The Ra's Al Ghul saga continues... we look at The Legion #5 & 6

Take two - the irony of this first paragraph was something I wrote before reddit decided to post the wrong version of this article is not lost on me... fingers crossed that this works.

In somewhat interesting news, I wanted to let everyone know that I'm moving my past articles to a new place, my Blogspot, and will be posting new articles there in the future. I've been having some problems with reddit and their interface (and today pushed this to the forefront), so this will hopefully make my life a lot easier.

Before we begin, let's recap:

• M'onel has been shot and left for dead by the newly-revealed villain, Ra's Al Ghul, who's been masquerading as U.P. President Leland McCauley.
• Ra's is also terraforming the Moon and has some deeper, darker plans that will lead to the Earth entering a new age.
• The U.P. military, under the command of McCauley's (Ra's??) assistant Mr. Venge (no idea how the assistant to the President is commanding the military, but let's not worry about small details), has fired upon the Legion World, the new HQ for the Legion, apparently destroying it.
• Spark, Saturn Girl, Wildfire, and Invisible Kid have headed off to Kwai space (home of Shikari and where Legion Lost occurred) and are under attack by the Kwai.
• Star Boy and XS are still stuck on Xanthu, which has been overrun by Robotica.
• And whatever Legionnaires are still wandering around Earth and facing off against the Science Police, who want to arrest them.

As I said last week, this is how you get people excited for the next issue.

The Legion #5 

We have a guest artist this issue as Olivier Coipel needs some time to recharge his engines. Peter Snejbjerg pencils and inks this one. You may know him from his great work on Starman and The Books of Magic. I've long been a fan of his style - it's very Silver-age-inspired with clean lines and great facial expressions. He's almost completely opposite from Coipel's style, which kinda makes this a little jarring (and I imagine even more so in a trade) but, at the very least, we know we're getting solid storytelling.

Here's a question I've long pondered about, especially as comics have become 6-issue stories instead of single issues. If you're the editor, and you know it's a six-issue story, and you know your artist can't maintain that schedule, what's the best choice? Do you work with the writer to make the fill-in issue (or the two) somewhat separate from the rest of the story so that things flow a little better? Do you break up the art over multiple issues - for example, Coipel draws the main story and Snejbjerg draws the Kwai, Xanthu, and Legion World sections for the entire six-issue story? Do you slow down production a while so that you get Coipel for the whole six? Maybe have Snejbjerg draw a two-issue tale to buy Coipel more time? Do you try to find an artist who can most closely approximate Coipel's style for the fill-in? Do you try to get Coipel to draw less detailed pages and have inker Lanning fill in the gaps?

I don't know if I have a great solution here - I think it really, truly depends on each situation. But I do know that, with every passing year and with the rising number of artists who can't meet a monthly schedule, the more respect I have for artists like George Perez, Keith Giffen, and Jeff Moy.

We start this month in Kwai space. The Legion make quick work of the attackers before Saturn Girl mentally communicates with them and they start talking to each other. Here's a question about Saturn Girl - how can she communicate with someone else's mind who doesn't understand Interlac? Is she projecting ideas or feelings instead of thoughts? Or did DnA just forget about the language barrier here?

The Legion arrived at a shrine to the victims of The Progenitor, who was Element Lad, and the Kwai were just protecting it - which is why they started fighting. We have a short discussion about whether the Legion can be trusted because of their connection to The Progenitor but they finally decide to take the four Legionnaires to meet Enkenet, their matriarch.

We head to Kwai central, which is a collection of wrecked and derelict ships - a huge number of refugees have banded together to help each other. After they land and start wandering through the ships, they discover that Progeny young are also there - Enkenet has decreed that they will protect anyone. Saturn Girl is not pleased, much like some of the Kwai, and can't believe they're there. Invisible Kid and Spark, who weren't Lost, don't understand why they're treating children so badly. Lyle tries to defend the kids, saying that they were designed to do what they were told but Imra quickly cuts him of. She states that "The Progeny are vicious, soulless killers. They shouldn't be here." The argument continues with Lyle pointing out that the Legion is about tolerance and not private grudges.

