Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Volume 26 "Five Years Later"

I liked the "Get me Spiffany" line too - but surprised to see it was Horace, not Lester.

You make a good point about this disrupting the momentum of the story so far. Hadn't thought about that, since this re-read is a totally different experience from first time around. The Marla angle did make it a much more interesting story, not just a rehash of previous origin tales.

Also, it sort of flew by me that Rond and Rokk are sitting out the fight - at least in part - because they have no powers. They could probably throw a punch, but not too effectively against heavily-armed Khunds.

Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1 written by Tom & Mary Bierbaum , art by Dougie Braithwaite, Doug Hazelwood & Larry Mahlstedt, Letters Todd Klein, Colours Tom McCraw, Editor Michael Eury

This issue rewrites Legion history to conform to the new timeline i.e. Glorith as the Time Trapper. Pre-5YL events such as the Conspiracy arc are adjusted to replace the death of Superboy with the annihlation of Daxam and the murder of An Ryd engineered by Glorith instead of Stargrave.

The focus of the story is Ultra Boy: he is the one who figured out that Glorith was manipulating the Legion in an attempt to keep Mordru in check and thereby claim full power for herself. We follow Jo from his days on Rimbor's streets (learning to act, misdirect, deceive and keep his mouth shut), to joining the Legion (with a mission to find out something about 20th century hero Valor instead of learn Superboy's secret identity) and his gradual discovery of Glorith's intentions. We also learn that Tinya was hit by the iron curtain of time, directed by Glorith, to punish Jo for tipping off Mordru as to Glorith's threat.

Comments:
Tom BIerbaum wrote that he was disappointed in this story. I wasn't. It's an admirable rewriting of Legion history to fit the new Superboy-never-existed/Glorith-was-always-the-Time-Trapper Legion. It takes a character who, in my mind, was not much more than a sidekick to Mon-el and Superboy and Tinya's managed boyfriend and turns him into a person with high intelligence and deep heroism. Unfortunately, later versions will return Jo to playing the likeable dope or the Lothario.

Thoth raised the question of story momentum disruption with the previous issue retelling the story of the Legion's origin. This issue, especially where I've dumped it in this re-read, brings that momentum to a full stop. However, it fills in so many blanks in this new Legionverse and establishes what went on behind the scenes that I think a reader would appreciate it. Maybe not - and there'll be one more history issue (Laurel's Story) before we resume regular programming.

Mordru in this issue is still a fairly benevolent ruler. At least, he doesn't turn you to ash for giving him bad news. Maybe it's just a facade, or he's having a good day, but it makes the Mysa relationship more credible.

An interesting potential for backstory is the fact that Luornu is still part of the Conspiracy, presumably because now she's been in love all along with Valor and shares his pain over the loss of Daxam. This isn't the same as being in love with Superboy, who was never going to be there for her. Lar's around and in a relationship with Tasmia. There would have been some serious tension if not outright sparks over that lopsided triangle - and we do get a glimpse of it later on in this series, although it's treated more at that point as a high school crush.

One thing that doesn't exactly work for me is the replacement of Superboy's death with the annihilation of Daxam as a motivating force to confront and destroy Glorith. Superboy's death was a tragedy to the Legion, who knew and loved him; wiping out an entire planet should demand a heavy fire response from the entire United Planets.

I never liked the art much in this issue. Can't say it's bad, and there is plenty of facial expression, but something about it feels stiff and sometimes roughly drawn.

v4 Annual 1

The cover is worth a mention for a couple of reasons. No, not Glorith’s attire. It’s an Adam Hughes cover, and that’s a pretty good class of artist to get for your book. Depending on when this came out, it was a very early look at Laurel in costume, and it’s a feminised version of Lar’s outfit, reinforcing that replacement Superboy/ Supergirl combo. As there were no costumes in TMK’s v4, seeing them all in their Solver Age outfits was also a sign of a different story inside. Go Go checks are obviously a big points winner. TMK’s look at the Glorithverse allows them to weave numerous strands of the Legion’s history together, so it’s fitting that Glorith pulls on the web of fate, on the cover.

The Superman edict resulting in the removal of all Superman related references from the history of the Legion (a mad decision born from the hissiest of escalated spats in the office). TMK managed to create something excellent and new from the ashes (Phoenix TM Marvel Comics). As Tinya was gone as of #2, and the Lar Gand/ Trapper story hinted at in v3, I do wonder if T&M had a lot of this story in mind already, just with the Trapper as a villain.

Superboy had been gone from regular Legion activity for so long by this point. Never regulars under Levitz/Giffen, Crisis had robbed what was left of the Kryptonians from the present day books.

From a broader perspective covering all the earlier Legion stories, the loss of the Super-mythos was a huge blow that TMK’s work could never really replace. But I think they knew that, and did as good a job as anyone could under the circumstances.

In their place, TMK elevated Lar Gand, replaced the Trapper with Glorith (as the story itself was told) and gave us Laurel Gand.

The Trapper’s use of a Pocket Universe had already been established in the Post Crisis Superboy retcon. Now it was made clear that Lar Gand, a product of that universe, was also be a Trapper creation. As part of the story on the Trapper’s fall, TMK also gave us a secret history of the Legion. One where the key components such as an inspiration (previously Superboy) and a financier (Brande) were put into position by him.

TMK managed to write the regular book without any serious disruptions. The changes hadn’t resulted in a reboot (compare with all the forced, self-inflicted, relaunches DC have had to make since).

The annual reinforces the secrets revealed to Lar Gand by the Trapper. That Mordru was destined to conquer the galaxy, and that the Legion were created to thwart him, allowing the Trapper ultimate victory. But in the Post Morduverse universe, the Trapper is now Glorith, and T&M show us how she interacts with the Legion through their history.

As jaw dropping as the Trapper’s secrets were in #4 of the regular series, this annual is also impressive as it weaves a more cohesive narrative around various points of Legion history.

The Legion conspiracy that led to the attack on the Time Trapper in v3 #50 acts as a framing sequence to the story. This is the most uneven part of the book, and it’s a shame it’s at the start.

As there’s no Superboy, it’s an attack on Daxam that leads to the conspiracy. Brainy suggests that, since an attack on Glorith might be suicidal, that the rest of the team be kept out of it. He wants there to be a Leigon to survive after their actions. Except that Glorith would undoubtedly just come after the rest of the team if they had failed. It rather undermines unity of the rest of the Legion who stood up, as a team, against Darkseid. It also doesn’t explain why Luornu was there. Originally, it was her love for Superboy that got her involved. In a later issue, we’d get hints that Lu also held a candle for Lar. It’s quite a leap to have her involved here, over Tasmia.

The story centres around Jo being the one to have pieced together Glorith’s secrets throughout the history of the Legion. As he wasn’t part of the conspiracy, there’s a scene where he confronts Imra about it. Due to space constraints, the Annual can only show snippets of the conspiracy and the attack on Glorith. As such, it looses the suspense. Jo presumably confronts Imra late on, just as the Legion realise, or are told of its nature.

