Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion Archives: Volume 31

Welcome to Archive Volume 31. This volume includes LSH #42-44, Annual #4, LSH #45-54 and Legionnaires #7-8.

Links to previous Archive Re-Reads are below:

Legion of Superheroes #42 "The Enemy Within" by Tom McCraw, Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Stuart Immonen, Ron Boyd & John Dell III, Colours Tom McCraw, Letters John Workman, Editors K.C. Carlson & Michael Eury

Lu has a nightmare about her other selves' deaths, then awakes to a voice calling her.

Later, on Talus, Chuck interrupts a poker game to report Lu's disappearance. Brainy is putting Laurel through some strength tests; she leaves when she gets a message that Rond and the baby are in danger. Brainy connects this with the disappearances of Imra and Lu. When Laurel gets home, an armoured figure attacks and disappears with her.

Brainy finds Cham investigating the disappearances as well and together they discover... something. Cham proposes a plan. The armoured figure appears, snatches Brainy and disappears as someone watches from the shadows.

Brainy appears before Glorith and sees Rond and Laurel held captive. He realizes Glorith has taken the people involved in the conspiracy. The armoured figure is revealed to be Lu's second self, thought to have been killed by Glorith. However, Glorith had turned her into protoplasm, regrew her and forced her to attack her teammates.

Brainy reveals himself to really be Cham and the real Brainy appears, naked, via transportational disk. In the confusion, Cham frees Laurel, Rond, Lu and Imra; they attack Glorith and her guards but Glorith gains the upper hand. Brainy instructs Lu to use the force field he gave her to protect them but Glorith's Lu tells her to direct it to Glorith, who wouldn't have enough power to both break free and kill them.

Back on Talus, Brainy tells Lu that he programmed the force field belt he gave her into her DNA. Chuck is happy to be reunited with both Luornus, while the others joke about Brainy losing his clothes in his experimental teleporter.

Text page: Lu's journal, feelings about her deaths and her three personalities.

Comments:
The story feels forced to me, stretched to set up the return of one of Lu's selves and Glorith.

It's just accepted that the de-glopped, regrown Luornu is her old self, with no psychological damage and welcomed back into the family. There's no space for a deep psychological drama - perhaps there could have been developments in future issues - but it's too much of a "wave a wand and everything's fine" resolution to sit comfortably with me.

Another wand-waving retrofit is the explanation that Brainy coded the force field belt he gave her, after her second self's death, into Lu's DNA, so she didn't even need the belt. Now she has forcefield powers, if I understood correctly. He didn't think to mention it to her, until now.

Glorith is conveniently not at full power, so the force field works to contain her, unlike during the Conspiracy's attack.

The reveal that the armoured character kidnapping Legionnaires was Lu's second self was a big surprise. Regarding Cham's impersonation of Brainy, I should have seen that one coming, but didn't.

Had anyone other than Garth been looking for Imra at this point?

This issue is concurrent with Legionnaires #1. We don't know what files Cham was looking for on Talus for his new group; it could have been something to do with the Fatal Five. Would have been nice to add a comment to that effect.

The poker game includes Stone Boy and Fire Lad, hinting that they may join the Legion.

Brainy losing his clothes during the teleportation struck me as frivolous, although it did give Laurel a good line: "Nice costume, green cheeks!"

Luornu's journal provides a retrofit that works well, unlike the others in this story. It explains that she had three distinctive personalities and that is what permitted her to survive the deaths of two selves. I think this is the first time the multiple personality aspect has been used for Luornu Durgo.

v4 Issue 42

This issue is almost self-contained, and isn't a fill in issue. We've had some Legionnaire kidnappings in the last issue or two, but the rest of the story is wrapped up here. The multi issue epics of previous issues were things with a lot of potential. I think Giffen said he got 50% of what he was looking for in the book. The longer it went on, the more that the missing 50% and the delays in getting the other 50% onto the page showed for me. The issue is a refreshing change. It's fairly straightforward plot wise, certainly for this volume. But that's no bad thing. It picks up logically from a previous epic storyline with a big villain and frames it smoothly in the post Mordruverse timeline.

The story combines Luornu's history and loss of selves/ identity with the revenge of Glorith.


combines the Legion Conspiracy, with revolves around Luornu's third

The issue opens with an action flashback, where Luornu loses her third body to Computo. That thread is picked up more with Brainy's reluctance to scrap BION, which derives from the Computo matrix, rather than the central plot of the issue. Perhaps TM were trying to keep the mystery going, by not linking the villain with the loss of Lu's second body.

The new Legion doesn't go in for too much action, so we meet them playing poker. It's a funny enough scene by itself, but it's another issue where the Legion aren't on missions helping pick up the galactic pieces. The Subs did all make the team in the 5YG, so they have all been Legionnaires. Perhaps the Legion really don't consider Polar Boy's efforts to keep the team together as a real team. But, like some of the horrid things Tenzil eats, it never seems to come up.

Kent's overfamiliarity with previous teammates continues to annoy. He greets Chuck as old buddy, when I doubt they really knew each other. Even at this late stage, I wonder if Kent was supposed to be retconned into an early Legion era, but they changed their minds, as they did with Laurel and the 20th century.

An armoured villain continues to kidnap members of the Legion. It's someone familiar to the team, and I guess TM were trying to let the reader guess who was behind it as each one was kidnapped. We even get a list on the screen to help out. It's nice that they went to the efforts with the pacing to do that. The name of Lar Gand doesn't make the list though. Glorith's armoured trooper can seemingly appear anywhere, but Lar's not involved at all. Odd since he was central to the conspiracy. Even more so in the Glorithverse, where it was Daxam being destroyed that triggered the Legion's plan.

I wonder when TM realised they needed Cham for the Legion's plan to work, and that he's just been shown with his hands full with a different team in Legionnaires #1. A quick replot later, and he's at the HQ to retrieve files for the new team. Because in the 30th century, it can't be done remotely. And he's doing some detective work. Like a lot of Cham's work in this area, he doesn't really seem that good at it. Brainy figures it out, probably as the plot sans Cham had in the first place.

The armoured foe takes out Laurel in a good, if one sided fight scene. There's a hint of Kryptonite in the green beam the antagonist used. Not that this should have bothered Laurel. In the end the villain wins because...the villain needs to win. One solution would have been to connect the armour with the Protectors from years ago. They had the power to tackle Legionnaires of that power level.

As Brainy is captured, a shadowed figure watches him depart. TTM don't waste time with further hints about who the villain is. He arrives right in Glorith's throne room. Glorith is seeking revenge against those who acted against her in the Legion conspiracy.
She mentions that she was forced to the end of time, and is not yet up to full power. It reads as though her place at the end of time was a result of the conspiracy. Instead, it was the result of the Khundian invasion in v4 #17. Why didn't she go after those Legionnaires. Why act against the conspiracy now? It's almost as if this story would have been better placed before #17.

Part of Glorith's revenge is revealing that Lu's second body wasn't destroyed when the Legion confronted Glorith in v3 #50. We don't; see any of the conspiracy in the issue. I think a flashback to it, as per one of the v4 Annuals, would have been more helpful than the Computo opening. It would have tied in the various Glorith/ Luornu threads. Ideally both could have been used to reinforce Lu's losses over the years.

Glorith never really works as well as the Time Trapper. Her motives are far more human (as were the older plots of the Trapper, in fairness). But it's in the plotting it doesn't seem to work. Glorith ahs the power to transport Luornu across the galaxy at a whim, to kidnap Legionnaires. When struck, she blows the top of the building. She can reduce one of her soldiers to dust. But she fails to do anything against the Legion. The heroes use the same plan as they did in #15-#17. Glorith sees through the plan. Yet, neither she nor the court full of guards seem able to defend against the appearance of a naked Coluan. Who was Cham allowed to get to Laurel and free her?

The armoured Lu offers no resistance to the Legion either. Admittedly she's had to reveal her identity and details of the never-ending terror Glorith put her through. There's no later mention of the trauma of that experience causing Lu problems, when the bodies merge.

Paul Levitz had another unrevealed plan for Rond Vidar back in v3. I think it was to explain how he had survived his father's attack, and it may not have been due to Green Lantern energies. With his ring destroyed due more to DC editorial than Mordru in this volume, he's not shown to do too much. The person with Lantern energy is Celeste. She's not part of the plan, even though she might have been of huge benefit. Her powers have never been defined enough to be used properly (although she makes Jacques membership list easily enough). Rond does give Brainy an idea.

