Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes How would you fix Titans/Legion: Universe Ablaze?

Okay, I'm warning you. If you read this you will come across the biggest rant I have probably made ever on these boards. This story is so bad, I'm opening this thread so we can discuss ways to salvage it. This has to be the single worst story featuring the Reboot Legion, because the characters and the team as a whole are made to look incredibly incompetent. And writer Dan Jurgens doesn't seem to know how to utilize anyone whose powers are more complicated than "point and shoot energy" or "punch really hard".

Titans/Legion Universe Ablaze is a four-issue mini published in 2000. Premise: After battling Brother Blood in the 20th century, 4 Titans (Nightwing, Jesse Quick, Cyborg, Damage) are killed. The remaining 7 (Starfire, Donna Troy, Flash, Tempest, Argent, Omen, Arsenal) are trapped in stasis until being found by the Legion of Super-Heroes! Unfortunately, Brother Blood survives too, and teams up with Universo to control the 7 Titans and take over the United Planets!

SPOILERS FOLLOW, SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

The controlled Titans sabotage the Legion's systems and escape. Universo tries to kill Saturn Girl, and probably the only cool thing a Legionnaire does is when Apparition phases her hand into Imra's chest to manually keep her heart beating. It all goes downhill from there. The Titans hit key targets in the UP, and overwhelm their Legion opposition far too easily. World after world falls to Universo, as he uses his telepathy to enthrall entire populations.

This brings me to my major criticism. The Legionnaires are treatsed shamefully and with disrespect! The Titans are shown to be so formidable that they completely stymie the Legion.

I mean, this is a team that has exposed corrupt UP President Chu, stopped the Fatal Five from obliterating Braal and inciting a Braal-Titan war, saved the Earth from four rampaging Daxamites, tricked and defeated Mordru after he destroyed the planet Sklar, and restarted time itself after the Dark Circle froze it. But they act like amateurs here!

1) The team makes stupid, stupid, stupid decisions. The Titans split up to hit four targets. So do the Legionnaires. But look at the teams they send, and their actions in battle:

a) Titans: Tempest and Argent
Legionnaires: Cosmic Boy, Spark, Sensor, Chameleon, Element Lad
Arena: Pacific Ocean
Task: Titans to destroy a power station

Idiocy: I'm sending a lightning-wielder UNDERWATER, where could I go wrong? (Hint: Monica Rambeau was in electric form when she hit water and depowered herself...) and comic book physics aside, Sensor, an ILLUSION CASTER, never once thinks to use her powers despite successfully using her illusions to fool Mordru twice, and playing a key role in fooling COMPUTO. Magno-Ball champion Cosmic Boy decides to... tackle Argent physically? Despite the presence of magnetic metals in the area AND the metallic disks on his costume that he has manipulated several times before. Element Lad, a skilled transmuter, spends the entire battle moaning about how he can't transmute the power station quickly enough. And Chameleon turns into a scary eel, then holds back because Cos says the Titans are good guys! A well-written Cham would have turned into a less menacing form and launched himself into battle!

b) Titans: Donna Troy, Starfire, Arsenal
Legionnaires: Thunder, Karate Kid, Triad, Ferro, Monstress
Arena: Mount Washington, New Hampshire
Task: Titans to destroy transwarp data station vital to Stargate operations

Idiocy: First off, the team. With such a diversity of powers among the 24 available members, they send a team of Legionnaires whose common abilities are to... punch things hard? Not a single one of them has long-range fighting abilities! Thunder, a Shazam-empowered hero, is knocked out not once, but TWICE, by Starfire - who is known more for her fighting skills than brute strength! Ferro, in iron form, is knocked out by having his head smashed into Thunder's! Starfire sends Thunder crashing into Karate Kid. Donna Troy takes out Monstress with ONE PUNCH; granted, Donna may be stronger, but Monstress should have been able to take more of a beating (she recovered before M'Onel and Star Boy when fighting Mordru!) Triad, who is known for creative power uses, doesn't even try to decoy the Titans. She's the last Legionnaire standing, and faces all three alone - to be taken out by Donna Troy with one punch! All Arsenal does is mouth off in this battle, probably because Jurgens hates him or something.

c) Titans: Flash, Omen + Universo
Legionnaires: Violet, Live Wire, XS, Ultra Boy
Arena: UP offices, Metropolis

Task: Titans to kidnap/disable UP President Brande

Idiocy: This was so painfully pathetic, I can't even comment. XS doesn't even land a punch, Violet goes big (making her a bigger target) instead of small, and Flash stalemates all 4 Legionnaires before Omen teleports them away. I can't... I just can't... If you know the Flash is going to be there, send your time manipulator! Or illusion caster! Or gravity manipulator! At least give your team a fighting chance!

d) Titans: Starfire + Brother Blood + mind-controlled Church of Blood acolytes
Legionnaires: M'Onel, Umbra, Saturn Girl, Invisible Kid, Apparition
Arena: Titan
Task: Titans to kill Legionnaires investigating lack of contact from Titan, Universo's/Blood's new stronghold

This is the only battle where the Legionnaires do something smart. Invisible Kid uses sonic weapons to help disperse the crowd. They cause an explosion to make everyone think Starfire and Saturn Girl died, while M'Onel spirits them away at super-speed to... to... the intelligence ends as all Imra has is a vague plan to "keep Starfire from being mind-controlled again". Okay, they'll just hang around in space then! Sigh, the intelligence couldn't last.

Idiocy: Starfire, who channels solar energy, is able to stop M'Onel from moving AND take him out??? Since when has Kory turned all her blasts into pure red sunlight? And last I checked, Titan is under a YELLOW sun - M'Onel should be at full strength! Apparition can phase through crowds and Umbra can blot out energy, but neither thinks of taking on Starfire? It's implied that the Legion throws this battle so Saturn Girl can free Starfire from Universo's control, but it was still painful to watch... Saturn Girl spirits Starfire away, fine, but they end up getting captured by Blackfire because... why? I have no idea why Imra didn't just head back to Earth?

Also, yeah, wasn't Starfire just on Earth? Oh yeah, Omen sent her to Titan because... whatever. Skimpy bikinis sell so Kory must show up as much as possible. Plus, Blackfire was there! They had to have a nice reunion!

e) Legionnaires who weren't sent to fight the Titans: Gates, Brainiac 5, KID QUANTUM II, KINETIX, STAR BOY. Three of their most powerful, and they keep them in reserve. Kinetix even expresses disbelief: the Legionnaires outnumber the Titans 3-to-1, how can they have lost? Kid Q says the Legionnaires held back while the Titans cut loose, but COME ON. There were so many ways the team could have disabled the Titans without hurting them. Sending Kid Quantum II to any of those battles would have allowed the team to stop any Titan (except perhaps Flash and Omen) in their tracks. Star Boy could have made them too heavy to move. And Element Lad could have encased one in inertron, or Sensor hidden the team in illusions, or XS kept Flash busy, or Kinetix (who was able to telekinetically PUSH Mordru) attacked from afar, or any of a dozen things smarter than this!

f) Titans: Tempest
Legionnaires: Thunder, Apparition, Kid Quantum II, Star Boy
Arena: Atlantis
Task: Legionnaires to disable power station that supplies energy to entire Earth

Idiocy: Tempest creates a whirlpool that takes out all four Legionnaires in one hit. Um... what? Apparition is intangible, Star Boy and Thunder are almost as invulnerable as M'Onel, Kid Quantum II can put people in stasis... but not one of the four can stop Tempest? Are you kidding me? And granted, Star Boy's bio reads only "mass shifting abilities". Fine. Even so, he could have made Tempest heavy; and he has already learned to use his powers on himself to simulate strength and invulnerability!

