Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes CALLING THE ROLL of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1!!! (Spoilers)

Calling the Roll is a character-by-character look at the latest issue featuring the 31st century team, the Legion of Super-Heroes.

For the first time for a comic titled 'Legion of Super-Heroes', let the roll be called!

EARTH-MAN:

Notice that Kirt doesn't actually *wear* either of the rings offered him at any point in this issue, making the cover a bit of misdirection. For this issue,
anyway.

I wonder if the "important people" working to get E.M. out of imprisonment that the Justice League sympathizer mentions are the same people that brokered the
United Planets/Earthgov/LSH deal, or if some other groujp will be continuing to work to free him from the Legion, should he choose to join? And/or from the
Green Lantern Corps, presumably?

"I wanted this so badly, once..." If E.M.'s going to be a long-term member, I hope this is expounded upon... along with examining just what made him so
anti-'alien'. Psychologically, I mean. I suppose that could be a beginning to redemption, if that's the path ahead of him.

"What do you get out of this, you alien slug?", followed by a pose that's worth a 1,000 words. Supercilious prig personified.

I hope whatever time spent with Legionnaires changes Kirt, rather than him changing any of them. Separately or in aggregate.

SUN BOY: All his dialogue here points to his enmity with Earth-Man. Setting off some warning bells, for me. Levitz's Sun Boy was one of his weaker characterizations, for me. He was rather one-note. I hope that's not carried over, with hatred for EM taking the place of a libertine social life.

COLOSSAL BOY: I like his uniform- he looks great on that Titan-rescue page. He comes across as a supportive team player, offering to help Brainy, whose behavior didn't seem to strike any of his teammates as odd or inappropriate. Hmmm.

DAWNSTAR: Interesting that with her and XS on the team, the fastest characters are neither Kryptonion/Daxamite or male.

Adajpu and Usalus: Or, as I like to think of them, the stupid and the useless. The bit about viewing the origin of creation (I hope DC never actually shows the secret that's behind all the destruction, myself) allowed for all the mayhem, but it was Adajpu's hubris that caused it. Usalus kind of reminds me of someone that would've been a good friend for Monstress. Not much else to say about them, except that I liked the variety of them.

Dyogene: Weird and sort of unlikeable. We'll see as his part in things progresses. He reminds me of a larval form of something. Any bets on whether he'll be sprouting wings or something similar before too long?

Sodam Yat: If his Daxamite heritage and his power ring don't get him into the LSH, maybe he can join due to his unique super-crying power. That was one serious stream of tears pouring from his eye onto Oa's soil. Like a 2 liter bottle of water being turned upside down. Y'think Tearstream Lad has a chance?

CTR's back, baby!!!

re: Saturn Girl... yep, she's a comics trendsetter. The look is definitely growing on me.

re: So Damn Fat... I think I'd rather see Earth Man on the team than that weepy thing. Was he created by Marv Wolfman or what??

Earth-Man? I'd rather see that weird green thing giving him the ring on the team than Sodam

I'm not sold on Imra's hair at all--can't wait for it to be changed! I keep seeing Rosemary's Baby.

Forgot about that bit with Ultra Boy mentioning he needed Mon for leverage. That was really good and I like Paul using logic and science in his stories; he's always had a talent at showing the Legionnaires use their powers in ways other than just fighting groups of villains. Showing their limitations and specific scenarios that change how they use them is something that all writers should be doing in comics and heightens the sense of how cool superpowers are.

Glad to see CTR back, Todd!

I like Imra's hair. So nananananana Cobie!

I like most of Levitz science when it comes to our heroes powers...not when it somes to bringing part of a white dwarf to Earth. just sayin...

I also liked Imra's hair. Normally, I don't pay much attention to the fashions depicted in comics, but I think the shorter hair works for her.

I also liked most of the new or slightly updated costumes, with two exceptions: Cos's gray and pink disaster and too many boob windows on the ladies. With the latter, It felt as if Yildiray was trying to hard to evoke Grell.

Awesome, we have a Legion comic book again, which means we have Calling the Roll again! Woot!

It looks like he's fastening his collar, but since it was portrayed as having his collar already fastened throughout the issue, that doesn't make much sense.

Perhaps he's checking to see if his little badge-pin-thingies are on straight?

Maybe he's checking his pulse?

Maybe he's clutching his pearls?

Who knows.

I accept it, and even prefer it from a narrative standpoint, since she's a no-nonsense mom and not one of Charlies Angels, but I still resist it on a visceral level.

Nice insight. And since we know that she's spent at least a year as part of an SP that was devoted to rounding up aliens on earth, she's probably had to put up with a lot of crap that the Legion, who went underground, didn't have to directly work with and attempt to influence from the inside.

From the most laid-back fun-loving socially engaged Legionnaire to a pro-torture and pro-killing one-note hothead? Wow.

