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1 Legionnaires (Eryk Davis Ester),
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Not much between despair and ecstacy
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Not much between despair and ecstacy
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Legionnaire!
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I can't know DnA's reasons for focusing on certain characters and marginalizing others, but I may be able to offer some insights. A decade prior to this run, I was studying screenwritng in graduate school, and one of the things I grudgingly learned is that a story (at least from a traditional perspective) is usually one character's tale. Most movies feature just one protagonist, and the story is about this character's change from where they were at the beginning of the story to where they end up at the end. (The classic example is Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy learns, "There's no place like home.")
It was hard for me accept this because I grew up on comics like the Legion, the Avengers, and the JLA, where there were multiple heroes and each hero had his or her own fans. Writers bent over backwards to give every character something meaningful to do, and this often led to challenges in stories, such as Superman being portrayed as less powerful and resourceful in JLA than he was in his own series. Coming up with menaces that could keep an entire superteam busy was a problem many writers complained about.
Abnett and Lanning seem to be approaching the Legion from this traditional perspective of storytelling. They have focused on a small core team of Legionnaires who fit the needs of their plots while others are treated like supporting or background characters. It's for this reason, I think, that Vi only appears as a giant. DnA have done nothing with her character except remind us that she's there. Lyle appears when the story calls for him to do something substantive. In #18, for instance, he recruits Star Boy for the latter's expertise on gravity. But Lyle has nothing else to do in the story.
For us fans, it's enormously frustrating to see our favorite characters marginalized (and they are all our favorites to one extent or another), but I do think the storylines are more cohesive (#17-18 notwithstanding). I imagine DnA intended to get around to focusing on everyone eventually, but for one reason or another, that didn't happen. Umbra was sent packing to Talok when her powers failed. Val and Andy have been marooned on Steeple until the story needed them. Spark, though emphasized earlier, has pretty much faded into the background during the last several issues. At least no one has vanished without explanation as happens on TV shows.
I don't necessarily support DnA's choices, but I think it's worth imagining things from their POV as writers. They were brought in to make major changes to the franchise and broaden its appeal. Whether they succeeded, it's clear from their efforts that they were trying a different approach to Legion storytelling. This definitely feels right on, as most of their stores revolve around a character or a select few, maybe as many as three at a time. Which is fine to an extent, as its really hard to tell enough stories that give everyone screen time. And I'd also venture to speculate that over the course of writing the Legion, DnA felt more comfortable with their voice of certain characters versus others. But the trick in writing a team as large the Legion well is spreading that around with A/B stories or alternating to other group for a few issues, not that it makes it any easier. When you step back and look at it, DnA's approach has always been to have a small character focus. Rifts was something of a rare exception, but all the other DnA legion issues across Lost and Worlds all focused on a small number of characters. When we get back to The Legion, we see the same thing happening, just with slightly larger groups. I think its one of the reasons I get personally frustrated reading the Tinya stories, for example; it could be screen time for the others who've been around, but not in any real way like Cos, Lyle, Vi, Gates, Ferro or Sensor, just to name a few. Timber Wolf, for example, while it was fun to focus on him in the last few issues, he has already had a featured spot in at least three issues including Worlds. Replacing the Fatal Five story with a day in the life of the new Legion, or a couple one-off issues, would have been a nice change of pace. Even though we are only at the halfway mark, I feel like I'm seeing a pattern in their storytelling and, in hindsight, that DC probably should have refreshed the writers at the same time the editor changed. Taking that thought even further, I think that should have also happened pre-DnA when KC Carlso left around LSH 100. It seems, and I suspect that this generally may be true for comics in general, that a writing team should be rotated out every 2-3 years for freshness. The presence of a talking snake with robot arms just looks silly in the serious sci fi environment they wanted to project. If you're a casual reader, and you pick up this comic book called The Legion that has superheroes, science fiction, and a Batman villain, and, as you flip through the issue on the stands, you see a giant snake . . . what are you supposed to think? I imagine that's why they didn't emphasize Sensor until now. I guess, but that is ony for a relatively small subset of readers. I imagine (although I have no idea of knowing this) that most of the readers who were carrying over The Legion were already bought into a snake mentalist. No more than buying into a weird evolutionary concept that sidesteps Darwinism. 
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Legionnaire!
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Legionnaire!
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On to #17-18
I agree that this two-parter is built on a ridiculous plot. And the plot is built on a flimsy premise:
D: Let's change Sensor!
A: But how do we do it?
D: I know, let's have Ra's al Ghul run amok on the station for two issues and finally agree to help.
A: Brilliant! Also, just as a kind of humorous note on our discussion these two issues, I went into the Usenet wayback machine to find reactions to this story. Oddly, I found only two reviews and both were glowing in praise. 
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Joined: Jul 2003
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Not much between despair and ecstacy
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Not much between despair and ecstacy
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 24,141 |
Even though we are only at the halfway mark, I feel like I'm seeing a pattern in their storytelling and, in hindsight, that DC probably should have refreshed the writers at the same time the editor changed. Taking that thought even further, I think that should have also happened pre-DnA when KC Carlso left around LSH 100. It seems, and I suspect that this generally may be true for comics in general, that a writing team should be rotated out every 2-3 years for freshness. This is an interesting point, and I think it speaks to one of the limitations of doing comics the traditional (American) way. A new issue has to come out every month. The series has to continue until sales drop and it gets canceled. This is the way the US comics industry has always operated. It's analogous to TV series which continue with different writers until the series gets canceled. In the UK, by contrast, TV shows are often treated differently. They are the brainchild of the writer, and the writer usually stays constant. It's not uncommon for a show to take a year off in production so the writer and others can recharge. Doing so is said to prevent burnout and increase the longevity of beloved shows. I would like to have seen American comics adopt a similar approach--tell one large story, take a couple of months off, tell a few smaller stories, then another larger one, and then take a couple of months off. I think there was a movement in this direction in the '90s with the popularity of mini-series. (John Byrne's Next Men was marketed as a series of mini-series). Alas, it never caught on. The presence of a talking snake with robot arms just looks silly in the serious sci fi environment they wanted to project. If you're a casual reader, and you pick up this comic book called The Legion that has superheroes, science fiction, and a Batman villain, and, as you flip through the issue on the stands, you see a giant snake . . . what are you supposed to think? I imagine that's why they didn't emphasize Sensor until now. I guess, but that is ony for a relatively small subset of readers. I imagine (although I have no idea of knowing this) that most of the readers who were carrying over The Legion were already bought into a snake mentalist. No more than buying into a weird evolutionary concept that sidesteps Darwinism. Since DC was trying to get the Legion into book chains, that "small subset" could be quite large. People who frequent bookstores would know little about comics and nothing about the Legion. So, if they pick up a comic book that promises super-heroes and they see a talking snake, they may be confused. What age level is this TPB aimed at? Is it meant to be taken seriously? Looking at it purely from a marketing perspective and not taking into account anything previously done with the character may shed some light on the thinking of that time. Marketing played a major role in everything going on with the Legion at that time. I just finished "Dream Crime," and everything from the new logo to the cover images emphasizing one character (a la young adult novels) to the self-contained approach to the story clearly makes it evident that this storyline was intended for a TPB.
