Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes The 5YL Legion: Reviews by Kappa Kid

Thanks for the link, HWW. Your review of this issue blows mine out of the water!

Oh, I'm not trying to blow anybody out of anything, Stalgie! Different views are always complementary.

Taken from HWW's link:



I think the reason Glorith couldn't replace the Time Trapper on a thematic /danger level, in my book at least, is that there's no sense of mystery about her. The Time Trapper was always an enigma, a force that the Legionnaires and, by extension the audience, could never fully comprehend. For many years, we didn't even know who was under the hood and that made the Time Trapper seem scarier as a villain. With Glorith, on the other hand, she's too much of a cackling, over the top villainess that doesn't elicit the same kind of fear.

I remember reading LSH v4 #5 out of order while building my v4 collection twenty years ago and finding it rather forgettable without the context of what it was trying to do. A one-off tale? Likely of no consequence!

Boy, was I wrong. Since reading it as an adult and with the entire TMK run as perspective, it's actually a really riveting tale and a novel way to establish the new universe order if the Super-family was no longer viable. HWW covers a lot of it in his well done review, but it really is quite a feat when you consider all this issue accomplishes in the pages it has.

The use of Andrew Nolan is a treat and always made me wonder what Ferro Lad would have been like had he survived and led a long career as a Legionnaire going into TMK.

Which as I read that it occurs to me that in Math oddly enough, "complementary" would seem to mean the reviews cover exactly none of the same ground and have almost an opposite sense. Might be a lesson plan in there somewhere. I'll have to check my definitions because I don't feel I'm right in that feeling but my mind isn't coming up with the words I'll need to explain it.


Anyhow

#5 WOW! What a masterpiece. Brilliant on so many levels, not the least of which would be the 4th world level. Brilliantly set-up and brilliantly followed. Visually stunning as well. This is the one book I cannot imagine drawn any other way. Giffen's style worked here. It is one of the very few issues of any comic I can see panels in my head. Gordan's cover, inspired.

I find new in every re-read.

In the long-term, you're probably right. I think she works quite well in this one story, however.

This is one book that, for me, is much better on the re-read. Didn't know where it was going, if we'd stay in the Mordruverse or a similar timeline under Glorith.

I thought it was interesting that the good guys and bad guys were balanced trios: the leader, the muscle and the witchy woman on each side.

It really was very compelling to not see Mordru until the very end, but to feel his presence throughout.

I've also wondered where the series might have gone if Rond had become the new Time Trapper. Perhaps he understood that absolute power corrupts absolutely and chose to eliminate his timeline rather than fall prey to that power.

Legion of Super-heroes (1989) #6



Writer: Keith Giffen, Tom Bierbaum, Mary Bierbaum
Pencils: Keith Giffen
Ink: Al Gordon
Color: Tom McGraw
Editor: Mark Waid

Grade: B+

Summary: We open to what appears to be the original universe from before issue #5. Dirk Morgna is in a sleazy club talking to a detective named Celeste Rockfish. He’s trying to get her to find Roxxas and bring him in for the murder of Blok as part of an Earthgov sponsored investigation. Meanwhile, Circe and a Dominator are spying on Dirk’s conversation. The Dominator reveals that Celeste’s investigation is a means to keep the Daily Planet off their heels. On the planet Tharn, Mordru receives word from one of his servants that Reep and the others are there. While Reep, Rokk, and Jo are planning how to get Mysa back from Mordru, Kono is out exploring. Reep chews out Kono for running around on her own, but she sasses him back and leaves to visit Furball. While the two are talking, Furball suddenly breaks out in a fit of rage and a bright light envelops the room. What follows is each character experiencing a nightmare flashback to a moment in their lives:

Kono sees the Rimbor police destroying her home and attempting to rape her and her mother
Reep is on Durla and is forced to fight his brother, Liggt, in a duel to the death as part of a rite of passage
Jo finds himself in the space whale that swallowed him and gave him his powers, where he stumbles upon the body of Tinya Wazzo aka Phantom Girl, his late wife
Rokk is at Venado Bay during the Braal-Imsk war where he finds the body of Pol Krinn, his brother, who was killed during the Magic Wars
Furball sees the doctors reporting on his condition after his body deteriorated into his current form, giving us our confirmation that Furball is indeed Brin Londo aka Timber Wolf

In Mordru’s pleasure gardens, Mysa is experiencing all of these flashbacks at the same time and is in great pain. One of the other women in the harem chews her out for complaining too much. At a clothing store elsewhere, Roxxas is buying new clothes. Back on Earth, Celeste and a cub report at the Daily Planet, Deviln O’Ryan, are trying to get a ship to Trom to investigate Roxxas, but aren’t able to secure one. Back on Tharn, Vyrkos, Mordru’s right hand man, takes the bodies of the Legionnaires to the dungeon, except for Rokk who Mordru has taken an interest in. On Jezebel’s moon of Tharn, a mysterious blonde woman who bears a striking resemblance to lost Legionnaire flies to Tharn. Back with Celeste and Devlin, they are eventually able to get a ship to Trom and bring along a bounty hunter named Bounty with them to track Roxxas. While on Trom, Devlin is listening to a tape on the history of Trom and Element Lad, but laments that it doesn’t give him any information. Celeste tells him not to touch any of the monuments on Trom as Element Lad will vaporize them if they do. Just as she says that, a voice laughs at her claim and they turn around to find Jan Arrah aka Element Lad standing behind them.