Here, it looks as though he’s shoehorned in a bit too early. It’s as if the conspiracy was blown not long after it started. He also seems to have ultra-precognition, in knowing that the rest of the team won’t be taken along. The attack on Glorith is just long enough to show the fate of the attackers, and a revision on Lar’s connection with Glorith (and an ageing affect clearly shown over what we got in v3 #50). All to build up to Glorith reading Imra’s mind and discovering what Jo had let her see in his mind.

While Glorith had created the Legion to be thrown against Mordru, Jo had discovered the plot. Eventually, he would pit Mordru against her, allowing the Legion to survive, and the two villains to never realise their dreams of conquest.

Orignally, Jo was as straight laced as the rest of the Legion. Only later, would we get some hints that he had links to a grittier part of Rimbor. The annual combines both backgrounds very well, showing us why Jo moved in the circles he did and, importantly, the lessons he learned that shaped his actions through the Legion.

It’s the addition of context around several old Legion stories that makes this Annual stand out. Those additions aren’t done in isolation either. They are all part of a wider story. A favourite example of this is An. We now see how much she meant to Jo, and what an important part of his life on Rimbor she was. Jo figured out Glorith’s actions through experience, and internalised nearly all of his findings. The one he didn’t conceal would cost him at the finale of this story.

Brainiac Five had used his intellect to reach similar conclusions. His more overt discoveries attracted the attention of Glorith. She manipulated his mind, setting him on the path to destroy anyone else who might know anything about her plot. This leads Brainiac to murder An, in the story that framed Jo. Brainy would go on to release Omega.

Having defeated Brainiac Five, Glorith never really expected anyone else to be smart enough to discover her manipulations. Certainly not Jo, who had lived up to his jock stereotype on more than one occasion.

T&M plot Jo’s discoveries against the revised chronology. Without Superboy, Jo’s origin becomes a quest to discover the history of Lar Gand. Jo and Marla Latham’s appearance (a nice connection to v4 #8’s Marla story) inadvertently starts the legend of Lar Gand in the 20th century. There’s also a connection to the Dominion here and a reveal as to why they are controlling Earth in the regular book.

Jo’s tryout also gives us Reflecto, whose statue would be seen in the old Adventure Hall of Heroes. This was T&M’s introduction to the character who would join, and die, during the Five Year Gap, fulfilling the Adult Legion plot.

Jo would recognise the temporal interference in his journey when encountering Glorith later. Or rather, the classic Iron Curtain of Time. Now focusing on time travel, he’d discover that it tied into Brande’s appearance. It’s only in this volume that Brande was revealed to be from the 20th century, but it’s tied in well to the plot here.

Another tie in, is the appearance of Laurel Gand throughout. She’s now retconned into a lot of classic Legion stories, filling the place of Mon-El (who is now filling in for Superboy) and Supergirl. She’s also retconned into v3 #50 and is the deciding factor in forcing Glorith to retreat. This is nowhere near as elegant as the original use of the Infinite Man in v3 #50, and it’s a misstep from T&M. While it’s fitting that Glorith would have forgotten about her, as she’s a product of the Mordruverse spell, both she and Brainiac’s solution could have been part of the story.

The early use of a Shrinking Violet we’d not see until much later in v3 is also out of place. Another issue is that Lar survives and recovers from Glorith’s attack. Her attack displaced Eltro Gand’s personality from his, allowing Lar’s will to help with the recovery. Of course, If Lar survives here, the plot that resulted in Glorith revising the timestream crumbles.

Glorith realises Jo’s involvement in tipping off Mordru as to the extent of her power. Or at least the threat of it. That was done in a slightly cheesy, yet accurately folktale way. She gets her revenge by using the counterbalance of Brande’s appearance to move Tinya back in time. What looked to have been a simultaneous switch in #2 was actually two events separated by a number of years. Why Glorith would leave it hanging like that is a mystery. Why there’s a counterbalance at all, is still a plot fudge.

It’s an ambitious story that adds lots of depth to the reveal in v4 #4 and to a number of, often disjointed parts of Legion history. It certainly adds a throughline to Jo’s Legion career. As he becomes a popular central character in v4, the revelations here make him *too* central to the Legion. While the Jo/Tinya arc is one of the pillars of v4, and Jo an enjoyable character, I still feel that he’s had his time in the spotlight. He looks as though he’s going to be important in the early v8 stories, showing again that TMK’s characters (such as their Livewire iteration of Garth can influence later volumes)

The trip through Legion history shows us plenty of action, possibly more than we’d get in large parts of the regular book. Glorith is at her menacing best here, and her more emotive appearance adds to her conflict with Mordru. I’ve still no idea why the Trapper felt the 30th century was the time to conquer. If Mordru was destined to rule for 1000 years, just pop back in time to a later era.

Legion of Super-Heroes #9 by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, story assist Keith Giffen art by Keith Giffen, Paris Cullins, Bob Lewis, Letters Todd Klein, Colours Tom McCraw, Editor Michael Eury

Laurel Gand, as a young girl, foiled a Khund attack on Daxam but was left orphaned. To protect her from Khund reprisals, she was sent to an orphanage on Earth where she would have super-powers to defend herself. When she was a teen, the three female legionnaires approached her to join the Legion. After a trial, she joined, along with Brainiac 5, with whom she developed a close relationship. She was key in capturing Doyle Brande, R.J.'s would-be assassin.

Laurel's story was framed by the latest instalment in Roxxas' adventures. He was in a library on Cygnus IV looking for the Laurel Gand biography holo when a child walked in, apologizing for returning it late. (Instead of killing the kid, he rewarded him with credits.) Roxxas watched the holo but was enraged how little useful information it provided. He was further angered by learning, via news broadcasts, that Earthgov had turned against him - but he also learned that Legionnaires and Celeste were headed to Winath. The green energy beam was found to have originated somewhere other than Earth, but still headed to Winath. Violet, on Winath, wept as she regretted the role she played in the war with Braal and feared meeting Rokk again.

Comments:
I don't know if it was the art - a bit rough - or the rehash of the original Supergirl story that made me find this issue a bit dull. However, it's now clear why the Khunds hate Laurel in particular, more than the other Legionnaires. The Roxxas story was more interesting, if only for its slightly comedic tone and the surprise that Roxxas rewarded rather than murdered the child. (Different art, too.)

Not much more to say about the issue. I do wonder if Vi joined the war against Braal not just for Imskian patriotism, which she mentions, but exercising the anger with which she lived after her sens-tank ordeal. Act in anger, regret forever... although she will come to terms with her past in later issues.

(Comments to thoth on Annual later!)

v4 Issue 9

I was impressed by the cover. It hadn’t leapt out at me quite as much in previous reads. It captures a character enjoying her powers. It gets as close to Supergirl as the Super-Office would allow. There’s some ingenuity of having her ride on the front of a comet, rather than flying with them.

