Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Dream Crime 5 - LOTS OF SPOILERS

Lots spilled below, so skip this post/thread if you don't want the next issue spoiled.
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My gut reaction is between "ick" and "ho-hum". Maybe it will grow on me.

Sensor projected an illusion that she was knocked out, which fooled Universo. This appears to have been worked out ahead of time with KK, Ferro and Shikari. She frees Imra and Nura and gives them the torq crystals to help resist Universo.

They had to the main control to shut off power - Nura gets another "skeleton" flash and says not to shut down power, gets in a fight with Sensor over this, which Imra breaks up, siding with Nura.

Universo realizes he's been had and sics the rest of the team on the three women.

Meanwhile, on Legion World, Cub's quantum sphere collapses, and he SOMEHOW???? invades Universo's mind with baby talk. WTF??? This distracts Universo long enough to be overpowered, mind-wise, by Imra. Battle over, Universo is now in the mind-control chair - but thinks he won.

Back on LW, Nura is now a legionnaire and chummy with Thom again.

Cub is about 6 or 8 years now, can't tell, but unclear if he is mentally there - all he says is "Mama".

Imra is okay, but mourns the loss of Garth.

Universo is sent to Steeple where he dreams that he has a job as busboy in R.J.'s diner. No kidding. That's how it ends.

There are lots more details, some quite nice, that's just the bones.

Karate Kid and Ferro get into any action?

That sounds like a lot of stories in the comic world lately -- issues of buildup and then a big, "That's it?" to finish it I just read last week's "Mystic," and it was the same thing.

Oh, well, I'm still eager to read it.

Eric

Appearance, but no action.
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They take Universo back to Steeple, but just stand around talking. We really don't see any fighting except between Jeka and Nura.

Sorry to be overboard with the Spoiler space, but I notice you can read the first few lines of threads on the 1st page of LW (Latest Posts/Active Topics) and I don't want to let the cat out of the bag for anyone who isn't looking for it.

Now that I've been thinking about it, there are lots of little nuggets which I enjoyed in the story; it's mostly the resolution that disappointed me. Maybe we generated too many exciting possible outcomes here and the "real world" is a let down.

How's this? I just have the subject line and the poseter's name?

PB - you're right, for the latest posts - but below that is the table of different boards with the most recent post (sometimes it loads for me, sometimes it doesn't) and if you choose Active Topics you get more post details.

Looking forward to the conclusion!!!!

-Lukewarm, yet appropriate ending to Dream Crime.

-What the heck is up with Cub, neither of his parents had telepathic powers.

-Nura's a Legionnaire now. 'Bout time

I don't think cub is a telepath. As soon as he was released from the Quantum Bubble, Universo's branching telepathy automatically tried to snag cub but cub seems to just have a strong will which momentarily disoriented Universo.

I did like how we were partially correct about Jekka's defeat being an illusion while she freed Imra and Dreamy. What I didn't like was Jekka's piss-poor attitude afterwards. Her arguing with Dreamy was annoying. We already have 1 team bitch (that being Umbra, and I like her that way) we don't need 2.

I was very pleased with the issue on every level except for parts of Jekka's personality.

Jeka's personality was about the only thing I noticed in this issue.

Very very ho hum in my book.

I thought it was swell. There WERE surprises. Who woulda thought that CUB would be the deus ex machina? It was his distraction that enabled Imra was able to take Universo down. The issue also had something that has been sorely lacking from the Legion lately -- HUMOR. It was pretty funny seeing Universo and the Zombie Legionnaires mindlessly repeating Cub's gibberish. Also amusing and perfectly ironic was Universo's fate -- confined to a containment chair muttering "Nothing else matters", and living the dream life of a busboy. We also learn his name: VIDAR. Purists might appreciate that.

Fans of Karate Kid and Ferro will be appeased to learn that the two deliberately allowed themselves to be taken down in the last issue. It was all part of Sensor's plan to trick Universo.

Sensor can be such a bitch! She really deserved those sucker punches. However, she more than compensated for her bad behavior at the end by recommending Nura for Legion membership. With a little refinement, she may be Legion leadership material herself. The cat fight was pretty cool.

Nura had her chance to shine -- her determination to keep the Titanet up at all costs, as well as her comforting Imra. It was good to see her reunited with Thom, but his fate is still up in the air. It's clear he could go "black hole" for real at any time.

Imra did what she had to do but otherwise walked throught the story looking stunned. She would have earned more of my sympathy had she only acknowledged that what Universo did to her was not much different than what she did to Jo in Legion Lost, i.e., subduing him with his "heart's desire". Some people are slow learners, I guess.

Finally, back to Cub again, Universo's attempt to mind control him had no effect whatsoever. With his own mind magnified by the Titanet, he ricocheted it back on Universo, temporarily disabling him. Cub grows at least five years older in this issue alone. He'll make a dandy weapon against Darkseid if he hasn't already reached senior citizen status by the time Old Granite Face shows up. In fact, my only real disappointment was that we don't get to see Darkseid lurking (solicitations can be so misleading).

