Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion Archives: Volume 33

Welcome to Archive Volume 33, End of an Era/Zero Hour. This volume includes a summary of Valor #11-16 (stile86), Valor #17 & #18, Valor #19 & 20, Valor #21, Legionnaires #16, LSH #59, a summary of L.E.G.I.O.N. #68-#70 (stile86), Legionnaires #17, Valor #22, LSH #60, Legionnaires #18, Valor #23, a summary of the core Zero Hour mini-series (Ann), LSH #61


Links to previous Archive Re-Reads are below:

Valor 11-16 are where the 20th Century adventures of Lar Gand are changed from average young super-hero space stories to a plot that puts him on a collision course with destiny and Legionnaires from the future. Written by Mark Waid with much of the character nuances he can sometimes deliver, the first three issues were drawn by Jeffrey Moore who is okay, and from issue 14 by Colleen Doran whose "wide-eyed innocent" characters at first put me off but later I came to really enjoy. When I first "summarised" these issues I had far too many words because these stories are full of character development of their titular character, so now I have a much briefer introduction to each followed by a more detailed summary in spoiler tags, so you can read them or not as you wish, along with a final summary at the bottom.

Valor #11 "Fight the Power"
In which Legionnaire Triad explains to Catspaw the huge part Valor played in history and what a hero he is, while Valor struggles with his powers ranging up and down, fights some Green Lanterns, gets a new-ish space sports car courtesy of Kliowog, and flies off to Cairn for help, while a familiar-looking purple robed figure laughs while watching him.


Valor #12 D.O.A. #1 "Prognosis: Negative!
In which Valor asks Vril Dox for help, rescues a young, platinum-blonde haired woman called Lori from prehistoric beasts, and is informed by Dox that he has become immune to the anti-lead serum and has one month to live.


Valor #13 D.O.A. #2 "Future Shock"
In which Valor and Lori, growing closer, visit Daxam, solve a "plague" caused by dispersal of lead particles from a visiting alien's ship, see Valor's mother die, and Valor accepts that he is going to die - while in the 30th Century the Legionnaires are trying to make sense of a computer that was just displaying an image of Valor but now can find no records of any so-named Legionnaire.


Valor #14 D.O.A. #3 "Yesterday's Hero"
In which the 30th Century New Earth Legionnaires discover that the computer only remembers a 20th Century Valor who had a brief career before dying of lead-poisoning and decide to solve the dilemma using a time bubble - while Valor and Lori, growing more attached, visit Earth, help the Justice League fight some time-displaced soldiers, hear a regretful but inspiring speech from Superman, and head off to the planet Lori knows that is in the worst straits and in the most need of help, as that is how Valor wants to spend his remaining days.


Valor #15 D.O.A. #4 "Absolute Power"
In which the Legionnaires crash in the time stream, while on planet Baaldur, Valor and Lori end the thousand year war, destroy all weapons, feed the starving, giving rousing speeches of peace, and rid the planet of nuclear weapons, leading to the people of Baaldur proclaiming them King and Queen.


Valor #16 D.O.A. #5 "World Enough ... and Time" (A lot in this one)
In which Valor has hours to live, chases after Lori to rescue her from a purple robed figure who is using time fissures to kill minions, only to find that the purple robed figure is Lori herself, fights Legionnaires whom he has never met who tumble from the timestream, and discovers that the woman he loves is Glorith and has been manipulating him to become her partner in ruling the universe.


In final summary, Valor is dying of lead-poisoning, meets and falls in love with a girl called Lori, decides to use his powers to help a planet (Baaldur) in dire straits that Lori takes him to, saves the planet and is declared King only to find that Lori's real name is Glorith and not only is she the cause of his failing anti-lead potion but she has been seducing and manipulating him to make him her partner in conquering the universe. Some of the Legionnaires from New Earth have arrived trying to find out why their records now say that Valor died in the 20th Century and never seeded the worlds or joined them, only to be in time to see the final confrontation/seduction between Valor and Lori/Glorith. Cue the dramatic conclusion.

Valor #11-16

This is actually my first time reading these issues, because I've never really been a fan of the lead character, whether he's called Valor, Lar Gand, Mon-El, Bob Cobb, or Bumptious Q. Bangwhistle. I mean, I don't outright hate him, and he's definitely had his moments over the decades. It's also undeniable that I feel some green-eyed jealousy over his relationship dynamics with my favorite female Legionnaire, Shadow Lass.

But this D.O.A. storyline is just plain good comics. Waid is at his best here, with strong story beats, solid plot structure, and plenty of nice characterization. And the real revelation here is Colleen Doran. I've always liked her as a person, but I've never been able to get into her ongoing cosmic epic A Distant Soil, and while her style has always been attractive and distinctive, I've rarely found it exciting.

