Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Reboot Re-read: DnA Legion

Yeah great point about the consumed habitat. Wouldn?t people soon notice that so many organisms just vanished?!

The Legion #32

Released April 28, 2004
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

Notorious
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Chris Batista - Pencils
Chip Wallace & Jay Leisten- Inks
Sno Cone - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

Garth speaks with Gym'll about his current condition, unable to sleep and in crystalline body of Jan Arrah. Everyone is scared of who he MIGHT become, even himself. He goes for a walk and finds several Legionnaires in the threshold room, with odd readings coming from the portal to the second galaxy. A tattered and damaged M'Onel bursts through with a Kwai navigator, but they are immediately followed by a team of Credo, including one Kwai, who kill M'Onel's navigator and attack the Legionnaires. The fight gets ugly, and Garth zaps a Credo who overpowers Umbra. The rest of the Credo recognize Garth as the Progenitor and flee back through the portal.

Recovering, M'Onel gives us the backstory. The rest of the team, Chameleon, Kinetix, Gates, Brande, are all Credo prisoners. The Credo have been growing at an alarming rate and are expanding their crusade. When Brande tried to reason with Singularity they were taken prisoner. Now that they've seen "The Progenitor," the Credo will be bent on finding them. The full Legion minus Garth goes to find their colleagues, with M'Onel in his Valor uniform and Kid Quantum running the show again. They quickly encounter Credo and go to meet Singluarity. The encounter quickly boils down to a negotiation - The Legion gets is team members back in exchange for the Progenitor.

Back at Legion World, Garth immediately offers to agree to the demands, both to get the hostages back as well as have a chance to convince Singularity about the truth of Jan. Kid Quantum absolutely refuses to let Garth do this, but Garth leaves anyway. Vi has an idea.

Garth turns himself in to Singularity, who lied about his conditions of release. Garth is captured and thrown in with the rest of the prisoners for execution the next day.


Commentary

Very mixed feelings about this issue. First, we are finally getting in to Garth's headspace in a major way. He doesn't sleep at all, and he's stuck in a foreign body for over a month. So it has a great start which then merges into the Credo fight. The fight itself was OK and it starts with a bang - M'Onel is trashed and comes out taking everyone by surprise - so much so that Shikari gets distracted and her fellow Kwai gets murdered. Then we see what's banged up M'on - a bunch of Credos. Hmmm, well, ok. Then the fight starts, including a fellow Kwai on the Credo side. Kari asks about why he's doing this, but all we get from most of these folks is Credo babble. Having Garth end the fight and reveal himself to the Credo was a good plot point, but then we get into the backstory, where I had some problems. First, we have two of the most powerful beings in the universe on this team - M'Onel and Hypertaxis Kinetix - and they get easily overpowered? Maybe there's too much red sun mix in the second galaxy making him more vulnerable? But typically Credo isn't a hostage taking organization, so I was left wondering why Singularity didn't just kill them outright. They didn't know about Garth when they captured Brande's team.

I also am not a fan of the Credo as a villain. For as dangerous as they are shown, they don't jump off the page at me in the way that they are supposed to. Take the M'Onel fight for example - I just don't see those four or five Credo to be a match for M'Onel. Between that and their gets-old-quick babble, I just don't see the threat.

The confrontation with the Legion and Singularity seemed to just be a checkbox in the story to put out the hostage swap offer, as the entire Legion goes to Credo, then right back home again. Jazmin has a nice speech and they spend a couple of pages talking at each other but nothing really HAPPENS. Garth, good lad that he is, offers to concede to Credo's demands, is told not go to see Singularity, and leaves to go anyway with no one really trying to stop him. Nice leadership, Jaz. I suspect that whatever Vi was telling Cos has something to do with Garth leaving unobstructed. If I had to guess, I'd say that shes on Garth, which would be nice as DnA would have remembered that Vi isn't a one trick pony. After four years.

As they have been for so long, the art team is amazing here and easily the best thing about this issue. I guess its an OK, better than average setup issue, but outside of the art, it left me wanting.

A few other observations:

So as soon as I saw the title - Notorious - the Duran Duran song of the same name started playing in my head and hasn't stopped.

Gym'll acting as a de facto psychologist is interesting in the context of him calling in a colleague for that function earlier in the reboot, so it was way out of character.

For it being "Halfway through the night cycle" there sure are a lot of Legionnaires up and about!

Brin is training cadets? Wow, you'd think that would be the role of an older, more established Legionnaire we don't see a lot of like Vi, Star Boy or XS.

I had to chuckle at Superboy not reading the breifing. Shades of Bendis in reverse.

Interesting point - For the FIRST TIME in this run, in fact I think for the first time since Widening Rifts, we finally see the Mark XI Legion Cruiser first introduced in LSH 307 on page 10. That cruiser model was used consistently in v2, v3 and v4 of the Legion, and throughout the reboot until the end of the LSH and Legionnaires series. Coipel drew a more plane-like shuttle moving forward, so it was nice to see an old familiar friend again.

The Credo command ship having landed ON the city was an impressive, simple visual of the Credo's power and brutality.

Wow, Singularity's planet has a Satan too!

Why is Vi never a normal size? I mean seriously, the girl is never normal sized. But at least we get to see her smaller again.

Grade - C+. I really wanted to like this more than I did.

#32 . . .

I, too, had mixed feelings. As much as I disdain the whole "Jarth" business, it is used nicely to set up the conflict with Credo. Last issue, Garth was shown socializing with other Legionnaires and wearing a Live Wire costume, but here he's back to being isolated and wearing Element Lad's costume. Not sure what to make of this except that perhaps Giffen and DnA didn't really think that scene through last issue. I'm also not sure why Garth would continue to wear Jan's costume, though it makes him easy for Credo to identify.

Even though he's in Jan's body, Garth possesses his own lightning powers. I guess the powers are mental and not physical.

In general, I have no problem with Credo as villains. They represent an all-too-common mindset that is consumed by hate and which is sadly even more relevant today. In wanting to stamp out everything connected with the Progenitor, they become just as brutal and callous, landing their ship on a city to show their might. It comes as no surprise that Singularity reneges on his offer to free the captive Legionnaires. The ends justify the means to a demagogue.

