Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archive 34

Speaking of Dirk, I remember at the time thinking that they'd taken the really bold step of rebooting him as female, which was ironic considering his traditional "womanizer" portrayal.

Would have been bold... of course, ended up not being Dirk! I wonder if the creative team had planned for girl-Inferno to be a rebooted Dirk...

Dirk Morgna and Sandy Anderson did meet in LSH 84 they teamed up to attack Regulus together and got knocked out for their efforts.

Sandy complimented Dirk on being? hot headed

Legionnaires 22
Hard Time
Issue information

Summary:

The finale of Planet Hell! Will the combined intelligence of Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid and Evolvo be able to repair the shields and the magnetic tunnel? How will the Legionnaires, Workforce and prisoners deal with the stress of being slow-cooked inside a sun?

Thoughts:

The seeds of the Brainy-Lyle rivalry are planted here. Brainy doubts the level of Lyle's intelligence but acknowledges (perhaps a bit begrudgingly) his creativity. Lyle definitely knows that it's a bit of an issue for Brainy.

Lyle's not clean either - he refuses to admit his fear of heights (though he does successfully conquer it) and is a little cocky too (though he backs it up with results).

Brainy's very intelligently pragmatic and quickly takes charge, even giving Cosmic Boy a short speech about swift initiative (despite Cos just wanting to wish him good luck!). He knows he's smarter than Evolvo, Lyle and Imra but is willing to involve them, so we know his ego's not that big.

Some interesting insights derived from the incarcerated Legion/Workforce:

1) Live Wire and Spark still don't quite make peace despite their lives being in danger. There's quite a conflict here: Garth's mad at Ayla for taking his Legion slot, yet he also warns her about the lightning being dangerous because it builds up anger and violence. So if that's the case, why is Legion membership so important? Does he think it can help him control the lightning (but shouldn't he be happy that it will help Ayla?) Is it because he wants to be near Imra, or use the Legion's resources to find Mekt? There's a lot of conflict in that scene, and it shows that Garth's not totally clear on his priorities either.

2) XS and Karate Kid. Val's very quietly confident without being arrogant. He knows he can break through a forcefield (much to my and XS' surprise). XS shows she's probably the friendliest Legionnaire as she really tries to get to know Val. I don't think she's flirting with him, she's genuinely just friendly.

3) Chameleon and Leviathan. Cham's a nice guy, he just has the misfortune of being paired with grumpy and hot-headed Leviathan. He yells at Cham to leave him alone since they can't communicate (did he forget the telepathic earplugs? wait, have they even been introduced by now? perhaps not yet...) Cham gains a lot of points for bearing with it and offering Gim a snack!

4) Cosmic Boy/Apparition and Spider-Girl/Ultra Boy. Selfless Cos tells Tinya to phase, since it doesn't make sense that she don't. Tinya was just being nice. Makes me wonder, if the whole prison burns up in the star she'd likely survive in phased form - though she wouldn't be able to get out without outside help. I don't think her jetpack (if she could retrieve it) would be enough to get her back to Earth. Oh well.

Poor Tinya walks in on Jo and Sussa heavily making out. I think Tinya's shocked more by it being Jo (with whom she had a moment last issue) than by them kissing - she walked in on a naked guy using adult entertainment back at McCauley's Moon base remember?
Poor Tinya, and boy what a lug you are Jo. Playing around with two women at the same time. Okay, not quite playing around, but he obviously can't get Tinya off his mind. Not good.

I guess Sussa and Jo don't quite mind being seen? I mean, those prison screens are transparent...

5) Triad and Inferno. I'm not a fan of Inferno's rampant bullying, but she DID have a point as Triad's three bodies were taking up too much space. I still don't get the whole "I don't have to kill you" thing. I know she's pretty casual when it comes to killing, but really? Would she really have killed Triad for not re-integrating? Maybe she's just bluffing and maintaining her persona.

Imra has a great idea in using Bur Rac to calm the prisoners, but sadly she wasn't able to screen his thoughts. Oops. His racist thoughts point to a larger conspiracy afoot and may be related to the movement to destroy the UP.

Lyle pulls off a last-minute save by not only reactivating the forcefield, but causing it to repel the sun's energy and propel Planet Hell out of it! He can also generate the field anywhere he wants, and with a snap he contains all the prisoners.

Last page shows Jo talking with Tinya, and then attempting to pacify an angry Sussa. Grife, make up your mind will you? Garth is talking to Lu, but Ayla's nowhere to be seen - guess they still haven't made up. And Jenni's still hanging out with Val - boy, she sure is friendly! Or was something more being planned?

Planet Hell Part 3 is a good comic and shows how character relationships are handled well and made interesting. They take up as much space as the main action without slowing down the momentum of the story. Heck, each of the dozen-plus characters gets at least one good bit in this story! A+ for me.

Legion of Super-Heroes 66
Membership Drive
Issue information

Summary:

Membership drive! This is one of my favorite issues as we're introduced to three new members: familiar face Shrinking Violet; somewhat familiar face Andromeda, who reminds us of 5YL creation Laurel Gand; and completely new face (though with familiar Life Lass powers) Kinetix. This is a much better "introduction" issue than LSH 62 was as we are given enough time to really get to know each of the three.

We also see two "rejects" who do not join for various reasons: Lume, an energy being with light and heat powers; and the teleporting bug Gates.