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Long live the Legion!
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Long live the Legion!
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This is an interesting point, and I think it speaks to one of the limitations of doing comics the traditional (American) way. A new issue has to come out every month. The series has to continue until sales drop and it gets canceled. This is the way the US comics industry has always operated. It's analogous to TV series which continue with different writers until the series gets canceled.
In the UK, by contrast, TV shows are often treated differently. They are the brainchild of the writer, and the writer usually stays constant. It's not uncommon for a show to take a year off in production so the writer and others can recharge. Doing so is said to prevent burnout and increase the longevity of beloved shows. I would like to have seen American comics adopt a similar approach--tell one large story, take a couple of months off, tell a few smaller stories, then another larger one, and then take a couple of months off. I think there was a movement in this direction in the '90s with the popularity of mini-series. (John Byrne's Next Men was marketed as a series of mini-series). Alas, it never caught on. I have long thought that a comic line should only be published *if there's a story to tell.* Putting out a monthly title just to have a book named Batman or Spider-Man on the shelves, that has no real spark behind it, just was pumped out to get a book out for this month, kills enthusiasm for me (and might be part of why I almost never get 'big name' titles like Superman or Wolverine, and prefer less popular characters or teams that DC and Marvel don't deem worthy of a monthly). I kinda wish at least some books were sold as six issue mini-series *regularly.* A TV show doesn't have to air an episode *every week*, it can pump out 10 or 20 episodes, and take the rest of the year off to refresh the creative juices and give the crew and cast and writers time to do other stuff. (Barring soap operas, and soap operas have a lot more people in the writer's room than a comic book!)
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Awesome ideas, everyone.
Like GL, I read the Reboot from the start, so a snake with arms like Sensor was not new to me. But I do get that someone completely new might be thrown off.
Thanks for listing some indications that the book was intended for TPB format, HWW!
Set, considering my lack of enthusiasm for upcoming Legion plans, I agree that I would prefer a book come out only if there's a real story/spark behind it!
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Time Trapper
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Time Trapper
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Universo is becoming a control addict. What started as a means to escape and take over the UP is growing into the need to control more. Taken to its logical end, those with an endless appetite/addiction usually end up overwhelmed by the addictive substance. Universo might have burned out on his own, but it's comics and you've got to have a story. Andy's all metal, all the time, which makes me revisit the whole "why did someone put Andy's helmet back on before healing him" issue. But hey, at least Andy can design some kind of mind control blocker on the fly and have four of them built in a day. (?) Smarter than your average chunck of metal! Andy's all metal mind could have been resistant to Universo's control, if the writers had wanted to take that route. This also raises the question of how easily Universo controlled a variety of minds - humanoids, Gates, Wildfire - and how the Titanet itself is able to seamlessly communicate among U.P. species, when first-class telepath Imra had such difficulty entering Chameleon's mind (early in the reboot). It seemed to me that this was a lot of filler that could have been included in four issues if more tightly edited. This was very likely written with a TPB in mind, and so the gaps needed to get Val and Andy needed to be stretched out a bit more than they needed to. It does feel like a filler issue, with a lot of recounting history and Universo's monologues. As per the discussion above, publishing norms to crank out a monthly and write for an eventual TPB may direct the content. I did find Andy and Val's initial reception of Sensor and Shikari felt off - Sensor is at a certain distance making no threatening gesture, Shikari is on the ground yet Andy is warning them off with threats of violence, after finding them entirely collapsed at the Threshold. Good continuity check where Andy needs Jeka to throw him at Violet - Val has his flight ring. Missed that connection!
Holy Cats of Egypt!
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Good point re Andy and Val first meeting Sensor and Kari, FC. I don't think Sensor and Kari were doing anything threatening at all. I wonder if they were just being cautious because... I don't know. Ferro got beaten to a pulp last time we saw them, maybe that still has them on edge.
Last edited by Invisible Brainiac; 10/18/21 04:40 AM.
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Legionnaire!
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Legionnaire!
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Posts: 3,430 |
Even though we are only at the halfway mark, I feel like I'm seeing a pattern in their storytelling and, in hindsight, that DC probably should have refreshed the writers at the same time the editor changed. Taking that thought even further, I think that should have also happened pre-DnA when KC Carlso left around LSH 100. It seems, and I suspect that this generally may be true for comics in general, that a writing team should be rotated out every 2-3 years for freshness. This is an interesting point, and I think it speaks to one of the limitations of doing comics the traditional (American) way. A new issue has to come out every month. The series has to continue until sales drop and it gets canceled. This is the way the US comics industry has always operated. It's analogous to TV series which continue with different writers until the series gets canceled. In the UK, by contrast, TV shows are often treated differently. They are the brainchild of the writer, and the writer usually stays constant. It's not uncommon for a show to take a year off in production so the writer and others can recharge. Doing so is said to prevent burnout and increase the longevity of beloved shows. I would like to have seen American comics adopt a similar approach--tell one large story, take a couple of months off, tell a few smaller stories, then another larger one, and then take a couple of months off. I think there was a movement in this direction in the '90s with the popularity of mini-series. (John Byrne's Next Men was marketed as a series of mini-series). Alas, it never caught on. I have long thought that a comic line should only be published *if there's a story to tell.* Putting out a monthly title just to have a book named Batman or Spider-Man on the shelves, that has no real spark behind it, just was pumped out to get a book out for this month, kills enthusiasm for me (and might be part of why I almost never get 'big name' titles like Superman or Wolverine, and prefer less popular characters or teams that DC and Marvel don't deem worthy of a monthly).
