Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Adventure #523 Preview/Spoilers!

I hate rich characters. It's just so convenient to say that Super Team X can afford to operate because some multi-gazillionaire is paying for everything, whether it's Charles Xavier, RJ Brande, Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne, or whoever. Even the Young Avengers have a rich member. How convenient. If said multi-gazillionaire would give his money to charity it would probably go farther to ending the evils of the world than bankrolling a bunch of super powered costumed glory junkies.

Just once, I'd like to see a super team operating on a shoestring budget and struggling to make ends meet like the rest of us mere mortals.

Wasn't the retroLegion just on a super limited budget during the Action/Earth Man era?
Underground, anyway.

I think it would be interesting to see a team that had to solicite sponcers and wear logos of the companies on their uniforms and vehicles.

Perhaps Levitz will write Quislet with the Lightle body and presense this time.
And I don't remember Quis being obnoxious in the Superman books recently, or in the LSH stories either.
Maybe he's going to be taken out of the past hipster stuff.
I hope so.

But, I was hoping that for Comet Queen, too.
sigh

Ditto for the 5-Year Gap Legion, I think.

True, MB, but Reep had inherited his father's fortune and was footing the bill. Not sure why they had to live on a garbage heap. Inflation?

Got the issue and loved it. I guess you can chalk me up as one who couldn'e care less if Glorith is even remotely related to any of the previous characters we've seen with that name...in fact, I really hope she isn't.

Phils art is unbelievable, and I'm glad to see some of the characters we've been missing show up here. I'm guessing with all the departures lately in the LSH proper, one or more of the graduates will be moving up soon...which would be really cool.

I was very pleased to see as much of Lydda, Jed and Lamprey as we did. Indeed, and I'd never complain about this, 'cause I love the old crew and would never say I want to see less of them, I think the scenes with them might have cut into development time for some of the new guys, like Variable Lad.

Unlike the 'core' Legionnaires (the Founders, Brainy) who, IMO, got a little too much stage-time, and I'm happy to see take a break and let some of the less developed Legionnaires show their stuff, the 'core' Academy recruits never really got all that fleshed out anyway, so I feel like I've barely even met Nightwind, Lamprey, Crystal Kid, etc.

Plus there are characters like Urk, the floating fish (Flotsam & Jetsam?) and 'the Westerner' that we know practically nothing about...

Phil is obviously a Legion fan from back in the day...his "Easter Eggs" prove it.

Holy moley I am dense.

I haven't read all the posts yet but wanted to comment. I just read this (last night) and it was awesome!

Phil Jimenez has always been a fave but his work here was really outstanding. Phil drawing some of my favorite characters doesn't hurt either!

Great issue.

Not to derail further, but I love Quislet. I thought he palyed off Wildfire really well and would love to see him paired with Gates sometime. The conflicting personalities would practically write a story itself.

For the record I LOVE Quislet, Dr. Gym'll and Comet Queen. Maybe it's the kid in me.

Excited about all the characters! I always loved the Acadmey members. Nice to see some of the lesser known ones there as well. Nice to see Harlak as well!

Blok looked awesome!

I agree about magic needing rules. It's one of my pet peeves with magic. To be a total master you need a character that is very old. Hate seeing newbies be masters after a few issues. Magic with limitations is the way to go.

Phil Jimenez! Awesome work!

Regarding him on the main Legion book. No. Personally I like to see big name artists on small books. While the Legion isn't a superstar book...most big books have big artists. If they put a superstar on a small book it draws more attention for that book. (though...maybe Jim Lee can draw the Legion).

I miss Blok's nose.

Agreed on magic characters. And Chemical King clones too.

JUST set it down. OH MY GOODNESS.

Proof positive that Levitz' stories work best with a seasoned vet artist (or someone not a vet but who is design-crazy savvy). Cinar just simply doesn't have the experience under his belt yet to sell the LSH motherbook like Jiminez SELLS THE HECK outta LSH ACADMEY.

Best-looking LSH tale since Jiminez' previous shortie with Paul, which was itself the best-looking tale since Coipel (maybe Batista).

I definitely got a BFF vibe from Lamprey and Jed and will be surprised and disappointed if it is anything more than than that.

Anytime shirtless Jed and Gravity Kid wanna stroll around HQ together, well, that's cool.

