Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Postboot Legion! (LSH 110, L*67)

Legion of Super-Heroes 71
Heaven and Hell
Issue information

Summary:

RJ Brande visits Trom to get Tarn Arrah to make more tarnium for the stargates. Tarn declines as he must represent Trom at a UP teleconference to negotiate for Trom's membership. However, Jan Arrah reveals that he's also adept enough to make tarnium. The paradise that is Trom is suddenly attacked by a dozen Daxamite White Triangle members, who callously raze the whole planet with their heat vision. The only witness to the massacre is RJ Brande, and there's nothing anyone can do.

In other news, Kinetix's search for power takes a bad turn. Her destination Stargate is destroyed; she exits "no-space" with a damaged cruiser and rapidly failing life support.

Finally, Invisible Kid pulls together Apparition, Triad, Chameleon and Shrinking Violet to form a squad and investigate the White Triangle. They begin connecting the various events that have happened since the Legion was formed.

Thoughts:

This is one of the most powerful single issues in all of the Postboot era. If we didn't hate the disgusting beliefs of the White Triangle before, we certainly do now. If last issue accelerated the plot, this puts it into overdrive.

The script complements the plot very fell. The text boxes that accompany the razing of Trom and its aftermath just fit. I'm not ashamed to say that I still shed tears every time I read this.

Excessive violence in comic books is deplorable, but here it makes sense. If I were intending to weaken the UP, and I knew of a world which could manufacture the very element that was lethal to me... that's what I would do. It is also a nice nod to the Preboot history. Trom once again dies, and Roxxas (that @&!(!(&) is once again behind it. As an extra dose of coincidence, he himself is present during the teleconference.

I am glad the writers gave us a glimpse of the simple and spiritual life on Trom before it was destroyed. Change is very important to the people, and makes sense given their transmutation powers. It also made the destruction even more powerful.

Perhaps one criticism I do have? Touching up on HWW's point before, we are not given any further insight into why the White Triangle thinks the way they do. Andromeda said it's just love for her own race, but whatever insights we get from her can't begin to explain the brutality of these White Trianglists. It's hard to believe she would go as far as they would, despite having been raised with the same beliefs. And her time with the Legion has been too short for that to be the reason why she isn't as extreme as they are.

It's also a bit odd - of the 12 Daxamites who destroyed Trom, one has African features and two could possibly be Asian. I suppose the 30th century definition of race means coming from the same planetary stock, as opposed to our present day definition. A nice touch, in my opinion.

The Moder/Boyd art is a bit distracting this issue. Tinya's odd pose on page 11 is weird, and Zoe's eyes on pages 4 and 5 make her look like a tarsier. But the portions on Trom are well-drawn.

Subplots:

Lyle's formation of the Espionage Squad is inspired. It gives these "weaker" members a chance to shine, and their conversation shows that Lyle isn't the only one with brains in that group. They deduce that events as far back as the assassination attempt on RJ, and the Planet Hell breakout, are connected too. I look forward to what they will turn up.

As for Kinetix, boy is she unlucky. It looks like her path is leading her towards... well... hard to say what she will find. Her (mutual) attraction towards Leviathan is also touched on her, but sadly, neither one made a move. In fact, LSH 67 was the last we've seen any traces of it before now.

This issue was very well-executed. Even though the cover (and Preboot history) already tell us where it will lead, it still makes me feel. It also makes me hate the White Triangle even more; they are villains, through and through. It's hard to believe that any of those participating in this issue's massacre could ever be redeemed.

Legionnaires 28
Nightfall
Issue information

Summary:

The Espionage Squad catches and interrogates (tortures, to use Triad's words) some non-Daxamite White Triangle terrorists. We don't learn any concrete plans, but we do get some insights into their thoughts - they love their own races and believe that mixing races together leads to war so they drive away and kill those who are different. Their hate is fueled by ignorance.

Violet pushes for the investigation of the Daxamite connection, but Lyle brushes it off.

RJ Brande informs Cosmic Boy of the destruction of Trom. He accurately reads that this is just the beginning of something much worse.

Roxxas and his "direct action cadre" take the anti-lead serum. Now that they're immune, they decide they no longer have to rely on White Triangle members from other worlds. Andromeda learns of this and rushes to confront them - but it's too late. Four Daxamites are about to attack Earth.

Thoughts:

This issue heightens the tension, but not quite as well as the last two issues did. You get a sense that the Legionnaires are running around putting out fires, but can't really do anything because they are too disorganized.

There is a lot of idiot ball passing among the Legionnaires. RJ tells Cos about the destruction of Trom; but Cos seems to fail to make the connection with the Daxamites. And he doesn't tell Lyle or the other Legionnaires; if he had, Lyle and company would definitely have figured it out. Lyle isn't exempt either; he doesn't tell Cos about their investigations. If he had, I am certain Cos would have supported them. Cos' decision to leave them out of the Tangleweb mission was because he didn't think their powers were useful IN THAT SITUATION. We know he'll go to bat for his team.