I kinda wish at least some books were sold as six issue mini-series *regularly.* A TV show doesn't have to air an episode *every week*, it can pump out 10 or 20 episodes, and take the rest of the year off to refresh the creative juices and give the crew and cast and writers time to do other stuff. (Barring soap operas, and soap operas have a lot more people in the writer's room than a comic book!) I very much agree with these assessments. Back in the day, 30+ years ago, I actually enjoyed the monthly take on the comics, as well as the assumption of getting a new Star Trek episode every week during the standard TV season. But now, and mainly in the last decade or so, I have found that I much prefer the production format you both are describing, which I didn't really know existed until I saw the Gatiss/Moffat Sherlock TV series. Quality over quantity. Since DC was trying to get the Legion into book chains, that "small subset" could be quite large. People who frequent bookstores would know little about comics and nothing about the Legion. So, if they pick up a comic book that promises super-heroes and they see a talking snake, they may be confused. What age level is this TPB aimed at? Is it meant to be taken seriously? Looking at it purely from a marketing perspective and not taking into account anything previously done with the character may shed some light on the thinking of that time.
Marketing played a major role in everything going on with the Legion at that time. I just finished "Dream Crime," and everything from the new logo to the cover images emphasizing one character (a la young adult novels) to the self-contained approach to the story clearly makes it evident that this storyline was intended for a TPB. I'm sure they were as well, and to this day, I'm mystified that we still haven't seen a collected edition of Legion Worlds or at least the first 13 issues or so of The Legion, since they did the collection of Lost and the end of the v4 run. Oh to be a fly on the wall at DC editorial! 
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Legionnaire!
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Legionnaire!
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Andy's all metal, all the time, which makes me revisit the whole "why did someone put Andy's helmet back on before healing him" issue. But hey, at least Andy can design some kind of mind control blocker on the fly and have four of them built in a day. (?) Smarter than your average chunck of metal! Andy's all metal mind could have been resistant to Universo's control, if the writers had wanted to take that route. This also raises the question of how easily Universo controlled a variety of minds - humanoids, Gates, Wildfire - and how the Titanet itself is able to seamlessly communicate among U.P. species, when first-class telepath Imra had such difficulty entering Chameleon's mind (early in the reboot). Yes, I was curious as to his control of Brainy and Kinetix very specifically.
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Legionnaire!
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Legionnaire!
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The Legion #23
Released August 27, 2003
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages
Dream Crime Part Five
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Chris Batista - Pencils
Mark Farmer - Inks
Jason Wright - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor
Synopsis
The final chapter of Dream Crime begins excatly where we left off. The summary page catches us up from the events of the last issue where Universo is in control of the Legion and soon the universe. The image features a seated Universo backed by Ferro, Shikari, Karate Kid and Sensor who is wrapping her arms around Universo from behind.
In the story, Universo stands with Saturn Girl and Dreamer strapped into chairs tapping their thoughts, the rest of the entranced Legion standing around with the four newcomers lying on the floor at their feet. Universo reaches out to Sensor only to find that she's an illusion and has in fact freed Imra and Nura! Universo forces the Legionnaires to find them.
Elsewhere, Sensor binds the thought blockers on Nura and Imra and urges them to snap out of it. Apparently they amplify Sensor's abilities, and she is fighting against Universo's abilities with difficulty. Sensor explains Universo's plan of weaponizing Titanet, and Imra fills in the how - Universo fills each mind with a dream reality to keep the victim passive, and the reality of not having Garth slams into her. The trio gets to the Titanet control panel to shut it down, and Nura ges a flash that the tower must stay active. She and Sensor start to fight over turning off Titanet. Imra sides with Nura, but its a moot point as Universo arrives with his Legion.
Back on Legion World, Cub's stasis sphere begins to fail and as soon as that happens Universo's mind touches that of the baby, which seems to control Universo and he and the Legion all repeat Cub's actions. Jeka, Nura and Imra were apparently not touched enough by Universo to get controlled by him nor Cub, but Cub's touch of innocense is able to allow them to attempt to restrain Universo. Universo regains his composure and he and Imra face off with Universo appearing to overpower everyone and everything.
Except its all an illusion in Universo's head. Imra and Nura were able to get Universo into an inhibitor after all thanks to Imra's mental projections making him think he was winning the battle. Imra saves the day.
Deneument - Back at Legion World, Nura and Thom celebrate after Nure being made an official Legionnaire. Nura still has forebodings about Darkseid. Jo and Tinya rush to the Medbay to find a much older Cub. On Titan, we learn the UP president will not shut down Titanet. Imra realizes that she was so angry about the lie of Garth being alive, she used that anger against Universo, who has now been transported to Steeple. The naturally powered crystals of Steeple will protect the monks from any potential mental affects of Universo, who himself is in a daydream created by Imra where he works at RJ's diner serving the Legion.
Commentary
The end of Dream Crime!! For the most part, I really liked the momentum and characterization in this issue. As always in this storyline, the art was great. The Legion has found a really reliable art combo with Batista/Farmer. Seeing a whole storyline with these artists makes me wonder if part of my reticence with DnA's Legion work has been partly due to Lanning's inks. All the inking he did with Coipel, and even some of his fill ins, was rather heavy which definitely added to the heavier mood of the book. This felt much brighter and more optimistic somehow, maybe because we were mostly on Titan and not some other thrice-paved-over world. What I liked most about this was the triple punch of Sensor, Dreamer and Saturn Girl getting things done against Universo. Sensor's efforts to free the other two, Nura's insistence on keeping Titanet on, and Saturn Girl's showdown worked, as did the conflict between the three. I really like it when there's active disagreement in the team when it plays out well like this - Sensor's distrust of Nura is great, although I did not get the sense that I knew where Imra's trust came from given they had recently talked about the Thom headstone dream.
