Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion of Super Heroes #18 Preview

Sorry Klar, re-reading my post it does seem a fair bit more pointed than I initially meant, it wasn't intended to stifle any discussion. Apologies!

Quarks are the new space!

That Tharok's chip is based on some ancient technology is very interesting, combined with the revival of the Promethean giant. Could that chip be something that Darkseid developed?

We have had quite a few destruction of Metropolis events and a few tech failures in Legion history:

The Fatal Five severely damaged Legion HQ
The Magic Wars were a tech failure, with some destruction
The Blight caused tech failure and destruction
Robotika caused widespread destruction
The Spike caused tech failure and destruction
Terror Firma caused destruction
The new Fatal Five caused tech failure and destruction

I may have missed a few... not including wars, Khund attacks...

I assumed that was a reference to his revised origin involving Brainiac.

It wouldn't surprise me if Darkseid ultimately ends up being behind the whole thing, however.

I think the 'ancient tech' is supposed to be the Promethean Giant tech. That's what I got out of it, anyway.

Alternatively, Levitz could be picking up on the ancient minor plot point from Simonson's Orion that revealed that Darkseid and Desaad had implanted control-devices into Geridath the Promethean to use him as an ultimate doomsday weapon in case of the worst.

But that seems...unlikely to me, obscure as it is.

During the Dominator attack in the Threeboot, tech failures (such as attempting to use a transport portal killing all the people attempting to use it, or flight rings malfunctioning and blowing people's arms off) were also evident.

It's a storytelling challenge to tell dramatic stories in which instant communcations, etc. are readily available (hence all the horror movies where cell phones don't work or cars refuse to turn over or whatever). Given a team that, at baseline, has instant communication with dozens of other teammates, some of which can travel at lightspeed (or faster!) and have the power to push planets out of orbit, a writer is forced to come up with reasons why Violet can't just call up Mon-El for some heavy lifting, or Timber Wolf can't call up Dawnstar to track something, or Cham can't call up Brainy to solve a mystery, each of which would make sense in context of a Legion of Super-Heroes tale, but might detract from any sense of drama or character development for the character making the call.

There are certain characters, teleporters, telepaths, healers, etc. who provide narrative challenges as well. If the team can instantly get from A to B, any sort of travel adventure becomes meaningless. (As well as the popular 'our ship crashed and stranded us on hostile planet X' scenario, which is kind of meaningless if everyone on the team is capable of flying and surviving in outer space, or there's a teleporter, etc.)

Ideally, a writer who has deliberately chosen to write a story about a team of heroes with abilities and equipment like this would accept this as a cost of doing business, and craft tales that allow the heroes gear and powers to work, occasionally (unlike, say, every season of Heroes, in which several of the characters powers inexplicably didn't work, or, even more boneheadedly, the characters inexplicably *refused to use them*, because they would have wrecked the plot of that season).

This is, unfortunately, rare. Too many writers of super-hero or sci-fi or fantasy fare tend to write out any abilities or gear that get in the way of their story. Dawnstar's tracking power is infallible, until it is needed for something other than finding out where one left the keys to the space-cruiser, because they will *always* fail when asked to find something relevant to the big bad storyline of the year. Big blue alien baby? Can't find it. Planet of the wise? Only Harmonia knows where that is. Dude who released the gene-plague in the 21st century? Can't find him. Infallible tracking power my ass.

Mysterious tech failures, IMO, are writing failures, and the fact that there have been so many of them just highlights how few writers feel up to the challenge of writing *for* these characters and their abilities and gear, instead of writing generic stories and then handicapping the Legion's gear and abilities to work within the generic storyline.

Another interesting review of LSH #18 from a blog I respect: http://legionabstract.blogspot.com/2013/03/legion-of-super-heroes-18-review.html?m=1

I'm pretty sure it's Brainiac Tech, as seen in the #0 issue.

I agree with others who've said that the characters (some of them, at least) seem a bit off. Now should be the time for Tinya to step up, for example. Violet chewing Cos' head off about using Ayla as a battery? Please, Violet! Ayla generates electricity. You need that electricity to survive. What the heck are you doing talking about dignity?

And Chemical Kid seems to have lost almost all the original arrogance he had. I think his dialogue is 50% "Ulp" at this point.

One final review from LSH #18 to add into the mix of our discussions. Most interesting is his take on Shrinking Violet. http://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com/2013/03/review-legion-of-super-heroes-18.html?m=1

I had thought something similar in regards to violet, but was disuaded by the cover with the empress and Mon. Sure doesn't look like violet to me! But then, neither does the empress on the cover that Portela drew for issue 21. Questions, questions.