Finally, Starfire and Saturn Girl ally with Blackfire, who is somehow immortal. Blackfire commandeers an alien armada, and agrees to help retake Earth from Universo by leading said armada to destroy his military might. Starfire and Saturn Girl shut down the Earth defense system, allowing Starfire's armada to swoop down on Earth. And... why, Blackfire doesn't stick to the plan! She commands the armada to destroy everything! Yegads! Imra and Kory are stunned, stunned I say! OH COME ON, THIS IS BLACKFIRE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT. Oh, and Blackfire has been allied with Universo all along! Yay!

I could barely get past the last issue. The Legionnaires free most of the Titans (well, Live Wire, Spark, Chameleon and Invisible Kid use Brainiac 5 tech to free Flash, and he frees Donna; while Arsenal bumbles his way into the Legion's base and is freed by Brainiac 5); they all fight the alien armada. Several Legionnaires (Live Wire, Monstress, Karate Kid, Brainiac 5) are killed. Val dies because Element Lad is too tired and slow to transmute the ship Val is attacking! Brainy dies when his location is bombed, and he dies thinking "Oh, even my forcefield won't prove adequate..." THIS IS THE SAME FORCE-FIELD THAT ALLOWED HIM TO SURVIVE A DIRECT HIT FROM VALIDUS, AND A DIRECT HIT FROM THE ATOMIC AXE! The Atomic Axe! Yes, he got knocked out, but he survived. If he had turned it on, he should still be alive under the rubble!

Cosmic Boy and Argent (who were blown into an underwater cave, freeing Argent's mind) free Kid Quantum II's team, and Saturn Girl frees Omen from Universo's control by causing some feedback to knock Universo out. Starfire, Donna, Flash and Arsenal beat up Blackfire and free Tempest. Kid Q magically appears (even Imra is surprised at her appearance!) to help Imra and Omen send their consciousnesses through time, where they change history by telling Arsenal to shoot the jewel in Brother Blood's staff.

The crappy timeline and stupid story I just read are erased, and the world is saved, despite the good guys' stupidity.

See what I mean? The Legionnaries are treated like a bunch of idiots. They bumble their way through everything. Their best plan is to free individual Titans and sabotage individual installations, hoping for the best. It's only the Titan's intervention that takes down Blackfire. Saturn Girl is the only Legionnaires who accomplishes anything at all!

For that matter, even some of the Titans were treated disrespectfully. Arsenal's first thought upon waking up 1000 years in the future? Yeah, he mentions Lian... but it's to get into Triad's pants!!! "Ohh, everything.. everyone I've ever loved... is DUST! The emptiness I feel is indescribable! I... I don't think I should be alone right now!" Triad says she'll do what she can to help after Monitor Duty. After she walks away, Arsenal goes "Better find her before she comes to her senses!" Roy has always been a horn-dog, but even at his worst in the Titans books, he still puts Lian first. What a creep he is here. Also, Starfire is just so charmingly naive that she falls hook, line and sinker for Blackfire's pretenses, being all gushy about how her sister is nice to her again - despite Blackfire losing her temper during sparring. She doesnt even consider the possibility that Blackfire will betray them, in a twist that shocks nobody at all.

Finally, writer Dan Jurgens clearly did not treat every Legionnaire equally.

1) Kinetix, Sensor and Star Boy never ONCE use their powers. This despite Kinetix's bio stating she can "control inanimate objects". The Legionnaires free the Titans by putting telepathic blockers on their temples. Why couldn't powerful telekinetic Zoe do that? Or there are scenes where the Legionnaires sabotage Universo's ships or a power station; why couldn't Zoe have done that? And much of their actions are stealth missions. We have an illusion caster right here who could hide everyone. Do they think to use her to do more than make a scene pretty? No! And does Star Boy disable any Titan by making him/her heavy? No!

2) Some Legionnaires are overused, while others get nothing at all. Apparition and Thunder save Saturn Girl's life and go on two missions; Cosmic Boy gets a whole romance with Argent; Kid Quantum II goes to Atlantis and then INEXPLICABLY SHOWS up by a stroke of luck just when Saturn Girl needs to time travel despite not being summoned! Not to mention, Kid Q's powers evolve from stasis fields to "do anything related to time". Saturn Girl herself is the clear panel hog here, taking out Brother Blood AND Universo all by her little self.

But... does Element Lad do anything besides whine he can't transmute fast enough? Does Monstress get in a hit in battle? Does Triad use her powers intelligently? Does Gates do anything more than complain about how Tamaraneans are evil? Does Brainiac 5 come up with any solutions? And see point #1 again.

3) Do the Legionnaires even once show why they are the UP's first and last line of defense? Do they come up with anything like an intelligent plan? No,no, and no! Without the Titans, zilch, nada, zap.

By the 2nd issue of this mini, was so incensed that I only read to the end to see if the Legion could be redeemed.

This has been the worst Legion story ever of the Reboot, and I'm putting this even below that stupid Titans/Legion story which erased the Legion's universe because at least THERE, the Legionnaires did something! I do have another mega rant for that though...

Okay, maybe it's just me. Or not; the Titans clearly came across as the bigger heroes here. I'm incensed because the Legionnaires look like amateurs, while the Titans are over-glorified and over-used. As a Legion fan first, I'm appalled by the lack of respect and equal treatment.

How would I fix this?

1) Make the Legionnaires more intelligent in battle! Even if they had to lose to the Titans for drama, at least show them putting up a decent fight! (Kid Q could try to put Flash in stasis, only for Omen to teleport behind her and knock her out; Sensor could cast an illusion only to be hit by a stary blast; some Legionnaires could be distracted saving innocent bystanders... anything!)

2) How them having a coherent plan. Instead, Saturn Girl spirits Starfire away from Universo's control... only to stumble into Blackfire, who was in league with the bad guys all along and tries to destroy Earth! Brainy invents something to free individual Titans from Universo's mind-control; show him working to expand his invention to free entire worlds!

3) Have the Legionnaires at their proper power levels, instead of dumbing them down artificially! Element Lad's transmutation is usually faster! M'Onel and Thunder shouldn't be beaten into unconsciousness by Starfire! An ironed-up Ferro shouldn't be knocked out by having his head smashed into Thunder! Apparition can phase; she can escape Tempest's whirlpool! Violet can shrink, let her mess up someone's inner ear! Have Kinetix, Sensor and Star Boy use their impressive powers instead of standing around and stating the obvious!

4) Spread the panel time around! 3/24 Legionnaires never once use their powers! More than half the team accomplishes nothing! Even at the end, it's the Titans who beat up Blackfire, and Imra alone takes out both Brother Blood AND Universo by herself? Give the rest of the cast something to do!

Now...

Do you feel the same way, or was this story better for you?

and if you detested it like I did, how would you have made it better?

I have not read it but it sounds god-awful lol

I get physically angry every time I think about this mini

My first thought reading your summary was "Only 4 issues? It seemed to drag on forever." I suppose anything can be fixed if you tear it down far enough, possibly to the original premise of mind-controlled Titans vs the Legion.