Brainy tells Luornu to use her force field powers. With the absence of any flashback to the conspiracy and its aftermath, this reveal doesn't have much of a foundation. It was a Paul Levitz subplot that didn't go anywhere. Upon quitting the team, after the Conspiracy Brainy left his force field belt to Luornu. She tries it out, but decides against using it. Levitz wasn't averse to having Legionnaires about to increase their powers, but deciding against it. Others include Dawnstar and Jacques. Lu uses her forcefield. Glorith's Lu tells her to use it against Glorith, trapping her behind a field. Conveniently, the field is incredibly dense, so Glorith will have to sacrifice a lot of power to break through it. I like that Glorith as very aware of the cost of using her powers. But she's regularly depowered through using them. There's also the snag that the force field remains around Glorith even as the Legion return to their HQ. Brainy's force field never worked like that. Why should Glorith lose power at all, when she can just wait for the Legion to leave?

Having used the Levitz subplot to give Lu back her second body and give her forcefield powers, I'm not sure if they are ever mentioned again. The story ends on an upbeat note as it's revealed that Celeste, the victim of a previous teleportation incident was the one to send in Brainy, who also ended up naked.
Imra doesn't appear in the end scene. She's really there as a name to give Glorith's plan some continuity weight. This volume goes out of its way to ensure that Imra doesn't get to show how pivotal she was to the Legion. She's kept sedated throughout nearly all of the issue.

Cripes, I didn't even pick up on him being missing, in my mind he was replaced by Andromeda, end of story.


That would have been perfect. I'm surprised T & M didn't mine the Cosvarr story for that bit of history.


Good point, sounds like a blooper the editors missed.


That would have been helpful.


She is a bit of a second rate Trapper compared to the ultimate version Levitz wrote. Degradation in the copy, or just not the real thing to begin with. You don't want her to be all powerful, or there's no story, but she's fumbled a bit more than one would expect in this story.


Imra has been oddly absent throughout this series. I have to assume she wasn't a favourite of the writers.

Legion of Superheroes #43 "The Witch is Back" by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Stuart Immonen & Ron Boyd, Colours Tom McCraw, Letters BobPinhaha, Editors K.C. Carlson & Michael Eury

J'onn J'onnz approaches Mysa on Sorcerers' World. She tells him she is seeking Amethyst; he claims Amethyst no longer exists. Mordru eavesdrops via probe.

Mysa finds the Amethyst statue. As the statue shatters, a spirit possesses Mysa which changes her looks and immediately calls for vengeance on Mordru. J'onn fails to stop her. She heads to Tharn, defeats the guards but falters when she encounters Mordru. He berates her as a faithless wife and beats her, but the Amethyst spirit gains dominance and Mysa/Amethyst attacks Mordru.

Sussa enters Legion HQ but is stopped by Drura after evading Jo, Jacques and Brainy. She tells them she needs help to find out what's in the Starfinger container, which she previously stole.

On Talus, Rokk is bored with Monitor Duty. Jacques and Drura greet him; Jacques is eager to discuss new code names and uniforms. A gullible Devlin moves in and falls for Kono's tricks; Sussa takes Jo's room. The canister continues to confound analysis.

Text piece: Jacques notes his efforts to organize and discipline the team and receives comments from the team with code name suggestions, most of which are not very good.



Legion of Superheroes #44 "Projectra Returns" by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Stuart Immonen & Ron Boyd, Colours Tom McCraw, Letters JBobPinhaha, Editors K.C. Carlson & Michael Eury

The battle on Tharn rages on until, through her anger and hatred, Mysa is absorbed into Mordru. He thus gains the full power of both Mysa and Amethyst. The universe starts to darken. On Talus, Andrew Nolan from the Glorithverse appears through a portal, carrying an unconscious or dead Glorith, to warn that the reign of Mordru is returning. He commands Rokk and Jacques to concentrate love and support for Mysa; the darkness fades. Mordru's plan for an easy conquest is foiled but vows to take the universe by brute force. He calls on his coven of Mysa lookalikes to complete the spell and give him full power.

On Shangalla, Projectra visits Val's grave. The dead begin to rise. The same thing happens throughout the galaxy.

On Takron-Galtos,Roxxas is more bothered by his past sins than the rising dead. A messenger from Mordru commands him to raise the dead of Trom.

Legion HQ is inundated with calls about dead people walking. Jeckie arrives to tell them about her experience. Khund Commander Galmark appeals to the Legion for help as U.P. worlds conquered by the Khunds are overrun by the dead. A team takes off, leaving Jacques, Drura and Kono behind. After some negotiation, the Legion accepts four Khunds as Legionnaires: Firefist, Bloodclaw, Veilmist and Flederweb.

On Talus, Tenzil arrives from looking for Mysa with J'onn in tow. J'onn is speaking oddly, but when he sees Kono, he grasps her hands and the Amethyst spirit transfers to her. Kono's looks and clothing change; she announces that her destiny is on Tharn. Tenzil and J'onn go with her, although she warns that Jacques and Drura will be vulnerable. As they leave for Tharn, dead begin to revive deep below Legion HQ.

Comments: I combined these two issues since most of the story is the fight between Mordru and Mysa and, personally, I didn't find it that interesting.

Jacques seems quite diminished compared to his Resistance leader days. Trying to recapture lost youth? Playing with costumes and code names, he's out of touch with where the team is now. Perhaps he should be the adult advisor to the young Legionnaires rather than Cham.

Devlin's on the team, Sussa appears to have put herself on the team, but the Subs cashed in their poker chips and have apparently left.

No one seems to know who J'onn J'onnz is, except for Nura, but that's okay, just accept the wandering stranger. He was at Chuck & Lu's wedding, but nobody in this book sees him and says, hello, J'onn, how have you been?

The battle between Mysa and Mordru is long and uncomfortable, dragging out over two issues. We see Mysa relive her suffering as Mordru's wife. It's brutal abuse and her hatred strikes me as reasonable, justified. Mysa breaks through the Amethyst image as her determination falters, very similar to Cera Kesh breaking through the Emerald Empress persona.

I found it odd that Rokk would recognize Glorithverse Andrew Nolan, but these are strange times and possibly the voice was identical. Why they didn't get the entire team to send love and support thoughts to Mysa isn't explained, but I guess there was only time to round up Rokk and Jacques.

It's a pretty sick relationship, Mordru and Mysa. Mordru's coven of Mysas is creepy, comprised of women who look like her at different stages in her life. There's no child Mysa, but it's pretty weird anyways.

The dead rising just makes me groan. Not a fan of zombie stories. ld have thought Val was buried on Orando, not Shangalla. After her initial shock, Projectra is taking it all in stride, heads to Talus to report the event and is happy to see her old Legion buddies. The twist with Roxxas is okay, though, commanding him to restore the dead Trommites.

The Khund Legionnaires are more interesting. They each get a little backstory as the Commander introduces them and readers can look forward to some fireworks between Legionnaires and Khunds.

The canister story doesn't go anywhere, unfortunately. Bigger events interrupt and it was perhaps just a device to get Sussa onto the team.

Agreed 100 percent. This portrayal of spousal abuse is as offensive and overdone as anything from the DiDio/Johns DCU era still to come. I won't spoil what I think Mysa should have done.


Here I disagree. I remember you and I had polar-opposite responses to Roxxas' vicious/foppish persona in the early issues of this run. I find his reinvention as a pompous new-age/hippie fanatic equally annoying.


I like their designs, and I realize they were meant as a parody of Image anti-heroes, but I think they quickly became the kind of joke that gets less funny each time it's repeated.

Yeah, Roxxas can be more than a bit off-putting. When you're dealing with a total maniac, anything can happen (making it easy for writers), but him wanting to restore Trom was something I didn't expect and it's that unexpected turn that I liked.

Thanks for clarifying, Cramey.

v4 Issue 43

Sorceror's World was destroyed during the Magic Wars, and a returning Mysa Nal finds resistance to her efforts to get under the rubble. She's assisted by the Martian Manhunter. The closer she gets to the power, the more her reasoning for seeking it changes. At first uncertain, then for fulfilment and then for vengeance. Manhunter watches as boulders Mysa was never able to move, fly over his head. He must be regretting having lent a hand now. Mysa finds a statue of Amethyst in a tomb. An airless, yet candlelit tomb. I wonder who lit the candles, and how they stayed lit.