And Brek, in Lightning Saga and Legion of Three Worlds (and even here, in bed with a hottie) seems to have also suffered a complete 180 degree turn from the uptight, hypercritical and humorless (even, bitter) person he had turned into by the time he disbanded the Subs and become a Legionnaire, and then a Legion leader.

Perhaps there'll be some flashback story where Brek and Dirk touched a lightning rod at the same time and suffered a personality swap or something?

Without Saturn Girl around to scan him for suitability, as she did with other applicants, the Legionnaires won't really know if he's redeemable or not. I don't see how this will work out if Kirt doesn't change substantially - he'll just be a disruptive force on the team. But what will change him? Maybe Brainy put some psychological alteration gizmo in the ring.

He must have some pull if he's the one chosen for the team and everyone else in the Justice League is in prison (presumably).

Walking through the destruction, protected by his force field - that was so Brainy for me. But his intentions are questionable. If he's talking about trivialities and time spheres, maybe there's something worse coming than the destruction of Titan. Or, like a doctor, he's able to disconnect from the suffering around him in order to get whatever job done that needs doing. Yeah, I'm a Brainy apologist.

And Harmonia Li - a very nice addition. Have they met before, if she was Vidar's student? I think it's time Brainy got over his blond obsession.

Great to see CtR back!

Regarding Imra's hair, its not I hate it, it that I just keep thinking about the devil impregnating Rosemary. That haircut is ruined for me for life no matter who wears it.

Damn you Polanski!

^ I've never found Mia Farrow remotely attractive - except in that movie, where I think she's intoxicatingly beautiful. So, I like that Imra reminds me a bit of her too.

Saints be praised for CTW! Now, let's talk more about Imra's hair...

There's no doubt Yildiray's rendering of Imra with her short hair is very feminine and beautiful, where it might not be in the hands of a less expressive artist. And now I'm fixated on the Mia Farrow/Rosemary's Baby thing, too, although I haven't seen the movie in more than 20 years. More broadly, that hair style seems to communicate both practicality, strength, and somehow brittleness or fragility, which I don't think really applies to Imra. But I would love to see lot's more hair diversity in the Legion, and she's a good candidate for this hairstyle (Shady might be good, too, but it's just too cool to have a shadow-caster with a large, flowing shadow of jet black hair.)

I think one of the most distinctive notes about Levitz's new Legion, in contrast with his last one, is that the characters and their emotional states are much more amped up, and generally I think that's good, although not perhaps in Sodom Yat's case. Thinking back on Levtiz's last run, the Legionnaires had much flatter personalities and emotions, Brainy being a prime example. With such a large cast, I think more distinctive characterization is a must, and I think Paul has risen to that challenge admirably. I don't see his Brainy as too much Vril; rather, I see it as an extension of the Johns character and influenced heavily by Waid's portrayal in the 3boot, which was one of the standouts of that effort for me. On Brainy's walking through the destruction of Titan like a walk through the park on a Sunday afternoon -- I think Paul's dialogue makes pretty clear that Brainy has decided to leave the life saving to his more intellectually limited team mates, and that this is a rational division of labor. You can argue with the soundness of that logic, but it is a logical point of view. Brainy already knows that the Legion can't save everyone on Titan. They will save a LOT of people who would have died without them, but figuring out what caused the destruction of a world is pretty important, and Brainy is uniquely suited to doing that, especially since it involves the Time Institute. I'm missing Circadia Senius, by the way.

Likewise, I appreciated the influence that 3Boot Cosmic Boy seems to have had on this portrayal. In that light, I think his introductory scene with Gigi was sort of atypical -- a rare moment that his anger gets the better of him. I'm all for that reaction, mind you. It's a perfectly believable response to the idea of putting a mass murderer and arch-enemy on the team. It's interesting, and perhaps implausible, that Cos chooses the SP chief to vent to -- after all, this is a political decision, not an SP/judicial one. Mabe you can argue that Earth Man is in SP custody, so that's why Cos was bursting into Gigi's office, as part of a transfer of custody process. I'd also like to think that smart & calculating Cos chose a forgiving subject for his venting, rather than a more direct and damaging political one. Later, it's Cos who is arguing in favor of the logic of the Earth Man deal, as you might expect of a politically savvy character. If Garth had been there, it would have been a COMPLETELY different scene (and one I still look forward to reading in a future issue, btw). Another BTW, who the heck is Legion Leader? Is it Cos? Brainy? Nobody?

For Sun Boy, he had so little dialogue I think it's too soon to judge his characterization. Paul clearly wanted to link his Sun Boy with the Action Comics Dirk so misused by Earth Man. (An aside, Paul is really doing a good job of saying to readers, "go buy these other things if you enjoyed this comic.") I actually think Dirk's pretty functional here, given the condition that Earth Man left him during the Johns stories. It seems pretty happy-go-lucky of Dirk to make snarky references to his imprisonment and torture and use as a weapon against his team mates.