In fact, Cos' line "I don't have time for your nonsense" is very uncharacteristic. I can't for the life of me think what happened (besides the Tangleweb mission) that could have driven such distrust between Cos and Lyle. And that mission ended well! All the above seems like a very clumsy way of keeping the Legionnaires from putting things together in time. It's very sad, as Lyle, Violet and company have very good ideas while Cos and Gim also begin watching out for unusual phenomena. I keep thinking that if they had involved all the Legionnaires (including Imra and her telepathy and Brainy and his super mind!), maybe, just maybe, they could have done something in time.

Speaking of, Brainy shows quite a bit of frustration and emotion at Andy chasing him away. It's a bit different from his cold and calm debating and insulting of her thoughts in LSH 70. Yes, I understand he'd be upset but his way of showing it (through shouting rather than calm insults) is uncharacteristic to say the least.

Finally, Roxxas reveals more insight into the Triangle thoughts. We still don't really understand why they hate other races so much, but at least we understand why they are involving non-Daxamites in their schemes - they just need warm bodies to help disrupt the UP. And a very sharp contrast is drawn between the Daxamite Trianglists and the non-Daxamite ones: the Daxamites seem motivated by pure hate and contempt, while the non-Daxamites are fueled by fear and ignorance. Both manifest their thoughts through acts of violence though.

On the plus side, I greatly enjoyed watching each of the Espionage Squad members, with their so-called "weaker" powers, took out their opponents. Buck Bond was a nice touch too.

Subplots -

Apparition finally stands up to Winema by pointing out that Winema was the one who allowed her to join the Legion in the first place. We see that Winema has good intentions but a TERRIBLE approach - and find that her husband and Tinya's dad leeches money off of Winema (and has a bad boy look much like Ultra Boy's!) Maybe that's why Winema is so harsh and protective; she wants to make sure Tinya doesn't make the same mistakes she did.

Spark gives Live Wire a wake-up slap by pointing out that he never actually goes looking for Mekt. She has a point that he didn't do anything concrete until he left the Workfroce, but it's a little mistimed considering he has been trying to get a ship for the past few issues.

Triad's dialogue during the torture scene is a bit odd - and off. In LSH 67 her 3 bodies used "us" and "we" when arguing, but here they act like 3 separate bodies. "They injured Triad, we owe it to HER." "I'll personally turn them in." I always thought the writers were writing her as one "self" in three bodies, not as three separate selves and identities. The disconnect is probably due to the script being done by Peyer, and not Waid; I agree with HWW that Waid has more finesse.

The Joyce Chin/W.C.Carani art is good and I love her characters' expressions. I do think the females' lips are distracting because of how perpetually full and puckered they are, and she seems to favor closeups a lot.

To sum up, this issue moved the plot along and have us some information on the White Triangle, but it just felt out of place somehow. The rising tension of the past two issues is absent here; some of the dialogue is "off", and the Legionnaires really should be working together more.

Sorry for the delay. Real life and all that.



This is more R.J. Brande’s tale than the Legion’s. They are relegated to sideline status in this issue, which focuses on the tycoon’s fateful trip to the planet Trom. However, the shift in focus feels natural—it’s good to see the Legion’s universe expand to such a degree that events which will impact them are shown even though they have no direct connection to those events as of yet.

Yes, those White Triangle bastards! They lay waste to entire peaceful planet to prevent it from joining the UP and adding its natives’ formidable transmutation powers to the “gene trash” the White Triangle so reviles. Their actions are horrific, but are they really different from any “pre-emptive strike” a given country has made against another? The example that comes to mind is the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Does it really matter to the victims if the U.S. felt it had to do so, that doing so probably ended the war much quicker and saved a lot of American lives? The motives of the White Triangle may be based on race, but their actions have pretty much the same effect.

I do think it was brilliant how the writers worked the destruction of Trom into the storyline. Not only do they make the Trommites a powerful potential ally of the UP but they also reveal that Jan’s father created the element which powers the stargates. This provides a believable excuse to get Jan off planet when Armageddon hits (and, in a very sneaky move, the creators don’t show Jan accompanying Brande, leaving his fate in doubt). It also now makes perfect sense why Roxxas is involved—though, ironically, he does not contribute directly to Trom’s destruction.

The telling of the story is also well handled. The sudden demise of Jan’s parents on page 14 creates a moment reminiscent of the nuclear bomb TV movie “The Day After,” back in the ‘80s (in which a young woman is similiarly reduced to a skeleton before our eyes). For all the destruction, however, the story ends on a philosophically hopeful note as the chant praising change, seen earlier in the story, is juxtaposed against the images of paradise-turned-wasteland. To the Trommites, death is just another change.

(Which may—just may—put Jan’s later murder of Candi in a different light, but I digress.)