Mysa seems possessed by a spirit of vengeance. This takes on a more physical transformation when she meets the statue. As she changes, she speaks of vengeance against Mordru's brutality. Since we know the abuse she suffered at Mordru's hands, I've always found the sensuous angle to her transformation and the result being her dressed in an acme male fantasy outfit more than a little undermining to the point. I don't recall much of Amethyst, so I'm finding the statue leading Mysa to be a warrior of vengeance a bit odd. Manhunter is being whispered at by voices on Sorcerer's World as he regains consciousness. Kindly, none of then whisper "thanks a lot, you jerk."

There's a hint they might try to influence Manhunter's personality too, with little wisps of smoke touching his head. Mysa directly confronts Modru at his palace. It's a bit direct for the book. I guess I can't spend years waiting for some action, to moan when it happens. But it does lack the subtlety of the genuine abuse Mysa suffered. Not that her rage isn't a normal reaction, but that it's not really her that's expressing it, reducing its effectiveness. A nice touch is seeing the rather ineffective leaders of Sorcerer's World as attendants in Mordru's palace. There's not really a way back for them after this though. Seeing the Spider Guild was also a nice touch. Mordru's ability to see anywhere in the galaxy is an old comic book device that probably explains his ability to maintain the level of power he has. He must pay one heck of a monthly subscription though.

Elsewhere Spider Girl brings a mysterious cannister to the Legion. The robbery of it was given some space, but it won't get explored much further. Brainy and Jo fail to open it. Jan is handily elsewhere. A wave of his hand would solve the mystery.

It's interesting to see Spider Girl and Drura shown as being so effective. In control of her powers, no one in their right mind is going to tangle with Infectious Lass. If anything, she's now too powerful for the Legion. Darkseid, Glorith and Mordru would all be susceptible to her powers. Jacques flatters to deceive once again. Having seen Jo and Brainy fail to capture Spider Girl, he's no more effective. So much for his planning. But then, I've always said that others were behind the effectiveness of the resistance. He's keen to have planners, all codenames and uniforms, without really understanding what makes it work.

Jo's already had a long character arc regarding Tinya in the book. Additionally, he's been central to the meta arc regarding the purpose of the legion and its place as a foil to the other powers of the galaxy. Rather than focus on the rest of the cast, TM now make him irresistible. Spider Girl makes straight for him. In the end the Spider Girl/ cannister plot goes nowhere, while we learn nothing more about Celeste, Dawnstar/ Bounty or Kono's hunted status from the Khund Empire. Just another loose end in a volume of them. While most of them were interesting to begin with, a little editorial steering would have helped resolve a few more of them. Poor Rokk is now Ultra Welded to that chair in the ops room, waiting for any one of these plots to move along, so he can see some action.

Stuart Immonen is a top-level artist, who is always going to raise the level of a book he's on. So the last couple of issues have looked really nice. We've got a couple of main plots with Mysa & the cannister. There are few subplots Tenzil will meet up with Mysa shortly; Jan on Trom and Celeste and Kent on quarantine). The use of screens to let us know this is well done and utilises the art to help with the narrative. There's the hint of a new look, with Jacques looking to reorganise things. In the end it would be effective as TMK's last effort was. Kon and Devlin share a comedy moment. On Kono's part this must be to relieve the boredom.



v4 Issue 44

Tom McCraw gets credit in the writer slot again this issue (also in #42). It's a Legion of zombies cover too, which gives it some emotional punch. Jeckie returns and the hand bursting form the ground (in a nice zombie movie tribute) must be Val. In the background we see Chemical King, Triplicate Girl, Invisible Kid and Reflecto (who TMK had made a member during the 5 year gap, and had him killed as apart of Black Dawn).

Inside, the slightly possessed Mysa faces off against Mordru. We see once again what a total scumbag the guy is. There's a text piece where Mysa is almost apologetic for Mordru's actions. There was a hint that had she felt that she had failed him, and that in failing him deserved her punishment. It was a very sad reflection of a lot of relationships and domestic abuse. There's some of that here, but dropped into an action scene as the two fight in the throne room.

Seemingly, the guy who lit all the candles on Sorcerer's World must have been Mordru. He planted the Amethyst statue; used it to call out to Mysa; seemingly had it possess her, or at least subvert her powers; have her go to Mordru's world and attack him and allow him to absorb her powers. Whew! Even then, he's lucky that Martian Manhunter turned up to help Mysa along.

With Mysa's power, Mordru is somehow now powerful enough to bring back the Mordruverse. Initially, it was the machinations of the Time Trapper/Glorith that kept Mordru at bay. Perhaps having been briefly aware that there was always something just beyond his grasp has made Mordru more receptive to the power boost, when it presents itself. Fittingly, Mordru gets only another brief glimpse of a galaxy under his control. Even with a change of galactic power in the offing, Rokk doesn't get to leave the ops room. Instead Andrew Nolan appears with what I take is Mysa from that timeline. Together with the will (and sending of positive love vibes) of Rokk and Jacques, the timeline is reverted and Mordru thwarted. Not even a joining of hands across the galaxy needed. Just tow guys in a room. One of them bored out his skull, and the other probably trying to give Mordru a new codename like Sorcerer Lad and a new costume.

But while Mordru can't just convert the timeline, he can take through the use of his army of zombies! It's a far cry from Mordru and Rokk discussing diplomacy over elvabreast.

Jeckie is on Shanghalla as the corpses of the fallen are reanimated. I know I couldn't help but name check them at the time. Later on, I'd read that the corpses were reanimated slowly by Mordru, becoming more coherent and fuller in form as his magic gained control. They would become more dangerous the longer they were around. It doesn't really explain Val being cremated on Orando or Pol being annihilated in the Magic Wars. It's also a shame they didn't take advantage of the opportunity to bring us Leeta and Hateface.

On Takron Galtos, Roxxas, looking less like two face now, is freed. They guy letting him loose is Vrykos. I don't recall Vrykos being a prisoner there, although he's dressed like one. The alternative is that after such a brief time, Mordru notices something amiss on Trom; He sees a plan where Jan can be enlisted; He doesn't do this directly, but sends Vrykos to Takgon Galtos; Vrykos kills some guards and frees Roxxas, after convincing the villain of his possible redemption. It's as overthought as the Mordru versus Mysa plot, so that's probably what's going on.

The Khunds are also having problems with zombies. I like to think that Rokk is thinking ahead to perhaps getting control over some of the worlds the Khunds took from the UP. Otherwise, it's a bit odd he'd ignore all the problems in the UP worlds left, to join up with the Khunds. Perhaps he just sees the chance to get off his butt and go on a mission. It looks as though Jacques is now the one to stay behind. The big reveal are the four new Legionnaires the Khunds insist join the group. It was a nice surprise. Even if becoming a member isn't what it used to be. Spider Girl has glommed onto the group. Drura arrived with Jacques, and the team failed to recruit lots of candidates a few issues ago (although Crystal Kid is still waiting by his Omnicom).

Those little voices did indeed possess the Manhunter last issue. But they couldn't take him over completely. Kono provides a more suitable vessel, and is transformed into Amethyst. It's a fun twist considering their personalities, and it also gets Kono front and centre for a change. All roads lead to Tharn, and off she , the Manhunter and Tenzil (who had been checking up on Mysa) go. We'd seen Garth's parents return form the dead. Beneath Talos, all those discarded spacecraft, return their fallen crews. All Lydda has to do is turn off the lights and they'll all be fine.

The more direct Mysa/Mordru confrontation, while retaining strong elements of the abuse Mysa suffered, was probably the weakest part of the issue. Arguably, he showed the levels of control he still wielded, if through a rather overblown plan (the various aspects of Mysa he had as attendants was a bit creepy too). The dead of the galaxy rising worked to get my interest. The impact is had on the dispersed cast gave it the depth needed to show the entire galaxy was in peril. That was also the case by brining in the Khunds. It was an interesting twist in a plot that would have been effective had it just been the UP planets left that were under threat. It was good to see TM still kept the larger picture in mind. Immonen art also made the book look great. For me, the book was picking up after the Terra Mosaic crawled its way over the finish line.