These issues, though, are not only beautifully drawn, but also thrilling as all hell -- Doran usually looks best doing her own inking, but the artist who does most of the inking on D.O.A. is one Mischa McDowell, who not only retains the essence of Doran's pencils, but actually enhances them with a super-clean approach. McDowell's bold, thick, smooth lines combine with unusually expansive layouts for Doran, to produce exhilarating results! In some spots, I'm even reminded of Dave Cockrum's classic early 70s work on the Legion!

So, however else I end up feeling about End of an Era, this storyline alone makes the whole read worth it.

Excellent job summarizing these issues, stile! (I would have just written "Valor dying, meets a woman who turns out to be Glorith, Legionnaires arrive....) A lot goes on in this series and all serves to emphasize what a hero he truly is, self-sacrificing, fearless, noble. He did a lot more as a youth than seed the U.P. worlds.

I probably didn't glom on to Lori being Glorith at first; there's not a shortage of platinum-haired beauties in superhero comics. These issues present the first indications of time/history going awry, a couple months before the Legion fought Glorith. It's the young Legionnaires, however, who discover that history is screwed up; presumably the older ones are busy with Mordru, zombies and, by Valor #15, fighting Glorith in their own time and suffering the consequences.

It does seem a bit odd that Daxam wouldn't have figured out the problem was lead poisoning (also, I don't recall how they managed to survive in the Invasion series without encountering lead at some point).

The Doran/McDowell art is beautiful. Doran strikes me as best suited to fantasy/fairy tale stories. Her work on the Sean/Shvaughn story and the SW6 visit to Colu story didn't really captivate me, but it seems really well suited to this tale of a doomed, conquering hero.

Thanks! I almost put a bit at the end saying "See stile, you can summarise. It just takes you three goes."
I have mixed feelings about including these issues in the Legion re-read. Valor is one of the Legion minis/offshoot series that sprouted at that time so that says yes. The Legionnaires are there and involved but it is really Valor's story and he is very much the focus so that says no. Then again it involves the major villain from the 5YL era so that says yes. In the end I am glad we have included it in some way because it is an excellently told tale.

I was trying to remember back to when I first read it and I am pretty sure that I had not twigged to Lori being Glorith either. It became a bit more obvious in #15 that her motivations weren't quite the same as Valor's but I was still surprised by the reveal. I feel a bit that the D.O.A. storyline is a more a sideshow to the looming Zero Hour than being a major player, but still a really good side show. Then again Lori/Glorith's actions here and the Mordru/Glorith coming actions in the future do rock the time line so still important.

There have been various discussions over the years about how Daxamites can exist with Lead being the end point of much radioactive decay. Valor #13 tried to comment on this a bit with Valor saying that they didn't know about lead, didn't even have a word for it as it didn't exist on their planet at all. They didn't know lead poisoning was a thing. Back in Invasion initially there were only six Daxamites with the invasion fleet who were there as observers. They discovered their powers and when the Earth heroes attacked they fought Superman until they started to collapse. Superman saved them by taking them outside Earth's atmosphere but neither he nor they realised what substance in Earth's atmosphere was weakening them. Seeing Superman's attitude they switched sides and one of their number sacrificed himself by flying down to the Alien Alliance HQ to use the transmitter there to tell the story to Daxam and request assistance in the form a Daxamite fleet that helped stop the Invasion. That Daxamite was Lar Gand's father and it was his actions that inspired Lar to leave Daxam, explore the stars and become a hero.

Doran's art works very well with this story. I am not quite as happy with it on other characters, such as the JL in #14, but it suits the Legionnaires and particularly Valor down to the ground. Even Lori/Glorith looks magnificent, as well as youthful which she is apparently meant to be here. there are some gorgeous scenes in these issues.

Here are a few images that help to show the tale:

First view of the purple robed figure Valor #11 (by Jeffrey Moore)


Beautiful Adam Hughes covers


Last pages of Valor #15 on Baaldur

Valor #16 reveal of Lori


Last pages of Valor #16 reveal of Glorith

Valor #17 "A Love That Will Last" (cover) "D.O.A. The Tyranny of Time" (story); Valor #18 "D.O.A. The Aftermath" (cover) "D.O.A. The Vanishing" (story) by Mark Waid, art by Colleen Duran & Mischa McDowell, colors Dave Grafe, letters Bob Pinaha, assists Mike McAvennie, Editor K.C. Carlson

#17: Valor and Legionnaires face off against Glorith. Jo and Imra have been severely aged, as Glorith demands Lar join her. Imra coordinates an attack via telepathy as Glorith explains to Valor how she manipulated him but then fell in love with him. She wants him to conquer the cosmos at her side, or she'll let him die.

