Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! LSH 42 ~~~SPOILERS!!!!

Super Hussy returns in all her glory!

Colossal Boy is Micro no more!

The age old question "Boxers or Briefs?" seems outdated in the 31st century.

Vi is not the only Legion Lass with big guns.

Even semi-conscious, Jo is always on the make!

Who knew? Reep is a nudist!

...and much much more!

In Gim's room, there is a shelf full of model spaceships, and another one on a desk with some tools! Gim working on miniature models of things, who wouldn't thunk it?

He also seems to have a thing for sports star Suzy Porter. Then again, Garth has a poster of Rokk on his wall, so perhaps i shouldn't read too much into that...

I kinda like how Garth is floating behind Brainy while he works. Neat to see casual uses of powers (or, in this case, equipment).

Still kinda bummed that the art isn't as clear as it was in the first few issues of this run, but I guess FJM had a lot more time to work on those first issues.

I love how, in the absence of Mon-El or Superboy/girl/man/pig, Jo is such a 'heavy hitter.' I love getting to see people who don't have Kryptonian-level powers getting a chance to shine and strut their stuff.

This issue was just slightly less awesome than last issue, but it was still an excellent read.

I noticed that when Lyle's dad congratulated him on showing interest in a girl, the word "girl" was emphasized. Does this imply anything about Lyle's, uh, preferences?

Jo is lucky Garth didn't see him smoochin' Imra. It's interesting how Imra reacted to the kiss, though. I think she must be feeling neglected by Garth, especially after the end of the previous issue.

We now have one Legionnaire who's constantly naked, two Legionnaires who like being naked, and just about all the other Legionnaires have paraded around in their underwear at some point in the last few issues. They should just declare Legion HQ to be a clothing-optional zone.

This was definitely a great read with lots of pretty pictures. I really hope that TPTB keep Shooter and Manapul around as long as possible.

I also hope that Matter-Eater Lad and Wildfire (and maybe Evolvo Lad) show up soon alongside Element Lad, Dream Girl, & Sun Boy.

This was fun - lots of action and mystery, even if the aliens were basically the Borg except for assimilation. It took a while, but I think the book is starting to turn into one where I am beginning to want to turn the pages.

Another plus - no Projectra and her wet-blanket subplot!

I kinda have to disagree with you Set that I put more time into the earlier issues. I feel that I've put more into the newer issues as I go along. I think the difference with the first 2 issues to the current ones is that I'm now more focused on storytelling and doing simpler panel layouts than before to put Jim's story first my art second. If anything I wished I could scale it back since the panels just don't have any room to "breathe" but Jims scripts don't allow you to do too many short cuts ;)I definitely spend more sleepless nights in the later issues than I did the first 2.
if anyones interested in checking out the pencils I've posted a bunch of them in my gallery at : http://manapul.deviantart.com/

I quite enjoyed it. There was a lot to like - the Legionnaires having to be creative in the uses of their powers to defeat the monsters, Lightning Lad and Brainiac 5 having a discussion in a calm manner (so unlike the ridiculously confrontational Cosmic Boy/Brainiac 5 interaction,) the duplicitousness of the UP and I also love how Shooter is slowly turning away from the intergenerational conflict angle which I never bought into. Having Lyle reconcile with his father is a good "in" to walking away from the creepy way adults were seen to interact, without just wishing it into the cornfield.

If we really do lose this Legion in favor of the Legion of Ersatz Heroes I'm going to be greatly disappointed.

as usual, the visual composition of this book is awesome. I have enjoyed seeing the rooms of the different LSH members. it's a nice quick visual guide to what the person is like. Brainy's look in the mirror. priceless. or a couple of issues ago, when the monitor board gave lots of info in the background, while tons of stuff was happening in the foreground. great work Francis and Shooter.

Carmine's Custom Actionwear. I love that title. I could just picture Joe Pesci giving a sales pitch about how great his suits are.

is it just me, or is Cham finally acting as alien(?) as you would expect a member of a shape shifting race to be. my prior read on him was typical teen that looks a bit different.

to echo matlock, I will be sorry to lose this group.