I can see where Mysa was looking to restart her life after what she suffered under Mordru, looking for some purpose. What she thought was a sense of purpose, instead triggered the feelings of resentment and anger at her treatment. Unfortunately, it was all a plan by Mordru to unleash her power. Why this didn't happen while she was married to the creep isn't covered. The actual need for the Amethyst statue seems odd. Perhaps there was an added element of residual magic on Sorcerers' World required. Mordru also subverting the power of Amythyst at the same time as he controls Mysa?


One of my pet theories is that Jacques is seen to be a great leader far more than he actually is. The Subs were very effective in saving the Legion's butts even in their earlier days. I put that down to a combination of Brekk's enthusiasm and drive along with Lydda's maturity and strength of character. Under Brainy's guidance they were just as effective. They had a brief comedy cameo in the Giffen days. In the 5yG, without Brekk and Lydda, I reckon it was Tyroc who got them into shape, with Jacques providing the Legion-like optimism that Brekk would have given them. Keeping their codenames and that Legion sense of purpose. As leader, he was probably best places in negotiations with Universo. I see Jacques as more of a politician rather than a guy who actually gets things done. As President, it was seemingly Tyroc who was doing the work, while Jacques moaned about the position and looked for his sister. Lots of things needed his signature, but that just means other people had done the work.


Ah, have the Subs left. I was wondering if they would be facing off against the zombies. That does add to the easy come, easy go nature of the membership. If you're a certain age reading these, it's murder on your pre-internet, carefully crafted membership list. Actually, I seem to recall it being a pain for the newly minted internet website membership list I was doing.


J'Onn looks shaky enough in these issues to have stayed on at the reception for all these years. I found the reference to Guy Gardner oddly annoying when I read this first time. Of all the things that would stick with him for 1000 years.


That's a good spot. I see Mysa's strength fade in the face of the sheer hatred Mordru has for anything that reflects his own failings. Mysa's power, happiness and place in the Legion must have made him really hate her. I like to think that this wasn't immediately apparent to him, following the removal of his "evil" by the sorcerers'. They're now attendants in his palace, having completely misunderstood that it was as a person, Mordru was utterly flawed, not as a magician. Incidentally, this Mordru has been entombed by Amethyst for 1000 years. Not the pre Crisis version who was a galactic conqueror. I'm sure there's more shift in his origin than this, but I was reminded of it reading this story.

I reckon Andrew joined with Rokk and Jacques to try and contact with the others. In the end, he found the power of utter apathy in Rokk was more than enough to make Mordruverse Mordru give up being bothered about galactic conquest.

Their origins would become more entwined as time went on I think. In the BendisBoot, she's his daughter. He's very obsessed with her, even as he hates her. Twisted stuff, and all the more life like for it. Unfortunately.


I watched all the zombie movies of the time, so this worked for me. On a story front, you do get the opportunity for the cast to have a number of reflections. That's was zombie movies can be about (Romero's ones for example). Reflections of us. We've seen Jeckie's sense of loss twisted when she gets what she desires (and EC twist there), Roxxas gets his chance to wipe the slate of his mass murder; Garth meets his parents... um, no idea how that one works out. Perhaps Rokk will see his brother, etc.

With Firefist having a gun and co-leader status, you know sparks are going to fly. There were already hints of Laurel's dislike of the Khunds too.

I don't think TB could remember what was in it on his blog. Starfinger wanted it. Perhaps a link to Adventure era Starfinger stories would provide a clue. The ashes of Garth's arm...

True, sexy doesn't really suit the mood. Should be clad in armour, if she has to change at all. I didn't read the Amethyst series, but suspect Mordru is a retrofit.


It was unclear how much of the fight was Amethyst's and how much Mysa's - and if Mysa has become Amethyst, since Kono gets a dose of Amethyst as well. Was the statue just a fake created by Mordru and not containing the real Amethyst spirit? (Hey! maybe she's in the canister!)


You have a better appreciation of zombies than I do, but I agree that the widespread and personal nature of the undead attack did have some story depth.


This all makes so much sense. Whether or not the writers saw it the same way as you do, all the pieces fall into place to support your view of Jacques and the Subs.

Legion of Superheroes Annual #4 Bloodlines Earthplague by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Stuart Immonen, Daryl Banks, Joe Phillips, Christopher Taylor, Nick Napolitano, Terry Austin, Ron Boyd, Dan Davis, Wade Grawbadger, Colours Tom McCraw, Letters Bob Pinaha, "Ringmaster" K.C. Carlson, Assistant Editors Eddie Berganza & Mike McAvennie

Dawnstar screams as Jacques fights off the undead; she is unable to help or move. Loomis and Drura are also occupied, but Drura finds a virus that eats away at them. Rond and Lydda comfort their children. A screen in Brainy's lab shows a "Time Retrieval Program" for Timber Wolf and SW6 Valor. A hand grabs Jacques.

In 20th century San Francisco, a young skateboarder, Jamm, stops to help a sexy woman with a broken down car. She retrieves some vise-grips from her trunk, in which a bloody body lies. Behind her appears a vision of a savage beast. A cop stops by to help, warns them of the Skid Row Killer. Jamm leaves, skates down a major road but winds up in a dumpster. Brin Londo is also out and about, seeking the killer. He comes across Jamm, who is now trying to help a man captured by a giant red beast aka the killer.

On Talus, Dawnstar manages to smash an undead spaceman who is assaulting Jacques. Feeling wobbly, Jacques places his hand on the equipment and activates the Time Retrieval Program for Brin. Brin appears, along with Jamm in the clutches of the beast. Brin is hurt, Jacques and Drura fire guns at the beast, Rond checks the temporal equipment and Loomis calls Lydda and kills the lights. Sparks weaken her strength, however, and the beast turns on Rond. Jamm tells him to go back where he came from, the beast pauses, and Rond activates the time cube to send the beast back to the 20th century.

Drura patches up everyone; Dawnstar withdraws again and Brin is in a healing tank. Jamm revives and can communicate with a translator necklace. He tells Drura to stop treating him, Jacques to let him stay in the 30th century and Lydda to leave the baby and go off with him. All comply with his orders. He realizes adults are obeying him and proceeds to go on a galaxy-wide jaunt giving orders to Lydda, Lar & Tasmia, the SW6 Legionnaires and assorted beautiful women in bikinis. All orders involve naked women, parties and hanging out with tough guys (i.e. Lar), causing the heroes to neglect the undead threat. Despite being aware that Jamm is controlling them, the adventure continues.

Lar gives him a talk about responsibility, which Jamm ignores. Jamm sneers at Tasmia's power; she casts darkness over him, causing terror, so he reluctantly listens to her.

They encounter a swarm of undead Daxamites, nearly plunge their ship into the sun, but escape by Tasmia and Lydda working together. Jamm agrees to return to the 20th century after being given a choice of that or being left on an uninhabited planet.

Comments:

This is the only 5YL issue for which I don't have a physical copy. I must have bought it at the time and junked it at some point.

The silver linings: 1. Drura has become a capable healer. She's figured out how to use her power to mend as well as cause illness. In a previous issue, she stopped Spider Girl dead in her tracks with the mere threat of exercising her power. She also figures out how to stop the undead, no mean feat.

2. Tasmia has also improved/expanded her shadow-casting power. Now she can envelop someone in a shadow so deep and dark that they are fear-stricken, disoriented and lose sense of time.

3. Dawnstar shows signs of recovery, in that she's able to whack the undead to save Jacques, but she's still pretty much withdrawn.

4. Timber Wolf's back; I suppose that's a positive, but I didn't care one way or another.

The rest of the issue is a pointless, over-lengthy tie-in to some DC event labelled Bloodlines, introducing an execrable character who, by today's standards, enjoys sexual assault, among other more trivial indulgences. His speech pattern is filled with malapropisms, which tire quickly. Other characters have mentally controlled Legionnaires for more galaxy-shaking purposes. There have been time-travelling idiots in other media (I'm thinking of Bill and Ted), kind-hearted souls who wanted to party, but put the good of others first. Jamm is none of that. Well, he did try to help a guy attacked by the Skid Row Killer. One point for that.

Apart from the distastefulness of Jamm, the story was undermined, for me, by the undetermined extent of his power of control. He could get someone to obey his command, but it was clearly temporary. Lar was able to lecture him about responsibility; if he was able to do that, why could he not, at that point, insist that the farce end? SW6 Rokk was able to resist Jamm due to his devotion to duty in the midst of a crisis, which doesn't say much for Lar Gand abandoning a loose swarm of undead Daxamites.

