Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Volume 27

The Devlin shirt was one of the things I *did* catch first time round. Thanks for the Bierbaum text Cramer. I knew I'd seen it confirmed ( the sweater-Devlin connection at least) somewhere, but thought it had been a Giffen interview.

People weren't invested in the Devlin character, because they just had him turn up on someone's doorstep. There were a few text bits too. Had they ran showing his investigation as *part* of the early plot (keeping it on Earth and therefore probably resulting in Erin's death) then this would have come as more of a shock. There's always the chance that part of Celeste's mission involved Devlin impersonating the Dark Circle contact. But it works so much better the other way.

Due to the grown up nature of v4, a lot of disenfranchised people saw the Circle as a solution. There's an excellent recruiting text piece for them in the volume. *We* know what they're really like. But poor UP citizens don't. From their westernised vantage point they see the Russian and Chinese analogues invading their territory. Earthgov wasn't a democracy either, and that, along with the UP, has crumbled. As a Circle agent, working for the "free" Daily Planet Devlin could certainly make a case for something better being implemented. Unfortunately the people of Earth would be swapping one puppet government for another.

The Bierbaums seem to be indicating that the Society of Super Sweaters, was a sub-group comprising of people from lots of backgrounds. Perhaps they had their own plan to paly all sides against each other.

I do think it's a shame this plotline was dropped through the volume. It would have presented a number of payoffs throughout the book leading through the final liberation of Earth and beyond.

The Legion of Super Sweaters

On LSH v4 16

Not as chuffed to talk about this issue as I was about the previous one, hence my late arrival. It's mostly more of the same, which is fine by me, but it's a bit slower, moving at more of a trot than a gallop -- as middle chapters often do. The Giffen pages at the end, I have not one kind word for.

7 out of 10 Taryns:



Likewise. I thought that was one of two standout moments in this issue, and an excellent way to tie the Khund plotline into the greater overarching story.



Hmmm...come to think of it, this whole power play could have been further explored to good effect. For all the Khunds' repulsiveness, I certainly find them to be more effective and more compelling antagonists than the Dominators...or, gods help us, Roxxas.

And your notion of Kiritan leading the invasion of Xolnar might just get me to return to Legion fic. Thanks, Cramey.



Berta's death worked for me in the sense that, out in the field of battle, even the hardest of military hardcases are ultimately just as vulnerable as anyone else. It doesn't entirely excuse the loss of a character with potential, but I think it was good storytelling. Jed's death did feel redundant, especially coming immediately after some very emotional scenes for him. Too cliché for me.



This is the other standout moment of this issue, and it may very well be the best that either of them came off in the Preboot. Additionally, the improvements in their presentation that I noted in my previous issue's review (Chuck's distinguished beard and Lu's practical AND attractive mid-length 'do,) it all adds up to a good upgrade for them. Along with Ayla and Vi, they are among the few things that I think TMK improved upon from the stories by their predecessors.



Agreed 100 percent.



Morrison's JLA, f'r instance.



I caught the Blok reference, too, and appreciated it despite the creators' seeming callousness towards him in earlier issues. I might have pegged them wrongly on that count.

Legion of Super-Heroes #17 "The Last Battle" by Tom & Mary Bierbaum & Keith Giffen, art by Keith Giffen & Al Gordon, Letters Todd Klein, Colours Tom McCraw, Editor Dan Raspler

Legionnaires fend off the Khund decoy attack as it approaches Talok VIII, with the assistance of new armor developed by Brainy. On the ground, Grev leads the attack to repel the Hill People. The Red Terror is deployed, but instruments developed by Brainy dissipate it. General Kiritan and his troops seek an honourable death in suicide.

The situation on Xolnar is desperate. Jed is killed in an explosion. Chuck gives Mysa a super pep talk and helps her create a spell to create a defensive barrier. The U.P. fleet arrives, thanks to more exotic 28th century tech exploited by Brainy, and defeats the Khunds. Commander Galt escapes, disguised as an enlisted man.

On Khundia, Glorith immobilizes Laurel Gand. Orlak tries to grab a gun and kill Glorith, but she turns him into a blob. However, the distraction loosens her hold on Laurel, who tells Violet (hidden in Laurel's earring) to attack. Vi fires a chronal howitzer and Glorith disappears. Cham has been watching the entire time through a lens in Laurel's eye.

King John visits a recovering Projectra on Orando.

Glorith has been sent to the end of time and can't get back without using most of her power.

On Earth, the execution for treason of Don & Dawn Allen (the Tornado Twins), is broadcast. Just before dying, Don imagines that he saves his sister. Dirk gets out his Sun Boy uniform after watching the execution. Devlin O'Ryan returns to Daily Planet office to procure some information.

Comments:Two stars in this issue: General Kiritan for his warrior nobility (well deserving of the lovely splash page) and Chuck Taine for his morale boosting and creativity. It's really more than morale boosting; Chuck displays a fine understanding of what it takes to motivate Mysa and, presumably, others under his direction. Luornu also merits a mention for indicating to Chuck that Mysa is their last hope, although I suspect Chuck might have figured that out himself. While it's Mysa's mystical shield that stops the Khunds' attack, she couldn't have done anything without Chuck.