Also like such leaders, Singularity is intelligent and clever. He uses Jaz's words against her. After she announces that the Legion is there to deescalate conflict, he makes it clear that the only way the Legionnaires will get their captive comrades back is through conflict. Jaz has no choice but to order a withdrawal. It's galling when a leader has to do that, but sometimes it's the best course. I think Jaz does show good leadership here. Being a leader means making unpopular decisions such as regrouping and planning the next move, not allowing herself to be forced into making a decision. Jaz is also receptive to whatever Vi is planning. (I, too, think she snuck in on Live Wire.) A good leader doesn't have to come up with all the ideas but should be receptive when a subordinate has a plan.

In the end, it's up to Live Wire to do what Live Wire does: Be the hero and sacrifice himself for his teammates. I do wish Garth had spent some time deliberating on this choice. He already sacrificed himself and look how it turned out. He's in an unfamiliar body and shunned by the very teammates he saved. (I'm reminded of Black Sabbath's song "Iron Man," which features a hero who endures a similar fate. But this hero turns against the people he once saved and who now shun him.) Garth does what the plot requires him to do, but to me, he comes across as a flat character.


Good call on this one. The nature of Credo's power is unexplained, but Mon isn't coming off very well in this story. He's just a guy in a red costume, not one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Not sure what to make of Kinetix. She's just there as background material.


One of the aspects of this issue I did enjoy was the bantering over Superboy's impulsive tendencies.

However, I was puzzled by Cos' statement to Jaz, "Good to have you back as leader." He must be referring to the fact that she delegated leadership to him during the Darkseid story when she thought her powers were failing, but this isn't clear.


Another good catch.


Sure, why not? Most cultures have a representation of ultimate evil. Since all of this is being translated into Interlac (or English for us readers), perhaps "Satan" is a general term for devil or demonic being.


Now I'm thinking of "Hungry Like the Wolf" whenever I see Timber Wolf.

I had similar thoughts, wondering if the E Lad costume is fused to Jan's body now. As to Garth's electrical powers, whatever the handwavium description given by Gym'll at the beginning seemed to do the trick for making of that to me, but I'm wondering about the Trommite powers.


I definitely think the concept works really well and is still relevant, but there's something about the execution when its the foot soldiers in play that doesn't work for me. Not sure if its that the particular foot soldiers that are shown fighting with Legionnaires don't seem like the kinds of people who could take down Legionnaires or what. On the other hand, you could also say that these followers of Singularity are fighting with the strength of zealots.

I do think Singularity himself effectively comes across as a major threat, though.


Really, really great point here.


I'll disagree here somewhat - I found his choice made sense to him on a few levels; obviously he wants to get the other teammates back and get a chance to talk to Singularity. But I also had the sense, based on the opening conversation, that Garth really has nothing to lose at this point for the very reasons you stated above. So not a death wish, per se, but having him at least internally dialogue that would have been good to see for sure.


You are reminding me of the concept of common cultural memories as was explored in "Childhood's End" but also (and more whimically) the common Gin and Tonic variants across cultures as shown in "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe."


LOL You're welcome.

Given Tasmia's frequent crotch shots, perhaps her theme song should be "New Moon on Monday."

LOL - DEFINITELY true!!

Too bad DnA transformed Sensor, otherwise we could have thrown in a "Union of the Snake" reference.

The Legion #33

Released May 26, 2004
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

Notorious Part 2
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Chris Batista - Pencils
Jay Lester - Inks
Sno Cone - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

RJ Brande is being tortured by Singularity to admit that the Legion is the source of the galaxy's suffering by being the source of Element Lad/Progenitor. Refusing to break, Brande is sent back to his cell to rejoin Kinetix, Gates and Chameleon, all three bound by some kind of power inhibitors. They are joined shortly by Garth. Gates and Cham think its a trick, but Brande and Kinetix (who seems to be speaking normally now instead of in ethereal phrasing) sense the truth. Garth explains what happened and why he's there, but Cham has none of it.

The trap springs; the Espionage Squad has been with Garth the entire time. Invisible Kid, Sensor, Apparition and Vi reveal themselves, dispatch the guards, and free their colleagues from the power inhibitors. The alarms start going off and the other half of the surprise attack happens. Starboy changes the mass of the command ship and it lifts in the air, isolating it from the Credo army. The rest of the Legion attacks the ground forces while Garth's group heads to the command center to confront Singularity directly.

The team outside makes quick mincemeat of the Credo aerial attack forces, while Superboy and Ultra Boy get rid of the tanks, showing the power of the full Legion and fighting the army to a standstill. In the Command Center, Singularity seems to be handling the E Squad on his own with Garth the only one left standing as Superboy comes in to save the day, knocking Credo back. In desperation, with his elite followers looking on, Singularity tries to overload the ship's power system, taking the entire planet and everyone on it with him. Garth saves the day by turning Singularity into an Inertron cocoon and stopping the overload.

Cham tells the Credo lackeys to get packing and spread the word that the Progenitor just saved their lives. The Legion is finally reunited.

Back home on Earth, Garth and Imra walk and talk in front of the Legion Memorial. They agree to take it slow and embrace in front of their statues.

Commentary

And so ends the tenure of Abnett & Lanning on the Legion.

I gotta say, my gut reaction was that this was a great issue. In fact, I'd go far to say that if they had placed this storyline immediately after Robotica, I would have enjoyed this run A LOT MORE. Given the DnA pattern of a 5-6 issue story that started really strong, then ended rushed with an occasional stinker of an issue in the mix, plus only focusing on the same third of the Legion, this two-issue story was (including the plot elements from 32) tightly and effectively done. It also uses the ENTIRE Legion in a strategic and effective way that makes sense to the story. Almost everyone is used and/or gets a line of dialog. Lots of other little elements were done well in the background art as well, especially in reunion panel. Its just really too bad that they waited 33 issues, literally on their way out the door, to finally tell a Legion story in the context of everything that DnA had built from Lost.

Thinking about it a little more, its a little TOO tight in the fact that there is a LOT of character stuff glossed over and rushed in that final group page. It felt like this could have been done better with a third issue, where certain things around the characters could be allowed to breathe a bit more.

