Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! LSH 45 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ SPOILERS!

I rather liked this issue. It wrapped up anumber of plot threads and started the new arc off with a flurry of activity.

M'Rssey is pretty sharp but a little cut throat.

I didn't realize the flight rings could individually be used to home in on each other.

I had a moment of nostalgia when I saw Gim comforting Salu.

The Hussy is back and in fine form!

Any Dream Girl sightings in # 45?

It was shown that they could do that in the Reboot legion, I'm rather suprised ( happily so ) that they can in Threeboot as well.

I'm going to have to pick up this issue sometime soon when I get more money. Thanks for the spoilers Vee!

This was my favorite issue of the Shooter Manapul run...it was really good. IF they can maintain this level of quality in this issue they will give any version of the Legion a run for it's money.


The artwork in particular was extremely Legionny. And I mean that as a high compliment...nice futuristic art, really sleek, not exactly what we've seen from FJM before. But the arhcitecture and style were very much in the tradition of the Grell, Swan and Giffen versions of the big cool looking future. I'm not saying it really looks like those futures...but it has the same feel. Really good stuff this month.

Nice job Frances, it was good to have you back.

Ultra boy has his mojo working. but then considering Saturn Girl's apparent lack of self-esteem, he didn't really work that hard.


It was good to have the regular art work back. I love the running joke of civilians having a LSH guide that tells what everyone can do. Who prints those anyway? I would imagine it's the 31st century equivalent of Legionworld.

Star Boy and Light Lass. It's a pity this version won't last, but it seems to me that given the tremendous power they have, it would be a bad day if either or both went rogue. That's a story I would like to see. Has that happened in the LSH past?

Not that I saw. Although there was a lot of stuff in this issue and I might have missed something.

Good to hear Manapul is back .....his art was sorely missed last issue. i could not stand the art in the last issue. I don't think I will ever read that issue again.

Yeah this was the best issue so far from the current creative team.

Brainy being Brainy and picking up the threads of his Light Lass hate from early in the WaK run.

The Legion getting its independence from the government. The get out of jail free card for their members.

The hussy being the hussy. Strange characterization though, I never figured her for the low self esteem type. I think she's on the verge of a Legion Lost nervous breakdown oh and its Ultra Boy again.

Also the cameo appearances from the characters on the upcoming tryout issue cover.

you know, her going to jo for comfort in legion lost didn't feel so lame to me as in this one. her impetus in that seemed to be actually the EXACT OPPOSITE OF THIS, with garth and her roles reversed. the stress of her leadership position, its complication of her relationship with garth as he craves more attention and commitment?

also, their relationship seems to be described in terms of sex in this. whereas in legion lost, garth just wanted more TIME with her, not sexytime. interestingly enough, later on when imra's locked in a dream world where garth is alive again, they're having a cheerful conversation post-coitus.

in this, garth's in the leadership role and imra's not actually communicating her needs, they're not talking as much, whereas garth in legion lost tells her quite plainly that he wants to talk about their marriage plans and what's going on with them (all the while carefully cultivating garden ;_; and we all remembered suddenly that garth has a green thumb). imra can't deal with it at the moment because, you know, they're teetering on the edge of destruction....and jo provides a safe outlet for her.

on this end....it's imra's self-esteem that's letting her get trampled on, with a fresh electra complex in place maybe? this... makes no sense. she's a SMOKING HOT GIRL. she's CRAZY pretty, especially how francis draws her she's, to me, easily the most beautiful girl in the comic. so she's a telepath... that's SMOKING HOT. so all she should be hearing all day is "man imra's hot, imra's hot, hottiy-hot-hothothot". self-conscious about her looks makes the least sense possible. any other character, MAYBE?!! but with imra it makes no sense.

man, if she was self conscious because everyone's freaked out by her abilities that'd make a thousand times more sense. my cohort in podcasting points out to me that "hey, starboy was on just as many missions and still went to help out, "ayla was almost raped and still goes to help..." @__@


i think what bothers me here is that the relationships seem centered around and closely correlated to the sex aspect (as a representation of "attention" and "concern"). jo cheers her up by expressing that she's sexually appealing and then by having sex with her (despite her request to "leave her alone" since we all know that "no" means "yes" 9___9). she seems very wary and threatened by jo, and somehow that transforms into "wait, let's make out in the pantry". my cohort also points out "don't they have rooms..."

*sighs* @__@ at least jo's incredibly well drawn.

