Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion of Super-Heroes #21 Preview/Review (SPOILERS!)

Well here it is, the preview for LSH #21... http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2013/...eroes-21-cover-and-6-pages-revealed.html

How will the Legion stop the Fatal Five and save the universe? More importantly, does anybody care?

I still care a great deal.

But I will be very sad if something bad happens to Jo.

Awwwww. That's kinda sad. Poor Jo! I somewhat give a damn.

I'm not commenting on Levitz's story until I read the full issue, but I can't say that I'm real thrilled with Jeff Johnson's art. After Portela's stunning performance last issue, this is just sub par. Ultra Boy looks just silly, and I miss all of the attention to detail on Persuader's costume. I really hate it when DC pulls the good artists from a book right before they cancel. This issue has the same kind of fill-in feel that Legion Lost did when they yanked Pete Woods from that title.

I'm going to really hate the end of my beloved comic if the art stinks for the next three issues. I just hope Levitz has it in him to finish with a good dramatic story.


By the way, I love it when the website posting the preview can't even get the comic's title right! What's with the "League of Super-Heroes"? Does everyone think DC's group titles are all linked to the Justice League.

Want to bet the shocking conclusion of this issue is the big reveal of the fifth and final member of the Fatal Five... Now who could it be?

My money was on Brainy, infected by the Brainiac-tech he'd unwittingly unleashed as a kid, for the fifth Fatal Five member, but that would be a better mid-season reveal, not a series finale sort of reveal.

As a result, the fifth member may well be anti-climactic.

At least we know that they did pick up Harmonia (and I assume Dragonwing). Makes me think even more that they could have spared a few minutes for Jan to try and transmute the debris off of Thom when Legion HQ collapsed...

Still no closure as to whether Luornu is alive.

Most of the previous "deaths" have been fairly shocking, so if Jo bites it I don't think it'll be in the page immediately after the preview. Maybe Brainy's "bright idea" will show up and save him, Cham and Lu.

Don't kill me for saying this, but if other Legionnaires die, I hope the writers pick those who've never died in previous iterations. Like, well, Jo. Or Cham. Or Vi. I'd rather nobody die, but if someone else does... Dirk's died before, as has Nura, and Garth's died twice.

Art's terrible. I thought the grime on Cos' face was a teardrop.

<shakes head> Tell me I didn't just see Persuader take out Ultra Boy by swatting him with a snake's tail? Even if it was a giant snake and the snake was Cham...still...

It all depends on what power Ultra Boy was using when he got swatted. He could have got hit while switching powers.

Or if that is actually her or her duplicate.

Love the Persuader's costume. Surprised that Jo would take the Persuader's word about Tinya on the first pass. No protestations unless he says something on the following pages.

As for the art, Brainy, Jan, and Jo all seem to share the same facial structure. A step down from Portela indeed.

This was, again, a pretty good issue that moved the plot on nicely.

The art, whilst not at Portela standard, is better than the preview suggests.

The team actually acted like heroes for a change

And the last page is exactly what has been missing from the book for a long time (possibly since Levitz came back) and I say that even though I cannot abide one of the characters shown.

Two issues to go and I am becoming more optimistic he will turn this story around (massive death and destruction excepted of course)

A decent issue. It would have been better with Portela on art again, but the art was better than expected. The real gem was the way all of the Legionnaires stood by each other, protected each other, and acted as heroes, as the Legion would back in its glory days. While the Fatal Five... I mean Three, seem really powerful, I sense that sheer determination will save the day. This does not act like a book on the verge of offering up it's final chapter.

I think Levitz could very well end this series on a high note if editorial mandates don't squash his storyline at the end. With Giffen's comments that Justice League 3000 has no connection with the Legion, perhaps Levitz gets to wrap things up on his own terms.

I do sense that Polar Boy and Invisible Kid hold the key to defeating the Fatal Five with the help of some long lost friends.

Why does Cham turn into a giant snake? When has that ever solved anything? I think that's been a problem for this whole series; Paul just has no creativity when it comes to using their powers.

