Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Mon-El in Superman - SPOILERS

This week's Legion related series includes SUPERMAN #685 which has a Legion filled preview at IGN.COM .

huh, I was planning on picking up Superman next month for the Mon-El stuff, I wonder if I should start with this issue instead.

Guess I'll see if there are copies left when I hit the LCS this Saturday and do a flip check there, unless any Legionworders get this and sell me on it before Saturday.

"Something else else's wrong... with tomorrow"

Can we make that the Legion slogan for 2008/2009?

This is pretty much the kick off of Mon-El's Superman run. Not only is he pretty important to the main story in this issue...he'a also the featured character in the back up Omens and Origins story.

Hint: That's not just Pa Kent on the cover, it's also Jonathan Kent. And that's pretty important.

Oh what the heck...I'll spoil it for you if you want:

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Mon-El's new secret ID is Jonathan Kent and he's given that name by Martha Kent in the backup. The story really has little or nothing to do with Pa Kent other than Mon taking his name. The Pa Kent stuff is in the first story but it's about a page or two about Superman wishing he was still around, and if you notice, Pa Kent's in the same position in Supermn's arms on the cover that Mon-El is in within the story. It's not just Superman holding Pa Kent, but Superman holding Jonathan Kent. Very clever. Either that or a very resourceful way of working an unused Alex Ross cover into a story...but I guess that would still be very clever.

It's also revealed that due to the Daxamite language influencing his English, he talks as if he has an English accent...so he's Jonathan Kent, from London. Pretty fun stuff. This is what Robinson does that I love. These personalizations. He's probably having fun with that one because he himself is English, and now English Legion/Superman Fans have their very own member of the Superman Family that talks as they do.

Some other interesting stuff concerning the future of the Legion:

It seems Superman knows Mon-El will one day be a member of the Legion a thousand years in the future, and now he's trying to keep Mon-El from finding out that detail about his future. Interesting reversal :lol. Also a pretty neat paradox...In the past, Superman's past is Mon-El's future. And Superman knows this in the distant past. But in the future Superman's future is Mon-El's past and Mon-El knows this is the distant future. God I love this stuff and am so happy to have it back. It really bends your brain trying to think about it...and I don't get my brain bent by comics very often these days.

Superman also can't figure out why the Legion(Brainy) didn't just appear and give him the bottle with the cure, says there's something strange about the way they were so secretive about that. I personally love the secretive and mysterious Legion so I always like it when they are used like that in contemporary stories.


More stuff between Tellus and the Guardian, although nothing truly new is introduced in the exchange. And poor Tellus is still stuck in a jar.


Krypto also makes a cameo in this story
(he gets a pat on the head from both Superman and Mon-El).


I don't think the Bob Cobb stuff is being completely retconned out...that will still be Mon's secret ID a thousand years from now when he goes back in time to Smallville a dozen years or so before this story takes place. IIRC Bob Cobb was used in the Action Comics Annual that brought Mon-El back into the Superman Family. It would be weird for Bobb Cobb to appear 12 years later after he first appeared, at the exact same age.

Anyway, the end of the backup says Mon-El will shine brightly in Metropolis, he will find happiness and rage and and danger, and he will be found by love, and friends, and enemies.......

......"and in the end it will all be for naught".

Interestingly, when they say he will be found by friends, they don't show any Legionnaires, they show the Guardian and someone else in a metal suit. could be Steel.


When it says he finds danger it shows a picture of Sodam Yat(with Mohawk) with his hand around Mon-El's throat. The continuity with LO3W is a bit shabby here but I am willing to give them a pass because this is a pretty complex meshing of futures and pasts of characters between now and a thousand years in the future...and I absolutely love that they are doing this. All they really have to do is give Yat a Mohawk now and a great deal of it will be cleaned up...but neither of them seemed to remember any confrontation in the past when they met in LO3W...I guess it could be chalked up to a thousand years of time passing...and it's shown in this story that the Zone kind of has a negative impact on Mon-El's memory(he can't really remember Daxam).


It's going to get a whole lot more complex once Tellus and(possibly) Cham show up...as Mon-El will not know them, but they will definitely know him....and he's not supposed to know he will one day be a member of the Legion.


IMO, the Legion and Superman have a pretty high quality brain trust in Johns, Rucka and Robinson working this stuff out...and it shows. They are putting a lot of thought into it.