Nobody could have done much without Brainy inventing a means to dispel the Red Terror, not to mention capitalizing on other nifty discoveries like anti-matter fusion to get the U.P. fleet to Xolnar rapidly. But that's his role, and it seems somewhat unremarkable. I'm not sure what happens to anti-matter fusion travel in the issues ahead; something like that should be able to boost the U.P. economy significantly.

Honourable mention to Orlak, glooped by Glorith in his attempt to play the hero.

Where did the chronal howitzer come from? Was Vi able to miniaturize it along with herself, or was it disguised as some bauble that Laurel was wearing?

Grev successfully beat back the Hill People, which must have put a dent in any hope for unification. Of course, his marriage to Lady Memory was designed not so much for peace as to breed a better line of Shadow Champion.

The murder of the Tornado Twins was brutal and emotional, even if one didn't know who they were. It took that much to get Dirk to reconsider his role as Earthgov shill.

Now that thoth has alerted me that Devlin could be the Dark Circle agent, the final page makes more sense. According to his office mate, he was missing for a day, which would have been the time he contacted Universo. He's getting information for Shvaughn and Jacques, which I had figured was because he was working with them, but could just as well be for the new alliance between Universo and Jacques' group.

On LSH v4 Issue #17

Not a bad wrap-up at all. I do think it's somewhat tainted by the "double deus ex machina" resolution (Valor and Mysa,) and by Kono's smugness (she even gets a close-up panel so that, in case we missed the point, we can see clearly that she's smirking. Yuk.)

7 out of 10 Taryns:



I agree wholeheartedly with all of the above.

v4 Issue 17

An older looking Shadow Kid and his Wife, Lady Memory discuss the imminent attack of her people from the hills. She seems to be shown shedding a tear over Grev’s accusations, but her silence is perhaps more telling. There’s something about her dialogue with Brainy that’s a bit clunky sounding. More of an add on to Grev’s line than a character in her own right.

Brainy has been burning the midnight fusion power spheres and has come up with some ways of stopping further Khund attacks. That might even extend to the Red Terror.

Back on Khundia, a cloaked figre makes his way into the centre of the capital. There, he grows into massive size, threatening the crush the Khunds, like a Monty Python opening sequence. They surrender. Gim Allon isn’t interested, concerned more with returning to his mother, a victim of the Khund attacks.

Wait, we never see Gim’s reactions in this story. Neither do we see any real impact of Jeckie’s plight among her former colleagues. The whole first year had groups stepping on egg shells, trying not to antagonise the ex-Legionnaires. Not so much in this story. She gets a scene at the end with King Jonn.

Brainy’s work is put to the test, with Ayla managing to survive quite an energy burst from a Khund battleship. Amour that is so effective will surely come in handy against future attacks. Except, I don’t think it appears again.

Back on Xolnar, the Rebel Alliance UP Militia hold out against the AT-AT Walkers Khund forces. A lady, who reminds me of Stealth, makes a call for help. Mysa, who ahs bonded with Jed, looks to bring him off the front lines. An attack seriously wound shim, and Kent tells Mysa that Jed isn’t going to survive. The loss of the Academy students, reminds me of the fate of a lot of Infinity Inc. Their place in the chronology puts them at risk. Not popular enough to get into the main team, and in the way of a direct torch passing to newer characters. Jed never made it into the Legion. So is that Power Boy headstone in the Adult Legion story in another part of the grounds for allies, or will there be another Power Boy?

In comics, any capture results in the captives being taken to the heart of their opponents’ HQ for a meeting with their leader. As opposed to being shot in the head and left in a ditch where they were captured, or taken off to a horrible prison. Thus, Laurel and Orlak meet Glorith in person. She’s been following the Dominate Like Darkseid in 10 easy Steps approach to villainy. Have proxies fight in your place, allowing you to acquire magical artefacts to further boost your powers making total domination an easier affair. Glorith spends some time with a skull containing emerald eyes. Are the emerald eyes a clue? Is it someone I should recognise? T&M are keen to reinforce the idea that using her temporal abilities costs Glorith some of her power. That’s why she needs proxies and artefacts. She’s this timeline’s version of the Trapper, and this explanation makes sense of why Trappers have their limitations.

With the reformed Legion in place, there’s a growing sense of a reunited UP in the latter part of this story. That alone makes it less of a fill in, and more in line with the rest of the series. The City people defeat the Hill people on Talok. In orbit, Valor and some of the Legion defeat the Khundian fleet, while Brainy’s devices defeat the Red Mist. We don’t see Lady Memory’s reaction this issue.

On Xolnar, Chuck works with Mysa to weave a protective spell to protect what’s left of the militia. It’s more Hag than White Witch again. It does seem to be a stepping point for Mysa to reclaim some self worth, albeit in a fairly forced fashion. Brainy’s multi tasking extends to retrofitting an entire fleet on his lunchbreak. They rout the Khunds on Xolnar.

In killing Orlak (not Cham after all), Glorith weakens her hold on the captured Laurel Gand. That allows Vi to break out of her jewellery with an Imskian version of a chronal howitzer. The device is powerful enough to send Glorith to the end of time. If it’s that powerful, it’s a surprise that Glorith doesn’t just call herself Clock Queen and carry an arsenal of the things around with her. Reading it, I’m nodding that this is how they get this timeline’s version of the Trapper to the end of time, where she can launch attacks, but always in a limited fashion. Just like her predecessor.

