The shortest invasion ever! And the dumbest mini-series ever! We look at Inferno #1-4, Legion #101 & 102, and Legionnaires #58 & 59

One of the biggest arguments in comics is which matters more: writing or art? Since it's an incredibly visual medium, one would automatically think that it's the art that matters most. Good artist can elevate stories and make them really stand out. And some great artists can publish an amazingly successful book with horrible stories for more than 20 years and still see it sell like mad... cough... Spawn... cough...

But writers drive sales as well, especially in the past 30-odd years. Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and Neil Gaiman have all written comics drawn by less-than-good artists and those books sold amazingly well. For myself, I'd rather read a well-written story with mediocre art than vice versa.

These latest Legion books (and what I think we're going to see in the future) is going to test this theory a lot. I like Jeff Moy's work on Legionnaires. I actually kinda like Jason Armstrong's style so far. It's different, but it's growing on me. But these stories... yeesh...

Let's see if I survive with my sanity intact.

Inferno #1

Instead of talking about this mini-series, which is horrible, let's talk about why this mini-series even exists.

The naive person inside me always thinks that mini-series are created for a very specific reason - creators have a shorter story to tell and they use this format to do it. When I think of the greatest mini-series of all time, they tend to break into two kinds of stories:

• The huge, all-encompassing, multi-character titles that DC and Marvel have been putting out since the early 80's
• Books focused on one member of a team so they can get some focus and we learn more about them

So mini-series like Wolverine or Crisis on Infinite Earths are short stories the creators wanted to tell (I'm ignoring the editorial mandates right now) that fit into 4 or 12 issues and wrap up at the end. To be honest, I kinda wish we'd see more high-level mini-series, especially when creators want to do something that doesn't really fit into a regular, monthly book. I honestly think it would work well with the Legion - instead of trying to do one monthly series, you create the universe editorially, get higher-profile creators to do 4, 6, or 12 issue mini-series, and let them work their magic. No long-term contracts. No artist burnout. Just good stories.

I also kinda hope that some of these mini-series are dream projects for the creators and a chance for them to do something, or work on a character, they've never been able to before. For example, the first Nightcrawler mini-series was a complete labor of love for Dave Cockrum and you can tell that with every page.

The cynic is me knows that most of these mini-series are produced as cash grabs. With great editorial interference, the company pumps out mini-series starring fan favorite characters to get another book with the same sales numbers as the regular title. Or they pump out these yearly big event mini-series that crossover with a bunch of regular books to boost sales for everything. And it works. A quick glance at both Legion and Legionnaires sales during this time periods shows that when they were added to The Final Night and Genesis, sales went up. That's a good thing for the creative team and the company itself.

I also accept that some mini-series are essentially try-outs for the creators, a chance for young or unproven writers and/or artists to do show their skills without the company committing to a monthly book. Ann Nocenti and Arthur Adams were very green when the first Longshot mini-series came out and it made them stars. Volume 4 Legion essentially did the same thing with the Timber Wolf mini-series - could inker Al Gordon write a regular book? Was artist Joe Phillips up to the challenge? I'll let you weigh in on what you thought of that title.

That's why the Inferno book is such a confusing title to even exist.

Were any readers clamoring for Inferno's solo adventures? I can't imagine they were. She was a background character, basically a villainous member of the Work Force who seemed to embrace every bad order McCauley gave his team. She was nasty to every other character. She wasn't a very interesting character and there didn't seem to be any room for growth. When she got dragged back to the 20th Century with half the Legion, she didn't get any better and, if anything, became more repellent to the fanbase. So they didn't assign her a book to make fans happy.

Was there any money to be made with an Inferno book? Legion sales had been spiraling for a while, so I can't imagine there were DC executives saying "Hey, we can publish a mini-series that'll sell, at best, 25,000 copies (like Legionnaires). which would be one quarter of the sales of DC's most popular book (Justice League). Oh, and spoiler, Inferno's best selling issue, number 1, didn't hit 23,000, so not even every Legion fan felt a need to buy it. And by the final issue, it sold just over 17,000... so they lost just over 25% of their readers by the fourth issue.

