I never thought I'd say this, but things are getting darker... we read Legion Worlds #3 & 4

Let's continue with this mini-series and see where we're going next. Number 1 was an action-packed story on Earth where we learned more about Robotica and discovered that Gates has gone missing as well. Issue 2 took us to Winath where we learned that farmers look the same 1,000 years in the future and not much happens...

Legion Worlds #3 

Issue #3 is set on Braal, so I'm guessing we're going to see Cosmic Boy in action. And Dyrk Magz... because that's the ex-Legionnaire we want to spend the most time with, right? Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (DnA) are the writers and Paul Rivoche is the artist, handling pencils and inks. Rivoche is a Canadian artist who's done a ton of work before this book, mainly for independent publishers, He's already been seen on some Batman and Superman books, so many people would have heard of him by now. After taking a look at his website, I'm guessing he's got a real flair for gritty and sci-fi, so he might be a perfect choice for the Braal story. Yes, I'm going into this with as many positive vibes as I can.

We start with Magz, in his first shift for the Braalian branch of the S.P.s, fighting an overzealous Magnoball fan. Even though he's powerless, he's strong and well-trained enough to put down a much bigger man with one punch.

Post-arrest, he bonds with his partner, who rips into him for not using his "gig-watt beamer" to end the fight quicker. Magz reminds him that he never got used to a blaster, with his experience with the Legion, but that he's really good with weapons and everything will be fine. We also learn that this issue happens after the Legionnaires have returned from the Rift.

I've just gotta say this about how DnA is "building" Braal right now. I do like some of it - the metallic snow, the "tang of electromagnetics in the air," the plastic weapons used by the S.P.s. But some of it just goes slightly too far - does everything have to named after metal?

They head over to an S.P. briefing and Magz muses about everything that's going on. He's certain that there's no place for a Legion anymore and a proper police force is better to handle these problems. He's also joined the force because of his older brother... who I thought he hated?? More ignoring of the past, I'm guessing. They also talk about the biggest threat right now - the narc-problem of Buzzlode. This really is the darkest Legion, isn't it?

Magz is briefed on the drug dealers they're looking for and then they're all reminded of the two vigilantes who, even thought they're helping, need to be stopped. Okay, two vigilantes - I'm just gonna assume one is Cosmic Boy... now who would follow him? XS? Phantom Girl?

We get another interesting factoid about Braal - 79% of the Braal S.P. are non-natives. So, basically, we have an outsider police force trying to get the Braalians to listen to them. This is something I've really been enjoying about DnA's run - their attention to little details that most writers would completely ignore. Are the Braalians not becoming S.P.s because they don't trust the police? Or because they're all chasing Magnoball money?

We go to the Magnoball game and learn that Pol Krinn, Rokk's brother, is playing. And that the main drug dealer, Dak Kroll, is there. Magz and his partner, Kolkin, head down and watch the drug deal go down. Which is when the vigilantes show up. One's dressed kinda like the Guardian (or Captain America) with a round shield and his face obscured. The other bursts out of the ground and they say "where'd she come from?" even though there's no way anything about the way "she's" drawn would make you think she's female at all. I would say it's Monstress if I didn't already know her horrible fate.

Magz tries to interfere and the vigilantes recognize him. That doesn't stop them and the larger crime fighter uses some sort of telekinesis to knock out a bad guy. So... now I don't know which Legionnaire it is.

Kolkin's not happy that Magz is trying to stop the vigilantes but can't do anything while the two masked characters knock him down with more telekinesis and escape. It's a bit of a confusing panel or two, so I'm kinda guessing what's happening.

For some stupid reason, one of the vigilantes goes back to fight Magz and is incapacitated by an ultra-flare. It is, of course, Cosmic Boy. Dyrk arrests Rokk and takes him in. His captain is happy and sends Magz to the holding cells to talk to his former teammate. Yep, that makes sense. Send the rookie to handle the interrogation.

Gotta love 31st Century justice, where Rokk is already awaiting shipment to Takron-Galtos. Nope, no trial until after he's sent to the prison planet. No defense. Just prison. Why even use Takron-Galtos if space travel takes so long, even with the new ships? Wouldn't it just be easier to hold him on Braal?

We have this really weird scene in the prison cell between Rokk and Dyrk. The whole thing just didn't work at all. Rokk is the subservient character almost begging Dyrk to understand him, talking about how he wanted to protect Braal and wanted to be like it was in the Legion. Dyrk is the authority and the one who doesn't seem to care about the Legion days. Dyrk, the one who, even when he lost his powers, stayed with the Legion in a support role because he knew how important it was. Neither character seems "right," if that makes any sense.