This is a weird take on the story and I'm kinda surprised they went with this. I get Imra being more emotional and I get the hate she has for the Progeny, but blaming the loss of Monstress and Live Wire on this alien race is completely misguided. If they show that she's blaming them in misplaced anger, I'll be impressed. If they're just trying to show conflict between the Legionnaires or just have Imra change her mind in a dramatic fashion, I'll be a little disappointed.

It's also weird that Wildfire, who was also there, and also killed a lot of The Progeny, has no opinion here. The loudmouth not speaking up? Sorry to say, but there's no way they didn't kill a bunch of these aliens during the Legion Lost series.

The Legionnaire sit, criss-cross apple sauce, in front of Enkenet and make their pitch - the Kwai come to the United Planets to help rebuild their society and strengthen ties between the two parts of the galaxy, acting as the guides to the new transportation system. The Legion offers aid and protection. Enkenet doesn't want to be drawn into any wars and says that the Kwai will consider their proposal. Glad Saturn Girl didn't mention the Robotica. Or McCauley. Couldn't they have sweetened the deal with a planet for the Kwai to live on?

Next, we meet The Credo, a group of beings who join together to destroy any trace of the Progenitor's evil. I'm guessing they're going to start with the Progeny babies... Imra's shocked at the hate-mongering and Lyle points out that the Credo is kinda close to her arguments from before. She's not happy with that and as Lyle quotes the Legion constitution to her, she mind blasts him. Ouch, they're really not making Imra look good here, are they? She storms off, pointing out that the Progeny are murderers.

Elsewhere, Spark and Wildfire have found a bunch of the Progeny, suffering, injured, and all Ayla wants to do is help them. Wildfire comments that they're not evil, they're just misguided and deluded. Again, why didn't he say that before? This would have been a perfect time to have Drake admit that he's frightened of Imra, especially after what she did when they were Lost. Just imagine Ayla's response to that...

The Credo have started attacking another group of the Progeny, killing as many as they can. Spark and Wildfire arrive to this different group, blasting away to stop the Credo and yelling at one of the Kwai they met earlier, Herros, who lead this group to the attack. They're soon overwhelmed and Wildfire is hit with ice, I think, and a punch, and is knocked unconscious. As I've mentioned many, many times before, I have no idea how you knock out an energy being, but DnA seem to love doing this. Or they have no idea what Wildfire is.

Spark calls for backup and Invisible Kid is quick to respond. As the two keep fighting, Lyle gets covered in ice and then shot. And we see blood. Ayla screams for help.

Somewhere else, Saturn Girl is rushing to help and finds a baby Progeny, grasping its stuffed animal, and she has to make a decision. She mind blasts the Credo, ordering them to leave, and tells them the Progeny is now under Legion protection. Yep, the decision we all saw coming a mile away.

Battle over, Invisible Kid is okay (the ice deflected the bullet) and the Credo have left. They're still spreading their hatred but they're gone for now. Where do they go? Off to some planet where they meet a new member - Singularity. You remember him as the "superhero" whose planet created a fantasy world for him because they didn't need him anymore in Legion Lost, right? Well, as soon as he hears the Legion is involved, he's ready to go on the attack. With tanks. And his army. With dead Progeny hanging from poles.

To go back to the question I asked at the beginning of this reread, editor Mike McAvennie went with the first choice - a separate story so the flow isn't completely thrown off. I really like the choice.

Unfortunately, I think this was a really weak issue. They can't seem to understand how to make Saturn Girl into an even slightly sympathetic character and she comes off very cruel and vicious. I hated the moment when Lyle apologized to her for questioning her arguments but got nothing back for, you know, mind blasting him! How many times does she get to attack or abuse her teammates before she faces any consequences? This could have been the start of a great subplot where Legionnaire after Legionnaires stop trusting her and want to stay as far away from her as they can. Wouldn't that tie into everyone's mistrust of people from Titan?