Your suggestions would have improved it. More comments after I reread it - but I do note yet another death of Karate Kid, which I'd forgotten.

Thanks, FC. Looking forward to more of your thoughts on this.

The original premise was decent (mind-controlled Titans vs. Legion). My problem is with the execution.

Poor Karate Kid dies yet again! And Live Wire and Monstress die within panels of each other - foreshadowing for DnA's upcoming Legion Lost, perhaps?

Morbid thought: If the deaths would all have been reversed anyway, why not have Legionnaires who never died before, die in this one?

I've never read it either and I agree!

I enjoyed the rant, Ibby. I still have those issues, but I don't remember the story well. Your summary ensured that I will probably never reread them.

What could fix it? Almost every crossover I've ever read--including X-Men Vs. Titans and Avengers Vs. JLA--has been a huge waste of time: an exercise in marketing versus actual story telling. Huge concessions have to be made just so the characters can meet up and then fight without the most powerful members winning the battle too quickly. And every writer has to throw in ancillary characters (such as Blackfire), trivia, and Easter eggs just to keep minutia-minded fans happy, making the story overly complicated. The best way to fix it is to not write it in the first place or keep it in the realm of fanfic.

Spare yourself, EDE!

Thanks, HWW. Ranting often tends ot be negative, so I did try to make mine entertaining. Glad you liked it

You make a good observation re crossovers being minutiae-heavy. And as a fanfic writer, I agree that it's much easier to manage a large cast in fanfic than it is in a visual comic book! Definitely, they tend to be wastes of time, and are nearly always reversed/erased or simply ignored; anything that happens in a crossover might as well never have. But I do disagree on one thing; though a waste, they can still be entertaining and somewhat more respectful of the characters.

with Avengers/JLA, I find that that story was better at using the numerous characters well. The final battle alone gave a sense of every character present contributing, by working them into the splash scenes and having them all use their powers. And even the skirmishes earlier in the mini did that (I'm thinking of the cosmic item scavenger hunt). And even when powerful characters "lost" it was done "respectfully", without making them seem like idiots (i.e. Iron Man using a boom tube to surprise and stun Wonder Woman and Green Lantern for a moment). A bit too convenient, but Diana and Kyle didn't come across as idiots. (And I stop here as I feel another Titans/Legion rant coming on )

X-Men vs. Titans I have to agree, it was another terribly boring story. Though it also did use the characters better than Titans/Legion did at least! (but the walls of text on each page were a pain to slog through!)

I've not read it, either. I try my darnedest to avoid anything written by Dan Jurgens (good artist, bad writer, IMHO; and the constant flow of Doomsday royalties ensures he will not challenge himself to improve as a writer.)

I have to differ with you guys about X-Men/Titans. That one is a favorite of mine.

Avengers vs JLA, though...ehh, I coulda done that one a trillion times better (grumble, grumble...)

One aspect of Avengers Vs. JLA I liked was Busiek's exploration of the philosophical differences between the DC and Marvel universes. The heroes of DC were too "perfect" (from the Marvel heroes' perspective) and the Marvel heroes were not effective (from the DC heroes' perspective). This difference in ideologies gave them a believable (and all too real) reason to fight, as each side sought to liberate the other side's world from what they perceived as tyranny.

I don't remember the final battle well--only that Busiek and Perez felt it necessary to throw in every one of Hank Pym's identities at some point--an example of minutiae that, in my view, overly complicates a story.

Lighter fluid would be involved.

Hey, it's got 'Ablaze' right there in the title, it's practically begging for it!

Seriously though, even by the standards of cross-overs written by writers who know (or care) little or nothing for the guest-stars, it's pretty bad.

I liked X-Men/Teen Titans or JLA/Avengers, for instance, because, whatever warts they might have, the writers of those crossovers seemed to *respect* both teams of characters involved, but Universe Ablaze did not. Even inter-company crossovers tend to 'job' the guest-team / character to fluff up the 'star' of the book, which can get annoying if one is a fan of the guest-stars and bought the title out of a desire to be a 'compleatist' or whatever, only to see them written out of character or treated shabbily.

(That's one of the reasons why I generally loathe characters like Deadpool or Ambush Bug, Lobo or Wolverine or Quentin Quire, who seem to exist to crap on / punk whomever they appear with.)

Here I do agree. That was potentially a very strong premise from which to start. The problem I had was that...well, the words "everything," "kitchen," and "sink" come to mind, or as you put it:



And that's actually a recurring problem I have with Busiek's superhero writing, especially when it involves the Marvel and/or DC universe, and not his own thing (Astro City.)

Completely agree there. I liked his art - which made reading Titans/Legion more bearable



Yeah, if the alternates appear in the background it's fine. If they're a part of the plot, nah.



Couldn't have put it better myself!

Just reread - or skimmed - the first issue and it does get pretty embarrassing with the Arsenal/Triad thing and feels really slow to get moving. One was enough, with so many other things to read.

Could a crossover with fewer characters succeed? They always seem to involve entire teams. If a story were limited to four Titans and four Legionnaires, it could free up room for character development and force each character to be used effectively - no standing around.

Saturn Girl is the go-to character for any story with Universo. I'd take her out of any future story involving Universo and let somebody rise to the occasion.

Brainy's always the snarky one in these stories. It gets old. He also comes up with the whiz-bang tech solution - so I'd dump him from any crossover.

Not that any of this would fix Universe Ablaze - just idle thoughts on crossovers involving the Legion.

Titans / Legion: Universe Ablaze 1

Decent introduction with the arrival of Brother Blood in the 30th century. I might have preferred the standard bit where he’s resurrected form his pool of blood, but this does get him straight into the plot.
Not so keen on Imra stealing Nura’s precognitive powers, and some blatant underwear shots.

Good idea to have Gates show that the Legion isn’t all about humans.

I don’t see planning permission being given in any century for that lot behind the pyramids.

Nice use of the espionage squad. Loses points for utterly random activation of the amulet. It didn’t activate for the crooks, and there’s been no hint of sunlight getting in. Not likely such big chambers were undiscovered in the pyramids, but letting that slide, like the effects of 1000 years in cryo.

Decent discovery of the Titans scene. It could have been shortened, but we get a good look at the Legion powers and build up the suspense. Nice moment about ancient traps not being enough if you have a flight ring. Lyle’s decision not to immediately call Brainy shows how much he’s missed from Preboot, and how good he was Reboot.

Subverts the costumed-heroes-must-fight-in-misidentification scene. Wally knows Jenni so the plot moves on. Weird Titans group shot where their sizes don’t seem to match.

Wally gets a couple of friendly digs in about Garth (who must be sick of it) and Roy. Roy’s first thought is his daughter and the Titans want to find their missing teammates. They’re comfortable enough in supervillain plots to know that there’s more going on, so we’re spared too much angst.

The two teams handle everything well, and the Titans think Blood is behind it linking nicely back to our introduction.

The Legion were onsite because someone was caught scanning the pyramids. So? What if they were? Why would that be of such a big interest, especially if no one knew about the hidden chambers. The plot takes time out to use this as an explanation, but it doesn’t hold up. No wonder Blood is surprised.

Blood’s 30th century servant is a blue skinned probe.

