It's the marriage we've all been waiting for. No, not that marriage. The Mordru-Violet one. We look at Legion #93-95 and Legionnaires #50-5

 

Welcome back as we continue with the Legion wandering aimlessly through the 20th Century and the rest of the Legion battling a destroyer of worlds. One book full of high stakes and action. The other, not so much...

With spring break coming up, my writing schedule is going to change a little for the next couple of weeks, so please keep checking back to r/LegionofSuperheroes to see what's arriving. And don't forget to read some of the other reviews out there - u/JimboFett87 is running through the next reboot and it's well worth a read.

Let's get started!

LSH #93

Penciller Mike Collins is really channeling a Joe Staton vibe here and I kinda feel the same way I felt when the original Joe Staton was on the Legion - I just don't think it fits. It's just a little bit too cartoony for the Legion. Jeff Moy skates that line very closely, but Collins is jumping over it.

Ferro keeps calling Triad ma'am... does it make sense for a teenager to call another teenager ma'am?

In the "what the heck is going on?" department, we meet three people who look like they're in the 20's, watching over what the Legion is doing. They're the senior citizens who Brainy hooked up to his machine and sucked their chronal energy out of to communicate with the Legion in the 30th Century. And now they are now much, much younger. Well, they're drawn much, much younger but they say they're only 10 years younger and this was talked about in LSH #91, which didn't happen. So weird. Do the artists just not know how to draw people in their 50's or 60's? Do the writers just not pay attention to what they've done before?

And if sucking chronal energy out of someone makes them younger, why didn't that happen to M'onel? Or XS? Or the Flashes?

The big event is that Cosmic Boy wakes up from his coma after Shvaughn uses the medkit from the future on him. Okay, so he was in a coma before last issue, they went back to 1958 and he was awake again, until they realized he was in a coma and then he passed out again. So how did he wake up? What made that happen? (And yes, I know where we're going here, but shouldn't any of the other Legionnaires be asking that question?)

This is a really bad issue about Ferro and his past at a research lab. He goes back to save his brother, they fight, then the bad villains who run the place fight them, then a bunch of other characters who we don't care about fight him, the art is bad (at one point Ferro has six fingers), the storytelling worse, someone gets his armor ripped off (I think), and nothing makes any sense. And his brother, Doug, is killed. But not before calling himself Ingot, which may be one of the worst superhero names ever. Then Cosmic Boy shows up, saves the day, and it's over... well, I think it's over. Nothing is clear here. At the funeral, the Legionnaires remind Ferro he's a hero and that he's a member of the team if he wants to be.

Wow - this was the worst Legion book I've read in a while. Like just embarrassing bad.

I know they're trying to make you care about Ferro and show his back story, but there are so many better ways to do that. Killing his brother, who you've never met before, doesn't hit at all. Introducing all of these other characters, who you don't care about, doesn't help. And the story is just so confusing, it ends up making you like Ferro less.

LSH #94

Continuing with the reality that Lee Moder can't hit a deadline, this issue is done by a bunch of artists, so let's see if there are any good ones. And because each artist (or pair) is only handling a page or two, this book is broken down into a bunch of short, one-page stories. But surprise, surprise, we actually get some really good artists here: Stuart Immonen, Phil Jimenez, Walt Simonson, Val Semeiks, Paul Pelletier...

This is basically the all-subplot issue as not much happens but we move forward with a bunch of stuff in the background. This should come as no surprise, but personalities change on a dime. Here are the important ones:

·         Although they've never shown they have these skills or abilities, Ultra Boy and Shvaughn build a ship. A 30th Century ship with 20th Century parts.

·         Apparition is now jealous of Shvaughn and Jo spending time together because they can touch each other and she can't touch Jo. No comment on the fact that Shvaughn is probably 8 years older than Jo and they've literally done nothing to give Tinya any reason to be jealous. Well, Jo has cheated on a partner before, so it makes sense not to trust him.

·         Speaking of Apparition, we've got to rewrite something here so we find out that Phase of the L.E.G.I.O.N. left a touchstone on Earth and, also, Apparation's father is a Carggite. Ugh...

·         Koko is leading an army of white monkeys... what??

·         Brainiac 5 doesn't like Gates because of his political views and is still a jerk to his teammates.

