The final battle with Universo and we take a side trip to Talok VIII. Let's look at The Legion #23 & 24

 The Legion #23

Another anatomically-challenged cover, especially in the hands, but at least they're doing something that stands out, right? I guess that's better than what came before. I was excited by these Feister/Harris covers at the beginning and now I'm just... meh... Is it weird that I just want interior artists Chris Batista and Mark Farmer to do the covers now?

Anyway, we're back on Titan, where the world's worst rescue attempt just failed and the four un-mind-controlled Legionnaires, Sensor, Shikari, Karate Kid, and Ferro have been defeated by the rest of the Legion. Universo has entered full gloating and speechifying mode. And hopefully we'll never see Steeple again.

But wait! Things are not as bad as they seem. As Universo reaches down to grab hold of Sensor, she disappears. She's just an illusion. And she's freed Saturn Girl and Dreamer from their chairs. Irate that his master plan has fallen apart so easily, Universo sends the rest of the Legion after them.

Somewhere on Titan, Sensor places more of the Ferro-designed crystal necklaces that amplify her powers and prevent Universo from controlling the wearer onto the necks of Saturn Girl and Dreamer. No idea how or why she had more of them, but who cares? Keep the story going! She gives a little recap after realizing that "Ol' Pink Eyes" has seen through her illusion. The other three acted as a diversion so that Sensor could rescue these two.

I'm not going to lie, I quite enjoy when they pull a fast one and trick us by using Sensor's powers to their full extent. I'm even going to ignore the fact that there would be no way they would've known to grab Saturn Girl and Dreamer. I'm also going to ignore the fact that writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (DnA) have decided that Sensor, when she evolved, also went through a dramatic personality makeover as well and sounds nothing like she did before. At this point, I think they're just writing her, Wildfire, and Shikari as almost the same person.

Sensor reveals the plan, to shut down Titanet's main amplifier and cut off Universo's connection to the universe. Both Saturn Girl and Dreamer seem confused, stunned by this option, forcing Sensor to become leader and violent aggressor. As Imra realizes that Universo was giving her what she wanted, Garth, she becomes despondent and Nura comforts her. So Sensor flies off, demanding they move quickly. Wasn't Jeka the sensitive, caring one before? Now she's punching walls and rudely ordering people around.

A quick aside about language in the 31st Century. In the space of two pages, Sensor uses the following expletives: Sprock, Hell, Bastard. Why create Sprock if you're just going to use current curses? I mean, we have Grife, right? Would someone from Orando even have the concept of Hell? Or a Bastard?

They get to the Primary Control station without anyone trying to stop them - wouldn't Universo assume they'd want to shut him down? But before they can actually do anything, Dreamer tells them to stop. She sees another precog flash, more skeletons, and tells them the power must stay on. Sensor doesn't listen to her, saying that she saw Darkseid before and was wrong and is probably wrong again. So, to stop Sensor, Dreamer smacks her in the face.

I know I sound like a broken record here, but how could Sensor know anything? She was locked in her room, talking to no one, when all of this was going down.

The two want to fight, and since Imra trusts Nura, she punches Sensor, knocking her down. Sensor, who has "powered up" because of her evolution, gets knocked down by Saturn Girl. Can anything be consistent? Also, why is Saturn Girl's go-to move to always attack a teammate?

To the surprise of no one, it's at this moment that Universo shows up with the rest of the Legion and he mind blasts the three women.

Back to Legion World, and the Medical Center, where we see Cub did not disappear previously. Unfortunately, he's been stuck inside that quantum bubble Kid Quantum created a while ago and has just been happily playing with a toy that looks like Chameleon's head. The bubble suddenly pops and he's immediately possessed by Universo.

Or is he? Somehow, Universo is possessed by Cub, who's thinking like a baby and spreading that message to everyone else. Universo, and the other Legionnaires, are controlled by this innocence and are unable to move. So the three women rush back to their feet, grab the bad guy, and try to move before Universo gets his mind back.

They are too slow and Universo is back in control. Saturn Girl faces off with him and the psychic battle begins.

Universo is all-powerful, controlling of everyone. He's everything!