So maybe this was a dream book for writer/artist Stuart Immonen... I'm guessing not, however. He had nothing to do with Inferno's creation, was long off the book when she arrived, and it kinda seemed like he was on to bigger things by this time.

I hate to say this, but this mini-series really just feels like a try-out book for Immonen the writer. And it fails at that pretty spectacularly. As an artist, the book looks really good. As a writer, the story is flat, meandering, and makes absolutely no sense.

This is a series that really didn't need to exist. And judging by the fact that Inferno only appeared two more times in DC comics after this, DC was ready to forget about it too.

LSH #101

I think I've ranted before about the Legion story that I think is the single dumbest thing to come out of the 60's stories - when they all get lightning rods and wait for lightning to strike to save Lightning Lad's life. If I haven't, then there we go - I hate that story. And I hate that writers keep calling back to it. I would honestly rather have a new creative team try to make Doctor Mayavale work in a new story than see this trope again.

Look, I get that one of the great things about a reboot is that you can reference (or reuse) old stories and try to make them fresh again. But some of them just need to stay in the past. Some of them are so tied to the decade they occurred in that they should be retired and left there. I feel this way about the lightning trick.

So you can already imagine that I'm not going to like this story. To summarize quickly, Ayla hates her new powers, feels like she's not connected to Garth anymore, heads to Korbal to get her lightning back, gets electrocuted and killed, and the Legionnaires who show up to save her get the lightning rods out, collect energy, and jolt her back to life. It's just sooooo dumb...

Instead, let's focus on other things happening in the book:

• This is Jason Armstrong's first book as lead artist and I'm trying to take a half-glass-full approach. He's not perfect, there are certain stylistic choices that I don't love, but he's got a style and look that's his own and he's making the Legionnaires look distinct. Which I really like. His Dr. Gym'll looks a little too much like Hellboy, but that's my quibble. I'm going to stay positive here and give him some time to get comfortable on this insanely hard book to draw.
• The characterizations have kinda gone all over the place, and I'm not too sure why. Live Wire has returned to "idiot who acts before he thinks", ending any growth he might've had before. Element Lad has become lobotomized. Violet has suddenly changed from someone who rises to the occasion to someone who's scared to act. Cosmic Boy is the super heroic star who can do everything - could he actually act like a person?
• This whole Ayla plot line just makes so sense. Did they have any moment to show her angry about her new powers because of a lack of connection to Garth? Couldn't you make the argument that she was more separate from him when she was 1,000 years in the past? She's never been shown to be this connected to the lightning powers. It's always been Garth who defines himself that way. This left turn just doesn't make sense.
• Also, when she's angry that Garth and Imra are spending so much time together, was I the only one who was thinking "Didn't you push them together? Aren't you the one who was encouraging Garth to try to date Imra? Why this switch?"
• This really feels like a book that started with wanting to do the callback to the old story, twist it by using Ayla instead of Garth, and try shoehorning characters into it to make sense. I know my hatred for the old story is clouding my judgement here, so I'll just say this didn't work for me either.
• The only interesting thing that happened was Insect Queen talking to Star Boy, sharing gossip, talking about their teammates, and then the sudden invasion of Xanthu. Let's hope this goes somewhere exciting.

Legionnaires #58 - How many Jeff Moy covers completely skewed what the comic was actually about? I mean, this looks like a horror comic.

I know that everyone has been clamoring for more Ferro stories (is this sarcasm??) and the Legion team has delivered. Now that he's in the 30th Century, he's starting to look for a cure for his face. Last issue he visited doctors who told him that even this technology couldn't cure him. Which, of course, depressed him even more.

But this issue he gets an interesting proposition - he can look handsome if he changes to his metal form and never changes back. Which starts the issue-long discussion over whether he can sacrifice things he takes for normal (the sense of taste and touch... and I'm guessing he'd never be able to have children, but they don't talk about that) in order to look better.

