on the cover to Legion 33!)
I guess that she could have come back perfectly easily - she's done with her stint on Durla, its a year later so she doesn't have that hair anymore - The only thing they really needed to fix was the fact that they made Zoe taller than Laurel as part of that anomaly mess.
I can't keep thinking about that Anomaly, cause Levitz literally provided a springboard to something that could have been kind of amazing, but ended up being a turd wrapped in colored paper that had a rejected story printed on it.
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