Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Spoilers....... Issue #34, Childhood's End

First off... Steve Lightle is a fantastically talented artist and visual story teller.

Second off, let me say that I liked this issue's writing and art... Yet, there is a major problem with it in my opinion.

I feel like I only read a third of the story. DC could have given Keith and Steve a few more issues to tell this story, especially considering we're going to have a few months of no Legion titles in the near future.

Keith & Steve did a good job of setting up Qward, but how did the guy on Qward capture Wildfire? How did he even know about Wildfire and that his power could fuel the planet? How was he able to channel the power? How did the Legion find out what was going on?

I think a couple more issues to set up the "human" or character side of the story would have made for a better overall read. I'd like to have seen Shikari's reaction when she found out Drake was gone. Some dialogue between Cham and Lyle setting up the squad to go to Qward to rescue Drake. Do the other Legionnaires know what the situation is? Why did they not go along on the rescue?

Over the last year or two we've been buying Legion arcs that seemed to go two issues too long, and here we get an "arc" that's two issues too short. <sigh>

Other than that I like the revelations about Wildfire... battery running out of energy, human form in the anti-matter universe, those are well thought out, nice touches that make me wish Keith and Steve had more issues to tell this story.

Cham as "Tellus" was a nice touch. It was a nice bait and switch moment that worked within the confines of the story. Much better than DnA yanking our chains with Brainiac 5 and the "In..." incident.

DC can be so frustrating. Overall I'd give the issue a strong B, not through any fault of the creator's. They just needed a few more issues.

I agree on that, minesurfer.

Wildfire's new look is cool! The Star only lights up when he's in the suit. I hope that at least it lasts longer than the shadow champions effect for Umbra did.

Keith, Steve, Rhonda - Excellent job!

Oh! And the "Ladies?" I saw both Lyle and Reep enjoying the view too.

Whew! I would have paid $2.50 just for that panel where Kari eyes the nekkid Drake. Steve, how you did you KNOW what my dream guy looks like? Keith, whaddya mean Wildfire's gonna die???

I feel like I only read a third of the story I'd be willing and interested to read. However, I think I also enjoyed the faster pacing supplied by the manner that was used, leaving some to my imagination.


They told the story they wanted to tell and did it well (IMO). What they left me with was a DESIRE for more. Maybe how the Legion got to Qward or how Wildfire became captive was not the story they wanted to tell, but the lack of extended background didn't leave me with any misunderstandings. The story presented was clear to me as well as a bit unexpected.

What I liked most, is it didn't really seem to me a Legion story yet it used Legion characters in expected ways. It reminded me of something from the Adventure era all grown up.

A very strange little tale.

Wildfire has become the post-boot Kid Psycho with this tale.

I was not impressed.


Yet another quick read about mindless hordes worshipping an "omnipotent" master. Why does this sound familiar? Universo, Darkseid, Singularity, Computo, and the Progenitor spring to mind. I guess Abnett and Lanning don't have the corner on this market.

Also, I didnt' understand why the Kid from Qward (Kid Q III?) admired his father's ruthlessness as long as he was going around killing people and ordering executions willy nilly, but when it comes to lying and kidnapping, he draws the line and decides his father is evil. Huh? If he belongs to a race that lives to hate and doesn't know the meaning of friendship and compassion, then why were his father's actions unacceptable? And why would he free Wildfire if he has no compassion? Especially, considering that Wildfire was providing power for the planet. And if he viewed the Legionnaires as subhuman monsters that he hated so much, why let them go? Lastly, if he wasn't running around in little more than a loin cloth maybe he wouldn't be so cold.

I also would've liked to see how Wildfire was captured and how the Legion found him again. It feels like we came in late on one of D&A's "epics."

I thought of that too, Cargg. And the Qward kid reminded me of Rond Vidar in Adv. 360 when he rebelled against Universo to aid the Legion.

I agree Jim - I too was underwhelmed with this one.
Plus, the eventual death sentence for Wildfire doesn't have much impact considering everything could change for this character in the relaunch.

One could blame DnA and/or the editor for that. How hard would it have been to put a page into the previous issue or so, showing Wildfire disappearing and/or the Legionnaires discussing tracking him down after dealing with Singularity and the Credo? This story has been in the drawer for some time now. It really isn't that hard folks. When DnA had pages and pages of nothing going on, it's pretty simple.

I don't like Wildfire's new suit @ the end here - the star thing is nice, but could have been worked into the Coipel suit, which was far more distinct.

As for the "running out" bit... eh, it's been introduced by a fill-in team, and Waid's going to come along with the wrecking ball in a few months anyway, so...