We've talked a lot about the TPB trend, and this is just a sad example of how the trend to create nothing but multi-part "epics" in order to sell collected editions didn't work very well. If stories like Terrorform and Robotica (not to mention Foundations) were a little tighter and the publication moved around, this story could have been told in the second year of issues versus the end of the line. So a more engaging arc for the Legion as a whole would have been: Terrorform & Robotica (mainly featuring the Lost cast), Memorial service (setup for Garth's return), then Credo before Dream Crime. Let's face it, the Credo showdown doesn't need Superboy if you have M'Onel.

I read this and think of the wasted opportunities, and wonder just what the Legion editors actually were DOING from 2000-2004 other than sitting back and saying, "Yeah, sure DnA, do that."

And as always, the art crew does a solid job. Not much odd commentary here as the issue is really solid.

Other commentary:

As suspected, Vi is with Garth, but so is the whole E Squad! Super cool! (Also - Finally!)

So I get why Sensor's there, but how? We don't see her as one of the guards coming in. I guess she can make herself effectively invisible, but she's shown being revealed as posing as a guard. That was an odd misstep here.

Why is Dreamer in the bottom panel of Page 8?

Nice to FINALLY see Kinetix and Vi in proximity to each other for the first time in 2-3 years. Not like they were shown for years as being the closest friends out of anyone in the Legion or anything...

Star Boy's role - I know he can affect the density of objects, but how is it lifting? Based on the following panel, I assumed it was M'Onel, but he seems to be lifting a tank.

The final confrontation with Singularity is well done, although a bit hand-wavy, as I'm still not sure what his powers really are, nor what Garth did to him - how is what he did here different from the time-protection from the Darkseid story? Also, I like to think that the Credo changed their ways in the end, but as we all know from world experience, people tend to self justify events and double down on crazy. But this issue also helped focus what my actual problem is with Credo - They are just a bunch of fanatics, for the most part without any odd superpowers, so there power is simply overwhelming force with Singularity as their ace. For a super team like the Legion, this should be childs play to knock over, with Singularity being the force to be reckoned with, as was the case. So I never really felt threated by them from the point of view of being a threat to the Legion itself. Credo's victims are another story, but it reinforces the need for a team like the Legion.

The Legion reunion scene was very nice, but a TON of shorthand was going on here: M'Onel introducing Brande and Superboy, Jo and Tinya showing positive feelings for each other after two years, Garth and Ayla seemingly reconciling.

Grade: A-. This issue gave me a lot of what I've been looking for in this Legion run, but was a little on the light side.

Also, a repeat on a housekeeping note - Even though this is thread is the "DnA Legion" I will be reading/reviewing through Issue 38.

#33 . . .

Well, if you have to go out on a high note . . .

The cover really says it all. This is DnA's swan song on the Legion and they leave us with a team very much intact and victorious. There isn't much of a plot here. The Legion swoops in and makes quick work out of Credo. It's once again up to Garth to save the day. (I presume he does so using Element Lad's powers, but this isn't explained.) It's a feel-good story with a lot of feel-good moments as long as you don't think too much about it. Just go with the flow.

"Notorious, Part 2" reminded me of the two-part story back in Adventure Comics # 350-351, when the Legion is reunited--Superboy, Supergirl, Star Boy, and Dream Girl are all allowed to rejoin, Lightning Lad grows a new human arm to replace the one he lost, Bouncing Boy gets his powers back, and Matter-Eater Lad, who became super-fat, slims down. All that, and the Legion defeats the villain Evillo and his Devil's half-Dozen. It was a feel-good moment for the Legion, a crowning victory, and a sense of family coming full circle. I think DnA were trying for a similar vibe here.

It's partially successful. I loved it when Lyle appeared. I guessed that Violet had stowed away on Garth when he surrendered to Credo, but I didn't suspect that the entire Espionage Squad had followed suit. Nice surprise!

I can also imagine what R.J. must have been thinking when he saw Superboy. The intro sets this up brilliantly with R.J. reciting how the Legion was inspired by the M2 heroes, including Superman. To see Superboy come to his rescue must have been like the Second Coming. (I don't recall if R. J. met Superboy during the latter's previous stint with the Legion. If so, it would somewhat undercut this moment. After all, Brande knows the Legion has interacted with heroes of the past through time travel. Still, the scene is quite nice.)

It's also good to see the heroes behaving in confident ways: Star Boy using his gravity powers to remove Credo's base ship, for example, and Jo and Kon working together to stop the tanks. Yes, these bargain-basement fanatics pose little threat to the Legion, but that's okay. Credo's true super-power is the power of hatred . . . unreasoning, blind obsession. And there are so many of them. When Cham says that the members of Credo were saved from their own leader by their supposed enemy, it really hits home: their hypocrisy, their willingness to settle for simplistic answers, and their desire to follow someone who promises those answers.

I, too, have doubts about whether the members of Credo will learn a lesson from all this, but that's what separates the Legion from them. The Legion's worldview is built on hope, on the belief that people can do the right thing, and the conviction that doing good speaks for itself. They can't know if the seed they plant will take root, but they plant it anyway.

So, this is a rah-rah, rush-to-victory issue, a homecoming celebration. It lacks the depth and significance of the Adventure story I mentioned above, but it makes effective use of DnA's story-telling style--a condensed narrative that relies on movie tropes more than established Marvel/DC tropes. With all of the crowded action scenes, this issue feels like a summer blockbuster--lots of stuff happening but little of it has a lasting impact. Anyway, thanks for the ride, DnA. It was fun while it lasted.


DnA never established how many guards were escorting Garth to the cell. On Page 4, two guards are shown (the purple one and the one with the reverse Hannibal Lecter mask). On Page 5, we see only these two guards again, yet there are two more on Page 6--an orange one (whom Vi defeats) and a human-looking one with green shades (whom Apparition defeats), so it's conceivable that Sensor was there all along and the "camera" just didn't include the guard she was "illusioning" herself to be.


That's actually Page 7. (Drat these stories without page numbers!) Good catch! I suppose it should be Kinetix as she's not elsewhere in the panel.


This threw me, as well. Does he now have Light Lass powers? Is he an all-around master of gravity?


Good point. I glossed over this scene and a lot of other panels in which a lot was happening. I don't care for this narrative style of having something going on in the foreground and a lot of other things happening in the background. Too much cognitive overload for me.