Giffen’s pages pick up the Earth resistance story. The deaths of the Allens is still as disturbing now as it was then. Framed, tortured and executed. At the end Don believes he’s saving his sister. It’s a genuine shock to learn that these are his last thoughts as he dies alongside her. Their crime is to be the offspring of Iris West. This retcon, makes them the children of the Flash, rather than his decedents as originally published. But back then, they didn’t know Barry would spend most of his last days in the future. The text makes it clear that the executions are in response to the Daily Planet’s stories tying Earthgov to the Dominators. T&M sneak in a grandchild of Barry Allen into the text. Barry II would presumably grow up to be The Flash too.

As shocking as the death of Dawn and Don is, I still think it would have had an even greater impact had the Planet investigations, and Iris West’s involvement been more prominent in Year 1. Devlin appears at the end here. I never thought of him as more than a peripheral figure. But he’s been involved since #1, if only behind the scenes.

Viewing the execution, Dirk Morgna closes his eyes and holds his Sun Boy costume. He’s clearly feeling a bit guilty, but not enough to actually do anything about it. The Sun Boy mug above Devlin’s Planet desk looks more capable of being a hero than the real thing at the moment. If T&M are building up to Dirk finally turning on the Dominion, then there’s only so far he can go, before he’ll look no better than his employers. He’s Earthgov’s spokesperson and would presumably be out there telling everyone what terrible terrorists the Allens were.

Devlin, fresh faced from wearing a Dark Circle mask, makes his way into the Daily Planet’s files. Any objectivity he had is gone, and he’s aiding the resistance to Earthgov.

I still prefer any of the Giffen pages to the Khund War story. In nearly any other title, this fill in story wouldn’t matter. In previous Legion volumes, it wouldn’t matter. The team overcome a foe and the status quo is returned, with some action, character building and decent plot hooks along the way. TMK were building a multi-year epic and the fill ins, as good as they are, are not what was planned, leaving us to keep up with the main arcs through text and news reports.

I forget if Giffen had walked for a while during this arc, or if he was getting the Heckler set up. I do remember that T&M felt that the new editor wasn’t too keen on their involvement. From his perspective, he would have had his own goals for a book that had created mixed feelings from fans and probably within the DC offices.

The T&M plot is pretty good with the war being fought on a number of fronts. There are setbacks and character moments. There are layers of villainy among the bad guys, while the good guys make sacrifices.

TMK are partly to blame that what saw print was not what was planned, with the way they kept changing their minds at the last minute.



Either way, I think it was irresponsible and unprofessional of him.



The editor has a name: Dan Raspler. And as far as I'm concerned, he knew best. T and M can whine all they want about how they were compromised "artists," but I think they were (and probably continue to be) blind to their own fallibilities.

Moons of Colu! For a moment, I thought my copy had missing pages!



All this new/rediscovered tech was strangely absent in forthcoming stories. That's something of a Legion tradition, marvelous lost tech, good for one story only.



The skull, good question. Hints of Sarya (although she was vaporized - maybe some other wielder of the Eye) or some Green Lantern, or just your standard mystical artefact.



Nor in any other issue, IIRC. Alas.



Too true - we could have had a big build-up, knowing that Iris was annoying the powers that be, but not knowing how they would retaliate. This scene was a shocker, but it pretty much came out of nowhere and needed all the text to give it meaning.



I'd lean in that direction as well. The Khund War made for good reading and some fine character moments, but it was more standard comic book fare than those final Giffen pages.

Legion of Super-Heroes #18 by Tom & Mary Bierbaum & Keith Giffen, art by Keith Giffen & Al Gordon, Letters Todd Klein, Colours Tom McCraw, Editor Dan Raspler

Projectra fends off an attack by a guard devoted to the Dark Circle. Marte Allon questions Projectra's attacker, who claims that the people are starving while the Queen lives in splendor. Projectra tells Lar, Tasmia and Cham that relief ships have been hijacked. She appeals to Lar to tell her people to reject the Circle, but he refuses - although he does agree to look into foreign agitators. He and Tasmia stop two hijackers on a food relief ship, then interrupt a Dark Circle meeting led by a Carggite.

Lar and Tasmia head to Cargg, after stopping on Xolnar to ask if Lu wants to tag along. She doesn't but pecks him on the cheek, causing Chuck to fake a wild embrace with Tasmia.

Cargg is firmly under Dark Circle control after a series of economic and environmental disasters. The Archkana, on Dark Circle orders, tells her people to sacrifice themselves until anti-Circle agitators are gone. Valor tells the people to think for themselves; they and the Archkana begin to doubt. Lar and Tasmia rescue the Archkana and her daughter from being killed by Circle agents. They leave, saying that Cargg can choose the Dark Circle if the people want that, but can not export those beliefs. They leave to explore the universe together.

Vi and Laurel visit Gym'll regarding her itchy artificial leg but she doesn't want to be inactive for six months to grow a new one.

On Xolnar, the dead are buried. Mysa and Chuck remember Jed.