The Legionnaires attack; one Lu is aged while the other becomes a toddler. The others fail to stop Glorithr but Valor joins her and they fly away. The age-changed Legionnaires revert to normal. Brainy insists that time is immutable, but Rokk is beginning to forget what Valor did, indicating that history is dissolving. They fly off to help Valor.

Lar, visibly ill and weak, tells Glorith he won't help her.

As the Legionnaires pursue Valor, Rokk fades from existence. Brainy claims it's temporary and Valor can't die. Jo also insists he can't die.

Lar tries to reason with Glorith as he dies, but she admits she loves power more than him. As he dies, she kisses him and the Legionnaires arrive. Brainy can't believe what's happening and tells Glorith all reality will be gone. Jo fades from existence. Glorith admits she can't repair the timestream. A figure emerges from a vortex: it's Valor, the older version and perfectly healthy. Everyone is shocked, including Glorith.

#18: Valor greets the Legionnaires and explains that his time bubble burst and he wound up here. He recognizes his dead self and attacks Glorith. Glorith and Brainy tell him about the time rifts; Glorith is the only one who could possibly fix them. Dragonmage disappears.

Valor is told that he must relive his life, including the 1000 years in the Zone, to save the future. Overcome with panic, he flies off. Brainy insists that they must find him and asks Glorith for a spaceship. She links them to one and they track Valor through his energies.

The Linear Men monitor the situation and discuss whether to intervene.

Still trying to escape the Legionnaires in pursuit, Valor sees a shuttle attacked by a massive cruiser and intervenes to save the people. The cruiser attacks him with cybercloaks to shield him from solar energy.

The Legionnaires determine that they'll reach Valor in three hours but are alarmed to find he's in a Khund warzone.

The final page reveals a weakened Valor in the clutches of a Khund commander.

Comments:Glorith oscillates between being the manipulative, dangerous witch we've known in the Legion book and a young woman in love. Sort of... she really seems sincere, though. It's even sad when she chooses power over love. By the end, she's surprised - shocked, almost panicking - that her manipulations have spun out of her control.

The final page of #17 is a shocker to everyone, a superb cliffhanger. It looks like we've finally found Valor, who left his fellow Legionnaires in the time bubble to find out if they were clones or originals, but how did he get here? Or could it be the older Valor? The following issue confirms that it's SW6 Valor.

I liked Brainy's insistence that Valor couldn't die and everything would go back to normal: an arrogance that comes from blind faith in the science he knows. Jo echoes his belief that Valor can't die, but that must be based on emotion and wishful thinking.

Issue #18 has a lot of splash pages, which make it more of a filler issue. The Linear Men are thrown into the mix, whether as a nod to DC continuity or a hint that they may play some role in this saga.

Although Glorith said she can't fix what's happened, she does repair rifts, even as she talks to Valor. There's a nice scene of her closing a rift on an emerging beastly arm and cutting it off.

Valor is still the hero, stopping to save some innocents, but he's wrestling with a terrible choice of self-sacrifice for the good of others. This flight from responsibility underscores his horror at the prospect of spending 1000 years - for a second time - in the Spirit Zone.

The ending of #18 isn't quite so dramatic as earlier issues, but the Khunds do introduce a new complication.

I'll hopefully have some catch up time this weekend. I picked up a fair number of the Valor issues in a bargain box a year or two back, so I'm not going to let them go to waste!

Valor is dead. Long live Valor.

Good summaries Cramer. #17 is a terrific issue with the will he/won't he plainly put and some beautiful art especially in the close interaction of the pair. Of course as regular super-hero readers we are all expecting some rabbit to be pulled out of a hat at the last second. They can't really kill Valor off - but they do - and THEN they pull the rabbit of their hat with a spare! Great plotting by Waid and great artwork by Doran.

I don't think #18 is quite up to that standard but it has a pretty hard act to follow. The first part of SW6-Valor confronting the dead body of his younger self is very well done, along with the realisation that he didn't "escape" from the timestream but it spewed him out to take his younger self's place - if he is willing to go through another 1000 years of hell. His reaction is perfectly believable and doesn't need any "distant-descendant's ego" to make it so.

I think Jo's agreement with Brainy is simple bravado, the tough guy saying "Hell yeah we are going to beat this!" "Not on my watch" sort of stuff.

I expect the Linear Men were inserted because of their upcoming role in Zero Hour and to prevent Glorith solving the mess she made by herself.

