Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion Archives: Volume 32

Welcome to Archive Volume 32. This volume includes Legionnaire #9-15, LSH #55-58, LSH Annual #5 and Legionnaires Annual #1

Links to previous Archive Re-Reads are below:

Legionnaires #9 "In A Flash - a Legionnaire Falls" (cover title) "Skin Deep" (story title)by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Chris Sprouse & Karl Story, Adam Hughes & Brian Stelfreeze, colors Tom McCraw, Letters Pat Brosseau, assistant Editor Mike McAvennie, Editor Eddie Berganza

Tenzil, Andromeda, Dragonmage, Catspaw and Violet answer a distress call in space. When a Khund ship appears, Laurel goes out to deal with it. Another ship appears and forces the Legion vessel to crash onto a planet. Catspaw awakens to find her old boyfriend, Tenzil finds Violet in love with him, Dragonmage finds his old teacher apologizing for her harshness but then Tenzil and Vi come across the real Violet, lying unconscious.

In space, Captain Allon tells Andromeda that there is no Legion ship in the region; she heads off to find them.

Above New Earth, Lyle and Gim chase pirates who have hijacked a grain shipment but only find the freighter captain in a lifepod.

At Legion HQ, tryouts are interrupted by a call from President Stewart to calm a riot of hungry people in Acapulco. When a protester hits Imra with a rock, Garth explodes and blasts the man, but hits Rokk instead (who intervened), possibly killing him.




Legionnaires #10 "Proto-Types" (cover title) "Little White Lies" (story title) by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Chris Sprouse, Adam Hughes, Stuart Immonen, Karl Story & Mark Farmer, colors Tom McCraw, Letters Pat Brosseau, assistant Editor Mike McAvennie, Editor KC Carlson

Tenzil awakens Violet; the other Vi admits to being a Protean. They find Dragonmage and his teacher also changes into her Protean form. The Proteans appeal for their help, claiming their entire race is dying inside a crashed ship. They find Catspaw, who has made up with the boyfriend who vowed he didn't betray her to the Dominators. She's hurt and angry when the fake is revealed. The team approaches the crashed ship and are attacked by Khunds.

In Acapulco, Imra yells at Garth to call other Legionnaires for help; he claims it wasn't his fault. She gives Rokk mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until Brainy arrives and jump starts Rokk's heart. One of the protesters has also collapsed without heartbeat; when Brainy resuscitates him, the kid's eyes glow strangely.

At Legion HQ, Cham and Danielle have words over spilled coffee and take a call from President Stewart. He reports more grain shipments hijacked by Sklarians and wants them to meet with some Sklarian merchants who denounce the piracy. They suggest that the Legion work with one of their own to infiltrate the pirates; it turns out to be Kono, which upsets Cham.

In Essen, Dirk and a lovely candidate from the tryouts hand out emergency rations; he offers to take her to a fancy restaurant in Paris afterwards.

On the Proteans' planet, Antares II, the Legionnaires and Proteans retreat from fighting the Khunds after a Protean is incinerated. The Khunds also want to leave, but are told by a Dominator to wait until he finishes his operations on "the specimen". The Legionnaires attack again, Violet shrinks and slips into the security system to activate coma gas and Proteans wrap around the Khunds, imprisoning them. Violet anxiously leads the team to the specimen, which turns out to be an unconscious and restrained Kid Quantum.

Comments:The cover on #9 shows Ayla (?) hit by Garth, but in the story, it's Rokk. To have him hit his own sister through recklessness would have been an okay story, but without the complications of the Founders' romantic triangle.

Garth's temper has gotten him in trouble again and he isn't quite man enough to admit, let alone recognize it. Consequences ahead, no doubt.

The famine riots are a good touch. Not all is well on New Earth, at least for most of the people. Pirates are taking advantage of them by hijacking grain shipments. Dirk Morgna, however, is still able to take a date to a fancy Parisian restaurant, a subtle tip to the fact that there are still haves and have-nots after the apocalypse.

The cover title for #10 should have given away the mystery, but I didn't initially pick up on it. There have been plenty of Legion stories involving deception (especially tied in with romance), but this one distinguishes itself with the very sad tale of Catspaw and Ansis. Up until now, Catspaw has been something of a gimmick, an effective fighter but accompanied by plenty of cat-jokes. Here we see her as someone betrayed and desperate to believe that her boyfriend truly loved and still loves her. Her shock at the revealed truth is painful, much more so than for Tenzil, who likes Violet, possibly has a serious crush on her but doesn't have a history with her to be destroyed.

I was surprised at the reveal of Kid Quantum. It's been a while since he was last seen leaving McCauley's museum and one wonders how he got here from there, but it's good to see that loose thread being tied up.

Another item to reappear from past issues is Kono, slotted into the new team, leaving her Sklaarian crew, apparently rehabilitated into merchants (although last seen on Talus helping themselves to bits and bobs).

There's a lot of attention given to the relationships in this series, whether romances, friendships or team working relations. It makes the characters come alive, develops their diverse personalities and makes them feel real; they're not one-notes. They're understandable at the emotional level. (It's an aspect that I find somewhat lacking in the current series. Not entirely, there's some energy devoted to the Saturn Girl/Superboy relationship, but most of the others are considerably more summary.)

Sorry Cramer. I'm a little behind over the last week. I'll catch up on the issues I have in the next couple of days.

No worries, as long as you're not being held by the Servants of Darkness.

Well, that too...

Legionnaires #9

"You've Killed Coz!" didn't take off across the various reboots in any South Park way, but it's a line that makes me smile. The electrocuted Rokk is the payoff for all of Garths reckless, jealous, jerk-like behaviour since the first issue. I think he struggles to learn from his mistakes too. All of this is from TMKs reinterpretation of Garth's story with the knowledge that his older version was merged with Proty. The younger one, doesn't have the perspective of the Proty and is the Garth TMNK think was there before his "death".