It’s good plotting to show us Blood again here. It links well with the Titans’ realisations while also showing us that Blood isn’t working alone. The threat expands.

The single reactions of the Titans move on a bit too quickly. It’s a deliberately plotted in, but doesn’t pan out. Argent was stunned that everyone she knows is dead, but now she’s the butt of a shopping gag. Roy moves in on Luronu, and even uses the fact that everyone is dead as a way of getting close to her. >ick<

It could be that, as superheroes, they’re used to time travel/ supervillain plots. They may think that everything will sort itself out like it always does. But the use of cryo, and their missing memories, should have them more worried.

This is how it does pan out. It’s not until the Legion tell the Titans that they may not be going back that things begin to sink in. There’s a bit of fluff involving the UP restricting time travel. But Cosmic Boy recently told Argent all about his many time travel trips, so that doesn’t really work.

The two teams meeting up shows the number of connections between the centuries. Impulse, Mon El, XS, Marvel Family.

The writer goes out of his way to remind us that no one remembers any historical details form the last 1000 years, only drawing attention to it as a plot hole. I’d just love for one character to say “well, just tell me the bits you do remember.”

We do get some character moments. Tamaranians seem to have a chequered history, Donna is very determined, and this might be after the time John Byrne had a hand in her history. Roy has become a running joke with Triad. He does still think of his daughter though. Brainy is a bit of a…well Brainy, but his idea of psi probes is the one used.

That allows us to get the backstory in one scene. Since this is a time travel-type story the writer has a few Titans killed, because body counts are an edgy thing to have. None of them die convincingly, and Blood’s Plot Powered energy staff is very dull. It might be explained later as to why Blood wants the powers of the Titans, and where he got Plot staff from.

The plot tidies up the cryo issues, by having the Titans also affected by Plot energy to keep them in suspended animation too. There’s no reason why Blood had cryo chambers prepared Typically, the heroes would be kept prisoners for as long as it took to draw out their powers. The cryo chambers suggest something much longer term than Blood’s goals in that scene.

There’s a bit of a standoff between the Legion and the Titans. Wally makes to go back. But even if he left the room in a huff, how exactly is he going to do this? Is there a cosmic treadmill in the reboot? If there is, then I’d be expecting him to sneak out and use it at the first opportunity.

While I could do without all the Titans/Legion links (Ferro comes across as a complete fanboy), it does help with the shifting tensions between the two teams. They are friendly, but as the issue progresses, their goals diverge. That’s a big plus in any plot.

The Titans do try to escape. I can’t imagine the likes of Cham, Brainy or Lyle not setting extra guards after the stand-off. But they get away to Earth leaving a few Legionnaires to get their mandated speech bubble in for the series. The issues cliffhanger has their motivations completely change though, Instead of trying to return to the past, they are now capturing a facility for Blood’s partner, Universo.

Jurgens has plotted the cliffhanger first by the looks of it, and there’s not enough preparation for it in the issue.

In summary, there’s more positives than negatives in this issue. The cast grows alarmingly as Jurgens has the whole Legion shown. It means that the character moments are mainly all about the Titans, and even those have to be in quick, broad strokes.

By the end of the issue, it seems clear that this is a Titans story, in which the Legion guest star. That could explain why we saw all of them. The writer may use them to further whatever Titans plot is to come, rather than have them stand out on their own merits.

Not everyone gets a subplot. Omen is noticeably missing there. If there’s not part of a Titans subplot, the Legionnaires are essentially there to fill up the background. Which is a shame, as the slower build up of the espionage squad was decent.

The scene with Blood killing the Titans was written purely for shock value and so the plot in it doesn’t work and the cliffhanger looks wonky.

Having Jimenez on pencils raises the book from standard fare, which is tougher to reach on crossover books, to something that you could just enjoy the art on in spite of any plot deficiencies. I have seen more polished work from him, but would have to take another look to see if it’s the inker combination.

Titans / Legion: Universe Ablaze 2

The opening scene has Val fighting a disguised Lar in a simulated historical backdrop. It’s the sort of thing you imagine Val and preboot Superboy did. Somehow, Lar has continued to wear his cape under that sparring costume.

Val uses a “deathblow” which seems like yet another example of writers showing the team to be darker than they really are. We’ll see if there’s a pay off for that later. If not, it’s superfluous.

There is a small pay off for the scene. Arsenal has knocked Ayla unconscious using a pen, and Val talks about any item being a weapon in the hands of a master.

Jan seems to have created an ice cube to help Ayla. It would be funny if that’s his only contribution in the series. Ayla confirms it was the Titans who knocked her out and escaped. I seem to remember her being hit form behind and not having a clue. Gates seems to have a thing against people form Tamaran.

I guess Universo helped the Titans sabotage the outpost and escape. There’s no way they should have been able to do it otherwise.

After a nice mission monitor board pic showing all the Leigon, it’s discovered that Saturn Girl is in a trance. Phantom Girl seems to know who’s responsible right away, probably off the back of a reboot story. If so, it’s good that we don’t have to pretend that the villains come as a complete shock. Much like Brother Blood last issue.

Nice little nods such as the Cockrum institute. Having them in Levitz Encyclopaedia Galactica boxes is also a nice nod.

The Titans now seem to be fully committed to combatting the Legion with their ally Universo. We did see Universo telling Blood he would dal with matters last issue, but it seems like a different story to the one that was going to be set up last issue, with the Titans looking to go back in time to fix things. We haven’t seen how Universo has done any of his actions.

Having seen Imra is a trance, we get to see the other side of the conflict as Universo engages her telepathically. Decent writing in keeping both sides of this close together.

Universo wins the combat easily, and its good to see him going for the kill, rather than the usual approach of leaving a huge flaw in his plans. Only Tinya massaging Imra’s heart keeps her alive. After something like that, I’d not be expecting Imra to be much use for the rest of the story, and would expect some fairly long term recuperation. I’d also expect to see Tinya use her powers much more subtly in future too, after that power stunt.

Ah, the spirit of Gardner Fox has survived into the 30th century. There’s three super-convenient sources of power that, when destroyed, will give control to Universo. All three are tailored to the powers of the Titans too, in a power boost to Super-Convenience. Our Titans split up into Fox teams.

We then get a six page Leigon sequence as they dcide what to do next. That seems overly long for what’s achieved. But it is helped by little nuggets along the way.

We’re told that Imra is just fine and it’s as if nothing had happened to her. Which is forgetting the very real amateur heart massage she’s just had.

We then get a three-page plot dump on Universo’s origin. And it’s a harrowing one. While the Preboot Universo’s origins could work well with a bit of effort, this one has emotional punch and threat right all the way through. It would have even more if you hadn’t read the Alan Moore written sequence of a new born with uncontrollable powers in Captain Britain.

The spirit of Roy Thomas has also reached the 30th century as we get a reason why Universo calls himself that. It’s followed by a modern writing tweak to bind Universo to one of our cast, name in being the cousin of Imra.

Handily Universo has shown Imra all of this. Considering his bond to her, this makes perfect sense for a change. The Legion realise that the villain is also being aided by the Titans as news comes in about problems on Earth. It turns out that Titans hasn’t been heard from for several days. It’s not like the legion to sit on their hands for so long. They would normally have already been out there. But the Mighty Plot has decreed that they must remain.

