Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Secret Files 3003 Spoilers and Discussion

First, it's not much of a secret files so much as a rehash of what you would know if you have been buying the book. With one very notable exception which I get to later.

DnA Page numbers? PLEASE!!!

First, TnT have made quite an impact on the book and I really like their contribution, but OMG, worst Coz ever. Dreamy fans are going to have caniptions. But to the good and fun.

Finally LaVIathon has a little fun with her height, much to Invisible Kid's chagrin. I also loved the Wookie but my favorite (probably because I have a mustache), is the alien on the p7-8 splash pages.

We get a good tour of Legion World. What did you think? Would you want to visit?

The only disappointment was the Habitat section. A COMPLETE waste of ink, again with that notable exception. Ooh, Braal! Uh look's like Naltor, which looks like Cargg, which looks like the bottom of my shoe. Did I miss the point here?

Oh, but that last shot in the habitat, which I'll get to later.

Okay Karate Kid fans/detractors. What did you think? I've been VERY vocal about my feeling of clone-el so you can guess my opinion.

Okay, to the only reason to read the book, besides cloneboy getting it handed to him.

The Tree. Aren't the winathian trees lovely in November?

Agreed. Cos looks demented on that page and Imra looks like she just had bad cosmetic lip surgery. Worst Dreamer, too. Most of the other pinups are OK.

Wookie!! I hadn't noticed. Thanks.

Val comports himself very well indeed. His place of origin is "Unknown"??

Ah! The trees on Winath. Should look like a winter wonderland soon. Imra's shaping up to be his next "accident". It's unexpected that Garth has not only Jan's elemental transmuting powers, but his own lightning powers, too. Must pack a wallop. Holy jeez. Hang on to your sanity, buddy.

Also worth mentioning:

Inhabitants of Legion World also include permanent S.P. officers, tech staff, Titan adepts and Kwai navigators.

Chuck is an HONORARY member of the Legion.

Dr. Gym'll still collects comics.

Cub's codename is "Ultra-Kid". He still looks about 6-7 years old. "The parameters of his powers are not yet charted."

We get to see the Legion World bar and recreation area, known (lovingly) as the "Clubhouse".

Jazmin is now seeing temporal phantoms, some of which appear to be Legionnaires battling Darkseid. She knows things are getting out of hand, but she won't confide in Rokk.

Superboy doesn't appear in last issue's "costume", but works out with Val in a red/yellow/black jumpsuit with the "S" insignia.

Rokk's martinet attitude is growing worse. Now he's dissing Superboy to the reporter.

Sensor has fangs. That's news to me.

The mission to the Kwai galaxy has already begun! R.J. is there now with M'onel, Chameleon, Kinetix and Gates.

All Legion habitats contain permanent thresholds to those worlds. Cool.

Not sure, but it looks like the Barda, Orion and Firestorm servants flew to Legion World to install "matter engines" that are now processing at "full capacity". What's that mean?

Wow, nothing anybody has said makes me want to buy this. That's probably heresy, but I think I'll wait until next week when I go to pick up L27. If Secret Files is still there, I'll pick it up. If not, so be it.

There's a lot to like about this issue.

I'm glad to know where M'on, Terrorform Zoe, Gates, and Cham are. That's nice, and a good plot device to lighten the team's numbers a bit.

Also good was the Val-Connor fight! GO Val! I think I like the way DnA write him. A lot. I liked a lot of the personal moments, very well done on Sensor, (BOY does she look fangry!) and I'm glad to see a couple of plot developments for "Foundations" thrown in too.

I enjoyed the introductions, I thought they were handled well with "The Earth Spins."

Garth's crystallization of the tree and butterfly was WAY creepy. But subtle. It reminded me of a similar instance back in Uncanny X-Men when Mikhail Rasputin did a similar thing to a pizza guy.

I enjoyed seeing the servants again, and I can't wait to hear the explanations of how they came to be. Those guys have some serious power levels!

And not so good...

I enjoyed Tom and Tony's art better on 25. I liked the kinetic aspect of it, but there were a few too many unattractive panels here. Splash pages are supposed to be pretty.

