Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Let's Talk About LSH #2...(potential spoilers ahead)

As usual, we'll start with the solicitation...

Written by Mark Waid; Art by Barry Kitson and Mick Gray ; Cover by Kitson

The new future continues in this series courtesy of Mark Waid and Barry Kitson (EMPIRE)! As the Legion faces pressure from the newly formed United Planets to "play ball" with the system, the team finds it's not easy to work with the law and fight it at the same time!

DC Universe | 40pg. | Color | $2.95 US

And here's a link to the cover...

http://www.dccomics.com/media/covers/2548_180x270.jpg

On Sale January 26, 2005

Discussion of Legion of Superheroes 2#

I just read my preview copy of LOSH 2# and I thought I’d share my thoughts with my fellow fans of the LOSH.

Spoiler free review: I thought this was an excellent issue and we’re starting to see the central guiding plotline of the LOSH coming out. I think this is, unfortunately, something that will continually be misunderstood by readers who didn’t get the central theme the first issue though. I do think though, that many Legion fans will be somewhat shocked by a few of the choices….a few of them are very good though and I am anxious to see how it all turns out. We got some strong characterizations of Brainiac 5, Dream Girl, and a bit more information on how the governments of society work in the Brave New World of the 30th century.

I think this issue is continuing the very strong new plotline that’s emerging as the guiding theme of the re-imagined team.

SPOILER REVIEW
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Synopsis: The Legion of Superheroes barely avoid stopping an alien diplomat accidentally killing five representatives of the United Planets on an important diplomatic mission. The action is unwelcome despite the fact it’ll clearly win the Legion much more support (or because of it). The villain is Molecule Man though the terrorist in question is unidentified.

Meanwhile, the full power of the Legion of Superheroes is started to be hinted at as its clear that Brainiac 5 is the most powerful mind in the universe. His youth is immaterial to this and it seems he’s in his mid-twenties rather than being teenaged like the others. Dream Girl is given equal importance on her world as the most powerful seer. Their conflicting styles of magic vs. technology are barely held in check by Cos who apparently finds the disputes and anger between members (including over religion with Sunboy and Chameleon very grating).

The issue follows the fact that Dream Girls’ home-world is afflicted with a form of dream sickness that has taken over the entire youth population of the planet. This ISN’T because their Legionaires, though Brainiac 5 is clearly trying to use their plight as a rallying cry to them but because there’s a war coming up and its stated that millions of the prophet planet’s youth will die in a draft. The planet government wished to keep it from them because of their fear there would be riots.

Brainiac deduces this clearly and it leads to a pretty damn outrageous incident between the planetary leaders and the security forces of the world. Poor Karate Kid is beaten senseless along with Nightgirl because they can see the future. I still say Karate Kid should have won despite their future sight because he’s just THAT good. Dreamgirl shows that while a capable fighter, she’s much better at being a ****.
Brainiac tries to make a case for free will at the end when they resolve the planet’s “Dream issues” but is disgusted to find, if Dream Girl is any example, the young adults are mutely accepting of their fate but simply annoyed at being kept from their dreams. Dream Girl says he’ll feel different when there married.

Brainiac is momentarily stunned but then realizes (he hopes) it was a joke and says you have to come up with something much more baroque to rattle him….finding someone put a herd of antelopes in his laboratory.

My thoughts:

This is the second time war and the young dying in it has been brought up, so I’m guessing the “youth vs. adults” conflict is largely based on military problems more than anything else. The Legion’s main trouble seems to be they wish to avoid conflicts that are slaying twenty somethings by promoting goodwill and change.

It’s clear that the Legion is supported by the United Planets only because they have powers that make them one of the most formidable forces in the galaxy and its better to have the “children” on their side than against them. Like the Justice League animated cartoon, its clear that while it may have started as a youth movement, the problem is that many of the “children” are in fact actually men and women of our time (and in an age when you can live to be 400-probably a lot of people we’d consider “old”), who are incredibly powerful and the established governments are terrified of them. It’s clear some, like Brainiac and Dreamgirl, are there because their ambitions are frustrated by an old boy’s network more than any real feeling of comraderie and anachronism. They’re no more “kids having fun” than Bill Gates and his computer geeks at the start.

The whole ‘cult of personality’ thing seems to be Brainy’s doing and actually isn’t Cos. Brainy it turns out, has political ambitions and is trying to make the Legion into his platform to replace the United Planets-explaining a few things. His actions seem designed to

1. Do genuine good in the world.
2. Humiliate and degrade the United Planets by showing its ineffectiveness.

Apparently, this Brainiac is significantly closer to Vril Dox the Second (and his father) than previous versions of him. He could have stopped the assassinations in any other way but he chose the method that would prove the Legion’s effectiveness the most while showing the U.P’s weakness.

