Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion of Super-Heroes v7 #7... Spoilers and Stuff!

I just feel like the bad guys are so mediocre these days. They fall so quickly and easily. The Fatal 5 they ain't. Not that I'm asking for them to come back. They've been done to death. Some new villains who evoke the same kind of dread and mystique as the old FF would be nice though. Somebody who DOESN"T get defeated in a page or 2. More build up would help with the mystique angle.
"Here's a whole bunch of new bad guys (sidenote origin) oh. They're in handcuffs already."
The end.

Yawning Lad

Read this issue tonight, my thoughts:

Comet Queen is awesome as ever. I am really digging the metallic coloring they are using for her costume now, and I am also glad that she is still being drawn as kind of weird and gawky-looking and hasn't morphed into a Typical Hot Chick yet

Harmonia as a Legionnaire is still weird. I really like her costume, I really like the use of her powers in this issue, I think I *could* quite like her as a Legionnaire were it not for the fact that she changed from powerless support cast to powered active member of the team overnight and without explanation.

Portela's art in general is freakin' amazing and getting better with every issue.

I liked the bad guys this issue (very Cyberpunky!), but I do see jim's point above about new villains being introduced without any real point to them or any lasting impact. All the new LSV characters, the blue guy who Earth-Man sacrificed himself to stop who to this day has still never even been named, Res-Vir...every one of them has potential to be amazing, but it seems like Levitz runs out of steam as soon as they're introduced and just doesn't care to do anything with them?

Last but not least...I don't really know what Sun Boy actually did? Or what the saboteurs did? This seems to be a continuing pattern in Levitz's stuff since the start of the last series, where characters do....something....which saves the day or is obviously intended to have dramatic effect, but it's not ever really made obvious what they did? Or am I just being dumb in this case?

Oh wait, really last point: leadership elections coming up again soon, huh? That's cool! I would never have voted for Mon-El for leader myself, but it will be kind of a shame to see him step down now as I think he has finally started to grow into it post all the Green Lantern stuff. Cham would be an interesting choice!

Thank you! Total agreement here.

Ditto!

Seriously, I have no ill will for Levitz, but this series has been riding on idle since he came back.

Agreed. And what about Dragonwing suddenly being all Legion-loyal and able to kick multiple villain butts all by herself. Where did that come from?

And what did the big bad guy do that was so powerful it knocked Cham out of commission?

Levitz is writing in outline form. It happens too often that we don't see things develop, we don't see the aftermath of actions.

Yeah, but a lot more credible than having 10 Legion-qualifying kids born in Metropolis. Just sayin'.

True, considering China has the biggest population NOW, and there's little reason to think the trend won't continue for some time.

I wonder if Paul will include an Indian Legionnaire later on?

The "lesson" of the story would have been more effective too, if we'd seen Cham being cocky/careless. I just assumed he got taken out because his opponent was vastly more powerful - certainly not Cham's fault!

That would be nice. We've had four Khundian Legionnaires, but no one from India? Bad marketing move. Indians are much more likely to buy comic books that Khundians are.

Yeah, I really thought Cham was being too hard on himself there (which is understandable given the Legion's track record lately) and that Dragonwing was just showing her unfamiliarity with the team by being shocked he could be taken out so easily. That Phoenix guy was obviously pretty powerful, so I just assumed he had been physically stronger than Cham....and while Cham can make himself LOOK very physically imposing, I don't think he can ACTUALLY make himself that much stronger...

re: Dragonwing's pro-Legion attitude...I actually liked that and found it endearing. It strikes me that she plays the hardened cynic with the Legion because that's been her defence mechanism generally in life, but she must actually believe in their ideals...otherwise why would she have wanted to join them in the first place, and why would they have wanted her? It's nice to see that when the chips are down she isn't just in it for the power, and to me it's a good step in validating her membership.

Second most populous nation after China too!