I haven't seen the issue yet, but I checked out your pencils Francis, and like them a lot. Sometimes the inking obscures the art, I've found, so please don't feel bad. In the past, I've posted that I'm not fond of the anime hair you put on some characters, but if that's all I have to complain about (and that IS all I have to complain about), you're doing a great job.

again, imra's portrayal made me vomit. i'm not a fan of the story's pacing, they've fought these monsters like 50 times now, get to the point!

seeing colossal boy's cute room as awesome, and cham's facial expressions made me so happy. "so you're always naked?" "YES! " is the greatest thing ever. charm's facial expressions were so fucking cute, i love his face!! and garth's CUTE CUTE spinning.

ahhhhh and the NEW OUTFITS that i have been waiting for since the start of this run!! the cool, slick new uniforms!! i was a little confused at imra/every character's reference to her new outfit as being more feminine, in my opinion it's, IF anything, less feminine. but only by like... a decimal point? they're both completely body covering, yes? except one had a cape, yes? anyone else find it bizarre?

the fight scenes in this were very well depicted, i could follow everything that was happening. *sobs* my favorite art with my least favorite writing ;__; why is god so cruel to me? even with the writing, shooter does very cute certain things, but... the rest of the time i'm cringing so hard.

oh and does lyle's mom have nothing to say about everything going on?!! oh wait, she's a lady, of course not. because i am psychotic, i noticed that his mother's name also changed from "ryna" in the waid run to "marlas" in this issue.

i also noticed the "oh thank god you're dating a GIRL". i feel this is more shooter saying this than lyle's dad. during his whole run shooter's been making real sure that we know he-likes-girls-just-girls-forever. GIRLS.

IMO this book was excellent and both Shooter and Manapul really hit their stride. I thought the art was pretty spectacular, especially the action scenes.

I loved the nanoorganic creatures...the action was fast, the interaction between Brainy and LL was fun.

The Imra scene was...well it was shocking, and I think that was the point. Shooter rattled the heck out of that old cage.

I hope DC decides to keep this book and I hope Shooter and Manapul are involved with the Legion for a while....this is one of the best versions.


I don't have any great desire for all the romance stuff, but I don't think they are all children...that's not the way Waid was writing them. I mean they are risking their lives and being planetary defenders...they might die at any point on a mission...so they obviously aren't minors, or at least not all of them are.

it was very nice to see that ultra boy was the greatest weapon against the aliens cause of his powers

i not sure i liked that lyle and his parents made up i liked knowing the reason lyle ran off to join the legion even if it did make his parents assholes was nice, aside from lyle's dad hitting him, the man was selling his life's work, that really shouldnt have cleared up that quickly

i love how Brainy and LL had there little chat, talking from the alien bad guys to clothing being on sale, makes me wonder what else is on brainy computer that he doesn't want any one to see. also it was nice to have brainy insult someone that he didn't come off as a huge dick, it felt more like a playful aside, i loved how brainy just explained every thing with out being a condescending prick

okay so who thinks the legion biggest secret is that mon-el is still alive?

The fight on on Rimbor was amazing. Star Boy's air hammers and Ultra Boy's super-human projectile are *new* stuff, never seen before in a Legion comic, iirc. If this issue were a movie, I would've stood up and clapped.

I was even more impressed by the Chameleon revelation -- that Shooter found a way to say something completely new (but completely in character) about a Legionnaire created 48 years ago. That's his genius.

The inability of the Destroyer thingie to eradicate a flower has to be an important clue, but I have no clue what it's about.

Yes, 3boot Imra in her pseudo-bikini uni is now officially a space-floozie, but I have to to give her credit for being as capable, innovative and "macho" a field leader as the Legion ever had. If the kiss leads to anything more, Jo is going to find a Talokian ax in his head, methinks.

Though the Lyle/Lon scene appealed to me to the parent in me, I have to agree the "girl" thing was too much. Would Lon have been so chipper if Lyle was in love with a boy? That's not the most important aspect of it, however. Shooter buries the "kids vs adults" premise six feet under and no one can complain about it anymore. Now it's all about money, and the greed, ambition and resentment of petty government beaurocrats. Hey, just like real life!