Typing of white, protoplasmic imitating entities, we get more on Catspaw and Dragonmage this issue. It's nice that they've not been forgotten. They don't do much, but we get some history as well as a look at the dysfunctional main relationship in their lives. Older readers will be familiar with the signs of shape changers, but T&M make it interesting and well hidden until the reveal of the two Violets. A subplot is the teething issues of New Earth, compounded by the 5YG economic collapse. There's lots of tension on this new world, and Dirk being selfish and looking for dates in the try outs puts it into sharp perspective. He's not learned much since the new Emerald Empress was created. T&M once again get some credit for their plot structures here. They vary it each issue, keeping out of habits and ruts. Both the main plots give us cliff hangers at different points. TM's dialogue has always been a plus point, and they have a clear idea on characterisation for the whole cast too. Plenty of plus points there. A Hughes/Sprouse/Stelfreeze art combo doesn't vary the look enough to throw the reader from the story.


Legionnaires #10

The characters drive a lot of the impact of this issue. While we saw more of Catspaw and Dragonmage's backgrounds last time, it's the continuation of the personalities of Garth and Dirk that stand out here. Having electrocuted his colleague, and one of the crowd, Garth simply can't admit any faulty. Despite Brainy electrically resuscitating Coz, Garth was unable to think clearly enough to try this himself. Elsewhere, Dirk offers dinners at fancy restaurants while people are starving. No wonder the crowd was upset, and it casts a shadow back on the behaviour of a lot of the team thinking they were entitled to freebies in the Atlantean dome. The plots are fairly linear, with the blast last issue having come from Khunds and a Dominator looking to protect a ship. For some reason, probably plot related to give us some tension, the villains have to calibrate their weapons between being effective against Protys and against humans. The little subplot regarding the Sklarians gets a bit more focus here, with the reintroduction of Kono, to help them track down the food thieves. TM get points for growing this plot steadily during the story, allowing the other plots to have their space.

Kono would have been an interesting Legionnaire, although her mass shifting powers had become a bit like Tinya's from what little we ended up seeing. Cham gets some redundant advisor dialogue here. It gives him the opportunity to be engaged with Danielle. But the creative team would back away from any further relationship between them. An early Cham surviving the chambers still looks to have been the better long term option. Older Cham does provide a link for readers of the other book, and to the old Legion. But perhaps a cleaner break, even at that level would have been better.

The reveal of Kid Quantum was a surprise, with lots of questions waiting to be answered next issue. His origins as the Soul of Antares tie in with the Protys. So, it's not out of nowhere, even if the Khundish seemed a bit random here. His last outing was a so-so one. TM did give him a clear personality there, and in the RPG. He's a political thinker, to Jan's spiritual and Querl's logical minds. He is an older character though. With TM having spent so much time in differentiating between older and younger characters, it will be interesting to see what they do here.

Legionnaires #11 "The Astonishing Return of Kid Quantum" by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Chris Sprouse & Joe Phillips, Karl Story, Wade Von Grawbadger & Jason Martin, colors Tom McCraw, Letters Pat Brosseau, assists Mike McAvennie, Editor Eddie Berganza

Kid Quantum is released from stasis, to the joy of the Protys. They rush him to a vault, filled with Proteans, to restore the sentience of their race, while the Legionnaires defend them against the Khunds. Weak and barely conscious, Kid Quantum recounts the backstory to Dragonmage. A machine is placed over him to extract the soul, but he's dying. The Proteans appeal to Dragonmage to help complete the ritual. Despite his self-doubt, he proceeds.

The Khunds have shot and captured Catspaw and proceed to torture her to flush out the other Legionnaires. They're suddenly frozen by a fully recovered Kid Quantum, whose stasis powers have become internalized.

On New Earth, Dirk and Sadi find the Paris Dome barricaded with chains. Dirk tries to fry them, unsuccessfully. In Acapulco, Imra, Garth and Jo await news of Rokk's medical treatment. Garth tries to apologize but ultimately blames Rokk for getting in the way, angering Imra.

At Legion HQ, Cham, Danielle and Lu receive Laurel's report of finding the Legionnaires on Antares, along with Kid Quantum. Cham welcomes James into the group. Jazmin is annoyed that she wasn't consulted as leader.

In Acapulco, Brainy studies the fallen boy, who is manifesting strange mental energy readings. Some energy erupts, engulfing Brainy, Tinya, Ayla and Andrew. SP Officers fear they've been killed.



Legionnaires #12 "Street Justice" by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Chris Sprouse, Adam Hughes, Chris Gardner, Karl Story & Dennis Cramer, colors Tom McCraw, Letters Pat Brosseau, assistant Editor Mike McAvennie, Editor KC Carlson

Outside the Paris dome, automatic guns fire on Dirk; he's pulled out of the line of fire by a female SP and offers to take her out sometime. As Dirk communicates to Legion HQ, Sadi beats up the female SP officer.

At Legion HQ, Kid Quantum is inducted into the Legion. After the ceremony, Danielle sends Lyle to Acapulco, Cham asks to head the mission to Paris and Tenzil is dispatched to help Kono with the pirates.

President Stewart briefs the Paris team, telling them that there is a lot of anti-alien violence being led by Lothar St. Maixent, who grabbed power in an unsanctioned election. Stewart wants them to convince St. Maixent to step down.

Lyle arrives in Acapulco and gets sucked into an energy field holding Gossamer. He feels something taking over his mind.

Outside Paris, Gim fails to break the gate chains, but Purple Lu manages to pick the lock. The Legionnaires enter the tunnel but are attacked, Jan is hit and Dirk responds with a fiery blast. James puts the attackers in stasis, the others disarm them. The Legionnaires enter the city to find a mob burning a Talokian woman at the stake.

At the hospital in Acapulco, Rokk is failing, but Imra connects with his mind and stabilizes him. Garth is jealous; she orders him to leave.

At Legion HQ, Kono regales the others with stories about pranks she played on Cham. Tenzil shows her a picture he took of her in the shower; the other women laugh until they realize Tenzil might have other shower pictures. Danielle tells Tenzil that he and Kono will be working together on the pirate problem.