And yet (you knew there had to be a yet), something about the clinical manner in which Trom’s destruction is inserted into the story seems off. I can only imagine how readers unfamiliar with the preboot reacted to this story (Ibby’s review gives us a hint), but, being well versed in the preboot, I felt emotionally detached from the proceedings. The minute Trom was mentioned, the phrase “doomed planet” entered my mind. The minute Jan was introduced, I surmised he would join the Legion as Element Lad (or whatever his new codename might be). I hasten to point out, of course, that I’m re-reading this story, but suspension of disbelief, even upon re-visiting a tale, is a powerful thing. Knowing what was “meant” to happen, I could not suspend my disbelief enough to get caught up in the story. And, considering the events which transpire, that’s a shame.

Trom’s destruction, as with the off-hand introduction of the Legion Espionage Squad, is a clever re-working of preboot material. However, the only time I felt emotionally involved in the story was during Zoe’s spaceship ride to nowhere. She has gone from being a powerful Legionnaire to being utterly powerless in more ways than one—and, since she has no significant preboot analogue, she remains the wild card.

Grade: 85.7 (B)

HWW, I think you meant to "quote" LSH 71 but quoted Legionnaires 28 instead.

Re Jan's later murder of Candi, I've often thought that myself. And... I think the whole circumstances around Candi's "death" would make it fairly easy to bring her back (as opposed to, say, the deaths of Leviathan or Kid Quantum I)!

I do have to disagree with you on knowing what was "meant" to happen. I'd already read Preboot Element Lad's introductory tale before ever reading LSH 71, and even though I "knew" that Trom would die and that Jan Arrah would become Element Lad eventually, it did not diminish the impact of this issue in the least. The way Trom's death was depicted still felt very powerful to me - and in my opinion it was much more powerfully executed here than it ever was in any Preboot issues I've read.

Oops!




Fair enough.

I agree that in terms of storytelling, this is a much better rendition (though that judgment must be qualified by acknowledging the differences in comic book standards of the '60s versus those of the '90s). But I can't help feeling that the reboot creators were simply re-telling stories that have already been told. They change details where they can, but the overall story remains the same.

Elsewhere, I've theorized that the Legion's story was "meant" to go a certain way, and I think that that statement is still true. If Trom had survived and/or Jan had died, it wouldn't have been a Legion story, any more than a King Arthur story would be authentic without Merlin. Still, even when a story is retold and retold (as in King Arthur), it's incumbent upon the creators to make it fresh. I feel that was lacking in LSH 71.

I do agree with you that the Postboot story of Trom could have been explored better. Even thinking about future issues, I can't recall many instances where Trom was revisited. The only new aspect introduced was the whole "death is just another change" thing.

Interesting also that Kinetix, a character whose power used to Lchange" objects, is featured. This issue

By the way, I did like the inclusion of the Espionage Squad in this story. It builds nicely off a Cos's decision to split the team in an earlier issue and off of Lyle's penchant for being sneaky and acting independently.

Yes, I think the Espionage Squad was a good idea too. But next issue will show some of the problems with Lyle acting on his own and Cos not trusting Lyle!

From a story telling perspective, Trom serves one purpose only: to give Jan Arrah a reason to join the Legion. It would have been nice, I suppose, if the reboot creators had developed the plot line over several issues so we could have gotten to know the world a little better and an element of doubt (hah!) regarding its fate could be introduced. As it is, though, they did an impressive job of making Trom feel like a different culture in this single issue. Even Jan's greeting to his father ("You've changed well.") gives the feeling that this is real place with its own customs.

Well, I think they did the best they could in the single issue they were given to develop Trom the living world. I'm very satisfied with the story of Trom's death as it was told. On the other hand, I do wish we'd been able to explore Trom's customs more through its lone survivor Element Lad. It makes me wonder - besides memorializing his world, what else would he have done to keep Trom "alive"?

About the only thing Jan could have done to keep Trom alive was to have more Trommite children, but that didn't work out for him either in the preboot or in this version.

It really is sad how he turned out in the reboot. By becoming the Progenitor, he perverted Trom's peaceful legacy and ended for all time the memory of his people. I can't help feeling there might have been some undiagnosed PTSD in his later actions. Having lost his entire race and then having lost his family in the Legion, he went nuts, embracing the philosophy of change in a very abstract sense.

I remember an issue in the Preboot where he brought Shvaughn to Trom, and had her join him in some Trommite ceremony. The only equivalents in the Postboot were him transmuting each Trommite skeleton into crystal memorials, and one scene with him communing with an Emerald Eye-generated illusion of his parents to convince him to join them in the afterlife.

Many Legionnaires remarked that Jan had always been a bit... disconnected. Besides Trom dying, he was also brainwashed by Chu for a bit, and was transmuted into living crystal by Mordru (he did get better though). His time in the rift was traumatic as well; he spent years calculating how to launch the Outpost and his friends back through the rift into normal space. Then he got separated, tossed through time, and spent thousands of years floating in space alone. That kind of thing could make anyone go nuts.