There’s an odd little purple comet on the left. It seems to form a circle through which Laurel and the comets are flying through. Whatever it is, is nearly hides the little mark on the cover from when I was dunking a biscuit in my tea while reading it. Traumatic, if I remember it after all this time

It’s the second fill in issue in a row as Giffen was behind deadlines. I’m not sure what else he was involved in at the time. Possibly the launch of L.E.G.I.O.N.? As things unfold here, I can certainly imagine him having more fun/ being more engaged elsewhere. But it also results in deadline crunches and a Legion book that loses its momentum rapidly.

Like last issue, Giffen does give us a six-page framing sequence. It mainly involves Roxxas needing to rent out a vid on Laurel Gan dos he can learn her weaknesses. There’s some humour as the tape he needs is returned late by a child and on Roxxas’ discovery that Earthgov, his employers, have turned on him.

Before the fill ins, it was the job of Celeste to find Roxxas. He has a very public body count that really undermines that whole part of the book. The cast go off to their prearranged meeting point on Winath, instead of facing the villain directly.

You’d think that Roxxas would already know everything he’d need to take on the Legion. The Dominators have already supplied him with an arsenal of weaponry. I’d imagine he’d take the time to familiarise himself with it and his foes.
Deadlines are looming, and they needed something for the issue. Anotehr way to cut corners, but keep a design aesthetic is to repeat panels. Really, I’ve seen it done well, and Giffen is quite keen on it. So, Roxxas is an attentive listener.

Another technique is to show a green dot move across space at different sizes. That takes care of the green energy that follows Celeste *knowing* that it’s going to be needed. Normally the deus ex machina appears at the end, but we get a preview here.

There’s a reveal that the green energy originated from the “central cluster” and not Earth. It’s the same energy that had previously appeared on Yucatan. It would appear to be stalking Devlin, Bounty or Celeste and a clue has already been given from a piece of jewellery worn by one of the cast. The central cluster is presumably a reference to Oa. I hadn’t noticed the previous Yucutan visit before, so this acts as a bit of foreshadowing and gives a connection between the energy and a member of the cast.

Another subplot that takes a step forward is Vi revisiting the statues on Winath. Rokk is visiting and Vi worries that, after the Braal-Imsk war and Venado Bay, that she’s not ready to face him. The scar on her face is an outward sign of the responsibility she feels for the massacre. There’s also a very nice post Mordruverse addition to the statues. A member we’ll see more of later on.

The reader being told about Rokk’s visit, Roxxas’ thwarted Shanghalla plan and new Winath one, quickly summarises the main plot, without having to devote an issue to it without Giffen’s art. I imagine there were discussions about how this would be handled. Would they have full fill in issues, and then come back to the main plot? The framing sequences do keep the main plot moving, allowing it to be picked up for a finale. But they don’t always movie in a forward direction, and some momentum is lost.

Roxxas putting on the Laurel holo tape gives us the history of Laurel Gand in the Legion. T&M add to Legion history while replacing Laurel in Supergirl’s continuity.

So we see Zaryan, now firmly a Khund, trying to kill Laurel for the decimation of his fleet. We see Eltro Gand having to tell Laurel she will have to leave to escape the assassination attempts. That seamlessly puts her in a Supergirl-like orphanage where she can have her first meeting with the Legion. She meets Imra, Tinya and Lu here. Orignally, she met the founders, dug a tunnel through the Earth and was rejected as she aged, breaking a bylaw. I wonder if that story was dropped.

There was a point where Laurel was going to be from the 20th century. I think the move to the 30th makes a bit more distinctive. She and Brainy now have something in common about their lineage too.

I do recall cringing as Excalibur and Achilles Helmet were recovered by Laurel. I thought it would be one hokey thing to leave buried. But it’s in keeping with Supergirl’s origin and Excalibur was drained of its magic later by Darkseid, so I can’t have everything my own way. Brainy also hogs the credit for the revised anti-lead poisoning serum. Strangely, despite nearly dying during her try out, they vote Laurel in anyway. I wonder how many other try outs saw blatant favouritism when they saw it.

It would seem that Laurel joined the team before Lar, who was the original recipient of the serum.
Another revision to link Doyle with the Khunds in his attempt to get back at Brande. Laurel is key to stopping them. The Khund’s hatred of Laurel will be a major part of her history. While it links with last issue’s fill in, it seems like a small-scale adventure by the Legion’s standards to have in a holo summary. But T&M use it to also show the beginning of the Laurel/ Brainy romance, making it more relevant.

It’s a well enough crafted origin. T&M get points for weaving it through Legion history and making Laurel stand away from Kara’s shadow. It should be stressed again that this was with K behind schedule and the book still just over major revisions after the Super-Office spat. A round of applause is due for that level of perseverance and delivery.

At the time, I was more interested in seeing how the main plot unfolded. Two fill ins on the bounce was disappointing. Volume 4 had set itself up with a distinctive style. It followed on from the many years of Levitz writing and art styles. While there would be older-style artists on Levitz fill in issues, this seemed like too far a remove, and back to a long-ago Adventure era that a lot of readers may never have seen. I probably appreciated it more as I got older and read those older issues. At the time, it was a little bit of a let down from what the opening 7 issues had promised.

RE: the Annual


Which gets even skimpier in the story, when she confronts Brainiac 5. Guess the cover had to be somewhat less racy.


GoGo checks a nice touch! And I didn't really notice Glorith pulling on the strings and connecting it to the web of fate.


Good point. Today the quicker route of the reboot might have been taken.



I also found this was the weakest part of the story. Given everything that TMK had to patch up and rearrange, it's no big deal. Given more time, they might have come up with something stronger.



Interesting that they didn't throw Sensor Girl into this version of the Conspiracy story (no space, most likely). While she warned of the dire consequences and tried to get the whole Legion involved, Jo warned of the dangers of including Lar, thereby trying to help the Conspirators succeed (and borrowing Jeckie's cognitive power). Maybe in this version, Jeckie never became Sensor Girl.



All well done patching of a revised past to explain current continuity. I wonder if the original Reflecto story was a bug in someone's ear, and this was the opportunity to change that bit of the Legion's past.



Another good point - why Glorith, master manipulator, "forgot" Laurel!



The appeal of the common man? I like the idea that, while Valor is the up-front figure of hero and hero worship, Jo is the fixer in the shadows. As such, apart from this annual, he could have remained out of the spotlight.

Be sure to document this for the Thoth Museum!



According to interviews he's given, having a meltdown over the Superman Office and planning to blow up Earth. Then he gave us the Lobo mini-series.


Oh, the old green dot gambit... trying to think of other times it's been used, but very nice terminology for this sort of plot stretcher.



Me neither, so must do a re-re-read.



Probably a good decision to keep her from the 30th century. It distances her from Supergirl, makes her a distinctive character - even if the histories resemble one another, the personalities don't.



Old holo from the Legion Confidential days (no money for libraries on Cygnus IV) or Roxxas never got to the more substantial missions.

BTW, I noticed that Triplicate Girl was called Triad in this issue. Somebody liked the name and got to use it later with the Legionnaires series, I guess.