In Paris, the Legionnaires free the Talokian and take her to a hospital, where one doctor refuses to treat an alien. Dirk explains away the violence as a reaction to the Dominator control of Earth, but he's angered when some other Parisians on a nearby balcony begin throwing things at Cham. Lu observes a young Dominator being chased by a gang on the street below. When they run to help the child, the Dominator extends a hand and releases some energy, apparently turning the Legionnaires into smoke.


Comments:
The Proteans have their restored soul and race, presumably Laurel dealt with the Khunds and lone Dominator, the Legion ship got fixed after its crash-landing and the team heads home with the all-new this old Kid Quantum. I don't think there was ever any doubt that the story would have resolved any differently, but I'm not sure if Kid Q is Cham's age or if, as the Soul of Antares, he remained a teenager. The team is large enough so I suspect tying up the Kid Quantum story was a personal favourite of the Bierbaums.

The xenophobia theme feels old, but it has become a fairly common theme in Legion stories. At this time, I don't think it had been addressed that often, except for anti-Durlan sentiment. There was hatred of Khunds and Dominators, attackers of Earth, but other races appeared to live quite peaceably in the United Planets.

It provides a good enough basis for a story, but this, along with the food shortages, provides realism as well. New Earth has serious problems and various factions are in position to take advantage of them, as after any war. There are also those who are insulated from these problems and the Legionnaires, whether they fully realize it or not, are among the well-provided for.

Garth's story is a very human one. He's just not getting it. He's remorseful, but still looking to blame others. No instant comic book lessons here. The more mature Imra is fed up and may be transferring her emotional committment to Rokk.

I do like the interaction between Cham and Danielle, the little power disputes. She's in charge, but he's footing the bill. They clash, but he is willing and able to let her call the shots, for the most part.

The return of Kono is less enjoyable. One clown on the team, Tenzil, is okay; two becomes annoying. The shower pranks make them look juvenile at best, a stalker-creepy at worst. They're kids, I know, but it's become an overly well-worn joke.

A lot of artists are working on this book now; the Chris Gardner/Dennis Cramer combo in #12 is a jarring stylistic change.

Legionnaires #11

The main plot is more by the numbers on the page, than it probably looked on the drawing board (or writer equivalent). The faux proteans were revealed and the squad of interchangeable Khunds are not much of a threat, no matter how underpowered this grouping are. T&M created Kid Quantum, so it's only reasonable they move him across to the new team, even if he's as old as the oldest Adventure era Legionnaires. He has a Silver Age origin, a different power set and outlook. So all good. He's also a black man, which doesn't hurt the book's diversity either. Of course, being DC, he's really a white blob of protoplasm masquerading as a black man.

Kid Quantum's outlook, and origin, are parallels to Element Lad. His powers could also pose a similar problem. Jan was kept out of the way, as he could transform the air around an opponent into inertron. James has the same problem, in that any foe can be frozen in stasis. We?re going to need to see some wrinkles in the power for him to be an integral part of plots. Ever conscious of those try out regulations, T&M have the process James undergoes here result in his powers becoming part of him. That means he no longer violates the no mechanical powers rule, that was brought in after his supposed death (or was that just the reboot). That's how old the character is supposed to be. Somehow , I doubt that age gap will be touched on too often.

There's some extra origin depth added by having James be the one who gave Glorith the secrets of his race. The ritual this issue, is to return the Proteans sentience. However, Glorith is still a threat. Very much so over in the main book. They must know that she'll come after them again.

Dragonmage's inexperience adds something different in character. But he has no place on a Legion, where they are all experienced and in control of their powers. Dragonmage wouldn't pass the try outs we see Dirk being rude to people at. Chemical Kid would have similar issues in a later volume, but at least he was seen to be trained on the job.
Elsewhere, Garth and Imra go through an all too real break up. He simply can't accept that he's a jerk, even at the limit of him trying to reach out to Imra. Her bond with Rokk strengthens as she telepathically helps his recovery. Nothing passes by Garth's jealous notice.

While Coz gets lots of hospital care, the poor kid is still lying on site. I guess there was only the one hover ambulance available. Still, Brainy is there to help. He notes that the kid's mental energy is off the scale. The psychedelic patterns on the Legionnaires after the kid's powers are unleashed, make me hopeful that he's Kid Mayavale!

Sun Boy and his date are having some first world problems. They are having trouble getting to their Parisian restaurant because someone has chained up the tunnel. Batman, Chewbacca and the cast of the Wizard of Oz are in the crowd, and are keen to get to Paris too. Dirk is proactive, but can?t break the chains. Readers of the main book will have seen someone with unbreakable chains appear, right after they left the book.

While the main plot is a bit linear in getting James on the team, there are a number of other subplots to keep things ticking over. We've also got some Danielle/Cham leadership friction.


Legionnaires #12

This was the last issue of Legionnaires, I got for a while at least. I even have gaps in the issues I picked up later on, so I can't have been that thrilled with them. I don't think I had a full run of the issue before this at the time, picking up at least a few of them later on in the discount bins.

The Pris dome is sealed off by those chains. Dirk is unable to break them as is Gim (who we've not seen much of). It's one of Triad's selves that gets them in. It's good to see T&M continue with their different personalities and, it seems, skills. Danielle adds the exposition that the dome has been sealed by a Lothar (not to be confused with Luthor) St Maixent. The Legionnaires defeat a group of guards. It would have been interesting if they were SPs who had been loyal to Circe back at the start of v4. We do get some hint of organised xenophobia when a doctor considers not treating one of the victims.

Gim looks likely to spend this volume being a target every time he grows in a battle. Jan is conveniently taken out of the way, so that James can shine on his first mission. The Parisians are hunting down the aliens that also live in the dome. The Legionnaires save a couple of targets, before falling foul of the powers of a kid, who turns them into smoke. The ending is much like last issues, where a kid turned some Legionnaires into psychedelic statues.