Then it’s back to Fox World for what should be three combats between Legion and the Titans. From my skim of the above posts, I know that Ibby has slammed these, so let’s see…

Argent & Tempest are attacking an underwater power station. Pluses are that there’s a mention of Atlantis. Minuses are that Garth has gone all Namor about the surface world. Argent has found a new power stunt.

The Legion know about Cockrum station because Shvaughn has told them. But they don’t know about the attack here. Brainy seems to have figured it out based on his sneaking a peak at the script.

Titans: Garth & Toni
Legion: Rokk, Jan, Jeckie, Ayla and Reep

It’s quick. The power station has been damaged and the Legion are distracted by that. Cos does get in a good first move, holding up the structure and repelling the Titans. Garth’s next move takes out Ayla by encasing her in ice. Argent’s force field is penetrated too easily by Cosmic Boy, but Argent then rips Rokk’s transuit. Ayla somehow manages to out of the ice to blast Argent, who is only protected by her force field. Then the power station explodes, bringing the conflict to a draw, with the Titans having achieved their objective.

Argent seems to talk about shopping as stress relief. Jeckie and Cham may as well not have been there. Cham as an octopoid creature would have made a difference. Jeckie doing anything would also have shut down the attackers. Jan is used in the traditional way of making sure he can’t use his powers in combat. If only Rokk and Ayla had turned up, it would have worked. Jan at a push, if you really needed someone as a reminder of the power station’s energy.

Cosmic Boy and Argent seem to both be missing at the end of the scene, reminding me of something similar in JLA/ Avengers.

The Titans are attacking a data centre that coordinates Stargate travel.

Titans: Donna, Kory and Roy
Legion: Ce Ce, Andrew, Candi, Val, Lu

This one isn’t very convincing. We saw how effective Val was in the opening scene. Roy’s outclassed but manages to stay conscious. Even though Roy does nothing else except being hit in the scene, it still takes Val away from doing anything else. Donna thumping Cindi seems feasible enough. Kory uses her own training to slam Andrew into Ce Ce into, knocking him out (concussion?). She uses Ce Ce as a weapon again, throwing her at Val and knocking him out. I don’t actually mind Kory’s tactics, presumably gleaned form thinking about what she’d do if she was up against Captain Marvel. What is really odd is that Ce Ce doesn’t get up after hitting Val.

The three Titans are left facing Lu. She splits into three, lecherously resolving the Roy chat up subplot. I thought Lu practices Trijitsu, but we’re not even shown her get knocked out. It seems that effectively martial arts is the sole domain of Kory despite what we’ve seen of Val and know of the others.

In the end, it’s not even a hard-fought victory for the Titans, which isn’t very likely.

Our final attack is against the UP government centre
Titans: Lilith, Wally and Vidar
Legion: Garth, Salu, Jo, Jenni

It’s really Wally against the four to begin with. I’m fine with Wally taking the initiative. But if he’s going to have a long chat while he’s doing it, I’d have expected Jenni to have done at least something to try and counter him. Instead, Wally uses Garth to immobilise Jo. Omen and Universo appear and Omen simply teleports the Legionnaires away. It’s a handy power. It’s a shame that the writer didn’t think to have Gates use it in any of these battles.

This one isn’t much of a battle. Salu and Jenni got to do nothing, while Garth and Jo were outmatched by Wally.

Universo then pretends to be President Brande and ensure Earth’s isolation. All three combats have been very Titans focused, with them not having taken had a member beaten. The Legin have loked much less effective, and we’re told it’s because they were holding back. Unfortunately, the fight scenes don’t actually reflect that. You can see Jurgens has gone back over the plot to put in dialogue to emphasis certain things. Here, he has Rokk tell Cham to hold back in their battle. It reinforces the later holding back dialogue. But that sort of thing only works when it’s consistent with the rest of the story. When it isn’t, and it isn’t here, it sticks out like a sore thumb. So points for craft minus the same amount, and a few more, for execution.

The Legion has finally sent a team to Titan. There, they discover that the locals have been taken over by Brother Blood. For no reason at all, Universo has hidden the whole population just so we get a deserted looking planet and a traumatised Imra panel. Imra then finds everyone just so we can get a splash page of them all under the control of Blood. Again, the pluses in showing us some animosity between the two villains is undone by having a nonsensical set up, and having Kory appear as a bit of plot Handwavium. Again, The Legion aren’t allowed to use Gates tactically at all.

Titans: Starfire & Brother Blood Acolytes
Legion: Lyle, Lar, Imra, Tasmia, Tinya

Starfire must be a favourite of the writer. She gets the initiative, disorientating the Legion. She’s then capable of holding off Lar with her starbolts. Is it red solar radiation? That should make her a target for the others. But Tasmia is this scene’s Legionnaire who get to do nothing, while Imra and Tinya are held off by the acolytes. Lyle only appears as support to disrupt the crowd with sonics, but he actually makes no difference at all. Like the first power station scene, this one ends with an explosion separating the two teams. Also, like that scene, we’re told of tow deaths; Imra’s and Kory’s.
As the Legion retreat, we’re given he hint that this is all part of a wider plan. The plan was that Imra deliberately got Starfire to set off an explosion so that they could all leave Titan. This must have been planned during the battle, as the Legion wouldn’t have known Kory was going to be there. There wasn’t a hint of it during the scene.

There’s no reason given why they’d want to capture Kory either. As the group encounter a one thousand years older Blackfire, it would seem simply that Kory’s abduction is so she can encounter her sister, rather than anything credible. There’s no reason given why that team couldn’t have stopped Blood and remotely Universo on Titan. If Imra could influence Kory there, then she could also have stopped her. That would have left Blood without his Plot staff, a distant Universo, and a population most likely to throw off mind control. A hint at how Universo wants to mentally use the people of Titan would have been good. In the end the whole scene is fluff to bring in another Titans character. To balance that a little, Toni and Rokk turn out to have been saved by a cross between half forgotten (but tipped to be a Legionnaire) Devil Fish and Tellus.

It’s a plot that has the major beats worked out well ahead of the detail. Like a lot of DC comics, it’s in the details where the problems arise. At the end of this issue, the Earth has been isolated, Universo is in control, there’s a captive population of telepaths and a small band of fugitive Legionnaires (as is mandated by the Weisinger Universo In A Legion Story Act). Last issue showed the Titans under control of Universo at the end. So, that’s all solid enough.

But to get there, we’ve had some unconvincing fight scenes, terrible tactics, amazing coincidences, plot fudges and fluff scenes being subverted by plot points (for example the final scene on Titan ended up only being an excuse to have Kory meet her sister).

Again, the art raises the story into something that I’d always read through. There’s not as much characterisation in this issue, the writer relying on the quick one liners set up last time out. The Legionnaires could be interchangeable personality wise for the most part. That just reinforces the idea they are plot pawns.

I like these ideas, FC. Perhaps have the majority of Legionnaires taken out in the opening of the story, leaving a small handful of "survivors" left. The Legionnaires could be captured instead of killed, so the bulk can come back later on in the finale. Or not, after all some Titans have already died 1000 years in the past.



Nodding my head here in agreement. Towards the end I just skipped reading the dialogue to look at the pretty pictures. I'm fine with the Titans winning, but none of their wins were convincing in the least (except the Flash/Omen one, but that's resolved by teleportation...). Gates and Brainiac 5 are probably the only Legionnaires with any personality at all (and maybe Karate Kid, who's just stereotypically zen)! Blackfire's inclusion actually detracted from the story, as the Handwavium used to make her immortal (next issue) made my eyes roll so hard my head spun.