A short thread about Jo which pretty well sums up why I prefer Postboot Jo to TMK Jo:

http://legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=857349&page=1

Legion of Super-Heroes #10 by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, story assist Keith Giffen art by Keith Giffen, Letters Todd Klein, Colours Tom McCraw, Editor Michael Eury

The ex-Legionnaires and Celeste's group arrive on Winath and stay with the Ranzz family. Vi mulls over what to say with Rokk.

Disguised, Roxxas checks into a motel on Winath. He then takes a tour of the Lightning Ring Plantation, escaping into the Ranzz residence. The Legionnaires become aware that he's there, but he manages to gravely injure Mekt, Celeste and Cham, disables Bounty with nerve toxin and throws a device at Jo which makes him disappear.

News reports the Roxxas attacks, Earthgov tries to contain the damage and the green energy continues its path to Winath, then disappears.

Text pieces include a report by Iris West and Devlin O'Ryan linking Roxxas to Earthgov and a rehabilitation report on Mekt Ranzz.

Comments:
Roxxas sounds like a funny character here and the gory brutality of his attacks, along with his multiple voices, truly emphasizes his insanity. Nevertheless, the Roxxas comedy hour is one of the more enjoyable aspects of this issue. Should I feel guilty for laughing at the psycho mass murderer?

The Legionnaires are a bit rusty. They're taken by surprise; only Jo manages to give Roxxas a good beating. Reformed Mekt tried to appeal to Roxxas' good side, leading to comedic confusion, and very reluctantly blasts some lightning at Roxxas. It appears that Mekt's rehabilitation has dampened his ferocity; he may now have been programmed to not attack anyone, since he only manages to shock Roxxas and set his hair on end.

Jo's disappearance is very mystifying; it looks like the Legion might be demolished before it even begins, with the attacked people not looking too good at all.

While Jo rushed into battle with fists flying, Jan took a much more measured approach: he went to Imra to have her mentally locate Roxxas - and we never see a Roxxas-Jan encounter. It's unclear if Jan is just being reasonable and cautious or if he has some fear of encountering Roxxas.

The green energy is taking a long time to develop and strikes me as a waste of a full page; there will be a pay-off, but its sudden disappearance in this issue mirrors Jo's disappearance and suggests a connection which is not there.

The West/O'Ryan report tracing Earthgov's link to Roxxas exposes the financial connection, one Marko Chang. We saw him many issues ago and thought it was a shame that he never appeared again in Legion stories. Well, here he is, showing once again the depth of detail and coherence with the past which went into this series.

Legion of Super-Heroes #11 by Tom & Mary Bierbaum & Keith Giffen & Al Gordon, art by Keith Giffen, Craig Brasfield & Al Gordon, Letters Todd Klein, Colours Tom McCraw, Editor Michael Eury

Senator Tenzil Kem hosts a holo show, Wild Archaeology, which gets him onto Earth for a production. Calorie Queen is along for the ride as his administrative assistant. The show is next transformed into Tenzil for the Defense, with Brek Bannin as the first defendant. Brek has awaited trial in jail for two years for leading a protest against Earthgov in a pizza joint. Tenzil gets information from Shvaughn Erin and meets with the prosecutor, avoiding surveillance in both cases. High shenanigans in the courtroom and a bit of law get the charges against Brek dropped and he and Tenzil get off Earth quickly.

Meanwhile, reports of the Roxxas attack on Winath are broadcast as Roxxas continues his killing spree in a medical facility. Brainy treats the injured at the Lightning Plantation, but sees no hope for Celeste.

Jo appears in a wild landscape, thinking he's somewhere on Winath, but a sign tells the reader that he's on Dominator-controlled Khundia.

A text piece presents a mostly-scathing review of Tenzil for the Defense.

Comments:This issue is our Christmas silly show, filled with slapstick tomfoolery that would become Tenzil's trademark in 5YL and carry over into later versions. It's not clear whether Tenzil engineered getting Brek into a courtroom from the beginning, or if he seized the opportunity once he was on Earth.

Tenzil plays the fool but is in control, to the extent possible. He's well aware that the eyes of Earthgov are on him. Dirk appears in one panel, watching the show, but Tenzil makes no effort to solicit help from his former team mate.

Calorie Queen is a surprise, last seen attacking the Legion with some fellow rejects yet earning Tenzil's respect. She's presented here as the serious and competent member of the team. She's one of many references to early Legion stories in this issue.

Of those injured by Roxxas, only Celeste appears likely to die. Brainy mentions extensive scar tissue on Bounty, which should alert him to her identity but means little to the reader, since we're unaware of where the scar tissue is. (In the previous issue, Roxxas somehow knew Bounty was "one of them" who looked different for some reason - also a clue to her identity, but an obscure one for the reader. For this reader, at least.)

The issue ends on a serious note, with Jo stranded on Khundia - but not one that we've known. The Dominators are in control here and whether this is a recent development or something else remains to be revealed.

Overall, I enjoyed this story more with the reread than I did originally. At this point, it's more of an old friend with so many small touches and references to the past; initially, it seemed too foolish and focused on characters of minor interest to me.

Chiming in on LSH v.4 Issue 11 because of Calorie Queen.

And while it's nice to see her rescued from forgotten-character oblivion, and even though she does get in a bon mot or two, this is Tenzil's show all the way, and the Bierbaums don't let us forget that for a fraction of a second.

As with Jo, Kono, and Valor, the word that comes to my mind is "oversold." I'm weary of the writers metaphorically grabbing the reader by the shoulders, shaking them, and yelling, "This is awesome. You WILL think it's awesome."

I can tolerate Tenzil a lot more than the previous pet characters, though. He's cute and funny.

Six out of ten Taryns:

Calorie Queen stands out here, possibly because she's a bit more developed in later issues. Too bad she couldn't have been a regular character. She and Imra would have gotten along well. Tenzil is cute and funny, but I would have appreciated a few more serious panels to take the edge off the wackiness. Same thing with Kono.

Legion of Super-Heroes #12 "Rebirth" by Keith Giffen,Tom & Mary Bierbaum & Al Gordon, art by Keith Giffen & Al Gordon, Letters Todd Klein, Colours Tom McCraw, Editor Michael Eury

Back to Winath, where Brainy meditates on life and death as Celeste lies dying. Celeste dreams of her McCauley family and of finding a Green Lantern ring. A bright green light enters her room and she revives, bathed in the light, as Brainy and Kono watch.

Furball has turned into human Brin and hides in the woods at night, worried about his friends seeing him and baffled as to what triggers his condition.

SP officers monitor heat signatures to track Roxxas and determine that Legionnaires are after him. Ayla, Jan and Vi take down a battered Roxxas and bring him to justice.

Jo determines he's not on Winath after finding some very old tech and being confronted by a Khund speaking some Khundish dialect.

Cham is pleased that the Legion "is back" and presents Rokk with team jackets.

Kent Shakespeare, ex-Legionnaire, fights The Persauder who has invaded an underwater medical facility for children on Quarantine. The facility is housing a young adult in protective custody, who the Persuader has come to kill. SPs stand by as Officer Gim Allon tries to join the fight, In the last panel, the Persuader stands over a fallen Shakespeare, preparing to strike with his axe.