It’s clear he’s also very threatened by ‘magic’ and the supernatural. It’ll be interesting how he reacts to Dawnstar or White Witch when they come.

My guess is ultimately the Legion are fighting a holding action against some incredibly powerful force out to start a war and we’ll see plenty of Old Legion villains out to make this war come to pass. I personally hope it’s the Legion of Supervillains but it could be any number of bad guys from the Legion’s past at this point.

Still no Saturn Girl this issue though….sigh.

I remember as a teenager seeing some old b&w videos of Bruce Lee sparing with others. He would tell them the exact two moves he was going to hit them with and they still couldn't stop him. His point was execution is supremely important. He executed so well that it didn't matter if these accomplished skilled students knew what was coming. Karate Kid should've won. Trust me I get tired of guys like Batman/Captain America winning every fight...but KK probably could've done better.

Thanks for the info Charles. The adult/kids thing still worries me but it sounds really cool...Brainy/Dreamy especially. (Brainy!!!)

Jorge

Well I look forward to more thoughts Jor-El since TODAY IT IS OUT!

Another observation I've made while reading this particular work was the fact that Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad aren't just in the background, they are nowhere to be seen.

I'm getting the sneakingest suspicion that they've already left the team in Waid's continuity and are married. I personally would be very angry about this if this is the case since their my favorite characters. Andromeda/Supergirl, Superboy, and Mon'El are also notable complete absences from this particular work.

I agree also that Karate Kid's powers should have enabled him to beat the soldiers no matter what they do because, again, he is a perfect fighter. If nothing else he should be able to do Wuxia "Step out of Time" weird quasi-mystical effects I think. It doesn't say much for the universe' greatest martial artist to be beaten by a couple of special forces commandoes, even if they are mutants.

It was all setup for Dreamgirl's joke.

I'm going purely by memory, but wasn't Imra in the background of one panel in issue #1? I seem to recall see her flying up toward a balcony in the background just after the team arrived at Legion HQ after beating that robot.

I believe she's been in the background twice including the shot of her arm but it seems to me neither are nowhere near the prominence of being a triad of founders. Cosmic Boy is taking all the limelight here.

Indeed, it seems Brainiac or Sunboy is second in command.

Very intrigued and impressed with this issue. Love the background on Naltor and Dream Girl. Love how internal conflict was blended with humor. Considering what I saw in the preview, I was worried that things were getting a bit internal conflict/angst heavy. I'm glad to say that things aren't so out of balance.

I'm also glad that Karate Kid was frustrated. (Neither he nor Shadow Lass were beaten.) Don't know why Karate Kid just automatically has to be soooo good that he can't be frustrated by trained precogs. Isn't it enough that he's just very good?

Was it shadow lass or night girl? A powered up nightgirl would be a cool addition to the team.

It was Shadow Lass. Haven't seen Night Girl yet.

Sorry about the mistake there.

I think Karate Kid should be the best fighter on the team though because, THAT'S WHAT HE DOES. Making Shadow Lass his equal diminishes him is all I'm saying.

IIRC, in intial press for the book Waid had said that while the founders were still the founders, you might not see much of them to start.

My guess is that they're on some unspecified mission and we'll get to them later.

I just hope that Waid shakes up romantic continuity even more as he's done

Brainiac 5/Dreamgirl

Alya/Ultraboy and Sunboy

and hopefully soon Saturn Girl/Rokk!

;-)

Lightning Lad can date Phantom Girl

OKAY

I'LL ALERT PHANTOM LAD AND CALORIE QUEEN.

Poor Phantom Lad and Calorie Queen....

*sniff* destined to not have a Ralph Machio joke avbout them to make them memorable.

Personally, I rather will miss Dream Girl as essentially that poor little narcoleptic who was viewed as the most attractive girl on the team but didn't have much else going for her. Making her a scientist or a badass seems to just go against her.

She also needs a big bedroom with stuffed animals!

Overall enjoyed the issue very much. More so than the first issue even.

The writing feels like it has some meat on its bones again - after the skimpy meals served by the writers in the final year of "The Legion". Not sure I like so many cranky Legionnaires but it makes for entertaining dialogue. The writing involving the Naltorians was especially high quality as this is a tricky group to write for and have come off as plausible. The science (Brainy) vs. psychic power (Dream Girl) is a natural opposition that I can't believe hasn't been explored before. Wish Brainy wasn't quite so high-strung and negative though. Final joke on him in the last panel made me laugh out loud.

