Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion of Super-Heroes #4 (spoilers)

Saying "they won't do it, it's too obvious" leads to a paradox where it's so obvious that nobody figures it out, making it not obvious. I remember when everyone was doubting that Morpheus was going to be killed at the end of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, because it was so obvious that he was going to die. Nope, it really was that obvious. Some people will kill me for this, but see TVTropes: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheUntwist

If there is anything strange, my bet is on Shadow Lass being an impostor. She makes a bunch of weird comments in this issue, like "That we are" in response to Quislet's comment about silly flesh creatures, that could mean either that she's attracted to Earth-Man and self-conscious over it, or that she's a fake. And we haven't seen Uli Algor lately....

The story claims that Garth and Ayla are identical twins. I mentioned this on Facebook and Paul replied that yes they are, and it's very rare on Winath to have opposite-sex identical twins, and no, Ayla didn't have a sex change.

Jeckie's costume is awful. Not that the Projectra costume didn't have a boob window too, but it looks ridiculous on this one. And that panel of her head makes it look like she has a huge forehead.

I wonder if Earth-Man is playing both sides against each other. He isn't telling the Legion about the JLE guys, but neither is he getting along with them, and in fact he's planning to spy on them.

And by the way Jeckie's hair is not wrong. The Sensor Girl costume includes blonde hair, even though Jeckie's hair is naturally white.

Does her costume look better or worse now that the mask is gone?

My review.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">This issue is the one that finally concludes the story of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad trying to rescue their twin children from whom appears to be Darkseid. For those of you that don't know, during the classic Legion story "The Great Darkness Saga", Darkseid, as a form of revenge against the Legion for defeating him, stole one of the Ranzzes sons at birth, completely unbeknownst to the parents. He took the child and sent it into the past, warping it into the monster the Legion would one day fight, Validus. Eventually, though, Garth and Imra discovered what had happened and rescued their child.

Ever since the "original" Legion came back in 2007, we never got a straight answer as to whether or not the Ranzz children were still in continuity, even though their parents were both still married. To further complicate matters, it looked as if the second child, Garridan, was still Validus, as evident by the monster's appearance in Legion of 3 Worlds. It took three years until we got an answer in Legion #1.

This issue demonstrates the Ranzz family, husband-and-wife Garth and Imra, and Garth's sister, Ayla, working together as a family to rescue the kids from a cult on the planet Avalon dedicated to Darkseid. Avalon had been touched by Darkseid during the Great Darkness, when he sucked the magic from Mordru the Merciless and traumatized the sorcerer. All three Legionnaires are in character:
*Imra demonstrates both her intellect, rationale, and ability to think before acting, as well as her hardass battle savvy when in combat. She also traumatizes the head of the cult by creating a giant, threatening image of his supposed Master.
*Garth, while still being a hothead, doesn't charge into battle until his wife is unable to get a clear reading on the cell holding the boys. He even kisses her on the cheek before charging in. There's a quick little sibling quibble between him and Ayla where Ayla makes a sarcastic remark. Later in the battle, he holds back to protect his stunned sister while his wife handles things.
*Ayla shows the better traits of both her twin brother and sister-in-law, Garth's tenacity and power levels via electricity, and Imra's rationale and quick wits, as she revives the Ranzz couple with a quick bolt of electricity when they are knocked out, stalling the enemy by talking.

These pages actually made me smile seeing Garth and Imra demonstrate love for one another and their children, when compared to other such comics DC has right now with failed relationships and melodramatic plot twists. Luckily the Ranzz children do not share the same fate as most of the children of the Titans.

During the other segments of the issue, Earth-Man meets with a group who are supposedly the Human Separatist Movement, and refuses to be their puppet. The group is made up of representatives of each Earth culture, African, Indian, Native American, Asian, European... the sad thing is, most of these people represent cultures and races who have been horrifyingly mistreated and persecuted over the course of history, and now they are trying to have Earth-Man wipe out the refugees from Titan that are on Earth. And the obviously still have a hidden agenda.

There is talk of leader elections coming back, the creature Dyogene searching for a more suitable bearer of the green ring, Titan refugees on the planet Naltor and Professor Harmonia Li, and Shadow Lass seems to have an interest in Earth-Man.</span></span>

I did say "unmasked Jeckie" in my post above, meaning that when she takes the mask off the wig "comes off" as well to complete the illusion.
I've never seen her pull a wig off in the past, have you?
The colorist got confused, that's all.

Jeckie's actual hair is not only white, but wavy. This was straight blonde hair, so if it was a mistake it's a combined mistake of the penciller and the colorist. I think it was supposed to be the blonde hair that goes with the costume.