That's a subplot Lyle is investigating, only to fall foul of the Lotus Fruit Effect! of Kid Mayavale's powers.

Other plots include Tenzil vs Kono. Kono is 15, so the naked pictures subplot is as creepy here as it was on the main book. Otherwise, Tenzil is a lot better handled by T&M than anywhere else. Already on the edge, Garth and Imra's relationship crashes and burns.

Dirk's date bumping off the competition, indicates there may be more to her than it seemed.

Although Gardner's art doesn't do much for me, it wasn't the only reason for me to give up. This issue's main plot is pretty linear and didn't catch my attention much. We saw anti alien sentiment in the main book. The Image style boos and his easily beaten goons didn't seem to be interesting. The main plot is fairly pedestrian and has the same cliff hanger as the issue before. As I mentioned, I didn't buy a number of these at the time. There wasn't enough distance between this and the main book for me, and I must have preferred sticking with that (even after a brief drop somewhere in the Terra Mosaic). It wouldn't have take too many so-so issues for me to move on.

Dialogue and character save these otherwise pedestrian stories. Compared to later issues, the artist change here was perfectly smooth.


Oh, good point that Garth could have resuscitated Coz, or at least tried. Preferably his emotions were too scrambled to think clearly rather than the idea would never have occurred to him because he didn't know he could try that with his powers. Good comparison for Dirk with the Atlantis vacation - we don't know if he expects a free meal in Paris as well.


Agreed; they just need Cham for the money (and RJ might have filled this role). There could still have been friction between young Cham and Danielle and the "male-female dynamic", as Brainy put it, would have been more viable.


Merging with a Protean has positive effects on one's personality. It made Garth a better person. Maybe something could be worked out with Takron-Galtos to rehabilitate criminals. (Which makes me wonder what really changed Mekt?) And why aren't Proteans running the U.P. or at least serving as advisors?


Oddly enough, Dirk was helping him in the fight against Mordecai. Dragonmage's inexperience is a lot like Jacques Foccart's problems, although Jacques had those extra powers dumped on him, he hadn't been training for them. Dragonmage got into the Legion because he was pals with Danielle, perhaps, or, as in times of war, people rise quickly in the ranks as their superiors fall in battle.


Wasn't that someone supposed to be in prison?

Nice spotlight for Triad, but doesn't say much for Grimbor.


Great idea!


Don't remember, but I don't think she's seen again.


Ditto here, I didn't get these Legionnaires issues until some years later, to fill in the blanks. They're not exactly phoned in, but don't rise to the level of the TMK run. The Bierbaums were certainly not working with a receptive and positive DC office at this point and it shows in the finished product.

I think it was TB's blog that said they weren't thrilled about having Kid Quantum in a Legion costume on the cover. So, they must have thought there was enough between the end of part one and the resolution of the story to give some doubt. I can see their point, but it's not a massive shock as you say, and the cover could have been a "what might have been" cover that the story deviates from (no doubt that would have had its critics too.)


No one ever seemed to bother the little eye stalk sentients that Giffen used to put in the Legion. Yet, I don't recall seeing them after the 5YG. What dark fate befell them, or did they just go somewhere a bit nicer?


Good point. I remember thinking it odd that all the book's cast managed to get shuttles off of the dying Earth. But the Legion and their supporting cast are in that well-provided for bracket. Even that wasn't enough for 5YG Dirk, who wanted to have even more comfort. As Alt+Dirk flies off to his Parisian restaurant, it's clear that he assumes he not going to turn out the same way, despite him knowing the fate of the other.


Good point on Garth. T&M are giving us characters working at more than one level. There's not long left before Zero hour for this to play out, but I think later volumes thought it a good enough idea to revisit.

I also wonder if Imra feels closer to certain people, because there's some unconscious telepathy at work. Just in a natural way.

Now that you mention it, it's interesting that we haven't had any thought, that I've noticed, from Danielle over Cham's position. T&M seem to have wanted the friendly bickering at leader level (which Alt+Cham wouldn't have immediately provided - although if the older one had got killed and younger one inherited Brande Ind as they are the same sentient...), but without too much of older Cham's past getting in the way.

stalker-creepy it is! As I don't get much further in this plot, I don't know how Kono fitted back in. Hopefully she gets used a bit more than in the main book. It might have been interesting to see Alt+Jo's relationship with her. A slightly peeved Tinya putting up with younger Jo and Kono having smuggling adventures would be interesting.

With Zero Hour ads in the books, perhaps it was a case of them not being able to give artists any length of contract on the book. So Hughes and Sprouse would be getting secured for other titles, with other artists having short runs, getting opportunities etc. ?


We never got to see the downside of this. Where old impulsive Garth would have leapt in and saved the day, Proty-Garth would be more reserved and miss the opportunities.


Fair enough on Dragonmage getting trained. I'd be hopeful that having met a more praising version of his mentor, even if it was a fake, would have a positive impact on how he uses his powers for the team. Unlike Jacques, we won't have a plot where he worries about filling Lyle's space boots, followed by another where he worries about filling Lyle's space boots, after Giffen brought Lyle back.


I wasn't sure if these chains were actually Grimbor's work or not. If they were, I was thinking there was either a continuation form the other book, or thngs were bad enough they were squabbling over who got to use him. The logical extension of Triad is a return to the Lelith days, where the perosnalities become so distinct that they don't want to remerge. Enter...Lockpick Lass!

I generally enjoyed these tales of the younger counterparts. The tone was (deliberately) lighter than the older team book (which I also enjoyed but for different reasons) even with the darker racial parts of the recent story.

I too found the artwork jarring but I think I learnt to live with it as Gardner took over more in the coming issues - still not my favourite but an interesting alternative. However I am glad that mroe the style of Chris Sprouse ended up being used in the reboot.

The shower pic scenes were an appropriate development from Kono's previous similar antics but it is a bit disappointing that the other girls were laughing at Kono until they realised it could happen to them. Still at least the writers gave Tenzil a beat up here and a somewhat appropriate retribution in the coming issues.