By contrast, I appreciated the final scene with Garth and Imra reuniting in front of the Legion Lost memorial. Nothing is said about the statue by them or in narration, but it's a fitting visual that brings DnA's run full circle.


And I'll be here for the duration.

Agree on all points there. In this run, I was reminded very much of issue 12, where Gear's team encounters the simulacra of the JLA on Warworld - not much meat to the story, but a fun ride.


That's a really interesting comparison - the Evillo and the Devil's "dozen" is an iconic Legion tale. Your comparison to that, and my wishing of being able to rearrange the order of the DnA stories made me think that this story, with the extra 10 pages or so, would have made a MUCH better tribute/anniversary/celebratory 25th issue versus the first part of Foundations.


So Brande was there when Superboy was helping with the Valor rescue that happened in the Legionnaires title almost a decade earlier (which is when Connor was given his flight ring). But, splitting hairs, the two are never shown interacting directly. I can also chalk it up to Brande's gratitude. Its one of those things that are happening in the background, but no words are said, so you can fill in the gap yourself until someone comes along later to canonize it.

Also loved the E Squad reveal!!! It was somewhat bittersweet - here we are 33 issues into this run and its the first time they are used.


Sigh. In the "Past is prologue" department. I think seeing the world around us today is why I'm so pessimistic about that outcome. But its also helps make sense of the Legion's ability to take care of these creeps. They were only as strong as their leader, and once he's humiliated, they are forced to take stock of their own beleifs. Some who saw that Singularity thought ultimately that EVERYONE was expendable, may see the error of their ways; others may double down.


Yep, I can figure that. I'm chalking this one up to editorial axing after cramming three issues of story into two.


Ah! I think that's it exactly! I'm reading digitally, so they count the cover as "Page 1"


Yep - again, I think they were jamming a lot in here. A hasty reconciliation of Tinya & Jo among them. It would have served better to not have had the silly Giffen story in issue 31 to have a deneoument issue that resolved all of that. Of course, it would have been better to not stretch a lot of these silly plot points out for three years.


Agree - Given the fact that they began their Legion run with dragging the Legion into a really dark place five years prior, its good to have a bookend coming out of that place on a positive note, however rushed or weird it is to see Imra embracing Jan.


Excellent!

I'm very much looking forward to digging into the Simone issues. Also, I'll likely do an overview of the entirety of the DnA works as part of it at some point. There are some interesting patterns that we've discovered going through these issues 20 years later.

issue 32 -

I generally liked this story, but I agree - it was feel-good, by-the-numbers, not particularly deep.
But it served its purpose of generally wrapping up DNA's Legion (I agree though, with reviewing until issue 38). It wrapped up most things. I wish DNA had had more issues to wrap this up, but it was enjoyable enough.

Garth of course comes out looking very good, between the initial drama of his condition and his willingness to sacrifice himself.

Singularity comes off as very bad of course, beating up poor harmless RJ, refusing to listen to reason, double-crossing Garth... there's no doubt he's the bad guy.

Agree that Jazmin comes off as a great leader.

I did like Jaz leading the Legion in a show of force, and explaining some of their powers.

I also agree re some of the other weak points -

1) The Credo not being a credible threat to M'Onel or Hypertaxis Kinetix at all. (Also, kinda stupid indeed how everyone was gathered around him when he returns to Legion World, not helping the poor Kwai navigator close the Threshold... and he paid for it with his life).

(though I also agree with HWW, that I accept them as credible villains overall - I thought they were a good representation of what we all-too-often see in the real world, with the truth being garbled and distorted and people buying into falsehoods)

2) The Credo and their annoying monotonous slogans, so bad that even Umbra ridiculed them for it.

Issue 33 -

So, I really liked most of the issue and the battle. It had key moments for most Legionnaires, even if only a panel or two (so I agree very much with what GL said, it used the large cast very well!). I loved the smarts behind it - Espionage Squad comes in and rescues the hostages. Once done, Star Boy separates the lead ship, Umbra covers the battlefield in darkness, and Wave 1 (full of mainly hand-to-hand combat specialists) breaks the Credo ranks. The rest of the team is used effectively, with Jo and Connor stopping the machine advance, Cos/Gear/Ferro dismantling ships, Dreamer helping Jaz control the flow of battle, Brainy and XS using their skills to knock out a whole bunch of soldiers... I loved it, as I explained extensively before, this is my idea of a hero plan (though I admit, I prefer a bit more tension and drama, so this went a bit too easily to be perfect )

Re Star Boy, his power has been changed to affect gravity, so I figured that's how he lifted the ship.

the one thing they did very, very poorly IMO? having the E. Squad rescue Brande... then bringing him along to battle Singularity. uh what? What's RJ gonna do there, throw money at the enemy? Gates or Apparition could have gotten Brande out and come back in to rejoin the battle... like what? (also, it's really stupid IMO that Sensor didn't use her illusion powers to hide their advance... they're fighting Singularity himself, did the team forget how powerful he was during Legion Lost? Hello???)

the other thing they could have done better was exploring the hate powering the Credo, we didn't get enough time to explore it. And I'm doubtful if the finale was enough to really knock the wind out of the Credo's sails - not every Credo member witnessed Singularity's actions; for all we know, some agreed with Singularity's hate, that it was worth their lives to kill the "Progenitor"; etc. etc.

I also noticed the Dreamer/Kinetix mix-up re miscoloring.

And yes, the ending with Garth and Imra was well-deserved.

overall nice and enjoyable, a bit light and could have gone deeper, but it was a nice pert ending that wrapped up a lot of things - like GL said, many in the background in the last couple panels.

Still annoyed that Kinetix wasn't de-terrorformed though I imagine if they had more space, they could have worked that in somehow during the final battle vs. Singularity.

After reading this and the discussion, I'm coming down to the opinion of, yes, they are good opponent for the Legion in that they stand opposite of the Legion's purpose, but they only have power as dangerous a scale as they do now because of Singularity. Take him out and the rest falls easily; another reason I wasn't too bothered by the two-issue nature of the plot.

I would have liked a third issue for the purpose of thread resolution.


Okay - I think I missed something somewhere, but they've messed with his powers across the entire reboot that its not obvious at all...


Great points here. While I'm thinking about plot threads, couldn't RJ have done something telepathically? Otherwise I have this vision of him with a money gun. Great point about having Gates get Brande out - yes you need to get to Singularity but at least get Brande out to some degree of safety!