I will be honest that the wheels kind of came off for me with the Cub development. As soon as this part of the story happened, I was left wondering if there were no small children anywhere on Titan, assuming that he had to control everyone on Titan in order to take over Titanet. Did everyone else on Legion World and Titan also say "Gooog?" It was the McGuffin to enable Imra to save the day, but it completely took me out of the story, as did the magic crystals of Steeple, which just so happen to have the power to cancel Universo. That was a nice coincidence!
Heroes with small children in action/scifi comics books and TV shows almost never work out well. Writers can't figure out what to do with the child or the parent without one affecting the other, so inevitably they get aged up somehow, and this is no exception. The problem always is, however, that the writers then are in a situation where they have an older child whom they can't figure out what to do with. I know a lot of folks love the Tinya/Jo/Cub melodrama of the reboot, but I'd surgically excise it if I could.
Nura becoming an official Legionnaire was a great touch. I think DnA's efforts to transform Nura was one of the single best things they did during their tenure. She's the one character they built up rather than tore down and rebuilt.
Imra using her anger to get her through Universo's control and setting him into his own dream prison was a nice touch, but given everything else they've done to Imra, it seems to be a troubling harbinger to me.
Other comments:
"Ol' Pink eyes?" Yeah this Sensor is effectively NOT Jeka Wynzorr. But she gets some great lines. "I don't think of you and reliable in the same sentence" - yowch!
Cub Wazzo-Nah? OK, then. So Tinya's keeping the name that Brin gave him. If I were Jo, I might be a little pissed.
Batista draws an amazing Imra Ardeen.
The splash page on 14 is really cool with some nice cameos like the Gorn from Star Trek.
Overall Grade: B- Because Gooog.
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I found it interesting, that Sensor wanted to free Imra AND Nura, then she later tells Nura that she doesn't think Nura is reliable. I wonder if Imra was the main target, and they just freed Nura because... because she was there? because Universo took the trouble to capture and immobilize Nura, so they reasoned she was a threat to him somehow?
I have no complaints though, as Nura's precognition saved the day and she earned her flight ring.
Cub... while I wasn't a big fan, this just leftme all MEH. I DID like that, despite the recent bickering, Jo reassures Tinya at the end as they run to Cub.
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Legionnaire!
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Legionnaire!
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The journey to Titan is very odd to me and one of the threads that starts to distort the story arc's quality if I pull at it too long.
When Kari and Jeka head out to the portal, they are literally just trying to get away from the controlled Legionnaires. They are running through Legion World trying to get to the hangar to get to Earth. They go to Steeple just because it was their only way out. Then, thanks to the portal that Brainy had sent, they are able to reset and go to Titan - not Earth - to stop Universo with the doodads, that are only on Steeple that can interfere with Universo. I don't think Sensor KNOWS that Universo is on Titan; that's just an assumption, and a very educated one based on the fact that Titanet is there. But they have no idea that Imra's being held hostage, nor Nura. That leads back to the whole question of Who is Universo? Outside of the Titans special, he's never appeared. I guess every Legionnaire gets a Bad Guy Briefing? Those lines of questions, because they are central to the story's plot, made me doc the story a bit, which is kind of sad as I loved the first three parts of this thing. The diner scene with all the subtext was amazingly done.
These guys can setup a story like nobody's business, DnA are so good at that. It's the payoff at the end that always makes me feel like I'm missing something.
Regarding Cub, the first time I hit this page I my eyes just jumped to the bottom and I kind of did an eye roll and kept going, then went back to read it again. Its odd, too, as in part three we see the sphere pop and a rather grown person fall to the ground, but obviously that was in Tinya & Jo's heads.
The other thing I forgot to comment on is the continued existence of Titanet. Its just as vulnerable as the Stargate network was, but Wazzo is apparently ok with it why? What about the rest of the UP worlds?
Also, it would have been nice to see what the other Legionnaires were occupied with other than Darkseid in their heads.
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re knowing Universo is on Titan and getting there, I think it was because of Shikari's pathfinding. So that's one thread that can slip back into place the bad-guy briefing, yeah, this I don't know. I do agree that the ending lacked something, it wasn't the big pay-off I was hoping for. I dunno if it was Cub. So Cub did age, just not that much. Good point re Titanet being a vulnerability... Brande was impeached because of the Stargates, yet we don't see any reckoning from the Titanet.
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Legionnaire!
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re knowing Universo is on Titan and getting there, I think it was because of Shikari's pathfinding. So that's one thread that can slip back into place This sounds right to me, and I think it was one of the things that I had considered so its probably why it doesn't bother me THAT much. I do agree that the ending lacked something, it wasn't the big pay-off I was hoping for. I dunno if it was Cub. So Cub did age, just not that much.
Good point re Titanet being a vulnerability... Brande was impeached because of the Stargates, yet we don't see any reckoning from the Titanet. I think it was Cub that threw it off for me, both as part of the main plot as well as the denouement. Regarding Titanet, I'd chalk that up to Wazzo learning from the mistakes of the past, but if Ra's/McCauley was integral to the creation, or the approval of, Titanet, the UP would be suspicious (or they should be) that he didn't put in a back door to the system to be used like Universo. Given the damage that Ra's caused between the Footstep drive and Terrorforms, one would think that there would be an active campaign to purge anything stinking of "McCauley" from UP life. Also forgot to comment on this from earlier: I found it interesting, that Sensor wanted to free Imra AND Nura, then she later tells Nura that she doesn't think Nura is reliable. I wonder if Imra was the main target, and they just freed Nura because... because she was there? because Universo took the trouble to capture and immobilize Nura, so they reasoned she was a threat to him somehow? I don't know if they thought that far ahead - I think Universo was the main target, but Imra and Nura were just targets of opportunity. Nura certainly was, but the only person that Kari and Imra may have known was on Titan was Imra, so you can make a case for her. Based on what's on the page, anyway.
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Time Trapper
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Time Trapper
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This version of Nura, with her Khund war training, may have a mind which Universo finds more threatening. In The Universo Project, she was also one of the four taken by Universo to a prison planet along with Imra, Cham and Brainy - wasn't that something special about her mind? Imra, Nura, Shikari and Sensor all see through reality in different ways - I suppose DnA threw in Andy and Val for the muscle as well as to get them off Steeple.
