It's the return of Mordru and Curt Swan... we take a look at LSH 90 - 92 and Legionnaires 47 - 49

Since this week focuses on the return of Mordru, I wanted to start this column talking about the Legion's Rogues Gallery.

I think every hero, and heroic team, is made or broken by their rogues gallery. Would Batman be as popular as he is without the Joker, Bane, Riddler, the Penguin, etc.? Does Superman last as long as he had without Lex Luthor? Are the X-Men as popular without Magneto, Apocalypse, and humanity in general? Would Aquaman be more respected if the conversation didn't start with Manta and... the prince whose name I don't remember?

Like any super-team that's been around as long as the Legion has, they have some epic villains and some not-so-epic. I'm only going to include the villains who are Legion-specific.

On the epic side (in no particular order):

·         The Fatal Five

·         Dark Circle

·         Mordru

·         The Time Trapper

·         The Infinite Man

·         Universo

·         Computo

·         The Khunds

·         Nemesis Kid (I think some members of the Legion of Super-Villains are kinda lame, so just going with the best leader)

On the not-so-epic:

·         Grimbor the Chainsman

·         Pulsar Stargrave (although the bad story kinda ruined him)

·         Dr. Regulus

·         Starfinger

·         Dr. Mayavale

Thoughts? Agree or disagree? Who's your favorite Legion villain?

LSH #90

The Legion faces off against Dr. Psycho (there's a name that hasn't aged well), a misogynist who can take control of people's minds and use their insecurities against them. Last issue, Saturn Girl "woke" him up by using her powers and he decided to take control. She found herself faceless and Cosmic Boy was freaking out.

This was actually a really good Saturn Girl-focused issue that showed her inner demons. We learned how she's jumped from structure to structure in her life and hasn't ever really learned how to be herself. We also found out that Aven, her teacher from Saturn, put a mental block in her mind that shut down her brain when she uses her powers too powerfully. That's what happened before when Imra went into the Durlan's mind and went into a coma. Dr. Psycho destroys the block, essentially letting her take full control of her powers. Which is, of course, a mistake. But it does ensure that everyone's favorite telepath is about to become much stronger.

There's some interesting, in both good and bad ways, moments in this book:

·         We continue the "Brainiac 5 is a selfish and arrogant person who's a bad teammate" plot line which really doesn't work in my mind. He's solely focused on getting the team back to the 30th Century and not willing to assist in saving Saturn Girl because he's trying to build a computer that can actually handle his demands. I agree with all character assessments - he's is a horrible being in these books and I can't imagine anyone wanting to spend more than 5 seconds with him. But I think he should be ignoring everything and focus on getting them home. In his shoes, I'd make the same choice. I'd be nicer about it, but I'd still want to spend all my time figuring out how to get back.

·         Speaking of computers, and Brainy's need for a futuristic one, they show him using a tablet brought back from the 30th Century. Why wouldn't he do all the designs on that? How does he keep it powered? Does anything Brainy-related make sense?

·         So Ferro is a member of the Legion, but doesn't get a flight ring (which makes sense) and doesn't get a character box on the title page. Can anyone explain why Ferro makes the team and Impulse doesn't? It just makes no logical sense. And you can't say it's because he's annoying. Brainy and Inferno prove that isn't a reason to keep a member off the team.

·         I'm puzzled by the Legion having to travel so far to get to Psycho when last issue, it looked like he was in the military installation near where Ayla had gotten shot at. Did they just ignore the events of last issue or did they just stop caring?

·         I know I keep droning on about Lee Moder and Ron Boyd's art being bad, but this issue was one of the worst. As much as I liked the story, I really detested the artwork. Saturn Girl's body changes every panel, Ultra Boy's face and haircut are never the same, and I honestly think they've just given up trying to be consistent and are only worried about hitting their deadline. It's a shame.

The big reveal is Cosmic Boy, lying unconscious on the ground, at the end of the book because of Dr. Psycho's attack on Saturn Girl. We're going to talk more about this in the future, so I'm going to try not to spoil anything until the big reveal actually occurs.