Wow, I'm really surprised at all the negative reactions. I thought with all the anticipation over a new artist and writer that people would be eating this up. I guess as an artist I'm more intersted in the art than any perceived shortcomings in the story. Though I liked the story and don't have any problems with the "slice-of-life' approach that doesn't fill in all the before and after details.

I don't think he had a problem with his father being evil; to me, he didn't say that in a negative way.The problem was that he couldn't respect him once he realized his father's power wasn't really his own. I don't think he released Wildfire out of compassion, but as a way of punishing his father. And if he lets them all go, well he's just a kid; maybe his evil isn't fully formed yet.

Now the art, which I think is stunning, and I'm not just sucking up in the hopes of working with Steve again (though I wouldn't say no... ) When I first got the files for this book I admit to feeling overwhelmed with the challenge, but I had DC send me full size copies of the original artboards, and once I had those in my hands, everthing changed some how. I really studied those pages and came to appreciate how incredible the layouts are. No boring grids for Steve; each composition is a little work of art.

In summary, in case you hadn't guessed, I liked it! Of course I spent a couple of weeks with the material and have read it , like a hundred times, so maybe I'm a teensy bit biased.

Ronda

random thoughts:
-- I don't mind being dropped in the middle of the story this way. I don't need to see Wildfire taken captive and seeing the team rally to find him etc.
-- The story felt quick to me too, but I don't think dragging out the process of rescuing Wildfire would've helped -- that's what DnA's story seemed to me. What would help stories like this seem "meatier" is a twist and turn to the story -- the story at the beginning was "rescue WIldfire" and that's what they did, there was no deviation.
-- What I would have liked to see here was some more characterization. Any story is helped when there's an emotional backbone to the narrative and I'm sorry, but some Qwardian kid we've never seen before didn't really draw me in. Legion Lost worked cuz they went inside the Legionnaire's heads. What if Shikari had narrated this one? I think we would've learned a lot along the way and her emotional involvement with Drake might've ratched up the tension. I had hoped we'd actually see something more about their relationship this issue instead of just them standing together in group shots.
-- Regarding the Qwardian kid's motivation, he didn't have a problem with his dad being evil, I think he had a problem with him being weak -- that his power was fake. Freeing Wildfire was a "screw you dad" more than an act of compassion.
-- I'm ambivalent about the new outfit. While I love Cockrum's original design and I love that Lightle worked in Coipel's "window star" in his chest, I will miss Coipel's design and I'm not totally sold yet on the new color scheme on the old outfit (I think it's because replacing orange with black makes the outfit seem inverted since the red is no longer the darker color).
-- The art overall was amazing
-- Wildfire's new mortality might be an interesting development if this series were going to continue. There's almost no point in discussing it since it won't last. It'll give Wildfire something new to be angsty about, but I don't expect anybody to pick up on it in any relevant way (aside from maybe a thought panel where he says "I'm killing myself each time I use my powers, but I have to save (insert Legionnaire of choice)!"). Kinda like how Sensor's big change caused some stress but we don't see any followup.
-- While it's nice to see an acknowledgement of how powerful Wildfire is (was), too bad we rarely saw it in DnA's stories (he was quite impressive in "Widening Rifts" though).

-- Oh, and um .. Steve? I'm not sure but are you feeling some stress about a certain milestone (40) perhaps?? (or my interlac is rusty) Breathe deep -- it's all good, brother

They were explained, albeit subtely. Apparently they can threshold into the AMU, and if so, then 'Kari could track Drake down. And Tharon mentions how "On the other side your [Wildfire's] power was like a beacon. It beckoned to me... to us. It took time, of course, and stretched out meager resources until they were as thin as the very air. Still we are Weaponeers. We prevailed."

Frankly, that's enough. Spending too much time on setup wouldn't help the story.

I think Champagne messed up with the thresholds though at the end - Umbra just says "Shikari, open a threshold." Umm.... HOW? It's not an inherent power of hers, and I don't see any evidence of the tech needed to open one. And it's not as if they can just call Legionworld to have them open one from their side.

That's a good point and one that had escaped me. I really really don't like the thresholds. Instantaneous travel to anywhere just makes things entirely too easy AND they haven't been used consistently at all. When Spark visited Winath, a white triangle simply opened in mid air and poof, out came Spark. Yet at other times, like when Universo had the whole Legion hop a threshold to Titan, they emerged from a mechanical threshold device similar to the one they hopped into on LegionWorld. And if they can hop anywhere with these things, then why didn't Imra and Nura go directly to the Titanet tower in that issue, instead of landing on a boat dock and then taking a boat across the sea to Titanopolis?