Legionnaires Annual 2
Four Horsemen
Issue information

Summary:

The Legionnaires and the Workforce mobilize to defend Earth against four rampaging Daxamites. Their taking of the anti-lead serum has also made them insane, and the Legionnaires (with the last-minute arrival of RJ Brande and Jan Arrah) are only able to stop them by opening a Stargate in their path. Apparition perishes in battle. Andromeda confronts and exposes Roxxas, which ends with his death and her imprisonment. Only Cosmic Boy and President Chu are aware of her survival.

Detailed Summary:

We open with Evolvo and Spider-Girl confronting White Triangle member Suggin (who has brown hair in a ponytail and a well-trimmed mustache and beard) in Miami. Suggin slams an injured Evolvo into Spider-Girl, telling them to die slowly. Suggin joins three other Daxamites in orbit. To drive home the extreme prejudice and racist attitudes of these guys, another Daxamite, Arns, with long red hair, uses his heat vision to murder two aliens helping one another. Ugh.

Cosmic Boy is visiting Saturn Girl to say goodbye. Poor Imra still thinks like a child. She makes a mistake while cutting paper puppets. As Cos tries to console her, she tells him to go away because she wants Garth. Before Cos can react, the hospital crumbles - a Daxamite smashed through its walls. It is all Cos can do to prop up the building and stop it from collapsing entirely. Making sure Imra is safe, he leaves.

In orbit, Apparition and Ultra Boy (with a jetpack) tackle a bald Daxamite who is destroying the weather control satellites. Jo gets in a punch, with the Daxamite complimenting him on his strength. But the Daxamite super-speeds himself away. Jo despairs that he isn't smart, powerful and crafty enough to beat the Daxamites, especially with his one-power-at-a-time limitation. Tinya interrupts to tell him to use invulnerability. The Daxamite plows through her intangible form and into Jo, sending them both plunging through the atmosphere onto Earth.

On Mount Swan, a volcanic energy plant (heh! nice homage), Leviathan and Inferno face Suggin. Suggin uses super-breath to blow magma onto Leviathan. Inferno absorbs the heat from the magma, but Gim still goes down. Inferno uses Gim's flight ring to ask Triad and Spark for a diversion. She suggests drawing the Daxamite towards Triad (smart move!) Spark catches on, and tells Triad to send one of her selves out as a decoy and integrate at the last moment. Unfortunately, Daxamites have super-hearing... Suggin slams right into the volcano, causing an eruption.

RJ Brande calls Brainiac 5. Cos ends the transmission before Brande and Brainy can say too much, chastising them for speaking while the Daxamites could possibly here. We get a hint of the plan - Brainy asks Brande how he will obtain tarnium for Stargates. Cos leaves Brainy, to find Live Wire entering HQ through a hole he created in the wall. There's a mob outside, and at least one of them is holding a White Triangle sign. Must be non-Daxamite lackeys who believe in segregation. Cos deputizes Garth and gives him a task.

Ambassador Roxxas is being questioned by several UP delegates via videoconference. Obviously, because the delegates are not stupid, they strongly suspect the four men tearing up Earth are Daxamites. Roxxas plays dumb, and cites lack of transuits as evidence. How can the invaders be Daxamites when they are not wearing transuits to avoid lead? Roxxas plays the victim card, saying he won't leave his quarters because the whole galaxy is slandering the Daxamites. Andromeda bursts in, yelling that she knows the invaders are Daxamites and implying that Roxxas gave them the anti-lead serum. Roxxas cuts off the videoconference, attacks Andromeda, and reveals he also took the serum.

Invisible Kid and Chameleon are in the Church of Universal Being. The Church preaches of a god who loves every species on every world, making it a prime target for a highly prejudiced Daxamite called Fethro Jorn. Cham morphs into a mind-wrencher, a creature from Daxamite mythology that is apparently a Daxamite's worst nightmare. Sadly, Jorn takes Cham out with one punch. Lyle calls Cos, telling him he has no options left - Jorn isn't even wearing a transuit, so lead exposure won't help. Jorn takes Lyle out just after he gives Cos this information.

Cos calls Brainy and says that Andromeda must have given the serum to the Daxamites. Brainy is shocked; he had faith that she wouldn't betray them. Oh, Brainy. Brainy says there's no way a red sun projector will help, as Daxamites can move faster than light. He also doubts he can counteract the serum; it was geared to Andromeda's physiology, and would have driven the other Daxamites insane.

Garth visits Imra in the hospital. She is so happy to see him, it almost melts my heart. Garth gives her a little speech - not about his feeling, not really. "We have a plan, but it won't work without you. We need you. I need you." That's the closest he comes to confessing his love - nice trick, writers! Oh, so close! But it does pull Imra out of her childlike state! Whoa, the power of loooove.