Also have we figured out what Singularity's power actually IS?


I guess - I think they could make some good dramatic hay out of it, but unless they get a super-powered leader they would be best moving forward to be a recurring nuisance that smaller teams of the Legion would have to keep cleaning up.


Me too, but honestly, I don't think DnA understood characters with mystical powers, so I don't think they would have ever done anything with her.

As I understand things, DnA were - shall we say - hastened off this title. Does anyone know what the story was around that?

I think it's more of a failing of DnA's story-telling style. They get us into the "meat" of the scene very quickly, but there's no setup. All it would take is a panel of Garth being escorted down the hall by six guards. That would establish who is there so characters aren't pulled in out of nowhere.


I'm not sure it's reconciliation so much as a celebration of their victory. Whatever Jo and Tinya have been through, it feels great to be a Legionnaire and to win. And naturally you want to celebrate with someone you're close to. I agree that the thread of their relationship was left hanging. There never really was a resolution.


On the other hand, Imra can have an affair without actually having an affair.

I'll show myself out.

You're probably right, but I was trying to be charitable




Well, she already did it badly before, so....

Re Thom?s power becoming gravity control, always interpreted it as such after LW 4. Making something collapse in on itself is also a function of gravity I guess

I wonder if that?s one reason DNA transformed Kinetix. Thom?s gravity control can also simulate telekinesis- at least, moving things around. Though of course he can?t do the fine matter manipulation that Kinetix could

Good question. I would love for someone to ask Abnett or Lanning about this.

I think there's enough evidence to support the theory that they didn't really understand how to use her powers (many did not), but then again, you could say they also didn't after they had used her in her plot capacity. In fact, THAT's probably the better question - "why the **** did you not change her back?" It seems like that alone would be rife with story potential.

Is this a good time as any to make a list of plotlines DnA left unresolved? I'll start:

--Thom's power fluctuation.
--Thom's gravestone.
--Jo and Tinya's relationship.
--Cub's superfast growth.

Kinetix as Terrorform, I refuse to accept that was the end state! but I know I?m biased

Connor in the 31st century


Whatever happened to Sharn Nux and Computo

LOL I was considering putting that on my list too, so since we have more than one vote, it goes on! I wasn't sure about Connor, as I don't remember if he's in any of the remaining issues - it sounds like he's not, so he should also be on that list (It actually makes sense since Gail Simone did not know the book was being canceled when she wrote her story).

So here's the current list (with stuff I added):

--Thom's power fluctuation.
--Thom's gravestone.
--Jo and Tinya's relationship. *((To include Imra & Brin)
--Cub's superfast growth.
--Kinetix in Terrorform limbo
--Connor stranded in the 31st
--Sharn Nux/Computo cliffhanger
--Mekt
--Valor (just bringing his costume back doesn't count!)
--Ayla & Cham's relationship
--Footstep Drive creature implications
--Wazzo hiring out hitmen to kidnap her daughter
--Rokk a wanted criminal on Braal/whatever happened to Dirk Morgna?
--What's the actual story behind the Ra's clones?
--Other than the slap on the back, what's the real relationship w/Ayla and Garth?

And THAT's just DnA. If you include the pre-DnA stuff:

Lori Morning & Proty
Brande's Martian connection
Whatever happened to:
Dirk Morgna
Tenzil
Marla Latham (I mean, c'mon)
Mysa

Re: Shar Nux/Computo: I think we were all thinking Darkseid had something to do with it, but there's nary of mention of the two in "Foundations." For that matter, "Foundations" ends with both young and old Darkseid burning with hatred for the Legion. These open cliffhanger endings do nothing for me.

While we're on the subject of underdeveloped Legionnaires, Triad also got short-shrift. She had a major role in Legion Worlds #1, but once the Legion was reformed, she was relegated to office manager/mission controller. Sure, she flirted with Chuck, but that makes her only marginally more developed than Violet.

M'Onel fades into the background once Superboy arrives. Mon is conveniently in the Second Galaxy when Kon rejoins, and he doesn't have much to do in the final battle with Credo.

It's hard for me to balance these comments with what I would like to have seen. DnA brought a different approach to Legion story-telling. They emphasized the end-of-the-world blockbusters and focused on a smaller cast of characters. I like to think they made a good-faith effort to include every active Legionnaire, but their cinematic approach didn't lend itself to handling a large cast. The Legion isn't a "movie." It's more of a serialized TV drama akin to St. Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues, shows which featured large casts and gave everyone something worthwhile to do. (However, I recently re-watched the first season and a half of St. Elsewhere on Hulu. It took the writers a while to find their groove. Several early characters and plotlines went nowhere.) DnA's approach lasted four and a half years; now that the re-read is over, I feel underwhelmed. They had so much potential going into the series, especially with Legion Lost and Legion Worlds. But the regular series became a carnival ride with a few pit stops along the way.

It's always easy to second-guess the writers, and they were no doubt constrained by marketing conditions of the time. Comics lost ground to video games and other forms of entertainment, so it's no surprise that the push to get the series into book stores dominated. Ironically, physical bookstores, too, are now pretty much a part of the past.

Nevertheless, DnA set up many fascinating possibilities such as Legion World becoming a literal world. For me, the true disappointment came five issues later, when this series was canceled and the Legion was rebooted again. All the groundwork and daring storytelling of this incarnation were thrown away. I read the threeboot preview and quit cold turkey. It was the second time in my life I had stopped following the Legion. This time--aside from an occasional issue here and there--the separation became permanent. As a reader, I do not like having my investment in the characters trampled. I do not like frequent start-overs. A story and a series should go somewhere, not back to square one.

I was going through a lot of changes at the time, too. By the year's end, I had a broken heart and had left my job of seven years to embark on a new career. I had neither the time nor money for comics. It turned out to be a blessing. Sometimes you really do need to step away from things you thought would always be a part of your life. Sometimes you have to discover who you really are.

Re-reading the DnA run has been interesting. I had forgotten most of these stories, especially after Robotica. I can see why now. They aren't very memorable. They are kind of fun, though. But I suspect DnA were shooting for more than just fun. The heavy dose of science fiction elements and the fates of Jan, Garth, and Candi suggest they truly wanted to have a lasting impact on readers. But I think they were constrained further by the prevailing notion that comics aren't literature; they are "mere" entertainment. Ironically, in their efforts to sell books by fitting into the paradigm, they fell short.