The Cub solution also made me groan. Good point raised about all the children/babies on Titan; I hadn't thought of that plot hole. Maybe Cub's ultra-innocence was the reason he was able to distract Universo. In any event, I agree that young children in action/sci fi comics seldom work out well. They're best shunted off-panel with a nanny.
The "ol' pink eyes" comment made me go back and check that Universo did indeed have pink eyes - and his power controlling people was shown a few times in pink light.
There's an odd thing with Universo and Saturn Girl: each time he's appeared and subdued or overpowered her, she's been put into a position of blue collar work - a maid, a farmworker, a waitress. In The Universo Project, Imra also took out Universo with a physical punch. Interesting parallels in those two mind-control stories. I liked this ending for Universo, with her turning the tables on him, literally, to make him live as a busboy.
Aven admitting that Titan couldn't hold Universo and the apparently casual acceptance that everything would be okay with the Titanet from now on could have had implications later in the series. I was always waiting for Universo's return, how he'd overpower the monks and jump through the threshold. Hadn't given the vulnerabilities of the Titanet much thought, though - good point to raise that weakness.
Holy Cats of Egypt!
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yeah, about Shikari being one of those to see through Universo's illusions. Why did they let her be sacrificed too, along with Val and Andy?
I think from a writing perspective, DNA needed Sensor for her illusion immunity that could be passed onto others; Imra to beat Universo down; and Nura as a plot device (to predict that the Titanet must remain on, AND to get her into the Legion). so poor Shikari, Val and Andy could all be sacrificed (writing 3 was tough enough!)
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Legionnaire!
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This version of Nura, with her Khund war training, may have a mind which Universo finds more threatening. In The Universo Project, she was also one of the four taken by Universo to a prison planet along with Imra, Cham and Brainy - wasn't that something special about her mind? Imra, Nura, Shikari and Sensor all see through reality in different ways - I suppose DnA threw in Andy and Val for the muscle as well as to get them off Steeple. I think it was more for the getting them off planet and back with the Legion as well as the Steeple magic necklaces. The Cub solution also made me groan. Good point raised about all the children/babies on Titan; I hadn't thought of that plot hole. Maybe Cub's ultra-innocence was the reason he was able to distract Universo. In any event, I agree that young children in action/sci fi comics seldom work out well. They're best shunted off-panel with a nanny. It reminded me of Alexander from Star Trek The Next Generation. Less than a year after Worf has his dalliance, K'Ehleyr shows up with a toddler, then in about 10 years he's off doing his own thing. It was so painful. There's an odd thing with Universo and Saturn Girl: each time he's appeared and subdued or overpowered her, she's been put into a position of blue collar work - a maid, a farmworker, a waitress. In The Universo Project, Imra also took out Universo with a physical punch. Interesting parallels in those two mind-control stories. I liked this ending for Universo, with her turning the tables on him, literally, to make him live as a busboy. This is a great observation. I think it certainly speaks to how he views her in relation to himself, so Imra flipping the script on him is certainly just desserts. Aven admitting that Titan couldn't hold Universo and the apparently casual acceptance that everything would be okay with the Titanet from now on could have had implications later in the series. I was always waiting for Universo's return, how he'd overpower the monks and jump through the threshold. Hadn't given the vulnerabilities of the Titanet much thought, though - good point to raise that weakness. Had someone like Gail Simone ever been given the chance to continue with the Legion, I wonder if she, or another writer would have taken this direction.
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Not much between despair and ecstacy
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Not much between despair and ecstacy
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I had some free time over the weekend, so I dove into "Dream Crime" in two sittings. Here are my general thoughts. Overall, I think it's a very good story and especially one that holds together when "binge" read. In my 2003 review of #21, I noted the slow pacing. This is less evident when you're not reading the issues one month at a time. I agree that it could probably have been done in four or even three issues. That said, I enjoyed the "spread out" pace of the narrative--how it took surprising twists and turns, such as the time spent on Imra's diner fantasy. Even Steeple was nicely woven into the story.
This storyline marks the "new look" format with the simplified logo and cover designs that emphasize one character. I didn't care for this redesign. Gone was the quirky and unique logo of the first 18 issues. The new logo is boring by comparison. As I mentioned previously, the cover redesign seems calculated to appeal to the Young Adult book market, but in adopting this strategy, the covers lose what was unique about the Legion and the DnA version. This is primarily a superhero series with science fiction trappings. The new covers convey little of that.
I also question the choice of characters to be cover featured. Brainy is featured on # 19, but he has a relatively minor role in that issue (and in all of "Dream Crime"). A busty Nura is cover-featured on # 22 but is in only a few panels, unconscious and with a creepy Universo leering over her. Val is cover-featured on the final issue, but he has nothing special to do in that issue.
Cover redesign aside, the story itself is very well done. It begins where a previous plotline left off: Imra and Nura arrive on Titan, the former for some RnR, and the latter to see if her powers can be used to create an early warning system with the Titanet communication network. I hadn't realized Nura was accompanying Imra for this trip, but no matter. We're introduced to Titan as seen through Nura's eyes. I was struck by how she thought it was the quietest world she had ever known. DnA put a lot of thought into how a society of telepaths would function. The scenes of the planet by Batista, Farmer, and Wright (the colorist should not be overlooked) are breathtaking.
Then we are treated to a bizarre and unsettling scene of Nura surrounded by black skeletons. I thought this was part of Universo's manipulation, but it occurs again in #23, when she is free of his control. I approve of it as a vivid depiction of her power to sense danger, but I wonder how she interprets the image. How did she know that disconnecting Titanet in # 23 would lead to the Legion's doom? Earlier in the story, she seemed bewildered by the skeletal images.
While Imra undergoes her own mind manipulation in the presence of her mentor, Aven, Nura thinks she sees the real villain behind these experiences: Darkseid. Cue a massive groan. Haven't we been there before? Do we need to go there again?
But then we're thrown for a loop in # 20 as Imra finds herself working as a waitress in "R. J.'s Clubhouse Diner"--a small-town '50s style setting with her Legion friends as customers and fellow waitresses. I enjoyed the Easter egg of preboot Colossal Boy's headpiece featured on the cover of Imra's magazine. There are probably other Easter eggs. It's clear that this is all an illusion of some sort, and, when the culprit is revealed to be Universo, I couldn't help thinking of the four-part Levitz LSH story in which Imra, Nura, Brainy, and Cham were brainwashed and sent to work in an agricultural setting. This story certainly echoes that one a lot.