I hadn't thought about the inexperience of the new members before and it doesn't compare well to say the tryouts in the Baxter edition which rejected many because of the recognised danger. Still it fits with this team which are much younger and more optimistic than the older jaded version even having just come through the Earth-Dominator war. I feel their outlook makes sense with their background although perhaps they are really burying PTSD under smiling faces and if the series had continued maybe we would have seen that. Probably not since the book was intended to be more Adventure-isc but interesting to think about. You can't say they haven't been through their own tragedies with the loss of Jeckie, Cham and Val as well as the whole planet.

The fact that they're younger could explain why they're more relaxed about Dragonmage's mastery of his magic - and he joined the group when things were still pretty chaotic.

Good point about the eventual effects of PTSD had the series continued. These characters display a lot more varied emotions than we saw in the Adventure era, so some PTSD wouldn't be out of place. Garth's temper, Rokk's strict boy scout attitude, Dragonmage's insecurity could all be manifestations of that.

Legionnaires #13 "Chain Gang" by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Frank Fosco, Wade Von Grawbadger & Ron Boyd, colors Tom McCraw, Letters Pat Brosseau, assists Mike McAvennie, Editor KC Carlson

In Paris, the Dominator girl teleports the Legionnaires into a prison. The crowd flees after she threatens to make them disappear. When the prisoners attack the Legionnaires, guards arrive, firing. Their blasts open up the force field in the back wall and the Legionnaires fly out.

Tenzil meets with the Sklarians to discuss how to infiltrate the pirates. They prep him for a disguise with hair and skin dye and an injection.

In Acapulco, Lyle enters the energy field created by the electrocuted kid and finds the other Legionnaires in states of despair and panic. He resists the feelings and finds himself back in reality, greeting Jo and Laurel. They work out a plan to save the others. In the hospital, Rokk revives and blames himself for getting shocked by Garth. Imra watches Garth walk away and wonders why she loves him instead of Rokk.

Tenzil awakens the next morning as a female, having been given the Grandin Gender Reversal Germ.

The Paris Legion team want to find the Archduke running the city, but have to evade an angry mob. They run underground and find the Dominator girl; Dirk speaks to her in her own language and gets her to teleport them to the Archduke's palace. They're met by guards, but the Archduke himself tells the guards to stand down. However, scanners reveal that this Archduke is really Cham and the guards attack. The Legionnaires are taken down by energy chains and Grimbor appears.

Tenzil and the Sklarians go to a bar and let it be known they're looking to make some dirty credits. They get recruited by a Sklarian pirate crew and assigned jobs. Tenzil is ill-prepared for the deception and is uncovered as a spy.



Legionnaires #14 "Grim Reality" by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Chris Gardner & Dennis Cramer, colors Tom McCraw, Letters Pat Brosseau, assistant Editor Mike McAvennie, Editor KC Carlson

In Paris, Grimbor lectures the shackled Legionnaires. The Dominator girl observes from beyond the gate, then attacks Grimbor, claiming she hates what her people did to Earth.

In Acapulco, Rokk heads back to H.Q. to recover. Garth tries to talk to Imra but she rebuffs him, telling him he should report for disciplinary action.

On the Sklarian pirate ship, Tenzil fails to talk his way out of the mess as the pirates discover he's a male. Kono disables the pirates' blasters, Tenzil eats his restraints and Kono gets a message out to waiting Legionnaires and SPs.

In Paris, two of the Luornus are free and one de-activates Grimbor's controls, freeing the Legionnaires. They fight the guards; the Dominator girl teleports Grimbor into Gim's hands. The Archduke St. Maxient appears and asserts his authority as elected leader of Paris.

The Sklarian pirates are attacked by a magic dragon and caught in its mystical field. As the Legionnaires and SP prepare to board, Kono disables the pirates' guns. Violet discovers that the stolen grain was compressed to microscopic size with Imskian technology.

St. Maxient tells the Legionnaires to leave and have Earthgov deal with him through proper channels. Cham tells him that they've learned the pirates were sending the grain to him; St. Maxient denies this and Grimbor admits it was his idea. Cham says new elections will be held regardless. Although St. Maxient claims he'll win again, Dirk tells him that the majority won't support him.

Dirk finds a group home for the Dominator girl, who was rejected by her people for refusing to use her powers on humans.

Tenzil is in jail with the pirates, boring them with stories about himself.

In Acapulco, Lyle explains to Jo and Laurel that the energy field is controlling the imprisoned Legionnaires with anxiety. Imra arrives to join the rescue team and Garth wants in as well. Imra links their minds, they enter the field and find themselves wrapped in tentacles and attacked by a monster.

The final page is a DC tribute to Jack Kirby.

Comments:
These issues juggle four stories with the effect of making them feel more drawn out than they might have otherwise. The Paris and Sklarian pirate plots move quickly enough, but the reader jumps back and forth between these and the two Acapulco-based stories - and not much advances in Acapulco. Rokk recovers, but Garth and Imra just keep failing to resolve their problems.

The artwork really doesn't help. It might be better suited to underground comix or Heavy Metal; I just found it distracting for Legionnaires.

Shrinking the stolen grain with Imskian tech was unexpected, but fits in with the Sklarians affinity for stealing technology, which absolves Imskians of any involvement. Grimbor, if he was indeed acting on his own, had the bright idea to buy support for his boss with food. It's not clear if Grimbor is simply a mercenary or if he espouses anti-alien sentiments.

Dirk's behaviour has been interesting in these past few issues. We've seen him behave cruelly to people and assuming an entitled position, yet helping the Dominator girl find a home. He's insulted his teammates, but also passionately defended them against outsider attacks. Dirk wants to be the hero, but he sometimes falls short with his weaknesses. He is following the pattern of his older self.