The drawings by Barry were again of high quality, unfortunately, IMO, the coloring again, was not. Still too dull looking for my tastes. Barry I can accept a black Star Boy readily but I find it extremely difficult to accept a non-platinum tressed Dream Girl. Why'd ya' do it? Any particular reason? Did you want Projectra to be the only white-haired minx in the group?

random thoughts:
-- Interesting new look for Shady with the coal black eyes. It's a slight tweak that makes sense but doesn't seem too drastic a change. Also interesting that Shady now seems to have Apparition's touchstone.
-- I wish we knew more of Sun Boy and Chameleon's religious debate. I hope thier beliefs are touched upon later. More than anything, it would've been good to see Cham as more than an expressionless mannequin in a scene.
-- The situation on Naltor is interesting, but it seems kinda forced. I don't know if I buy that they thought it was better to drive their youth insane than let people know there's a war coming. KK indicated that the UP doesn't want the youth to have a voice - do they know about the war or just the Naltorians? Even though the youth will be the first to die, don't any adults care? Are they all perfectly resigned to the fact that their children will be slaughtered soon?
-- I hope that the mysterious central figure in Deramy's vision is a new character.
-- Brainy's "wait for it..." moment was funny (as was the goats - whodathunk Cos had it in him?)
-- I still want to know - what is Brainy's headwires attached to?
-- Last issue, Phantom Girl's punch shattered a helmet, now Dreamy can kick a robotic arm to shreds and Shady shatters the Precommando's helmet. How strong are these guys? (or girls)
-- Does this cover and the scenes it depicts have anything to do with the inside??

I find this very interesting. It shows that both have strong religious beliefs - something to ground them and make it possible to relate to them.

Nightgirl??!?!! Sorry, but Lydda Jath has yet to be introduced. Naturally, you meant Shadow Lass.

I'm not sure what four asteriks are supposed to mean. It's nothing I can make fit into a sentence. Hmm...

Goats, not antelope. I quote: "If I needed to be patronized by someone I respect, I'd teach a goat to talk." Which is why that last panel made me bust out laughing, especially given his comment in the panel prior.

Yes, and this is why it bugs me when people pick out the most superficial aspect of the book (youth vs. adults) and fail to see the bigger picture. They have real goals, as evidenced by Brainy's comments, and those goals are important.

What's more interesting is how damn intelligent he is. I seriously don't think I've ever seen Brainy portrayed this cold and intelligent. His intelligence is really a major factor rather than just something that allows him to manufacture special gadgets or the latest threat. I think I'm gonna like this Brainiac 5.

As adults, widespread death on a world of psychics likely to be something new if they can use their abilities to avoid death usually.

I think the side effect of the agony was unexpected and the adults didn't realize what a calamity it would cause. I also believe that they probably assumed that widespread chaos would emerge as well. They can see the coming deaths but they probably hoped their kids would get to their normal activities inbetween.

For individuals but perhaps MILLIONS? And remember Brainy dealt with the fact that the Natolians are believers in destiny, hence there's nowhere they can actually complain. I imagine also that being it would directly affect them...they feared the kids would see it as well unlike they who were just THAT good.

Who says they're equal fighters? Shadow Lass can be a great fighter and still pale in comaprison to Karate Kid.

As for KK's loss to the precogs, we should keep in mind that he's still a teenager. There's time for him to become better.

Not a long time Legion fan, eh? Those who have been watching Dream Girl since long before the "Archie Legion" know full well that she has been a scientist from the get-go and a bad ass for nearly as long. The narcoleptic "pretty girl" was the one that never made sense.

I'm an Archive fan, up to 4.

And I don't see how it makes sense. Frankly, I think it diminishes Brainiac 5. I also think there's countless characters make more sense as scientists than her.

Saturn Girl
Sun Boy
Wildfire
Mon'el

I personally think that her as the seer, should not be involved in the actual fighting and personally reduces the resonance.

I loved this issue even more than #1. I can't wait to add more pieces to this puzzle. It's nice to see such strong personalitys coming through so soon. It's also really nice to see that Shadow Lass hasn't completely lost Umbra's edge (see sig.)

First Impressions:

I think I liked this issue a little less than #1. But I LOVED #1, so that's not much of a knock. Also love the fact that #2 is also a "done-in-one" story as well. Mmmm, 30 pages.

More later, of course.

I don't think Brainy's as negative and cold as he first appears. His conversation with Nura at the end, about changing destiny, was actually very positive.

And the fact that he had that conversation, combined with the his leaving his flight ring on the sleeping Naltorian teen rather than taking it back and waking him up before heading to the broadcast station, tell me that this isn't L.E.G.I.O.N's Vril Dox character-wise.

Never been a big fan of Dream Girl, but I am now. Both her personality and intelligence, and the way Barry draws her. She may be my second favorite Legionnaire right now. And if she were platinum-tressed, she wouldn't have a shot with Brainy. (I know she was probably joking, but I actually like the Brainy/Dreamy pairing - never once thought of them as a couple before)