Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-reading the Threeboot

We start getting into this starting with issue 3, coming up next. It becomes evident that the Legion has been around for longer than a year at the point we are at now, as Luornu revisits Cargg after spending a year with the Legion, and the inference is that she is the fourth member to join as in both prior instances. There's something to be said for jumping into the middle of an environment - you get some time to go back and tell stories of what already happened without stepping on prior continuity. But at some point, you have to go there, I'd think.

The Legion of Super Heroes v5 #3

Released February 23, 2005
DC Comics, Color
31 Pages

Cover Title - Three is a Magic Number

Mark Waid & Barry Kitson - Storytellers
Art Thibert - Finishes Pages 1,3,6-26,28-30
Chris Blythe - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

Triplicate Girl is dangling off a ledge above an inferno as an enemy steals her flight ring and threatens her. She pulls him off the ledge, and triplicates to dangle him further towards the fire below. He surrenders and is taken into custody.

Phantom Girl is reading old Batman comics in Element Lad's room while he preps for a date, and they are seeking dating advice from the comic book. He takes off his ring to switch his appearance to normal clothes when his date arrives - Triplicate Girl! Jan opens by saying he likes to be naked. Lu responds by talking about her story.

She woke to a ruined Cargg to find herself the sole survivor. She found the ability to triplicate and to keep triplicating until she found an upper limit and rebuilt Cargg.

They fly (in their civvies) and go to a deserted tropical island. Jan explains his personality, being at the nexus of change, and how his race is all about Transformation. After an awkward demonstration of his power, Jan picks a flower for Lu.

Back at HQ, Brainy is talking to Lightning Lad over a communications link about the mystery leader that Nura dreamt about last issue but is cut off. Brainy and Cos butt heads about reinforcing Lightning Lad's team and debate leadership semantics. After Cos leaves, Brainy works with someone int he shadows about setting up a portal anyway.

Now Dirk and Triplicate Girl are hanging out in the Plaza. They are both wearing glasses and playing a game where they have to prove they are a superhero. Cham tries, but fails, to join in. Dirk and Lu share stories. Dirk joined because he found Cos inspiring, and his parents encouraged him. Lu continues her story with how the UP contacted Cargg and she joined the Legion and found adventure.

In an interstitial scene, Light Lass, Colossal Boy and Invisible Kid are helping to rebuild a skyscraper. The SPs come in and razz the Legionnaires, accusing them of terrorism if they don't leave the area. Notably, Invisible Kid is invisible the entire time the SPs are around.

Finally Triplicate Girl is on a date with Ultra Boy in his hot convertible. Jo states his mission statement - life is short, take pleasure. Conformity is for chumps. He'll ruin any girl for all other men in an hour. Next minute they're making out in her quarters when the other Trips arrive with their dates, embarrassing all the men. The girls merge to share experiences, but seem unfulfilled.

Cos comes in and we hear that there is trouble in the Legion, similar to Lu's experience. After a year with the Legion, she returned home, only to find that no one wanted to join with her and she was shunned from her peers. She thinks that the Legion is fracturing, due to the reasons they are there - Jan for circumstance, Jo for tribalism, Dirk for glory. All different than the mission of the Legion itself. Sensing a threat to his leadership from Brainy, Cos begins "stage two."


Commentary

In my memory, this is one of the most iconic issues from the threeboot. Triplicate Girl's story is at once fascinating and tragic, having gone through many experiences only to be rejected by the people at home she left. The framework of the date is great as we see Luornu's story in addition to the three guys she's out with. Element Lad seems spacy but well intentioned, Dirk seems fun loving yet attention seeking, and Jo is basically a selfish dickwad. But the slightly more sinister element of all this is that she went on the dates as an intel gathering mission for Cos for him to better understand the Legion's mindset. There is clearly trouble brewing between Brainy and Cos, and this is his way to figure it out, for better or worse. The issue works really well in storytelling and characterization, as everyone seems different (again, for better or worse), we get a lot of backstory, and the new storyline inches forward with a mystery at the edge of known space.

Kitson's work is great, and interestingly enough, he has a different finisher from the prior issue, yet the work looks as good as the prior issues, which says something great for both penciler and inker.

A few other interesting notes:

Flight rings are rare, expensive, coded to wearer's DNA, and enable the wearer's costume. But there is a continuity error - if the rings are designed to provide their costumes, how are Lu and Jan flying to the island in their civvies?

Atom Girl is mythical to Jan, who has been on the team for a while, yet she's never been seen.

The existence of the old Batman comics suggests that this takes place in OUR future.

We get no word about Trom's fate at this point.