·         For some reason, people stare at Ferro's mask like it's disfigured itself. I mean, it's not the actual disfigurement, right? Why would they have this reaction? And we're in the DCU - wouldn't everyone be used to weird people walking about with metal masks? I get they're trying to show his isolation, but it just doesn't work.

·         Inferno is actually 20 years old... hanging out with a bunch of teenagers... no wonder she's angry all the time.

·         Ferro has a crush on Inferno. He made costumes for everyone, but she burnt all except her own (it's fireproof), but he still is infatuated. I guess they say trauma makes people make bad decisions...

·         Imra and Rokk are going to get married. Ummm... what?

·         Shvaughn is keeping a journal, writing down everything she sees (or would have no way of seeing) on a computer with McIntosh text but a PC set up. And yes, I'm old enough to recognize the fonts and style - used to have one myself.

I just want to focus on that again - the premise of the issue is that we're reading all of Shvaughn's journal entries as she tracks the Legion. How would she know about the L.E.G.I.O.N.? Or Koko's monkey army? Or any of the scenes that she's not present for?

Some of the art was great, some was meh. Some of the stories were good and some were meh. I just wish the creative team spent even a moment thinking about whether these stories worked logically at all. They're really just throwing spaghetti on the wall and hoping something sticks.

LSH #95

The first 14 pages of this book are basically a Metal Men comic, with Ferro and Brainiac 5 showing up to play villains. We get a lot of background information so readers will know who the Metal Men are. And if you don't, here's a quick explanation:

The Metal Men is a group of humans who were able to download their memories into super computers called Responsometers that bring different types of metal to life. So their bodies have the metallic qualities of whatever metal they've taken root in. So Mercury can become liquid and Iron is super strong. They've been around since 1962 and I don't know if they were ever really popular at any point in DC history. I think they're a nice supporting team that can show up as guest stars but that's about it.

Why are Ferro and Brainy the villains here? They want the responsometers and don't care whether the Metal Men are sentient or not. Brainy actually goes full heel here and is a complete jerk to these other heroes. But that's been how he's been written for a while. I don't get why Ferro would be part of this? Are they just writing him as an idiot who follows anyone's orders?

To continue my rant against this bad take on characters, if there was anyone on the Legion who would respect artificial intelligence, it would be Brainy, wouldn't it? I mean, you would have to assume that they've dealt with these issues in the future and I can't imagine he's think of these robots as anything less than an actual being with rights. He was raised by robots! Wouldn't he have some slight connection to them? Of course, he doesn't respect any other life forms, so it's probably going to far to think he'd respect the Metal Men.

The Metal Men capture the two Legionnaires, so the rest of the team rushes off to save the day. The fight begins, they banter and argue, and both sides realize that the other is not that bad. Brainy even finally comes to the realization that they're not robots, but real sentient beings.

He explains what he needed the responsometers for (to build a supercomputer to get the team back home) and then tells the Metal Men's leader, Veridium, that he would've just upgraded the computers and advanced them to a higher state of consciousness.

So Veridium, who 10 pages earlier identified Brainiac 5 as being related to the villain Brainiac, and who said how little he trusted him, sends him his responsometer and asks to be educated.

The crazy thing of all of this is that, if they had written the story differently, the reveal at the end would've made sense. Why are they so obsessed with always having heroes fighting heroes and then magically trusting each other at the end when there's no reason for it? Why not have the Metal Men and the Legion team up, by accident, and then when Brainiac 5 finds out what a responsometer is, or Veridium figures out what Brainy knows, they decide to work together? Why not turn this into a moral argument over whether the risk of Brainy playing with Veridium's existence is worth it?

Nope - heroes fight. And then make stupid decisions. End of story.

But there's a wedding next issue, so that's something to look forward to...

Legionnaires #50

It's the wedding of Mordru and Violet! So much love in the Legion, isn't there?

To recap, Mordru is rampaging across the galaxy, destroying entire planets and looking to take over. The Legion faces off against him but before the United Planets team of almost every teenage super-hero could face him, Violet and the Emerald Eye attack, surrender, and then swear to marry him.

You know, as I'm writing this down, and thinking about the U.P. task force, all I keep thinking is this one question: are there any adult super-heroes in the 30th Century? And if not, why not?

Let's begin...