Thoughts: After issue #5 gave us a break from the erratic storytelling of the previous issue, TMK bring it back full force in this issue. We’re finally beginning to see some development with the Mordru subplot that started back in issue #3. I find it strange that Mysa would ever willingly live with Mordru, especially as a member of his harem of wives. I guess that ties back into my earlier confusion as to why Mordru is a villain again in the first place. What’s odd is that Mekt Ranzz aka Lightning Lord is now a reformed super villain working with his siblings, who he had sworn to kill for years. Oh well, thats’s comic books for you.

The use of flashbacks in this issue is done remarkably well. It’s yet another instance of ‘showing, not telling’ that gives the reader the satisfaction of linking the clues together to get what the writers are putting across. The reveal of Furball’s true identity is handled fantastically, as we only see the words “Brin Londo” in the very last panel of that page, letting only longtime fans of the Legion pick up on what’s happening in that moment. For me, the flashback that works the best is Rokk’s.



His line “They killed Cosmic Boy at Venado Bay” encapsulates the entire theme of this run. This is no longer the Legion of kids who grew up with goofy nicknames and a optimistic, if almost native view of the world. Rokk is an adult now and must face the fact that the world is no longer as black and white as he once thought. By forcing him to face the brutal realities of war and politics, Rokk now realizes that Cosmic Boy is as much a symbol as it is his own identity. The Legion stood for the hope and peace, something the universe needs now more than ever.

This issue also gives us our introduction to two new characters for the team: Laurel Gand and Jan Arrah. I wonder what long-time fans thought when they saw Laurel for the first time. Did they think that they were finally get Supergirl back in the Legion? Were some cynical and knew something else was happening? Either way, though our introduction to the character is brief, it’s exciting and is short enough that we’re left hungry for answers as to who she is. Jan’s introduction is even shorter than Laurel’s, but I would argue that it’s just as effective, if not more. From the way Devlin and Celeste speak of Jan, he’s become almost an urban legend in the Legion’s absence. Everyone is afraid of him, but they aren’t sure why. I think this is a bit of play on the nature of Trommite powers, where they can either be used for great good or terrible evil. As such, the few who have met Jan may put their own spin on the story and it only gets more ridiculous over time as rumors/legends often do. Jan seems to have become a shaman/nomad since he left the team which is a very interesting archetype for the character to play. Jan was always a bit more reserved, introverted than most of the other Legionnaires back in the day and I think this run does a very good job of exploring just how Jan’s Trommite upbringing made him the man he is today.

Hey... The 5YL Legion gave us Laurel Gand / Andromeda (or, at least, the first incarnation of her) so, for that reason alone, I'll remain fond of it.

The most charitable thing I can say about the 5YL Legion is that I applaud its ambition and its scope, but its execution was, except for the promising first few issues, repulsive to me. I know there was a lot of behind-the-scenes drama, and I think it shows in the messy, sluggish final product. And anything about it I regard as positive comes with a caveat (example: I liked the re-imagining of the Dark Circle, BUT I detested having Tellus join the Dark Circle.) And I can't read TMK's minds, but it seemed to me there were a lot of moments calculated to make fans of the post-Adventure Legion cringe, as well as some inept explorations of sensitive issues.

That's why I don't like this iteration of the Legion.

I hope you'll still chime in with your thoughts, Fanfie. Even criticisms can still bring out interesting discussion.

I just might. Thanks, Stalgie.

That Mysa was one of a harem of Mordru's wives really struck me as strange - or cringe-worthy. Although her psychological decline was explained, it really sat poorly with me. She had started out as a shy, uncertain person and developed assurance and mastery in her time with the Legion. I guess the best we can say is that Mordru was the greater power and she succumbed to his manipulations.

Jan Arrah, however, was masterfully done, as far as I was concerned. He was at peace with his role as guardian of Trom's fallen yet did not hesitate to join the hunt for Roxxas. As we'll see later, he came full circle on how he dealt with that mass murderer. Jan's character followed a logical progression of maturity and developing spirituality from the pre-5YL stories. It was effective to have him regarded as an urban legend.