We first see Lightning Lad and hear of Saturn Girl (but do see her in flashback) in this issue.

Based on Luornu's story, the Legion has been in play for at least a year and maybe two, as she visited after she was a Legion member for a year.

Do these Trips have different personalities like the Reboot? It seems like they kind of do, based on their dates, but its not stated outright. If I were to map it out, "shy" Lu orange is out with E-Lad, Neutral is with Dirk and Purple is, of course, with Jo.

Kono Juice apparently made it to this boot.

The bit with Cham was kind of cute, showing is attempting, but failing to fit into humanoid culture.

I really feel sorry for all the Ultra Boy fans. The noble and heroic (if reboot co-dependent) has been turned into an insufferable ego-driven douchebag asshole. I want no part of him in this book. It's literally the part of this era that not only aged poorly, but also was no good to begin with.

Grade: A. Even with this Ultra Boy. Triplicate Girl's story and its structure is that good.

I vaguely remember something in the first few issues about Daxam being voted into the UP, and yet, later that year, there's a throwaway mention of a Trom vs. Daxam war that left Daxam depopulated. So I have no idea what's up with that. Were the Daxamites resurrected? Was the planet resettled by other sapients? (If the Trommites settled it after killing all the Daxamites, that could be yucky!)

Hmmm, I'll have to keep an eye out - I don't remember that at all, so that will be interesting to find out...

v5 #3 is probably my favorite single Legion issue of the past twenty years.

I'm pretty iffy on the Waid/Kitson run as a whole, but for a brief moment, at least, it felt like they might actually do something really special.

Yes, issue #3 and another one in the first year and a half really define this run for me (I'll get to the other one later. ) .

Like you said, there are a couple issues where they touch on some amazing potential, but it never really gets realized.

The Legion of Super Heroes v5 #4

Released March 30, 2005
DC Comics, Color
30 Pages

Cover Title - Fight the Power!

Mark Waid - Script
Barry Kitson - Co-Plotter
Leonard Kirk - Penciller
Mick Gray - Inks
Chris Blythe - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis (Fight the Power)

Dirk Morgna's parents are hanging out in Legion HQ passing out cookies; they are big Legion fans and are somewhat throwbacks in the overly conservative society, but Shady thinks that Dirk may be quitting. The Science Police barges in to arrest the Legionnaires. A bogus law has been trumped up to make the Flight Rings illegal by none other than Invisible Kid's father, who is head of a SP division. Cos naturally thinks that Lyle's membership is a setup.

Lyle's backstory is that he is a brilliant whiz kid in chemistry who was inventing an invisibility serum. When he found out his father was going to give his formula to the Science Police. He injected it and double checked his work with Brainy, then joined the Legion to spite his dad. This really pisses Cos off and he orders the Legion to SP HQ. He gives Lyle an ultimatum to pick a side. Lyle puts some of his blood into a vial.

In the battle at SP HQ, Lyle confronts his father. Office Norg plays the "we need the serum to fend off the hordes at the gate" card. Lyle offers his blood with the serum code in it in lieu of coming home, giving an ultimatum to his father. He accepts and the SPs stand down.

Later, the blood sample is given to someone named Praetor Lemnos, who resembles the man from Nura's dream. As the sample is analyzed, the data erases itself, and what Brainy and Lyle see at Legion HQ is access to all the SP data systems. In a final confrontation with Lyle, Cos isn't kicking him out of the Legion, but is kicking him out of HQ due to trust issues and he stays with the Morgnas.

SYNOPSIS II ("There is this girl")

Mark Waid - Writer
Dave Gibbons - Penciller
Drew Geraci - Inker
Paul Mounts - Colorist
Stephen Wacker - Editor

The backup story is Karate Kid talking about his infatuation with Phantom Girl. This Tinya breaks through to the Earth's dimension from Bgtzl by sheer force of will. But she's odd, because when she is more in one dimension than the other, the people in the other dimension can see her, so if she's on Earth fighting, the people on Bgtzl see her phantom fighting. If she's on Bgtzl, say, making out, the people on Earth see her ghostly form canoodling.

So the Legion goes to a club, where Val sees his chance to get to know Tinya better, but as it happens, as they are sitting in a booth together in the club, she's also having "the talk" with her boyfriend on Bgtzl. Unfortunately, Val only hears the breakup talk from Tinya and leaves Tinya alone before she finishes the conversation.