I also found that BLEH!

Pre Boot Cham (that Levitz wrote) was known for his ability to shape shift very quickly ... and to be extremely clever ... what kind of Espionage Squad leader turns into a giant *target* snake to take on the Persuader.

How many ways can I think of for Cham and Jo to take out the Persuader (even a suped up version) ... 30 ???

I thought the Cham take down was a little too easy as well. I also found that the Legion is still in a reactive mode here with little planning or forethought. "These guys just trashed a bunch of Legionnaires? Quick, throw more Legionnaires at them!"

At least the slaughter seems to have abated, although the in-story reasons why an Emerald Eye blast that takes off Mon-el's arm merely incapacitates a group of humanoid Legionnaires would be quite humorous.

Well that was a quick read.

I'm glad to see Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad in the final page.
I hope to see Projectra too before the series end.
Some darks points what I don't know...
If the horrible Drangonwing was with Harmonia when the Legion building falls... Why we don't see her in the ship? Or she died too, with Thom?
Where is the comatose Comet Queen? Died too?
Still we don't know who is the 5º Fatal Five... and who is this Emerald Empress...
Another thing ...If Luornu falls, where are Bouncing Boy and Night Girl?
And in the ghost dimension...why we don't see the ghost of Dirk and Thom?

Durlans have been so inconsistent lately. One Durlan beats the crap out of Colossal Boy and someone else, and another one gets kicked by Dream Girl and falls right over.

Meanwhile, the Atomic Axe, which is supposed to be able to cut through anything, takes three whacks to get through a stone pillar, and is stopped cold by Brainy's force field. Sounds like Persuader forgot to leave it on the charger over night...

And I loved how the Legionaires all just attacked the Fatal Four (3) one at a time, no team work, nope, just all stand around and let each member take a crack. arrgghhh

And the plot holes are just too numerous to list.
I mean at what point did the Editors say "Hey, have them fight the Fatal Five but we won't actually reveal the fifth member till the last chapter" WTF??? I mean it's obviously got to be Legion member at this point....but I really don't care

And yes, what a quick read...5 minutes

I wonder if the fifth member is going to end up being the person who brainwashed Comet Queen to betray the Legion, which is a loose end that they have hanging for now.

I think that's been established as having been Saturn Queen (Comet Queen having attacked her after Titansfall?).

Why she was, even after that reveal, restrained and not un-brainwashed by Saturn Girl (or some other Legion-friendly telepath), I have no idea.

I'm probably meant to be more excited about the last page, but there is no in-universe reason those two should be any more effective than the glut of Legionnaires who've already fallen, so I will be very surprised if there's a satisfactory resolution to this story. I suspect it's gonna be more of the same "get to the end and for no apparent reason the bad guys lose now" that Levitz has been championing for the past couple of years.

At this point cancelling the book is a mercy killing

Lightning Lad *might* be able to take out Persuader by locking up his muscles with a weak stream of electrical current (more electroconvulsive levels, not actual lightning bolts). His super-strength would be utterly useless if he couldn't do anything with his muscles. (Indeed, depending on whether or not his bones can handle his super-strength, he might even be at risk of snapping some of his own bones!)

Saturn Girl could probably take out the Empress, disrupting her link to the eye and knocking her out.

I'm not sure that either could affect this incarnation of Tharok reliably, since I have no idea how computer-ish his brain is, or how corporeal his current 'body' is...

Somehow, I doubt either of them will do anything other than throw zaps at peeps, since pretty much the entire team has been leading with their chin since Levitz came back, making any pyrrhic victories that they do win seem unearned and hollow.

Set:



I don't think so, though it's not impossible that that turns out to be the answer. I think you're thinking of the reveal, in the pre-new 52 Adventure Comics series, that Saturn Queen was responsible for scrambling her brain somewhat.

So the Legionnaires have mostly been handed the idiot ball. Whatever happened to the skill and teamwork they showed before? We used to have weaker Legionnaires bringing down the bad guys because of their superior planning and coordination.