I, too, was thrown by the fact that the reboot Universo had only previously appeared in TITANS/LEGION: UNIVERSE ABLAZE, but I accept it. We don't necessarily have to see every adventure our heroes have, and perhaps Universo had run-ins with other law enforcement agencies. This would explain how the Legion knew about him without us having read that adventure. (And, there's also a preboot tradition of "untold" Legion stories being referred to in passing, such as their first encounter with Mordru or Timber Wolf's supposed death six months before Superboy # 197).
Universo is used to good effect. I loved his twist of Descarte's maxim: "I think; therefore I am." To Universo, this becomes, "You think; therefore, I am" -- a frequently repeated refrain that emphasizes his self-absorption and need to dominate others. And the first narration we have in # 19 is from Universo, though it doesn't become obvious until later.
This story is about perception and how perception can be altered. Given what we know about how people's views of the world can distort their thinking and cause them to commit acts they might otherwise find horrific, this makes Universo a truly pernicious villain. He causes the Legionnaires to turn on each other because they think they are being invaded by Darkseid. In context, it makes sense that Universo would mislead Nura into thinking some other villain was responsible. I do question his choice of Darkseid, though. Why not use someone the Legion had direct experience with, such as Mordru or even Ra's al Ghul? Picking a centuries-old villain who would be a myth to many seems a stretch.
So far, so good. Very good, indeed. I'll present thoughts on the rest of the story after a break.
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Not much between despair and ecstacy
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Some more comments and responses on the whole of "Dream Crime": I've never liked any Legion story putting a year in text unless its done from the get go and the writers and editors stick to it. I'm not going to go back over the prior 18 issues and see if they referenced the years 3001 or 3002, but having the 3003 AD is bad. I think its a really bad idea to track the current year + 1000 in these books. Either two years have advanced since the end of the last issue or time itself is askew. Just reference the century, please. Topical year references have been a feature of Legion books at least since the 1970s. Various stories were dated 2973, 2978, 2982, etc., even though that much time clearly hadn't passed in the narrative. It was just something I learned to live with. I agree that it would be nice if one dating system were used. This was actually done during 5YL. In various text pieces, it was established that the Legion was founded in 2973. I dunno. Tying it down to exact dates somehow killed the mystery for me. At one point, I developed my own Legion chronology and submitted it to a magazine called Amazing Heroes. It was even accepted, but then they changed editors and it never was published. In any case, I'm fine with the publisher not using a settled date. Gotta leave something for us fans to do. the reference to Imra being paid triple for Luornu's missed shift. Good catch! I wonder if Lu was paid triple. After all, she could do triple to the work! The only other thing that's kind of a ding is that Jeka's language and voice also has changed with her character. She's much more aggressive and casual in her speech, which is unlike a former princess, even having undergone such a change, IMO. . . . "Ol' Pink eyes?" Yeah this Sensor is effectively NOT Jeka Wynzorr. But she gets some great lines. "I don't think of you and reliable in the same sentence" - yowch! This bothered me, too. In her snake form, I heard Jeka's voice as graceful and posh, as befits a princess. But this Jeka "sounds" like a completely different character. "Ol' Pink Eyes" sounds like something any of the Legionnaires would say. On the other hand, her remark to Nura is an appropriately catty upper-crust insult. I imagine Maggie Smith's character saying it on Downton Abbey! Andy's all metal, all the time, which makes me revisit the whole "why did someone put Andy's helmet back on before healing him" issue. But hey, at least Andy can design some kind of mind control blocker on the fly and have four of them built in a day. (?) I read it that all four Legionnaires had designed the torqs. The Pashassai-master may have meant "you" in the plural. With Jeka bringing her knowledge and science (if I remember right) to the table, and Shikari contributing whatever Kwai technology could offer, they might have been able to whip something up. The action definitely picks back up when the group heads to Titan and the foursome fights their controlled comrades, although it begs the question how they knew to go there when their originally intended destination was Metropolis. Good catch. I was confused about the location of the action several times in the last two issues. In # 22, pp. 2-3, Universo and the Legionnaires are shown arriving at the Titanet tower through a threshold, so, apparently, all of the main action in 22 and 23 takes place there. Yet the corridors through which Imra, Jeka, and Nura run look like they could easily be on Legion World. Then you have Cub, who is still in the infirmary on Legion World but managed to influence Universo. I get it that Titanet enabled Universo to reach far and wide with his mental capabilities, but it threw me that one child on Legion World, some 902 million miles away, could take over Universo's mind. Never mind all the children on Titan. Zeroing in on the distant Cub seemed a stretch. That said, I was amused that Cub did have that kind of influence on Universo. It deepens the mystery about what exactly is "wrong" with Cub and provided a moment of humor and silliness in the story. I'm fine with Cub developing these very strange powers, but I'm so over the rapidly growing baby trope. As you noted, Worf's son aged inexplicably between seasons; I can think of at least one other TV show in which that shortcut was taken--a show called Sisters in which a girl who was about 12 aged to 16 or 17 between seasons (and then was played by Ashley Judd). The rapidly growing child is not unique to science fiction, but it always undermines the believability of a series when it happens. Nura becoming an official Legionnaire was a great touch. I think DnA's efforts to transform Nura was one of the single best things they did during their tenure. She's the one character they built up rather than tore down and rebuilt. Yes. I had forgotten that Nura wasn't already a Legionnaire until she needed Imra's assist to fly up to the Titanet control platform (because Nura didn't have a flight ring). Showing her wearing the ring at the end was a nice way of bringing her character full circle--and I totally agree that DnA have done right by her. The splash page on 14 is really cool with some nice cameos like the Gorn from Star Trek. Again, your attention to detail amazes me! All in all, "Dream Crime" is a really well-done five-part story with a lot of twists and turns. It features great attention to minutiae (such as the Legion Lost sequence) that serve the story instead of weighing it down, as often happens when too many details from past stories are worked into new ones (so-called "fanwank"). Several Legionnaires are featured, but Imra's arc forms the spine of the story. She comes to terms with losing Garth and is able to channel that anger into a weapon to defeat Universo. This story echoes her preboot defeat of Universo in the Levitz story I mentioned earlier. However, it's done in a different way here and builds on the character she's become in the reboot. Universo's fate is also fitting, surprising, and original. Chris Batista is indeed a worthy artist. His work reminds me of the simplicity of Jeff Moy combined with the grandeur of Olivier Coipel.