But anyway...I can't wait for Mon-El # 686 next month.

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I think maybe Garth snuck that bottle in when he was in the past in Action #864.

oohhh sk, i think that's a good idea.

mon el is sooooooo cute in this, the "stiff way" he speaks just broke my heart. what a little prince.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> seeing a boy that looks like a frigging space prince sit across from ma kent and drink coffee is adorable. mon-el might be the cutest thing in the universe.</span></span>

i want his purity to be set close to billy batsons and see if they COMBINE INTO ONE SUPER PURE BEING.

i....i don't think i like that spoilery final page. !! i've seen that a lot though, in flash, in booster gold there were these pages that really spoiled what was going to happen. is it weird that i...

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">i don't want to see him have any romance?!! is that weird? like i... i auto hated that girl! i don't even know why!! like really? i mean yeah, trapped in the phantom zone all that time, i would probably start making out with anything that came into my field of vision IMMEDIATELY. but mon-el getting laid... *sigh* ;_;

at least, i hope she's someone made out of kittens and rainbows, he deserves someone really nice ;_;!! i hope she's a space princess that will hold hands with him ! does anyone know who that dreadlocked lady is off hand? please tell me she doesn't suck ;_; </span></span>

also. i mean i know that <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">was supposed to be lex luthor on the last page</span></span> but did anyone else thing that looked exactly like bruce willis?!! i forgot mon-el's mortal enemy is bruce willis, it all makes sense now!!

Bruce Willis was the first name that came to my mind also.

Not a bad issue. I'm still on the fence about picking this arc up. I really dislike Robinson's writing and don't have high hopes, but it is Mon-el and this was a fairly decent start. Guess we'll see where it goes.

i liked this issue too. i was a bit worried with all that "something's wrong with the future" thing from the online preview, <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">but in the end i think the authors handled nicely the possible problems that could have arisen by releasing mon-el from the phanthom zone so early. the legion helped superman and mon-el, but they decided to do so in a "silent" way, so mon-el doesn't learn of their existence so early. </span></span>
i also liked the origins & omens backup. i'm excited about this run, i didn't like the first couple of superman issues by robinson, but after the jimmy olsen special i started to enjoy this book more and more.

the art was a bit rushed, this artist is usually much better than that (he did manhunter for a long time and the art there was always very good). i'm afraid he was just assigned this job too late by the editor. in the end it's not so bad, though! the nice color art helped a lot.

I really like Mon-el's new ID; I liked the whole issue, as well. <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> If Ma Kent hadn't given him the Jonathan Kent name, I'd probably hate it, though. I thoroughly enjoyed the scene with him sitting across the kitchen table from her.

I also liked the new British persona. Wonder how long it'll be before he visits jolly ol' England? Gotta get some real life grounding to add some verisimilitude to that new secret ID, y'know? </span></span>

The stuff with Tellus is really captivating. Of all Legionnaires, who would've thought he'd the one guest-starring in SUPERMAN?

I have mixed feeling about stepping into SUPERMAN/ACTION/WORLD OF KRYPTON waters. I really didn't want to add that many titles, but I guess I'm in for the foreseeable future. Guess there's an upshot to the cancellations of SHE-HULK, NIGHTWING, etc.

I was really taken aback by that glimpse of Mon smooching somebody other than Shady, too!

And I don't even want them together as a couple (explain that one...)

Nothing else really stood out in that O&O glimpse-page, for me.

I liked that Krypto immediately took to Mon, unlike the dog's relationship with poor Superboy.

Thanks for that observation about the cover and interior art working together, Superboy. That's a subtle bit that I didn't catch, but that really adds to the story when you notice it.

I really like Sarcasm Kid's idea that Garth planted the cure.

Part of me hope's it's never spelled out, but a perhaps bigger part wants to see it explored.

I'm very curious about how they'll join up the Bob Cobb ID, the various Mon-el's that have visited Superboy/Man over the years, and the role Mon has played both in LSH tales and non-LSH DCU ones.

If they've got a story or explanation that accounts for all of them or ties them together in a clearer way, that'll go a long way towards streamling the Legion/DCU connection that's presently more than a bit muddied.