I think after just one issue I prefer this to the motherbook. This book has Jiminez, a bunch of the lower-tier characters (Lu, Chuck, Lydda, Jed, etc) and scads of newbies... how can I NOT prefer it??

BIG PROPS to Levitz for having the nads to include Comet Queen, I know writing characters who are seemingly on the more frivolous side isn't necessarily his first choice, and here she's a regular. THANK YOU!

One reservation: I will need to warm to not-Glorith. Glorith was a big part of a special run of LSH for me, and I don't care how shallow it sounds, I think a character named Glorith in a LSH book should look like Glorith-Glorith. I'm sure as not-Glorith comes into her own, I will warm to her.

All in all, I am VERY PLEASED!!

I agree LASH, but I think that this Glorith, if she IS 'Glorith' might change hair color like Mysa has over the years, like EDE, I think, has already said.

She's never had magical powers before, so maybe, the glowing eyes and tatoos on her face obscure her features.
And her age might contribute to the differences, too.
Lori was a lot younger than this version and this version is a lot younger than the original or reboot/etc. gal.

Anyway, it's kind of fun to speculate and hope and wait to see what he'll do.

Which is nice.
I'd kind of lost the fun of Paul's return with the Shady/EM/Lar developments in the regular book.

This is turning into one of those comics I end up reading over and over again, discovering new things in the background.

Random thoughts, more or less page by page;

That tiny glimpse of Harlack on page two is enough to make me want to see more of him. The magenta skin always looked kinda dumb under other artists / coloring teams, but here it looks neat. What sort of magic would a Khund find most interesting? Tactically useful spells of divination or physical augmentation or battlefield coordination? (Still shudder at the name Khund. Worse even than the new Emerald Empress's name rhyming with 'phallus.' Such verbal-gags might be amusing to some, but not so much to me.)

Neat little bit of characterization on page three how Glorith is hugging Mysa, and Mysa is clearly not hugging her back. Mysa referring to Lydda as 'oh, Night,' was interestingly pretentious and moody.

The group shot has the neat little detail of Gravity Kid looking very smug about / proud of his Legion flight ring. And Variable Lad has the neatest expression, all wide-eyed and innocent and enthusiastic. I love the way those solid black eyes of his look.

And on page eight, we have eyestalk-tentacle alien! So cool, a flash to the past. Also, quite a few aliens hanging around in those crowd scenes on 5, 8 and 9, for a planet that is only a few months away from xenophobic riots and an extended period of aliens being killed on sight... Perhaps that's for the best, since I hated that storyline.

Page 11, love, love, love those Legion jammies on Chuck. I like the detail on his face in that last panel. How rare is it for an artist to be able to portray an overweight character that still manages to look handsome / attractive (since overweight characters, in the comics, are usually villains anyway)?

And on 12, nice little hints of characterization on some of the 'Up!' scenes. Grava sleeps with a teddy bear, blinders over her eyes (which makes sense, since her head glows...) and has all sorts of teen-idol-esque posters on her walls. How cool is that?

Again on 13, more characterization in the facial reactions. Dragonwing is grumpy. Grava is trying to be upbeat. Variable Lad is sleepy. Chemical Kid is already delivering the backtalk. Gravity Kid seems to be brown-nosing, but might be quite sincerely agreeing, as he was the only student that was already up and active. Glorith's face is obscured, which could be foreshadowing, or just representative of her disheveled state of mind...

And hey, there's Night Girl, in a boob window, with not a bit of cleavage. In a way, it only makes it look even more ludicrous, since it's not sexy the way Phil draws it, just impractical.

I like on 14 that not only are Grava and Gravity Kid looking taken aback by the shenanigans of their classmates (and Glorith is, once again, obscured, betraying no reaction), and yet also Variable Lad is showing signs of aggravation with his teammates. I like that he's not just innocent, but can also be put out by his friends when they act up. Despite seeing nothing of Dragonwing but her lips and her crossed arms, she radiates annoyance. Amazingly cool how much of her current mood is radiating from that tiny snipped of her in profile.

15, those are some freaky heels on Night Girl, and she's got near Kryptonian level strength in the dark, in some interpretations. She must be very, very careful in the use of her strength, as she could easily have pushed that stiletto heel through Gravity Kid's chest...

On to page 20, where I have no idea what Glorith is doing. Have I mentioned how much I don't like comic book portrayals of magic? Is she turning the metal rods to water? They seem to be splashing when they hit the ground. How is this supposed to knock the ball out of Night Girl's grip? Whatever.