Commentary

Another pretty solid issue, where we get more background on Lyle's situation. It turns out he WAS the kid in the preview who jumped out the window based on a flashback frame. A lot of interesting tension between Cos and Brainy and Lyle here. I found the bit about Lyle planting a virus into the UP computers via his own blood a neat little trick. The use of the Morgnas as this world's versions of hipsters was okay, but a little strange; it puts an interesting spin on Dirk's character as he's mainly doing what his parents want. This was an OK story, mainly acting as a transitional story before the main plot kicks off, as we have been introduced to Lemnos, but other than that, not much else happens. There is a nice bit of mystery introduced around Lyle's and Brainy's motives within the team that gives the story it's energy.

For the first time we get a guest penciler, this time it's Leonard Kirk who does a great job. The entire art team brought this together very well to keep the style pretty much the same from Kitson's work, yet adding their own touches.

The backup story is interesting as it provides a twist on Tinya's nature, but is also sad in its own way, as its hard to see how someone like her could live anything close to a normal life. The club scene hit a bit too close to home from my younger days. It's also drawn well by Dave Gibbons, but not nearly as nice as the A story.

A couple observations -

If the SPs just blew their way into HQ, what happened to all those kids in the plaza?

I think the problem I'm having is that I don't really LIKE anyone so far in this universe. I don't like the background characters, SOME of the Legionnaires are ok, but the ones who have been in the spotlight so far seem like they would be a pain to hang with. So what's great about this universe???


Grade: B+

that's what I felt about both this and the Bendisboot - I know that these characters may be more realistic than, say the Reboot where most everyone was so nice, but I read comics to escape from real life, so likability is important to me

that said, there were a few Threeboot Legionnaires whom I came close to liking: Dream Girl, Light Lass, Chameleon, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Sun Boy, Star Boy, Karate Kid, Shadow Lass top that list. A bit of Phantom Girl, Triplicate Girl, Element Lad, Micro Lad... but certainly not to the extent of many of their counterparts.

Exactly - and its also one of the universe's tone. It's why I soured on DnA compared to the early reboot. I prefer a more optimistic backdrop.

The Legion of Super Heroes v5 #5

Released April 27, 2005
DC Comics, Color
31 Pages

Cover title - "Livin' Fast... Dyin' Young"

Mark Waid & Barry Kitson - Storytellers
Art Thibert - Finishes
Chris Blythe - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

A voiceover walks the reader through Legion Plaza - a UP delegate is infiltrating the Legion environment and trying to send data back to the UP military. The delegate finds the environment welcoming, but can't get any information back. The UP council wants a more positive relationship with the Legion, but the SPs view them as a threat.

We switch to Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl on Rimworld 19 investigating the rumors of the invaders from outside. They hear conflicting stories and the populace is dispirited. Garth and a speedster go out and scout while Saturn Girl keeps the rest of the kids calm. They run into Brin Londo who is helping rescue a child.

On Earth, Ultra Boy and Shadow Lass are on patrol when his powers start to go haywire. He was supposed to talk to Brainy but didn't. She enlists Val to help.

Back on Rimworld, the Legion is telling tales to the kids to keep them calm, but Imra confides in Brin that they don't know how to tell the kids that they are about to step into a holocaust. The Terra Firma team arrives and Elysion rips up a giant pillar of stone from the ground. The kids begin to panic and Garth goes to confront Terra Firma. Imra psychically keeps the kids calm while Garth and Brin fight the Terror Firma members. Elysion holds a kid hostage with a giant stone fist, and parleys with the Legion.

Their team is an advance group of terraformers who are to pave the way for what's to come. He kills the hostage. Garth surrenders and Elysion monologues - they came to this world and devastated it just because they could. But the surrender was a ruse - Garth has been charging his power and unleashes it, stunning Elysion. Imra controls the two female TF members and the remaining two try to duck out, but all of TF is able to escape. Brin is able to follow before their portal closes. Garth and Imra report back to Cosmic Boy and Brainy. As more of these events happen, more UP worlds are leaving.

In Otherspace, Terra Firma meets with Praetor Lemnos. His purpose with Terra Firma was just to cause havoc and will be leading his followers into conquest soon.

Commentary

This is another good, but not great, issue. Because we're still in this mode of setting the table, Terror Firma is brought in as the anti-Legion, the next big antagonist, so we see them demonstrating their destructiveness, but still don't really know why yet. So the story becomes a classic fight story by the end, but its clear that the UP is heading for a bad time. There are some interesting bits about the UP's vs the SP's approach to the Legion, but we're not given much resolution there. We're also given an Ultra Boy who is losing control of his powers. (YAWN)

The most fascinating part of this issue to me was the fact that Garth and Imra are basically in the same position as the Naltorians from a couple issues back. Here they are "adulting" by shielding the kids and struggling with how to give them bad news and Brin is the one pushing back.