We're supposed to regard St. Maxient as an anti-democratic power-grabber, but I have some sympathy for his position (as a leader, not as a racist). Perhaps he was authentically elected, with who knows what promises. Cham dictates to him that new elections will be held; St. Maxient calls for proper channels to be followed. We don't know how Earthgov functioned before vis-a-vis individual cities/states, or how they're operating now, but in the confusion of Earth's collapse, there could be viable constitutional questions which need to be worked out. In short, the Legion blunders into Paris and start telling the leader how to run things, not a good look.

These interweaving plots are all pretty hectic. That's not a bad thing but it does get a bit confusing at times.

The Paris plot is trying to be the deepest, raising the spectre of racism against the understandable reaction of survivors of the Earth-Dominator war. It's a fair attempt but not one that is going to go down as a classic. Nice to see Triad doing the fakeout again as we see she triplicated in a single panel just before being teleported. Dirk is really shown in a much more positive light here. His multi-lingual talents (have we ever seen any reference to this before?) and how he approaches the young Dominator are in stark contrast to some of his previously shown arrogance and self-centredness. His final comments to St Maixent (I always read that as Maxient in the past) show that arrogance again but at least in the light of righteous indignation. Cham is shown leading this team and the others are pretty much just there. (Frankly I'm glad to see Jan limited. His ability to transform free floating air molecules into solid shields always wanted me to tell some story how his powers involved more than just element transformation. "?'ll turn these Oxygen atoms into Iron atoms." That's great Jan, you've made a tiny pile of iron dust.)

The Psycho-Kid Acapulco crisis makes slow progress with Lyle not only figuring it out but escaping. Solid, mental and emotional control. I guess the other reason for the slow progress is tying it in to the Garth/Imra/Rokk relationship crisis (which started there anyway). Between this and the Paris story I think they are trying to show that there is more to Dirk and Garth than a pair of hotheads. Laudable goal perhaps not perfectly achieved. We'll see the resolution to this next issue.

The Tenzil/Kono has elements of the previous fun Tenzil stories but doesn't quite reach that mark. Still fun and Kono does a good job but it's really a cakewalk for the team, even if Tenzil briefly seems in danger. Still a fun use for the gender-reversal thing introduced with Officer Erin and more enjoyable than that. (I'm a guy and admit that I don't know if some of the dialogue/jokes about Tenzi's feminine physique are a bit sexist or just a bit if fun. Feel free to enlighten me.)

Artwise I much prefer Frank Fosco's pencils in #13 but only in comparison to Chris Gardner's in #14. Fosco's is ok and closer to previously established style but Gardner's is a distinct departure that I don't enjoy here. As I mentioned previously I get a bit used to it and it has it's points such as the panels of Grimbor's racist rage against the Dominator really communicating the violence and panic, but overall I don't like it. Adam Hughes cover for #13 in the other hand is one of my favourites. The astonishment with the little addition of the accidentally squeezed toothpaste is great.

The St. Maixent vs Maxient thing, I see I've fallen into the trap! It's just easier for anglos to say Maxient - but St. Maixent is a real French city, named after a 6th century abbot, whose abbey became very wealthy, so apologies to the Archduke.


Agreed! What would be the best/classic anti-racism stories? Can't think of any off-hand that I've particularly enjoyed in comics. Maybe Superman vs. the Klan, which I haven't read.


Tenzil is almost always played for laughs so it was a cakewalk, which I thought detracted from the seriousness of the piracy - but maybe Tenzil's superpower is really his gift of gab. As for the jokes, I think they were just fun, especially for the time it was written.


That might have been a fun sub-plot in itself, if the Legionnaires had played a prank on Tenzil - although it might have been better suited for Dirk to experience the feminine side of life.

Thanks for the background. It adds to the story a little to know it is not just a made-up name.

Darn good question. Wish I had a darn good answer. I think it has been tried a few times but is often limited by being written by others than the race being discriminated against (or not). An example that springs to mind is the introduction of Tyroc which makes a reasonable attempt at showing the astonishment of the legionnaires that it should exist or be a problem but is often criticised for Tyroc himself being portrayed as a stereotypical black character.

One that comes to mind is from Superman: The Man of Steel in the mid 90s (the series, not one of the similarly named miniseries). As part of the supporting character stories Perry and Alice White adopt an orphaned black boy named Keith which leads to a few raised eyebrows by associates when they meet him. He has a debate with Franklin Stern who was the publisher of the Daily Planet at this time and a black man himself. Stern disagrees with Perry's decision to adopt Keith believing that he should be raised by other black people, which Perry violently disagrees with. There is a flashback issue where Perry and Franklin as young reporters uncover and fight a KKK type movement which cements their ongoing friendship while acknowledging their differing views. The scene I most remember from another issue is one where Keith is trying to fit in with some new kids at school who then use him as a cover to steal videogames from a store. The store owner grabs Keith but when Perry White shows up the owner is astonished to meet Mr White as Keith's father and Perry gives him an angry lecture about stereotyping and grabbing the black kid as being the guilty one. I thought the ongoing character development was pretty well done.

Legionnaires #15 "Worst Nightmares" by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, art by Jeff Moy & Dennis Cramer, colors Tom McCraw, Letters Pat Brosseau, assists Mike McAvennie, Editor KC Carlson

The Acapulco team is ensnared in the energy vortex, wrapped in tentacles and suffering fear, regret and anxiety. Imra gets a grip and tells Lyle the vortex is causing their panic. They form a mental link with Jo and tell him Tinya is in danger, then he breaks free.

An SP reports to Computo that the team is in trouble.

Imra, Lyle and Jo find Andromeda weeping over her dead parents and attacked by Khunds. By getting her to focus on Brainy, she breaks free; then Ayla is released from her fear. Garth, mired in sorrow over the loss of a childhood pet, is rescued from a suicide attempt by Imra and Ayla. They tell him they love him. The others find Tinya, terrorized by bugs and snakes. The twins and Imra find Ferro, horrified by his maskless. melting face. Andrew is rescued with reassurance and encouragement from the Ranzz twins, but Jo's nightmare returns when he tries to rescue Tinya. Brainy appears, having conquered the fear vortex with his own logic.