On Earth, Jacques meets with Universo and reluctantly agrees to a partnership.

Circe gets an update on the return of Celeste, Bounty, Devlin and someone wearing a distorter (probably Jan), unaware that Bounty is listening to her. Marella Tao's news studio complex is destroyed by a bomb, which is blamed on the resistance. Shvaughn wonders if she's working for the people who did it.

Jo, still in the distant past, manages to get to Earth.

A text piece provides a Dark Circle recruitment message.


Comments:The cover shows a group of people in Dark Circle masks; some of them are dressed in the clothing of Legionnaires and associates, including Devlin. Is this suggesting more clone work from the Circle, or that everyone is suspect?

The timeline here isn't specified. We don't know how much time has passed since the Khunds' defeat; people are still feeling the effects of the Red Terror. I'd like to know more about this - has it left a bad memory, affected some more than others, sown continuing mistrust? What's to stop the Khunds from using it again? They could deploy it before the counter-measures invented by Brainy were in place. The story can't answer everything, but the limitations of the medium are often frustrating.

On Xolnar, the survivors bury the dead, which suggests that not too much time has passed. Even though it's a frozen planet and no corpses are rotting, it seems likely that that's a ritual that would be performed as soon as possible. However, this brief scene might have taken place before the Dark Circle scenes and just be slotted in here.

This is the first instance in which we see how Valor is viewed as a god-like being. His word is enough to sway public opinion and he uses that power cautiously. I'm not entirely clear where he draws the line, however. No interference with food relief, no off-planet agitators allowed on Orando, no control of Cargg's Archkana, but if people want to follow the Circle, fine. How are they to learn about the Circle if someone from the outside doesn't spread the message? It seems to me that he does on Cargg exactly what he refused to do on Orando, speak directly to the people. Then he's off to the stars with Tasmia, as if the problem's all fixed. It's a weak resolution.

This is also the first time Legion readers have seen Luornu's home planet. It doesn't look like she came from there, but things have changed. The planet resembles Orando in the sense that it looks rather primitive, especially with open fires and skulls on stakes. There's a palace from which an Archkana rules, tapestries on the walls, people with swords, no visible tech except something that looks like a calculator..... Distinctive features include pyramid buildings, 27-second intervals, three dots on the forehead and hair in three stripes. They really like threes. I have a feeling Luornu wouldn't even be welcome here.

Strangely, Tasmia tells Lar that she visited here, after the disasters but before the Dark Circle infiltrated. Was that as a space-nun, in her role as Shadow Champion or just trekking around the remains of the U.P.? It's another detail that irks.

On Earth, the violence continues; Shvaughn questions if she's working for the people who blew up the media complex, which - rather nicely - doesn't tell us anything. She could be referring to Science Police/Earthgov or Jacques Foccart, possibly even Universo's group. Dangerous times when you don't know who's who. We do get a hint that the tide may be turning, though: Bounty is now hunting the hunter, possibly equipped with devices supplied by Brainiac 5.

As the final panels illustrate, the action going forward will shift back to Earth (apart from an Al Gordon/Darkseid excursion) ; even Jo has wound up there, albeit in the far past.

I decided that there's no real point in me reviewing issue 18, but I will still review the "Adventures of Superman" tie-ins:

476 - "Time and Time Again Phase One"

Kicking off a storyline running through the whole Super-Franchise, in which Kal pinballs from one time era to another, including not one, not two, but three stops in the Legion's era.

There's way too much set-up in this issue (and way too much Booster Gold) the upshot being that Kal's first visit to the 30th Century, this one shortly after the Legion's foundation, is only six pages long, with a cliffhanger that's supposedly resolved in "Action Comics" 663, which I will admit I have not read. I bought these three Adventures issues solely for the beautiful Dan Jurgens/Brett Breeding art.

I also have to say that Supes does not come off well here. He ends up pinballing through the time-stream through his own impulsiveness, then almost causes a disaster in the 30th Century by trying to prevent another disaster. This gives Rokk a chance to act like a martinet (BOO,) but it also gives Imra the opportunity to make reason prevail (YAY.)

That aforementioned cliffhanger really bugs me, as I'm sure it has a lot of readers. I say look for those six pages online (plus the relevant pages of Action 663) instead of bothering with the whole issue.

477 - "Time and Time Again Phase Four"

This is the best of the three, even though it's basically a retelling of the Silver Age Sun-Eater story, only with the Bronze Age lineup (and if you think that means that Wildfire is in the Ferro role, you'd be correct; AND if you think that unlike Ferro, he survives as a blob of disembodied energy, you'd be correct again.) But Vi and Tinya look absolutely gorgeous here, and Jurgens & Breeding give them distinctly different faces, which is refreshing (even more refreshing, colorist Glenn Whitmore gives each girl her own distinct skin tone, Vi's being a nice shade of olive.) Definitely worth reading.

478 - "Time and Time Again Phase Seven"

While I enjoy seeing the FYL era drawn by an art team that I genuinely like, there's just way too much wrong with this issue. Dev-Em is so f___ing obnoxious he makes Roxxas look like a model of restraint (And where the hell did he come from anyway? There's a brief mention of him reaching the 30th Century thanks to Valor, but no editorial footnote!) Laurel is there to be pushed around and beaten up by Dev-Em, and saved by Superman (and, ultimately, by Vi, who does her eardrum shtick on Dev-Em, which finally knocks him out.)