Mordru and Veye (the combination of the Eye and Violet) begin this issue talking about how their marriage is the perfect union and it will lead to the Legion bowing down and respecting Mordru as their leader.

The U.P. task force, split onto two dreadnoughts, watch this union occur in stunned shock. Writer Roger Stern does a great job here providing some exposition and characterization in a tiny space. Can I also just point out how great the diversity is on this page - 4 Black characters, one Asian, one blue, one green, and one orange. Unfortunately, Invisible Kid and Star Boy still look like twins, but this is a far cry from the 70's Legion where almost every male character looked the same and you needed to check their sideburns to figure out who was who.

To determine the best way to merge powers, Mordru generates a golden dome over he and his teenage bride. Invisible Kid asks if these dreadnoughts have projectile and concussive weapons, and finds out they do. Which leads to the U.P. firing at the golden dome. It should come as no surprise that the weapons do nothing because they don't actually hit the dome - magic, people, disrupts everything.

Sensor has gone to check on Andromeda and is nice enough to recap the previous two issues before begging the Daxamite to help them against Mordru. I'm not sure why Sensor would be the one to go and check in on Andromeda, since they've never met before, but since she could use her powers to dynamically recap everything, it's all good.

However, recruiting a Daxamite does lead to some big questions regarding that planet. Why wouldn't the U.P. request three dozen Daxamites to join the fight? Have they left the U.P.? Is the planet quarantined after the Earth War? Speaking of which, why wouldn't the U.P. have an entire Daxamite army? Wouldn't this be the perfect time to use them?

Since the missile attack does nothing, the task force, minus Element Lad and Andromeda, head down to the planet's surface. They probe for a way into the dome and Particon and her power lance find a spot. With Mysa and Dragonmage protecting the rest of the team, Particon shatters the dome and the Legionnaires + attack.

They separate the two and Kid Quantum shows her talent by distorting his perception of time. And, for the first time in a while, I wish this issue had done a roll call at the beginning. One of the heroes (but not a Legionnaire), blasts into Mordru with powers very similar to Cannonball. Let's hope they name him sooner than later.

Mysa teleports Veye, Sensor, and Kinetix to another dimension to keep her and the Eye, which have merged, away from Mordru. They encourage Violet to split away from the Eye, and the appearance of her astral form shows that she's trying.

Ahh... Blast-Off is the Cannonball clone. Glad they finally said it. Anyway, the Legionnaires keep attacking Mordru, slamming into him and using their super speed. But Mordru keeps growing and getting more powerful. It's harder and harder for them to stop him.

Back in the other dimension, Mysa reminds the Eye that it isn't powerful enough to stop Mordru by itself. In the past, all of Mysa's friends died to separate the Eye from Mordru. But the Eye keeps tempting Violet, telling her as long as she has a humanoid host, she can defeat Mordru. So does that mean Sensor couldn't be her host?

Speaking of Sensor, she's the one who gives Violet the biggest pep talk, telling her that she's strong without the Eye and that it's using her guilt over Leviathan's death to keep her under its control. Why is Sensor giving this speech? Shouldn't this be Kinetix? I mean, Sensor and Violet have never met, right? Wouldn't this be far more powerful coming from Kinetix?

Back to the battle, and Kid Quantum stands her ground, even when Mordru blasts away everyone else. So this is the first time we see just how powerful she is. Unfortunately, it's not enough and Invisible Kid has to sneak her to safety. Seeing everyone else falling, he orders the rest of the team to attack. Not really sure what Chameleon is going to do against Mordru, but gotta admire the bravery.

Mordru blasts Radion in the face, resulting in his head becoming a green ball of energy. Okay, so first they kill Atom'X and now maim Radion... this is what happens when you fall for Kinetix. Or are the Legion equivalent of red shirts.

Live Wire and Magno start blasting, using their lightning and magnetic powers and it starts overwhelming an already weakened Mordru. So Blast-Off tries to join the attack just as Mordru explodes in a ball of fire, releasing more energy to defeat our heroes. Live Wire is able to save Magno, but Blast-Off is disintegrated.

Back to the dimension and Mysa is able to successfully split Violet from the Eye. She takes control, worried that Mordru has done more damage than they could imagine.