Legionnaires #47

LSH #91

Because we couldn't keep the two parts of the Legion separate for too long, we get a big two-issue story. I'm going to try to make sense of all the chaos!

Andromeda's on the cover, so let's hope they're actually going to do something with her. Honestly, I get why the writers wouldn't want two Daxamites on the team, but she's an interesting character who's just being wasted.

We start with Dragonmage breaking into the Legion HQ, trying to warn them about the upcoming danger of Mordru. Invisible Kid doesn't believe him, of course, and finally reacts to something breaking into the HQ by smashing a door the proper way: he turns invisible and judo flips him.

There's another alarm, so Lyle just leaves Dragonmage lying on the floor. Brainiac 5 has found a way to communicate with the future and he needs to speak to Rond Vidar. The entire team, including those stuck in the 20th Century, are involved so I'm guessing we're pulling everyone back together for one big story. And since we're writing everyone, Roger Stern has let Tom Peyer take over.

The Legion rushes into action, trying to get Rond to the HQ and Star Boy goes to apprehend Dragonmage. We have to keep this subplot going, so the mystical hero turns invisible, changes personalities on a dime, and criticizes the Legion for not listening to him. Literally two pages earlier he's apologizing for breaking in, saying he's so scared of what's coming. Now he's mad at the Legion and calling them fools and ignorant. Is it so hard to keep someone's personality straight for one issue?

I'm going to skip over the idiotic Evisceratronic subplot they're starting here. Really? They're juggling 22 characters and this is what they spend a page on?

We go to the 20th Century where Cosmic Boy is in a coma and none of the doctors have a clue how to revive him. Too bad none of them have any medical training to help here... like, say Brainy. He's very busy in the geriatrics ward, using the stored up chronal energy in the elderly patients to phone home and get help for Cosmic Boy. Or he could just treat Rokk. Crazy, I know... And just in case you think he might actually be turning a corner into a non-sociopathic being, he headbutts Gates for asking him to explain what he's doing. And then Saturn Girl threatens to fry his mind again if he doesn't behave. Wow, what a well-functioning team.

Because this story is moving at a blistering pace, all the info has been shared with the future team and Rond knows how to build a time platform, so that's what's gonna happen. They tell Lori, thinking she'll be excited to go home, but she looks... well... not happy.

Back to the past, where Saturn Girl "talks" to a bunch of security guards, who let them continue doing what they're doing. Everyone's impressed and talk about how she'd be the new Legion leader, but doesn't this just look a lot like mind control? I think it's supposed to feel like the scene in Star Wars where Obi-Won tells the stormtroopers "they're not the droids they're looking for", but when Imra's been telling everyone for three years that she won't play with people's minds, this scene just feels wrong. Foreshadowing, right?

To the future, where Lori fiddles with something on the time platform and, instead of Rond and a few Legionnaires traveling to save Rokk, all the Legionnaires are gone and Rond and Lori remain. I know this is going to start sounding hyper-critical, or me just trying to balance off all the Lee Moder shots, but I'm starting to notice that Jeff Moy draws almost every background character smiling, no matter what's going on.

As the Legionnaires in the past get excited about getting home and enjoying real food, and Ferro worries about what's going to happen to him, the Evisceratronic makes some vague threat towards the Legion... I think it's Legion HQ but have no idea... and then every Legionnaire except Cosmic Boy disappears.

And then Mordru takes the mystic jewel on Evisceratronic's chest.

All the Legionnaires from the 20th Century find themselves in the timestream and Lori admits what she's done. She knows how to work time platforms after spending all the time with Chronos, so she messed with it. To fix everything, she knees Rond in the stomach and takes off after the Legion to save the day.

Somehow she's still on the time platform, even though that's not how Brainiac 5's platform worked in the past and she's suddenly thinking like an adult... kind of... and figures out how to hone in on their flight rings to get them. But since they're in two different "places", she draws them to her. I always when characters magically develop abilities and skills that they've never shown before to save the creative team.