Text pieces: Cham responds to a letter from the jacket supplier and an SP Bulletin alerts officers to The Persuader's mission to murder Char Burrane Jr., currently hidden at the Luc & Perla Ranzz Memorial Clinic on Quarantine.


Comments:A big step forward in this issue, with Roxxas captured, the green energy mystery revealed, everyone we know survived the Roxxas attack (unnamed medical personnel not so lucky) and the Legion apparently back to fight all that's wrong in the galaxy. We also learn where Garridan Ranzz, purveyor of the Validus Plague, is being kept, if anyone's curious. I wasn't, but it will prove to be part of the on-going story.

There's hope for Brin, since he's at least in human form some of the time. We still don't know where Jo has wound up, although there are clues that he's been shot into the past as well as off Winath.

Cham, who survived Roxxas by shifting his vital organs on advice of Brainy, appears to be fully recovered from the beating and infused with optimism. He was so confident that the Legion would re-form that he pre-ordered jackets with an "L" symbol, sparing no expense. This echoes his father's admonition to Marla in issue #8 to not cut corners when providing for the Legion.

Kent Shakespeare is a new character, but presented as a Legionnaire who joined after the Magic Wars. His powers aren't known, but he's able to put up a good fight against The Persuader and the name "Kent" along with eyeglasses suggests a connection to a certain Kryptonian (who at least exists as an adult in the current Legion mythos).

I liked how The Persuader tried to get Shakespeare to let him finish the murder contract, since it wasn't the "Ranzz kid" that he was after. It's similar to Roxxas offering to split the killing of Legionnaires with Mekt. Not exactly strange bedfellows, but in the chaos which engulfed the U.P. after the Magic Wars, there may have been some loosening of the villain-hero divide, as we'll see later with Universo.

Another repeated theme is the apparent relief of SP Officers that Legionnaires are back and handling some of the messier problems.

Disco-style Starfinger is dead, murdered by The Persuader, who is now after Starfinger's son. There's a big gap here, since we don't know how Starfinger got out of his ring and there's no mention of Starlight and Starbright. There is a new Starfinger in town, brother of the original, who put the contract out on Burrane. Odd note: Char Burrane Jr. is wearing a shirt with a symbol like the one on Devlin O'Ryan's shirt, which may be connected to some sports team (?).

A few thoughts about the issues I didn't comment on:

I liked quite a bit of issue 8, the origin of the Legion, because there were lots of nice character touches, and the continuity Easter Eggs were kept relatively low-key. Chris Sprouse's art seemed very...raw to me, with very little hint of the distinctive style he'd go on to develop (that said, I'm sure deadlines had something to do with it.)

Other than that...meh. Mordru's psychic attack on the Legionnaires is both cliched and, in the case of Kono's traumatic memory, sensationalistic. But it's Roxxas who really makes me wanna puke. Part of it is that I simply don't find him funny (a recurring problem I have with Giffen stories,) and part of it is that I think Giffen is hypocritical about wanting to show violence as it really is -- any way he tries to justify it, it's still cheap button-pushing to me.

So let's see...without the Glorith/Valor/Laurel hiccups, without the two consecutive fill-ins, and with some much needed tightening of the pace during the attack on Winath...I think the opening arc could have easily been covered in five issues, with the big "we're back" celebration in issue 6.

The pace would pick up (somewhat) shortly after the beginning of the second year, thanks to Michael Eury's (temporary) replacement, Dan Raspler. So I'll definitely be participating more actively in Volume 27 of the Re-Reads.

Catching up...

v4 Issue 10

All storylines converge on Winath. After two fill-in issues, I wonder if there was an urge to get things moving to get to an issue 12 payoff. There are some subplots that now seem pointless considering the way events have gone.

Roxxas’ arrival on the planet alternates between comedy, farce and unease at what’s in store, which suits his unstable persona. As he sets up for his attack, Rokk and Garth are reunited. It seems that they’ve not seen each other since the collapse. They trade friendly insults as they hug. The clear affection here, the easy banter with Jo and Ayla’s nostalgic affection for Legion hardware are all reminders of the importance of this team. “a regular Legion reunion,” says Rokk without wondering why they didn’t just send out an Omni-Mail to get members.

Ayla hasn’t had a chance to meet the others yet either. She forms the idea of reforming the team on her own.
Multi-Task Lad, Querl Dox, picks up Mysa’s case after her trauma on Tharn. She now knows what happened to Blok and has retreated into herself. You wonder at all the moments that the two shared, only to travel separate paths. It reassuring that Mysa hasn’t been forgotten. While it’s a large cast, having a specialist in this area, as a supporting cast member would have been appropriate. Querl and Mysa didn’t see eye to eye when she left the team, and Querl isn’t known for his empathy.

Bounty, on an unlikely stroll with O’Ryan, is the first to sense Roxxas on the world. She goes off hunting, leaving O’Ryan to head of to the first shock to his system that will give him powers later on.

Finally, we get some discussion between Celeste and Cham about dealing with Roxxas. Fortunately, there’s a big holo-suite in the sauna. So, the trail of Roxxas should be easy enough to follow. Had any of them bothered to do a little research they’d have noticed he was coming towards Winath. There’s some easy leadership challenges going on between the pair. This might have been interesting later on in the book, but events would overtake it.

Roxxas’ insane comedy continues as he runs into Mekt. Roxxas doesn’t know that Mekt has reformed and tries to split up the mission with him. After Bounty intervenes and is subdued, Mekt is forced to attack the Butcher. That results in Roxxas beating him to a bloody pulp.

This is probably as good a scene for Bounty in the whole volume. Roxxas recognises who she really is, even though it’s never been addressed by any of the rest of the cast. Like Brin, it’s a situation that’s left hanging for an embarrassingly long time. The scenes with Rokk, Garth, Jo and Ayla were strong because of the bonds these characters had growing up. The hanging plots of Dawny and Brin aren’t handled in the same way. Jo & Jan come close to mentioning it later in the issue, and then the plot falls by the wayside.

Oddly, Roxxas doesn’t kill Bounty. His whole mission is to kill Legionnaires, but he passes it by here. Perhaps the nerve agent he used was supposed to be fatal. But he says she’ll remember it.

I recall being very underwhelmed by Mekt’s power levels. This was Lightning Lord. The effects are pretty, but I’d have read the guy who was one with the storm. A little later I wondered if his lack of power was precisely because he had gone through treatment. I don’t think Ayla was shown at her previous power levels in the upcoming Khund Wart either though. That means it could be another capability downgrading by Giffen, with the goal of showing a tougher galaxy.

On the other hand, Roxxas seems to be much more powerful than presented before. Had Jan pulled the trigger in that old story, Roxxas may well have survived it based on his abilities here.

Roxxas’ attack is a slow reveal, from set up to first contact and then to his encounters with the Legion. He causes some real damage in the encounters he has with them, and later Cham worries that they let him in. Considering the death of Blok and Roxxas’ hatred for Jan, perhaps some security would have been a reasonable precaution.