Where do I even start? Took me about 5 minutes to read and the art was all over the place. 37 years ago, Dr. Zan Orbal was growing new limbs in a matter of hours. Now, after all the advances in comic book world and the real world, Thom is still limping from an injury he got months ago? Leaving him behind to be stomped to death or whatever was ridiculous on so many levels. Okay, so he's limping [STILL]. He does have a flight ring doesn't he? And do the Legion ships not have shielding to protect them from oh, say the vacuum of space, not to mention enemy fire? Could not E Lad have thrown up an inertron shield to protect him? Could not Brainy have used his own force shield to protect him and haul him on board? Would Brainy really have abandoned Thom after he risked his life to save him from the Dominion? Would E Lad and Dream Girl have let him? Would not the Legion's thrusters/rockets/blasters whatever have fried not only Thom but the civilians attacking if they were close enough to stop Thom from boarding? Need I go on? I've been reading Legion since about 1970, but I don't know if I can take it much longer. This is drek. Once I would've agreed with Leather Wolf. I've supported the Legion thru thick and thin for 40+ years but enough is enough. I wish they'd just hurry up and cancel the book at this point. And making Harmonia deputy? Really? We know almost nothing about her. She went from random scientist to non-powered supporting cast with a stalker fixation on Brainy to a super-powered Legionnaire with no explanation. And despite all the unanswered questions about her we're expected to believe the Legion would elect her deputy over a score of Legionnaires with more experience and less drama? And what are the limits of her power exactly? All we know is that she's an "elemental." Does that mean she has all of Crystal's abilities? Or Storm's? Or Metamorpho's? Or what? If they continue killing Legionnaires randomly I'll definitely be dropping this book. In fact I'm ready to boycott DC altogether with all their constant reboots and crises, and multiverses and new 52 garbage. Can't believe they've rendered the original Teen Titans invalid. What are they thinking?

I think this issue was weaker than the previous, but it does at least feel like the Legionnaires are taking action against these circumstances as best they can, so I'm still willing to wait and see how this storyline pans out.

I liked that so many Legionnaires got speaking parts but dislike that Vi seems to be permanently snarky to anyone who isn't Ayla. I am hoping this is emerald influence and not just her default character setting from now on. Also not really overjoyed with Tinya freaking out over how Dirk's death makes her look as a leader...I really hope she snaps out of it soon because it makes her look incredibly self-absorbed.

I'm not at all surprised at what happened to Thom, but the presentation of it was genuinely shocking which I think was the intended reaction. Levitz has avoided using him for literally years now, and for no good reason. It was just a matter of time...

I am kind of drawing a blank on why buildings are falling down because tech isn't working, I don't see the connection. Ditto with concerns about Weber's World spinning out of orbit. Surely it stays in orbit thanks to gravity like any other planet in the universe? There seems to be some weird logic in place that if something has been created artificially, it will now fall apart...but like I said, I don't see the correlation.

Interested to see where this goes from here, and I have a nasty feeling Ayla is next on the chopping block...

In regards to why the buildings are failing: I think someone mentioned that the suspension of the buildings was held together by some sort of anti-grav technology. Hence it falling down? I'll have to look again.

Yeah, I remember that line about the anti-gravity thing failing, but I didn't really get it....are they saying in the 31st century buildings can't support their own weight/structural integrity without anti-gravity devices built in? That just seems like it's asking for trouble lol

Yeah, but that statement may also be the 31st century equivalent of saying "Why build a suspension bridge with common metals that might rust away?" The tech might be so commonplace/fail-proof that it's not questioned (one of the points of Tharok's plan, I'd guess).

I actually wondered about that after I read the issue, but figured I just missed/forgot the explanation. It does seem slightly lame to have buildings suddenly falling apart from never before mentioned technology failing, but it's not a huge deal. It would probably make slightly more sense with the 80s "floating HQ".

But this also seems to be suggesting more and more that the Magic Wars aren't in continuity anymore. After all, why didn't the buildings fall apart then? Why didn't the Legionnaires make the obvious comparison to it rather than the Great Darkness Saga? It's all completely confusing.

That is a good way of looking at it, I hadn't thought of it that way! I could see people from our past thinking it's insane that we cook food in a radiation box instead of using less cancer-y fire, so it makes sense from that perspective....I think I would have had an easier time with it if we saw things visibly floating or obviously using anti-grav tech at all (I had forgotten the old base used to float till Eryk mentioned it!)

Actually now that I think about it, I remember floating internal floors from the 80s comics too now, and elevators that work using either magnetism or anti-gravity so there is a precedent for it....just might have made more sense if something like that had been included as a background element in recent issues so the connection was more obvious...