Uh, does anybody in the entire team even CARE that Garth has been sitting under a tree in the Winath habitat for the past 5 weeks? This is really beginning to stretch my emotional disbelief. What with all the changes that are pretty commonplace in the Legion (note: KINETIX), I don't think Garth's friends would treat him this way. DnA, please get him out of the damn habitat and interacting with his CLOSE friends and family like Rokk and Ayla. Imra's not Garth's only link to the team, but you wouldn't know it from the past 2 issues.

More Vi, please, but I'm sure you know that already.

I really enjoyed the issue, but the whole "Nobody loves me because I'm in Jan's body" thing is wearing thin. Oh, and the fact that obviously there are no more Valorists in the galaxy. Next thing you know, Luornu will be converting to Supermanism.

Still, the current writing for me is head and shoulders above "Dream Crime."

well not an action packed issue, i enjoyed this secret files.

i agree with everyone so far...some of the legionnaires looked "deformed"...but all in all, i was pleased with most of the pin-ups. honestly, i think "ultra-kid" was my favorite.

speaking of "ultra-kid," there were a few moments of light-heartedness that have been absent in the last few issues. naming cub "ultra-kid" was one. in the clubhouse, hearing wildfire say "i'm telling you, wolf, she's got seven!" hee hee.

and the kon/val training bout! i'd love to see more of moments like this. plus, i love the workout clothes...we'd seen star boy and vi in theirs a few issues ago.

i'm not surprised sensor has fangs...both literally and figuratively.

and i too am glad to finally find out where m'onel and gates have been. since when does r.j. brande wear a flight ring?

and while i'm glad to see vi, why is she in her giant size....when she really doesn't _need_ to be?

and i could swear trudy had white hair (she actually reminded me of storm) several issues back....yep...#6 has her with the white hair. so what's going on?

and finally, barda, orion, and firestorm weren't approaching legion world on the last few pages, but 31st century apokolips.

On the next to last page they were returning to Apokolips FROM Legion World, no? Doesn't "Barda" point out Legion World on the 2nd page?

nope. the caption on the first page reads "31st century, deep space..."

since legion world is in permanent orbit around earth, doubtful that barda is pointing to legion world, rather than some other as-yet-unnamed planet.

Some of the pin-ups were great -- Umbra and Star Boy come to mind -- and some literally made me cringe -- such as Dreamer, and the bizarrely goofy look on Cos's face in the shot with Imra and Jazmin.

Overall... eh. Not as much of a disappointment as most of the other Secret Files, but it didn't do that much for me either.

I do like the way they advanced the ball on the current storyline, though.

Well, Secret Files 3003 is what it is: a primer for newbies and handy resource material for oldies. There were a few interesting revelations -- but most should have been handled in the body of the main book (e.g., the whereabouts of M'Onel, Gates, Chameleon and Kinetix). One shouldn't have to pick up an extra book to learn major plot developments.

To Semi: You won't miss anything if you skip it. The important information has already been discussed in this thread. Heck, I'm not even going to bother doing an Off The Cuff review, though I do have some comments to make.

The Leonard Kirk and Robin Riggs artwork was very well-done, particular on the Servants of Darkseid scenes. But Tony and Tom's artwork was just bad. One can only imagine that the Legionnaires were drawn this way because they were seen from Trudy Trusoe's point of view: as surreal exaggerations of who they really are. Her reporting, after all, was hardly balanced.

Cos dissing Superboy? I don't think so. He seemed to be trying to answer Trudy's question about Kon's supposed messiah-hood in an honest way. Clearly, Cos is not impressed with Superboy (he was being charitable in describing him as "a fine person") and this came through in his remarks -- but at least his remarks were off the record.

My favorite line: "No, he couldn't." Three words that say so much about Karate Kid's self-confidence even when he came this close to having his face pulverized like the training room floor. Too bad most of the dialogue in the issue was serviceable at best, with few revealing insights.

The real reason Kid Quantum should resign as leader? Because she doesn't realize that there may be a connection between her powers going haywire and Star Boy's similar problems (a subplot that seems to have been abandoned). There might not be a connection, but a good leader should consider the possiblity.