Five pencillers, four inkers and three editors didn't help to smooth things out.

Rather than list the other annoyances in this issue, I'll just say it was a waste of an Annual. All those pages could have been filled with something better.

LSH # 42 - HATE this issue. Retconning 2nd Lu's death? That's kid-comic-book stuff, not the mature Legion I'd come to enjoy over the prior three years. And a secretly-applied force-field power...Brainy forgot to mention it to her and also, never thought of protecting himself or other Legionnaires likewise? And after being set up as a big bad replacement Time Trapper, Glorith is a nothing in this issue. Reminds me, in a way, of how Mordru was used in that dinky little one-off "Romdur" story after years of him being a fearsome foe.

LSH # 43-44 - I liked the Mysa-Mordru-Amethyst battle, yes, Mordru's torture of Mysa is uncomfortable, but it served a purpose - Mordru's ultimate plan was to be empowered by Mysa's anger, he ("The Emperor") had to provoke her ("Young Skywalker") into "giving in to the dark side." Yes, it was derivative (can you tell from my quotes?) but it worked for the characters. I liked the zombie aspects of the plot, as it fed well into the idea that enraging the Legionnaires would also be empowering Mordru. (Much better done in "Blackest Night", though.) Like the Khund Legionnaires in general, but hated the name "Bloodclaw", sounded like something from the Image Comics of the era and their derivatives. Also did not like the text page of issue # 43, with Jacques wanting to go back to childish costumes and code-names.

LSH Annual # 4 - Jamm and the Bloodlines event were terrible, but I'm glad the LSH team seized on it as a means to get Timber Wolf back to the 30th century (the TW miniseries was a total dead end, so at least the character was rescued from what would have been limbo) and to check in on what the non-core Legion-related characters were doing while Mordru was zombifying the entire galaxy (or universe, whatever).

re Bloodclaw - I was under the impression that the Khund Legionnaires were specifically created as a parody of Image superheroes. Most of them have ridiculous names, Bloodclaw and Firefist are macho violence machines, Veilmist was the token hot chick and Flederweb struck me as a darker twist on the wiseass acrobat archetype. I think the idea of a recurring group of superpowered Khund antagonists has got legs though, it's a shame they didn't hang around long or see any real development...

I agree with your take on the costumes/codenames thing - I loved having the SW6 Legion around, but the reason I loved it was that we got to have the more mature stories with the older guys so we could have our cake and eat it too....and it was round about this time they very deliberately threw that idea out the window to tell mediocre superhero stories with the older guys instead. I don't think anything that happened in the SW6 title was particularly groundbreaking, but it was fun because they were actual teenagers. The older guys and the world they inhabited had all outgrown that stuff so it was very jarring seeing them take it back on.

v4 Annual 4

I'd forgotten that this one continued the plot in the main book, or at least showed us Mordru's undead attack Legion HQ. Having mishandled the Dawnstar/Bounty subplot since the start of the volume, it was a chance to have Dawnstar be... completely unresponsive, only manging to hit something with a tray very late on. Lydda's contribution also comes too late. Like Imra, she's shown attached to her child whenever it's convenient for the writers. At the cost of being able to deal with the zombies. Thankfully, Loomis is around later, so that Lydda has some tactics, or can use her powers properly. >sigh< Some sparks make her lose all her power, to allow other members of the cast to be shown to be effective. You'd have thought the spotlight the writers were so keen to put onto their preferred cast members, would have made her lose her powers just as quickly. >sigh< At least Drura is once again effective.

But while, Lydda can move around quickly, Drura is off to one side. She can't be seen as too effective. The others can't be seen to do much of anything. Or they'd deal with the threat, and we'd not get to rescue Brin from his very underwhelming mini-series.

Along with Brin comes, a decently designed creature (posing as a serial killer back in the 20th century) and a kid called Jamm. Once again DC shows its sensitivity and marketing acumen. They serious expect us to empathise with a guy who mind controls people for sexual purposes. Because Sex Criminal Lad is just the guy we'd like to see more of. He's a jaw droppingly atrocious character, and was at the time too. He's also the latest in DC's tradition of latching onto a stereotype, long after it's sell by date, dude. Perhaps that cube can rescue Karate Kid from his '70s series too.

Sadly, with this being an annual, I'm having to drag myself through page after page of this utter waste of space character. I pause for a moment, as Cosmic Boy is back in a costume. Then I notice they've gone back to New Earth. It was having Rokk still sitting in a chair doing nothing that made me think it was the older version for a second.

There's some tired looking dealing with some undead Daxamite's later on, but TMM's writing is well off the pace nearly every step of the way. Jamm is *still* controlling the cast nearly right to the end. Some ludicrous setup with a sun, gives us a brief moment of seeing a Shady/Lydda team up (if not as good as the old days TMM hark back to). Shady sends Jamm back to his time, with a vague threat and a gap of 1000 years to try and enforce it.

The letter column mentions "future creators" and tells the readers that the answer to which team are clones will be answered in the 1994 Event. That would have been Zero Hour. Perhaps the writing being on the wall affected the outcome here. By this point, Terra Mosaic had resulted in me dropping the book, if briefly. But it did mean that I didn't buy this annual when it came out, so I saved some pennies getting it form a bargain bin later. It's another example of a tie in not working. Why would I pick up the book, for an Event I've no intention of buying? The Bloodlines villain only makes a small appearance in the book. It must have been a disappointment for those that were following all the tie ins. That sort of approach, where the tie in matters not a jot, loses the company readers for future Events. As a Legion story, it's a back-door pilot for this Jamm character. So, why would you pick up the next Annual when it comes out (I didn't). More lost readers. In the years since, DC haven't learned much, partly resulting in where they are now.

A dreadful annual, and one of the Legion books I'm least likely to have reread in the years since.

Legion of Superheroes #45 "New Members New Problems" by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Stuart Immonen & Ron Boyd, Colours Tom McCraw, Letters Bob Pinaha, Editor K.C. Carlson, Assistant Editor Eddie Berganza

The Legion and their Khund teammates head to Sklar, where they fight risen dead warriors from different times. Veilmist uses her power to teleport some of the dead away from her and Jo. Brainy analyzes, Jeckie communicates with spirit guides, who tell her that the undead are truly lifeless. There are disputes over tactics as the team retreats to their ship. Veilmist is attracted to Jo, angering husband Firefist.

The dead rise on Talus, frightening Dawnstar in the infirmary/lab; Jacques runs in to help. (This story was detailed in the Annual reviewed last week.)

On Naltor, J'onn, Tenzil and Kono pick up Nura.

On Trom, Jan is horrified to see the dead rise at Roxxas' command; the dead encase Jan in inertron.

Both Jeckie and Brainy confirm that Mordru's spell will expire in one hour. A swarm of Trommites in space turn the Legion ship's hull to hydrogen. Laurel kisses Brainy before the end, but Veilmist teleport them all back to Sklar's surface. They continue to fight but now face the dead Legionniares.




Legion of Superheroes #46 by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Stuart Immonen & Ron Boyd, Colours Tom McCraw, Letters Bob Pinaha, Editor K.C. Carlson, Assistant Editor Eddie Berganza

#46 Undead Pol Krinn forces Bloodclaw to kill himself; he rises as another of Mordru's undead army. Firefist blasts Pol as Rokk protests. Val attacks Jeckie, whose spirit guides tell her there is no more deadline and a distant fire must be put out. Mordru listens via probe. Nura gets a vision of Mordru hanging them.

On Trom, Jan breaks free of the inertron and deals with crazy Roxxas. They follow the Trommite swarm to Pasnic, where Jan turns them into Tsarin crystal, then collapses. Roxxas calls for help.

Brainy concludes that the dead are becoming stronger and will eventually become whole. Jeckie's guides confirm this. Laurel points out a distant fire on the horizon.

Mordru sends his Mysa coven to complete this fire spell. Veilmist teleports a team to the fire. Devlin reflects the fire spell back on the coven, then Laurel causes an avalanche to douse the flames. As it dies, the undead collapse.

Comments:
A difficult and lengthy battle, both physically and emotionally for the Legion, and it's not over yet. At the end, we don't know if the dead will rise yet again; there's no suggestion of any final victory.