Karate Kid guards Capetown Spaceport alone, as he needs solitude to maintain concentration. Okay. People are, understandably, panicked; Val has contempt for them. Okay, Kid, not everyone is as disciplined as you, kay? Val attacks Arns and makes him drop the ship he is carrying. A piece of debris embeds itself into Val's leg. Uh oh. Arns is already insane, it seems; he can't believe Karate Kid staggered him, and thinks he is dreaming. Thankfully, he chooses to run away.

Back at Legion HQ, a poor Athramite is being beaten up by a racist mob. Garth saves the poor thing. Cos asks Imra to mentally link all the Legionnaires and Workforce members; when Brainy is ready, they have to herd the Daxamites to Legion HQ.

At UP HQ, Andromeda continues her fight with Roxxas. She breaks off to save some delegates from being crushed. Roxxas slams her into what seems to be the control center. Before he can pummel her again, he suddenly loses control of his motor functions.

At Osaka, Suggins is using super-breath to create a gigantic wave. XS tries to carry as many people as she can to safety indoors. Suggins snaps the neck of a beachgoer feet away from XS, just before the wave crashes down on her and the last civilian she is saving. Mercifully, Suggins leaves her alone, taunting her that she could not save everyone.

RJ Brande makes it to Earth orbit. Fethro Jorn tosses the Eiffel Tower at his ship, but it dissolves in his hands. Jorn is smart enough to know what it means - Brande has a Trommite!

We return to Tinya, who finds Jo charging at his Daxamite again. She yells at him to become invulnerable, as there is no way he can win one-on-one. Apparently, Jo listens, and headbutts the Daxamite instead. The Daxamite seems to be out, and Tinya and Jo reunite. Jo calls her a genius and says he loves her. As Tinya is about to say she loves him back, the Daxamite recovers and his eyes glow red. Oh no.

Tinya and Jo vanish in a maelstrom. When the smoke clears, we find Jo was invulnerable... but Tinya was not intangible. Jo cries over her charred body.

Back at Legion HQ, the three founders scatter the mob. Brainy tells them they have to trigger their plan now, while Metropolis still has enough of an energy supply. To up the drama, Brainy says Brande may or may not make it in time; and Imra says she can't contact any of the Legionnaires! In desperation, Cos tells Imra to telepathically call the Daxamites herself! (Which is smarter, in my opinion. No guarantee that the Legionnaires could have lured the Daxamites there - most aren't faster than them!)

Roxxas' problem is revealed to be Violet - she shrank down and thrashed his brain's motor control center. Violet helps Andromeda up and tells her not to waste her intervention. Andromeda pummels him, but Roxxas has enough control to open the lid of the atomic furnace powering UP HQ... and it supposedly has the heat of ten stars. Violet makes it out alive, but Roxxas and Andromeda are lost in the explosion.

Before we have time to process this, the Daxamites rocket towards the three founders as they have a quiet moment of tension. The four Daxamites are already flying at them. Cos apologizes, but Garth and Imra thank him for the chance to be heroes. And at the last possible second, Brande arrives with Jan Arrah to transmute some tarnium and open a Stargate right in front of the Daxamites! As the three founders try not to get sucked in, Imra sees what might be the figure of a person. It's a very vague outline, though. Then Brainy closes the Stargate.

The Legionnaires, Workforce, Brande and Jan Arrah reunite. Last to arrive is Ultra Boy with Apparition's corpse. Leviathan, trying to console everyone, says maybe they should be grateful they only lost one of their own... then Violet appears. The next page drives it home - golden statues of Apparition and Andromeda join Kid Quantum I's.

Chu meets with Cos, and reveals that unofficially, the prison planet in the heart of the star contains exactly one inmate. One young lady who turned herself in after barely surviving the White Triangle attack. It is Andromeda. Chu swears Cos to secrecy, because public knowledge of a Legionnaire who gave an anti-lead serum to the Daxamites would destroy the UP.

Thoughts:

Wow. This is the Legion's most epic battle yet, and it doesn't have a happy ending. Each scene in this story serves its purpose, and I have to say each scene is heart-breakingly powerful.

Most of the Legionnaires and Workforce members are scattered across Earth, but none of them save Andromeda can even hope to match the Daxamites in battle. The Daxamites themselves are taking great enjoyment in their terrible deeds.

Cosmic Boy visits Saturn Girl to say goodbye. Her "go away, I want Garth!" line must have hit him hard. To his credit, he gets right back to work after seeing she's safe.

Brainiac 5 and RJ Brande are smart enough to realize that the Daxamites are toying with them. Brande lets it slip that he's with someone, and sharp readers will realize that it must be Jan Arrah. But we're kept too busy with all the chaos to ponder it for long. Cosmic Boy is likewise sharp enough to realize that they have to protect against the Daxamites' super hearing. I like Brainy's dose of optimism and his cooperative banter with Cos. I also like how the focus on Cos is on his planning and leadership skills, not on his powers.

