Superboy's Legion #1 & 2 - Alan Davis makes us forget about the horrible past two weeks!

We're one day early as I take my last vacation of the year... which means there won't be a column next week and I won't be responding to your comments as quickly as I usually do. But please let me know what you think about the column and we'll see everyone back here in two weeks with Legion Worlds!

I actually considered dropping this plan after seeing how few people commented on the Titans/Legion debacle. I'm guessing that people just want to see the regular series and don't care for these trips into deluxe format land. But since I promised this, and I'm 1000% certain this will be a better series, I'm going ahead with my look at Mark Farmer and Alan Davis' Superboy's Legion.

Let me be incredibly blunt here - I truly believe that if DC had gone up to these two in the mid-90's/early-00's and given them the keys to the Legion kingdom instead of Abnett and Lanning, we wouldn't have gone through numerous reboots. Alan Davis was a big enough name that he could pull 30,000 readers to a title on the strength of his storytelling. Combining that with the diehard Legion fans, I think that puts the Legion into the 60,000 range in sales which, in 2001, would've been similar numbers to the Threeboot. If they're pulling those kinds of numbers, there's no way the book gets cancelled. There's no way Threeboot happens. You've built a base of fans that hopefully, even after Farmer and Davis leave, are sticking around because they love the characters.

Yes, you can argue that there's no way DC pays Farmer and Davis to take over the book, figuring it's a complete lost cause. I'd argue that they would eventually pay Mark Waid and Barry Kitson 5 years later and shove another spike into the Legion. So why not do it earlier?

Anyway, I digress down another anti-DC editorial rant...

Superboy's Legion #1 

I've always liked DC Elseworlds stories. Even the ones that miss the mark are usually still entertaining. Normally, the concept is "what happens if one event changes in the DC universe?" In this issue, when Krypton explodes, the escape pod holding baby Kal-El is trapped in the wreckage and goes into suspended animation. Instead of crashing on Earth, the lone Kryptonian is woken up in 2987 by R. J. Brande.

The story really begins in 3001, when 14-year-old Kal Brande is causing trouble for the Science Police by flying off without authorization and destroying property by moving too quickly. The S.P.s talk to Brande, telling him that they'll shut down Brande's access to the power supply and they'll use their super computer, called Universo, to watch over him. Brande chastises Kal, who's wearing a Superboy costume in honor of his love for 20th Century heroes, telling him how disappointed he is. Superboy flies off, crying, knowing that he'll never fit in on Earth.

While out in space, Superboy helps a Green Lantern against a Khundian threat and they have a chat about how the Corps is no longer strong enough to fight every villain. Superboy gets an idea - what if there's someone else to fight?

Elsewhere, onboard a luxury cruiser, the young couple of Imra Ardeen and Rokk Krinn dance and talk about what their future looks like. A Blister Beast latches onto the ship, sucking all the power away. Superboy comes to help and the three save the ship. Which is when Kal-El makes an offer for them to join a new super-team, like the old days. And with this, Superboy's Legion is formed and they start recruiting.

We get another great Legion tryout as many super-powered youngsters come to Titan to try to join the team. Tons of familiar faces are there, including a reporter, Lois Olsen. They select their new team with the following members: Sun Boy, Colossal Boy, Element Lad, Shrinking Violet, Shadow Lass, and Bouncing Boy. All the new costume designs show that Davis should have been doing that for the regular team as well.

We get some new versions of some old characters as more teenagers look to join. Triad, constantly arguing with themselves, want to join. Garth and Ayla Ranzz, now aristocrats from Winath, want to add class to the team. Brainiac and Lyle Norg are somehow connected and want to be a part of this. But not everyone is ready. Tellus and his race don't feel welcome to the party.

Speaking of party, the new team comes together and has some fun, and we have a nice little moment where the Legion of Substitute Heroes get together on one panel. Then Bouncing Boy has a nice chat with Karate Kid and Ferro Lad, surprised that he made the team and they didn't. You're not the only one, Chuck.

