Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion of Super-Heroes #2 - SPOILERS

There is something deeply ironic about Earth Man. He can absorb the powers of others... powers that in most cases are derived from an alien race. Wouldn't the use of these powers be abhorrent to him considering their origin?

In this issue he took on Colossal Boy's powers... who is an earthling and acquired them through artificial means. So no conflict there.

I wonder if Paul will explore this dilemma? I think Earth Man should show a certain amount of revulsion when taking on certain powers.

I know it's always been Jacques' thing, and I'm no linguophile (proven by me possibly making up that word?) but with the way the world is being so globalised so quickly do we really think there would be more than one language in 1000 years time? Heck, even 500 years time? I'm not sure there will be.

I do like that it specifically pin-points Jacques' origin as being somewhere else in the world other than Northern America though (unlike so many of the rest of the DCU) so I like that aspect of it. It's just one of those things that seem like an anachronism to me.

Did anyone notice Jacques now has facial hair?

And I forgot to mention this:

Dream Girl could still be in the 21st Century. Just because she's with the Legion NOW doesn't mean she hadn't been captured. That's the beauty of time travel stories.

And God bless Cinar for remembering LL's tattoo.

I just got the issue out and checked it to see just what people were talking about. Okay, that is weird and I don't see how it couldn't have been intentional.

[snip]

I've said this before, but languages around the world do have their ebbs and flows. Many of them have made resurgences in modern times after being on the wane for extended periods of time.

I'm all for it. It's a realistic touch, and it underscores the tension between being "of" the larger world around you without becoming completely submerged in it.

I like the updated version of his original costume, too!

I'm guessing Dreamy's hair is just a coloring error.

It's certainly a huge upgrade for Yera, if this is the case. Cham can't turn into energy, after all.

If Yera can turn into a hologram, she's one part Chameleon Boy, one part Monica Rambeau.

Never any planet to planet, much less solar system to solar system.
I seriously doubt he's suppposed to have done that.
I was thinking spaceship to ground, sort of like the Star Trek transporter.
Which would be pushng his powers quite a bit, but not impossibly so.

But who knows?
Imra is using telekinesis (?) and maybe Yera is turning into energy.
Odo, the shapeshifter on Deep Space 9 could become energy, particularly fire, but he was sort of an energy plasma in his natural state.
For that matter, STNG had a race of shifters who were even more energy based than Odo's people.

But Cham and Yera?
We haven't seen that ever before, have we?

Maybe we should chalk it up to Cinar's inexperience with the Legion or Levitz's bad memory or something.
At least, until we see it again and more explicitely.
?

Who's to say that that's a hologram? The picture's flat and even in the 21st Century we have electronic picture frames. They're not holograms, they're just screens that display images. She'd only have to be able to glow.

Alternately, maybe it's Quislet, although he could only hide so long before it disintegrates.

Am I missing something? What has everyone so convinced it's Yera? My first thought was Quislet, but I forgot about the disintegrating thing.

I have to admit, I am confused as well about the Yera thing.

I'm also confused. I see the "moving eyes" in the portrait of Brande and the founders, but that's all I noticed.

Set:

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It's certainly a huge upgrade for Yera, if this is the case. Cham can't turn into energy, after all.

If Yera can turn into a hologram, she's one part Chameleon Boy, one part Monica Rambeau.

As for a shapeshifter generating actual energy, why would they have to? Threeboot Cham once impressed Saturn Girl by creating the illusion of lightning while posing as Lightning Lad. It was just the appearance of energy, yes? Not actual energy powers.

I thought this issue was slightly better than the first. I liked the inclusion of more Legionnaires (the three founders can get kinda boring). Welcome the return of Tyroc. Can't remember did Infecious Lass marry Tyroc or Jaques in the Giffen future?

Artwork was solid -- though lacking a futuristic, sci-fi bent that I think the series needs to stand out.

Giving it time to gel...

Excellent question. I don't recall Saturn Queen ever being part of the Legion of Super-Villains when Nemesis Kid was in it. In fact, wasn't she only featured in the adult Legion stories way back in the Silver Age -- which have since been disavowed.

Whatever the case, she needs to update her look. Is she planning on skating in the next winter Olympics or what?!

In that segment we all witnessed the amazing return of...
ANTI-LAD!!

You heard it here first.

In regard to Jacques, I like a little French thrown in every once in a while. It gives his character a little something extra, much like RJ Brande and his verdamn German expressions.

I thought his white streaked hair was a proud experience mark, but if he'd rather go Grecian Formula for the girls, maybe Drura will come by?

I seem to recall Jacques speaking "Franglais."

Mixed reactions to this issue. I feel like Levitz is regaining his stride, but not quite there yet. Granted, he's inheriting a LOT of chaos, and I'm guessing we'll see him at his best when things start to calm down.

I definitely liked seeing as many Legionnaires as we did, and the return of Tyroc, apparently with powers limited to sound and vibration. (I like the theory someone mentioned about his powers being psionic in nature so he can focus their direction--explains why his sonic blasts don't destroy his teammates' eardrums!)