And, oh yeah, turns out there's bombs on Earth's moon, installed by a bunch of rogue Dominators in case the other Dominators' plan fails, or something like that, I'm confused. In the end, the Legion (specifically Imra) stops the moon from exploding, but then the guy who's responsible for Supes being there, the Linear Man, sets off the bombs because destiny or some such.

Jeez, what an ineffectual loser Superman is in these issues. No wonder they decided to do that stupid "Death" stunt only a year after this storyline.

I also have to wonder why there were these Supes/Legion tie-ins in the first place. Wasn't it only a few months earlier that the Super-Office forced the Legion team to erase any Supes references from Legion continuity? If anyone knows the whys and wherefores of these oddball (if pleasantly drawn) issues, I'd certainly be interested to learn.

You didn't miss much in Action 663 in terms of the Legion. The legionnaires hesitate about answering, using excuses of a thousand years of mixed up history, when Saturn Girl "hears" thoughts of a secondary fire being found which Superman races to fix just in time for it to explode and him get blasted to the 1940s. One page of a recap and four panels including the explosion.

This whole repeated time jumps to the future seems to be an attempt to acknowledge Superman's previous visit to the Pocket Universe and meeting a "Superboy" and the Legion without raising again the Superboy/Valor inspiration question. When he meets the 5YL Legionnaires in the final instalment in AOS #478 he mentions the Time Trapper and they refer to "Glorith, the Time Trapper" so it is excused away by misunderstanding each other's terminology. (And with the scene from LSH v4 #13 where Glorith "takes over" the Time Trapper's role in the PU). They then give Superman (and readers unfamiliar with Legion books) a one page summary of what happened in LSH v3 #38 which includes the comment that "Eventually, fighting alongside the Legion, Superboy sacrificed his life. He'd only been with us a short time, but he was still a valued comrade and friend."

The Legion's history may now be "fine" without Superboy/man involvement but the Pocket Universe became a key event in Superman's history. Without it many of the pieces of his post-Crisis history would never have happened, including his revised Fortress, the Eradicator and his later resurrection.

As for Superman's performance in these crossovers I have to disagree with your "loser" comment. In the first meeting he made a potentially bad mistake early on because he was unfamiliar with the technology but then went ahead and blew out the remaining fire to the young Legion's amazement. In the second meeting he was the one to devise the new plan to beat the Sun-Eater after learning of everyone's powers and it was only by his own efforts that Violet survived her part of the mission which she acknowledges in the third encounter. In this meeting he rescues Laurel from exploding fusion generators (she was unconscious after her recent bout with Dev-Em), leads the Legion in saving lives from explosive decompression, before fighting and distracting Dev-Em at a critical juncture. Yes it is Violet who finally takes Dev-Em down, and Saturn Girl who knows how to stop the bombs thanks to her telepathy, and the bombs are still exploded in the end by the "villain" who has been causing him to bounce through time. However if he had not been involved arguably Dev-Em would have destroyed the Moon sooner along with the Legion members still there.

Of all the three crossovers it is the third that is most important in terms of the 5YL Legion. While the other meetings are effectively cameos of the Legion in Superman books with no ongoing impact to their stories, the third has a major impact on the ongoing 5YL story along with some small (OK very small) character moments. Is it a good Legion story? No not really, but it is critical to TMK's ongoing plot.

I do have to agree with disliking this revision of Dev-Em. Who's Who had already revised the backstory of the familiar one to being a mutant with incredibly powerful psychic ability to become (once) whatever he wanted. Deciding that Kryptonians were the ultimate powerhouses he became one. This revision here making him a Daxamite (that bit is passable) brought by Valor from the Twentieth Century (why?) and driven mad by lead-poisoning (yuck) and only ever appearing in this one issue not even in the Legion books shows him to be a "wow-what-a-great-way-to-change-things-up-and-surprise-the-fans" idea with the one purpose of triggering the Dominators Triple thingummy plan - for reasons.

The Valor part is a bit weak isn't it. It seems to me that the story was more to tell an idea, that of fanaticism, how it gets bedded in, and the possible horrific consequences. The way the Dark Circle is portrayed and why some people are following I found very believable. The recruitment text piece at the end is very well written and scary in how convincing it is.

As a Valor story it is just OK. As a picture of the dangers of fanaticism I think it works quite well. (At least it isn't preaching to us like a certain time-travelling TV show is apt to do of late.)

One of the letters in #23 about #18 highlighted what for me was the most fun bit, the page of interaction of Valor and Tasmia with Chuck and Luornu. It was good to see Luornu's crush on Superboy still existing in this reality only transferred to Valor as appropriate, and the interaction and antics particularly of Chuck were great.

A further thought is that perhaps there was an intentional comparison between the Dark Circle's attitude and Valor's. The Dark Circle actively recruits followers ofr their own purposes whereas Valor, who many already see as a religious figure, encourages individuals to think for themselves. Although he may use his influence to give voice to his opinions, he specifically refuses to tell them what to believe. Two very different comments on religion.

