Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Supergirl and the Legion of Super-heroes #34 (spoilers)

Surprise #1: The solicited cover is not the actual cover. The feralization of Timberwolf is even more extreme. I believe the cover artist is Scott Kolins. I just don't get the cover switch. The solicited cover by Calero was my least favorite of the five Caleor covers, but that's kinda like saying the Miura is my least favorite Lamborghini.

We begin on Lallor with ERG-1/Wildfire threatening to kill the president. Out pops Vi with her sidearm to protect the pres.

Three hours earlier: Vi, Shady and Brin in a good old-fashioned slapdown with Lalloran armed guards. Calero's depition of Vi and Shady in a slugfest is spot-on.

Observers of the fight describe the Legion as diversion in their planned assassination of the Lalloran president.

Brin pulls one of the Lallorans aside and learns that Lallor is in a Pro/Anti U.P. civil disruption and that the Lallorans attacked the Legionnaires assuming that they were part of the planned assassination force.

Elsewhere on Lallor, "Randall" talks to his "bro" Drake who is in a containment tank about carrying out the planned presidential assassination and mentions that "old friends" will be blamed for the attack.

Shady and Brin, with Shrunken Vi meet the Lalloran president (nice capital building, Dennis) to get permission to seach for Cosmic Boy without being hounded by the president's goons. Brainy is communicating only with Vi that an attack on the capital is imminent and that she should let Brin take the lead in the resistance. (nice pic of Supergirl on the monitor in Brainy's lab.)

E.R.G.-1/Wildfire's attack on the capital starts. He takes out some armored guards with suspiciously little violence for someone who's supposed going to assassinate the president. He breaks/burns into the capitol building (let me reiterate -- this building is a glorious fusion of Brasilia-like funkiness with Bladerunnerish techno-intimidation. Calero excels like no other artist I know at story-telling though architecture.)
In the building he is met by Brin, Shady and Vi. And in what is possibly the most awkward part of the book, tells his backstory. I'm here to kill the president, but first a few words about myself. I was born in a small town in . . .Turns out E.R.G.-1/Wildfire was turned into an energy being in an accident. He tried to join the Legion, fought a faminebot alongside CB,LL and SG. He defeated the bot, but his containment suit was breached and he spewed out and was left for dead by the Legionnaires. He harbors abandonment-oriented hostility toward the Legion as a result.

Brin, Shady and Vi, having grown bored with his curious sob-story finally go on the offensive. Fighting ensues, and E.R.G.-1/Wildfire is kicking LSH butt. A section of the building collapses on Brin, Vi asks Brainy if he's getting life-signs from Brin's ring transmitter.

Briny tells Vi, "Just stand clear of the rubble -- he's coming out." I was excited about the possibility of turning the page and seeing Brin reveal an HRC t-shirt under his costume or something, but that's not the kind of coming out that occurs.

Shirtless, hairy, be-clawed and sporting his Cockrum-era do, Brin says Okay, NOW I'm Mad...

end of issue to be continued in #35 Part II of E.R.G.onomics.

I'm disappointed that we didn't get the solicited cover, and will be really pissed if we don't get the other solicted Calero covers.

The story moves quickly - a little too quickly. I got to the end and felt like I was owed 5 or 6 more pages. There are good character interactions between the three featured Legionnaires. I'd say Calero's artwork is far more hits than misses (the recycled pic of Vi on page 2 and page 4 was a little confusing at first, and the pursed lip shot of Brin saying "Two -- if Cos was really . . ." is sort of distracting. This issue doesn't diminish my gushing enthusiasm for Dennis' work on this title. The sci-fi look distinguishes it from the clutter of mainstream super-hero groups.

I'd like to see this trio of Legionnaires together again. The Legion of Super Hard-edged Butt-kickers. Shady assumes the role of the level-headed diplomatic team-member. I'm really gonna miss this creative team when it's gone.

It's a *lot* more extreme, and I don't like it. For that matter, I don't like the feralization of Atom Girl either. Calero's art seemed pretty choppy for a lot of the issue, and I thought that the schedule demanded a lot more would be wrapped up in this issue. Bedard and Calero's other LSH issues were better than this one.

This doesn't sound like a full comic. It sounds like part one of a multi-part story from the Silver Age only those were 8-11 pages long and the second part appeared right afterward.

I hope there's more than than what's been mentioned thus far.

There's more; he just hasn't filled it in yet. There's a lot of backstory on Wildfire, for instance, most of which matches his original history.