(What is it with Jaz and Imra, who, as leaders, choose to hide their personal dilemmas from their teammates? Imra did the same thing when she impersonated Tinya in Lost. The results were disastrous for both her and the Legion. Has Jazmin learned nothing from her predecessor's mistakes?)

As for Jarth's moping around in the Winath habitat -- I agree: This is a ridiculously cliched subplot. Even if Garth were trapped in Mordru's body, some of his old friends would be thrilled that he's alive -- and so would his sister! Why don't we get to see that?

I don't know who that slut was, but she bloody well wasn't any Violet I recognized. For now I'll assume that DnA didn't write that pose into the script. They could have at least added a comment about her personality; there was enough room on the page for it.

Overall, though, the book was fun. It'll be great to recomend to potential new readers.

I really liked the fight between Kon and KK, and some of the one liners were great. It's nice to know that Chuck still has a crush on Triad. And we finally know why we've seen so little of Gates and Zoe.

Favourite lines:
Trudy: "How are you finding the challenges of leadership?"
Jaz: "Well I haven't had to yet. They seem to find me."

Is that the perfect signiture for our Nightcrawler, or what?

Something else else about this issue made me think "Ugh".

I said enough there.

Hussy!

What I posted on the DC board:

As Secret Files go, this is probably one of the most well done in terms of providing a good foundation for new readers.

Though in general I'm very much admiring Harris & co's work on Legion, I thought some of it was pretty poor this time. That one two page spread - I've seen better not-so-great-fan-art.

There's something about the intensity or purity of the colors and the thick black lines - Idon't know - the characters look so fleshy - especially in the face.

I'm still a big DnA supporter, though with Coipel gone their Legion has lost some of its appeal for me. I wish they could get a better handle on all the subplots and characterizations. I can hardly believe we have no clue why Cub is growing so fast, but we've got a returned Lightning Lad, sort of, and this doomsday cult. Funny thing is that though DnA are filthy rich with subplots, this doomsday cult just popped up out of nowhere!

Did anyone else notice that RJ Brande was listed as 'President of the newly formed United Planets' at the time of the Legion's inception? Timeblip? Retcon? Editorial sleight of hand to ease possible reader confusion by introducing a now-deceased President Chu to new Legion fans?

Other than that, which really stuck in my craw, I understood most of the Legion concept review, appreciated the explanation of the MIA Legionnaires, really enjoyed the Kirk/Riggs art, but was disappointed by the Harris/Feister art.

Now when will they do a TPB of the series so far?

Well, everyone's comments here have piqued my interest in this issue!

A hussy Vi? Is this serious? Ugh!!! She has been a bit snarky when we have seen her. Hope they're not going to make her into the Legion bad girl.

Trudy must have just dyed her hair.

The Winath trees sound interesting - I hope that's it - they were awful in #25 and #26. Some comic book artist said you "have to draw every tree" (talking about attention to detail) and the Winath trees so far have fallen short of looking like real trees. Or even the highly uniform, genetically engineered trees that they probably are.

Jarth still out in the field? In the Old Days, wouldn't he be in the lab with Brainy working on him, zapping him with some mind-body separator machine?

This whole Cos/Superboy thing could be interesting as it moves along. If Cos is an adherent, or whatever you'd call it, to the Spirit of the Last Son, and the last son shows up in person - it must be some letdown. Rather like having the Buddha appear in our time, but as a spoiled, rich teenager before he went off to seek enlightenment.

Bad art from TnT? That's hard to believe, they've been excellent so far.

Now I can hardly wait to get my copy too, the comments are very interesting. It's unbelieveable that everybody would just leave Garth alone like that, I thought Imra had already accepted Jan's change before, so she should have no reason to be afraid or hateful of Jarth. And aside from Ayla and Rokk, what about all the Lost Legionnaires who not only spent a year with Garth lost in space, but also got their butts saved by him? Hope that will be adddressed soon...

It's also good to see Gates and Zoe about to be put to good use, they could use some more screen time. Maybe this will lead to Zoe finally being turned back to normal... But why wasn't Spark sent as well? RJ mentioned her as being one of his possible choices in 17... I guess DNA want to leave her back at LW because Garth is there, but now her relationship with Cham will suffer. I don't think we've seen those two together since issue 3.