Thanks for explaining the whys and wherefores of those Superman tie-ins, Stile.

Just out of curiosity, what did you think of the art?

Thanks for the Superman reviews Ann and additional insight from stile. It sounds confusing to bring Superman into the Legion after all the changes to make Valor the inspirational hero. And Dev-Em! What a way to spoil a good character, who was a charming if self-centered and egotistical good guy.

The Subs podcast covered these issues in episodes 578 and 580. I did an image search on issue #478 and found a splash page with a very pregnant Imra - gratifying to know that dear old Iron Butt doesn't let the ninth month of pregnancy keep her from saving the day, or trying to.




Valor's attitude certainly is more palatable. You're likely right that the comparison was intentional. I think they go more into Dark Circle vs Valor beliefs in an annual.

You're welcome, Cramey.

Thank *you* for those podcast links. I'm going to set aside some time this weekend to listen.

Being a Superman collector I have seen quite a bit of Dan Jurgens art and I have often thought he is one of the better artists. I'm not very good at expressing what I like about artists but - his figures seem quite alive generally, not static, not cartoonish. His faces were also quite expressive. There are times when he feels a bit like he is posing his figures but on the whole quite good, although I think he is a much better artist than a writer.

A bit surprisingly his artwork didn't seem quite right when he contributed a few issues late in the Reboot Legion, maybe it just wasn't what I was used to for that comic? In some ways the same thing happens here. I enjoyed his versions of the Adventure era Legion and the post-Cockrum era Legion but his 5YL Legion comes off as not quite right largely because his style is so different to the style established by Giffen for this Legion. It's a bit too - er - clean perhaps?

Brett Breeding was often his inker team-mate and I guess contributed significantly to the end result. Others I liked from that era of Superman comics were Jerry Ordway (not at first but he grew in me) and Stuart Immonen (some of the stuff he did really blew me away - he has an LSH v4 issue coming up that I thought was brilliantly drawn).

Much appreciated, Stile. I'm always glad to find out someone else is a fan of Jurgens' art (and I agree with you that he's a better artist than writer.)

Part of the reason I asked was because I recall that another thing we have in common is our liking of the Roger Stern/John Buscema/Tom Palmer era of Avengers. I consider Jurgens one of a handful of artists born in the 1950s and 1960s who did an exceptional job of emulating Buscema's style.

Breeding is a far different type of inker than Palmer (Breeding's lines are firm and clean, Palmer's are gutsy and loose,) but I think he suited Jurgens better than any other inker. Even some very good inkers, such as Dick Giordano, and Art Thibert, and Jerry Ordway, didn't quite do it for me (and the less said about the guy who inked Jurgens' brief early 90s run as writer/artist on JLA, the better. Yicch.)

Jurgens' default inker of recent years, Norm Rapmund, usually does a decent riff on Breeding's inking style.

We do seem to have some similar tastes. I have to admit that I often don't pay that much attention to the artists even if I do notice things I like and dislike so it is always interesting to hear your more detailed artistic view point Ann. Thanks.

For those interested here are selections of Dan Jurgens rendering of each era of the Legion from the Adventures of Superman issues.

Adventure Era



Post Cockrum Era



5YL Era



... and their retelling of the events in V3 #37-38

... and the Triple Strike plan as extracted by Imra from the mind of a dying Dominator



The "cool" guy with the button is Dev-Em - unfortunately.

A couple of small but good plot points:

Each time Superman returns he mentions the Legionnaires he met back in V3 #37; Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid (Jacques), Sun Boy and Blok. During his first encounter Imra says she has never heard of some of them (maybe left vague to keep the exact date a bit vague as well). In the second encounter they recognise most names but don't know Blok. In the third of course the Legionnaires are telling him what happened after he left.

The other point is that Imra's mind reading of the dying Dominator (shown above) shows that the Superman's first encounter was during one of the Dominator's sabotage activities to takeover resupply of the Moon. Nice matching up. While the second encounter does not reference the Dominators it does begin on the Moon once again tying the crossovers together.

Thanks for all those pages, stile! Good background for the next issue. And to think, Imra kept a "visual diary"! I wonder what else was in it....

Legion of Super-Heroes #19 by Tom & Mary Bierbaum & Keith Giffen, art by Keith Giffen & Al Gordon, Letters John Workman, Colours Tom McCraw, Editor Dan Raspler

A huge shockwave hits Earth then large pieces of extra-terrestrial debris take out Medicus One. Earthquakes strike the planet, destroying many cities as shields and stabilizers fail. The moon has exploded. A piece destroys a Dominion battleship orbiting Earth as more fragments destroy more cities.

Circadia Senius attempts to launch a Luna Sub-One orbiter to restore the stability that the moon had provided, then his research station itself is vaporized.

Dominators, operating below Metropolis, discuss that the moon was blown up and the shields shut down without authorization. These were parts of a triple-strike program; the third strike, detonation of all power spheres, cannot be stopped. These explosions further destroy Earth's cities, which the Dominators view as unfortunate but useful distraction to keep humans from discovering the chambers.