The action starts! A huge asteroid is heading to Rimbor and they're the only ones who can save the planet. All they need to do is talk to Ultra Boy, who has a plan to stop the asteroid, and Phantom Girl, who's moved to Rimbor to be with him. Hiding in plain sight is Reep Daggle, who was hired by Tinya's mom to protect her.

The Legion was given a cruiser by the Titan government and they've already prepared trans-suits and flight rings (amazing that this happened without either Brainiac 5 or Invisible Kid). They rush off towards Rimbor and they're really establishing Superboy as a pretty brainless character who's really over-confident. Which is so refreshing considering how he's normally portrayed.

Another ship arrives and we meet the two geniuses, who offer to help save Rimbor as well. They've also called Star Boy, last survivor of Xanthu, to help with the problem. He makes Superboy super-heavy, giving him enough mass to destroy the asteroid.

The Legion works together, saving Rimbor with the help of all the heroes, Ultra Boy's group included. Their exploits are broadcast around the galaxy, drawing someone's attention to the "near-mythical Coluan."

Star Boy points out that someone is destroying the most powerful worlds outside U.P. space, such as Daxam and Xanthu, and he wants to find out who's responsible. Superboy agrees to help, wanting to make the S.P.s look stupid, but before they can do anything, the Fatal Five appear!

The battle begins and the Five are surprised, figuring the teenagers would run scared instead of fighting back. We get to see everyone in battle, taking on the villains, and it really feels like a good, old-school Legion fight. The Five spot Brainiac 5 and we learn that he's the reason they've attacked - they want to grab him and take him back to wherever they were hiding.

Star Boy stops Mano and the Persuader from killing Invisible Kid and we learn that it was Mano who destroyed Xanthu - he used his powers to trigger the planet's meltdown. But before Thom can get his revenge, they're knocked apart by Validus and Colossal Boy's fight. Mano presses his hand against Thom's face and... that's not good.

Wow - things are getting a little more violent than I expected. But before the shock of that wears off, the Persuader slashes at Cosmic Boy and... slices off his right arm... WOW! Element Lad saves him but numerous Legionnaires are down and unconscious. Things are not looking good. And then they get worse - Colossal Boy is distracted by Sun Boy and takes a blast of Validus' mental lightning, killing him.

The Fatal Five grab Brainiac 5 and beat a hasty exit. The Legionnaires are left, shattered, and Sun Boy blames Superboy for Gim's death.

The Fatal Five, back at their ship, deliver Brainy to their benefactor... Lex Luthor!

Superboy's Legion #2 

We continue where we left off last issue, as they're all stunned by the death of Colossal Boy and the loss of Cosmic Boy's arm (actually, they're a little less concerned about that...) and everyone wants revenge. Invisible Kid tells them that he and Brainiac 5 share a tracking signal, so he knows exactly where the Fatal Five took him.

Almost everyone heads off on the rescue mission. Saturn Girl takes Cosmic Boy back to Earth for medical treatment and, after a showdown where Ultra Boy lost his temper and struck him, Superboy remains on Rimbor. With Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy... no idea, really, why she's staying with Kal-El instead of going with her boyfriend, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.

R.J. Brande has learned of all of this, thanks to Lois Olsen, and is taking care of everything on Earth - he's getting ready the medical care and is also going to call Colossal Boy's family.

Lex Luthor, wanting to find out where Colu is, begins probing Brainy to get the info he wants. But what he doesn't realize is that Brainy's too smart and his mind is entering cyberspace to figure out what Luthor's computer can do. He learns that Luthor killed all the 20th Century heroes, such as Batman, in the Third World War. But what Brainy didn't realize is that Luthor was distracting him with this - he got all the secrets he needed.

Back on Rimbor, more heroes have arrived to help, but they're late to the party. It looks like Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, and Sensor have arrived, offering their powers to the Legion. But Phantom Girl isn't sure there's a Legion left anymore.

Lois tries to convince a pouting, depressed Superboy that he needs to keep the dream alive and that his father is proud of him and wants him to succeed. Superboy start complaining that since he's the sole survivor of a dead planet, no one else will understand him. Except Element Lad. And Star Boy, who's still alive and shows up to give him a pep talk. That's enough and we're ready for action!