We get a nice Legionnaires reunion, with introductions for the newbies, expect for Ferro - no one cares about him. They're all intangible, so Brainy tells Lori what to do to fix the problem. No surprise, it doesn't work and Brainy, being the optimist that he is, tells everyone to get comfortable because they live in the timestream now.

Let's go to LSH #91 for the second part.

It's even worse than we thought - they need to reconnect with linear time or they'll all cease to exist.

Saturn Girl's not leaving Cosmic Boy in the past and she gently "nudges" Apparition's mind to get her to agree. Removing Aven's controls is having bad effects.

They start "working together" to try to save themselves, but the team immediately begins fracturing, complaining, and rejecting Brainiac 5 because he's (surprise) acting like a jerk. Continuing with the "characters acting differently from before", it's Element Lad who stands up to him. You know, Jan the pacifist who's been floating through every issue so far, looking like nothing bothers him in the slightest. And the one who's always looking to help in any way possible. He's the one who slows everything down to stand up to Brainy.

They finally get started on Brainy's plan. He uses the ton of chronal energy within M'onel (so is chronal energy just energy you collect over time?), gets Gates to create teleportation slots for the team, and sends everyone to different eras of time to collect the needed materials.

Of course, if Brainy can send these people to any moment in time, why not send them to see Rond with a message telling him how to save them?

First, they show up in a space museum looking for a chronal flux capacitor. Great Scott! Brainy is blasted by some strange weapon, turns negative, and he has to surround himself in a force-field to keep everyone safe. He almost immediately turns back, they get the capacitor, Cham and Ayla say hi to each other, and we go to the next place.

Star Boy, Triad, and Sensor find some of the Flashes running through the timestream and suck up the chronal particles around them.

Invisible Kid, Umbra, and Inferno grab... something... from Chronos and disappear just as quickly. I think they grabbed his controls to his time bubble but I honestly don't know. It doesn't help that Moder's artwork is really unclear...

Oh no. I'm an idiot. These weird blue and silver things they're grabbing are chronal particles. They look like pieces of metal. But when XS grabs the chronal particles off the past XS from the annual, they finally explain what these things are. Then they meet an older Andromeda, who's still in her nun's habit, fighting some weird creature. But they're zapped away before anyone gets to talk to anyone else.

They all reunite and see portals opened in the timestream. The Legionnaires find themselves being pulled to the portals they came from. XS grabs a medikit to make sure take care of Cosmic Boy, even though she wasn't in the past. But some invisible barrier slams into her. Luckily Triad grabs the kit, recombines, and heads back to the past. So the 20th Century gets one more Legionnaire.

In the 30th Century, everyone's back except Triad and Lori, who then magically reappears, holding something in her hockey jersey. She refuses to show anyone what she has.

In the 20th, it's even worse. Only 3 of them reappear at the hospital (Shvaughn, Apparition, and Ferro) and they have no idea how to unhook the patients from Brainy's machine. They also realize that Cosmic Boy's gone too.

The ending of this story was just all kinda of bad. It seems like they just wanted a reason to get Triad back to the past and that was it. All in all, just a complete waste of two issues.

LSH #92

This is a tough issue to review. On one hand, I get the amazingly kind sentiment that led to the story - the creative team obviously wanted to pay tribute to Curt Swan, one of the greatest comic artists of all time and one who helped define the look of Superman, Superboy, and the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 1960's. To do so, they created a tale of the Legion in 1958 where Swan is their art teacher and they're all living different lives and trying to fit into the time.

They're all given American-sounding names, Brainiac 5 wears makeup, and Triad lives her life as triplets. They're all regular high school students, getting ready for a visit from President Eisenhower. Their memories are gone and they're all just trying to get through the day.

When Gates shows up, everything falls apart. They're viewed with mistrust and fear and the police and security are ready to arrest them for anything. They become the voices of cooperation and diversity and fight back to save those who look most alien. They quickly get their memories back and fly off to... nowhere.

Gates tells them that they must be in some sort of social experiment after being sent back to 1958 after the events of last issue.