Three more issues to go before we revert to the 30th Century. Hope we get the time stream sorted by then.

Depending on the issues you picked up, in terms of going to waste, what comes to mind is that old Mad Magazine motto: "Suitable for wrapping fish or lining birdcages".

Stile, thanks for including those images. They really are striking - you can feel Glorith's triumph in her power, and Valor's horror at what she's revealed.

You're welcome. They really are striking, aren't they? That's why I wanted others who don't have the issues to see them. Some terrific ones in #17 as well, particularly page 11 where Valor pretends to take Glorith's side and pages 17-19 where he offers Glorith the chance to turn away from power and they both say regretful final goodbyes. Making Glorith almost (almost!) a sympathetic figure, or perhaps one to be pitied for her choices, is quite an accomplishment.

Valor #19 "Better Off Dead" (cover) "Deadline" (story) by Mark Waid, art by Colleen Duran & Mischa McDowell, colors Dave Grafe, letters Bob Pinaha, assists Mike McAvennie, Editor K.C. Carlson
Valor #20 "Sudden Death Overtime: Ahead of his Time" (story) by Kurt Busiek, art by Colleen Duran & Dave Cooper, colors Dave Grafe, letters Bob Pinaha, assists Mike McAvennie, Editor K.C. Carlson

#19: Valor is prisoner of the Khunds. The Legionnaires are en route, but Brainy and Jan disappear. Valor fights the Khund commander, who is wearing a battle suit. The rest of the crew has deserted ship.

The Linear Men dispatch Waverider to convince Valor to accept his fate and save time. Imra mentally contacts Valor to plead with him but disappears, leaving only Luornu, who expresses her support, whatever he does. Valor resists Waverider's pleas. Luornu's selves disappear. Valor flies off into a vortex/portal.

Legionnaires in the future wonder why they were researching Valor's history. The future appears to have been preserved. Glorith weeps as shards of images of Valor's life lie around her.

Valor tells Waverider he remembers everything he did and has yet to do. Waverider replies that, as a paradox, he must relive his life. Valor claims this includes freeing the Dominion's humanoid slaves and colonizing worlds. Waverider reports that he has only 48 hours to accomplish all that.

#20: Valor fights the Dominion on Elia and prepares to free the humanoid experimental subjects.

The Linear Men observe a time spasm in the future decide that Valor's presence is messing things up. They decide to find Glorith. Waverider argues that they promised Valor time to finish his mission.

Valor defeats the Dominator guards and begins releasing the prisoners. He then encounters freed Braalians whose world was destroyed by the Dominion. A warlike group, they fight Valor and plan to invade and destroy Elia. He fights their leader with difficulty, is knocked out. When he revives, the Linear Men appear and say he is out of time.

Comments:
A lot of fighting in these issues, which always feels like filler to me. Nevertheless, the story advances with some challenging developments to consider. It's difficult to put oneself in Valor's position. The idea of having to relive a few years of one's life is inviting. Could you see mistakes coming and avoid them? Do things better? However, it's impossible to imagine 1000 years of solitude as a phantom waiting at the end of it.

What exactly changes Valor's mind isn't spelled out, but he appears to make up his mind as he watches Luornu disappear. Is it this practical example of the future dissolving that affects him? Have Waverider's arguments finally swayed him? Or is it the memory of everything he accomplished in this time that has yet to be finished?

Busiek writes #20, retelling Valor's fight against the Dominion as presented in the LSH Annual. A few twists make it fresh, however, and indicate that the original timestream has been affected. Most notable is the addition of the Braalians, a sexy bunch of barbarians a la Conan and Red Sonja. Although much of the book's action is taken up with them fighting Valor, they provide an almost humourous contrast with their descendant, the uptight, straight arrow Rokk Krinn.

This bit of art could be clearer but to me it seemed that Triad's heartfelt support was the final straw/nail/thingee that convinced Valor he had the gumption to "do the right thing", to be the hero he had been and still was. Then he flies off appearing to run away but is really just getting a running start to fly back and smash the critical Khundian prototype ship apart as he did in the past/future when he was younger, thus allowing Waverider to patch him in as a replacement for his now dead younger self. This is why the future Legionnaires are saved and their time line restored.

Waid is once again portraying Glorith as a sympathetic figure. He does it pretty well with the restored Triad's words about how empty life would be without Valor working in concert with Coleen's art. Still he hasn't shied from how deadly she is as well so I guess he is trying to show us that tragedy strikes evildoers as well.