Back to the real world, Mordru is gigantic, standing over the defeated task force. Mysa and the Eye arrive and the battle begins. Dragonmage helps, siphoning off Mordru's power. This entire issue they're writing Dragonmage as this petulant boy who's only purpose is to show up the Legion for not allowing him to join. Is a heel turn coming? Does he not care about the rest of the universe?

Invisible Kid is happy Mysa has arrived just in time, but Umbra wonders where is Violet, who she's never met before. Which again, reinforces that Sensor wouldn't know Violet at all... so why give that earlier pep talk to her? I'm getting the sense that Sensor is the writers' new favorite.

Dragonmage keeps absorbing Mordru's power and starts to feel the strongest he ever has. So, of course, Mordru blasts and kills him. I think. Mysa's certainly acting like he's dead.

Mordru blasts her again and she regains her youth... and the cool tattoo that Kinetix had when she was a magic user. And we also get the big reveal that she's Mordru's first born child. But she refuses to join him and the battle continues. When it looks like Mysa is defeated, the Eye goes crazy, attacking Mordru and refusing to be under his control again.

Which is when they reveal that Violet has shrunk down and is on the Eye, talking to it and working with it. The Eye and Kinetix keep blasting away at Mordru (not sure what her powers would be doing right now, if anything, but if it makes her feel good, that's cool) until he's finally had enough and fires back.

Violet sends the Eye away, hidden from Mordru, rather than let him capture it.

Which is when the book stops making sense...

Suddenly Mordru is colored blue and surrounded by darkness. We learn that it's Umbra, using the Darkfield Pulse (when did she reveal she could do this?) and Mordru's disoriented. But there's nothing on his head. Until he turns blue again. But then returns to normal and the team keeps blasting him.

Away from the battle, Andromeda and Element Lad are putting together a back-up sphere and are ready to go when Invisible Kid gives the word. Why? Why are they doing this? When, at any point in this story, did they talk about a sphere? Or a back-up sphere?

The attack continues, Umbra blinding Mordru for a second and the team attacking when she's not... I think... Then Mordru spots the Eye and grabs it, telling everyone that he cannot be stopped. He blasts everywhere and kills everyone, leaving just a bunch of skeletons. He collapses to the ground, tired and ready to pass out.

Which is when they reveal that Kinetix has seen cutting off Mordru's oxygen and Sensor's illusions have him believing he's won. Element Lad encases him in a sphere, the back-up sphere that they were building for some reason, and XS rushes in and removes all of Mordru's amulets. They seal him in and Mordru goes dormant. They've defeated him.

Now it's time for the wrap-up. Dragonmage (not dead!), Kid Quantum, Violet, and Magno are all in the medical center, recovering, although things don't look good for Magno. Radion is wearing a metal mask to prevent him from leaking radiation through what used to be his head. And Mysa's in perfect health.

Andromeda leads the memorial service for Atom'X and Blast-Off and Star Boy says this to Umbra:

You see? Dreamer's prophecy -- "Seal his fate... he can't be killed." -- It was about Mordru! If we'd tried to kill him, he might've become a disembodied mind-force -- but we could seal him away!

So if that there way of explaining how they came up with this plan? Or to defend Dreamer? Or anything?

To end this issue, we get a very nice two-page poster of the Legion membership with some interesting new additions. They've added the following:

·         Monstress (not Kid Quantum too??)

·         Sister Andromeda (so she's back for good?)

·         Thunder (who I've never seen or heard of before - she's from the future and is connected to the Marvel family - did I miss something?)

·         ??? (not kidding, they literally just wrote three question marks - but she's got green hair)

I know that lots of people love this story line, and I was right there with you until the last third of this book. And then everything just kinda fell apart and I really got the sense they needed to wrap everything up and didn't have the pages to do it. Once again, the characters do things that make no sense, know things they shouldn't know, and the villain is defeated in a way that goes against something that happened in past issues. Taking away his oxygen? What?

I'm also not a big fan of just killing off or maiming characters who aren't important to the book in the slightest. I mean, does anyone care that Blast-Off was killed? If you're determined to kill off characters, you've got to be willing to kill off someone important, right? It really just felt like they were cannon fodder to protect the Legionnaires.