A bit off topic, but I?m glad you came through that difficult period of your life with new insight into yourself, HWW!

I?ll post about my overall thoughts on DNA later - not easy to do while on the phone lol

It sure did seem like that's what they were intimating at the end of the Robotica story, didn't it. That's very curious.


I still think Vi got more shafted overall, but Triad *did* have a decent amount of focus in the first half of the run - Worlds 1, then the Shikari breakout, her KO of Ra's and the discussion with M'Onel at the end. After that - yeah she basically just ran the bridge. Vi at least got some good airplay from Foundations onward.


Which makes me suspect that they were planning the Superboy thing almost as soon as they mentioned the away mission. With two of their most powerful not around, Superboy can be a star action player.


I think I agree with what you're saying here completely. Most TV shows take a season to get their legs, and for DnA's Legion, I think that was the Damned/Rift stories that ended the prior run. It seems like they went all in with the "collected edition" mentality, but I agree, their approach didn't work as well as it should have. I'm going to go into this more in my own summary, but as I said before I appreciate these stories much better, and I'd absolutely revise my vote. They should have stopped at Robotica. It had been three years at that point, and I think that is too much for a single writer, or team of writers, to do the same thing over and over again. Alternatively, they could have changed the format somewhat and had a build up of a few 2 or 3 issue arcs, which then built into the HUGE story, thereby using more of the cast. The earlier writers used this to great effect, at least until they didn't. And that's where the Legion's editors failed in the mix.


Thank you for sharing that. Your description here matches my feeling from reading the end of Lost throught he first six of The Legion. Despite the epic story that was Legion Lost, I felt like DnA had shredded the characters that I loved that came to me at a low part of my life that kept me (for want of a better word) sane, and I was going through my own significant life changes around this time as well. So with the obvious focus on the characters that weren't my favorite, and the mutating of the ones that were, the lack of free time from having a newborn, I just started to check out from the Legion. Ironically, the fresh start of the threeboot made me pick it up again. Even though they went in odd directions with the characters, the first year or so of that title held my attention. But I would admit to a healthy dose of disappointment that the Reboot characters were tossed away. (And for that, my understanding is that Dan Didio is the primary person responsible for the Legion mess that's been created from that point on).


Yep. They went Serious and Dark. Which works if its done in doses, but it went on for too long, IMO. I'll get to that in my overview.

The Legion #34

Released June 30, 2004
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

Childhood's End
Keith Champagne - Writer
Steve Lightle - Art
Sno Cone - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

In the Anti-matter universe, the world Qward sits, burnt out and wasted by two factions, the Weaponers and the Thunderers. Lord Thalon stands as the savior of Qward weilding an energy that makes him a god among them. In his palace, Thalon's son Vox wants to learn more, but Thalon is a harsh father and ruler, brutally torturing any who stand in his way.

Thalon steals inside a genetically secure chamber and it is revealed that Thalon's secret is that he's captured Wildfire across universes and is somehow siphoning off his energy to rule the land. Vox plays at being a conqueror when he stumbles upon the Legionnaire rescue party: Shikari, Umbra, Chameleon, Invisible Kid and Karate Kid. Vox turns and runs for help, evading the Legionnaires "Stealth" Squad.

He then appeals to Thalon's guards to help, but they would rather see the Vox dead. The Legionnaires intervene and stop the guards, but not before Vox, with the same genetic signature as Thalon, steals into the secret chamber. The ruckus has attrackted more guards and the Legion begins to fight for their lives. Inside the chamber, Thalon attempts to kill Vox, but gains enough time for Thalon to take a look at what's going on outside. After Thalon leaves, Wildfire asks Vox for help.

In the outside fight, Thalon takes out the Legionnaires easily. Wildfire explains the situation to Vox: Thalon has been using Wildfire as a battery, and draining him. Thalon kills his remaining guards, so as to have no witnesses when he murders the Legionnaires. Karate Kid, however, recovers and attacks Thalon. Vox realizes that his father is a fake and hits him with a thunderbolt. Wildfire escapes from his containment, showing himself as a radiant, angelic figure. Thalon attacks Wildfire with the power previously drained, which does nothing. Vox murders Thalon.

Invisible Kid tries to pick up the peices as Shikari and Wildfire make eyes at each other. Invisible Kid tries to reason with Vox, but apparently morals are as opposite as energy in this universe, with him rejecting the Legionnaires in complete hatred and sending them on their way. Later he mulls on the hatred he feels for the Legion for returning his world to darkness.

Back on Legion World, Brainiac 5 is analyzing Wildfire, who in the "real" universe is just an amorphous blob of energy. Brainy gives Wildfire the bad news: Thalon's energy drain has been slowly sapping his total energy, and now any energy expenditure will bring Wildfire closer to death.


Commentary

So here we are in the first post-DnA issue, a one-shot. Once I got past the first speed bump of the story taking place in an "anti-matter universe" I enjoyed the story for the most part, with a couple exceptions. Anti-matter is always depicted in sci-fi as something that creates universal annihilation when both come in contact, so I had to fight with that one a bit. But the story turns nicely with a nasty anatagonist in Thalon, and his clone child Vox, whom up until the end is shown to have the opportunity to be a heroic leader but in an anti-universe where hate is common currency opposite compassion, he is left as a potential future enemy of the Legion. We are dropped in media res where Thalon has somehow, somewhen captured Wildfire across universes and has been bleeding him for an unknown period of time. The conflict for the most part is well done, with the red herring of Vox potentially being heroic at the end being drawn out - he's more of an anti-hero, willing to kill his 'father' for his own ends versus the greater good. Where I had an issue with the plot specifically was that I didn't understand, outside of the "crazy" excuse, why Thalon killed his guards after defeating the Legionnaires. It seemed as if that was all done so Thalon could monologue about him recognizing who they were and thus have no witnesses. Don't we have thought ballons? The end result - Wildfire in the real world is back to his amorphous self and setting a limit on Wildfire's power is an interesting move that sets up some provocative situations in the future, where he could literally drain himself out of existence. Alas that was never to pan out.