Thoughts:

The 3 New Legionnaires

Each of the 3 newbies adds a very different set of skills and personalities to the team.

Shrinking Violet is possibly the best hand-to-hand fighter the team has now, as others who've demonstrated some combat skills (Apparition, Saturn Girl, Invisible Kid, Triad) have not shown a level of skill anywhere near Violet's! Her ability to shrink down to the subatomic level is also a key asset, as anyone familiar with the JLA's Atom knows. Her shyness is greatly balanced out by the fact that she's extremely confident in battle; she's clearly had a lot of training, more than most of her teammates.

Kinetix's ability to animate inanimate objects makes a good long-range weapon, and would also be useful in non-combat situations like search and rescue. Her description here makes it clear that she has to control the object when she uses her power on it, so it's not as though she actually gives them a life of their own. She's the most personable of the three and looks like she would get along with everyone else; her fascination with increasing her already impressive powers (making her late for the tryout) is a mild warning button but besides that she looks like she has the makings of a great Legionnaire.

Andromeda is easily the most powerful Legionnaire right now, and she demonstrates impressive control over her powers (she should be strong enough to crush her trainers, but manages to punch one relatively unharmed into the nearby pool)! Sadly, her extreme xenophobia and the need of a transuit to protect her from lead are glaring weaknesses.

The story

Each of the introductions is designed to let us discover what makes each of the characters unique. Andromeda's is a combat situation that neatly shows off all her powers, and demonstrates how bad her xenophobia is. At the very least, she's not actively violent against the others; she doesn't so much as hate other races as just deems them grossly inferior. Of course, the UP (despite some of their questionable decisions lately) wouldn't be so dumb as to accept a Legionnaire who might murder her teammates in their sleep. she'll be difficult to work with, but she'll do her job.

We're also promised a new Xanthuan Legionnaire who's been in a space-cruiser accident. Longtime fans surely picked up on that Star Boy's coming!

I applaud Imra for continuing to be strong and questioning Chu on their membership decisions. Of course, she does also prejudge the new Xanthuan Legionnaire based on her opinion of Kid Quantum.

It was nice seeing Gim and Cham getting along a lot better. Cham's selfless gesture on Planet Hell paid off!


Gim and Cham travel to Silvan to pick up the energy-being Lume, who throws off heat and light. You already see him with some limited shape-changing ability (in one panel he suddenly shrinks, and his default form seems to be as a small burst of light). Sadly, he can't leave his homeworld - is it because he's physically prevented from doing so or he's just afraid of the dark? Too bad, as Lume's powers were promising and he would have added a lot of diversity.

Their second jaunt is to Vyrga, to meet future Legionnaire Gates. I'm pretty sure the letter-columns somewhere revealed that Gates was originally supposed to be a one-shot reject character; I'm glad they eventually did use him. He and Lume helped expand our knowledge of the UP to include some very "alien" worlds. Gates' teleportation powers are also very potent - he can teleport other objects even without being in contact with them. 'Porting Gim and Cham into the air over a sharp cliff was pretty dirty and dangerous though. "Teenage death squad" has got to be one of the funniest phrases I've read since the series started!

Triad's still harboring some resentment towards Inferno - not surprising

Last one is Aleph, for Kinetix. We meet her in a cave where she's searching for something to give her more power. Her brother Thanot probably echoes what was on a lot of reader's minds; her power's already pretty impressive, why play with things that may not actually strengthen her but instead do much more grievous harm?

Her preparations for her audition show a much more "typical teenager" side to her; using her power to have fun and try on different outfits. Hey, who among us would not love to use superpowers such as this in our everyday lives right? She has a nice sense of style too - and she thinks Cham is cute! Here's a hero who wants to have fun, and I found it immediately appealing and attractive Leviathan does as well, apparently. Wonder if this will go anywhere, and if Kinetix can help temper his rough spots. It was also good of the writers to have Chameleon participate in Zoe's power demonstration, as his shapeshifting helped show how versatile her own powers can be.

Now we head over to Imsk where Apparition and Spark are tasked with picking an Imskite. Tinya's clearly taking the lead here - the way she told off the insensitive cop made me cheer. Her experience helping out her mom paid off. The cop's attitude is very immature in fact; I'd think even a "normal" citizen would be in his/her place telling off that cop.

The contest between Violet, Ion and Micro takes a deadly turn as Ion is murdered by Micro. The mystery isn't too deep - an auraflux blade was planted on her and both Violet and Micro would have had motive. Violet's actions clearly show it wouldn't be her unless she's a very good actress, and it would have been surprising to say the least. But the way the mystery was solved is very satisfying, with good teamwork from Spark, Apparition and Violet and a very astounding fight scene where Violet absolutely creams Micro through intelligent use of her powers and amazing combat skills. Tinya's glowing endorsement shows that Violet really is likely the best fighter in the current lineup. Violet really wanted to earn her membership - and she did.

And so we end with 13 Legionnaires, 5 guys and 8 gals. The Legion's always had a pretty decent balance between the sexes, but I can't remember the last time the females outnumbered the males. What's even better is that each of the Legionnaires has a very different personality (and Triad has 3!).

All in all an exciting issue which had a lot of action, and promises a lot more action, drama and fun to come! Definitely an A+ for me.