And you knew exactly how the story was going to go right from the beginning - it was a pretty generic "superhero learns a lesson" story. Couldn't they have done something to add a twist, or have Imra's words thrown in her face? Just imagine how much more impactful it would've been if Herros has overheard Imra's statements against the Progeny and echoed them back as the Credo were slaughtering the Progeny.

I will say this - that was the first time in a while where Invisible Kid didn't come across as the savior of everything, but just as someone making a moral choice. I liked that. I've said it before, but DnA have been doing an excellent job writing a lot of the characters since they took over. Especially the ones who were a little over the top in the previous version.

The Legion #6 

Olivier Coipel is back and we're back on Earth. At the protests against McCauley's (Ra's) plan to terraform the Earth, a huge energy flare went off in issue 4 and it's Zoe Saugin, Kinetix if you prefer, saving the day. She grabs two beings and flies them to safety. They also discover these purple balls all over the place. And the flare is moving and coming towards them...

Elsewhere on Earth (and I've got to admit, I did not realize that the Footstep Drive facility we saw in issue 4 was on Earth, but it was, which makes me wonder how the Legionnaires got back to Earth, and how powerful The Bouncing Boy's cloaking is, and then, if it's that powerful, how was the Earthgov able to find Legion World if it was cloaked, and... ugh...), the S.P.s have surrounded the facility and are planning on arresting the Legionnaires. But since the Legion emerged with over 500 non-Terran sentients, rescued from the experiments, they can't really do much. Cosmic Boy announces that the Legion is back and they're going to protect everyone in the U.P. and they're heading to face McCauley.

Instead of that announcement being the big, full-page spread (announcing the return of the Legion should be a big deal, right?), we get 9 Legionnaires flying up to McCauley's tower. Slightly less impressive, but they do look good.

More dumb questions from me as the Legion faces off against the S.P. as they go to face McCauley. An S.P. officer says that it's Earthgov property, but isn't McCauley president of the United Planets? Or is he president of Earth? Which one was Brande? Or is Earthgov president automatically U.P. president?

The Legion smashes their way into the building and discover McCauley is about to fly to the moon and M'onel is upstairs. They send Gates to grab their former teammate and he teleports back quickly, desperate for help. The Legion immediately rescues M'onel, Kid Quantum using her powers to slow the bleeding and stabilize the wound. Ultra Boy blasts the red solar lamps and M'onel has just enough strength to drop the huge surprise: McCauley is Ra's Al Ghul. Cosmic Boy immediately says that's impossible... which leads me to ask one question: would Ra's Al Ghul's name still be known in the 31st Century?

This is a moment when I'm going to sound like an old man wishing for comics to be written the way they were in the old days. I know that longtime fans of comics would know who Ra's is, but what about anyone who's new to the Legion? Or to DC? Would it have been so hard to have Kid Quantum, who would never have known who Ra's is, ask Cosmic Boy to identify the villain? Just one paragraph to bring everyone up to speed. Can we not do something for the possible new readers, or have comics become so insular that we assume the only readers are infinitely knowledgeable about the DC universe?

McCauley (I'm gonna refer to him as this as long as he's in disguise) and the Oversight Watch haven't left yet - they're still loading all of the president's genome samples. Word gets back from Mr. Venge that Legion World has been destroyed and Twine and Repulse are starting to wonder if things are just a little suspicious.

Which is when the Legion bursts through the floor and we have a nice little battle. We get the cliched moment where Cosmic Boy faces off against Repulse and discover that the latter was a Magnoball player, one of Rokk's idols, and ended up taking steroids. Really? In the 31st Century? Did they really need that extra exposition? Cosmic Boy quickly uses his powers to send Repulse flying away. Chameleon takes out Twine very quickly. Leviathan, Ultra Boy, and Kid Quantum make short work of Brainstorm and Shikari pulls Void into his own void, ending his threat. Wow - so quick!