Titans / Legion: Universe Ablaze 3

Omen’s mummy like hands look good on a cover with Pyramids. What strikes me more though is that Imra and Dick genitalia are completely interchangeable in the world of comics.
The issue starts at the standard slower pace. The writer reveals that a plot resolution is also tied to a character oddity we’ve already seen. He also combines this with a plot summary and Omen’s resistance to Universo. While it’s a little woolly, mainly due to it being around Omen, that’s a pretty good start.

It’s revealed that other UP worlds have fallen to Universo. Like the key plot installations last issue, the code to get more power lies on Winath. Which must be a surprise to the agricultural Winathians.

We leave the breadcrumb plot to visit Kory and Blackfire in a reprise of their confrontations in the Wolman/Perez days. Blackfire is clearly as ruthless and unhinged as ever. There’s the threat that Blackfire will do terrible things to be free of Universo.

Universo has control of Winath. He wants the codes. He knows who has them. He has that man prisoner. Yet he has chosen not to get them, instead baiting a trap for the Legion.

Titans: Wally
Legion: Reep, Garth, Ayla

It’s actually looking good for the Legion as the Ranzz’s catch him with their lighting and Cham enfolds him. But Wally gets fee only to stand and mutter about Invisible Kid once he’s told of his presence. Not doing anything allows Lyle to place a device on Wally’s head that frees him of Universo’s control.

It’s something I was thinking about over the last couple of issues. In the first issue it seemed that Universo was using all of his power to battle Imra. So I could understand why he didn’t look to simply control the rest of the team. But that’s not the case in issue 2. Further, Universo now has a way of amplifying his powers. Only in issue 3 are the Legion shown to have any countermeasures. If your villain is that powerful, and knows his enemies its odd not to use those powers against them.

Universo isn’t the only one with amplification powers. It seems that all Tamaranian flagships come fully equipped with them. It allows Imra to contact Omen who continues to have doubts over Blood and Universo. It’s a shame Wall hasn’t reached her yet, as he frees Donna from Universo’s control.

Still under control is Arsenal and the Legion have formed a resistance movement to prevent further expansion of Universo.

Titans: Roy
Legion: Gates, Lar, Salu, Tasmia, Ferro.

It’s a quick fight. Vi thumps Roy and the Legion achieve their objective. But, of course we can’t be seen to have a Titan being beaten here (I’m now painfully aware that Jurgens wrote the Argent era Titans). Roy not only evades unconsciousness, he somehow hops in Gates’ teleport back to Earth where he threatens to reveal them to his master. Only Brainy putting a gizmo on his head brings the seemingly invulnerable Arsenal to his senses. As we’ve heard nothing about Legion resistance movement, this is another example of a fluff scene. It looks to be about the Legion, but is actually all about Roy.

Last issue we were told of the three important sites that would be vital for Universo. But the list was seemingly incomplete so that we could get in another round of battles this issue too. Roy was at Metropolis spaceport. Now Garth is at Atlantis which was at least mentioned earlier on as a setup.

Titans: Garth
Legion: Tinya, Thom, Jazmin, Ce Ce

Tinya focuses on her mission which she succeeds in. Ce Ce takes on Garth and loses. Jazmin got them in undetected, but does nothing in the fight. Thom is there as window dressing.

Handily, the battle last issue must have been really close to Atlantis as Devil Fish is nearby. He returns to Toni and Rokk, who decide to attack. It seems that if someone says that another person is dead, that person immediately drops off Universo’s metal radar. It’s the only reason that Toni isn’t still under his control. The same thing has worked with Kory too. I’ve also no idea why Argent and Cosmic Boy has sat in a cave for the last issue when their ally could have helped them return before now.

Back in Metropolis, Imra and Kory arrive. There’s decent connection to the recent scene we’ve seen there and to the UP HQ we’ve also seen. Kory and Imra attack.
In an interesting bit of Legion trivia, Jurgen interprets the globe with pointy things outside UP HQ as an automated defence system. I wonder if has been used like that before. Whatever it is, it’s never going to stop a Titan under this writer’s watch.

The attack succeeds leaving Universo’s forces to be attacked by Blackfire. Except that Blackfire targets everything. There’s the payoff panel of Imra saying that Earth is doomed and it’s all our fault. It turns out that Blackfire was in with Universo all along, and the villains knock out Imra and Kory in the cliffhanger.

We get a final scene that acts as a framing sequence. Omen is revealed as travelling from the future to distract Nightwing as shown in the first issue. As she relives this, Imra is contacting her. That’s the unconscious Imra, who has just been blasted and has survived a rigorous hands on heart massage earlier in the story.

The Blackfire subplot is an odd one. Universo already controls Earth. We’ve just seen him extract information form the president. The whole of last issue was about the Titans gaining that control. Yet here, he has made an ally of Blackfire. He’s had her patiently awaiting in her region of space, on the off chance that characters he believes to have died will contact her, form a resistance movement and succeed in defeating the defences of a planet he already rules. Baffling.

I saw that Ibby has already pointed out Blackfire’s treachery coming as a surprise. Years before, Wolfman saw her as a one note madwoman and had moved her away into being someone a bit more complex. Here, it’s aback to the same old approach. Kory just isn’t that thick to have fallen for it. Again, the writer adds in dialogue as cover that paints a target on the flaw. Imra didn’t know Blackfire’s intentions as her mind was blocked. Which would have been an enormous red flag as to why her mind would be blocked.

Something else else else that’s bothering me is what did everyone escape Titan in. Mon’El whisked Imra and Kory off to a shuttle that looks just like the one they arrived on Titan in. So why aren’t Lar, Lyle and Tasmia still on it. Why did they decided to go back to Earth but not Imra and Kory? Surely, they would have been of more use there? If that’s the same ship, how did the others get back to Earth? I’d think that the whole Blackfire plot was shoehorned in, but I’ve seen such plots before and can only think that this was planned.

While the art makes the issue worth looking at, the story within it could be considered as complete padding. One improvement for the series would be to condense it into 3 issues or have 4 with a smaller page count. Oddly, I’ve known DC to be editorially very stingy on page count to the detriment of stories. Here, it’s the other way.

Titans / Legion: Universe Ablaze 4

The issue starts off on a down note as the writer tries to explain away another plot point. I wonder if its been the editor pointing all of these out, but not going so far as to get the plot changed.

This time Brainy suggests that Universo has allowed Tamarans takeover of Earth as a reward for cooperation. Except that Universo has needed no cooperation from any other group in the series, even before his powers were amplified.

Gates trots out his usual xenophobia for Tamaran. Now that he’s in something that the UP considers a teenage death squad, he realises how much he likes it.

I’m glad Kinetix appears in a few panels. Without her, I’d be able to see some more of the background art. I did pick up on Ibby’s comments about the lack of use she had. I know she’s a favourite of his too, and wondered if that had coloured his view even a little. But she really gets nothing at all to do.

The Legion and Titans go off to fight the Tamaran fleet. In an Event, when in doubt, have a battle in Metropolis! Roy gets in a final chat up line to Triad before they all go.

Like the deceased Titans in the first issue, we get some extra casualties here. Garth is the first to go, in a reprise of his Silver Age fate.