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 24,141
Not much between despair and ecstacy
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Not much between despair and ecstacy
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 24,141 |
This version of Nura, with her Khund war training, may have a mind which Universo finds more threatening. In The Universo Project, she was also one of the four taken by Universo to a prison planet along with Imra, Cham and Brainy - wasn't that something special about her mind? Imra, Nura, Shikari and Sensor all see through reality in different ways - I suppose DnA threw in Andy and Val for the muscle as well as to get them off Steeple. What I remember from "The Universo Project" is that Imra, Nura, Cham, and Brainy were regarded (by Universo) as the smartest Legionnaires. In "Dream Crime," it's clear that Universo used both Imra and Nura to take over everyone else. I guess that's why Jeka freed them both. Both were bound to chairs and brought with Universo to Legion World (at least I think; again, exactly where things took place confuses me). In any case, Nura's precog power is clearly a threat to Universo and, hence, one of the reasons Jeka might have freed her--even though she didn't think of Nura as reliable! There's an odd thing with Universo and Saturn Girl: each time he's appeared and subdued or overpowered her, she's been put into a position of blue collar work - a maid, a farmworker, a waitress. In The Universo Project, Imra also took out Universo with a physical punch. Interesting parallels in those two mind-control stories. I liked this ending for Universo, with her turning the tables on him, literally, to make him live as a busboy. Good point about Universo casting Imra in blue-collar roles! I wonder if DnA were at all aware of these past stories. (They certainly seemed to have mirrored "The Universo Project" in a lot of ways.) From a psychological perspective, I think it's important that Imra tells us she failed the sci-cop entrance exam. This is always the fear of a lot of young people, isn't it? If I fail to get into college, the military, etc., I'll have to work a dead-end job. Perhaps Imra truly felt that way. If she hadn't been a Legionnaire, what would she be? If Universo is still her cousin (as he was in TITANS/LEGION: UNIVERSE ABLAZE), maybe he wants that for her. On the other hand, maybe he's just tapping into her secret fears. Aven admitting that Titan couldn't hold Universo and the apparently casual acceptance that everything would be okay with the Titanet from now on could have had implications later in the series. I was always waiting for Universo's return, how he'd overpower the monks and jump through the threshold. Hadn't given the vulnerabilities of the Titanet much thought, though - good point to raise that weakness. I'm glad Universo didn't reappear. The threshold aside, he's stuck on Steeple for 10 years. I welcome any finale when it comes about.
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I'm very happy with Chris Batista's art, and I am pleased we at least got a few panels of human Kinetix under him.
re Sensor, I remember Chameleon and others remarking on her nice voice in the mid-Reboot. Legionnaires 59 and 60 I think. she was described as a "Husky Alto".
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Legionnaire!
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Legionnaire!
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This storyline marks the "new look" format with the simplified logo and cover designs that emphasize one character. I didn't care for this redesign. Gone was the quirky and unique logo of the first 18 issues. The new logo is boring by comparison. As I mentioned previously, the cover redesign seems calculated to appeal to the Young Adult book market, but in adopting this strategy, the covers lose what was unique about the Legion and the DnA version. This is primarily a superhero series with science fiction trappings. The new covers convey little of that. I disagree on this front - while the Legion's logo (first introduced in Worlds) was unique, I found it distracting. Admittedly, I also think that it reminds me of Ra's and Terrorforms as they dominated most of that time frame and I cared for neither of those plot threads nor the dark moodiness of the world and the changes they made to the universe. I'd also disagree about the "superhero series with Sci-fi trappings." After reading the first 18 issues, plus Worlds and what came before, I think DnA flipped that and made it a Sci-fi series with superhero trappings. I also question the choice of characters to be cover featured. Brainy is featured on # 19, but he has a relatively minor role in that issue (and in all of "Dream Crime"). A busty Nura is cover-featured on # 22 but is in only a few panels, unconscious and with a creepy Universo leering over her. Val is cover-featured on the final issue, but he has nothing special to do in that issue. Good point - I haven't really discussed the covers, or the cover title vs the internal title, or any of that this whole review cycle. But you are right - Imra and Universo are the only cover characters across all five issues that are central to the story of the issues they feature. I hadn't realized Nura was accompanying Imra for this trip, but no matter. Its a bit of a jump - we're never told about Nura coming on this trip until the first page of the issue. It stood out to me, but not enough to detract from the story. We're introduced to Titan as seen through Nura's eyes. I was struck by how she thought it was the quietest world she had ever known. DnA put a lot of thought into how a society of telepaths would function. The scenes of the planet by Batista, Farmer, and Wright (the colorist should not be overlooked) are breathtaking. Agree - this was so well done. How did she know that disconnecting Titanet in # 23 would lead to the Legion's doom? I *think* it was that she understood that breaking the network would stop the signal from going to Legion World and therefore Cub. While Imra undergoes her own mind manipulation in the presence of her mentor, Aven, Nura thinks she sees the real villain behind these experiences: Darkseid. Cue a massive groan. Haven't we been there before? Do we need to go there again? I generally know that they move towards an encounter with Darkseid (which to me was telegraphed at the end of the Computo story) but I was Okay with it being just the illusion, especially given that we'd had the prior conflict with the "Justice League" on Warworld. I do remember being disappointed later that they did actually go there, but we'll get to that in a few weeks; I may have a different take on things re-reading in detail. But then we're thrown for a loop in # 20 as Imra finds herself working as a waitress in "R. J.'s Clubhouse Diner"--a small-town '50s style setting with her Legion friends as customers and fellow waitresses. I enjoyed the Easter egg of preboot Colossal Boy's headpiece featured on the cover of Imra's magazine. There are probably other Easter eggs. It's clear that this is all an illusion of some sort, and, when the culprit is revealed to be Universo, I couldn't help thinking of the four-part Levitz LSH story in which Imra, Nura, Brainy, and Cham were brainwashed and sent to work in an agricultural setting. This story certainly echoes that one a lot. I, too, was thrown by the fact that the reboot Universo had only previously appeared in TITANS/LEGION: UNIVERSE ABLAZE, but I accept it. We don't