Thankfully for me, Ra's stops the illusions and I don't have to refer to McCauley any more. He presents the Legion with a horrible choice - they can either stop him or they can start saving the Earth. The terraforming of the moon is about to start having an effect - although Ra's is still pretty cagey about what that will be.

We go downtown, back to Zoe, and we see the purple balls have turned pink... and are starting to blast people. One of them grows to mammoth size and their eyes start glowing.

Back to Xanthu we go, where Star Boy and XS are still destroying Roboticans. Suddenly, the power goes out on the entire planet. They're leaving Xanthu, having taken everything they could, and heading for a new planet to conquer. "But... where to?" XS wonders. I'll just assume Earth. Considering that XS has, in her time on the Legion, had crushes on numerous Legionnaires, if they don't do some sort of triangle with Star Boy, Dreamer, and XS, they're completely missing the point of writing comics.

We return to Metropolis and the Legion knows they've got to save as many people as they can, even though Cosmic Boy really wants to stop Ra's Al Ghul. As they fly away and the skies turn red, Ra's raises his arms to the sky, the new moon glowing brightly behind him, and shouts: "Beautiful! My engine of change! The last thing humankind will see before I wipe it from the face of the Earth and replace it with something infinitely better!"

Aside from a few quibbles, such as how easily the Oversight Watch were handled this issue after them soundly beating the Legion a few issues before, this was a solid middle part of the saga. I can't say there were any surprises aside from the Roboticans leaving Xanthu. But I also can't say there were any big disappointments. This issue serves its purpose - to get you to the big finale.

Our next Legionnaire in the spotlight... Polar Boy!!!

I remember, as a kid, the first time I saw the Legion of Substitute Heroes. They were background characters during The Great Darkness Saga and held their own against Darkseid's Daxamite minions. They'd pop up here and there, just enough so we wouldn't forget they existed, and then got turned into a comedy team with their DC Comics Presents #59 and then their own special. And every time I saw them, I'd always think the same thing:

"Why isn't Polar Boy a Legionnaire?"

He had cold powers, just like Iceman in the X-Men, and if Bobby Drake was good enough to be on the team, why not Brek Bannin? It's especially egregious when you think that Sun Boy could literally only glow when he first joined the Legion.

So why not Polar Boy?

Did he do something to offend a Legionnaire? Did they just hate short people? Did Jim Shooter hate short people? It's one part of Legion lore that just makes no sense.

Finally, 22 years after he first appeared, he joined the Legion in volume 3, alongside Magnetic Kid, Sensor Girl, Tellus, and Quislet. He proved himself again and again, even as he was constantly suffering from imposter syndrome and questioning himself on the team. When he was elected leader, he faced one of the biggest challenges any Legion leader has ever faced, deciding what to do after the attack on the Time Trapper. He seemed to be finding his footing as a Legionnaire, finally relaxing and becoming a key member of the team. He was respected, even though many Legionnaires still treated him as a Sub.

And then, with 5YL, he was back to being a joke, standing in the background as the straight man to Matter-Eater Lad's comedy issues.

With PZH, he was back to being a reject which, again, made no sense when you consider who did make the team.

He's popped up here and there. He was a Wanderer. He got to fight Superboy-Prime. He didn't just disappear into obscurity. But I don't think most people can argue that he didn't deserve better. Polar Boy definitely fits into that category of "wasted characters" that I've talked about over and over again with these profiles. He's a leader and has a great set of powers. His costume has seen its ups and downs but I think any good artist could make something that really works. And yet, he continually gets ignored.

Thoughts? What did you think of the fill-in Legion issue? Or the fight between the Legion and the Oversight Watch? Or Polar Boy? Please share your thoughts below.