And with Chuck only an honorary Legionnaire, we know that the old constitution is still there. Least they didn't forget Chuck's contribution to the team as part of the SUBS. But it's too bad that we probably won't see Chuck using the Bouncing Boy to kick some major Backseid anytime soon. but at least he hasn't been forgotten.

Precisely. It defies belief. I don't believe for a moment that Spark would ignore her brother or be afraid of him. The others, maybe, but not her. She seems more concerned about his privacy when she tells the reporter "best not to disturb him". Come to think of it, if the others are so afraid of him turning into a monster, why he is free to wander around alone in the habitat? The only conclusion I can draw is that he's becoming paranoid. The "nobody loves me" act and transmuting objects unaware are both byproducts of the same mental instability that affected Jan when he was in the crystal body, and the process that turned Jan into the Progenitor is apparently happening to him, albeit in a much shorter period of time. A billion years alone in space. 5 weeks alone in the habitat. It's all adding up to the same thing. [Edit: Plus, there are very strong parallels to Mekt's "solo" status and *his* mental instability.] What really defies belief is that his teammates, knowing what happened to Jan (and Mekt), are not looking out for the same signs in him. Perhaps it's not a matter of them distrusting him, but trusting him TOO much.

Welcome to the Legion of Super-Hillbillies. Well, at least that's what it looks like judging from the way Cos, Dreamer and Superboy appear in certain panels.

What a COLOSSAL disappointment this issue was. Where were the secrets in the Secret Files?
In fact, they're so secret they're not revealed here.

Hopefully, more fans will come on board now - that could be the only happy result of this waste of an issue.

Well, except that I wouldn't call Kon-el the Last Son. He's really more like a clone of Buddha crossed with Attila the Hun.

Bad art? The posts probably do read as if that is the implication. For clarity, my opinion is that the depictions of certain Legionnaires is not to my taste. Similar to some of the discussion that went along with Kevin Walker.

Their first panel, I'm thinking cool. Second page I'm thinking "Legion Advetures." Third page I'm thinking "uuggh!" It's just the depictions of certain members, because their next panel of Gear, Chuck, Triad, and XS I loved. The coloring work is unique, but too jarring for a long term run. In general, I don't think DnA gave them much to say, because TnT's pages are mostly empty of story. A real shame since their assignment was the posters.

Kirk and Riggs were just stupendous throughout. Their real success was the depth that appears in the space scenes. I felt as if I was flying along and the observation deck called up a little vertigo. They have and gave their perspective of the future.

My favorite part of the art and writing was the sprinkling throughout of little easter eggs. A wookie there, and ET here, and to what WAS Drake refering? Inside guy thing about Shikari???? What fun! Anxiously anticipating a thread on this!

Not sure my total reaction to the drinking in last issue and this. DnA have lowered the age of consent on several fronts. I suppose I won't even notice after awhile.

Eh, I could take or leave this issue. As most others, some of the Tony Harris pictures, specially Dreamer, were awful.

Interesting thing no one else seems to have noticed: M'Onel is specifically referred to as Lar Gand of Daxam in his "factoid." Has this "last son" bit completely wiped out the Valor cult? Did M'Onel reveal himself at some point and I missed it? I definitely recall it still being secret when he was operating after he had been shot by Ra's Al Ghul. Does the UP population not care?

Also, while I guess it wouldn't have been essential to a new reader's knowledge of the Legion (which is obviously the point of this book), I would have liked the tour to pass through a memorial room, where we sould have seen "factoids" about Kid Quantum I, Leviathan I and Monstress and Element Lad. Some mention of Andromeda would have been nice too..I really hope she's not intended to ignored for the long term, even if she'll never formally rejoin the team.

Supermanites kick Valorists' asses!

As I said, I'm sure Luornu will be converting any day now. Come on, DnA, do your homework with the sandbox you're writing in. And don't even get me started on "R.J. Brande, the first president of the UP." WTF! Jeanne Chu was the first Prez and everyone knows it! Except DnA, of course...

I'm hoping these are all timeslips due to the current storyline, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.

That's been my belief since this arc started. Its all due to the timeslips. But what if, at the end when they are apparently going to restart time, we are stuck with these changes? A mini-reboot to suit the current authors.