Is Wildfire a Brainy operative? With fjm's cover I doubt it but I'm being hopeful.

So we didn't get this cover?



That better not mess up the Ranzz #35 cover.

We did not get that cover.

And, no, I don't think Wildfire is a Brainy operative.

This is in indeed 1 of 2 part story, that culminates then in issue 36 that wraps everything up! Stick with it!

Spoiler continuation


Drake's 'old friends' are the Legion. We learn that Wildfire was probably one of the earliest after the founders to join. But during his first mission his suit cracked. Brainy was not with the team yet and would have detected his energy so Cos, LL and SG thought he died. Wildfire is kind of upset that they gave up on him so easily.

Randall seems to be using Drake as part of his anti-UP plan. Apparently he is going to frame the Legion for the President's assasination.

However Wildfire does seem to be part of Brainy's plan because he is kind of responsible for the Wolfman's transformation.

I liked that Wildfire's orginal suit in the flashback looked like the Copiel version from the reboot. Although not a real fan of the art I did really like seeing Wildfire back in action. The Legion has been in dire need of some Wildfire goddness for a long time. This version of Wildfire's origin is 10000000 times better than the bastardized version they gave us in the last reboot. The best part is as long as they don't destroy him next issue that mean he will be around for future writers to bring onto the team like he should have been from the start.

My one complaint about this issue is Atom Girl. God do I hate the new personality Waid slapped on her. She comes off as almost a nutjob half the time. That and Legionaries should not be carring around guns. The old Violet could have gone through those guys jsut as well without needing a gun.

Man, I really wish we'd gotten the other cover...

So.... Wildfire's back.

I'm not sure what's worse - the fact that he's an assassin for hire or the fact that Vi keeps a running body count. (could that be any more "LotR"??) Of course there's a chance Drake will get over his bitterness and join the Legion, but right now, he's pretty much a villain.

I'm also curious about his brother Randall. I believe the only brother Wildfire's ever had was Squire during TMK. Is Randall from elsewhere?

I do like how the Coipel suit was used, but this origin, while similar to the original, is obviously inferior. It makes me think they should stop trying to "reinvent" the Legion - cuz the new iterations almost never stack up.

I like Calero's art, but there were a few storytelling lapses, especially during the fight -- it kinda looks like Timberwolf is breaking the column against Wildfire, but the sound effect seems to indicate he's using his powers, despite no visual evidence of it (a fault of the colorist?), then that panel of the roof collapsing on T-Wolf is really unclear. if Shady hadn't told us what happened I would have had no idea - I looked at that panel for a minute or two and thought maybe Brin had gone through the wall.

And someone tell the colorist that the triangular section on Wildfire's torso is RED!!

While I'm not too thrilled with the increasing level of violence (whatever happened to invulnerable super-villains?) that "body count" suggests, I gotta say that the new Vi is no more a dangerous nut-job than old-school Brin.

Back in the day, we spent a lot of time watching Ayla trying to calm down our raging wolf - and no one seems to be upset that he's back and about to decimate the room.

Yet Vi, as a rough-rough character, is triggering a response. Interesting.

For myself -- tho I'd like less real-seemeing violence in general -- if we're going to have crazy fights, I want to see it dished out by the girls as well as the boys. And I don't expect anybody who enjoys and/or specializes in hitting to be an especially nice kind of character.

How sad that we didn't get the cover from Dennis that was solicited. It was far superior to the Kolins' cover. I wonder what the story on that is?

After being disappointed last month, I'm back on board with the Bedard/Calero Legion with this issue. I love artists who take risks. You never know with Dennis what to expect from page to page. It is a delight to turn the page and find images that are memorable and surprising. I look forward to following him to future projects. The colors continue to compliment his work and set the mood for the book.

Atom Girl was fun. Yeah, I know a lot of people object to this personality, but she was presented consistently with the way that Waid introduced her. She got in some good lines and some good action. My biggest disappointment was that she expressed an attraction to boys. All of the current members are now on record showing heterosexual leanings, so the opportunity for the 3boot to introduce a gay Legionnaire at the ground level has been missed. That is sad to me.

The changes to Lallor since it appeared early in the WaK run were explained smoothly. Nice touch that Bedard remembered that Brin wasn't involved at that time and used his questions as the vehicle for getting us up to date.

