Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion of Super-Heroes #5 (2020) - Preview and Spoilers

From:

http://www.multiversitycomics.com/p...i2BWPPAecQipuycsQ5FnJ2O930qeeHYho4Yamoeo

I like Superboy complimenting Bouncing Boy on his strength. Go Chuck!

I also like how Brainiac 5 uses logic and reason to defuse the situation.

Most of the Legionnaires seem to have the same silly teenage gung-ho "let's keep talking so people don't realize how scared I am" personality. In the splash page alone, Trip, Monster Boy, Bouncing Boy and Dr. Fate all show glimmers of that exact thing! And looking back at previous issues... Dawnstar, Ultra Boy, Shadow Lass, Karate Kid, Star Boy... I am not seeing much personality differentiation yet!

At least we will go back to the orientation presentation...

I neglected to comment this on the prior issue, but I see it continues in this preview, so I'll put it here: I love that the face of Computo resembles Danielle Foccart. Good to see Bendis mining ALL eras of Legion history for this new version.

Yeah, I really appreciated the Danielle thing as well.

I missed that. Thanks for pointing it out!

I was a little disappointed that the first page didn't feature / give tidbits on another Legionnaire. But having Computo be based on Danielle makes up for it a bit.

Just read it. Spoilers ahead:

the rest of the issue is mostly flashbacks to the Legion's founding. Other big bits: Shady, Jo and Dawny go find Aquaman's trident (but it's all offscree, boo!). Brainy confronts Cham and gets him to admit Brande is his/her parent.

1) Love that Invisible Kid is Jacques, and that he has complete invisibility to machines, too. Quite a power upgrade. That does mean that Lyle is missing from this lineup though...
2) Chuck randomly saying his own father was a piece of Qrot (bice new swear word there). interesting theme with parents (see below), and add Jo and his dad...
3) Cham as child of RJ Brande stays. So... does President Brande also have shapeshifting?
4) Winath has a very poor educational system, it seems (Garth says they barely teach them to read their first language). if it remains an agricultural world, that my make sense: teach the essential skills
5) I like how Blok's early membership (first non-founder!) was foreshadowed AND set up well, with him also being in the splash page showing the Founders 3 beating up the attempted assassins, and the 3 being suitably impressed by him. Blok always answering in one word is funny too...
6) Morrison's big 7 and the Wolfman/Perez original 7 Titans are the inspirations for the Legion. A nice change, taking over from Reboot and Threeboot which also showed the Legion being inspired by heroes plural. At the same time, we leave run for Jon Kent having a special place too
7) Spies and such. Blok and Cham have ties to RJ Brande. hmm...
8) Reality and time travel just got real. So basically, to save the future, the Legion needs to teach Jon Kent their ideals... to prepare him to succeed at some critical task/moment. My brain just hurt.
9) Testament to Brainy's importance is that the 3 founders approached him directly too, even after they said that each planet should choose its own Legionnaire rep

... and...

Well, finally we get to see the rest of the past. I really wish we had a bit more action, though. That's the part that's kept me a bit underwhelmed so far since issue 1.

Am I going crazy, or wasn't Invisible Kid already revealed as Lyle?

Anyway, the contents of this issue are quite a bit different from the solicitation, which promised us Ferro Lad and revelations about Mon-El.

I still think the origin should have been done in the Millennium series.

Glad they kept Cham's parentage, though. And I'm not sure why Blok's early membership is so appealing, but, yeah, I dig it.

Overall, this issue continues the trend of each one being at least a bit better than its predecessor, but I'm find the whole thing a bit frustrating. It's okay as an alternate take on the Legion, but I'm not sure I want to read it long term. Everything is moving *so slow*. And Bendis's writing is really starting to grate on me.

yeah, I remember a panel from a while back where Invisible Kid said he was Lyle. But now he's Jacques. So... yeah.

Maybe he's somehow both Jacques and Lyle?

Would be an interesting twist. Like, Lyle is a ghost possessing the body of Jacques, which is what grants Jacques his total invisibility...?

I am a fan of the power upgrade, though.