Legionnaires #51

What do you in the issue after the grand battle with Mordru? You slow down, mend your wounds, wrap up some of the old subplots and introduce all the new ones. It's a calm, quiet issue so let's just focus on the big twists, turns, and other moments of note:

·         I finally noticed that the planet the final battle occurred on is JS-1967. I'm going to assume the JS stands for Jim Shooter but the 1967 doesn't match either when he started on the Legion ('66) or when Mordru made his first appearance ('68). Anyone have the answer for this?

·         Andromeda and M'onel (with Kinetix's help) completely destroy Mordru's amulets, reducing them to powerless powder. Finally, a super team thinking about what's next.

·         Monstress moves front and center this book by ogling M'onel, hitting on Radion, breaking up the fight between Work Force members, quitting the Amazers, and trying to become a Legionnaire. The writers are really working hard to make her a compelling, completely different character from the rest.

·         Andromeda refuses Invisible Kid's offer to join the Legion (so why was she on the poster last issue?) but M'onel joins her in space to try to convince her to change her mind. That's what I think he's doing.

·         Mysa has to deal with weakened powers because she's become young again and we get a little background into her tattoo (a mark of Mordru) and why she gave Kinetix those magical powers. She and Dragonmage also start thinking about how good the other looks, which I guess is headed toward a creepy February-December romance. If Mysa was part of the group that overthrew Mordru before, she's got to be at least 100 years old. And Dragonmage is 14. Just throwing that out there.

·         Particon and Radion quit the Work Force, find out they can't because they have contracts with McCauley (is contract law different in the future?), and then Brande buys them out... and assigns them to Winema Wazzo (why do they keep bringing her back?). I really wish Particon had joined the Legion here, but what do I know? I mean. they made her look so good last issue and she's got a power set that's completely different from any other Legionnaire. Why not put her on the team? Is it only because she's using her magic stick? I think, after her bravery fighting Mordru, they could ignore that rule.

·         Umbra stands up to McCauley, fights both Karate Kid and Spider Girl, and generally proves herself to be the bad-ass of the Legion. Yes, she's a jerk who says the wrong thing. But rushing to defend two people she barely knew was a great sign of her character. I want to see more of her in the coming issues.

·         Speaking of one of my favorites, why do they keep wasting Karate Kid? Geez, this is getting depressing.

·         A mysterious woman appears in the Legion HQ, scaring Chuck Taine. She disappears and Lori Morning appears. What is this mystery? Why are they still spending any time on her? Do any readers care about Lori at this point?

·         Magno has lost his powers but wants to put on a brave face for Live Wire and Sensor. And I love Sensor's thoughts here:

How brave he is... how braver still he thinks he should appear! Humanoid mammals have such expressive faces... it costs him so much energy to maintain that cheerful facade!

·         Violet, still recovering from the separation from the Eye, starts convulsing and suddenly starts to grow.

To next issue we go!

Legionnaires #52

Let's focus on the main story here - Violet has collapsed into a coma and is both growing and shrinking uncontrollably. The doctor onboard the ship has no idea how to treat her (no surprise there) and she turns to the Legion to help. As Violet's conscious thoughts keep fading, Sensor can no longer reach her and they realize they need at least an 8th Level telepath to reach her. Of course, Saturn Girl is still in the 20th Century, so who can save her?

R. J. Brande... what? In his words...

I've picked up a few mental skills in my time.

He says he can't deal with any distractions, so Umbra surrounds Brande, Sensor, Kinetix, and the doctor in a Darkfield so they can work in peace. You may wonder how they can see inside a Darkfield, but Kinetix can suddenly glow with a green energy. Brande enters Violet's mind and they begin talking about what happened to her. When Leviathan died, the Emerald Eye gave Violet his powers because she felt so strongly about him. Or to be cruel. Eventually she convinces him to accept the new powers and move forward with her life... which results in Shrinking Violet becoming Leviathan.

So much of this book just didn't make any sense:

·         M'onel is now able to read minds - he gets all the information from XS on the first page without her actually speaking. They didn't even give her a speech balloon with garbled text. Just suddenly, he knew it.

·         I think Kinetix's powers have officially become "whatever the writers need her to do". They seem to shift each issue. They also keep putting Kinetix front and center in these stories but don't let her actually do anything. Again, she should be the one who reaches out to Violet, not Brande or Sensor. Just imagine how powerful a scene would've been with Zoe tearfully talking to Violet about her desire for power and they both know how hard it is to turn it down?