You make a good point that the flashbacks were a succinct way of filling in the backstories and were well done. I wonder if it's that flashback that was the true turning point for Rokk to assume leadership of the renewed team.

I always kinda liked the Legion but never really *loved* it until 5YL...I think having a vague familiarity with the Legion of Superheroes without being particularly attached to any of them helped with this volume. It meant that massive changes and upheaval didn't bother me as much as it most likely would have if I had a strong pre-conceived idea of who "my" Legion should be and how they should act.

I guess as a comparison/contrast - the Avengers were always my favourite superhero team growing up, and when Avengers Disassembled happened & Bendis took the book in a radically different direction I was so disenchanted with the whole thing that I stopped reading any Avengers books for years. I feel like I probably would have had a similar reaction if the Legion had been my "Avengers" growing up.

I loved having to piece together who all these characters were though and all the world-building that went into this series. The text pieces really added extra layers to the world and felt like a reward for putting the effort in. The gaming sourcebook that came out around the same time had so much awesome character-building stuff in it, I would love to have a copy of that again! It was really 5YL that made me love the Legion as much as I do now and sowed the seeds for me to want to read as much of their old stuff as I could.

To get back up to date on topic....I can definitely see how Mysa's fate would rub someone the wrong way. I found it immensely uncomfortable and later on when I had more of an idea of Mysa's history, I found it really tragic...but I also felt that it was unfortunately a pretty realistic depiction of an abused spouse. While I would find that inappropriate for the more simplistic world the Legion traditionally live in, taking it at face value I didn't think it was out of place in the world of 5YL.

One of the things that most frustrates me about TMK is that I feel they were reactionaries in progressives' clothing. To stretch the Avengers analogy further, it's as though they were trying to be Bendis and Busiek at the same time, trying to be daring and experimental AND trying to take the Legion "back to basics" (a term I despise; I should add I'm not a fan of either the Bendis or the Busiek versions of the Avengers.) TMK's naive fetish for the Adventure era as some kind of godhead, along with their contemptuous treatment of post-Adventure era characters like Wildfire, Dawnstar, and Blok, did not sit well with me at all.

I can understand some of the frustration there, Fanfie. It does seem rather regressive to push the newer (and still very popular) characters to the side to bring back the old guard simply because the writers preferred them. That being said, I think that focusing on the Adventure era Legionnaires was also one of the run's strengths. These were the Legionnaires who had built the Legion into what it was, had been there since its earliest days. I think having them rebuild the Legion after it had fallen apart brought their story full circle.

Pushing characters aside is one thing.

Metaphorically defecating on them is a whole other thing.

When DnA took over the Postboot Legion, they wrote out the characters they had no interest in with a minimum of fuss and no disrepect. That's one of the reasons I far prefer (early) DnA to TMK.

Oh, when the defecating happens, you'll get to see the full extent of my (passive-aggressive) rage.

Good.

Long as Stalgie has given me the OK to criticize freely, I thought I might as well add a couple things to what's been said already:

#3. Another DnA/TMK comparison-contrast: DnA killed Monstress, who, under their predecessors, had been a rather shallow and saccharine character; DnA gave her depth and showed us that her good cheer came from a lifetime of pain and a sympathy for the downtrodden -- they made us finally care about Monstress, then killed her off in a way that I think was powerful but not gratuitous. All this as opposed to TMK, who carry out their killing of Blok with a dismissive shrug, not giving his detractors any reason to care for him before it becomes too late, and not reminding his fans (I am one) why they loved him.

#4. I think Mon-El should have stayed dead, and Tasmia should have moved on. By having Tasmia spend years in isolated (and presumably permanent, had he not returned to life) mourning, TMK do her a great disservice, especially considering that she was arguably one of the worst-characterized Legionnaires during the Levitz era (alternately catty and clingy), and the death of Mon-El should have been an opportunity for her to better define herself. Last year, I wrote a Tasmia fanfic I'm very proud of, taking place right after Mon-El's death, where one of her ancestors shows her three possible alternate scenarios of how her life might have gone differently. If anyone's interested in reading it, send me a PM. For those who'd prefer a summary, here it is, in a spoiler box:

A problem I have with the issue that I forgot to mention in my original review is that barely any time is spent on Lar and Tasmia's reunion. She spent five years mourning him, but the issue only gives them one page to catch up before they're off to see Brainy to get Mon-El checked up. I know TMK were under strict deadlines and regulations because of their problems with the Superman team, but an event of such importance really should have been explored more!

That it wasn't explored makes me wonder if they even cared about Tasmia's relationship with Mon-El in the first place. Not for nothing is the cover all-Mon-El.

Tom Bierbaum's thoughts on Tasmia here:

http://itsokimasenator.livejournal.com/24316.html

Thanks, but no thanks. I don't intend to read that. I think TB is a liar.

Thanks for the link Stalgie. I never read that before. Interesting stuff.