Garth makes his way to Imra's side, and realizing how critical Imra's telepathy is to their survival, he goes right for her. It's a nice, touching moment, though I have to suspend my disbelief a bit - Aven wasn't able to heal her, but Garth was? If this is supposed to highlight their "true love" for each other, it falls a bit flat. I can buy that Imra's condition would let her longing for Garth come to the fore, and I can very much like Garth giving her comfort, but it all seems a bit convenient. And I can buy Cos knowing that Imra wanted Garth, but how could he have known it would work?

Brande and Jan scare a Daxamite into fleeing. Luckily for them, this Daxamite isn't particularly bright. He's already immune to lead! He's also not bright enough to warn the others that a Trommite is on Earth.

The final showdown at Legion HQ is masterfully done. The tension is built all throughout, with the Legionnaires 3 fending off rioters while Brainy warns them they're running out of time. And with the other Legionnaires down, Cos has to push Imra hard! They don't even know if the others are alive (though we know most of them are). I can forgive Cos for yelling. He's under a lot of pressure.

The 3 founders make a good team. Cos is still obviously the leader, and the two defer to him. But they're both behind him, and each has their own role in the trio.

I did cheer when the Daxamites flew right into the Stargate, but the victory seems hollow somehow. It's so hard to make sense of all the death and destruction. Oh, those terrible, terrible Daxamites!

In a parallel series of events, Andromeda catches Roxxas trying (in vain) to fool the UP Assembly. Come on, does he seriously believe anyone would think those attackers are NOT Daxamites? I love the writers' inclusion of the scene where Andromeda takes time to save people from being crushed by the UP Globe. This stays true to her character, as we've seen her saving innocents at least once before.

Violet's role is inspired! One of the "least powerful" Legionnaires manages to render a Daxamite almost helpless. Almost. I think having Andromeda almost die, then give herself up is a logical and proper ending to her arc. She finally redeems herself and proves she is a hero, but this isn't enough to assuage her conscience. It also helps Chu and Cos out of having to deal with the fallout of her involvement with the Triangle.

The riots on Earth are sadly not unexpected. I'm sure a lot of those people already had White Triangle leanings (such as the ones beating up the Daxamites and holding up "Earth for humans" placards), but many of them were probably caught up in the fear and panic.

Apparition and Ultra Boy take on the bald Daxamite. Jo would have been toast if Tinya hadn't been doing his tactical thinking for him. Oh, Jo. All that power... And just when we think they actually managed to stop a Daxamite? He wakes up and... and... grife. That scene remains burned in my mind. Tinya is having possibly the happiest moment in her life and she just dies. Just like that. And it's so ironic, because she among the Legionnaires should have been the safest - plus she was always the one telling Jo to stay invulnerable. Oh, how I wished that the smoke would clear away to show that she had survived... Unlike with Kid Quantum's death, Apparition was a Legionnaire I had grown to care about.

The other scenes also serve to continue heightening the tension:

Evolvo and Spider-Girl barely get any speaking lines. They were sent together to defend Miami? Really? They're probably the most outmatched pair among the Legion/Workforce defenders.

Leviathan, Inferno, Spark and Triad defend Mount Swan (nice homage to Curt Swan) together. Gim gets taken down right away, and Inferno has her most impressive scene yet. She calms him down AND directs Spark and Triad to distract the Daxamite. Good job, Inferno! If she hadn't shown such a callous disregard for life before, I'd totally nominate her for Legion membership right now (just like how Gim is almost recruiting her).

Chameleon and Invisible Kid are smart enough to try and scare the Daxamite away, but sadly they're still outmatched. Lyle does manage to deliver a useful piece of info to Cos - the Daxamites don't have transuits.

Karate Kid defends Cape Town alone because he didn't want teammates distracting him. Much like in the Preboot, he is skilled enough to faze a Daxamite, though not skilled enough to actually beat him. Luckily for him the insane Daxamite turns tail.

XS tries to save the people of Osaka; her scene fits her personality really well. The caring Jenni is traumatized by her inability to save everyone, despite her speed. And the Daxamite just taunts her because he knows she can't stop him.

The art is amazing, and I'm happy that it was the Jeff Moy/W.C. Carani tandem who got to do this story. Despite Moy's reputation among Legion fans as an "Archie" penciller, he manages to evoke a very real sense of danger and urgency.

On the other hand, the final victory is hollow somehow. Earth is thrashed, and we saw so many innocents killed. The Daxamites don't get their just punishment, as Jan points out. Tinya is dead, Laurel is a prisoner... This victory gives little satisfaction. Even Gim's line - "maybe we should be grateful we only lost one." Or two. It's a heartbreaking issue that pushes the Legion to its limits and leaves us all trying to make sense of what just happened.

This issue was masterfully written and plotted, and if its goal was to get us hooked as to what happened next, it definitely succeeded. But it's definitely not a feel-good issue!

We never do find out what happens to these Daxamites. In my fic, I posit that they died on the world the Legion sent them to because they were non-powered AND insane. I feel that's a fitting end for them.

Agreed with all points! This story was awesome, and I think handled the idea of how outmatched most heroes are against a regular Daxamite more so than when Darkseid turned a whole planet of them against the UP back in the day.