Jo lands in Egypt, five centuries ago. He is observed by Nabu and an assistant and thought to be not human. He meets a girl, who the reader realizes is something more than a girl; she confronts Jo and tells him she's from Bgztl and is regarded as a demon by villagers. She and Jo settle down on a homestead and make a life for themselves. The pharoah, when he hears about this, orders Nabu to get rid of her. Nabu confronts her; she is revealed to be a Lord of Chaos who wanted to use Jo as a gateway to the future. Nabu exterminates her, then sends a devastated Jo back to 30th century Winath. Jo later visits Tinya's memorial on Shanghalla and accepts that he can now move on from her death.

A text piece provides a report to Circe from one of her captains about the Triple Strike Disaster, concluding that it was a Dominator program but they did not initiate it. Nevertheless, there is growing anger among the SP ranks that they have been used by Earthgov and the Dominators.

Comments:The destruction of Luna and the devastation of Earth is a pretty shocking development. What exactly happened is a mystery until one reads either the concurrent Superman story or the brief summary on the Letters page. All we know is that Earth has been severely damaged, the Dominators not so much and there's something very important called "the chambers".

Then the story goes from sixth gear to first, in my opinion, with the resolution of Jo's story. Well, how else could he have gotten back to his own time, unless Brainy was to somehow find him and be able to time travel back for a rescue. (Can they even time travel now, with all the changes made to the Trapper/Glorith story?) The Doctor Fate/Lords of Order and Chaos intervention is not continued in the on-going Legion story; it has only served the purpose to get Jo back where he belongs and kick him out of his grieving. He's more Job than Jonah: how much suffering must one man endure? A nice wrap-up for this Legionnaire, but I'd be glued to the news from Earth at this point.

v4 Issue 18

A very strong cover fronts the issue, reminiscent of the JLA Starro one by Bolland. It’s a cover that’s fitting for a Circle vs Legion finale, after the heroes find out the range of their foes’ machinations since the UP collapse and in their long term cloning. This issue *is* Circle oriented. It doesn’t reach that kind of direct conflict that recalls Kara whisking off Querl and Dirk to their homeworld. It does trawl some deeper waters, that preceding Circle stories didn’t reach.

The Circle of TMK are a long, long way from the hooded armies from the Circle’s early appearances. I had quite liked the Levitz leadership, with each villain having their own specialty that bolstered the forces of the whole.

This hasn’t been abandoned by TMK, but there’s no real sense of a controlling force behind the Circle here. The Legion aren’t up against anyone running the circle. There are no quick, decisive fixes in this volume. They’re dealing with the spread of its support on a couple of UP worlds. The Legion don’t stop the Circle as a whole. It doesn’t need to rely on clone armies. It relies on the spread of its ideology. That’s something that’s going to linger long after the Legion have flown off to their next adventure.

*We* know the Circle for villains, and know that they’re ruthlessly exploiting the populations of these worlds. The Circle are utilising the very real fears and frustrations felt by a lot of people in the United Planets. They are capitalising on that misery and going out of their way to spread it, knowing that their strength goes with it. They cling to any power they gain, resorting to terror and blackmail in order to keep it. That’s really where the Circle goes wrong. A genuinely sympathetic Circle would gain a great deal more support. The other sides in the conflict have issues to face too, and that’s what makes this issue interesting.
There *is* real hardship in the UP. It’s being exploited by the Circle, but it wasn’t caused by them. The Magic Wars resulted in an economic collapse, that really couldn’t have been foreseen. But it wasn’t helped by the UP’s overreliance on that technology to control the worlds under its remit. There was determination to keep weather control systems going, even though it caused increasing amounts of power to do so. The UP HQ is still a world covered in technology, a bureaucratic death star, roaming the UP. The UP have kept that going while people across their worlds struggle and suffer, as their much more basic needs have failed to be met. And failed in front of the aggressive Khund and Dominator empires, with lots of other would be conquerors such as Mordru waiting in the wings. This is the organisation that allows Evillo in.

We get some sense of this in the volume. In #1 Braal was even more of a dump, taken over by Imsk and pretty much abandoned as an industrial planet by the UP. Fringe worlds have been left isolated and vulnerable to the Khunds. People would be justified to feel alone and angry. No doubt there’s plenty of corruption even as relief missions are underway. As horrible as the Circle are, the UP should not use them as scape goats to absolve themselves of their responsibilities.

The Queen of Orando does still live in a palace. The leaders of Cargg also live in stately accommodation. Earth was never a democracy, even when it wasn’t controlled by the Dominators. If you’re a UP citizen and want your family to be fed, who would you be looking to? “At least the cult feeds its people.”
The Circle are wearing the trappings of a cult in this issue. They look to assassinate Jeckie (good to see her recovered). While those actions are reprehensible, I’m also reminded of the times the UP were happy to send the Legion off on non-fatal, but regime changing mission impossibles. Worlds aren’t allowed to leave the UP, or it’s war (as Imsk nearly found out).

The Circle are a cautionary example of the extremism that can fester when those running countries forget the people they’re supposed to govern. I think TMK were having a look at the political landscape around them. Everything here, is just as valid today as it was then. It would have been interesting to see what would happen if Levitz Dark Circle leaders had made a political bid for power that rivalled the UP’s control, rather than it being a villainous cult.