I buy everything Legion, so I never say "take it or leave it." However, I don't always like everything I buy. No, this Secret Files didn't have much for an established Legion fan to learn. That's not what ultimately disappoints me about the book. It's the lack of eye-candy. Secret Files, to me, are an excellent opportunity for the images to be more important than the storyline. The premise of LSF 3003 set this up terrifically. The execution of it stunk!

I'm sorry, but what's up TnT? Are you overworked?
The cover's okay, but I have a couple problems with it. Why is Cos' outfit teal? I mean, the lighting isn't altering anyone else's costume that much.

Shikari's profile shot is actually okay. Her lips are kinda neon red, though.

There's no excuse for that first two page spread to be so sparsely filled. This would have been a perfect place to show how Legion world teems with population. Lots of interesting alien races. The three Legionnaires zooming in to meet Shikari and Trudy should have been way better depicted. Why are Jaz' armbands gold? And what happened to Saturn Girl's little white boots?

On the next two pager, we see a few aliens, thank you, but the "portraits" of the Legionnaire are awful. Why oh why show Cos looking so stupid? This also could have been done on one page, IMO.

The portrait of Gear looks fine, Chuck looks 30, Triad and XS look great.

Dr. Gym'll looks like Yoda, Apparition looks great, Jo looks like he's from the WWF. Cub looks adorable.

Timber Wolf looks...right. Wildfire and Ferro look great. Star Boy, like Chuck looks 30.
What do TnT have against Dreamer? They made her look terrible on her solo cover during Dream Crime, and now, she has this giant bulbous nose and man jaw. At least there's great cleavage to distract... Umbra looks great, but why a hand over her face for a publicity shot?

Superboy's page was okay. Karate Kid looked totally generic, but again, it was okay.

If I was Sensor, I wouldn't want many pictures of me looking like that out there, either! She looks like a savage monster in her profile shot.

The group shot of the team in the Second Galaxy was pretty good, overall. M'On's making a kinda "bratty" face, and yes, what is Gear wearing? TnT like Cham to have scaly ears, I guess. Easily explained. Zoe looked...right. Brande looked good. (I cast Walter Cronkite as Brande in my mind...)

The next two page spread is just weird. Why is Vi laying around in giant form like that? This is TnT's most cartoony page of all. Brainy's mouth is doing something TnT have depicted a lot throughout the issue. The middle of his top lip is touching the bottom lip, with teeth showing on either side. Just weird looking. Cos, Trudy and Spark look like they jumped out of a Legion Adventures comic. Lyle looks just as comical, but he's made that Vi is pulling his hair, as he should be. What is UP!?!

The Legion World pinup is another waste of a page. Wouldn't this be the perfect place to do one of those multi level architectural drawings that show every single room in the place? Instead wer get a big fancy ball with a couple pretty toon ladies looking at it in awe. I'm not in awe.

I'm HUGELY disappointed with the next page, the habitats page. Why in the universe would they choose to depict the most barren landscapes possible on each sector?? WTF!!!???!!! Here's my word for that....LAME!

The Garth page... Garth looks 30, Jan looks 30, so naturally, Jarth would look 30. Why couldn't an artist who cares about these characters have been brought in to draw this page.

One of my main gripes about TnT's stuff is that they are actually so capable. It just seems like they rushed this stuff through as quick as possible. When I look at their website and see all the excellent work they're capable of, it frustrates me to see such low level work on the Legion book.

As for the Leonard Kirk art, well, it was fine. I suppose I can't help but think of all the former Legion artists who've mentioned in the Legion Companion that they'd love a chance to draw the Legion again. It seems like a Secret Files book would be the perfect format for that.

Yeah, overall, I wasn't impressed.

I noticed the President Brande thing, too. That might be forgiveable since the title "President" is usually applied to a person through their lives. But one thing stuck out that I haven't seen mentioned yet (probably 'cause it's a nit-pick). Kid Quantum was described as having been recently elected "unanimously" as the leader of the Legion. Now this must be news to Imra and Ayla since they seemed surprised by the election results when they announced. This one bugged me since DnA wrote that election story.