Let's continue on the other side of the universe and look at Legion Lost #3 & 4

To recap, nine Legionnaires are trapped somewhere on the opposite side of the galaxy, with no idea where they are or how to get home. They've made a new friend, Shikari, and fought against a new enemy, the Progeny, from whom they grabbed a shuttle. They're towing what's left of the Legion Outpost, which really shouldn't even be remotely space-worthy and trying to go... somewhere??

Anyway, let's continue...

Legion Lost #3 

We start with Kid Quantum, who's agonizing over the fact that she couldn't close the rift that took them into the far reaches of space. Who is she talking to? The crystal image of Element Lad that provided exposition in issue one. Instead of just having a narrator this issue, like they did before with Monstress, they'd introduced the concept that Jazmin is telling her thoughts to Jan and saving them to the same crystal.

I get, on one hand, the need to talk about your problems with someone. And talking to someone who can't respond or, more importantly, judge you, is good. But, once again, I have no idea why Jazmin would be talking to Jan - wouldn't she talk to Monstress?

Shikari enters, interrupting everything because she has no concept of privacy, and Jazmin recaps how they got to this part of space. She also, more than a few times, brings up the fact that Drake Burroughs didn't make it through the rift and is dead. Foreshadowing?? I'm also confused about why Jazmin doesn't make reference to Drake's multiple personalities. Wasn't she teammates with one half of Drake? The Burroughs part?

They reach where Shikari's people, the Kwai, have settled for the moment, and Saturn Girl sends the two flyers, Ultra Boy and Kid Quantum, to go with Shikari. Imra makes it crystal clear that this first contact must go well as they may not have any other friends in this part of the universe. She's living up to her Ice Queen nickname from a while ago, so any nice feelings she's had about any of the fellow Legionnaires seem to have disappeared. She's even fairly short with Live Wire.

The three flyers head out and Shikari explains why her people followed the course they did - they were moving with a Luck Star. We also learn her nicknames: Jazmin Legion (since she told her to stop calling her Brown Legion) and Bold Legion (that's probably the nicest name they could come up with).

First contact goes well, and Jazmin recaps everything as if she's speaking with Jan. Again, no idea why she's unburdening her thoughts to him, but it's yet another moment when Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (DnA) don't seem to care whether anything makes sense from the past stories. Did we all forget that Jan tended to annoy most Legionnaires with his idiotic behavior? Is the fact that they think he might be dead the impetus for Jazmin to connect to him?

The Kwai share knowledge and technology with the Legion, so they're able to get navigational data and make repairs to the Outpost. In return, the Legion uses their powers to help the Kwai mine resources they need for the upcoming journey.

Of course, the peace doesn't last, and the Progeny are soon there. Ultra Boy, Kid Quantum, and the Kwai head off to perform one final task - they're going to fly through comets to collect water. Wow - actually smart science here. I love it! And the Legionnaires' powers make it the best water collection ever. I hope the Legion kept some.

The two chat with Shikari about how she's disappointed the Kwai aren't going to stay and fight. She tells them that they used to be a warrior people, but that's gone now that they're drifting from place to place. She tells them that she is what they call a Lone Star, a warrior from the past. And nope, still didn't make a Dawnstar connection from that when I first read this.

And then, in a moment that makes absolutely no sense, Jazmin spots a familiar quantum signature that everyone thinks is the lucky star in the sky, gets Jo to take a closer look with his penetra-vision, and they save Drake Burroughs. Yep, Drake was that Lone Star. They get him into a suit made from Kwai tech and before anyone can tell him what's going on, the Progeny have arrived.

I can't say that I'm not happy Drake's back, and the new costume looks great, but man was that a flimsy way to get him back on the team. Just Jazmin looking up into space... And the whole "he was a star that the Kwai were following" idea is just... insulting?? I mean, wouldn't an alien race of people who can track anything know that it's not a star? It's a blob of quantum energy...

The Legion battles the Progeny to give the Kwai time to escape. But Shikari stays with the Legion and promises to help them find their way home. Jazmin has one final moment to relate everything to Jan and hopes that since Drake (ERG-1) survived, maybe he did too.

Finally, in the interlude, a huge pyramid shows up and kills everything that gets inside. You know this will become important later.

Legion Lost #4 

We start with the Legion equivalent of the training room, and Cham is leading Umbra and Apparition through a mini-battle while ERG-1 and Shikari watch. We learn that Tinya is using her powers better than ever before but Umbra is still able to trap her in a darkfield.

Oh, and Umbra still hates Cham for being a Durlan.

Continuing with the continual personality changes, I'm not sure when Cham became the team battle trainer, or when he changed back to happy-go-lucky Reep when he was pretty much broken by the Blight. Umbra continues to be nasty and humorless and everyone's blaming her experiences with the Blight, but why isn't anyone else suffering the same way? Shouldn't Ultra Boy and Kid Quantum also be feeling horrible? Shouldn't Cham still be suffering from PTSD from being part of the resistance?

Apparition is narrating this issue, so we're getting another very different take on the situation.