Dawnstar and Ultra Boy were fabulous. It amazes me I can get so excited about their brief banter while flying through space, but it reminds me so powerfully of similar scenes from Earth War and Great Darkness. Paul made it iconic to have Dawny, Jo, Mon El, and/or Wildfire flying point. It's wonderful to see it again, especially when rendered so wonderfully by Yildiray. Reminded me of that Sherman splash page from Earth War, one of my all-time favorite comics panels. In these scenes, Paul really displays his mastery of impactful exposition. I've been rewatching previous seasons of "Lost," and I was struck by how well that show's writers did in every episode with expository dialogue. I started watching the show with Season 2, but managed to grasp a lot of the key dynamics very quickly because of the dialogue. Levitz seems just as deft in LSH #1, and I would like to think his skill will be a key for recruiting and retaining new readers.

A final note, this time on Polar Boy, who had one fun little panel. My working hypothesis (until Paul actually tells more story about him) is that Brek is on Tharr, having hooked up with one of the pool hotties that he and Sun Boy met in their adventure there. Sun Boy returned to Earth, perhaps because female residents of an infernal planet weren't impressed by someone who makes it hotter, on purpose, while Brek finally found SOMEONE on Tharr who didn't still consider him or reject (or someone who enjoys pity sex, I suppose).

OMG... are we going to get 2 CTRs a month, thanks to ADVENTURE?? That would rock!!

I've always liked Imra's short do. I just think that Gary Frank's gauntly realistic art style made it come across as unflattering.

Glad CTR is back!

I keep seeing Jean Seberg from Breathless.

My sentiments exactly. I'm not generally a fan of short hair on women OR men, but I am of the opinion that short hair looks best on blondes, especially ones with Imra's features.

I'm just glad Cos has inky black hair again as opposed to that brown "do" he had in the 3boot.

I agree on the Cos brown/black hair. At first, I thought the brown hair was a nice nod to, you know, reality, but it just made him anonymous looking. He's a super hero and an alien, he should have awesome black hair (you can imagine little Cos, "Wow, I have inky blue-black hair just like Superman did." And little Pol, "Where's your spit curl, Supes?")

Now, do we HAVE a Legionnaires' hair do thread? Because we REALLY need one, with pics of daring 'dos through the years. Someone make it so!

^ Total ditto to that. Now if only we can get Sun Boy's hair back to orange/red from that boring blonde thing he has going on, all will be right in the Legion Hair Universe.

Thanks for all the 'welcome back' comments. I really expected to write CTRs for the Krypton/Superman stories- but the Legionnaires made little more than cameo appearances, so I didn't make the effort.

If he can aim that tearstream, though, he'd be like a walking Joker's boutonniere.

Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if that- or something near to it- actually happened.

I hope this bit about Jo and Mon is just the first example of what you describe. I agree about the too-little examination of the coolness of super-powers in comics, generally.

I do wonder if the specific example will be used beyond Levitz.

That did provide material for lots of quips, jokes, etc. though.

Yeah, where are the boob windows for the guys?

I kind of don't mind to mildly like Cos's look. Except maybe for the excessive detailing on the lower legs (same for Imra). They've already amended the biggest eyesore (Jeckie), assuming she wears the same costume whenever the 21stC Espionagers get back.

I took as fidgeting with something that wasn't askew, combined with his posture and facial expresion, I got 'prig'.


Buy why!? Waaaaah!

Sort of similar to what happened with Violet in a similar circumstance. They were both held hostage for some period of time. Violet was more reduced physically, while Dirk thought he'd lost his powers and was used to fuel actions he hated.

A scene between those two would be welcome, wouldn't it?

I'm glad he's settled in more as a Legionnaire. In this instance, for me, the change makes sense.

Ha! That'd actually be kind of fun! I've imagined scenarios where Legionnaires got their powers switched, but not really personality traits.

I wonder if that's something the emotional-spectrum powered Rainbow Girl could accomplish?

Hmmm- I wonder if Imra's input would've mattered, given the high-handedness of EM's placement on the team. Psych-alteration gizmo in the ring? Could be- I'd thought it was something like one of those electrical collars some peopld put on their dogs.

Good point- I guess he's the 'p.r.' point man whose face is the one most visible as representing the Earther movement. It would be nice to see where the other Leaguers ended up, but there's tons of characters I'd rather be 'reintroduced' to first.

Another good insight. Who else is a similar 'Supermom'? Sue Storm's the only one that comes to mind. Crystal (not nearly so successful a 'Supermom', plus she's from a culture even more different from standard 'American' than Imra).

Or the 'twin' has been similarly abducted...

Sometimes I think there's been too many negative Earthgov stories-- but they are congruent with real world politics... unfortunately.

I am, too- if it's Querl Dox. Who I haven't read about in a *loooong* time now.