Vi worries about not facing Rokk. As she meets Kono, she puts on what looks to be a Legion uniform (although it’s an issue or two too early). Elsewhere, Jan notices distant smoke and knows that its Roxxas. He’s seen 20 B-B-Qs that afternoon and thought exactly the same thing. Fortunately for him, Giffen’s on hand to draw only this one, when he’s right.

Jan has personal enmity with Roxxas. Celeste sought Jan out, precisely because of this connection. Without flight rings, and thanks to Giffen’s universal power downgrading, he’s left as a pedestrian.
He has to go and find Imra to confirm the villain’s location, as Jo speeds off. Considering the pillar of smoke is already an indication, and that Jo has no trouble finding the villain, Jan has to plod off, on foot.

There can’t be any security cams on Winath. Even so, following the trail of destruction would be a good bet. Raising some sort of general alarm would also have been a good start. But they don’t seem to have that option on Winath either.

TMK let Jan, sworn enemy of Roxxas, get distracted by an expectant mother’s video too, in an ill timed comedy moment. It’s Imra who suggests warning the others. Had she been alerted sooner (Jo at superspeed or, gosh, a phone), Roxxas wouldn’t have been able to attack Cham and Celeste so easily. Cham is shot in the head. Celeste receives a severe beating, as Roxxas knows about her connection to Earthgov. He reveals to her that the Dominators and Earthgov are the same thing. Just as well, as that whole detective subplot went nowhere.

Roxxas is interrupted by Jo who pounds into him. A sign of this darker volume is that Jo seems prepared to kill the villain. As mentioned, Roxxas seems to have super resistance and some strength of his own in this showing, or he’d already be dead. Roxxas releases his anti Daxamite weapon (is Laurel missing here because she hadn’t been created when this set piece was written?). The technology behind this device would make some key appearances in this volume.

The Legion seem unable to press home any advantage. They know where Roxxas is and the villain is gravely wounded. Yet, they aren’t able to stop him leaving the plantation, or even encounter him along the way. It wouldn’t be the last time the Legion would look ineffective in this volume.

The Daily Planet (used when the Superman Office isn’t looking) must have been peeved. They have a reporter on the scene. But we’re updated by a Earth based broadcast. That’s the planet that doesn’t like its broadcasts being intercepted as of #1, but seems only to happy to give us an injury list of Roxxas’ attack.

We see the reaction of the Dominators to their agent’s latest actions. They might have waited for a millennium to control the Earth, but putting the Laurel and Hardy of their race in charge of it was surely a mistake. The arch villains of the opening arc really don’t come across well. They give us the foreshadowing of Roxxas revealing secrets if he survives. Foreshadowing in this volume is so spot on, it should run for office on Naltor. It’s a device TMK use when they know they won’t be able to actually show us events on panel. Another example was Roxxas telling us that, since they had foiled his attack on them on Shanghalla, he was now forced to pick them off one by one. Or why not use exactly the same plan, when they all gathered for an inevitable memorial on Winath?

As we wait for the Legion to do well, anything, we take the time to catch up on our favourite ball of green energy. The Winathian authorities have been informed about it. They look to be able to track it. If so, the they could give the technology to the Legion to find Roxxas when they’re done with this page. As they’re about to open fire on it, it vanishes. The final page (before a text update on Blok and Mekt) shows Tenzil Kem return to Earth. It ties up nicely with Legionnaire status on Earth and Tenzil’s ability of bypassing such regulations.

It’s an enjoyable issue. The build-up and pacing of Roxxas’ attack is so well done, it hides any number of other issues. The villain’s insane comedy makes him the 30th century Joker. We get plenty of character-building moments as the cast go about their business prior and during the attack. Bounty and Jo get some impressive action sequences. Several subplots are also nudged forward. The return to the main plot after the fill in issues was a relief, despite their merits. So, it was a really enjoyable issue at the time, and holds up well by itself here.

After a few rereads, and going through it for this thread, the forced plotlines and the gaps are more evident in the arc as a whole. The Celeste/ Earthgov tracking Roxxas plotline becomes pointless as Roxxas goes to them and gives the game away. We’ll get the end of the Jan plot next issue, but it won’t be as effective as it should have been.

The flip side of that, the Dominators control of Earth seems less effective when comedy Tenzil is moving on and off planet and the communications blackout seems to shift depending on TMK’s needs. The arch-villains are useless. They tried to use Celeste to find the villain (whose location was plastered across the newsfeeds), but haven’t had any other follow up plan. We’ll meet BION later. You’d have thought using that to find and kill Roxxas would have been an option. Or for them to track Roxxas (or watch the news which is the same thing in this volume) and send Dirk for a big morality moment.

The reformation of the Legion plotline breaks somewhat. Cham’s slow build up of the team was unnecessary. It will be 3 people unconnected to it that form next issue’s mission team. One of them, Ayla, was seen to have thought of reforming the team this issue. It’s all off panel, but perhaps she was really the reason the team pulled together.

We’ve already seen Rond and Laurel going after Mysa, in a duplicate mission to the one Cham launched. Roxxas’ appearance on Winath is seen as a trigger for the team pulling together. They don’t seem to have done it over a sense of duty to Blok. Only to stop an immediate threat. A threat launched in the book before the people behind could have known about Cham’s plans, in a bit of wonky plotting. The ex-Legionnaires, as the book is so fond of calling them, would have got together with an e-mail from Cham in #1.

I would have been looking forward to the next issue, to finish off the arc…only for it to be another fill in.

v4 Issue 11

New members of the v4 Legion should have been Broadcast Boy, Telecast Teen and Presenter Pam. Thanks to the fill in issues, the v4 media seem to know a heck of a lot more than the rest of the cast.
Ironically, ace reporter Devlin O’Ryan has got absolutely none of these scoops while being on site. He’s used as comedy relief on the casualties page of the news update under “allergic reaction”. As the subplot investigating the Roxxas/Earthgov connection turned out to be a dead end for his character, a couple of articles from him during this arc would have helped his character progression.

Last issue, the team fail to capture Roxxas before he leaves the plantation. This is despite his serious wounds. Where could he be?! Why, he’s in the Bloomfield district! Thanks Broadcast Boy!
With our update done, “we now return to our regular programming.” Which, for v4 now means fill-ins. 3 of the last 4 issues to be exact.
Giffen gets to do some repeat panels as Roxxas kills his way through a clinic to get some treatment for the wounds inflicted on him by Jo last issue. We get a few updates on the Roxxas plot through out the issue. The opening news broadcast tells us the casualty list. But we get a scene with Brainy and Imra going over the same information. We get another hint on Dawny’s origins. Brainy has surely realised who she is. But we’ll never get to find out.

The opening update also tells us of an intensive search for the killer. That’s also repeated on other pages, without any indication that the Legion are doing anything or that there’s any real progress. “Roxxas is suspected of leaving a trail of bodies…” A highly publicised trail of bodies that an investigative team failed to get anywhere close to across 11 issues.

At least Warden Tsaquin wasn’t in on the conspiracy. Although, since Roxxas was one of a number of prisoners released into the loving care of the Dominion (as per RPG book written by T&M) you wonder why he stayed in his post.