The alliance with the Khunds is fractious, but holds against the undead threat. I suppose Firefist is to be commended for holding his temper as he is forced to conform to Rokk's direction. Unlike the others, Veilmist doesn't have much trouble fitting in and shows a particular attraction to strong man Jo. Hints of defection.

The Legionnaires don't seem to know that Mordru eavesdrops, which gives him quite an advantage. Mysa must have neglected to mention it when she rejoined the group.

It's understandable that the Legionnaires would be upset at facing their undead teammates but Rokk and Jeckie, in particular, waste time pleading for understanding and restraint and wonder why Mordru wouldn't spare them this horror. Well, he is Mordru the Merciless, isn't he? No fair play in this fight. I suppose it was intended to show the emotional impact of facing their loved ones as undead, but it came off more as weakness to me. Apart from Pol attacking Rokk and Val attacking Jeckie, there's Luornu attacking Brainy - you'd think this was personal, but we don't see any particular reaction from Mr. Dox. Emotions kept under control, perhaps. Unlike the others, he gives the Luornu body the slip, conveniently off-panel.

Jan's story packs more punch. I wonder if those were his parents who rose against him. In any event, they attacked him very effectively, he barely escaped with no help from anyone, had to deal with Roxxas and managed to do so with considerable restraint, then had to, in a sense, kill the risen Trommites himself by crystallizing them.

v4 Issue 45

The Legion have identified Sklar as a tactical world form which to overtax Mordrus powers. There's no explanation as to why they think Mordru's powers can be overtaxed, or particularly why Sklar is the best place for such an action. Handy knowledge regarding Mordru will be handed to the cast throughout, most significantly that Mordru's spell to raise the dead, comes with a definite deadline. The Sklar mission is to avoid precisely what Bloodclaw wants. A single issue attack on Tharn.

Not only does Mordru keep his eye on everything, but there's a news announcement advertising the upcoming Legion vs Zombie battle, before our heroes have landed on the planet.

Veilmist brings mass teleportation to the team (I think oft shunned-Tyroc also had such a power). I like to think its her Khundish background that results in her teleporting the team right into the battle. Where else would the Khund forces rather be? It's a bit of a shock for the Legion though. It was bad enough that Spider Girl threw herself at Jo, and that Jo's comrades seemed to think this wasn't unusual for him (odd since his relationship with Tinya). Now Veilmist is characterised by wanting Jo (and later Devlin) to kill Firefist so that she would become their property.
Giffen?s removal of a lot of Legion perks extended to Brainy's forcefield. He could easily have set up Rokk's needed command post with it.

No mention of flight rings since Jacques text piece in the other issue. We get to see part of Jacques battle on Talus, that would lead into the Annual. It reminds me on another thing about that text piece, that feeds into my take on Jacques in this volume. He writes that the Legion aren't the energetic, can do organisation he likes to remember. "When I undertook to lead resistance..." when others like Ral, Peter and Ulu had already left to join it. "When I oversaw the retraining of the former [Subs]?" I think he's mistaking overseeing, which he may have done, with actually doing the retraining. What they weren't already highly capable of, I think was Tyroc from my earlier post). "When I took on the Presidency of New Earth..." which he didn't want, was stunned when he got it and which he couldn't wait to get away from fast enough. I think Jacques has discovered that his forte is politics, and like so many politicians before him, he has rapidly skipped down the path of self-delusion as to their effectiveness. His impact with this Legion would be minimal.

The fun of the battle is picking out all the now dead DC characters. Bloodclaw being attacked by Jason Todd for example, or a guard being killed by green arrows. Once again in the volume, the Legion (oddly very bothered about zombies having souls while everyone else is shooting them.) are less than effective, with Rokk telling them to fall back. Perhaps he should have asked Veilmist to teleport them to somewhere he had scouted out previously? Bacjk in the safety of their ship, they learn that the zombies can survive in space (and not bother about little things like escaping an atmosphere) and can even travel in hyperspace. TM's blog shows that the strength of the zombies was in response to the longevity of Mordru's spell. With so little of it left, they were near full strength, allowing the sorcerer to use them more effectively. That doesn't really come out in the book, where they just appear in scene convenient hordes.
On Trom, there's a decent arc where a haunted Roxxas (as per older appearances) feels that he's redeemed himself in resurrecting those he killed. They certainly leave Jan for dead, encasing him in inertron. An army of undead transmuters is every bit as dangerous as the Daxamite army in the GDS. They attack the Legion's shuttle. The Legion get a few moments to escape, so the zombies aren't that effective or they could have vapourised it in a second. That this horde could move so quickly form Trom to Sklar is a sign that someone is moving them around, although it's not signposted. Back on Sklar, the Legion are faced with another of Mordru's machinations (although, again it's not specified why they turn up as they do). The dead Legionnaires have returned!

Immonen's art makes this issue a lot better than it would have been under lesser pencillers. Lots of little Easter eggs. There's movement in the subplots of Jan on Trom and possessed Kono (missing out on a return to her homeworld) meeting with the very effective Nura (she could take over from Rokk and Jacques!), Tenzil and J'Onn. The appearance of the dead Legionnaires is a really good cliffhanger (foreshadowed by the earlier appearance of Mentalla and Beast Boy, as well as Jeckie's experience earlier in the story). Brainy and Laurel's kiss was another fine moment. Having Rond and Lydda stand by the cribs may seem like they are protecting their kids. But they've both been much more effective in previous appearances.

All in all, a solid action based issue, with top notch art and a good number of parallel plots, to vary the focus.

I've always thought that Flederweb was T&M's take on Cockrum's initially Legion bound Nightcrawler.

v4 Issue 46

There's the line that Mordru has sent the Legion's own against the team. It might be me, but I still think Mordru's spell guiding and making the dead whole and more powerful could have helped earlier in the story.

Rokk gets to face Pol. A nice touch might have been to have Rokk express some guilt over Pol's sacrifice in the Magic Wars. Not during the fight, which is dealt with quickly, but somewhere. In this reread, I note that Ayla, Salu and Rokk were all right next to Pol as he used his powers for quite a bit on Bloodclaw. Yet not one of them stopped Bloodclaw's death. We'd just seen a Salu punch being effective enough to save Rokk. The Mighty Plot Point trumps both Mordru's spell and the Legion's resistance it seems. Rokk isn't the only one to face someone they loved. Val attacks Jeckie, who manages to hid in the magical mists seen last issue. I wonder if Kid Lad and Rodent Boy are potential Legion members. They seem to have a lot of information. Mordru's deadline is no longer effective. I can't even remember when we were told it was a thing, and now it's gone.

There's another Plot MacGuffin though. It turns out that Mordru's spell is powered by some fires on a hill. It seemingly just because. It's only later we learn that Mordru is using the fire to focus magical energy on Tharn to overcome his mystical deadline. If the Legion don't stop them, the zombies will become even more powerful than they were in life. There is a story progression, but it's always been one where I've thought a little more up front would have raised the stakes at the start of the story, rather than two minutes before the zombies are dealt with. The zombies growing strength would explain why Pol was able to withstand Firefist's blast. It would explain why zombies slipped their Legion opponents like Chemical King and Blok.


The fires identified, the Legion make short work of the Mysa-stand ins that work the spell keeping the fires going. It's not explained how the Alt+Mysas got to Sklar. But it's good to see the Legion achieve something, rather than run away. I'll miss Bloodclaw telling it like it was. The Legion retreats far too much in this volume. Perhaps Rokk isn't the best tactician around.

Elsewhere, Jan's subplot gets a lot of coverage. He's pushed to his limits by Roxxas raising the dead of Trom. There's reprise of the time when Jan would have killed the Butcher. This time he restrains himself. But in his grief he nearly turns his power against himself. This isn't done in isolation. Roxxas is a constant presence around Jan, wishing for death, release and for salvation. His mania spreads to Jan, fuelling his reaction to the horror around him.

The issue is mainly a filler, with the distant fires replacing the magical deadline half way through, to prolong the action. And that's fine, when the Legion is facing off against their dead members. I don't feel as though any memories of them are tarnished by the plot. I can only imagine the anger they feel towards Mordru. I'd have liked to have seen Alya disrupt the synapses of the zombies or Jeckie to show their limited consciousnesses their true state, rendering them into dust. We only got a quick reminder that Kono and Nura were in the plot. But we did get some decent action and Jan's story took some strong steps forward. His origin and life are shaped around the murder of the Tromites, so these developments will hopefully open up a new chapter for the character.
Immonen's art continues to boost the book.