Which is when some gigantic "missile," a "bouncing ship," hits the area and starts causing chaos and destruction. In the confusion, one prisoner has gone missing. I'm sure you can guess who.

Dyrk, who's now wearing his flight ring, gets onto the escaping ship and climbs inside. Where, to no one's surprise, Rokk is waiting for him. And Invisible Kid. And Shrinking Violet. And Chuck Taine. They're the "Subs" and they're on a secret mission - they wanted to get their hands on a ship with a Footstep Drive to find out how they're working. Cosmic Boy getting arrested was all part of the plan. Rokk says that these are dark times and they can only trust each other.

They let Dyrk fly back to Braal with a promise that they'll let him know what's going on. Honestly, I have no idea why the Subs would trust him in the slightest, especially after the previous scene in the holding cell. The four Substitute Legionnaires use the Footstep Drive to get back to Earth and see their returning friends. No time to inspect the engines, right?

This is another issue where I figure that the writers didn't actually read any of the previous comics. The four "Subs" just don't make any sense together. Wouldn't Violet stick with a friend, such as Kinetix, or go back home to Imsk? Wouldn't Lyle and Chuck have been recruited to work on ways to fix the Earth? A scientist and an architect? I could see some Legionnaires staying loyal to Rokk, but these three?

The grittiness of Rivoche's artwork fits this story and you get a real "Vertigo" vibe from what's going on. It's not a great sci-fi tale, unfortunately, and, once again, if you had told me this book took place on a foreign planet in the 21st Century, I'd believe you. For all of DnA's world-building, and a lot of it is really, really impressive, there are so many lost opportunities here to make this book feel like it's in the future.

But, in the end, this is a pretty good story - perhaps not a good Legion story, but a good comic book.

The second tale introduces the Titanet, the Titanian Interstellar Telecommunication Access Network, the telepathic communication system used by the U.P. Centered in Titanopolis (so we're already off Braal? Couldn't even maintain the central concept of the miniseries in the third issue?), thousands of telepaths exchange messages throughout the galaxy.

U.P. Vice President Winema Wazzo, who starts off as someone incredibly distracted, is using the Titanet, and the personal Titanian Adept (kind of your own telepath, always at your disposal) to communicate with the Athramite government about helping them recover from the economic collapse around the U.P. Then she talks with someone from Cargg, who are really suffering as their population increases three times faster than any other... which would have been a problem for ever, right? He reveals that over 5,000 Carggites have disappeared in the past eight months. We also learn, no surprise, that President McCauley isn't doing anything for anyone.

Finally, she talks to Colu, which will not do anything to help the U.P. until they start treating Robotica as the threat they are - they've already taken over Xanthu and the Coluans know more attacks are coming. Winema didn't know about Xanthu and can't get it confirmed. But she does learn that Legionnaires are back.

Which leads her to make a personal call to Rimbor. And three people she's hired to get someone. And we all know who that is, right?

I really only had one question as I was reading this - how did Wazzo keep her job? Since she was V.P. under Brande, wouldn't she have been fired when he resigned? Has she ever done anything to show even the smallest amount of competence to keep her job? Or was her anti-Legion stance enough, or did McCauley care so little, that she was able to stay?

This second story is drawn by Rick Burchett, who has a really nice cartoony style. It's got a very "Batman Adventures" feel to it, which kinda makes the darkness of the story a little lighter. However, I'm not sure how old Winema is supposed to be - she looks the same age as any of the Legionnaires.

Legion Worlds #4 

Off to Xanthu we go and I'm guessing we're going to learn a lot about what Robotica has done to this planet. Am I the only one who can't figure out why Xanthu consistently gets attacked in the PZH Legion? Are there no other planets? Is there something incredibly strategic about Xanthu that they've never explained? Or does everyone just love writing Atmos?

For this issue, we have Duncan Rouleau on pencils and Jaime Mendoza on inks. Rouleau had made a name for himself on some X-titles at Marvel before moving over to DC. But his biggest contributions to pop culture are when he helped create Big Hero Six and Ben 10... so I'm betting the Nickelodeon and Disney money got him out of comics and into animation.

The first page gets us up to speed, letting us know that Xanthu left the U.P. and joined the Affiliated Planets, under the protectorate of the Khundian Empire. (On a complete aside, do you pronounce it Khund (short U like run) or Khund (long O like boo)?) I have no idea what the proper pronunciation is.