As Monstress is the next to go, Brainy muses “They haven’t a chance.” I’ve no idea how they managed to survive the countless other invasion fleets throughout Legion history. Normally, I’d be the first to look for more realism in a war situation. But consistency is just as important. Going form a team who comes out unscathed into one that slaughtered is too much of a push.

Elsewhere Imra picks up on more of that Nura style dream, where she’s back in the past with Omen distracting Nightwing before his death. Each time, Nightwing pauses for a longer conversation before being blasted. There’s also an explain away where Imra tells Kory that despite being blasted unconscious, part of her mind still remains active. Not only that, this part of her mind linked up with Omen and then travelled into the past. Right you are.

The plot saves itself a little as Imra explains that she could only have done this due to Universo having a giant psi-amplification web across the planet. I hoe that the units that control it are in Atlantis, because otherwise he’s just invited the Tamaranians to destroy it. Atlantis is the only area they’ve not targeted.

But the plot slips back as Imra theorises that she could somehow change events in the 30th century, if she changed them in the 20th. Well, that’s true enough. But she also thinks that the Titans being in the 30th century has altered time already. This is the writer’s way of getting past his own “time must not be altered by UP command” back in the first issue. Except that the Titans haven’t altered time in the slightest. They got to the 30th century second by second so there’s a plot fallacy here.

Rokk and Toni continue their romance as they try and infiltrate Atlantis with Devil Fish. Rokk gives Toni his flight ring, deputising her into the Legion. Poor Devil Fish has kept them both alive, and has scouted for them, yet has to plead to join them on their mission. Does he get deputised? E does not. It’s firmly back to the days that if Sun Boy didn’t fancy you, or you turned him down, you were rejected.

Universo reveals another step in his plan. Conquering isn’t enough. Now he’s going to wipe everyone out so they can never lock him away again. Except for Earthlings, presumably, as he’s saying all this in front of Blackfire who he’s just given the planet to.

The Legion continue to battle the Tamaranian fleet. Jan disables one fighter while Karate Kid commits suicide against another. His actions remind me of the way comics went after Watchmen. They completely miss the point, focusing instead only on the actions. Val’s death here is needless to the point of flippancy.

We’re reminded that Brother Blood is a villain in the story when he sulks up to Imra and Kory’s cell. He tells them that although he can’t find Universo he knows he visited them. None of how he knows this is released to the reader. We’re in the final issue, and its not yet been revealed what the connection between Blood and Universo is.

Imra controls Blood’s mind to free them by first shocking him with the knowledge that Universo has other plans for Earth. Except that Universo had already told him that last issue.

Brainy finds the control tower Universo is using for his amplification. Beneath the ocean, Toni and Rokk free Tinya, Ce Ce, Thom and Jazmin. The Atlanteans have been using “constantly changing harmonics” in their force fields across all these centuries because you never know when it will be handy in a plot to delay the likes of Tinya. The others could all have escaped, but presumably there are other constantly changing settings for them too.

Nothing displays an utter lack of characterisation than four characters completing part of the same sentence. Perhaps Bendis filled in while Jurgens was out on a coffee break here.

Brainy just has time to tell Imra where Universo’s control tower is, before he’s wiped out by a Tamaranian Null Bomber. It might have a cool title, but the writer once again has to explain away to us that Brainy’s force field won’t save him. Or that fact that he’s in a reinforced underground bunker. Because if a writer explains something away, then it must be so! That’s been a regular, and unnecessary bug bear throughout rereading this.

All parties converge on Universo’s amplification tower. The villain is about to conclude his arc by killing everyone. He’s blindsided by a telepathic blast from Imra.

He may be far more powerful than she is, but he can still be surprised. Beneath them, Flash, The Invulnerable Arsenal, Donna and Starfire attack Garth and Blackfire. As unlikely as it was for Garth to have won his earlier battles, at least he’s consistent as he beats three Titans as Blackfire fries Kory again. That allows him to attack Imra and Omen and a conveniently arriving Kid Quantum who puts up a temporal field. It’s not explained if Jazmin’s powers help in any way with Imra and Omen’s time travelling. There’s a baffling moment where Garth is able to get past Jazmin’s field because it’s keyed only to stop Universo. Wally is also able to get through the field (Kid Quantum must be useless against multiple opponents) and place one of the little controllers on Garth’s head. Incidentally, the controllers must be able to penetrate costumes as they got through Wally’s earlier on.

Omen and Imra’s minds travel through time courtesy of Legion v3 and v4 swirly light effects.

Imra once again decides that the Titans don’t belong in the future, because to admit the truth would undermine the entire plot and its resolution.

In a twist, having travelled Imra loses control of Blood who they’ve brought with them into the control chamber. Blood has offered nothing to the future parts of this story. Blood’s tailor had done more service to this part of the story, providing uniforms for all his new acolytes, giving them all a consistent look that Darkseid’s Daxamite army would have been envious of.

Even in the twist he offers nothing. Omen takes him out with a single punch.

In the past Imra instructs the Titans to use slightly different tactics. Roy fires an arrow into the gem of Blood’s Plot Staff rather than into its’ shaft. Funnily enough, in the first issue shattering the gem immediately caused a surge in energy over the entire area. That’s what froze the Titans. This time round, they get to finish off the rest of the battle before Argent is instructed to contain the energies before they are released. Odd. Another oddity is that in the first issue Jesse Quick was the first ot be killed,. But not by Blood’s staff but by a goon in a mech suit. So Roy shooting Blood’s gem here shouldn’t have made a difference to her fate. Odd.

As they go back into the future, Imra once again confirms her right to ensure that “proper events to fall into place.” I’m so pleased that she gets to decide what it proper. Back in issue 1, the Legion were the ones so keen to point out why altering the past is such a bad thing and the that the UP had restricted it. The UP had restricted it to stop people like Imra.

The earlier scene of the Legion discovering the hidden tomb plays out again. This time they only find an empty chamber. It was handy that the ancient Egyptians had such a storage chamber there in the first place for use by whatever supervillain cult came along. It seems that the Cult of Brother Blood felt that storing the Titans in one of the pyramids was somehow more secure than holding them in one of their own bases.

The changes have also meant that Brother Blood doesn’t come back in the 30th century to attack Titan and that Universo is still under the supervision of a still alive Aven. Perhaps the original timeline was that the blast at the pyramid also froze Brother Blood. He awoke 1000 years in the future. Somehow he travels to Titan and frees Universo, either before or after (presumably before) taking control of the place. Otherwise, there would be nothing to stop a resurrected Brother Blood reappearing as per the first issue and freeing Universo. But the plot was far more interested in giving us a grand opening and cliffhangers that explaining the details. It’s back to the issue of problems arising when the major plot beats are mapped out well in advance of the details.

In the future we see Brainy solve a problem mentioned back in the first issue, despite a racial slur from Imra. In the 20th century, Roy goes a whole page without hitting on anyone. Toni awakes form a Wizard of Oz dream and for a moment pictures a Legion flight ring on her finger. She can’t recall what happened but a hazy picture of the Legion appears. She even remembers Kinetix who did nothing. Here Kinetix has the vital plot task of covering up a bit of Tasmia’s cloak. Well done Zoe!

Again, the art gives the plot quite a boost.

I laughed out loud at several portions of your review, thothy. Well done! And thank you for sacrificing yourself to reread it end to end. I was so enraged by issue 2 that I skimmed through issues 3 and 4.