More great work from Kitson in the art department.

Other items:

We are given a date: May 2, 3005... Not sure if that is significant at all.

This is the first time we really see Garth and Imra in this series. Titanians all communicate completely telepathically. It's a neat touch.

So Brin used to date Ayla in this reality. But then, who HASN'T Ayla dated? And apparently Brin now has a thing with Projectra.

Jo apparently gets around as well, given that he torched Shady's bed. There's a lot of casual sex in this Legion.

Grade: B+

I'm just gonna say casual sex isn't always bed, as long as someone is safe and isn't using it to fill a void

Don't necessarily disagree, but Waid is very in your face about it in this title. We definitely had sexuality in the Legion from the 70s onward, even in the reboot with 15 year olds (although it was more implied prior to DnA).

Waid's has almost turned the Threeboot Legion into a swingers club. Someone, I think Harbi, wrote that this was a middle aged man's idea of how teens are, and this aspect made me wonder a lot about the writer's mindset here.

I mean sure, I know there are plenty of all types of people, but this Legion seems to be full of people who do nothing but bed-hop and have very few stable, long term relationships. It just strikes me as weird is all.

I think I was drunk when I posted that now that I’m reading it I’m like… why did I say that, what did it have to do with the story lol

And indeed, these are teens…

Also Jo telling Lu to use her power in her room…

Uh oh! Drunk posting alert!!

Seriously, its fine - some teens definitely do that. And Jo is definitely cast as "that guy" (who probably wouldn't last a minute in today's climate).

My only point is that Waid seems to go out of his way to tell us all this about the characters without really showing any Legionnaire IN a real relationship up to this point. The relationships in the prior Legion versions worked a lot like real life - things go kind of gradually and over time you had an interesting tapestry across the team. We had the trip date situation in issue 3 (which was more an intel mission for Lu), but two of the three, Sun Boy and Ultra Boy had been playing "pass the Ayla" based on issue 1. Historically, relationships meant something in the Legion, but this just comes across as doing it for shock value in the face of longtime readers.

I'm trying to remember if Ayla really meant that she went to bed with every guy she dated. I don't have the issues in front of me, so...

But remembering what we learned about Winath's culture in 5YL, you could argue that this free-spiritedness is consistent with at least one earlier take on Ayla's character.

Regardless, I definitely prefer this approach to the way that Levitz basically sex-shamed Imra for having an inebriated one-night stand with Rokk in that one mini-series. :rolleyes: And I write that as someone whose teenage idea of a wild night was drinking more coffee than my folks approved of and, uh... reading a lot of comic books.

I think this comes up a couple other times in upcoming issues based on my hazy memory from 15 years ago. The one element that stands out is Ayla waking up in Gim's brother's place with the schtick of her never remembering where she is in the morning, with the implication that she never stays in the same place (much to Ultra Boy's amusement, I may add).


Yes, that's basically how I figure Waid pulled that in, but again we're not given any context of the world.


The one silver lining was that Ayla seems to have her own agency over which guy she wants to have sex with at any given time. The Levitz story you are talking about is the cooking equivalent of flipping an omelet in the air and having it land on the burner instead of the pan; I hated that story so much. Of course, that was preceded by the similarly awful Imra-marrying-mind-controlled-Rokk in the Reboot 20th century.

Awarding 50 points for the omelet metaphor. Or is it a simile? Well, whatever.

Ah yes those indeed left a bad taste in my mouth. At least here, there’s no shaming involved.

Indeed, in the threeboot, its quite the opposite!

The Legion of Super Heroes v5 #6

Released May 25, 2005
DC Comics, Color
31 Pages

Cover Title - Meet the Legion of Super Heroes

Mark Waid & Barry Kitson - Storytellers
Art Thibert - Inker
Chris Blythe - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

Cos and Star Boy discuss Legion finances and we meet the bankroller of the Legion - Princess Projectra herself, a powerless snob who spends most of her time in her tower arguing with her parents via crystal ball. Her father the king is concerned about dark forces on Orando.

Brainy and Dream Girl investigate Terra Firma but are stymied by the identity of the leader. In the icy tundra of Sydney, Australia, Shady, Karate Kid and Ultra Boy work to fix whatever Jo's mental block is that is making his powers go crazy. Val and Jo spar while Shady uses her power of super snark.

Projectra and Cos start to spar over her being used for her money when the king calls back. Orando is under attack and is being devastated. The team tries to get enough energy together to transmatter, but the king is murdered by Elysion. The Legion is forced to stand down.

SYNOPSIS II - "Who?"