necessarily have to see every adventure our heroes have, and perhaps Universo had run-ins with other law enforcement agencies. This would explain how the Legion knew about him without us having read that adventure. (And, there's also a preboot tradition of "untold" Legion stories being referred to in passing, such as their first encounter with Mordru or Timber Wolf's supposed death six months before Superboy # 197). I think where it became slightly confusing for me is the fact that in the Titans special, Imra and Universo are kin, but I don't know if that is the case here. Universo seems to know quite a lot about Imra, even having been held captive for so long, and he seems much older. I think I was just expecting a little more background versus an expectation of having read a story that didn't really happen in that universe. But you're spot on about the "untold adventures" - even the reboot had a couple, one of which first surfaced right after LSH 100 (which I don't know if they ever addressed). This story is about perception and how perception can be altered. Given what we know about how people's views of the world can distort their thinking and cause them to commit acts they might otherwise find horrific, this makes Universo a truly pernicious villain. He causes the Legionnaires to turn on each other because they think they are being invaded by Darkseid. In context, it makes sense that Universo would mislead Nura into thinking some other villain was responsible. I do question his choice of Darkseid, though. Why not use someone the Legion had direct experience with, such as Mordru or even Ra's al Ghul? Picking a centuries-old villain who would be a myth to many seems a stretch. This is an EXTREMELY good point. Mordru would have been a much more appropriate adversary in context, especially with the team that did most of the grunt work capturing him gone or altered. Of course, there are two reasons for this - one is to introduce the concept of Darkseid to the DnA world so they can at least plant that seed, and two is that DnA wouldn't touch magic in the Legion with a 10 foot pole. Some more comments and responses on the whole of "Dream Crime": Topical year references have been a feature of Legion books at least since the 1970s. Various stories were dated 2973, 2978, 2982, etc., even though that much time clearly hadn't passed in the narrative. It was just something I learned to live with. I agree that it would be nice if one dating system were used. This was actually done during 5YL. In various text pieces, it was established that the Legion was founded in 2973. I dunno. Tying it down to exact dates somehow killed the mystery for me. At one point, I developed my own Legion chronology and submitted it to a magazine called Amazing Heroes. It was even accepted, but then they changed editors and it never was published. In any case, I'm fine with the publisher not using a settled date. Gotta leave something for us fans to do. Oh definitely! LOL Its just a pet peeve of mine. TMK definitely did a lot of effort to retcon the prior universe into a specific 20 year span, and the editors at the time ran with it. KC Carlson, who was the editor across Zero Hour and into the reboot continued the tradition at least through his tenure, as we've discussed elsewhere, that they specifically placed the reboot, at least through LSH issue 100, to be the May-Sept 2994. It wasn't until McAvennie took over when they totally threw that out the window. I read it that all four Legionnaires had designed the torqs. The Pashassai-master may have meant "you" in the plural. With Jeka bringing her knowledge and science (if I remember right) to the table, and Shikari contributing whatever Kwai technology could offer, they might have been able to whip something up. Oh, I like this take! This definitely makes it work better. It would have to have included the masters as well, as they would be of the knowledge that their crystals could have the anti-illusion effect. Good catch. I was confused about the location of the action several times in the last two issues. In # 22, pp. 2-3, Universo and the Legionnaires are shown arriving at the Titanet tower through a threshold, so, apparently, all of the main action in 22 and 23 takes place there. Yet the corridors through which Imra, Jeka, and Nura run look like they could easily be on Legion World. Then you have Cub, who is still in the infirmary on Legion World but managed to influence Universo. I get it that Titanet enabled Universo to reach far and wide with his mental capabilities, but it threw me that one child on Legion World, some 902 million miles away, could take over Universo's mind. Never mind all the children on Titan. Zeroing in on the distant Cub seemed a stretch. Yes, the location part of the equation I can explain away from what Ibby said about Kari being able to zero in on where they need to go, but the Cub/child part of it I just can't get past. The splash page on 14 is really cool with some nice cameos like the Gorn from Star Trek. Again, your attention to detail amazes me! Thanks! I think it was Jeff Moy's art that got me searching for these little easter eggs in the book. Made it quite fun. Chris Batista is indeed a worthy artist. His work reminds me of the simplicity of Jeff Moy combined with the grandeur of Olivier Coipel. I think this is a great way to describe Batista - the human characters look normal, yet the backdrops are amazing.
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Good point about Universo casting Imra in blue-collar roles! I wonder if DnA were at all aware of these past stories. (They certainly seemed to have mirrored "The Universo Project" in a lot of ways.) From a psychological perspective, I think it's important that Imra tells us she failed the sci-cop entrance exam. This is always the fear of a lot of young people, isn't it? If I fail to get into college, the military, etc., I'll have to work a dead-end job. Perhaps Imra truly felt that way. If she hadn't been a Legionnaire, what would she be? If Universo is still her cousin (as he was in TITANS/LEGION: UNIVERSE ABLAZE), maybe he wants that for her. On the other hand, maybe he's just tapping into her secret fears. Of course, now we get to the end of Season 3 of Young Justice and Imra is working as a waitress at Bibbo's Diner apparently.
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Good point about Universo casting Imra in blue-collar roles! I wonder if DnA were at all aware of these past stories. (They certainly seemed to have mirrored "The Universo Project" in a lot of ways.) From a psychological perspective, I think it's important that Imra tells us she failed the sci-cop entrance exam. This is always the fear of a lot of young people, isn't it? If I fail to get into college, the military, etc., I'll have to work a dead-end job. Perhaps Imra truly felt that way. If she hadn't been a Legionnaire, what would she be? If Universo is still her cousin (as he was in TITANS/LEGION: UNIVERSE ABLAZE), maybe he wants that for her. On the other hand, maybe he's just tapping into her secret fears. Of course, now we get to the end of Season 3 of Young Justice and Imra is working as a waitress at Bibbo's Diner apparently. Ha! Many years ago, I typed obituaries for a local newspaper. Every once in a while--such as two days ago--I find myself still working there in my dreams. Either Imra has some unresolved issues about being a waitress or Universo is mucking with my mind.
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