While the 80s crazy Daxamite invasion was an epic idea, it was kind of diluted by seeing characters like Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy fight characters with the power of Mon-El without consequence. The modern riff on crazy Daxamites worked better for only having a handful of them, and for showing that the Legion were in very real danger every second of the confrontation. Which leads us to poor Tinya....

I still remember that scene as well. That was really one of the best death scenes I've seen in a comic, in that it was totally unexpected and it was shocking because it happened in a title where that kind of violence rarely happens. Geoff Johns should take note, a violent death only has shock value when it's not happening every Tuesday... ;p

Very astute observations, and I agree with most of them. This issue feels like a “transitional” issue, which is often a problem with comic book series in which a major storyline has to conclude in an annual or other special edition. The creators have to do something with the issue before that special edition, and the results often feel like they’re just marking time.

This issue somewhat typifies this phenomenon. It begins with an overlong battle between White Triangle members and a group of “Durlan tourists.” Only when the battle ends do we learn that the tourists are really the Legion Espionage Squad, and that the impersonation was part of a sting operation. This all makes sense, and the clues to the Legionnaires' identities are there if one cares to look; however, the whole scene was rather disorienting—particularly the addition of Texas cowboy lawman “Buck Bond” (who is introduced as if he’s someone we should recognize), a ridiculous character who assures us that Texas stereotypes will remain unchanged in a thousand years.

What follows this opening sequence is a haphazard collection of scenes, some of which mesh well while others don’t. Apparition once again runs from Mommy Dearest—only this time we get a look at Winema’s life (why is she wearing a cyborg headpiece?). Yes, we’re meant to think that Winema disapproves of Jo because she herself has been in an unsuccessful relationship with a “bad boy”—and is apparently still involved with him on some level, which makes her wariness of Jo hypocritical. It also doesn’t explain why Winema allowed Tinya to join the Legion and then criticizes her every move. Maybe Winema is just a psycho.

I can buy into the tension between Lyle and Cos, though, and their resulting lack of communication. Lyle has once again acted without authorization, and Cos is not happy. (What leader would be?) The fact that Lyle produces results only makes Cos angrier—perhaps it reveals a bit of Cos’s own insecurities. He did, after all, snap at Imra when she refused a direct order during the Composite Man story. Given the stakes thrust upon Cos’s shoulders as leader of the Legion—and the increasing tension with the shutting down of the stargates and the destruction of Trom—it’s a wonder he doesn’t snap more often.

And Lyle is perfectly believable as someone who uses subterfuge to lure the White Triangle members into a conflict and then tortures them to get what he wants. I found this sequence utterly chilling in the post-Guantanamo Bay era. The argument given by those who advocate torture is that it produces results—and it’s hard to feel sorry for White Triangle racists or anyone else we deem to be the bad guys. But it’s still torture.

Lyle, of course, doesn’t learn a whole lot from the White Triangle members, except how they justify their actions—but that doesn’t really tell us anything new.

The other major sequence involves Andromeda, who spies on Roxxas and learns what a dupe she’s been. It’s awful convenient that she happens to use her x-ray vision and super-hearing (or whatever they’re now called) to observe the ambassador while he goes over his plans with the Direct Action Cadre, commits a murder, and then casually drops in her name—but you’ve got to work in the exposition somehow. The scene ends with in a typical super-hero trope, with Laurel punching her way out of Legion HQ (good thing Brande has unlimited funds for repairs, right?) and flying off to deal with the matter “alone.” No super-hero worth her salt would ever redeem herself by asking her teammates for help, would she?

None of these scenes are enhanced by Joyce Chin’s art, which make the Legionnaires look like they belong on the cover of a romance novel. Check out Tinya’s long, flowing hair on Page 10 (and, yes, her pouty lips) and the jut-jaws of the boys on Pages 2 and 3. They look like they’ve just come off a fashion shoot.

However, the issue does end on another effective cliffhanger as the Direct Action Cadre takes the war directly to earth, making a nice segue into the annual.

Grade: 72.3 (C-)

By the way, my favorite part of 28 was watching the Alamo tour guide mangle history. I don't know if this was meant to be a commentary on how how unreliable our interpretation of history can be or an indication that the tour guide was a hack. Either way, it was quite funny.

The stretch of issues beginning with the start of the White Triangle saga through the end of President Chu's term is one of my favorites in any Legion's history. In the preboot, we never saw anything like the scenes set on Trom before the Daxamites struck.

The one complaint I have is that Jan's more or less a bit player in his own origin as a superhero. A player with an important role to fulfill, but still- if White Triangle were a movie, he'd be on the second page of cast credits.

That's an excellent point about Jan being a supporting character in his own origin, Mystery Lad. The contrast between Jan's depiction here and his role in his preboot origin is stark. In the original story, Jan is the hero who hides his identity and won't even tell the Legionnaires his power to avoid attracting the space pirates' attention. He then tries to go it alone to stop the villains, only to be rescued by Invisible Kid. Jan acts like a hero in the classic sense, although, as part of a team, he needs help to win.