This tells the tale a bit better if you rearrange the sentences. One of the Linear Men is convinced that Valor won't make it and they should "pull him out now" and it seem he is on the verge of convincing the other originals but Waverider convinces them to give Valor a bit more time. His Glorith comment is about having her ready to fulfill her part of destiny, once Valor has completed his part of seeding the planets, by putting replacement-Valor back into the Twilight Dimension for another thousand years.

Good thoughts here. Valor's position is certainly an interesting one, and Waid's writing does a good job of showing the quandary he is put in.

I hadn't remembered the change in writer. Does it make a difference? I expect the overall plot of these issues was well laid out. Still, is #20 more action orientated and less philosophical about what it means to be a hero? Not sure and hard to tell because there is pre-set story to accomplish. I have wondered if the whole Braalian bit was added because they miscounted by an issue to tie in to End of an Era and needed the padding, but perhaps not. They needed to show that fulfilling his previous destiny was not going to be a walk in the park.

Good thought about the comparison between these warrior Braalians and the common portrayal of Rokk (and his brother Pol for that matter).

Just reread my post and realised it could come across a bit critical of your comments Cramey. That was very much NOT my intention. I very much appreciate you leading these threads and your summaries and comments. If I sounded otherwise I apologise.

Didn't seem critical to me, you clarified some scenes. I think I was over-complicating the scene where Valor flies off, figuring he had to go back in time to rebalance things - whatever time travel stuff. The art sure did give the impression of great speed.

Re: Glorith being a sympathetic character, we seldom see arch-villains with a sympathetic side. There was that one issue where the Fatal Five tried to settle on Corvan IV and help the natives. This scene with Glorith most reminded me of a scene from one of the Fourth World books (can't remember at all which series) in which Orion's mother explains to him that Darkseid is capable of love.

I didn't detect a change in tone between Waid and Busiek. Waid's issue was more philosophical, but that was the nature of the story. In Busiek's issue, Valor has made up his mind to relive his life, so there's no agonizing over the issue. I'd like to know if the Braalians were padding or Busiek just having fun with a bit of Legion history.

Valor #21"Sudden Death Overtime:Two Minute Warning" (story) by Kurt Busiek, art by Colleen Duran & Dave Cooper, colors Dave Grafe, letters Bob Pinaha, assists Mike McAvennie, Editor K.C. Carlson

Krinn Magar and his cohorts invade the peaceful planet Shareth, intending to take it for their own. Valor arrives and challenges Krinn for the position of War-Leader. He's surprised to learn that he must fight three of them, not just Krinn.

On Elia, the Linear Men approach a frozen Valor and say they must remove him from the time stream. They realize that he's only an after-image. On Shareth, Valor suddenly splits into two, then into multiples. The Linear Men find him there and tell him to stop or the universe will be disrupted beyond repair.

The Braalians attack the Linear Men. Valor feels unwell. Waverider uses chronal energy of the time distortion to break Balor's time wave into particles, enabling Valor to exist as separate selves, whereas before he was one self separated by seconds of time. A couple of Valors defeat Krinn and he is acclaimed the new leader.

Valor insists on continuing his mission. He settles the Braalians on their own planet; Krinn accepts the challenge of dealing with the metal beasts as well as the name Braal, which Valor realizes will come to mean both "heaven" and "arena".

The multiple Valors settle other planets with the freed humans, destroy the Dominator genetic research, exiles their scientists and get the humane Dominators to help the new races.

The Linear Men find Glorith, who tells them to get lost, but realizes she can't fight them after assessing their power.

Valor arrives and tells Glorith to project him into the twilight disaster, which she does.

The Linear Men set about repairing damage to the continuum, but things start to come apart. Rip Hunter declares that they're too late.


Comments:
It's difficult to get my head around this time stuff with multiple Valors. I assume it's comic book science, but it could have some basis in quantum physics - no idea. It's an inventive way to have multiple selves existing in the same time, more or less; they're just seconds apart so no paradox, I guess. It does remind me of how one explains multiple Santa Clauses to children, some combination of Santa magic and that's just the way it is. It also reminds me of Luornu becoming Duplicate Damsel in Legion of Three Worlds, although that was never explained as a time thing.

The cover shows different versions of Valor in different costumes. However, in the story, his multiples are identical.
Valor goes willingly and with grim determination, at this point, to his exile in the twilight dimension. It is a story comparable to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, not wanting his fate, but accepting it in the end for the good of mankind. Are there other religious figures who underwent the same sort of experience? It's easy to see how Valor would attain a religious or semi-religious status in the future. A student of comparative religion or myth could probably find other similarities.

The Braalian leader Krinn is a pretty affable guy in the end, no grudges against Valor.