We also learn that Xanthu was invaded four months ago and the initial battle lasted 12.5 minutes. Once the Khundian forces were destroyed, the attackers destroyed the atmosphere, killing millions and preventing anything from flying. When the land war started, bio-weapons were used in a barbaric manner, shocking even the Khunds with how brutal it was. By the time the Xanthians figured out electromagnetic pulses stopped the attackers, the war had been reduced to fists.

Yep, this is the darkest timeline.

Jenni Ognats, better known as XS, had come to Xanthu to see her friends a week before the attack and now she's joining in the fight. So yes, XS, a speedster who hates standing still, left her home and spent months on a ship to see Xanthian Legionnaires who she never once had a close connection to. I would've bought her on Braal. Or Earth. But Xanthu?

XS sprints through the battlefield, passing on information, as she's the only form of communication that works. She passes on predictions from Dreamer, who's helping in the fight against Robotica by seeing the future and guiding the troops. Joining her in the fight is Star Boy, using his super strength to destroy the robots and make sure the refugee ships can get away from the attacks. He's also become much better at using his gravity powers. Insect Queen opens a tunnel underground and Star Boy closes it behind them.

They hide in Xanth Prime, the capital city, which is protected behind force shields and houses all the refugees. The former Legionnaires and Amazers bring those they saved into the city.

The heroes meets with Q'Bahl (really? this is when you do bald jokes?), who tells them it's time to get ships out into space and past the Robotica attackers. Unfortunately, Robotica is using a forcefield transmitter - if Xanth drops their protection, the field will compress and destroy the city.

Dreamer appears and we learn that she's become much, much better at using her powers because of both Naltorian and Khundian training. No idea how the Khunds can help, but now she can trigger waking dreams that are very accurate. She shows them where they need to attack to take down the Robotica transmitter. One of the Khundian fighters, Jork, revels in the chance to kill something. XS points out that she won't kill anyone - she's just there to help. Dreamer than sees Jork's death. So this has been a happy moment, right?

They head off to the attack, Atmos more violent and Insect Queen ready to collapse from fatigue. XS finds them an entrance hatch and they all get inside. They attack and end up taking a Robotica A.I. prisoner to learn what they can. When Star Boy uses his powers to destroy the generator, he causes a massive amount of damage and wrecks the mobile fortress as well.

Unfortunately, the attack was for nothing. They still can't launch ships to save their people. But since they grabbed the A.I., they've figured out the codes and can move the Robotica forces and send the ships off. But when they do, they'll be attacked.

Then, for some bizarre reason that really makes no sense, Jork orders Star Boy onto the ships and away from the rearguard that will protect their escape. He tells Thom that, since he's a civilian and not military, he's done enough. He's done enough? What? The most powerful person on the planet, and the one who might make sure they succeed and survive, and they send him away? I know they want to elevate the Khunds and make them heroic??, but this is just dumb.

When the evacuation begins, Star Boy realizes they're being overrun and rushes off to fight the Robotica attackers. XS joins him and they fight together, telling Dreamer to take off and save as many people as they can. The ships launch, leaving the two Legionnaires on the planet.

Eight million Xanthians survive, escaping the fall of Xanth Prime. This is out of 8 billion who lived there before the Robotica attack. Wow... They reach Khundia in six weeks (no Robotica ships follow them?) but Xanthu is lost.

On the final page, we see XS and Star Boy, back to back, fighting against an uncountable number of Robotica soldiers.

As depressing as this story was because of, you know, the genocide, I enjoyed this much more than last issue. It's dark and horrific, but it brings the Robotica threat to the forefront and lets readers know just how dangerous it is. There are also so many different ways they can take this story, so I think it's a strong first step in the bigger picture. Even with some of the logic and story problems, and the rushed nature of trying to do all of this in one issue, it was just far more compelling than anything else we've seen from this series.

I also quite enjoyed the artwork. Rouleau reminds me of Ed McGuinness and I liked the dark, cartoony, Manga style throughout. He draws a great XS and Dreamer and has an even better handle on the technology. I think this is my favorite of the first four issues for both art and story working together. If they had announced that Rouleau was taking over The Legion, I wouldn't have been disappointed. I also think he might have been the most "fan friendly" artist so far.

Our second story takes us to Khundia, with artwork by Rick Leonardi and Al Williamson... so wow, that's an impressively experienced art team. This story explains how the Khunds helped Dreamer become more powerful and use her powers more effectively.