Mark Waid - Writer
Scott Iwahashi - Artist
Dave McCaig - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Brainiac 5 is in his lab obsessing over the mystery leader of Terra Firma, when the man physically appears in the lab. We meet Praetor Lemnos and hear his story; a mutant with the power to make people forget and we see his backstory of how he rose to power. He monologues about his mission - he wants to threaten civilization with Terra Firma so that he can be the one to save it. He leaves and Brainy resumes his investigations, forgetting Lemnos was even there.

Commentary

This was an interesting issue in that it gave us a lot more backstory as well as finishing up the setup of the first arc. The first six issues are the first volume of the threeboot omnis, and it makes sense to stop here as we've learned a lot about this Legion and how it works. I was intrigued that Projectra from Orando was the Legion's financial backer versus the traditional R.J. Brande path. While I was intrigued from the perspective of the story, although I don't think it ultimately works for me. That said, the main plot of Orando being in jeopardy worked really well, as we know the pure destructiveness of Terra Firma, but we are hearing it all second hand. The Legion's inability to get there in time also drives up the tension culminating in Projectra's father's murder, further casting Elysion into a cold villain.

I'm not sure where the Ultra Boy B-story is going, but it is further making me feel sorry for any UBoy fans. This guy's an idiot. Granted we get a good joke at his expense, but as much as I complained about reboot co-dependent Jo, I'd have him any day of the week instead of this moron. Another interstitial scene where Cham quizzes Lyle on classic comic characters doesn't add to the story other than them discussion of Cos' strictness.

The backup story telling Lemnos's tale does its job serviceably, although I still don't see evidence of how the universe is stable to the point of stagnation. Lemnos wants to shake up the system, but by means of a fire cleanse versus the Legion's means.

Art is pretty solid throughout. The Kitson main work is solid as ever, and the visual storytelling of the rush to save Orando even as its coming apart works really well, as does the devastation of the team after, particularly Projectra. Iwahashi's work is fine, but very different from Kitson's and the color choices were a bit more washed out for my tastes, so I didn't like the entirety of the package there.

So let's get to the best part of this issue - the illustrated Letter Column! This was such a cool idea; I beleive it's Kitson doing the art here, but its a great way to break the fourth wall with these overly serious teens. Cham and Cos read and respond to letters over a three page spread. The interesting thing about this particular one is that Cos answers a question about the tenets of the Legion. Cos' sales pitch really doesn't do anything for me, but also the fact that the question has to be asked and answered in the sixth issue via a lettercol is kind of telling. Again, the setting of rebellion, teenage or otherwise didn't age well. I've had my fill of rebellion the last couple years, thanks.

Some other bits:

I'm curious where they take Projectra as Cos is very explicit about her not having powers. She's like Batman from Justice League.

The bit about Sydney being frozen was interesting, but I would think that the 31st century technology would still allow folks to live there with weather control.

As I mentioned above, Projectra being the financial sponsor of the Legion is an interesting idea that doesn't really translate well for me in the setting. With Brande as patron, we had the reason for the Legion coming together as well as a reason to have money. Now we have neither. Just an odd choice.

Also, I have to say, we have a new Legionnaire here who is, like most of the others, not comporting herself as likeable.

The Brainy/Dreamy dynamic is really good, and a highlight of the book for me so far.

It occurred to me that Lemnos is kind of a spin on The Mule from the Foundation series.

Grade: A-

The antipode of Australia is roughly the Britain/Ireland area, so if one pole has shifted to Australia, the other would be near Britain and render much of (northern and western) Europe into frozen wasteland. Not sure I like that notion!

lol at Shady's power of super-snark! which most of these Legionnaires have in the Threeboot.

yes, could not have said it better GL, re being sorry for Ultra Boy fans. this one is an overly-testosteroned idiot who reminds me of the bullies back in high school. I loathe him, and I admit a lot of that dislike comes from liking previous versions of Ultra Boy... if he had been a totally new character I might have liked him better

also lol at Jeckie being a super snob

Well, the funny thing is that it's issue six and they really haven't shown Shady in any good way at this point. She's mainly hung around and been sarcastic, but the one time she's actually used her power, it didn't work out well for her. Obviously she's a good hand-to-hand combatant, but the Legion has lots of those.

The hand-to-hand combat thing does tend to become less impressive, when most everyone can do it Even some Legionnaires who do have offensive / long-range powers, like Saturn Girl.

wait, I have to think about that... was Threeboot Imra shown doing good hand-to-hand? Preboot had her moments, Reboot took it another level due to her Sci-Cop training... but I'm not 100% sure about Threeboot

As of issue 6, she hasn't been shown in any close combat fighting, just using her telepathy.