The Linear Men's powers are impressive, unclear but impressive. Glorith doesn't fight them, but I don't get why they wouldn't prevent Glorith/Time Trapper from messing with the timestream to begin with. They pop up in stories from time to time, most recently in Generations Forged, and they strike me more as a device for DC writers to play with continuity than a group developed with their own story.

This was OK, not great but OK. I really liked the Immonen/Kesel cover even though the different versions of Valor wasn't reflected inside - communication difficulties between writer and artist?

This manages to tie up the remnants of the Valor/Glorith DOA storyline as well as being a capstone to Valor in the 20th Century. I can't really say the "20th Century Valor" since he died, replaced by the young 30th Century version. As Valor himself says in introductory exposition: "I'm Valor. I came from the future to relive my own past to make sure that future wouldn't cease to exist. Don't ask ... it's too confusing." That ends up being what happens in this book. (The last two issues are about the older 5YL Valor in the 30th Century tying in to the End Of An Era.)

The multiple Valors serves as a way to allow him to complete the settling of the galaxy in a few hours, along with enabling him to beat down Krinn and his group. Krinn liking the challenge of their new planet Braal makes sense given the characteristics given in the last two issues. As for being scientifically accurate, not much you can so when you are talking abut time itself collapsing - or rather you as the writer can do whatever you like. Other titles in Zero Hour crossovers will show multiple versions of the characters although those are usually alternates from alternate timelines, but this works here. A bit deus ex machina perhaps but allowable I think.

I hadn't thought of the religious parallels even with the way Valor is viewed in the future in the 5YL era but it does fit. The last panel even has him in a semi-crucifixion pose. What always struck me was the intended irony of Valor's final statement of being at peace because in spite of the coming thousand years at least this time he knows he will have friends waiting for him at the end of it - ironic because we the reader know that time is still collapsing and there may be no light at the end of this tunnel.

The Linear Men first appeared in the Superman books. One of their number, attempting to apprehend Booster Gold, was the cause of the "Time and Time Again" storyline with Superman bouncing around time and interacting with three different version of the Legion, the last being the 5YL team. After this they reappeared as occasional supporting characters in the Superman books before becoming involved in the end of Armageddon where Waverider joined them. Those stories did seem to alter their tone a bit so they acted more as last case firefighters than pre-emptive "correcters". For all their apparent omniscience they do only seem to become involved when time is already in dire straits and will play a role in the upcoming Zero Hour. As you say, DC seems to use them more as a plot device than anything else.

Edit: It seems they appear a bit more than I realised. The DC Fandom wiki lists some other appearances and the Unofficial Linear Men website lists some more. The Chronos series from the late 90s has them play important roles and the Time Masters: Vanishing Point mini-series from 2010 has them star as major characters and fills them out quite a bit. Since one of their number, Hunter, is actually a version of Rip Hunter you could say they are even more involved in the DCU.

OK sums it up. This series seems to be marking time, to some degree, while LSH and Legionnaires catch up. It feels a bit stretched, like Valor himself.

Never read the Time Masters mini-series but I do have Chronos in a box somewhere. The group seems a bit fluid, changing for the circumstances and the whims of the creative team. I like the concept of time cops.

Legionnaires #16"Guess Who's Back! (cover) "Saved by Zero" (story) by Mark Waid, art by Chris Gardner & Dennis Cramer, colours Tom McCraw, Letters Pat Brosseau, assists Mike McAvennie, editor KC Carlson

The Tokyo dome loses its gravity when generators are damaged by quakes. Legionnaires arrive and try to deal with a fusion power sphere that's rising up towards the dome. Cham, Andromeda and Leviathan struggle to contain it, but the sphere is returned to the surface by Star Boy. Among the group, only Live Wire is confused by Star Boy's appearance.

A Khund ship approaches New Earth with intentions of conquest but is stopped by Polestar (the elder Rokk Krinn), who claims he will decide Earth's fate. The Khunds don't recognize him.

In the Legionnaires' HQ, young Cosmic Boy does some strength training with flirting Catspaw. Saturn Girl, Brainy and Triad have discovered that Valor has been erased from history. Cosmic Boy joins them in a time bubble to investigate.Suddenly, they're back and wondering why they're examining historical files of Valor.. Dream Girl enters the room; people greet her but Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy are surprised, since she isn't a Legionnaire. Live Wire rushes in and tells them Star Boy appeared in Tokyo and acted like a Legion member; they suspect there's a time anomaly. Cosmic Boy has a plan and the three rush off, unaware they were observed by Invisible Kid.