Some of the characterizations were spot-on--like Imra's clever way of tracking the kids, or Dawny being disoriented by teleportation. But I agree that Brainy and Jo felt off. The first line from Gates was perfect, but the second too harsh--he's established as having accepted the Legion's ideals, if not those of the current U.P. administration. And where was Shady's partner Lydda during the riot scene?

Agreed that the second inker complemented Cinar's style better than the first.

I felt like throwing Saturn Queen into the middle of the Earth-Man and Titan stories was a bit much...unless it is all tied together in a big LSV plot, as someone suggested.

I would like an official roster of the active members one of these days. But at this point, I'm back along for the ride.

I like the idea of Jacques as a native French speaker (though it's an interesting question whether 31st century French would be as different from modern French as, say, 11th century English is from modern English).

What I object to is the syndrome of just throwing in random "High School French" phrases. See seanbaby\'s classic critique of thi...in Super Friends (third paragraph down).

Casting illusions is as big an upgrade as shooting electricity, imo.

Eh. Not really. So long as the "lightning" or "energy" is still attached to the shapeshifter's form, it's not really different than any other appearance change.

It's similar to the character turning into a "fire-breathing dragon," but the "fire" appearing from the "dragon's" mouth can't actually burn anyone.

[snip]

And when he learns what her superpower is, his hair will turn white all over again!

I don't think that flesh lightning is going to fool anyone.
Flesh fire, maybe if it's far enough away form you, but flesh lightning that's supposed to look real?
Don't buy it.
(I don't 'buy' the flesh fire either, but he's been shown doing it before, which was not well thought out, imo.)

What I don't get, is that Absorbancy Boy gets to become Earth Man, but the Legionnaires are all still 'boys' and 'lads'?!
He should be called, at the very least, Earth Boy.

That is always hilarious. The guy speaking broken English can say 'supervillain' or 'electromagnetism' but has to revert to Spanish (French, German, whatever) to say 'hello' or 'good.'

I hope Jacques's white streak comes back. It's his badge of courage from the GDS, a lingering visual reminder of his trial by fire and of the story itself.

As for Cham, I've never understood why he supposedly can't take on the natural abilities of animal forms he assumes. If he can take on dragon form, for example, he should be able to breathe fire. Super powers are trickier and more understandable, as those are extraordinary among their races.

However, among those races where the powers are indigenous (Tharnians, Titanians, Bismollians, Daxamites, etc.), Cham could theoretically be able to mimick their powers if he can mimic those of animals.

I guess the point is if Cham could do all those thing, he's arguably the most powerful Legionnaire (and Durlans the most powerful aliens). In any case I'd like to see the powers better defined. I've seen shape-shifter power descriptions (among different characters in different companies) stating that when they appear as larger creatures, they don't really have any more weight or mass or whatever. That's always confused me.

While I know the science is Star Trek-iriffic, I like the idea of him being able to adopt animal abilities like camoflauge or poison or webbing or generating some current (like an electric eel).

The problem with that is when someone goes all Grant Morrison with the idea and has him start turning into alien animals that have whatever darn power he wants, starting with Lightning Beasts of Korbal and progressing up to radioactive fire-breathing space dragons.

Since this is a book set in a future setting with hundreds of worlds worth of alien fauna to choose from, Cham would theoretically have thousands of unique capabilities, and he would quickly become Cham Ex Machina.

'Oh, we're trapped! Good thing Cham can turn into a Blargian radio-beast and call for help with his funky antennae!'

'Form of a Thelaxian crystal-spinner, able to create webs as hard as diamond! I'll bind the ship together with my webs, so that we can make it home!'

'Sollusineeri flare-jumpers live in the hearts of stars! In this form, I'm immune to Flare's worst attacks, and can still beat her to death with my tail!'

'Qwardian jumping spiders are made of pure antimatter, all I have to do is spit at the Eye of Ekron and it will explode!'

I wouldn't mind a Durlan being shown to have that sort of ability, to change itself on a genetic level, and assume the baseline powers of a Braalian or Bgtzln or whatever, but clarify that most of the Legionnaires are ridiculously skilled by comparison to the baseline for their species, so that the Durlan copycat might be able to look like Imra or Rokk, and have telepathic / magnokinetic abilities in those forms, but will never be nearly as proficient, skilled or even talented as those individuals.

And, I'd prefer that such a Durlan not have the already amazing range of proficiency that Cham has demonstrated, with the mass-changing and stuff.

Yera might have been a great choice for that sort of thing, since assuming *humanoid* forms and impersonating them so precisely as to fool biometric scanners is her special thing. It would be cooler, and help to distinctify Cham and Yera if their powersets weren't homogenized, and he could do all the funky 'turn into anything' stuff, while she was more specialized, but also more powerful in that specialized range, able to not just turn into an Imskian, or a Coluan, but also to gain their innate racial characteristics (shrinking, 10th level intellect, etc.).

But, as they say, that's an idea whose time was missed.

Instead Cham and Yera both seem to be able to do whatever the hell the current writer wants them to be able to do, and be given limitations that promptly disappear when a new writer shows up.