There was a lot of good characterization and character development in this issue.

THUD!

Actually MANY on the various boards picked Sensor as not being under Universo's control and Cub as the Deus es Machina, the DnA de facto way of ending an arc. Just that most thought it such a silly idea to use Cub, they were joking.

So a guy that wanted to take over the Universe and get revenge for his captivity is kept complacent by being put into a dream of a dead end job?

This is not the arc I would have chosen for humor, certainly the timing seemed weird to me.

A double thud from me on this one. My lowest rating in memory for the ending of a Legion arc.

I think our new artist, Mr Batista, may be a fan of Farscape. The page towards the end of the issue where Universo "thinks" he has won, has a whole bunch of alien people's faces on it. I saw John, Aeryn, Rygel, Crais, Scorpius, D'argo, a bald woman that didn't have the head markings of Zhaan. The only major character that was left out was Chiana.

I miss Farscape

Hrrmpf.

OK, it's official now, DnA really have to work on their arc endings. Cub? Cub??!!!

Hrrmpf.

I swear I also saw a Gorn from Star Trek: TOS in that line up.

Also did anyone else notice there was no mention of the cousin connection to Imra? He is a Vidar. At least we don't have to deal with that now.

And I wanted to ask, did anyone else think the shot of Imra on page 20, panel 3, looked like Batista used Helen Hunt as the model?

I was wondering if all those alien faces were "somebody" - never saw Farscape.

Universo is Vidar (again) - I hope we get to see Rond in the future; he was part of the earlier post-boot stories. As long as he doesn't show up with you-know-who.

Tromium Crystal makes some good points about what is enjoyable in the issue.

As for Cub - I thought he might play a part, but it was more joking - and certainly never expected it to be through mental upset. One thing that gets me is the "so innocent" label that Imra uses to describe his thoughts/presence - babies and little kids are always so innocent in comics. I'm not saying they're not in real life - but they always struck me as being selfish also, out of necessity and nature - why wouldn't Cub have been thinking "Me! Me! I want more!"? However, we certainly will see more of Cub in the future, for better or worse.

I liked the cat fight too - especially when Sensor says she doesn't think of reliable and Nura in the same sentence - although Nura's dreams have become much more accurate with her Khundish training, she still carries the dumb bunny image.

The humorous ending really jarred me - it seemed to trivialize Universo - but this Universo didn't really come across as the brilliant, devious, plan-ahead villain that he was in the past. More like a mind-drunk on a bender. Still, the ending gave us another insight into Imra - she's not above a little petty teenage revenge. Somehow, I don't think Dr. Aven would have put those same thoughts in Universo's mind.

It also raises huge questions about the 31st century justice system - but these stories always do, and it's always a sticking point with me.

I TOTALLY agree about Jekka's new persona. Why aren't more fans upset about this? It makes ABSOLUTELY no sense. The physical change just isn't enough to explain this away. I loved the fact that 3 females took down Universo - but how much more interesting if Jekka's old, polite, demure personality managed to succeed where others failed. (Kinda like in the shy Vi days).
As to her cat-fight with Nura - it would have been more effective if she pulled royal rank and commanded her to take down the Titanet, instead of just screaming and hair-pulling.
I agree, one bitch in the legion is enough. And now with Monstress dead, there is no one to play the maternal, comforting role that she and Jekka used to play.

I thought the ending to this story arc was entirely appropriate. This was a "battle" that took place (basically) in the psi-world. Since this story opened in RJ's restaurent, it was sort of logical to end it there as well.
Overall, I'd give a "B+" for this effort. Maybe it was an issue or two too long, but maybe a re-read of the story will change that thought.
Looking forward to Steve Lightle's issue up next!

Reading it, it looked like Vidar was supposed to be his first name. I mean I would ear a nametag taht said "Hi my name is Duke!", not "Hi, my name is Harrington!"

So, for me it leaves it open to interpretation whether or not the cousin angle still exists. He could be Vidar Ardeen.

The way I read it, Cub did not conciously take over Universo's mind. Universo was just out exploring nd taking over minds, once he had access to Cub (after the quantum sphere went down) he encountered a mind that was much too powerful for him. In attempting to take it over that mind engulfed him.

BTW, I loved the "doog?" shot of Universo and all the Legionnaires making the same face.

He's Darkseid. Either that or Orion.


Agreed, Now all we need is

ACK!!

No Sub Boy graemlin? Has even Legion World turned against poor Dirk?

I tend to agree. Jeka has done a 180 degree personality transformation to go along with her new outward appearance. While the former matronly attitude was grating, it was, at least, unique.

I am hoping she calms down soon.

...and grows legs

...and a bronze age Mike Grell costume.

Never! You just need to know what Gary named it.