In Tokyo, Bouncing Boy joins in to help, as Rond Vidar watches on a screen. Invisible Kid tells Rond that the founders suspect something but he kept his promise to Rond to say nothing until Rond verifies the situation with his time beacon. Rond and Invisible Kid fail to stop the founders from leaving to investigate the mystery in a time bubble. There's a bright flash and noise; Rond believes the three will never be able to return.

The team gets an alert from the SPs that a masked figure is hurling asteroids at New Earth. Unaware that this is adult Krinn, they run off to deal with the problem. Andromeda pauses and tells Apparition she feels a strange nostalgia. Apparition feels odd too and said she was going to ask Ferro about it. Andromeda is surprised since they're standing next to a statue of Ferro, who died saving Valor from the Sun Eater.

Comments:
Rokk Krinn, mentally unstable, was last seen in LSH #56, headed to New Earth to protect it from a Khund attack. His teammates knew he was headed there, but must have had too much on their mind with bombs on Weber's World to alert the SW6 Legionnaires or Earthgov. Rokk's just about the last guy you'd expect to start hurling asteroids around, oblivious to the damage caused, so it's evident he's seriously out of control.

The Legionnaires deal with the damage as usual; the main interest is the rapidly changing timeline caused by the events in Valor #21. It's not clear why the founders are aware that something's amiss; Invisible Kid was alerted by Rond Vidar. Brainy was occupied with the Valor investigation, but it's odd that only Invisible Kid would be privy to Rond's theory. Maybe Rond is reluctant to speak with either version of Brainy?

That Adam Hughes/Karl Story cover is fantastic. The interior art disappoints all the more by contrast, with the image of Dream Girl as extreme Barbie Doll the worst panel. It pretty much overshadowed the rest of the book for me.

A fun issue story wise with the different time legionnaires popping in. This is where the "time is fracturing" story line really takes hold, whereas previously it had just been a few curious things happening. Here it is the main story. The Valor D.O.A. story we just read is just one indication of the problem. I think we can see the difference Mark Waid's plotting makes. He will be part of all the books coming up, writing Legionnaires, co-plotting with Tom McCraw LSH, and although Kurt Busiek is the writer on the last two Valor issues Waid and McCraw are also credited as "Spotters" and "Partners in Time Travel". Makes sense I suppose since this is the setup for the new Legion stories that Waid and McCraw will soon be writing.

The art is just - mostly yuck. There are a few scenes I am happy with like the Ferro/Bouncing Boy scene and the ending scene with apparition and Andromeda and the statues but mostly I just don't like Gardner's style. I agree that his Dream Girl is repulsive. The cover in comparison is gorgeous and shows how she could look. I guess Gardner is trying for his own style but it is not one I like. The "Guess Who's Back?" cover is a fun pun with the three of them showing their backs, literally in Dream Girl's case.

Interesting that here Rond is certain that the three founders won't be coming back but we won't see that in an upcoming LSH when Jo wants to borrow one.
I was trying to track Rond's movements through the comics. In LSH #53, at the same time as the battle with Glorith, we see him finish building the Time Beacon on Talus, being shocked by what he sees and jumping into a Time Bubble. In LSH #56 we see the SP studying his Time Beacon during their occupation of Talus but we don't see Rond. He next turns up in LSH #57 in the Time Bubble in the timestream with Circadia Senius seeing a big black end-of-time thingy. Then it seems he turns up here so I guess he went to New Earth, perhaps to use equipment there and discuss it with Lyle. Agreed that Querl is the more logical choice but Lyle is generally the second most science-genius-like legionnaire. Peeking ahead it seems the two of them do discuss it with Querl who is shown to be doing his own pondering in this issue.

Rond does get around in these issues. I guess the time bubble functions as a speedy transport in space as well. Maybe he went to Talus, saw it was empty or occupied by SPs and figured New Earth was his next best option.

LSH #59 "Earthhfall" (cover) "A Time of Loss" (story) by Tom McCraw & Mark Waid, art by Stuart Immonen & Ron Boyd, letters Bob Pinaha, colours Tom McCraw, assists Mike McAvennie, Editor KC Carlson

Different Legionnaires discuss recent events as they wait for news of Andromeda/Laurel Gand, injured in a bomb explosion on Weber's World.

Valor arrives just in time to hurl a powersphere into space before it blows.

Mysa seeks comfort with Brin and complains about Brainy's coldness and how they spent too much time fighting on the Khund ship, when Brainy could have been dealing with defusing the bombs. Brainy is preoccupied with Glorith's manipulation of time.

Jacques and Drura speak with Celeste, recounting how Jacques surveilled Universo and Drura caught him trying to escape during the evacuation, disabling him with illness. Jacques also reports that the Lallorians had their mind control devices removed and were now helping to drive the Khunds out of U.P. space.