I'd like to see an issue of BRAVE AND THE BOLD or an annual or something that teamed Mon-el, the Hawks (as in Katar/Carter and Shayera/Shiera/Kendra) and Donna Troy traipsing across a couple of parallel earths or timelines. "This'll make your head *really* explode" could be the caption.

I agree with the fact that Tellus was a breath of fresh air. The very fact that they chose when of the Legionnaires who hasn't gotten screen time in the last ten to fifteen years makes it all a more original idea.

And with that cryptic mention Garth made to Superman before he left, it would make all the more sense that he left the bottle there.

The most interesting page is the DC Nation page at the end.... which clearly shows

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Superboy punching Superboy Prime as drawn by George Perez</span></span>

Bob Cobb: maybe when Monel gets around to deciding he needs a secret identity and a job, he'll say how the idea of selling hair care products door to door intrigues him... and Ma will tell him that hasn't been done for decades or will just look at him funny. (wouldnt' Ma remember Bob Cobb?)

Tellus: move this story along quickly. Never knew anything about this Guardian but liked the Crisis issue and I just liked the way Tellus told him not to worry.... Curious friendmates.

Ma Kent: everyone should have one.

...Or a breath of fresh methane, in this case.

can someone tell me about tellus? like... a little history and personality wise? you don't have to do it here, a note would be cool. unless maybe it would be beneficial for other people that aren't familiar with the character as well?

does he always speak like that? in that sort of weird tone or is that different?

His real name is Ganglios.

Here's a link to some hero history:

http://www.majorspoilers.com/archives/3494.htm/

Tellus looks intimidating as heck when they draw him upright in that jar. Much different effect than how he usually came off in the Legion, even though they did show he could whip some butt as a Legionnaire if he had too. But anyone seeing him for the first time in these stories might be inclined to conclude he is some fierce brawler rather than the deeply thoughtful and serene character he actually was. Though they are conveying that part of his personality through his dialogue.


Thanks for that link to the Tellus history SL...I had forgotten about the role Tellus played in that Phantom Zone story with Mon-El. Maybe that's got something to do with why he's in the 21st century now. Will be interesting to see since that Phantom Zone story was a Post Crisis Legion story.


I do have to say, Tellus being a semi-supporting character for the Guardian in "Superman" is pretty much at the top of the list of things I never thought I'd see in a comic book.

Don't forget Supergirl!

For lack of a better place

Quote from Dan Didio at Mega-Con:


QUESTION: Why does it seem like the re-introduction of the same ideas?


DD – They are the same ideas but shown in a new light. Take the Legion for example. They are important to DC, and Legion always worked best when it appeared with Superboy. Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes was the most successful, so that’s what we want to get back to.


And there it is...a silent bombshell.


BTW, IMO it's a huge bit of news that Didio mentioned Superboy like that. Especially outright...it's literally been decades since anyone said the words "Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes" openly and in a public forum like that that was part of the top DC brass. DC hasn't done that in years. And they especially never mentioned that it was the most successful incarnation of the team..the one that was more popular than the X-Men, and the FF, and the Avengers, and JLA, and Titans. The closest they've gotten is when they mentioned they said they could call Superboy-Prime, Superboy Prime again. But they still wouldn't mention Superboy outright, and never with the Legion. They called him "he who shall not be named".

Agreement with the Siegels forthcoming IMO.

And the closed club will now be accepting new members once again...Titans and JLA? Watchout, your days are numbered.

ohh man i had to look really close to figure out if he had feet or...not-feet. so...he has hands??? were they kind of inconsistent with how they drew him?

ok so... he seems nice but xenophobic? is he sort of a vague precursor to gates, you think?

*shake fist* i'm going to draw that thing!! that's kind of a strange character to bring back, isn't it?

Not really. Considering Grant Morrison brought back a guy in an orange and blue nightmare who carried around a scale.

And he's DEFINETLY not stranger than Atmos.

grant morrison should not be considered on the scale, since everything he does is weird.

The good kind of weird. This guy, Atmos, he was like "backwards bayou freakshow" weird. Why? Guy ain't go no armpits for no reason.

He was pretty much the first non-humanoid Legionnaire. Way different personality than Gates though. Gates is pretty much the epitome of a curmudgeon, despite his youth. Tellus is more of a Spock type character. Levitz did a great job of writing him IMO. Tellus just might be his best characterization because he made him such a likeable character personality-wise.