Why is this such a tough issue to review? It's just not a very good comic but when the creative team's collective heart is in the right place, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Lee Moder's art looks very good here, showing that maybe it's the science fiction element that he's struggling with the most. There's a good moral to the story, although they're not very subtle in how they express it. There are some nice character bits, especially with Inferno's realization that she's been acting like an innocent cheerleader.

But it just kinda fell flat for me.

Legionnaires #48

Legionnaires #49

It's chapter one of the Legion's battle with Mordru.

We haven't seen him since the end of volume 4, when he and Glorith were working together to take over the universe. Whenever one thinks about the biggest and most threatening Legion villains, Mordru is always one of the first to come to mind. He's been around since 1968 and popped up all over the DC Universe.

So, needless to say, the team has a lot of pressure to deliver an epic tale of magical battle. Since this is the first time the PZH Legion are meeting Mordru, there's also going to be a lot of back story they need to convey.

One of the best parts of this whole story is the fact that they've been sowing seeds for this face off for a while now. We've seen numerous pieces come together, such as Mysa and her mystic skills, the Emerald Eye's connection, the discovery of Mordru's tomb on Yuen, and the dreams of Dream Girl forecasting some very bad events. It's great that the writers have done such a thorough job laying the foundation.

My only nitpicky complaint here is that I wish they hadn't made it so blatantly obvious that it was Mordru. I mean, wouldn't it have been better if there was no marker on the tomb that read "Mord"? And if Mysa had been speaking of two grave threats to the universe right from the beginning, especially if they "borrowed" the time-honored concept of her refusing to speak the name of her greatest threat. They even couldn't called back to the Great Darkness Saga by having an unseen creature stealing the mystical objects, instead of a fairly obvious white-haired magician.

But that's honestly my only issue with this... issue. It's really well done, the story moves quickly, Roger Stern recaps everything to ensure the readers knows exactly where it's going, and we get to see the Legionnaires working together to try to take down this new threat. They even remain consistent in that it's Live Wire's mistake that ends up costing the team - he can't stick to the plan and ends up giving Mordru time to recover.

To further up the stakes, Mordru destroys the entire planet of Sklar to prove just how dangerous he is. Yep, we're in the 90's and we can't just have a villain be dangerous - genocide must always be on the table.

In part two, it looks like we're headed towards a battle between the Emerald Eye and Mordru. R.J. Brande pulls together a task force to stop Mordru, but it really just looks like it's going to just slow him down before the big battle. We've got the recovering Legionnaires, Mysa and Dragonmage, the Amazers from Xanthu, and the Workforce. Sadly no Heroes of Lallor or Substitute Heroes, but this is a good bunch to work with. They split them into two teams to go after Mordru.

But before they can get there, The Emerald Eye (and Violet) face Mordru in battle. They trade blows, the Eye fighting to stay way from its former master. For some insane reason, Atom'X flies down to join the fight. Okay, he went down to impress Kinetix, but it's still insanity. No surprise here, he gets killed by Mordru, who absorbs his energies. Is there a point to this, aside from to show, again, how dangerous Mordru is?

We get the next surprise cliffhanger, and Violet merges with the Eye, becoming Veye, and offers to become Mordru's consort and serve him. He says she might just be his perfect mate.

That's not weird or creepy at all, is it?

This issue is really just a great part two of a multi-issue story where, although it's all setup, it still feels exciting and keeps the reader engaged. The creative team is not reinventing the wheel here, and I don't think they're doing much that's going to set the comics world on fire, but they are delivering on an epic story.

Random thoughts about the first two parts of the Mordru storyline:

·         How many times are they going to drape Sensor over her teammates? It seems like this is becoming a common way of drawing her whenever they're attacked. I'd actually love to see them address this somehow - after all, wouldn't a princess have slightly more decorum over this?

·         I'm really hit and miss with Star Boy's new powers. I'm just not a fan of lightning vision. Speaking of Star Boy, I think Jeff Moy has just decided that it's easier to make his and Invisible Kid's faces look exactly the same. Same haircut too.