Don't remember much of Tyroc's early appearances, but why they didn't keep him around for that alone is baffling.


This sort of true-Khund action makes me wish for a full Khund Legion issue. There must have been more than these four.


This and a few other conveniences all made possible by this being a magic-wielding enemy. Doesn't have to make sense or be explained, it's magic, in addition to it's comic books.


Didn't pick up on that, interesting point. Jeckie, explaining their tactics on the ship, showed herself more capable of diplomacy.

Legion of Superheroes #47 "Last Rites for the Legion of Superheroes" by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Stuart Immonen & Ron Boyd, Colours Tom McCraw, Letters Bob Pinaha, Editor K.C. Carlson, Assistant Editor Eddie Berganza

Comforted by teammates, Jeckie weeps over Val's remains.When Mordru's army starts to rise again, Rokk decides to take the fight to Mordru. The Legion arrive at the wizard's castle, greeted by Vrykos; a battle breaks out. As Devlin and Firefist defend Flederweb, they crash through a wall into Mordru's harem, where they're welcomed.

On Pasnic, Roxxas insists that Jan be treated.

Vrykos prepares to feed on unconscious Jo, but Veilmist teleports the vampire away. Jeckie goes after undead Nemesis Kid, twists his neck and hurls him into a fire, earning the admiration of Flederweb. Figures from mosaics and tapestries come to life, fighting the Legion.

Angry and impatient, Firefist blasts Devlin; the reflected blast kills the Khund. Kono/Amethyst and company arrive. Amethyst confronts Mordru; Brainy and Jeckie hear that Mysa has merged with the mage. Brainy amplifies Jeckie's incantation and free Mysa but her anger causes her re-merge with Mordru. The wizard now has the upper hand and buries the Legion under rocks.



Legion of Superheroes #48 "Last Stand for the Legion of Superheroes" by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Stuart Immonen & Ron Boyd, Colours Tom McCraw, Letters Bob Pinaha, Editor K.C. Carlson, Assistant Editors Eddie Berganza & Mike McKevannie

Devlin alone stands, baiting Mordru to attack. Mordru responds with a blast of anger and is hurled through a wall. Devlin finds Veilmist and gets her to telport the others out of the rubble. The Amethyst presence tries to release Mysa, separates from Kono, and merges with Mordru. Brainy and Jeckie resume their efforts to free Mysa. When they succeed, Mordru's spell fails and the undead collapse. Enraged, Mordru attacks Mysa; they fight. As she expresses love for him rather than anger, he collapses, naked and in misery. Mysa admits she punished Mordru as Amethyst, thereby making him worse. Nura and Mysa reunite, then Mysa disappears, wanting to be alone.

Devlin tells Veilmist he's responsible for her husband's death. She tells him she's now his property, then implores Jo to kill Devlin. The Khund army arrives to collect Veilmist and Flederweb. Vi and Rokk protest, but learn that Veilmist can not be owned by Devlin, a minor. The Khunds vow to retake the former U.P. worlds that Mordru conquered. Jo and Laurel want to fight, but Rokk refuses, given that they're far outnumbered.

Elsewhere, a tech works on a body who is angered he was left for dead.

On Pasnic, Vi and Devlin find Roxxas watching over Jan in the hospital.

On the remnants of Sorcerers' World, Mysa contemplates love and hate.

Comments:

This battle is over, but left open-ended for a return appearance of Mordru (and, I suppose, Roxxas as well). The wizard is broken, but left alive, unburied and likely in the care of the restored Council of Teachers on Tharn.

I found the fight between Mysa and Mordru to be very long - not unrealistic that it would ebb and flow, but repetitive nonetheless.

There were fewer recognizable undead in this later battle - Pan, Nemesis Kid, possibly Fred Flintstone thrown in there as well. Nemesis Kid was well handled: he knocks Laurel for a loop but Jeckie moves in to break his neck and fling him into the fire once again.

Something new was Brainy and Jeckie working together to combine their skills. I think in the past they have simply tolerated each other's expertise.

Devlin is a curious sort of superhero: his power depends on chance or him inciting an attack.

The Khund Legionnaires, in the end, were there for some cannon fodder (Firefist and Bloodclaw, the two most powerful/macho) and some comedy relief. Flederweb didn't seem very Khundish; he may have been their version of a nerd. Veilmist's story was sad, by our culture's viewpoint, consigned to be a man's property. However, her attraction to Jo was treated lightly, as well as the comment that she had gone through a number of husbands.

In the end, the Legion fought a difficult and emotional fight, helped to free Mysa and opened the door for the U.P. to reclaim their lost worlds. I'm sure this wasn't the intention, but it made me think of Smedley Butler's essay, War is a Racket, recounting how wars were fought for corporate interests.

I've struggled to understand why I dislike this arc, yet, unlike many Legion fans, I enjoyed the Magic Wars. In this story, nobody was made whole, nobody achieved a certain victory. The U.P. reclaims "its" worlds, leading to the prospect of yet another war with the Khunds. Mordru is still around, apparently to be treated with mercy once again; that didn't work for the Council of Teachers the first time. The Legionnaires suffered emotional blows from having to fight and exterminate their dead team members and - I'm guessing - from having to back down from the Khunds at the end. There's no clear resolution, no sense of victory. We're not even sure if Jan will make it. Mysa standing on the rubble of Sorcerers' World, on the final page, delivers the perfect summation: "When does it end, Amethyst? Maybe never, Mysa."

The Magic Wars, by contrast, had a lot of weird magicky stuff going on, which I found more engaging than this long Mordru-Mysa fight. Old members returned to join the fight, Brainy, Nura, Thom and Mysa. There was a death of one of their own rather than two unsympathetic, newly introduced characters. There was clear evidence of societies collapsing as a result, not just people running from or fighting undead. The Magic Wars presented a considerably more drastic ending for the galaxy, with science in tatters. There was death of the old order. The Magic Wars also ended on the rubble of Sorcerers' World, but with the Legion standing together, strong, hopeful and determined to face the future.

I think Mordru should've been killed.

And the Veilmist thing being played for laughs makes me physically ill. Another case of T + M appropriating stuff from cultures they don't understand (see also Tasmia near the beginning of this Legion era.)

v4 Issue 47

The skeletons of the fallen Legionnaires gives us a chilling cover. Lyle's headband also gives us the death of '80s fashion, even if he was wearing it prior to this. It's split evenly between older deaths such as Andrew and Lyle and the ones in this volume, Blok and Dirk. Their upright appearance on the cover is not replicated in the actual book, where they've already been beaten. I think the marketing guys knew a good thing when they saw it, and stretched out the dead Legion angle as much as they could. T&M decades ahead of Blackest Night and DCeased.

The dialogue seems a bit off, with Rokk a little too melodramatic. Disappointed to see Jeckie mourn so much (even under the circumstances). What separates her from the others is breeding, and that's what kicks in, when in a crowd (see Baxter series and endless generations of royals).

Having Rokk tell us again (well, it's like a republic serial where words are repeated between issue, without the same level of cliffhanger) that Mordru has gone too far, should have been enough to get them to confront the villain. Perhaps they felt that they needed to remind us of the zombie threat again, for new readers. But it's a repeat of last issue, sadly also including another opportunity for the legion to run away. With a Laurel on the team, they might be outmanned, but not outwomanned.

Cramer pointed out that Mysa should really have told the others that Mordru had paid *all* his Omni-subscriptions, and was monitoring them. He knows they're coming. Oddly, there's a prophecy from one of the probes that a member of the Legion could destroy Mordru. Mordru's throne room has numerous Mysa lookalike acolytes, and he has the Council of sorcerers under his thumb too. It seems an odd source for the information, and it's a shame we didn't see more of the probes. It's also reminds me of the Annual, where Mordru strops off after a prophecy, not believing that anyone could beat him. It also seems like an unnecessary flourish. Was the way Mordru was defeated so left field, that they felt they had to foreshadow it?

Veilmist's interstellar teleport sure gets the team around. For plot purposes, she can't get them back out. But I'm sure a push on her powers will work in a crisis. TMK went to pains to remove flight rings and forcefields. TM have seen that watching the team spend weeks, even with FTL comic book ships, travelling to confront Mordru would be asking a bit much (although still faster moving than the Terra Mosaic).