No, he's in the mind-control chair Saturn Girl was in before. He's stuck in his own mind, blood running from his nose, and we see a relieved Saturn Girl standing over him. She tricked him and made him believe that he won.

Everything's fine - everyone in the galaxy is fine. And it's time for the wrap up.

Epilogue one - Dreamer has been made a Legionnaire, thanks to her keeping the Titanet running, which is how Universo was stopped... because it broadcast to Cub. Since we can't have any Legionnaires not get along, it's revealed that it was both Sensor and Saturn Girl who proposed her for membership. On an even happier note, she's back spending time with Star Boy.

Epilogue two - Cub has gotten bigger and is speaking now.

Epilogue three - The Titanet remains working as it's so valuable to the U.P. Saturn Girl took all the pain from losing Garth again to stop Universo, so he was, in a way, the cause of his defeat.

Epilogue four - Where are they keeping Universo? Steeple. We'll completely ignore how insanely dangerous it is to take a threshold to Steeple and, instead, focus on him being far enough away from the U.P. to no longer be a threat.

And the fantasy Universo is living in that mind-control machine? He's the janitor at R.J.'s restaurant - the same place Imra was living in a few issues ago.

First, the positive - the artwork. I'm really loving what Batista and Farmer are doing on this book. They're handling everything being thrown at them and pulling it off exceptionally well.

But... and this is a big but... I don't think I could've written a worse ending to this story if I had tried. If there was even one small logical reason why Cub could counter the mind control powers of the most powerful telepath in the universe, I might not have minded that twist. But I feel like he's just the latest version of Devlin O'Ryan... and I hated Devlin.

What a let down...

The Legion #24

After that meh of an ending, we have a nice palate cleanser. Steve Lightle, that amazing artist who helped LSH volume 3 become one of the best Legion runs of all time, steps in for a fill-in issue. And it's Lightle on pencils and inks, so an even bigger treat.

We're on Talok VIII, home of Umbra, someone we haven't seen since issue #10 when she walked away from the team to get her powers back (so she's been gone for over a year). A threshold opens and she (and a Kwai) emerge into complete darkness. So we're waaaaay back in time, I guess.

Tasmia is suddenly surrounded by bright lights as a train?? approaches. She grabs hold of the machine and flies off somewhere.

It's not a train, it's an SP vehicle, and it's in their HQ. The officers order the hatch shut down behind them and they're ready to head off-planet. Which is when they finally notice her. I don't know how you wouldn't notice a completely-blue, bikini-wearing super-hero in a short cape, but maybe it's more common on Talok VIII than you'd think. Umbra demands to know what's going on and they give her the news: The shadow she saw before has taken over the whole planet and the U.P. embassy is closing down. Everyone's leaving because they're not welcome anymore - the Talokian people wanted protection from the shadow, not the Science Police.

Actually, considering how woefully incompetent the S.P.s are in most of these issues, I can't say I blame them.

The shadow attacks the base, screaming at them to "Flee or Fall." Aren't they trying to flee? If it just left everyone alone, they'd be gone in a few hours, right? I guess the shadow isn't that smart.

Tasmia stands up to it, claiming that the darkfield is hers to use and the shadow has to follow her lead. Which is when she's swallowed up in the darkness.

When she wakes up, she's in a bed and sees someone called "Shadow Maven." This person, who used to teach Tasmia, found her in the deserted embassy and brought her back.

As we get more than a few gratuitous shots of a naked Umbra (which isn't much different from her in her costume), the Shadow Maven explains what happened since Tasmia lost her powers. They thought their champion was dead and gone, and then they saw all the chaos around the universe (Ra's Al Ghul, Robotica). Because of all the destruction, Talok VIII figured it would be safer to get out of the U.P. and become isolationist. Which, again, was maybe not the worst choice.

And they chose to embrace the shadows. So now everyone has to wear funky glasses and brightly-colored Tron-inspired robes to walk around and see and be seen. There is no more daylight.

Shadow Maven continues, telling Umbra that the people voted to leave the U.P. and find a new champion. The champion used the Shadowforce to wrap the planet in darkness to hide it and keep it safe.

In a great irony, Tasmia is angered that her planet has become so backwards after sending her away to learn about different cultures and planets. She now views her follow Legionnaires as family... when did that happen? When did she get over her xenophobia?