·         Umbra miraculously goes from "sullen loner" to "cheerful teammate" for no reason at all. Even Kinetix is stunned by it. And again, you can't even explain it away by saying she really wants to help Violet - she doesn't know her at all.

·         Element Lad is now completely made of crystal and can float. I'll just ignore the whole "this isn't scientifically possible and he should be dead" and instead just go with the "what is the purpose of this?"

·         The biggest head scratcher? R. J. Brande has telepathic powers. I'm sure this is going to lead into some twist in the future, like he's actually Saturn Girl's father, or some other crazy story, but right now this couldn't make any less sense if it tried. And what's worse is that the Legion just accepts it. How does someone just "pick up" psychic powers? How is that learned? It is either an amazing ability that he kept secret (and may be something he used illegally to get his success) or it's just bad writing.

I was really hoping for this to be a great wrap up of the long-running Violet and Emerald Eye storyline and it just really fell flat for me. I don't have any problems with her new powers and I'm hoping she keeps her self-confidence from when she was merged with the Eye. I just thought this was so sloppy and rushed and it didn't work for me.

But, for all the criticisms I've leveled against the Legionnaires this week, it's still head and shoulders... and elbows... and waists... better than the Legion.

Our next Legionnaires in the spotlight... Star Boy!

I know that with the reboots, the first Kid Quantum would be here, but I'm going to wait until we get to the good Kid Quantum before we talk about poor James.

My thoughts on Thom Kallor:

·         For reasons that I've never been able to figure out, Star Boy seems to be disliked by a large number of Legion writers. I think he suffered more from being connected to Dream Girl than anything that was wrong with him. Let's be honest, if you're going to rip apart Legion characters for being boring in the Silver and Bronze Age, there are a lot worse examples than Thom.

·         The issues I'm looking at now, during the PZH Legion, is a perfect example of the writers and artists not really caring what happens with him. He's drawn almost identical to Invisible Kid. His characterization seems to be "I show up so the other Legionnaires feel better about themselves" even though he's immensely powerful and a leader.

·         I loved when Star Boy grew a beard, complained about being unlucky, hated that Nura was the leader, and generally did his job to keep his Dungeons and Dragons addiction at bay. Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen let him grow up but maintained his downtrodden look on life. I think the spotlight on Star Boy was one of the best spotlights anyone's ever done.

·         I also found it fascinating that he was the one who left the team, leaving Dream Girl to grow and change as a character. This continued the focus on the female characters within the Legion. It also showed just how loyal Thom was, especially to his own planet. He couldn't refuse the call to protect Xanthu.

·         The less we talk about the hatchet job they did on him during volume 4, the better.

·         I can't say I've been a huge fan of what they've done with him in any reboot, but not many Legionnaires were handled with grace and/or dignity post-PZH.

·         I may be in the minority here, but I think Star Boy and Dream Girl is a keystone relationship in the Legion and, if they're going to keep bringing Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy back together, they should do the same with Thom and Nura. I'd also say that this should not be a perfect coupling. Breaking them up and getting them back together should be the norm.

·         Also, can we give Thom and Nura some credit for being, I believe, the first non-married superheroes shown in bed together? Dave Cockrum added Thom's buzz cut under the covers in Nura's bed way back in the early 70's.

·         I'm not sure where I stand on Star Boy's later insanity storylines. On the one hand, it kept him connected to DC proper, with appearances in Starman and Justice League. But it just seemed like they were destroying everything that I liked about Thom. And worse, you knew he wasn't going to get better - this was his fate.

·         I think I put Star Boy into the same category as Colossal Boy - real people who just happen to be superheroes. Some may find them boring, but they're far more relatable than a lot of other characters. I've heard people compare Ultra Boy to Han Solo, the coolest guy in the room. Star Boy is the guy sitting in the back of the class who's far better at things than anyone expects. He keeps his head down and is a lot more interesting than most give him credit for.

·         I also could never figure out why there was never a moment in a Legion comic when some villain looked at Thom and Nura and then asked him, "She's dating you? How? Why?" And he could just smirk and be smug for a moment or two.

Thoughts? What do you think of one of the two Legionnaires who can literally control gravity? And what do you think of the issues we've talked about today?