Back on Earth, Cosmic Boy has a new arm made of Plasteel and Karate Kid and Ferro Lad show up to give him a present. Since they're friends of Bouncing Boy, this makes sense, I guess. But the S.P.s show up to declare martial law on Earth and arrest everyone.

Damn, this series was going so well and making complete sense and then they had to do this and throw everything to the wind. Let's hope they get back on track.

Out somewhere in space, Lyle is piloting his ship towards where Colu will appear, coming out of hiding. He delivers a ton of exposition so we learn that Colu is a pacifist planet that hides rather than deal with confrontation. And that Brainy is actually Lyle's brother, cloned from his DNA after Lyle's parents were killed. They come out of hyperdrive and discover...

Colu - a gigantic glowing blue pyramid in space. It's a huge crystal that Element Lad says is completely pure. The bad news is that the Fatal Five have already arrived and the Legion needs to stop them immediately.

The Fatal Five arrive to stop them and the fight begins. And as much as the Legion is trying to work as a team, they're just not ready to face these villains.

Back on Earth, our remaining Legionnaires and Brande are taken to S.P. headquarters, where we learn that the Universo computer is malfunctioning for the first time and Leeto, the head of the S.P., believes that it's because of Superboy's new team. But Saturn Girl senses something else, an ancient evil mind within the computer.

On Colu, Luthor is accessing all of that planet's research, learning they're close to unlocking time travel. We also learn that Luthor is a hologram. Which makes sense because there's no way he lives for 1,000 years, right? Right?

The Legion/Fatal Five battle continues and Superboy arrives just in time to save Violet and crushes the eye. Well, actually, she believes he does because Sensor shows the Empress her greatest fear. Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl have a nice little reunion and, in one page, they do a better job showing their relationship than the entire PZH run.

On Earth, all S.P. technology has gone offline and Saturn Girl is the only one smart enough to try to solve the problem. So, of course, the S.P.s want to kill her. Which causes the other Legionnaires to leap into action to help. Imra discovers that part of Universo has headed to Colu.

Luthor immediately realizes Saturn Girl is trying to stop him and he's got to get someone to Earth as fast as possible. So he wakes the Empress up, tells her that if she doesn't do what he wants, he'll kill her with an implant that he put inside her, and she takes off for Earth.

In their wake, the Legionnaires are in trouble, caught in one of Empress' bubbles and heading directly towards Colu, about to crash. Cue Bouncing Boy, the only one who sees what's happening. He inflates, places himself between the bubble and the ground and saves everyone.

Inside Colu, Superboy rescues Brainy, but it's too late. Their ship is destroyed and it's been reshaped into Luthor's version of "Vril Dox," an "Eternal Brain" that is made of inertron and will contain Luthor's essence. He continues the connection with Colu to learn everything he needs to know.

On Earth, the Empress has already arrived and is attacking to stop Saturn Girl. She's already separated Luthor from Universo but she needs more time to fix everything. Time the Empress isn't going to give her.

But what is the one mineral that magic is powerless against? Iron. And what's Ferro Lad made of? He walks through her bubble and grabs the Eye, stopping her from controlling everything. Karate Kid jumps into action and knocks the Empress out. Saturn Girl then enters the Empress' unconscious mind and "persuades" her to take over Universo and get everything working again.

With the Legion working together, they defeat the remaining members of the Fatal Five and they're left with trying to disconnect Luthor, now in a Brainiac 1 suit, from Colu.

As Superboy attacks, desperate to stop Luthor, the villain monologues with the best of them, explaining that his quest for immortality drove him to find Colu. He had also planned to take over Superboy's body itself, but his rebellious nature made that impossible.

With the Legion working together, they're able to defeat Luthor and disconnect him from Colu's network. And the Empress is able to fix Universo.

And, Luthor finally faces the truth - he died centuries ago and his new persona is just a computer program built into the Universo system he developed so very long ago. They find his body (weird) deep in S.P. headquarters and display it to make the Luthor program realize that there's no point for it to continue.

Since this is Luthor, the opposite occurs, and he grows and grows, turning into a huge bomb to destroy all of Colu. Superboy and Ultra Boy, working together now, fly him off planet and Luthor explodes. The threat is over.