Live Wire and Saturn Girl have yet another "Garth can't handle not being the center of her attention" scene where he moans and whines that she's being the leader of the team and ignoring him. I was hoping we'd get away from this, but DnA are right back to it. However, I did like the nice touch of having Garth leading the group that's taking care of growing food, since he's from Winath, and agricultural planet. It's kinda funny how sometimes the writers seem to know exactly who these characters are and their backgrounds and other times seem completely unaware.

We have a nice romantic moment between Apparition and Ultra Boy as they explain they've fused the Outpost and the Progeny ship to have one, bigger ship that might get them home. Along with the "farm" Live Wire's put together, they're starting to build a sustainable existence - great to see the team working through their problems in a logical manner.

As Saturn Girl checks in on Brainiac 5.1 and Kid Quantum, we get a great character moment. Brainy's stunned that Jazmin doesn't understand exactly how her own powers work - she's just happy to "think stuff, and it happens." He has no response and she celebrates being able to make him speechless. In just a few short issues, DnA has made Brainy far more relatable as a character and toned down everything that used to drive me nuts about him.

Apparition tries to talk to Umbra, who actually refers to herself as Umbra: "Umbra's Room! Keep Out!" Tasmia is speaking to ghosts from Talok VIII, or just going crazy, and quickly kicks Tinya out. Okay, so they're going somewhere with this. Unfortunately, will anyone care at all by the time they get there?

Tinya heads into Jazmin's room to talk about the problem and we learn, since Kid Quantum was possessed by the Blight as well, she's suffering too. She's just not taking her problems out on everyone else.

Spoiler comment ahead:

This entire issue reads so differently knowing that Apparition is Saturn Girl. Each of these little scenes, especially the romantic moment with Jo, can either be defended as Imra trying her best to keep up morale and understand exactly what's bothering her team or attacked for being completely psychotic. Actually, the more I think about it, the more the romantic scenes get problematic. I honestly don't think there's anyway back from this - I mean, if you were Jo, would you ever want to be near Imra again? Or would you wonder who you were actually in love with?

Back to the issue...

The next day, we have more combat and Shikari gives ERG-1 the name he should've been using from the beginning: Wildfire!

They also try out the new drive Brainy's built and end up going sixteen light years away. They also end up right beside some weird orange creatures who invade the ship. Brainy calls them quantum parasites and they're draining everyone's energy.

Apparition jumps into action, after a slight delay, dumps the machine powering the drive, and the parasites quickly leave. Wildfire flies out into space and kills them all, comparing them to moths. We get the unhappy ending that they're lost their power and they can't jump through space anymore... but everyone's feeling better about themselves... kinda... Just a weird way to end this - it was as if they wanted to give the Legion something to feel hopeful about and they immediately take it away in the most contrived way possible. I get that we're a darker Legion, but could we make the darkness make sense? Or are they just wanting to reinforce that everything's dangerous, no matter where they are? So this is a horror movie?

Just a quick note about the art this issue - Pascal Alixe took over the pencils and they were not good... at all... so I'll be even nicer when talking about Olivier Coipel, because even his worst pages are miles better than this.

The worst part of this book's artwork were all the gratuitous shots of the female characters. Once you know they're picking certain angles and poses for the women and not the men, you can't help but see them over and over. Just horrible this issue.

Our next Legionnaire in the spotlight... Ferro Lad/Ferro!

Here are a few interesting "facts" about Andrew Nolan:

• He only lasted eight months when he originally debuted. First appearance: July 1966. Death: February 1967.
• He was originally designed as the first Black character in the Legion but, since it was the 60's, DC editorial quickly ended that plan. Or just Murray Boltinoff, the editor of the Legion.
• Depending on which interview you believe, Jim Shooter killed him either because he couldn't make him Black or because it the a good story. Am I the only one who no longer believes anything that comes out of Shooter's mouth?

Look, I have to be honest, I don't have much to say about Ferro Lad. Or Ferro. I don't think it's a stretch to say that his "best" is in the PZH Legion. Unfortunately, he was pretty much useless for most of this run. Heck, even DnA chose to maim him instead of deal with him.

But, amazingly enough, I think Ferro Lad played a critical role in two of my favorite Legion stories. First, Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 2) #300, where his brother Douglas is suffering while he pictures different Legions in different universes. Second, Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 4) #5, where he's a key member of the resistance against Glorith.

I think his facial disfigurement is something that just doesn't play anymore. In the 60's, it worked. But now, especially with the facial reconstruction we can do today, it just makes no sense that they couldn't do something in the 31st Century. If you want him to remain masked, I think you need to come up with a better reason.

Ferro Lad exists best as a memory, as someone who died too soon and reminds the Legionnaires of how dangerous their lives are. I think when they actually try to write him, there just isn't enough to grab onto because his powers and personality are... well... pretty boring. Or pathetic. The way they wrote him in PZH was, I think, supposed to garner sympathy but really just made me want him off the team.

Thoughts? What do you think of Ferro Lad? Or of these two issues of Legion Lost?