One subplot that does get some progress is Jo seemingly being propelled back through time thanks to Roxxas’ anti-daxamite weapon. Had it been used on Laurel, TMK would have been able to reconcile Laurel’s original 20th century origin with her revised one of being a descendant of Lar Gand. Having said that, I prefer it the way it was published. T&M went to some trouble to show dialogue from past Legion adventures as Jo hurtles into the past. It’s a lovely touch. I also liked the visual consistency of the ground under him being taken with him into the past. It matches the crater left behind last issue. A Lost Legion spin off shows that a highly advanced Empire was built around the futuristic wiring found in the chunk of flooring that went with Jo into the past.

Jo doesn’t yet realise he’s been transported in time. He thinks he can still get back to fight Roxxas. We see a sign that indicated that the Khunds are in some sort of league with the Dominion.

The main plot in the issue involves Tenzil getting Brek Bannin released from Earthgov custody. There’s a lot of comedy, and well done comedy too, which isn’t that common in comics. From Legion fun such as replica flight rings and Green Lanterns not being allowed on Earth to Bill Finger in the Batcave to fresh crank case oil, there are a lot of gags. Some of them are actually important to the plot too, rather than throw aways. There's farce, but it's controlled throughout, which is to the writers credit.

T&M also steer a path through it to keep some seriousness to the Earthgov/Dominator plot. There’s not really any movement in the Circe/Dirk/Dominator actions. They are spectators to the trial. It’s a reminder they still exist in the plot.

What fails a little is Brek being arrested in a pizza hall. We don’t know a lot of 5YG details at this stage, but he had rallied a new Legion of Subs around him at the end, only for that to fall apart. While it shows Earthgov would arrest the Legion on the slightest of pretexts, Brek does himself no favours (one of his followers is holding a weapon) and it’s a whimper of an ending for that era.

Tenzil is a force in this issue. While Matter-Eater-Lad may seem an odd choice to have in a darker v4 team, Tenzil Kem is a facilitator of the first order. T&M don’t shy away from showing those MEL powers, and they’re used throughout this issue. He’s at his best as a character, when he’s embraced in this way.

T&M also get points for the deft way in which they get Brek off the hook. They actually take the time to set up the legal twists that get his release. It is odd that Earthgov would have allowed such an amiable prosecutor. We also don’t; see a reaction from the Dominators or Dirk at his release. That could have afforded a bit of tension between them as Dirk opposed any sanction proposed against an old colleague.

Considering the lack of lead time for all these fill ins, they’ve all been enjoyable reads in their own right. It’s the main storyline that should have been going on around them that suffers a bit through lack of momentum. The running on the spot nature of some of those plots makes a lot of the cast look less than useful, such as the Legion’s inability to track down Roxxas, despite everyone knowing where he is every issue.

v4 Issue 12

“Come on Cham…nobody can anticipate the moves of a lunatic.,” says Rokk. Except for anyone who follows one of the news channels. Except for anyone who might think that since he killed Blok, and taunted the others with the remains, he might try for other Legion targets.

The green energy blob subplot reaches a milestone. It must have been Green Lantern energy from Naltor. It knew Celeste was going to get badly beaten and merges with just in the nick of time, saving her life. In a flashback it’s confirmed that she’s a McCaluley and that she found the corpse of a a green lantern. She’s been wearing the ring around her neck for this opening arc. But what happened to its previous owner? Did she not receive the ring’s energy? Why not? Is it because she wanted to visit Earth on a Monday? Questions and I don’t think we ever get the answers. Giffen gives us a big splash page for her transformation. It’s something that’s been built up to. Now Roxxas is for it… except that her being saved has no impact on the other plots. It’s worth pointing out that, after the transformation, the ring is no longer around her neck.

We see a more rounded, emotionally capable Brainy worrying about her and his fallen colleagues. In practice, we know that while he might celebrate the diversity on offer, he’ll follow his own logical course. Unless a certain tall blonde is involved.

I found it odd that Garth would happily let Brainy take care of it. He might have complete faith in the Coluan, but he could have at least peeked round the corner to see if any help was needed. Beside him, Devlin feels stuck out of the action. He’s recovering from his allergic reaction to Winathian bees too. But he could turn up just to cover Blok’s funeral and have that encounter for all the difference he’s made to this opening arc. Kono gets as much panel time, but her usefulness is limited. It’s no wonder that she’s impatient. She’s at her best when the Legion are *doing* things. Which means it’s going to be a long volume for her. It’s no wonder that a lot of her scenes show her being bored.

Like Garth and Kono, Brin is another cast member who doesn’t get involved this issue. I wonder if this page was put in for readers, like me, who missed the Furball/Londo connection? He wants to be remembered as he was. Jo and Querl know about his condition. Possibly Rokk and Cham do too by now. I wonder how much of his past he remembers when he’s Furball. Brin Londo is more of a Lone Wolf than ever, unable to reach out for help in the only times he’s close to human.

The Legion reformation plot also reaches a close this issue. Cham seems surprised that his friends would react to being attacked, and nearly killed, by trying to stop the guy who did it. Perhaps a reaction from the UP or Earthgov might have added a wrinkle to show some resistance to them reforming here. The alternative presented is to sit and wait while the local SP deal with him. Not exactly in line with Legion history, or even why they disbanded.

It’s would be more of a surprise that the team would stick together after the capture of Roxxas. Fortunately, TMK have shown a number of the cast realising what they, and the galaxy has lost without the group. It might have started with Cham and Rokk, but Laurel, Vi and Ayla have been thinking along similar lines. I’d have liked to have seen more of that team formation, rather than it seemingly being a thing with only Rokk and Cham to drive it.

The Winathian SP are delighted to get their help.

It’s a grisly encounter. Roxxas has burned the bodies of his victims. Following Jo’s attack, he now looks like Two Face to go with his Joker personality. Roxxas has a single bomb left. Perhaps it’s the one he had intended to use at Shanghalla. It’s not explained where all the weaponry he would have needed to tackle the rest of the Legion has gone. Perhaps it’s been used to amass his innocent bystander body count.
I still find it odd that the Legion give Roxxas the chance to kill everyone in the district. Vi could have gone microscopic and blocked his bloodstream; Ayla could have short circuited his nervous system; Jan could have transmuted the device and the air around the villain. Instead, they let Roxxas do the running while he’s holding a bomb. For a moment it looks as though the villain has detonated it, only for that to be a tease from inside his own twisted mind. Ayla and Vi consider that Roxxas might die if they don’t help him. But it’s really Jan’s scene. This is the payoff from his first appearance when the Tromites were killed, and later when he pulled the trigger on Roxxas in a revenge that he learned from. It’s also a payoff to the premise of the arc. In the darkest of circumstances, the Legion’s code still remains.

It's a sentiment that’s echoed in the cover. The Legion cruiser might be battered, but the Legion symbol is still strong and bright. In the first issue’s cover, Rokk approached that symbol alone. This issue he has Jo, Brin and Cham with him. None of those are part of the mission team. Jo makes contact with a Khund and realises he’s no longer on Winath.