I would have been outraged if it were any other Legionnaire too. But as Kinetix is my favorite, this has become personal. I'm still miffed that Zoe didn't get sent on any missions (at least Sensor and Star Boy did, despite not doing anything except stating the obvious), nor did she get to use her powers even once. This was glaring because she was the only Legionnaire completely left on the bench that way. I am glad that Zoe's vital contribution of covering bits of background did not go unnoticed.

I also like you pointing out how the Legionnaires are all "oh noes we mustn't mess with time", and then Imra at the end decides she can go ahead and mess with time anyway.

Also for pointing out the inconsistency in Kid Quantum II's powers. Seems like Jurgens realized he could turn her into a deus ex machina, and went to town.

Major Plot Steps

#1
Brother Blood announces himself to Titan and takes over its population.
A Legion investigation of a pyramid tomb reveals cryogenically frozen Titans.
Blood is revealed to be in partnership with Universo.
After team meetings, the Titans’ request for time travel is rejected. Conflict simmers.
Omen and Wally reveal history of Titans defeat at the hands of Brother Blood in Egypt.
Titans escape and are under the control of Universo.

#2
Legion uncovers Titans sabotage
Universo in telepathic conflict with Imra. Tinya saves Imra’s life.
Universo unveils his Fox plan to the Titans where they have to split up and destroy targets.
Infodump on Universo’s origin
Legion depart to counter the Titans
Three Legion vs Titans combats. Universo gets to forward his plans.
A forth Legion team on Titan encounters Brother Blood. They are defeated.
Upon fleeing, two of that team encounter Blackfire.

#3
Omen relives memories as she struggles under Universo’s control.
Imra and Kory get assistance from Blackfire to free Earth.
Universo looks to increase his control through codes on Winath (red herring plot. Universo’s plans continue just as well without them)
Legion free Flash from control on Winath. He releases Donna from control.
Universo and Blood have a clash. Universo has plans of his own for Earth
Legion attack spaceport to prevent Universo’s expansion. Roy is released from Universo’s control.
Garth captures heroes in Atlantis attack
Tamaran fleet attacks all of Earth.
Blackfire revealed to be in League with Universo.
An unconscious Imra contacts Omen

#4
The two teams combat the Tamaran attack fleet
Universo visits Imra and Kory’s cell (a set up for Blood’s visit)
Tempest finishes preparations for Universo’s extra amplifier
Brainy discovers amplifier location
Blood visits prisoners. Imra compels him to release her.
The Titans attack the amplifier installation
Rokk and Toni free Atlantean prisoners.
Universo is stunned by Imra. She sends her mind back in time with Omen.
Garth freed from control while Blackfire is defeated.
Blood is freed from Imra’s control only to be punched out by Omen.
Imra and Omen travel in time to change the past. They succeed in doing so.
Epilogues show both teams back to normal. Toni has brief, fading memories of the Legion.

Changes - In addition to fixing all the quibbles pointed about in the reread…

There’s 192 pages to play with, and the third issue is essentially padding.

The fatal flaw in the plotting is the one where the whole Legion moans about restricting time travel only to violate it themselves. Oddly, the solution is also in the story. The original timeline also has future Omen and Imra appearing. By distracting Nightwing, they got him killed.

Why was that timeline in place? Could it be that Imra has tried to change the past more than once? Each time getting it closer to the solution she’s been looking for. It needed Universo’s amplification device to succeed in changing things the way she wanted, and the timeline shown in this story is the one where it happens closing the loop.

So, I’d use that subplot to replace the Nura like precognitions. Imra has a connection to events because she’s picking up the previous times she’s been doing this through Omen. She could also be a
It also helps to anchor a character issue in that Omen doesn’t have one. She’s just a plot device throughout the story. This way we get her being more proactive, and learn a bit more about her in the process.

Considering Ferro is in the Legion, Mon El has a past there and the rest of the Legion have bounced around the timestream like joyriders, their reticence to help the Titans is laughable. The script even has Cosmic Boy say that he’s visited often. The conflict between the teams never works out plot wise in the story.

If that’s to be kept, then a new reason for the ban should be mentioned. Handwavium Time Trapper if needed. And doesn’t the Omen look awfully like a certain cloaked Legion villain? That could replace Brainy’s Y3K subplot as he detects the presence of the Trapper and its removal at the end, as Omen goes back to her time.

Perhaps have a red herring plot where the Legion look to protect time travelling technology, while the controlled Titans work their own agenda.

If it’s not to be kept, then let the Legion agree to help the Titans. It’s as plans are being made that Universo turns them. How Universo does this is a mystery in the original too.

Improve the villains timeline: How did Blood come back? Was Universo freed by Blood? Why did Universo need the Tamaranians to hold back, striking an alliance with them?

From my reading, I think that Universo required a resurrected Blood to free him. Together they converted Titan. As Universo’s power encompassed a race of telepaths it started affecting the UP. He struck quick deals with the Tamaranians and we could see something similar with Lallor or the Khunds/ Dominion etc. to keep them temporarily at bay. As his power later grows through his amplifier device (the number of which seems wobbly in the original) Universo needs his “allies” less and less and would turn on them. At least it explains why Blackfire wouldn’t just be immediately controlled and used like everyone else.

Make the fight scenes more probable. No one got hurt in them anyway, so it’s okay to have a few knocked out Titans (mainly Roy)

Brother Blood really needs a subplot. It’s fine that he’s used as a pawn for Universo’s conquest. But Blood is smarter than this. As soon as Universo hints that he might not get Earth, Blood should be making his own plans. He should really have his own plans all along. He’s not a minion kind of guy. After all, Earth may well be where his resurrection pit of blood is. He has to keep it safe. This plot may see Blood side with the heroes.

It should definitely provide an epilogue where the cult of Blood returns in some form. After all, the Legion only went to the pyramid because someone was scanning it. If not Blood’s cult, who was doing it in the revised history to bring the heroes there?

While I stand by this statement, I now think it's a pity that I dislike his writing so much, because in the months since that post, I've come to consider him a highly underrated artist with a refreshingly open and bold and big-paneled style, and a good sense of design.

Now that it looks increasingly likely that we will have a new Bendis-scripted Legion book before the end of this year, I can't get the thought out of my head that Bendis and Jurgens would make a potentially great creative team. And Jurgens has shown himself more than once in the past to be willing to take a backseat to other writers. Plus his style might pull in a lot of older readers (I know it'd guarantee that I would give the book more than one issue to grow on me.)

Alas, I'm too angry at his crimes against the Legion to give him another chance. Even if I appreciate his art, I will forever be reminded. Especially about him reducing Kinetix to walking scenery

On a more general Legion note, some writers/artists fall foul of trying to put every Legionnaire in the book. Only a certain number are actually ever needed for a plot. And there are plenty of stories where that's all you got. Sometimes, you'd get to see a couple in an establishing scene or simply mentioned as being away on a mission. The likes of Paul Levitz could involve the entire cast over a number of issues. The likes of George Perez are happy putting everyone in a scene and make it look as though everyone is doing something. But it's not something that should have to be done.

Particularly in a limited series, I can see why the writer/ artist might think that fans would be disappointed not to see their favourites at all. But they might as well be cardboard cut outs who are carried into the scene by others who are more involved.