The Circle are politically minded by making sure relief ships are intercepted, resulting in more misery that they then exploit. I’m not sure why a feudal world like Orando should ever be starving though. I’d have thought if it was well run, it would one of the more sustainable worlds. Perhaps all that dimension hopping along with the Red Terror has taken a toll. As Lar Gand doesn’t leap to help Jeckie, there’s a hint that one of her illusions has been that of good governance.

Fortunately, the book has Lar Gand to navigate through the moral maze. He won’t help Jeckie perpetuate her reign if the people don’t want her, but moves to stop the relief ships from being taken over. I’m not sure what happens if the Orandans don’t want Jeckie in charge. As mentioned, it’s not a democracy and you can bet there’s a system full of courtiers who will go to great lengths to keep things that way.

The ship that’s been taken over by the circle, is one of Garth & Imra’s Lightning Ring plantation ships from WInath. They’ve called it the “Nolan”. I guess there are also ships called the “Norg” “Arlik” “Armorr” out there.

Lar saves the ship and returns to Orando. Fortunately for Jeckie, it’s an off-worlder who’s stirring things up. Had the Circle just let someone from Orando do it, he would have been bound not to interfere. The cult leader makes comments that always give a chill the more I come across them in real life. Heart over mind, rejection of knowledge, mob mentality. Seemingly, the reveal that the head priest if from Cargg disrupts the Circle on Orando. It would have been much more awkward had everyone there said “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we don’t still agree with her.”

TMK get points for showing us the infiltration of the Circle across different timescales. We’ve seen the first attempts on Orando. But Cargg, where Lar and Tasmia go following up their head priestess link, has been under their sway for some time. Gone are the clandestine meetings. The skulls of their enemies are on sticks. Circle guards “protect” the palace. And the leader of Cargg has been reduced to a puppet, who is willing to have her population commit suicide rather than hand power away from the Circle. Lar and Tasmia have the power and the inspiration to show the people that they have been duped. Again, it’s a bit fortunate that the Circle are using offworlders to control Cargg. Again, it allows Lar to intervene. Even after the Circle are removed, there’s the hint that the Circle will not so easily be removed from the minds of the people. Since the next Circle leader there, will come from within, who will help them then? Perhaps this is victory enough for the Circle. Seeding the worlds with their ideology and darkness, as Lar seeded them with people and hope.

Lar and Tasmia continue their travels, knowing that the Circle’s hold on other struggling worlds is stronger than they’ve seen here. This is also an early link to another of the volumes Big Reveals.

Elsewhere, Laurel and Vi go to Medicus One to check on her leg. They don’t want to stick around Earth long enough for a replacement to leg to bed in. It’s a bit of a throwaway scene. But it’s there to remind of the Earth plot and also as a Medicus One set up to what happens to it later on.

There are two trips to Xolnar, and TMK get points for linking the Circle threat to the Xolnar plot through Luornu. As with Lar being an inspiration to the galaxy instead of Superboy, we see that Luronu’s crush has also moved from Superboy to Lar. Chuck and Tasmia even make fun of it. It’s nice to see a fun side to Tasmia. I still enjoy the little tweaks TMK make to Legion continuity. They’re in the background, improve the history (in this case forced upon them) and don’t get in the way of the story.

Mysa does get an arc in the volume, which is more than I thought happened. She begins her road to recovery here. Saving the people on Xolnar and with Jed’s help and Blok-surrogate presence/ sacrifice have been a big help to her. Sacrificing Jed, and having Mysa get shouted at in a warzone seemed a bit forced for this arc. It stands out because of the lighter touches TMK show they can do elsewhere in the volume. I think that some of these plans get unravelled leaving some clunky edges.

Back on Earth we get another nice TMK touch, where it comes to group motivation. Both sides of the resistance want the same goal. But they can’t spend two minutes in the same room without squabbling about methods and plans. Which is why so many rebellions fall flat on their rear ends, or turn to in fighting once their goal has been achieved. Even if Earth is freed, further bloodshed seems likely. There’s an explosion later in the issue. Erin worries about who she’s involved with. She makes the distinction between the two resistance groups. I wonder what she’d think if she knew that Jacques had already signed up to an alliance with them. I don’t think we see that, which is a shame. I don’t think we get to see Jacques reaction to this either. There’s a hint at certain chambers being found and links to them being vitally important to the Dominators. To have such big reveals still to come this far into the volume, speaks highly of TMK’s scope for the series.
Elsewhere, Circe finds out that Legionnaires are on Earth. Apparently Earthgov can’t touch people off of Earth, which doesn’t explain how they managed to send Celeste off in the first place. As she watches them, Bounty is watching her. Unless Roxxas named Circe, I’m not sure how Bounty knows to be there. It was Dirk who met with Celeste, so I’d have thought they’d be following him. That might have led to an interesting subplot on his loyalties.

A very lonely Jo reaches Earth having cobbled together his Rimborian shuttle. It won’t survive the entry into the atmosphere, but Jo’s powers will. It’s a last chance. Although we’re seeing an instalment of this plot each issue, Jo’s journey could have taken quite some time. He’s certainly feeling the isolation of a long journey.

There’s a lot going on in an issue that’s essentially a plot to stop the villainous Dark Circle. Giffen drawn subplots also add lots of depth and there are a few hints at what’s to come.