Ya know, if we weren't getting two or three months off from our Legion addiction in the near future, I would probably agree with this, but they spent 5 to 6 pages (somebody with the issue in front of them, help me out here) alone at the front setting up Qward and new characters. I don't have a problem with that much exposition.

But I gotta think that an issue of characterization, interaction, and a nice little cliff hanger when they stumble over Wildfire's disappearance would have been a nice touch.

To ammend my previous statement based on minesurfer's comments, any kind of explanation into Wildfire's disappearance would've been interesting only if it set up some emotional stakes for the Legion, some kind of issue that would need to be resolved by the end of the arc, be it Shikari and Wildfire's relationship, the personality interaction of this new "stealth squad" etc ... which would've been the real thrust of any kind of set up issue. Logistically, I thought we got enough of an explanation.

I'm going to say that I enjoyed the issue. I wasn't overwhelmend, I wasn't blown away, but I think Ronda Pattison did a remarkable job coloring and I think Lightle did a better job here than in the Umbra spotlight issue (and I thought he did a good job with that issue).

I'll echo many of the sentiments/opinion already expressed:

- I also felt the issue was "compressed". I don't think it deserved 66 pages (3 issues), but I would like to have seen this story played out over 44 pages (2 issues).

- I do agree with Jim Gallagher that ONCE AGAIN, the Legion has to deal with a megalomaniac (Universo, Darkseid, Computo, Singularity, Ra's Al Ghul, and now Lord Thalon). This volume of the Legion has been plagued by would be "world-conquerers" and surely the series would have benefitted from a variety of antagonist motivations.

- I agree that the revelation of Wildfire's mortality has little impact because of the reboot.

- I for one enjoyed Wildfire containing himself at the end of the issue in the Dave Cockrum designed ERG-1 suit, and Chameleon transforming into Tellus put a smile on my face.

Let me add one complaint and one comment.

Complaint:
Who's the speaker of the caption on page 16 that reads, "In every child’s life, there comes a moment. A moment when the scales fall from their eyes and they see their parents… not as gods. But for what they really are." Who's saying this? Certainly not any of the Legionnaires. Not Lord Thalon or the boy or any other character in the story. It's an awkward intrusive caption only meant to explain the boy's subsequent actions.

Comment:
What do you make of the two skeletons presented alongside Wildfire in his containment cell? He's standing Christ-like with arms raised, and I'm wondering if the skeletons represent the two thieves crucified alongside Christ. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but the issue DOES have a "savior" theme to it.

Again though, I felt the issue was "worth the price of admission" and Steve Lightle has a lot to do with that.

The "ideal" seems to be gate-to-gate, but they're certainly capable of gate-to-opening, as shown multiple times. The huge amount of energy it was mentioned they took early on presumably plays a part - I expect that gate-to-gate takes less energy to maintain.

And it's fairly clear that Nura & Imra wanted the boat ride in that issue. Plus I'm sure teleporting straight to your room is rude

One point that had escaped me though - NO-ONE noticed the White Triangle symbolism?

Like a whole city of people not talking to you because you're not a telepath isn't? If I were Nura I would've ported straight to my room.

Well if YOU don't know the difference, I'm certainly not going to tell you.

Really, killing is killing, but rudeness is just unacceptable.

I liked the issue. The artwork was fantastic; the team of Legionnaires featured was diverse and colorful. A story featuring something meaningful (in a positive way) with Wildfire's character hadn't really been done since Mr. Levitz. I felt the story featuring the anti-universe of Qward was an interesting change of pace, and while it featured another omnipotent egomaniac as the foil, at least the whole United Planets wasn't subject to abuse.
My only complaint would be that that the story did spend a lot of pages developing the Qward situation, and left too few for interaction between the Legion team.

Here's hoping the re-reboot doesn't wash Wildfire's dilemma away ...

PS - I wish Steve Lightle would redesign Chameleon's uniform. With his pinned-back ears look (a la Copiel) he looks like an imp in footsie pajamas.

Re: Wildfire:

I'm thinking that in the Legion/Titans special that Wildfire will make the final sacrifice to undo the damage the multiple incarnations of the Fatal Fives will do.

Yes, I do believe that Wildfire has become this Legion's Kid Psycho (aka Legion Secret Weapon #1).

Plus, Shikari looked really cute (and child-like) when she was looking at Drake's energy form in admiring awe.

While I usually like Steve Lightle's art I thought all of the Legionnaires (especially Lyle and Umbra) looked too young in this issue. They practically look prepubescent, Umbra's knockout bod clad in black dental floss notwithstanding.