A moment of sublime ridiculousness -- Brainy preening before a mirror in his new "body armor". I simply adore him, and I'm loving the comedy team dynamic between him and Garth. Brainy hurls insults and they roll off levitating Garth like water rolls off a duck's back. Brainy and Cos was two flags. Brainy and Garth is six flags.

"The Leader Who Lost the Legion", huhn? The cadence reminds me of "The Lad Who Wrecked the Legion" and other trippy Silver Age titles. I think it's Shooter's way of telling us not to fret too much. It won't be another foray into darkness and despair -- it's going to be fun.

Oh wow, these reviews have me STOKED... "The Leader Who Lost The Legion", eh? heh... I *LOVE* it.

Tromium said:

The fight on on Rimbor was amazing. Star Boy's air hammers and Ultra Boy's super-human projectile are *new* stuff, never seen before in a Legion comic, iirc. If this issue were a movie, I would've stood up and clapped.

I was even more impressed by the Chameleon revelation -- that Shooter found a way to say something completely new (but completely in character) about a Legionnaire created 48 years ago. That's his genius.

MLLASH sez: I can't WAIT to read this issue now!

on the lyle/lon thing - i was like "man, lyle, your dad hit you, i thought you were so cool for being like 'fuck that noise!'!", i totally agree/ i know he wants to bury the thing with adults but... you know the adults need to behave better!

on the big secret? i thought a) dream girl's disembodied soul (or something) in brainy's head or b) the flight rings since the rings keep being more prominent. c) ....sw6 clones.

A)well a few people know about that so i dont think that counts as a secret right?

B)i thought the rings secrets were sold last issue

OH MY GOD c) hahahahahahahaha yes that i what i want it to be now

The art seemed a little sloppier than usual to me as well. I will blame it on the inker as fjm usually has such crisp, clean lines.

Although the adaptable beast thingies are becoming tiresome, full points to Shooter for continuing to find original ways to use the Legionnaire's individual powers. They barely used them, even in a straight forward way, in Waid's run.

People, people, keep the expletives clean -- or at least, stick to the 31st century slang. I have children who read these boards!

Perhaps with all the Shooter rumors, I read this issue savoring every panel. Perhaps not coincidence this was the most enjoyable issue for me in a LOOONNNGG time. Everything just WORKED in this issue!

1) Colossal Boy's model building dorm room (complete with magnifying lens).

2) The mystery of the new unis (love that word!). Leave it to Shooter to make new costumes an ongoing plot point!

3) Ultra Boy's almost comment about Saturn Girl's new uni. Imra's response was awesome!

4) Naked? YES! Just priceless.

5) The battle on Rimbor. The BEST Legion slug-fest in years. Perhaps too bad we had to wait 5 issues to get there, but it was worth the wait. Heavy air columns! Jo's power-switching confusing the killer Adaptoids! Imra's iron-butt field command! Do Atom Girl's guns work when she's tiny? Apparently so!

6) Brainiac's surreptious self-admiration! Lightning Lad hanging around upside down in Brainy's lab! This is how young adults behave!

7) Invisible Kid's reconciliation with his father! This really felt like valedictory for Waid's generational conflict. The undertones of homophobia were unwelcome. I guess one could interpret Mr. Norg's comment as "I'm glad he's showing interest in girls and not just test tubes" or the like.

8) Ultra Boy steals some sugar from ... Saturn Girl! And ... she likes it! Aw yeah! Imra's gettin' her hussy on! Again, this is how young adults behave. Just because Imra thinks Jo is a great kisser doesn't mean she's gonna cheat on or dump Garth. If nothing else, she finds something redeemable (other than his powers) about Jo. Awesome!

9) The killer adaptoid blasting the flower! I don't know why I liked it! What year is this? Flower power, dude!

10) The return of Popoff! I feel I should point out that Karl Rove held the title of deputy chief of staff before his fall from invulnerability.