Then, they're in the war with Dominators on Earth and find the boy Mayf who generated the vortex. He cries in pain; his mother yells at him to be quiet so the Dominators don't find them, then Dominators burst in with a human snitch. Mayf goes wild as his mother is killed. Garth reacts with anger but is knocked down by Andrew. He pauses to reflect, and with Imra's telepathic link, takes responsibility for the boy, apologizes to him and promises to watch out for him. Suddenly, everything is back to normal and Mayf is taken for medical care.

Comments:
A "lost in nightmares" story, not unlike what Mordru did to the adult Legionnaires. However, in this scenario, the Legionnaires are able to communicate with one another, which is the point of the story. It's much less a horror story and more of a teamwork exercise.

The editor's note explains that this emotional vortex story has been going on since issue #9. It sure does feel over-extended to me. We go Legionnaire by Legionnaire, eradicating each nightmare with the same message: love/support conquers. Three Legionnaires - Imra, Lyle and Brainy - break out with rational thought, a nice contrast to the others. The mutual support theme, however, has been an underlying principle of the young Legionnaires.

One reason I found this story a bit lacklustre, beyond its multi-issue telling, was that we already know that these would be the basic fears of these characters (except for Tinya's snakes & bugs aversion, which is so girly it fits her); it's no surprise that the three thinkers would react differently. There is a new point regarding Garth's insecurity, his self-blame for his dead pet. In the end, everything is okay, couples are smooching and food has presumably been delivered to the hungry population. One hopes.

The child Mayf has a complicated story, about which only basic details are given. Tom Bierbaum wrote in his blog about his plans for Mayf had he continued as writer. They do sound a bit complicated, power-wise, but Mayf would eventually join the Legion.

As was the case with ?Dommie,? the Dominator girl, the idea was for Mayf to ultimately join the Legion. We?d planned on this strange kid dub himself the new ?Kid Psycho,? and in this case the ?Pscyho? part being that he would be mentally unstable and tapping into observations from an alternate reality that only he could perceive, a reality that revealed to him what was going on in the minds of others.? He?d be particularly attuned to the demons, phobias and traumas that haunt the villains the Legion would oppose, being able to relive the experiences that drove the Legion?s antagonists to their villainy.

I?d wanted him to have a hand-puppet that would be the ?medium? from whom we?d learn what was going on in Mayf?s ?mental visions? and had also wanted him to be on the pudgy side, identifiably Hispanic and with scruffy adolescent whiskers, a very identifiable and kind of vaguely ?fannish? look, but apparently the idea of having our first official Hispanic Legionnaires be quasi-insane and not heroically handsome was troublesome and he turned into a good-looking brown-haired wasp-ish character. Of course, it?s all academic, since I?m guessing nobody ever saw Mayf again after this issue.

A logical extension would have made this a further avenue for Garth's development as well, if he played the part of big brother which is indicated in this story, with Imra helping to teach Mayf mental control.

Bierbaum also wrote:

And with that, our run on the book ends. It was nice to conclude things with a story where the deep friendships within the team prevailed and conquered the phobias and conflicts that had been unleashed. It was a chance to emphasize what mattered most to us as we were being set out to pasture by DC.

A good sentiment and aligned with Legion ideals. For me, however, the story itself feels flat.

The ideas for Kid Psycho 2 really don't sound that great, but it's nice to have "Dommie" as a name for that Dominator girl.

Thanks for the info on Kid Psycho 2, Cramer. I didn't know that or about "Dommie"

It would only have been a matter of time before the Legion found out that Kid Psycho was leeching the phobias of the villains they captured, to create a massive shadowy Nightmare creature that hovered above Metropolis, forcing everyone to relive their nightmares.

Good summary Cramey. Particularly interesting to hear Tom's thoughts and opinions.

Legion of Superheroes #55 "Tough Turf" by Tom McCraw, art by Stuart Immonen & Ron Boyd, Colours Tom McCraw, Letters Bob Pinaha, Editor K.C. Carlson, Assists Mike McAvennie

Sussa recovers after stumbling into the fugitive Legion's temporary base on Rimbor. She tells Brainy, Vi and Laurel that things have gotten really bad. She had gone after Jo, who stormed off to look for Tinya after helping the Legion get set up in an old warehouse. They found Jo's old gang, but were immediately attacked by the Dragon gang. Sussa was knocked out and held prisoner; she heard them talking about gang wars over Silverale smuggling. Sussa escaped, but was hit, causing her to black out when she reached the Legionnaires. With new disguises and code names, they set out to find Jo. Rokk refuses to lead the team.

On Starhaven, Dawnstar undergoes a ritual to confront fear as part of her recovery. After a few spiritual encounters, she meets Bounty and conquers her fear.

Universo has Ambassador Sten alert Rimbor's Chairman Trombi that the Legion might be on his planet. Trombi gets his pet gang to search for them and confers with a shadowy figure in his office.

Sussa leads them to where she last left Jo, but it turns out to be an ambush. A sonic weapon takes the Legionnaires down. After some time, they regain consciousness and see that Jo, who has a new costume and has taken the name of Dragon, is auctioning them off to representatives of other gangs. The gangs are suspicious. Jo frees the Legionnaires, who attack and subdue the gang members; Jo tells the gangs that the Broncs, supported by the government, are monopolizing the markets and the other gangs need to work together.

In the offices of Internal Affairs, Mysa distracts Trombi's aide while Vi sneeks into Trombi's office and steals some surprising information on a trade agreement.

Comments:
The disguises of some Legionnaires require a suspension of belief: a green guy, a tall blonde, a guy in a containment suit, a wolfman, a woman with incredibly long hair, gee, they sure look like those pesky fugitive Legion guys. However, they pass unrecognized through the streets of Rimbor for their date with destiny, conveniently arranged by Jo the Dragon Nah. Who was supposed to be on some urgent mission to find the love of his life, lost in time, but is now working to unite the gangs of Rimbor.