We also meet the new Legion team psychologist, Dr. Ryk'rr. She's from the same planet as Dr. Gym'll (I guess they're from a planet of medical professionals) but has a far better bedside manner. She discusses Ferro's issues, why he wants to change his face so badly, and has a diagnosis all in the first meeting. Okay, I'm being a little sarcastic, because I actually liked the scenes she's in and am happy to see her added to the support team. I know it's a slightly cliched storytelling device, but adding a therapist who the characters can speak openly and honestly to is a great move forward. One of the greatest X-Factor comics ever written was simply the team taking turns talking to a psychiatrist, so we know it works.

In the end, he decides to not undergo the procedure and try to accept that the Legion isn't going to reject him any time soon, so I guess that's a happy ending. I'm happy because it's the first Ferro story in this version where I actually kinda like the guy and he doesn't come across as so meek and fragile that you can't help but wonder how he'd ever put on tights and go out in public.

One of my favorite bits of his journey is when he's talking to the other Legionnaires about whether they'd sacrifice anything like he's proposing and all of them disagree - but he notes that all of them, even Sensor, are so beautiful that they can't even begin to fathom what he's going through. It's a surprisingly well done moment.

In the ongoing subplot department:

• Brainiac 5, Gates, Kinetix, and Umbra have reached the Fires of Creation and join energy projections of M'onel and Andromeda (why have those? why aren't they there in person?). At the same time Leland McCauley has sent an observation team to get the information before the Legion. So why not send the Work Force?
• Star Boy and Monstress head back to Xanthu to investigate last issue's distress call from Insect Queen. You would think they'd send more Legionnaires, since there are so many, but I don't think this is officially a Legion mission. It's just the two doing their own thing. Which leads me to ask - aren't these calls logged? Shouldn't they have told Invisible Kid? Can a Legionnaire just leave for home without telling anyone?
• More Lori Morning/Dial H for Hero nonsense. Honestly, they just need to put this to rest already.

LSH #102

This issue is broken down into two stories so let's focus on the first one.

Star Boy and Monstress return to Xanthu just in time to help stop the invasion. Large numbers of alien ships have surrounded the planet, hoping to turn it into a power plant to fuel their conquests. The Amazers, Xanthu's super team, are fighting against them to try to stop the invasion at the source.

We get some arguments over who should be making the decisions, some confusion over how to defeat the aliens, and a superhero, Konk, whose power is to separate her head from her body and fly through space. Just when everything is looking bad, a huge explosion occurs overheard, the alien invasion is destroyed, and the Khunds have arrived to save the day and try to get Xanthu to join their alliance.

Okay, so this story didn't go the way I thought it would.

What's most insane about this is they spent the first three pages of a twelve-page story just talking about how Star Boy has changed and is a better superhero because of the way Leviathan rode him when he first joined the Legion. And Monstress likes the new hero he's become. I'm not too sure if any of what they're saying is true, or if they've shown any of it before, but it's a nice plot point. I do keep going back to the sad fact that they wrote Leviathan as such a jerk before his death that this retro-angelizing of him does feel a little fake.

And because they only have 9 pages to tell an entire invasion story, the whole thing feels really rushed and empty. The invaders barely do anything and are just boring, brown cockroaches. The Amazers are better than expected, even though they make it abundantly clear Atmos is a bad leader. And Monstress really does nothing. This tale is the Star Boy show from start to finish.

But the most important part of this happens at the end, when Star Boy offers Quantum Legion membership and she accepts, heading back to Earth with them. Who knew that she would become such an important member?

The second story finally explains what happened to Apparition and how she got split into Phase. I wonder if this was a reaction to everyone reading LSH #100 and not having a clue what happened. Or Phase fans from L.E.G.I.O.N. angrily complaining that they destroyed her for nothing.