Just such a fun, fun issue. Thank you Jim and Francis and Livesay.

i agree with most of the comments here. it was a great, fun read.
i LOVE how Shooter packs the script full with so much dialogue and information and references and humor. this would've been 3 issues for a lot of today's writers.
the side dialogue with Brainy and LL was great! an actual conversation that lasts longer than 3 panels!

the Lyle/parents dinner conversation fell a little flat with me.
it's like the art and script didn't maximize each other. i noticed fun little bits like the changing cgi landscape paintings in the dining room. but the visual storytelling didn't convey the emotion in my opinion. as for the "finally interested in a girl" comment, i felt it easily could have been meant as finally interested in romance/dating/sex but Shooter could have used a non-gender way of saying that. also mom is shooting dad a disapproving look as he says it. just for the record, Waid is the one who introduced Lyle's crush on Supergirl.
the legion team (and the creative team) being forced to fight imaginatively was very enjoyable. it reminds me of old Claremont Xmen battles.
i am ready for the adversary to advance to something else now though. i'm tired of the no-personality, alive-or-not beasties.
i'd love to see the LSH battle the UP Young Heroes.

finally we get the new uni's!!! (although, i hate Atom Girl's static cling hair big time.) Manapul does some things great like conveying difficult concepts as the "air-hammers" and other fight scene choreography, or little character touches like LL floating behind Brainy. sometimes i feel he misses an opportunity to zoom in close like the Saturn Girl/Ultra Boy kiss. unfortunately, the coloring does him little favors. Cham's sudden transformation into the huge 3 headed creature as a battle tactic/distraction is largely lost because everything is too dark and too red/orange.

this is nit-picking though, because really great work is being done and i am really enjoying the issues. it DOES feel like the legion suddenly. YAY! i hope Shooter/Manapul are encouraged to stay with the book for their 16 issues.

I find myself enjoying each issue more and more.

When I met Francis at Pittsburgh last month, he told me about the new costume scene and Cham's nudism and his excitement when talking about the scene pretty much mirrored Cham's expression. It really shows through when people love their work.

I have liked the new costumes ever since the promo image was first released and it's great that these cotumes are finally appearing in the story.

I rather liked this issue. I thought the use of the Legionnaire's powers against the aliens was excellent and the revelation about Cham was genius. I do think it's a little odd that no-one questions where the new outfits came from more than they do though. New outfits are one thing, new outfits that no-one knows anything about are quite another.

With regards to the art though I do think that it's suffering badly either from the inks or the colouring (or possibly both). With this issue I found myself checking a couple of times to see that it was Francis all the way through because some of the pages (especially the fight scenes on Rimbor) looked really rushed compared to the last few issues. Then looking at the pencils on Francis' site they have the same kind of clarity and crispness that previous issue have had so it's clearly not an issue with the pencils. It's a shame because I think there's some great visual storytelling there that's washed out a bit by scratchy inks and murky colours. Hopefully that's just a blip with this issue though.

The story arc is good, but only this.
Good fight scenes, good interaction between legionaires and more subplots...
But I have 5 issues without Sun Boy, Element Lad and Dream Girl (Or Dream Boy).
And don't forget Cosmic Boy, Wildfire and Tenzil...lost in the limbo...
The new costumes......not the better in the Legion history.
And finally, Manapul's art is ugly.
In some panels almost primary....
Please, change the manga style! It's like a bad copy of Chris Bachalo.

I think Legion #42 was top notch. The story was excellent - paced well with a lot of little gems within as well as movement of the main plot. I think the art is great and the coloring of the fight on Rimbor really set the mood of a large scale battle. This is the best the Legion has been in the last three years, and it continues to get better.

Even though I'm not a huge Ultra Boy fan, Mr. Shooter has done great things for him this issue, and with him featured on next issue's cover with that awesome image, I am very much looking forward to his story next issue.

Ultra Boy looked very Kirby-esque.
Saturn Girl just rocked so hard!
Chameleon is acting more like his animated version, that's a good thing.
I love Atom Girl's hair, but I detest the skirt!
Honestly, have you ever gone into battle in a mini? I have, and believe you me, it's no picnic!
If Lightning Lad gets any cuter, I'm gonna start carving "Garth" into my forearm whenever I'm bored.
and finally...
A great, big THANK YOU to Francis for having Cham turn into me!
I mean, I posed nude for him like, MONTHS ago!