As per the last couple of issues, it was good to see all the Legion zombie Easter Eggs, this time with the villains. Vrykos seemed a lot less effective in this storyline, than the last, even before Veilmist teleported him away. All posturing, no bite (despite his fangs). Veilmist's constant moves to become someone else's property aren't great to read, along with TM's na?ve view of harem life.

Mordru substitutes zombies for animated mosaics. But they are spirits dispelled by an arriving Konothyst and her amazing friends. Jeckie and Brainy combine powers to split Mordru and Mysa. Brainy must have been reading up on his magic wars, as it's very unusual to see science harnessing and amplifying magic. It looks as though this is going to end with Mysa overcoming her trauma to the extent of showing Mordru he has lost his power over her. Instead, more physical abuse prompts an angry response, recombining the two. Not even Rokk & Brainy (whose lack of powers gets them thumped at every opportunity in this issue) can stop him. The Legion are buried beneath the courtyard, by Mordru who finally takes direct action.

Notably Devlin and the provoked into killing himself Firefist's zombie are free to stop Mordru next issue. Their sideshow is another bit of foreshadowing ahead of next issue, rendering that probe thing even more redundant. Although its telling that Veilmist was the last person to speak, as the rubble surrounds everyone. As with the probe, TM are keen to foreshadow. Still, Laurel and Jo are also in there, so they won't be buried for long. The lack of flight rings is a pain though.
The issue brings together the plots towards a confrontation with Mordru. There's lots of action. The emotional aftermath of the zombies and with Mysa take up the character space. But it does feel a little overlong. The repeat of the zombies coming back. The animated statues, after the zombie threat. It just reads a little more slowly than it should.

It is out of character that she should be so broken up. She above all others should be able to separate the body from the spirit, and she has contacted his spirit back in Baxter days.


This was something new for the probes. I don't know if it was supposed to be an effect of Mordru's magic; it's not clear to what degree the probes are separate sentient entities, giving rise to the same murky questions regarding the treatment of Proteans and animals at different points in LSH history.


Veilmist, so much potential, wasted with inconsistent use of her powers and her new husband/owner-chasing. We've seen how Mordru treated Mysa; his harem is entirely too much at ease.


I didn't even think of those two. A ton of rubble shouldn't bother them, if Jo indeed kept his invincibility active as he claimed to do at the beginning of the series.

v4 Issue 48

Having a member of a super team who doesn't want to see his powers activate, does make for an unusual scene. While I'm surprised Devlin has done enough with the v4 team, for the guards to have recognised him, all that hero worship of his pays off when he puts his hands on his hips, raises his chin and taunts Mordru. Fortunately for Devlin, his powers aren't negated by Magic. No Kryptonite moment for him. The RPG book did tell us that the first Reflecto (retconned in) died from poisonous gas, not activating his power. So he is vulnerable to something.
I thought Laurel or Jo would be easily able to escape Mordru's trap. As Devlin frees Veilmist, who rescues the others I see that J'Onn would have been another one easily capable of escaping and rescuing the others.

Mysa's love for Mordru, and how that was preyed upon by Mordru's hate and rage is as powerful a message here as it was in the opening issues. The impact of the scene is reduced a little as we'd seen the confrontation play out over the last couple if issues. It could be said that the previous battle was a set up to this confrontation. While it would have been better had Mysa been able to do this herself, it's probably more realistic to show that support for victims of domestic abuse can make a huge difference. In this case, that takes the form of Amethyst. Even with that support, Mysa briefly feeds Mordru's hatred. In the end it's her acceptance of her love and the knowledge that this love was used and that this wasn't her fault pulls her through. There's a touching meeting between Mysa and Nura. Odd that Mysa felt that Nura didn't care. After Mysa's release from Mordru, earlier in the volume, she left loads of messages for her sister.

Mordu's hatred continues to drive him in defeat. In this Crisis/ Post Crisis world, Amethyst was responsible for burying Mordru for 1000 years (Mordru was briefly a member of Lar's Tuesday night support group on Daxam, but flounced off over the choice of biscuits). That only seemed to make him worse. The removal of much of his power by the Council, only made his machinations more subtle. In trying to get Mysa and her power back, by setting her on a false quest relating to Amethyst, he allowed that Amethyst spirit to contact others and together they helped Mysa gain her freedom, if not her recovery.
It's Mysa who stops the guard killing Mordru. I notice that Jeckie, standing beside Mysa, wasn't going to intervene. As she killed Nemesis Kid, she probably thinks the galaxy would be better off without Mordru. Turning Tharn back to the control of the Council is possibly an error of judgement, as they stood on the sidelines, as part of his court, in this story. As Mordru's zombies fell, we saw a rather passive pose for Imra on Winath. Much as the rest of her portrayal in this volume, unfortunately.

With the story stretched a little over a number of issues, there's a lot of pages given to the epilogues, which makes for a nice change for such stories. Like getting a gap/ filler issue in with the main story, even as the threads do relate to the main story. Vi & Devlin discover Roxxas caring for Jan Arrah. I wonder if he feels that by raising the dead of Trom, that everything will be fine when Arrah wakes up.

The Veilmist as property plot, continues to annoy. She and Flederweb are reclaimed by the Khunds. Veilmist's powers were incredibly useful to the team in this story. Flederweb was seen less. I wonder if Veilmist and her powers of teleportation came after realising that Nightcrawler type character could be added to the cast. It would have interesting to learn more of his background. He's not a Khund, after all.

The Khunds fully intend to recapture the worlds they lost to Mordru, and another UP/ Khund war seems inevitable. While they are in Khundish space, it's another example of the legion backing down in this volume. The others do follow Rokk's lead without complaint, so he definitely commands their respect.
I recall TB's blog stating that he wrote Firefist as dying in his encounter with Devlin. So, the additional page showing him alive in this issue, may not have been from him.

Mysa's silhouette among the rubble parallels the discussions of small victories over hatred. It reminds me of the silhouettes of the Legion at the end of the Magic Wars, standing over the rubble of the same world.

A lot of the cast are passengers in this one, in the service of the plot. Laurel and the Khunds mutual dislike flares only I a panel and none of the powerhouses did anything against Mordru to free their colleagues.
The art was top drawer as usual form Immonen. The plot was resolved along with its various subplot neatly wrapped up with the promise of further confrontations with the Khunds. Mordru lives to rise again, and there's character movement for Mysa. Overall, a good issue.

They've returned Mordru back to where he was at the end of v3, really. Roxxas hadn't been seen for a while, but he's back to being unbalanced and in a medical institution (where he was back whenever)



I agree, it did seem to go on for a while. There s little niggle that it's either T&M plot outlines weren't action driven or that Immonen didn't add loads to the punchiness of it. HAs I was typing up my bit, it dawned on me that the frist Mysa/Modru battle was to show that Mysa couldn't do this by herself. That the support the character gets, helps with the final monologue at the end.


Poor Nemesis Kid. Typecast to be BBQ Kid over volumes. Pan was one of the animated tapestries and Fred was old Legion reject and foe, Jungle King


I remember in the Conspiracy she made it extremely clear to Brainy, that he should mind his own business in future. Crushed his hand a bit, I think.



In Moore's Watchmen, two of the cast told a tale of a villain who really just had a kink where he wanted to be hit. Rorschach threw him down an elevator shaft. I imagine him as an overly Irish stereotype.



Perhaps it was TB's blog that suggested that Flederweb was from one of the worlds the Khunds had conquered. Veilmist told the Legion, she couldn't be Devlin's property because he was a minor. In the RPG, Devlin is supposed to be 15. Already an intrepid reporter too. I wonder what happens if he says "Shazam". Or the way TM write him "O'Shazam!" At that age, he's even more in line with the kid heroes.


A nice throwaway could have had Reep having to deal with an over ambitious Spiffany, moving Brande Industires into the contested worlds. But Cham's over with the kids.



I agree with all the things in the story. I read more into the small victories within the self over spreading hatreds into the wider world, part of the monologue at the end. I took that as a victory for Mysa. Mordru incited the plot, and was brought down. It removes a key pillar of the galaxy's power structure, and the Khunds are never far away from the door in Legion history. But no, in comics, it never ends.



I was thinking of the Magic Wars too at the end of this one. I was a little disappointed at the execution of that one (It's one Giffen has said he'd want to improve on). But I did think Mysa standing there made a statement, just as the reunited team at the end of the Magic Wars did.