Dawnstar tries to catch up with Drake, but Drake avoids talking about their relationship.

Rond arrives with SW6 Lyle and Brainy as Celeste changes into a Darkstar. They report that time blips are occuring and seek elder Brainy's advice.

Jo is excited to learn that they brought a time bubble, since Valor just told him about meeting an amnesiac in the 20th century who looked like Tinya and had her power. He leaves to find who he hopes is Tinya.

Violet shows up, in good health, after suffering a big electrical shock while disarming one of the bombs.

The group learns that Rokk is attacking Earth, but before they can leave tohelp the SW6 team deal with him, news comes that Laurel has died. The Legionnaires leave for Shangalla. Elder Brainy expresses philosophical acceptance of her death but sheds a tear.

Comments: This is jam-packed with personal interaction, interspersed with recalled action scenes. It's difficult to summarize since there are so many conversations among the characters. It's a somewhat relaxed down-time story after disaster was averted, but tension pervades as a new threat - Laurel's condition - hangs over the group and a few are privy to the distortions of the timestream.

A few resentments surface - Ayla's when watching Mysa cuddle up to Brin and Mysa's regarding Brainiac 5's lack of displayed emotion and his tactical choices. However, there are also upbeat moments, when Ayla greets Vi, Sussa encourages Jo to go find Tinya, Universo is thwarted.

The focus of the loss is more on Brainiac 5 than on Rond. It's not that Rond is unaffected by Laurel's death, but Brainy has all that repressed, unspoken love to deal with. He's probably spent more time with Laurel in the past few months than Rond had. The two seemed to have achieved a comfortable, if non-romantic, relationship although the romance simmered below the surface. Now there's no chance to move forward, in whatever direction they might have taken.

It's unclear until near the end who has been hurt - Vi or Laurel. I would have doubted Laurel could be hurt by a bomb of any sort but her powers in the McCraw series have not been as all-encompassing as I thought (she was subdued by both sonic weapons and an SP device). Laurel's death was a shock to me. It would have been a big blow to the Legion, who were at this point unaware that far worse was to come. I don't recall if readers themselves were aware that the whole series was ending with Zero Hour, or if we still expected the Legion to somehow save the universe once again.

I remember thinking this was a really good issue when I first read it. My opinion has softened a bit with the years but I still think it's pretty good.

Looking at it now with post-Zero Hour eyes I can see how they are working to tie up various threads but I think they do it fairly well. For an issue that is mostly discussion and flashback there is plenty of tension.

I freely admit that I was fooled up to the last few pages that the main casualty was Vi so they did the bait-and-switch pretty well. I had a look back to #58 for clues and there is one. When Vi is disarming the primary bomb she says "Where the Hell's that Bomb Squad? I'm down to the last few connections, and I'm not sure which wire's next. And who knows why there's a relay connection on this red solar bomb." As she cuts the wire we see an explosion from space outside Weber's World so the natural conclusion is that it is Vi's bomb. Only in retrospect do we know it was a bomb Laurel was collecting, possibly more than one, possibly triggered via relay from Vi's bomb. It never gets explored but it is possible that the implication was not only that the red solar radiation weakened Laurel but that it was Vi's actions that made Laurel's bomb or bombs go off.

This issue was full of drama and emotion, mostly over being fiends and family in the waiting room which is never an easy place to be, but also over Brin and Mysa, Vi and Ayla, Jo and Sussa and Lar, Drake and Dawnstar (it was a nice touch having Dawnstar need Celeste to fly her to where her tracking powers were pointing, showing both her "crippling injury" and her still useful ability), and especially Rond and Brainy. I thought how they wrote the last panels between old Brainy and young Brainy with that single tear was terrific.

One thing I have enjoyed about Tom McCraw's term here on the title is the effort he has put into the characterisations. I may not have liked all his choices but I felt they made sense in the context and rang true. Changed as they may be these were still the same characters we had grown to know and love, and their joys and tragedies are not glossed over.

Good job on the red solar bomb comment! That explains it and fits perfectly with the Khunds' hatred of Laurel Gand, that they'd be prepared with something like that for her. I went back over #54 and 55 in which she was disabled by the SPs and Rimbor's gangs. There's a similar feasible explanation in #54, with the colour blast of the SP Aurora Plan which could have included red solar radiation. As for the sonics used at Jo's direction in #55, it's less clear how that affected her. I suppose she could have been momentarily disoriented or their was something that affected even her hearing.

Agree that McCraw has done a great job on characterisation. He really put a lot of effort into this arc.