Isn't "opposite-sex identical twins" a contradiction in terms? How can they be identical if they're not the same sex? Oh well, I guess it doesn't have to make sense.

They were referred to as identical twins back in v3, but I can't recall if it was in a story or in the lettercol.

I loved the issue except for the part where Paul throws Matter-Eater Lad away. No matter how great the rest was and it was good...that ruined the story for me.

Paul embraced Tyroc. I was hoping to read more Tenzil adventures. I think I'll start a campaign or something. I mean the guy is getting an action figure from Mattel for gosh sakes. Paul needs to challenge himself more by writing Matter-Eater Lad whether he likes the character or not.

*Now* I know who I'll be voting for in any possible reader election... Tenzil Kem for LSH Leader!

If there is a reader election, I wonder if it'll be at the DC website- probably with a drop-down menu with no chance of choosing Tenzil?

That's what I'm guessing.

Issue number four was ok. I still have trouble with Paul's wonky dialog and pacing, and art was too dissonant this time. At least he seems to be moving fast with the story, not wasting time on subplots. But I kind of miss a bit of more dialog, the story being more fleshed out. I would love to see more information on planets, a la Encyclopedia Galactica.
Form 0 to 10, a 6.5.

"Identical" actually refers to the fact that they originate from the same zygote which splits in two. It is possible (though extremely rare) for one twin to mutate into a different sex after this occurs, though I'm pretty sure it's usually accompanied by other genetic defects. I suppose it's possible that on Winath they don't have this problem.

Of course, this could all be leading up to the long awaited revelation that Garth has been a chick all along!

I agree with you about ME-Lad.
Paul didn't even give him a chance in this book and that is a bit disheartening. There are lots of us out there that like this character a lot. Paul should have at least included a scene where he shakes Cos's hand and says goodbye or something like that. You know, keep the door open for future appearances, etc.
Personally I think he would have made a great "think man" behind the scenes but still driving the action from headquarters (a la Brainy and Lyle in the reboot Legion).

Makes you wonder who else Paul might decide to axe with a throw away line like Tenzil's quitting and going back to Bismoll.

Tenzil quit the last time...

And we all remember what his years of being on Bismoll led to during the FYL.

Indeed we do. It led to unparraleled awesomeness!

Thank you.

Did Tenzil quit before or was he drafted from his planet to serve in their government?

I think he was drafted.

According to Cosmic Boy, after Tenzil's resignation and Mysa/Blok not responding, there are 26 electors left. By my reckoning there is:

1. Cosmic Boy
2. Lightning Lad
3. Saturn Girl
4. Phantom Girl
5. Duplicate Damsel
6. Chameleon Boy
7. Colossal Boy
8. Brainiac 5
9. Ultra Boy
10. Shrinking Violet
11. Sun Boy
12. Starman/Boy
13. Bouncing Boy
14. Mon-El
15. Element Lad
16. Lightning Lass
17. Sensor Girl
18. Dream Girl
19. Shadow Lass
20. Timber Wolf
21. Wildfire
22. Dawnstar
23. Tyroc
24. Invisible Kid II
25. Polar Boy
26. Tellus
27. Quislet
28. Night Girl
29. Chameleon Girl
30. XS
31. Gates

I suppose Chuck and Luornu have gone back to the Academy. Has Mon-El officially quit? but even with those three gone there are still 28.

It's easy to figure out who isn't being counted from the symbols--they're all in alphabetical order. Mon-El's on a mission with Polar Boy, he's not missing. Gates is there but his symbol is blank.

Chuck and Luornu are missing; the other missing ones are Yera, Night Girl, and XS. Which looks like Paul is just ignoring the changes Johns made... except he is using Gates and we know from interviews that XS is still around.

If Paul is going to ignore the membership that was already established in this way, I wish he'd have ignored all of Johnsboot and started off the day after LSH v3 #63.

IMHO, the best part of the Johnsboot was Chameleon Girl, Night Girl, Matter-Eater Lad, Duplicate Damsel, Bouncing Boy, etc.

This makes me very sad.

Well, to be fair, he did keep the founders as members.

Oh, and I'm thinking Tyroc would make a good leader.

Maybe Chameleon Girl was only ever meant to be a temp, filling in during Chameleon Boy's absence.

And do we have any evidence that Star Boy/Man has returned to the 31st century?

That would be kinda neat. I wouldn't mind Yera returning to being a non-Legionnaire.

I was kinda hoping the suggested Night Girl / Shadow Lass partnership / friendship would be explored, but it looks like Lydda's going back to the Subs.