Before I start typing this out, I just want to remind everyone that this whole storyline makes absolutely no sense if you spend even a second thinking about it. But I just want to point out that Tinya is about to explain her new memories of things that she should know nothing about. Honestly, how would she "remember" what he father did with literal newborns?

How does she call back these memories? Dr. Ryk'rr, who was just introduced in the last Legionnaires issue, but according to the text this story happened two issues before that, puts a metal cube on her forehead and her memories are jump-started.

Anyway, here's what happened:

• Her mom, Bgztlian Winema Wazzo, met her dad, Carggite Luonel Bordo, and they got married and got pregnant. He was a compulsive and losing gambler. He lost tons to the Luck Lords, who run tons of casinos.
• Winema gives birth to one baby and falls asleep. The baby splits into three and no one in this high-tech hospital noticed as the father grabs two of them and flees the hospital. I don't know how many readers have either given birth or been at a hospital for a birth, but I can tell you that this is near-impossible now and I would guess would be even more so in the future. Oh, and why would they put one baby into a bassinet big enough for three?
• So there is now one lucky self, raised by Winema, who gets everything and becomes a Legionnaire.
• There are two slave selves, working for the Luck Lords. One of them just, as they put it, "fell away" and they don't know what happened. The remaining one went to work in the casinos.
• During an attack, the Luck Lords zapped the slave self with a time displacer and she ended up in the 20th Century and joined the L.E.G.I.O.N.
• When they met, they reunited and are now one person with two memories. So Phase is gone... I think... or can they still split? With L.E.G.I.O.N. (or R.E.B.E.L.S.) cancelled at this time, I'm guessing no one really cared what they did with the character, but just wiping her out seems a little harsh.

So dumb...

Legionnaires #59

It's another "day in the life" issue as we take a breather from the action and show everyone just living regular lives. I know this sounds crazy to say, but since half of last issue was a slow, day in the life story, this kinda feels a little repetitive. And I think this is also a product of reading so many of these comics each week, but it's starting to kinda feel overdone. Would it be so hard to combine the slice of life and the action in the same book? It might make this feel a little more special.

Also, this book is really, really focused on the relationships (especially romantic ones) within the Legion, so if that's not your cup of tea, this will be a hard one to get through.

Let's recap everything that's going on here, cause there's a lot:

• Invisible Kid, R.J. Brande, and Monstress talk about the Khunds basically taking over Xanthu and what this could mean for the future. I'm honestly not sure why they didn't stretch this whole storyline out a little more instead of wrapping it up in 12 pages.
• Lyle gets a mysterious note that says "Can't wait to see you! - C." Sadly, I do remember where this is going and... ugh...
• Dreamer shows up at Legion HQ, talking about a beach date, which ends up including her, Tenzil, Imra, Garth, Jo, and Tinya. What was weird for me was that Garth and Imra seemed, at first, to want to be by themselves. But then quickly invited Tinya and Jo. Were these two couples ever friends? Why connect now?
• The team investigating the Fires of Creation are now experiencing time at different rates, being incredibly nice to each other, and getting lost in the discovery. And M'onel freaks out, needing Umbra to help him settle down. Oh, and everything shown last issue, like McCauley's team or the energy projections, are completely gone now.
• The three personalities of Triad split onto three different dates. One goes with Chuck to a robo-ball game and has a great time, beginning the Chuck-Luornu romance. Another goes to a tea room with Element Lad and has a horrible time, which further convinces me that the writers just absolutely hate Jan. And the third heads to Paris with other Legionnaires (more on that later) and ends up dancing with a horrible man. So I guess one finds love? This does lead to more of my previous questions - what happens if one loves Chuck and the other two don't?
• Speaking of Paris, Triad is joined by Spark, Chameleon, and Sensor, all of whom are dressed for an elegant ball (Triad more for a nightclub). They meet ambassadors, sing and dance, Ayla and Reep re-connect, and there's a special appearance by a walking easter egg (more on that later, too).
• The writers, once again, drop the ball on what would've been a great romantic triangle as Jeka supports Reep going after Ayla, even though she and Reep have so much more chemistry and should be together. It just makes far more sense. Think of the long-term stories you get out of Reep and Ayla dating, Jeka slowly feeling "left out" and then realizing she likes Reep as more than a friend, and then Reep realizing that Ayla wasn't who he wanted all along. And then Ayla dealing with this rejection. Of course, if they end up doing this, I'll end up looking dumb... not the first time... but I just don't see this creative team heading that way at all.
• Ferro spends the day with Violet, wanting to tell her how pretty he thinks she is. So he went from Inferno to Violet... that's about as drastic of a switch as is possible.
• XS, depressed about being rejected by Cosmic Boy and M'onel, complains to Dyrk, who's enamored with her. Of course, she completely misses his intent and ends up alone... again. I actually like that turn, even if it was obvious that's the direction they were going. Would it be too much to ask for a scene where XS asks Dyrk out now?
• And finally, Invisible Kid quits as Legion leader, stating that something more important has come up. Imra takes over, starting now.