This story is pretty simple - we see Nura training, getting better, and dealing with the changes that come with her improved powers. She no longer sleeps and dreams of everything happening around them, from the Robotica invasion, to Shikari, to Star Boy's memorial after his death. It's very bleak and depressing (two words that I've been using a lot with the DnA Legion) but immediately makes Dreamer a more important character to the future of the series. It's funny that in 8 pages they took a character who was previously only kind of a joke during the PZH Legion and turned her into someone with depth, drama, and importance.

As much as I was hoping to, at the least, enjoy the artwork, I have one big complaint - did Leonardi know he was drawing the same character on all these pages? Why do you ask? Nura looks completely different, face-structure-wise, from page to page. If she didn't have her beauty mark, I could make the case that it's at least three different people.

Two more issues to go, so let's hope we get one that doesn't leave me feeling melancholy.

Our next Legionnaire in the spotlight... Blok!!

Continuing with the 70's theme of "let's copy Marvel and create heroes the same way they do," we come to the first Legionnaire who started off as a murderous villain, learned his lesson, and became a hero. So he's the 30th Century version of Scarlet Witch? Or Rogue? Gerry Conway and Joe Station created Blok for the horrible Dark Man storyline (the less said, the better) and, almost by accident, added one of the 80's most popular members to the team.

I honestly have no idea why Paul Levitz took Blok under his wing, protected him, and turned him into one of the most lovable characters. But he did. Blok became the character you used if you wanted comedy, pathos, history lessons, or deep thoughts. His friendship with Timber Wolf lead to many great stories and an unlucky comedy duo. His crush on White Witch was both cute and painful. And his inability to understand human beings and their customs (and he's not alone on that front) helped humanize both himself and his teammates.

One of the most interesting things I've continually heard about Blok (thanks to The Legion Clubhouse Podcast) is that Keith Giffen considered Blok to have the mental age of about 12. So he was naive and puzzled by these 20-somethings he was "working" with. When you reread those books from the 80's, it does make a lot of sense.

Some random thoughts about Blok:

• I'm not an artist (or, at least, a horrible one) but I can't figure out why Blok was such a pain for Giffen to draw. He revealed that Blok's fate in the 5YL Legion was a result of Mary Bierbaum not wanting to kill off Rond Vidar and Giffen not wanting to draw him anymore. To be blunt, I would've thought that Giffen's Jose Munoz-inspired style would have been perfect for Blok with the hard lines, heavy inks, and misshapen anatomy.
• I sometimes think Blok's popularity came from two reasons - he was the audience's representative in the book and his innocence and questioning nature matched the average age of the fan base. If he was 12, then he matched the readers who picked up the book. It was Blok who was fascinated by Legion history and wanted to watch the old holotapes (just like Legion fans). And who didn't want to hang out with Timber Wolf?
• I always liked some of the little touches given to Blok that other creators might miss, from the special flight ring designed to carry his bulk (which leads to the question of whether you could build ships out of the flight ring material and transport tons of stuff without using any energy) to the change in appearance as his rock "skin" would get damaged or change over time. You never knew what you were going to get with Blok.
• I'm going to put Blok into the same category as Dawnstar and Wildfire as well-designed characters who DC dropped the ball with. You want dynamic looking superheroes, ones that leap off the page. With Blok, you had that. He didn't look like anyone else (well, maybe like Darkseid's minions) and you noticed him when he was in the book. He stood out like many strong men before and after him did. Why DC didn't put some marketing behind him and how he's only appeared in cameos in the animated version just confuses me to no end.
• Further to that, I have no idea why he never appeared on either the PZH or the Threeboot teams. In fact, he's barely appeared anywhere since the 5YL story. It's only in Final Crisis that he gets to really do anything and he serves more as a motivator for the White Witch than actually do anything for himself.
• Finally, I don't know if I can emphasis how much of a gut punch his death was in 5YL. I know that the shock of his death did exactly what it was supposed to do. And, to be honest, worked much better than if they had killed off Rond Vidar to establish Roxxas as the threat he was. It's one of those great dramatic moments that make your jaw drop and let you know that this new Legion is much darker than anything you've seen before. So when the Legion completely forgot about this and forgave Roxxas... yet another maddening story choice during 5YL...

Thoughts? Did you enjoy these two issues of Legion Worlds? What do you think of Blok? Are you ready for us to start The Legion in two weeks? Until next time...