Who's the new champion? To no one's surprise, it's her cousin Grev. And to make him look even weaker, he needed off-world technology to build him a suit so he could control the energies.

She flies up to Grev's home, the Sentinel Tower, to talk some sense into him. Once inside, she realizes that the shadows are ready to fight. They destroy her fancy glasses (courtesy of McCauley Industries) but Tasmia won't stop fighting. After one particularly good punch, she realizes that the Shadow-stuff is sticking to her - it remembers her and wants to be back with her. I have no idea how she can see anything without her glasses on, but let's not worry about, you know, any internal consistency.

Tasmia starts pulling the darkfield back into her body and, with each moment, she gets stronger and stronger. Finally, she faces off against a warrior and slashes through it. But there's no one inside the armor - Grev is dead and the shadows are following the malfunctioning technology. No wonder nothing is working properly.

Finally, Umbra absorbs all of the darkfield and Talok VIII sees the sun again. She's back and fully-powered.

So she heads back to Legion World, where she has a nice chat with Kid Quantum about what occurred and what's next. They're also going to establish a permanent threshold link so Tasmia can go back any time her planet needs her.

Kid Quantum is so happy to have Umbra back that she gives her a hug, even with all the shadow creatures behind her. And we get one Legionnaire back on the team.

If you like Steve Lightle's artwork, or cheesecake artwork in general, you're really going to enjoy this book. It looks amazing and I think colorist Jason Wright used every single shade of blue he could find. It's unfortunate that I'm reading this on a computer screen - I think it would look amazing on good paper.

If you're looking for a good story, you're going to be really, really disappointed. This issue is the comic book version of eating candy. Tastes great, but nothing behind it.

The story, what little there is, exists solely to have Umbra leaping around, flying around, posing, or bending over. There's no depth to it at all. There's no threat at all - she just kinda goes through the motions and easily gets her powers back.

And all the fixes are just so easy. You need to explain why Umbra's been gone for over a year (or a couple of weeks)? Have a worried M'onel, while wandering throughout the galaxy, fly down to check on her at the behest of Kid Quantum. There, he discovers that she's been fighting with the resistance against the Shadowforce and trying to take her planet back. He helps, they work together, we get some dialogue between the two of them so they can both reveal their personalities, and then she prevails in a final battle against the Shadowforce and the machine. We can even get a hint of a romance and make all the long-time Legion fans happy. And since I know Lightle loves drawing M'onel, it would be an easy adjustment.

Nope. Instead we get this. It's a shame, because it's starting to look more and more like the only stories DnA wanted to tell involve huge explosions and the Earth being flattened. Every one of these these personal tales have missed the mark completely.

Our next Legionnaire in the spotlight... Porcupine Pete!!!

To the surprise of no one, finding any information or pictures of Porcupine Pete was almost impossible. Almost everything came from the great Legion of Super-Bloggers site.

Once again, my only real memory of Peter Dursin is his epic appearance in DC Comics Presents #59. If I haven't said this before, I'll say it now - if you can find this, I highly, highly, highly recommend this issue. It's Keith Giffen at his comedic best and is one of the reasons why Ambush Bug ended up getting a mini-series. Basically, he tries to use his powers to stop the Bug, is too slow, and ends up getting knocked out by Superman.

I always wondered what the artists thought whenever it was Legion tryout day. Did the writer pitch a character? Did the artist show up with sketches of characters they didn't really care about? Were they trying to be jokes or were they serious?

The Subs are also the truest sign of just how good a writer is. If you read the old Adventure Comics, Edmund Hamilton (who's a good Silver Age writer) did his best to make the Subs important. Without him, I doubt we'd care about Night Girl or Polar Boy at this point.

And with Keith Giffen, the Subs became comedy legends, using their mediocre powers to draw laughs. Even the whole idea of the Legion being so desperate for members that Polar Boy recruits the Subs during the Five Year Gap is just, again, playing on the comedy element.

So to Porcupine Pete, who was definitely a joke design, with bad powers that were out of his control, the simple fact that he existed in DC continuity for decades is a testament to good writing. Or to the devotion of the creators.

Thoughts? Any opinion on Porcupine Pete? Or these two issues? Did you like the way Dream Crime ended?