In a great twist, the Coluans finally reveal themselves and they're strange, inhuman beings that look like green clouds. They're also teleporters, pulling the Legionnaires and Brande off Earth.

To wrap everything up, the S.P.s are done, replaced by the United Planets. And the Legion is there, with a new headquarters that looks like the ship Kal-El escaped Krypton in. The final page shows all their members and provides another great change - Kal-El is no longer Superboy - he's now Kal-El, wearing Mon-El's old costume. And he's dating Lois Olsen, which is very creepy when you consider that she's an adult reporter and he's a 14-year-old boy...

If you haven't figured out by my lack of sarcasm throughout, I really, really enjoyed this series. I went into this expecting to, if nothing else, love the artwork and Alan Davis and Mark Farmer really outdid themselves here. Davis is one of a very small group of comic artists who can make teenage characters actually look like teenagers. This felt both modern and futuristic and also nostalgic and old-fashioned and the art brought all of that to life. The art was full of little touches and callbacks to past Legion stories and you could spend hours pouring over the artwork to notice everything. I also really loved the new takes on a lot of the costumes. I kinda wish this was Element Lad's costume for any new reboot.

But the best part of this series is the simple fact that Farmer showed, in two issues, that he understands what makes the Legion tick, and did it in a better way than I've seen in a long time. Each character, no matter what power they have, had the opportunity to shine. It was teamwork and playing to each other's strengths that saved the day, not the most powerful one simply blasting their opponents.

I really loved all the callbacks and changes they made to the Legion history that we knew going into this. Cosmic Boy losing his arm instead of Lightning Lad was a nice twist. The new personalities for the Winathians was great. Even Phantom Girl being a princess who gave up her throne for Ultra Boy was better than I thought it would be. And the combined nature of Invisible Kid and Brainiac 5 was genius. Everything they did with Colu was genius, actually.

This is also an incredibly dense read. While most book seems to be done before you get started, there wasn't a page of wasted anything. There was so much information in each panel that you definitely got your money's worth.

If you haven't read this series, I highly, highly recommend it.

Out next Legionnaire in the spotlight... Tyroc!!

There's really no way to talk about Tyroc without mentioning how quickly he got removed from the book and sent off to the Brigadoon island of Marzal. According to Wikipedia, he only appeared in nine, count 'em, nine issues before the 5YL storyline.

Wow!

Reading over those few issues now, it's obvious how problematic those stories are/were. It's also obvious why no one wanted to bring him back before 5YL. Tyroc makes every "Here are the 15 most politically incorrect comic characters of all time" lists. There is nothing there that isn't incredibly cringe-inducing.

But as a kid reading those stories in the early 80's, after collecting all the back issues and seeing him in some great reprint digests (if you don't know what a digest was, ask in the comments below), all I could think was that Tyroc was immensely cool and I wanted to see more of him. I still remember my disappointment when they made him a key part of his final storyline and then he was gone. And my excitement when they brought him back in 5YL.

I know they were trying to make him more important in the 5YL series, but I think they kept missing the mark, over and over again, and it ended being somewhat of a joke that Tyroc only existed to backup Invisible Kid II. I don't think he ever really did anything, did he?

Why was he so fascinating to me? I know that Mike Grell designed the costume to look horrible, but I loved it. And I know Paul Levitz hated his powers, but I loved them. I can't explain why, I just know that I did.

What I didn't know at the time, and understand far better now, is that he was important because he was there. Cary Bates may have botched everything about his creation but he still represented to readers of different nationalities that the Legion wasn't just a whites-(and aliens-)only club. Again, I am not defending the horrible way they did it. I'm just pointing out the unintended effect he had.

But, even with the tiny positives with Tyroc, I cannot excuse the horrible stories and the horrible characterizations. These are tough comics to read these days and I wouldn't recommend anyone to go back and search out Tyroc's early appearances.

But could he be rebooted and work for today's audience? I believe so. I'd love to see someone try it.

What do you think? Am I completely wrong about Superboy's Legion and Tyroc? Please leave your comments below! We'll see you in two weeks!