Sheesh! Harmonia is deputy leader? Based on what? Crap character along with the new recruits. Hopefully, we'll lose one or two of these new guys before the FF story ends. I don't think Thom will be dead, but I do agree that the Legionnaires leaving him behind was ridiculous! Derenick's artwork was pretty good. Kolins -- not so much. We know Mysa is coming back onto the book. I think it's time to get Colossal Boy back as well -- and the Legion Lost characters by Summer (hopefully). All-in-all, it was better than most of the previous issues, but not as strong as last issue.

Dream Girl standing around crying while Thom's left behind is absolute bullshit of space. She would've had Brainy pinned to the wall by his throat, saying open the damn door NOW.

Yeah. Same with Phantom Girl and her 'all about me!' breakdown over Sun Boy's death, and having to be talked down by Invisible Jacques, 'cause she's all emotional and ****.

The treatment of female Legionnaires in the last two issues has made Shooters most 'misogynist' portrayals look kind of pro-feminist by comparison.

After Shadow Lass got saddled with Earth-Man, Saturn Girl had her mindwipe fling with Cosmic Boy, Colossal Boy got shot in the face six times in a row and then sidelined for being incompetent, Sun Boy turned into creepy 'no boundaries' dude with unsolicited touching of Phantom Girl, Dream Girl and Dragonwing, etc. I'm feeling like various Legionnaires getting killed off might be the only way to save them from being turned into nasty unlikable caricatures of themselves.

As for 'deputy leader' Harmonia, I'm beginning to feel like Glorith with her sinister name is a red herring, to keep us thinking that she is 'the Terra,' when it's really Harmonia who has come out of nowhere and suspiciously gained everyone's trust.

The only funky bit would be how she managed to fool the people on the 'world of the wise.' It was already suspicious that she controls the classic *Western* elements of air, earth, fire and water, and not the Chinese elements of earth, fire, metal, wood and water (and no air at all!), but it's beyond comprehension that she could get enough votes to become deputy leader, when half the team doesn't appear to have actually *met* her yet...

Isn't Harmonia Deputy because that's how the votes tallied? It's sort of like Polar Boy getting elected leader, you just have to run with it, even if it doesn't make sense.

It does seem quite possible that she's a rat. And/or the Time Trapper in disguise. If you go back over the early issues, she's wormed her way into plenty of places - the Time Institute, pals with the High Seer of Naltor, getting into the Legion by just being there, mucking about with Thom's multiversity, hanging on Brainy like a vulture and now Deputy.

It could go either way, though; she could be some force for good, trying to rebalance the cosmos or something.

Is this a joke?

Is it because I haven't been buying issues as they come out every month?

Chaos because of tech failure again?

Tinya's ongoing monologue about leadership is the same as every other leader's ongoing monologue about leading?

Big floating giants?

Maybe all of this is no joke, but it sure is silly.

I was pretty surprised by that considering how...no one likes her. Or at least it seems that way. I can't imagine her winning out over other, more popular, Legionnaires. I think Levitz took the tallied leader, but chose his own deputy.

I was hoping we'd get to see the voting, but I guess it's not going to happen.

The last vote, online, a *huge* number of people voted for Earth-Man to be the Leader (he was second or third place, IIRC), so who knows, perhaps there's this vast underground silent majority of Harmonia Li lovers out there, too?

But yeah, that's my theory, too, that Paul took the readers votes for Leader, as promised, and then picked his own Deputy Leader, since there was no implied promise that the Deputy Leader position would be filled by the person who got the second most votes for Leader, as far as I know.

My Leader choices generally rotate around Tinya, Cham, Ayla and / or Mon-El, although Violet or a much better written Jo (the old version, who wasn't the new improved moron / jock Jo, and could outwit half the team when accused of murder, for instance), could be interesting.

Tyroc, if we had a brief storyline showcasing him, could also be a fun choice.

Harmonia isn't my last choice for a leadership position (that would be someone like Comet Queen, Dragonwing, Blok or Quislet, all of whom seem spectacularly ill-suited to the role), but she's not even in my top *fifteen*...

There is a precedent where Wildfire was elected leader as a rookie member, but he was very popular early by Legion fans.

With luck, maybe Issue #19 will have a little more on Thom, but I doubt it. I'm glad my favorite Legionnaire Colossal Boy is on hiatus or he would be the next white-bread Legion male to be a gonner (although it still could happen anyway, couldn't it?). I think Ayla is a good bet to be the next victim, or Element Lad.

Without any real good buildup behind these offings, it has little effect on me. I know in next year's reboot all these characters will be back again.