It's a bit thin, as is the ability of a sonic weapon to take down Laurel Gand, but it moves the story along, presumably to some confrontation with Universo and the mysterious ally of Rimbor government, which may be the same mysterious ally of Universo.

Another thing that detracts from this particular issue is the gang war/peace plot. The gangspeak is tiresome; bringing the gangs together for their ultimate survival feels a bit worn, although it does emphasize Jo's street smarts. However, I'll keep an open mind and see where it goes.

It looks like the stage has been cleared for Dawnstar's return, now that she's broken free of Bounty's hold over her psyche. Without her wings, she might fit in well with this hobbled Legion.

LOL Yeah, those disguises are right out of the Hannibal Smith catalog.

I have no problem with McCraw trying to bring the Legion back to basics. If ever the book needed such an approach, it was after the yuck-fest of T+M. But the writer's execution leaves something to be desired, the end results often coming off as cheesy and cliche.

I'm also not that crazy about this phase of Immonen's artistic evolution, it looks too basic to me, too flat; then again, Boyd's inking might be partly to blame.

Still, at least the pace is good and there's plenty of action (even if some of the actual battles feel off-base in the powers department.)

v4 Issue 55

I thought this one was a decent read with some solid, straightforward plotting. And that's a compliment since a lot of books really struggle with that. There's some Silver Age underpinning this one, with the heroes for auction angle and some mission impossible elements combined there too.

The team get new identities and plans together quickly once Sussa returns to base. Vi takes command, as McCraw once again shows us what he felt about the lack of momentum under TMK's run. Rokk is far form himself, refusing to follow a leader, as he's in the huff. He'd be on the walk of shame if he did that back int eh Adventure days.

Sussa is still an odd add on to the team. Jo clearly wants nothing to do with her. Even more so now that Tinya may be alive. Yet, she clings on. She mentions that she knows what it's like to lose someone. Perhaps there's more depth to her than we're seeing. That, whatever her initial reasons for being Limpet Lass, she's trying to help Jo.

While it makes sense for the team to find Jo, there's less of a reason to be investigating the gang-government connections. They need a place to operate quietly, not a confrontation with a world government.

Elsewhere Jo is running his own scheme. He knows there's a government link to the gangs, with the dominance of one and the fighting between the others, causing real instability. He doesn't have to stay, as it offers no progress to getting Tinya. But it is his gang and HQ.

So he traps his own team, only to quickly release them so they can subdue the gangs. It's a little pat. I get the feeling the plot wouldn't stand up with too much scrutiny. But it does its job. There's no reason why Jo should knock Sussa out, when his goal is to get the team to work with him. It is only fair that the gangs appear to be completely outmatched.

Elsewhere, Vi uncovers an other layer to the plot. We had already been shown that the Rimborian government had been informed by one of Universo's minions to the Legion's presence there. We also know, from way back in #2, that the Khunds also have a strong presence on the planet. There are some nice links to the wider plot, and to previous issue, which have been a strength in McCraw's run so far.

It's an issue that feels part of a story, rather than one that is lost in one. There's some interest in seeing just what the Legion are going to face, along with their fugitive status.

Immonen's art continues to be top notch, and most of the cast get something to do during the issue. The issue's other subplot concerns Dawnstar, completing a spiritual journey. Considering her treatment in the volume, she's an interesting cast member to possibly be returning. McCraw hasn't been too shy of pointing out issues with the previous regime in his plots. Perhaps he just wants to leave the character better than when he found her.

LSH v4 #55

This was ok. I felt these few issues were a pleasant change from the previous approach and enjoyable i their own way, if feeling a bit light. I wonder if that is mostly in comparison to the convolutions of the previous writers. Anyway I still enjoyed it and continue to enjoy Immonen's art.

I thought the new looks were pretty interesting. As for whether they were effective disguises, they mostly looked different to their famous appearances, even as recently as on Weber's World. Admittedly some of them have outstanding characteristics like Laurel's height (though she did manage to cover up her hair - and butt), Drake's containment suit (which is quite a bit different - maybe other aliens sometimes use similar things), Sussa's hair (the colour would help a bit), Brin's fur (he looks much the same as on WW but it is still quite a new look for him) and Vril's skin tone (are there other Coluans around perhaps, plus we don't see him wandering around like the others). Mostly the rest can pass as average humanoids. Sure if you know who they are you can pick out who is who, which is just a little important for the reader and not something that was given previously in this volume, but if you aren't thinking specifically of them as Legion I imagine they would blend in with the other different looking folk on the streets. The only authority figures that we see are too busy gambling to do their jobs.

Jo's actions are explained in a few panels. In the flashback he says he is going to arrange more supplies from his old gang before leaving on his quest. Then another gang, the Dragons hit his gang the Ultras and he gets scragged while using flight rather than invulnerability. We can only assume that after he recovered he convinced the Dragons to follow his lead so as to stop the gang war involving his former friends. He didn't plan to get Sussa knocked out but once it had happened used it to get all the gangs' leaders in to the Legion's reach. It's a classic sting and fits in to the character developed for him by TMK if you focus on his silver age outlaw story.

I liked the Dawnstar story and thought the selection and description of her fears was not only appropriate but handled well. Of course Drake had to be there but also it makes sense that Bounty be her greatest fear and trauma that she had to overcome. After how many fans had complained about her lying around since Bounty leaving, this is a good recovery.

Fairly quick, fairly easy read but enjoyable and a different take. I would have liked to see this team have more time to play out and see how they did with more issues. As it is I think they will always be thought of as forgettable since they were sandwiched between the end of TMK and EOAE.

Regarding the disguises, I did jump to judgement. If you weren't looking for/expecting the Legion (as would be the case for most Rimborians), you wouldn't have clued in to this group being them.

As for Jo's motivation, it does make sense that he'd feel some loyalty to his old gang (and even his planet) as well as need supplies for his search for Tinya. Can you buy an illegal time bubble? I've quite forgotten how he got to the past.