Salu's characterization is... kind of stupid and immature, but might be applicable. at least she doesn't need gim for comfort @_@ but... gim's... a nice boy. why's he getting the crappy end of the stick? also... man her whole fight was weird? why was she taken out so easily, and that fight lasted like, 3 seconds? bizarre. i feel like the pacing is off, like if that fight was going to be so important it should have lasted longer.

man it's like, i'm SO THERE if he wants salu to have a napoleon complex where she's all freaked out that she was a little person-slave on colu. I'M SO THERE. but then it's executed in like the most.. face-palm-groan manner possible. ;____;

what was up with the... "plot" here?

querl: OH I CAN'T DO IT, I'VE FAILED....wait let me try again...OK I DID IT.

but....
this querl is the loveliest querl in the world~ i like his determined face and his crafty face and his sweaty face

AND THANK GOD FOR MANAPUL. never leave us again ;_; god he draws the cutest imra EVER. EVER. so much so that it makes you want to slap her "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU THINK YOU LOOK DUMPY, ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

*sigh* man now all i think is "well at least no one was raped". 9__9

soon. soon you will be over ;_; come to me legion of three worlds.

I wonder if Imra's going to do some mind-wiping?

And couldn't she sense Invisible Kid approaching? (Or hear him calling out, for that matter?)

FJM did a bang-up job (Wow!) and Shooter is just writing up a storm He's taking these characters to places they've never been before. It's almost painful to watch Irma succumb to Jo's caddish manipulations, Salu's unquenchable rage at the cop who beat her up and Projectra's intractable arrogance, but it's all fascinating stuff. If what you're seeking is comforting nostalgia and predictable characters mouthing the same old platitudes, this book is not for you. (Plenty of that in LO3W.).

Brainy and M'Rissey earned their salaries today, and then some. Brainy conducting a cosmic symphony to save the solar system is one of the most fantastic concepts I've ever read in a Legion comic.

The last panel -- we should've guessed it was coming but it's still shocking to see and, I dunno, kind of sad. Nothing happy will come of it, least of all for Imra.

Garth + Kin'thea Kieselbach. Am I imaginging things?

The Big Bad speaks and has a name. The surprise is "he" is a "she".

By the way, a slight spoiler concerning Ayla:


It seems that Shooter not handling her near rape with sensitivity was intentional on his part.

Not only was she not fazed in the slightest about her near rape in last months issue...she didn't take any down time when she returned and then went out and saved the Solar System. WIthout a word mentioned about it...


I think the implication here is that..if anyone actually does attempt to rape Ayla she will not only not be terrified, she will most likely laugh and leave them with deep feelings of inadequacy.

He is deliberately characterizing her that way....tough and no excuses. Not even when Brainy melts down.....


I mean you think about what she went through and then went into the pressure cooker of saving the Solar System...and Brainy melts down and basically gives up...and she held him together, when all he's been doing is farting around the clubhouse dealing with white collar issues.


There is not the slightest bit of implied weakness with Ayla...on the contrary, he's definitely trying to make the point she is uncommonly strong. It works for me...

Did anyone else find it odd that Jan was completely unconcerned about Trip's mysterious disappearance?

So my one and only question is Why does Jo look like Grunge from Gen 13 without his trademark suit? ...Seriously tho' not to knock Franxis' work he's got a great style and all but..yeah. Wonky.

i'm really not of the school of thought that pretending a rape didn't happen and ignoring it are signs of a strong personality. it's a traumatizing experience that does change a person, both psychologically and biologically. i don't think ignoring a healing process is very....healthy. i wouldn't call "hey, i was nearly raped" an "excuse"

and she looked pretty terrified at the time seeing as how she was crying all the way through it...

i'd say her body language suggests otherwise. i don't know if that's manapul on his own or a shooter suggestion, but look how she's holding herself when she came out of there, she has the same self-conscious body language that imra does. we'll find out if he does anything with it soon.

Well there is a modern school of thought that actually reliving trauma and trying to recall it does more damage than good. It's something being considered now in some circles. And I dont' really get the impression she is pretending it didn't happen...more like it's par for the course for her job as a Superhero.


Fair enough though, I see where you are coming from on this angle, and there might be something to it.


What about if she is in fact traumatized by it, and she feels too ashamed to talk about it? And so she's doing just that, acting strong and pretending it didn't bother her, so she can function and do her job.

Isn't that a frequent occurence? That rape or near rape victims don't often come forward and do have difficulty talking about it?

If that is the case then would this be an unrealistic portrayal? I mean would it be realistic for it to be resolved right then there.