Chemical Kid's 'glasses' are very odd. Most of the time, they appear to be completely holographic, but he's shown once or twice touching or handling or 'adjusting' them, which suggests some sort of physicality. Perhaps they are hardlight constructs or force fields or something?

21, some question of whether or not Jed and Tayla are an item. She seems very comfortable with him, but he's not reciprocating. I'm getting more of a brother / sister or friendly vibe, which, in light of speculation about Jed and Tel, might imply that Tayla is just being extra comfortable around Jed because he's 'safe.'

I wonder what her glowy hair feels like against his cheek? Does it tickle? Does it feel like water? Electricity? Hair? Who knows. He's not reacting, in any event.

And the question of 22, did Tel and Grava make enough noise in the hallway to draw Jed out of his own separate room, or where Tel and Jed in the same room? Who knows. I suspect it will be made explicit, in time, if any of the current students are 'an item' or not. I'm in no hurry.

Less controversial is the question of what Urk is doing crawling around the place, apparently eating random bits of technology. Is this an acceptable practice? Is it vandalism? Is this a necessary function, because 31st century technology is quasi-organic and needs to be trimmed / pruned from time to time, as older systems have to be replaced / removed, and Urk is one of a genetically engineered caste of organisms that roam around devouring and recycling redundant or 'rogue' bits of tech left lying around.

Love the colors. So vibrant. Bright green flames from Dragonwing (is she related to the Green Flame / Fire?). Rich purple magical stuff from Glorith. All sorts of fun coloration.

I'm kinda loving this book, although it's got it's quirks. Dragonwing's attitude and my knee-jerk dislike of Glorith is putting me in the unexpected position of liking Comet Queen more and more... Didn't see that coming!

I suspect that Chemical Kid's and Dragonwing's delinquent behavior will lead Glorith to the dark side, but I hope it doesn't happen for a while.

Nice rundown, Set, thanks.

I pronounced Falice like fuh-leese, not phallus. That never occurred to me.

Regarding the "delinquent" behavior of the "heroes":

It has been a common judicial practice in the past to send low-level juvenile offenders to the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts as some kind of rehabilitation.

I wonder if some of the Academy members might be there involuntarily: it certainly looked like Glorith was being "sent" to the Academy by Mysa, and not particularly enthusiastic about going.

Good review, Set!

Maybe he sees at some sort of molecular/atomic level. It would certainly make chemistry easier if you could see the elements floatings around. Of course, you wouldn't be able to see normally so hence the glasses.

What a cool idea!

Below are some observations Jim Shooter and Len Rosenberg made about Chemical King from the Legion Signs thread. Sounds like Paul is patterning Chemical Kid's personality as well as his powers after him.

Chemical King: This character is a puzzle to me. An elusive personality, rather superficial. Jim Shooter believed Condo was very rich, spoiled rotten, and making a game of being a Legionnaire until surprised by World War VII. He used to show off his expensive new sky-car. He spent almost no time with Element Lad despite the similarity of their powers. He might have been a Gemini, a sign that sometimes seems superficial and that likes cars and games.

The art is gorgeous! Lydda, Luornu,Mysa, Chuck and Blok.Phil Gimenez is a genious!
But the entire story about the academy members is too bored for me.
With so many legionnaires in limbo or out of the picture, it's a waste of time.

But this series resolves a big chunk of that problem. As you yourself say, here we can find Lydda, Luornu, Mysa Chuck and Blok. Not to mention Jed, Comet Queen, Lamprey and I am sure more to come.

^And it also gives us those characters while creating a reason for a second title to exist other than "2 teams" or "2 comics for one team". The premise-driven approach gives the characters here a firm reason for being here.

BTW, I absolutely loved this issue. It combines two things:

First, the spotlight on the Academy is giving me a premise I've always wanted to see explored. It's like my dream Legion comic spin-off book is here--and with the actual academy students I love! (Lamprey, etc.)

Plus, it's allowing for Phil Jimenez and Paul to flourish on a creative level, by introducing new characters, concepts and designs, making it one DC's most original new series in YEARS.

It's a combination of being new and fresh, yet calling back some characters that have largely been ignored for years that are fan favorites.

Not to mention, Phil's artwork was terrific and Paul's writing was well-paced, exciting and used a lot of characters.