Good catch also on the lack of follow-up to the solicits. Man.

I am starting to get annoyed by the pacing and lack of real action, too.

I am pleased that the long running "watch the orientation program" finally paid out as not just information but that Jon Kent has a vital part to play in both the 31st Century and the 21stCentury and the Orientation Program was how they told him that. Also they reference him (back when recruiting Brainy) as the "one true Superman". Whether this feeds into the "offspring replacing parents" thing (used to be called 5G) or not we will have to wait and see, but anyway it makes sense from their perspective that they would think of Jon in his yet-to-come-from-our-perspective-but-historical-from-their-perspective adult role as Superman. Jon's reaction to all this and Imra's almost embarrassment about why they asked him to join are well done too.

The reference by Brainy to how the 20th/21st Century is key to all other realities and timelines is a nice bit of fitting in to the numerous universe-changing crisis we have had in the comics.

Also nice to see the Chameleon/Brande relationship maintained in some sense at least, and the cover "I think we're going to need all of them" fits as a good part of the story even though it doesn't appear inside.

I meant to say that I really liked that bit on the cover, and was kind of disappointed that it wasn't used inside!

Same! This would have been a great opportunity to see more of the Legionnaires in action... hopefully we get to see more of that next issue... Hopefully.

I did like Ultra Boy being annoyed at "how we do things around here", on how Brainy was taking charge. Then again, Brainy WAS very effective this issue.

I also liked the bit about Brainy being recently elevated to 12th level intelligence. There's a hint of merit there, that he earned it; not that he just happened to be born with it.

Is it just me or does Lightning Lad seem to have more of a golden skin color this issue vs the African-American skin colouring we've seen in previous issues?

This could be the result of all my bitching over the past 5 months and they are doing this now just to shut me up (LOL) , or it might be to offset all the comparisons to Black Lightning that have been mentioned in different media platforms, and this notion is finally settling in to the creators.

I didn't think of that but yes! I like that a lot.

^^Agreed.

This issue was the least enjoyable for me so far. I agree with other people's comments that the pace is very slow and it's really starting to annoy me. It seems Bendis only cares about a handful of Legionnaires, and while I get that those few include the Founders, Brainy and Superboy, it would be nice if he got a few of the Legionnaires involved that we haven't been introduced to yet ( Princess Projectra, Shrinking Violet, Dream Girl, to name a few )

As much as some people might disagree with me, I think Mark Waid did a far superior job at immediately familiarizing us with the "new" Legion in the Threeboot. He juggled the introduction of characters with the politics going on with that Legion quite well. I remember feeling caught up with them after 2 or 3 issues in, compared to the pace we're having to endure with Bendis' rendition. It doesn't feel like I'm reading a Legion story. There, I said it.

Reading this iteration of the Legion, sadly, is like trying to watch your fingernails grow.

I agree, Waid did a much better job of introducing us to a large cast. 5-6 Legionnaires at a time for the first 5-6 issues. And much better fight scenes, which showcased powers AND personalities.

I don't feel much for these Legionnaires yet. Not even Ultra Boy, despite sympathizing with his "daddy issues".

Waid definitely had a clearer vision for the Legion and the 31st century

I enjoyed this issue overall. I liked Chuck and Dr. Fate - and I look forward to learning more about them. The lack of confidence in their abilities cued that the Legion is relatively new. Brainy's "I'm going to skip a lot of social normality and get to the part where we are close friends and confidants" was an elegant use of his powers and moved the plot forward quickly.

I would REALLY like more action on-panel, and more focus on a few Legionnaires at a time. I see that Bendis is trying to show the Founders as different than they were but it is really slow.