Easter eggs have always been a part of this PZH Legion and I'm honestly not sure where I fall on this one: Condo Arlik is now a news reporter. Look, I get that Chemical King wasn't one of the more important Legionnaires, and I get that his death happened in the 70's and no one was pushing to bring him back, but at least Matter Eater Lad and Bouncing Boy got to be members of the Legion support team in this reboot. Condo's now just reduced to a gag that long-time Legion fans will appreciate and new readers won't get at all. Couldn't they have made him part of the support team, maybe as a research scientist working directly with Brainiac 5 and Rond Vidar? I know I should be happy that they brought him back in some way, but this way?

Our next Legionnaire in the spotlight... Laurel Gand/Andromeda!!

We talked about Supergirl last week so let's talk about her replacement this week. There are multiple versions of her, so let's go through them.

• In volume 4 of the Legion, when they did their first reboot to get rid of Superboy, Laurel Gand moved front and center. She was a critical member of the team, she was given her own spotlight issue, showing what she went through to become a Legionnaire, and she faced issues that you just didn't see in most comics in the 80's and 90's. She had a baby that she had to take care of. I have to give credit to the writers, they didn't just ignore the baby to make it easier to tell the stories. She was no longer with Brainiac 5, but now with Rond, and that was setting up as a great triangle. She was a great female character and an important member of the team.
• So, of course, they killed her. Just a dumb, dumb, dumb decision and part of the bad decisions that came almost every issue once Keith Giffen left the book.
• But at the same time, we get the SW6 Andromeda, who's kinda just placed in the background and doesn't really get much to do. She and Brainy just stared at each other, they took every opportunity to sexualize her, but not much else happened. I guess she got to show her strength during The Terra Mosaic, but not much else.
• With the PZH Legion, she was actually given a character, a reason, a background, and they essentially made her into a villain. She was the racist xenophobe who hated everyone who wasn't a Daxamite and helped Roxxas almost destroy Earth. They couldn't have made her more different and it really made her stand out from the rest of the team. I can't say I liked these choices - I mean, they were essentially making a Supergirl stand in into a criminal, but they made for better storytelling than what we saw with the SW6 version.
• Her redemption arc has been less impressive for me. She finds religion and chooses to meditate. Why not bring her back to the team so she can atone for her mistakes? Why not stick close to M'onel and learn something? I think they really missed the boat on this one.

It's kinda funny - Laurel had a lot more to do in Legion since they stopped using Supergirl, but I don't know how many of those ideas really hit the mark. I honestly think that if they didn't have those 4 years in volume 4, this would be a character that no one would be interested in.

 

Thoughts? What did you think of these issues? Please don't go back into the Inferno mini-series to see if it's as bad as I said. I'd rather see your comments on some mini-series (Legion or not) that you'd recommend. So if there's something lesser known that you think I should check out, please let me know.