PS, I'm also pleased we have two Chinese Legionnaires plus possible Asian descent from Chemical Kid. I'm of Chinese descent myself

Good point! I didn't find it particularly jarring either. Then again, I think most people just commented on that because the solits kept screaming, "Can Dragonwing learn about teamwork blah blah". Seemed like they were trying hard to portray her as a lone wolf type, but I never saw her as a person who shunned her teammates (hellOOOO, she kept partying with Chem Kid and CQ in the Academy). Maybe a bit private, but not someone who really needed to learn about teamwork.

I believe that's what Levitz was trying to portray, but for me it seemed to come out of nowhere and lacked the setup it needed to have an emotional punch.

Dragonwing's antisocial attitude is another reason it seems implausible to me that she was accepted as a Legionnaire in favor of some of her fellow academy alum predecessors who strived for years to become members. Now Levitz is trying to do a flip flop on her over night. And how does Harmonia deserve membership over all those others either for that matter? At the very least, doesn't she violate the age limit?

Probably not much more than Mon-El, I suppose.

Of the list of reasons she doesn't work for me, her age is near the bottom.

I'm not even sure that the age limit exists in this current version of the Legion. Heck, I can't even figure out how old most of the members are supposed to be.

I can't believe how much I continue to be this unenthused by a Legion title. I'm tiring of this 'oh wow look what real legionnaires can do' attitude by the recruits... they seem like they should still be in the Academy. Would have preferred that they were still students and occasionally used on missions as a 'work placement' kind of schooling and slowly earning their place in the Legion full-time.

Just a general comment about the Legion standards - I was disappointed when the code against killing was sort of shelved when Invisible Kid 'accidentally' killed a Khund with his uncontrolled powers. More recently, Earth Man is an outright killer and gets membership with little fuss. Harmonia Li is indirectly responsible for the destruction of Titan and its millions of citizens, yet self-appoints herself as a Legionnaire. Also, what happened to any age requirements? Isn't H-Li a thousand years old? Tried and true and respectable Legionnaires such as Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl and Colossal Boy and now maybe Chameleon Boy are being shown the door and are being replaced by punks and others of dubious background.

Yeah! You tell 'em, KQ!

I actually enjoyed this issue quite a lot, although this is possibly because I had very low expectations going into it. I thought Comet Queen and Harmonia were very impressive -- although I agree that Paul really needs to explain who Harmonia is.

Paul has had this problem for quite a long time. I still don't quite understand the plot of his Legion of Super-Villains story from v3.

The big explosion always solves near disasters

Cover- lame.

Interior art- very very good!

Story- some definite 'Levitz'-isms creeping back in. Apparently Dragonwing is now the member who talks about what earned her membership on the team. 2 Legionnaires arrive in the nick of time to save the day. He should watch how often he does these things...

Characters- Sorry, I don't give a flip about Dragonwing. She hasn't earned THAT yet.

Comet Queen is loads of fun, as always. Glad she is on the team.

Harmonia has NO right to be there until it is explained WHY she stood by and let Titan be destroyed. She is no better than Earth Man until this is dealt with. Her presence enrages me when SEVERAL other REAL members were written out so uncerimoniously (and I am not even referring to the LLOST cast).

Levitz realllllly didn't want Mon as leader, did he? Expect him to be written out 2 seconds after he loses the next election.

sigh

I guess Levitz didn't take the hint that Lar's a fan favorite.
DC did a good job of building him up in the couple of years he was in the Superman titles.

Which are out of continuity in the new 52, anyway.


The poorly explained Shady/Lar/EM episode is another example of Paul's inability to effectively make his changes believeable and to accurately guage fan acceptance of those changes.
He's more likely to lose buyers than add them, imo.

Interesting developments. Haven't picked up a Legion Book since LO3W. In regards to the inclusion of more than one asian character into the cast....I could be wrong but I recall reading ages ago, that Paul Levitz' wife's name was Gigi, (maiden name Cusimano.)

I really liked the Legion character of Gigi Cusimano, and assumed she was inspired by his real life *Gigi.* Now going a step further, I wonder if Dirk whom Gigi was involved with, mainly, was patterned after Paul himself, since I don't recall Dirk being portrayed as a playboy prior to Paul's handling of the character.