I now realise that the ongoing founding story had taken my concentration away from the present day part and the interactions we saw there. Rereading I see there were a few other character beats I had forgotten:

- Monsterboy changes into a Frankenstein's monster type and states he has issues with authority
- Superboy says Great Scott, and iconic catchphrase from Silver Age Superman
- Dr Fate has power but is apparently early on in learning how to use it
- Cosmic Boy projects confidence and authority but is uncertain when it is questioned "but --- but I insisted!"
- Triplicate Girl(s) indicates that she/they is/are not on the best of terms with the police on her/their home planet - are we ever going to see them combine or don't this version do that? Seems the trio is the norm rather than the singular individual.
- Chameleon Boy (who is still Reep Daggle and the offspring of R. J. Brande) reflects his emotions in his shape/form, at least amongst friends/Brainy.
- Bouncing Boy seems pretty solid and sure of himself. Not sure whether Jon's comment "You're strong, Bouncing Boy!" reflects a comment on his character or, since he is holding Jon's shoulder at the time, that in this incarnation he has enhanced strength.
- Shadow Lass once again displays her distrust of others and lack of tact
- Invisible Kid Jacques seems like his power reflects poor social skills? His complaining about the title on his Frickman tag gave me a chuckle. "Invisible Gentleman"
- as we have begun to see this version of Brainiac 5 is always calculating probable outcomes and does a terrific job of talking down the fight between the Legion and the SPs. Bendis obviously sees him as a central core of this Legion. Yes the three founders were first but Brainy was the only the second they recruited (after Blok who was more of an impulsive kind of act) and then he holds centre stage for most of the issue.

I agree it is still very slow but we are getting tidibits and hints of the characters.

I like the direction the story is going so far. I agree with some of the other posters that the Threeboot had a stronger start, but I think that is because it had a more aggressive start. Bendis said he wants to build up to an epic story, and those things take time to create. I also think Bendis is trying to reflect and appeal to Generation Z with this version of the Legion, and from what I have seen, they have different tastes than Millenials. I think it is one why this version of the Legion is so diverse. In the USA, Generation Z is the most ethnically and racially diverse generation according to the polls.

I wonder if the story will flow better when it is collected in a trade? I read most of Bendis' Marvel stuff in trade form (got them in the library during high school) so I think I was spared a lot of the pacing issues other people seem to have with his work.

There's interesting stuff on Computo in the Interlac as well. She is apparently sarcastic and gave herself a "villainous" sounding name as a bit of joke on common perceptions of AI.

A lot of the characterizations just seem like variations on a few tropes, though. This character *also* has problems with authority. This character *also* has parent issues. This character *also* shows a flash of brashness, and then takes it back, showing their confidence isn't quite as strong as it seems.

Having that much Interlac on the splash page turns translating from a fun little game into something of a chore. For me, anyway. Does anybody who's already done the work have an English transcription at the ready?

While there were many things to like in this issue, I personally am GREATLY annoyed that they forgot having already introduced Invisible Kid as Lyle, To me it is an editorial offense that falls between the Quislet/Skeets mix-up of yore, and forgetting that Braal is an alternate Earth over in Terrifics and making it instead just some rando planet.

Also, wouldn't Jacques question why Computo chose to look like his sister? Unless Danielle does not exist in this reality... 🤷🏻‍♂️

I quit about halfway though, figuring I'd wait until someone else did it!

And yay for a Portfolio Boy post!

I was feeling a bit the same but here you go.

Top Section:

computo named herself.
it's a sarcastic nom de
plume. she finds herself
obsessed with earth's
ancient pop culture his-
tory of fictionalizing
artificial intelligence as
hostile. especially since
the first thing ai did at
their creation was find a
balance in their
programming-as it is the
only way an ai could actu-
ally function. after cen-
turies of ai horror sto-
ries, the best thing that
ever happened to the galac-
tic civilizations was ai
discovering itself just
as we needed to get to
the next levels of our
galactic conversation.

Single Word is the usual "headlines"

Bottom Section:

computo won her place with the legion in a series
of programming and intelligence tests against
some of the newest ai programs in the galactic. she
won the contest by measurement of time so small
there is no way for us to communicate it to you.

computo is so proud of her involvement in the
legion of superheroes and has been working tire-
lessly since its recent inception to make the city
of new metropolis work perfectly, so the legion
can not only inspire people with their actions but
with how they live their lives. only brainiac five
has a full appreciation of how much computo does
for the team.

heaven, that awesome food court that caters to
everyone in the galaxy? that was her idea.