In this story, Jan is barely even present. He's been confined to one brief scene and his role in accompanying Brande is purposely kept vague. From a story-telling point of view, I find this very clever, as it plays with our expectations of what is supposed to happen. Ironically, though, Jan doesn't really come to the fore as a hero until much later. In his next major appearance (as I recall), he's brainwashed into becoming Starfinger. So he remains a supporting character for quite some time.

You have a good point there, raz! The annual's tactic of taking time to show smaller groups of Legionnaires facing off against single Daxamites really helped drive home the danger.

Also, having Tinya die right after she and Jo declared their love for each other made it even more unexpected. We're brought to an emotional high, and then suddenly - BOOM!

Thank you



You make a good point there. Sometimes I forget that Cos and Lyle and the others are just teens. When I was their age I would find myself engaging in unspoken rivalries with some of my teammates. It's not too much of a stretch to imagine them subconsciously withholding information because each wanted to get results on their own, especially if each felt that the other wouldn't be wholly cooperative.

If you take a close look at the various forms of racism in the real world you will find a common thread of one group feeling somehow threatened by the other. It does not have to be a mortal threat either. The Klan always claimed they were trying to preserve a particular way of life that was near and dear to their hearts. The Nazis targeted Jews because they had economic power that non-Jews felt threatened by. Right-wingers in the US hate immigrants because they are taking job opportunities away from native-born Americans.

But what threatens the Daxamites? These guys all have Kryptonian-class powers when off their homeworld, after all. Sure, they have a vulnerability to lead, but that's a naturally occuring element, not something manufactured specifically for the subjugation of Daxamites.

Often, racism on the part of one group against another is deliberately fostered by a third party with its own hidden agenda. Could this be the case on Daxam as well? In that case, who is/was that third party and what was their agenda?

Sadly, these are questions that will probably never be answered (since that version of the Legion is unlikely to be revived), but it might still be fun to speculate on it.

The lead vulnerability itself could create not just the sense of threat, but the sense that they have already been victimized by other races, who, to their sense, must be jealous of / afraid of their power, and have somehow arranged this lead vulnerability to 'keep them down' and deny them their rightful place in the universe.

Lead is ridiculously common. Even if nobody in the universe is currently pumping out lead-based weaponry, as simple as balls of lead they can toss at Daxam, so that it hits the atmosphere, burns up and potentially kills millions, there's no reason why the Daxamites have to believe that (look how many people still think Saddam had WMDs), or that any potential threat couldn't just manufacture them, quite quickly using future manufacturing techniques. The threat doesn't have to be actual, for it to exist in potential, and, to the Daxamites, it's an extinction-level threat. One soulless Daxamite news agency could keep the fear alive, just to provide them ratings to sell commercial space, and keep millions in a constant state of fear, utterly convinced that the rest of the universe is jealous of them, has already acted against them by inflicting them with this lead weakness, and has stockpiles of lead-based weapons ready to wipe them out at any moment, which any single fanatic could get their hands on and launch.

Any sort of 'war' began when the other races infected the Daxamites with this lead vulnerability, to keep them in check and hold over their heads, so any sort of retaliation is not 'racism,' it's self-defense against an aggressor that has already attacked each and every one of them.

Whether or not there's even a germ of truth to it, is irrelevant, since it's generally impossible to prove a negative (that the current crop of local UP races had nothing to do with any sort of imposed lead vulnerability), and harder to do so to a people who are feeling persecuted, under attack and in fear for their very lives.

And so, the easiest 'solution' to the 'xenophobic Daxamite' question is to tap into pre-existing lore (the lead vulnerability, artificially imposed in at least one continuity) and run with it. All the groundwork has been laid.

Other races could be similarly xeno'd up, with some built in rationalizations for why Durlans, Titanians, Talokkians, Imskians, Hyrkraians, etc. might feel ostracized or looked down upon or persecuted or neglected / taken advantage of by other UP races, but the Daxamites (or the Tromnians, obviously) are the ideal examples, and make for some powerful drama, since the Daxamites are particularly powerful, individually capable of being tremendous threats.

That's an interesting theory, that the Daxamites could have used the lead vulnerability as a reason to hate other races. Although, what I picked up from the recent reread is that the lead vulnerability wasn't a factor. It was rarely brought up. They just simply thought they were superior to other races.

It would be interesting to find out if this superiority and xenophobia had developed before, or after, the Daxamites found out that they had awesome powers under a yellow sun.

Oh, I'm not offering it as something that was present (since I really didn't read much of that run, so I have no idea why Daxam was all racist in that continuity), but something that *could* have been used to explain their xenophobia, if a writer actually wanted to do so and not just make them arbitrarily racist.

Thanks for the clarification. I did think that's what you meant, just citing a possible obstacle to why it might not work in the Postboot reality.