Wildfire has a brother named Randall. I'm curious to see where this goes. I hope he isn't forgotten like Gim's brother. Does anyone remember Drake's brother Squire from the Tom and Mary days?

I like the fact that Wildfire got an origin story. Many of the current members still haven't had their stories told, and those who have, got twists that didn't work for me (Gim, Lu, Tinya). Drake's is simple and fairly true to the original. No complaints from me. There is still plenty of room for him to turn it around and become one of the good guys. Great upgrade on his powers. No more leaking out and being scattered by a breach in the suit. That was seriously overused in the past.

I'm once again looking forward to the next issue.

Squire was BS. It was a tease, a twist, taunting those of us who wanted Drake back in the book! I believe the first mention of a brother was when TMK showed him instead of Drake, and he convientently had the same powers (and how Dominator mind control can affect a being of anti-energy I will never understand, comic book science or not...). Don't even go there!

I figured Bedard used Randall's name since post-boot Randall was one of the two heroes who fused to become Wildfire after the battle with Mordru. Let the lameness begin! Don't even go there either!

I haven't read the issue yet, but I'm glad to hear Drake's origin has reverted to close to the one we know and love.

I just double checked the post-boot issues, and Randall Burroughs, a.k.a. Atom'X, of Xanthu was one of the two whose energies fused to become Windfire. So it looks like Bedard used both preboot and postboot stories in reimagining Wildfire.

Thumbs up:

1. I never expected to see Wildfire wearing TWO different and familiar costumes in the same story. That was a great touch.

2. Drake's origin is very close in spirit to his original debut story, and even involves a piece of agricultural (anti-agricultural) machinery run amok!

3. Shady stepping up and taking the role of diplomat -- she *does* have some class and leadership ability.

4. Brainy knowing exactly what was going to happen to Brin.

5. The cliffhanger!

6. Dennis's interiors. (Last but not least).

Thumbs down:

1. The freakish replacement cover. What was the editor thinking of?

2. Yeah, Atom Girl got on my nerves a little, but it didn't ruin the party.

Btw, "Randall" was the name of one of reboot Wildfire's personas (Randall Burroughs/Atom'X). Thank gods he's only a relative here.

The thumbnail preview on the last page gives away a little something about the 3rd mission team, but it's not an unexpected development.

What's your point? We've seen Vi "rough-rough" before - during latter day Levitz and TMK, but callously keeping a running count of *kills* is disturbing for a team that has historically had a policy against killing (and you can't just say she has stun-guns - two of her "kills" appear to be lasering each other in half). That's a far cry from Brin raging or looking like he's about to decimate the room.

I don't believe for a moment any of Atom Girl's "kills" were killed. The two guys tricked into lasering each other were wearing pretty heavy armor. And I'm pretty sure the President of Lallor wouldn't have given the Legionnaires a cordial reception if any fatalities reported had been reported.

Likewise, Wildfire bombing the guards wasn't as bad as it looked or Randall wouldn't have said "Don't toy with them, Drake."

Hey guys, Im going to make a general statement, whatever you feel, good or bad, write DC a letter and let them know! I'm still lurking until someone asks or says something that would be helped by a comment from me.

No one was killed in the making of this comic.

Another week before I see my copy. Anyone got a scan of the cover?

Despite Wildfire's role as an assassin here, I was heartened to see that he wasn't interested in killing anyone else and went out of his way to get the guards to retreat rather than engage directly.

And if Vi's "body count" aren't actual kills, then I have no problem. It was a bit misleading though.

The spunky Atom Girl was fun for me. I took the jumping between two guys scene to imply she wasn't killing any of her kills. That being the case, I'm guessing her guns are more like the Wasp's stings.

Shady didn't get much limelight, but that's okay, we got Wildfire. I prefer the Copiel costume to this old one; this one looks clunky. That's not a comment on the art, but the design.

I liked the art, but I'm still not grooving the dark colouring. It seems to give this book a tone that doesn't fit the the story or the series.

I'm curious to see how it wraps up tho'

Sorry for the delay...all sorts of computer issues tonight.

write to whom? where? I'm itchin' to fire off some electrons with my thoughts about the cover change -- and I'll throw in some gratuitous praise for your and PB's fill in arc.

DC's mailing address:

DC Comics
1700 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
U.S.A.

Attention of whoever you're sending the letter to. Mike Marts, Dan DiDio, etc.

And, remember, the letters that are civil, legible, well-organized and well-thought-out (and, especially, brief) are the ones that get attention.