Steve Lightle's art is great here. We've become used to Batista, but Lightle is a good option here with a lot of shade used in this dark world of Qward. The only issue I had was Umbra's costume - in here the offset design in her bottoms is colored almost so that it looks like she has a hole in her pants. Shikari and Drake making eyes at each other was cute - and I'm sorry, no one can tell me with a straight face that Shikari wasn't supposed to be Dawnstar in this universe.

Other notes

"Childhood's End" is, of course, the name of the Clarke classic, but was also used in DnA's first part of "Legion of the Damned" which was their second full regular Legion issue, but now the first issue without them as writers. Here, it refers to both Vox's awakening of his father's vulnerabilities, but also Wildfire's realization that he has a time limit on life.

It's not stated specifically, but it is quite obvious that these people reproduce by some kind of cloning mechanism.

Cham transforming into a Hykraian was a nice touch.

Surprised they didn't go full espionage sqad here and bring Vi, Triad and Apparition.

My only issue with the Wildfire resolution was that, as I understand it, Wildfire has been in his current state for millenia. Thalon must have been using a TON of energy to affect Wildfire in that much of an energy drain, but we aren't shown what a lot of that energy was used for other than to have Thalus blast a bunch of folks. Cold and dead Qward doesn't look much different than Wildfire powered Qward. Its a tiny nit to pick, though, as I liked the tense situation where it left Wildfire.

Grade - A-. Nice, well drawn, self contained story issue.

34 . . .

This is a gorgeously drawn done-in-one issue that focuses not on the Legion but on Vox, a child of Qward--the antimatter universe introduced way back in old Green Lantern stories (if memory serves). This is the 31st century Qward, and the vaunted power of their lightning-hurling Thunderers is long past (though they still have their creepy bulging eyes). This world without women is harsh--toxic masculinity at its most toxic. The end result is a destroyed culture that turns to a god for salvation. But their god is a con artist, a man who has somehow captured the Legionnaire Wildfire and is using the latter's power to sustain the entire planet. Like most comic book despots, Lord Thalon has no redeeming qualities. He wantonly kills subordinates who fail to please him and routinely threatens to kill his own clone-son, our narrator and "protagonist," Vox.

Enter the Legion. They've snuck into Qward to free their captive teammate. But Vox discovers them and, while trying to report the intrusion of these "monsters" to his father, he comes to see Lord Thalon for what he truly is. Vox kills his father, rejects the Legion's offer of help, and tells them to leave. It all happens very quickly and conveniently, as it must in a single-issue story.

While the plot is competently written and the narrative is tight and intense, "Childhood's End" fails to rise above its main purpose as filler for a couple of reasons. One is that Vox ends up being just another villain who burns with hatred for the Legion. As with Darkseid, I guess we're meant to look forward to a future confrontation, but, even if this had come to pass, I couldn't help groaning at the one-dimensionality of Legion villains. It would have been more interesting, I think, if Vox had developed some other motivation. What are these "female" monsters all about, for example?

The other aspect that made me groan was the limitation posed on Wildfire. Longtime fans of the preboot Legion may remember Kid Psycho, an honorary Legionnaire who had amazing mental powers but whose lifespan was shortened by one year each time he used his power. That's what happens to Wildfire. He's told that each time he uses his power from now on, he will drain himself further and eventually die. I felt it was an unnecessary limitation to the character and added nothing to the story but to create a sense of pathos. (This development is also a callback to Wildfire's first appearance as ERG-1 in Superboy #195. In that story, he drains too much of his power in a single blast and appears to die.)


I think it's in the Despotic Super-Villain Handbook (TM) that you must kill your lackeys each time they fail at some task just to prove how ruthless you are.


DnA can continue to deny the Dawnstar/Shikari connection since they didn't write this issue, but, yeah, that's what I was thinking, too.

Oh, this is interesting to me - I had no idea that this was part of the overall DC continuity. But then again, I never delved deep into the Green Lantern stuff. Thanks for pointing that out.


I didn't have a problem with either of these - yeah by the end Vox is just another crazy hater, but the thread throughout the story that he *might* turn for the greater good kept me interested through the story. Similarly with Wildfire - if he were to "burn out" its easy enough to figure a way to fix it, but it introduces some interesting concepts (just coincidentally, I just read the Baxter LSH issue just after COI where they talk about the Death of KP).


LOL

I first started this thread after examining my own extreme negative reaction in Ann Hebistand's DnA poll from this past spring. I voted on it after having read all the reboot up to LSH 125 very soon before that poll. I had read the full run of DnA back in the day (not in real-time though), and just remembered checking out in the latter half of the first year's issues. One world-busting, character-morphing event after another that did not include any of the characters I loved just seemed to leave me cold. But I was vehement and voted that DnA should never have touched the book. If I'm being honest, I still would wonder what a different creative team would have done; the book needed shaking up, but I am still not convinced it needed 5 years of DnA. By the end of the journey, I started appreciating what they did a lot more, but I do think they were on the title for much too long.

Abnett & Lanning's impact on the Legion was, in the five or so years of them being involved writing the team, both amazing and inspiring but also confusingly mundane at times. Maybe the fact that their tenure ended the way it began ? by editorial fiat ? is why that is the case. I was a huge reboot Legion fan, as it was my introduction to the characters and background. And when they got dull, they really got dull. In order to fully discuss the DnA Legon run, I think we need to take a moment to look at the situation that brought them to the book.

After Legion of Super Heroes #100, the editorial reins of the title shifted from KC Carlson to Mike McAvennie, who up to that point had been an assistant editor on the Legion books while being lead editor of others, like Superboy. At that point, the two Legion titles stalled creatively which led to a sales doldrum. Previously rejected storylines were recycled with little impact, humdrum stories were written for a couple years and fans walked away or didn't care. Pretty much everyone, including die-hard fans of the reboot, said that some kind of change needed to happen. I'm making an educated guess here, but given what happened, it seems as if DC editorial said something to the effect of, ""We need to whittle this down to one book. Figure it out, or its gone." He hired DnA and Oliver Coipel, completely sacking the existing writers and illustrators (save colorist Tom McCraw) and the DnA Legion was born.