The newsfeeds, always up to the minute, make a point about the Legionnaires (definitely no “ex”) saving the villains’ life. As predicted by the Dominators, not that they did anything about it, Roxxas signs like a Canary (there are no news reports on whether he was wearing black fishnets).

Cham provides a second mirror to the first issue. Initially robed when first seen in issue 1, he revealed his face when he’d made his decision to reform the team. Here, he shows his recovery, and reveals his face, as the team are finally back in business. The last mirror is the “Legion of Super-Heroes” text closing the “Five Years Later” text from the first issue.

Unusually, this doesn’t end the issue. We get an introduction to a subplot featuring an assassination attempt on a relative of a Starfinger. The only person who can stop ( an excellent update of) the Persuader, is a guy who looks not unlike a certain removed Kryptonian on his first panel. He has strength, speed and resilience too. But it’s a Legionnaire called… Kent Shakepeare?! It’s a 6 page spotlight. Like all the character spotlights so far, it’s a very good one. Like all of them, once it’s over next issue, that’s about as good as it gets for that character in the volume The Persuader has lost none of his ..um…edge, and is now a mercenary. Kent comes across as suitably heroic in trying to stop him, while looking to be outmatched. Elsewhere, we get a cameo from Gim Allon. There’s pressure for him not to become Colossal Boy to help. That’s the sort of small, yet persistent, pressure I’d expected against the legion on Winath. Giffen leaves us with another splash page, and it doesn’t look good for Kent. He could be dead before we find out who he was! I really enjoy a lot of the dialogue in this opening year. The Persuader’s familiarity with Kent, and his attempt to do a job are excellent.

We get text pieces on the new uniforms and on the Persuader infamous history to round out an excellent issue. I probably expected more of a battle with Roxxas. It seemed geared to giving Jan hid payoff, and perhaps they felt that it was less of a choice if they had contributed to Roxxas’ injuries. There are character moments with Brainy and Brin. Subplots come to an end with the green energy and continue with Jo.
Main plots reach a midpoint with Roxxas blabbing about the Dominators on Earth. The advert about Earth’s Dominion friends last issue takes on a new chilling meaning. They aren’t going to give up Earth easily. Finally, the Legion has reformed: a bright beacon in a darker galaxy.

Was the arc worth it? I’d say definitely. Some of my favourite Legion moments, built firmly on the Adventure and Levitz eras, of the Legion. Their premise of showing us the heroism within the Legionnaires, even in the most challenging of times worked. They took a number of characters in new directions, giving them fresh impetus. New cast members were introduced, free from the traditional methods of new Legionnaires joining.

A tougher question to answer would be would the arc be worth it, if Levitz had left v3 at issue 50. The last year of Levitz’s run (and arguably through the conspiracy before it), was building up to the start of v4. The team had splintered and the galaxy had already grown darker through the Magic Wars. TMK showed the recovery of the legion form those times, rather than the miserable running down of the team, attacked from all sides including Earthgov. But had a new writer, other than Giffen, taken over at v3 #50, then this volume may have moved too far away from what had gone before.

It wasn’t plain sailing. 25% of the issues were fill ins. Considering the density of the main storyline, I wonder what else we would have had in those issues, if they had kept to the main plots. I think that Devlin/Bounty/Celeste suffered here. Another issue dealt with the editorial fall out of Mark Waid’s stormy battle with the Superman office. That’s a sizable amount of the available pages. The impact of those early battles seems to have affected Giffen’s long term drive on the book.

But every fill in gives us a Tenzil opportunity; every forced retcon a Laurel Gand. So, there’s plenty of shining silver on the dark clouds around the book. Issue 12 leaves us in a strong position, with a cliff-hanger too.

Nei-i-i-i-igh.






But with a lot of liberties and fudging taken by the creators, even discounting the editorial impositions. Too much of both, in my opinion.



I would have welcomed that. Why the hell drag the Legion through the mud any further than they already had during the last year-and-a-half of the Baxter Era? After this re-read, I am more certain than ever that it was not the right move.

As for who *could* have written the book instead of Giffen...hmmm...some names that seem obvious in hindsight probably wouldn't have gotten the gig at the time, given that the Legion was tarnished but not yet tainted. Waid was still editor, Morrison was not yet out of control but still unproven in the States. Soooo...um...how about Barbara Randall & Karl Kesel? They did just fine on the Hawk & Dove revival. Or Mark Evanier, if he'd admitted to himself that the New Gods revival was impossible to save and done the Legion instead. (Not Jim Starlin on Legion, though -- oh Gods, no, not him. Not Jim Shooter, either.) Ooh, Roger Stern was freshly fired by the Marvelous Competition and ready and willing to go prove himself at DC -- he'd have done an even better job than he did on the Postboot.



That's a good point. I seriously wonder whether Giffen even *cared* anymore by that time.



Look closer, it's spray-paint.

As I ran out of puff doing those closing paragraphs, I knew I was running into trouble.

Tee hee.

A few comments on thoth's comments:

The Brin and Bounty id's left hanging - at least for many of the Legionnaires, if not for the reader, until Brin is revealed: Brin appears to be fully conscious of his condition and change, if not fully understanding it. Bounty remains a question, for me: does she know she was Dawnstar, or has the Bounty entity affected her memory? She's behaving out of character. Roxxas recognizes her as a Legionnaire, somehow, but senses something is off. Which leads to...

Roxxas is much more powerful than when Jan last encountered him. Has he been enhanced by the Dominators? They've given him some nifty weapons, but possibly also implants so he can sniff out the Legionnaires' DNA. Bounty doesn't entirely conform.

Why no flight rings? Good point. Isn't that something you'd keep?

No security cams at the Lightning Plantation - another good point. It may serve the story, but I wonder if surveillance was just that much less in our minds when this was written.

Laurel's absence is explained a couple of issues later - something about wanting to see her baby daughter. Mothers, really! No sense of duty.

The missing Celeste-Devlin story, not a mystery that those two sub-pars could solve (sub-par in terms of their abilities, but also as developed characters). Good point that it might have gotten lost in the scramble to forget Superboy. They don't seem like Legion material at this point and a more thorough backstory would have been a welcome improvement.

Also good point that Ayla is also thinking of regrouping. The five-year vacation must be wearing thin on some of them and she was acting very leader-like in the Baxter run. I do find it odd that she doesn't spare a word for Pol Krinn. A failed conquest she'd just like to forget, now that he's out of the picture for good?

We've had a few things to say about the fill-ins and the interruptions in story momentum. I wonder if it's partly our contemporary expectations of comic book stories and the pace at which we are reading (not to mention knowing how it turns out). Movies are remade to adapt to modern times, with varying degrees of success; could v.4 be rewritten to be tighter and more smoothly paced (still adhering to the dictates of the almighty Superman Office), without losing story elements such as Tenzil's adventures?

I suggest that you pop along this very minute to Bits, where I've just posted a first draft of such a thing.

Seconded!

Thank you kindly ma'am.