·         XS moving on to a new crush on M'onel just makes sense and it's a good way to show her as a normal teenage girl.

·         Great addition to show Kinetix's tattoo from when she had mystical powers is the same as someone who was related to Mordru. Let's hope they continue with this somehow.

·         I know that they need to keep R.J. Brande in the action (or do they?) but I don't know if any security team would let him get that close to Mordru.

·         Mordru turning Element Lad into crystal is something that just irritates me. It makes no sense. He should be dead. Just because he's able to transmute things doesn't mean that he'd be able to transmute himself. Or survive if someone does it to him.

·         I hate when a villain destroys an entire planet to show how strong they are, especially a planet with billions of people on it. I know that this is the 90's, and every comic was getting more and more violent, but this just seems like it raised the stakes to a degree that was unimaginable. Also, how do you imprison someone who's killed billions? Wouldn't there be a demand around the galaxy to kill Mordru once he's defeated? Wouldn't they find some way, any way to do it? I think this was my same problem with the end of the Daxamite battle. You have villains do something so heinous, so horrible, that most of the galaxy would be calling for their deaths, not their capture. I don't know if this is where a comic starring a bunch of teenagers needs to go.

·         I believe this is our first view of Orando's racoon slave population. Did no one think about this before they added it? Would the Legion want to keep a member on their team who was okay with slavery?

·         I like Umbra's cold and calculated personality and her desire to keep her distance from the rest of the team. I hope they're not going to head in the direction of Andromeda and make her unlikable, but I don't have a problem with a warrior who's not big on small talk and niceties. Put her and XS on a mission together and see what happens!

·         I also think this is the first time we see Monstress' personality shine through. Great way to take her in a completely unexpected direction and I like it!

·         Why kill off Atom'X? I know Stern felt there were too many characters, but having one essentially commit suicide is not the way to go. Just seemed like a stupid choice for the writers.

 

Our next Legionnaire in the spotlight... Invisible Kid (Lyle Norg)!

Sorry for the low-res version - this is the best I could find

My thoughts on Invisible Kid:

·         I think I've mentioned this before, but for most of the Legion-reading existence, Lyle Norg was a dead man who we only saw in flashbacks, a weird demon plotline that never got resolved, and Shanghalla. When I first started reading the Legion in the early 80's, he was long gone and, to be honest, not really that missed by either the creative team or the fanbase. So this isn't my Invisible Kid, if that makes any sense.

·         I know that I'm going to anger a bunch of fans of the 60's Legion but, to be honest, I don't know if I was really all that impressed with the original version of Lyle Norg. He's just another super-smart character. Sorry.

·         I think his original costume might be one of the worst in Legion history. Bad color combination, a headband for no reason, and that epic collar...

·         He does, however, have the worst death of any Legionnaire. What was even worse was just how accepting the Legionnaires were. They were kinda happy he was dead because he could spend more time with his ghostly girlfriend. Just badly written all around and one reason why I think Cary Bates may have been the most over-rated comic writer of the 70's.

·         With the PZH Legion, Lyle gets a better chance to shine. I think he suffers a little bit for being the creative team's favorite Legionnaire. He does whatever he wants, never faces any consequences for his actions, and is almost always the savior. I mean, as we're reading these issues now, he's the elected leader of the team, doesn't want the role, but still succeeds magnificently. As a counterpoint, Live Wire was appointed leader, didn't want to do it, wasn't very good, and they let him quit almost immediately. Why doesn't Lyle just quit? Because the writers want him to be leader.

·         I like the comparisons some of you have given me that Lyle's the creative thinker, or the designer and builder not the researcher, or the scientist with a heart instead of a head. I'm not going to lie, I much prefer him the further I get into this version of the Legion.

·         My only big quibble is that he just doesn't seem to have a flaw. He's kinda boring. I want my heroes to have something that makes them more human or realistic. Perfection doesn't work for me.

Thoughts? What is your take on Invisible Kid (Lyle Norg)?

Once again, thanks so much for taking the time to read through these long and winding missives. It's greatly appreciated!