Basically vv, I get your point that you'd just rather not see near rape portrayed in comics. I get the point that you don't want to see it period pretty much. But my counter to that is that if you start limiting the types of criminal activity that can be portrayed in comics, then you start limiting the comics. Every crime is offensive to someone, because every crime victimizes someone.

I guess the point I am making is that I don't really want to see creators told what crimes they can and can't depict(within reason) or pressured to not tell certain stories. That seldom makes for a better comic...

AHHH YES SOMEONE ELSE!!

i think he looks a bit like him too! all well... grunge as a squarish nose while i think jo has more of a pointed nose, and he's also taller. the HAIR is the most similar, but i think the thing that makes him the MOST grunge like is that green symbol!!! see because grunge has those green wings? it's the same general shape? also, they have a similar large, shoulder build and that sort of "thug" presence, as well as some scruffiness. reboot jo also had this look, especially in legion lost era he REALLY looked like grunge, though i'm not sure if the coipel model came predates Gen13 or not...

secretly i think they could chill together =3=!!!

i'm fine if it's depicted, as long as it's handled properly because i think it's an important issue. but i don't want it to be tawdry and that happens a lot, you know? i recently read a JLA trade where <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">cheetah almost kills dr. light because he's a rapist, and says something like "what you think i'd roll with that?!"</span></span> i was like ".........YES! AWESOME!! THANK YOU!!" and there's a moment when a couple of the ladies are like "ugh, i know, right ?!!"

i don't have high hopes for shooter and i'm never thrilled when it comes up because... ahh it's like "oh god ;___; this might go so...so badly". i didn't mention it in my GIANT POST OF EXTREME LENGTH because i'm willing to hold my breath and wait and see if he does anything with it. shooter's pretty slow so it might be...next year that he addresses it. if he addresses it.

the body language thing suggests he MIGHT... MAYBE if that was HIM and not manapul. so for now i'm just waiting to see how its treated.

LOL ok. So it really is all about how it's done. Fair enough.

I kinda noticed the body language thing too when I went back and read it, and she did seem kind of worn down. I still thought it was impressive that she was one of the ones that didn't immediately stand down, tht was the main thing I noticed and believe me, I was watching after last months discussion lol. It's not that I don't think she didn't want some downtime, she just seemed bound to her duty. But you definitely might be onto something there about her holding something back and there might be some reprecussions down the road from this.

Interesting that some of you read the Brainy sequence as him having a meltdown and giving up. I read it as another of his master manipulations to get Ayla & Thom to try even harder so that he would have the sufficient power available to succeed.

Yeah Vee, I saw it as his unique motivational technique as well. He's a regular Tony Robbins... of Space.

His statement that it was 'too late' was obviously untrue. If it really was too late he would not have tried again.

I don't think there was any 'no means yes' here. She just changed her mind, that's all.

Because he knew that the only way to get enough power out of Star Boy and Light Lass was to get them angry at him, so they'd reach back for that little extra. That whole part where he said 'it's too little, too late' was just to fake them out. Obviously it wasn't too late yet.'

And it was a nice callback to the Colu issue back in the Lemnos arc!

Wow, Shooter continues to make me dislike his writing more and more. This issue made me eager to close the door on threeboot altogether, and that's sad because I had such high hopes for it. The Imra/Jo stuff is just intolerable. It's not like we haven't had Imra/Garth troubles before ("Cold and Lonely Corner of Hell", "Legion Lost"), but there things were believable and in character, here the motivation was weak and it made Imra look weak. Even worse that he combined it with my other least favorite plotline: Shooters continued depiction of Ultra-macho-@$$hole with all the girls swooning for it.

For me so far, there hasn't been one character with the exception of Brainy and maybe Garth that Shooter's got right yet. Just keep him away from Phantom Girl for the next five issues please.

I also didn't like the Saturn Girl/Ultra Boy tryst. As you say "been there, seen that". It does seem gratuitous and done just to back up Shooter's much much earlier idea that the Legionnaires would be doing it like bunnies. Also, we didn't need to see them naked in the pantry. We figured it out when Lightning Lad tried to call Ultra Boy and his ring was turned off. Just thinking now, a better story plot would have been for someone to be looking for Saturn Girl as well. Then with no confirmation (i.e. the pantry scene), the readers would have been left to debate "Did something happen or didn't it?".

That's a good point, except that the way it is it puts Invisible Kid in a pretty tough spot, which brings its own possibilities with it.