Legion of the Damned and Widening Rifts dragged the Legionnaires' world upside down and put them in very dark circumstances, very much different from the prior five years. But it also served the purpose of ending the Legionnaires and LSH titles to make way for the amazing drama and character study of Legion Lost. Both its drama and controversy ensure that it will be a fixture on the list of the most talked about Legion tales, and the follow-on, Legion Worlds had a similar character focus on the Legionnaires left behind, all setting up the new ongoing The Legion.

The fact that "The Legion" made it to publication with the success that it had is probably the reason many Legion fans put DnA on the Mount Rushmore of Legion writers (witness the winning vote from Ann's poll that said they should have finished their run, whatever that was to be). While the pre-DnA writers were showing some signs of life at the end of the run, cancelation seemed to be an inevitability (see the Legion Omincom's discussion of Legion sales numbers). Extreme praise should be given to Abnett, Lanning and McAvennie for plotting out this relaunch that would take place over the better part of two years, as they wound down the current books, launched two successive (and successful) limited stories that laid the groundwork for a new monthly in a very interesting way, arguably rescuing the team from cancellation.

So what did they do right? Lots. The characters (and many of the villains) were complicated. Characters like Saturn Girl were put in moral grey areas that cause me to seriously question whether I enjoyed the character or not. Characters were defined in a way where you actually cared about them in new ways, which had been missing for a long time in the Legion titles. DnA were MASTERS of worldbuilding. The level of detail that they would put into the setup of these stories was really amazing. The characters they focused on were very fleshed out. And for the most part, they could spin a good story with epic stakes at play. The art was also a high note. Oliver Coipel, who started out with a drawing style that I personally found lacking in Legion of the Damned, ended up being an excellent illustrator when backed with Lanning's inks and it became almost a signature element of the run.

What could have gone better? The characters - where they did a great job focusing on a core dozen or so - primarily those featured in Legion Lost, the rest of the team suffered from essentially being background players. While it was great to see Kid Quantum as Legion Leader, she was given too much screen time. This is a Legion of 25 characters plus supporting staff. If you can't handle that large of a cast, maybe you shouldn't be writing a book called The Legion. While the world building was great, it introduced a lot of plot threads that were barely touched on, or completely ignored. They also had many five- or six-part stories that were clearly designed to be collected into trade paperbacks, but the length of those stories made the arc to drawn out or was padded to include an issue with a bad plot that dragged the overall story down, and then had extremely rushed endings. A much tighter edit, or successive 2-3 issue arcs would have likely worked better to cover more ground and characters.

What REALLY didn't work for me? A couple main things, but primarily the fact that, with the exception of the COMPUTO storyline, they did everything possible to set their world completely apart from what Waid, Peyer, Stern and McCraw, not to mention the illustrators like Moy, did to set up their world. There was no editorial callback to older issues from the earlier run (save COMPUTO) and there were a lot of characters that were never seen again. As a Legion reboot fan, as well as a fan of comics continuity, I found that very disrespectful of one creator to not acknowledge the prior work. It felt like THEY didn't like or appreciate what the earlier team did, and that didn't sit well with me. The other was an over-reliance on the deux ex machina concept in their stories. It's used constantly, and it sticks out like a sore thumb. It's very possible they realized that they overreached with repeating the "Earth in mortal danger" story and the deus ex machina was the only way out without writing another two issues.

The last thing I'll point out on this topic is the favoring of Sci-Fi at the expense of magic or even super-heroics. Magic is a traditional part of the Legion, and its omission is glaring, as no characters from the reboot with mystical or magical powers are really used, or if they are they end up horribly altered. The best Legion books are those that have a blend of all the above, but this run lost its way (in my opinion) by over-emphasizing the sci-fi as the focus. Of course, the writer has the prerogative to do what they want and to create the universe as they saw fit. My concern about it was that vision of the Legion universe got old after three years.

So, all that to say they did a pretty good job. If you average out the issues across the 33-issue run based on the grades in my reviews, you end up with something about a C+ or B-, depending on how generous you're feeling. That's not bad for a run of almost three years. It's not great, but its certainly nothing to scoff at or dismiss. The DnA storylines had a very consistent pattern about them ? a strong (usually REALLY strong) start, a couple of good issues, probably one stinker, then a good, but hastily rushed ending. The one exception to this is the Foundations storyline which started very weak, but then got better.

I certainly think they stayed too long on the job. Other opinions have been expressed that they should have left after Robotica was complete, and I agree with this take. That was a logical ending that wrapped up the first plot point they ever introduced in the Legionnaires title, and after that give it to a new creative team. Maybe it's the case that comic book writers, at least on a well-established title at a well-known publisher should rotate every 2-3 years for freshness sake. Goodness knows it was needed pre-DnA, as that team was there for 4-5 years and got stale. So did DnA in the same timeframe. The dark mood of Damned, Lost, Terrorforms and Robotica was the variation of the same theme played over three years, and it was a bit much for my tastes. But at the end of the day, I'd change my vote on Ann's poll to "After Computo Storyline." That being said, I do wish that they would have done a bit of a tighter job in the stories to reduce it to 10-12 issues. Coincidentally, this aligns with when Mike McAvennie, who brought them into The Legion, was fired, as well as when Dan DiDio was brought into DC as VP Editorial. Whether there is any connection to all of those is unknown, but the title did seem to veer off track when the editor who brought DnA into the fold was gone.

At the end of the day, they were a good addition to the Legion pantheon. I still don't think they were as great as some give them credit. Legion Lost is a standout title. And they kept the title alive. That's a lot of good karma that I think shined on to some of the stuff that didn't come out that well. To me this is analogous to the Marvel movies today ? even the stinkers (and there are definitely stinker MCU movies) tend to get a pass because of the really good ones. Over the course of writing The Legion, they had some serious missteps, but I think the good that they did by keeping the team alive in an interesting way kept them in good graces as the monthly's quality started to decline.

Ultimately, it seems like they were caught by the same backoffice mismanagement that seems to doom all Legion efforts since the late 1980s. I am not sure of the specifics, but it sure seemed like Dan DiDio, or someone in his staff, just wanted a change - DnA was booted off the title and Mark Waid was contracted to do the threeboot as a completely separate version of the Legion, and he (or Wacker) never bothered to tell Gail Simone that she was closing the book on the Reboot Legion. Maybe we have to wait another ten years to get an oral history of this 5-6 year period when people might be more willing to talk. But I think it would be a fascinating tale.