Giants attack and Chameleon becomes a detective! We look at Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #19 & 20

 

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #19

Another excellent cover - artist Barry Kitson really knows how to grab your eye and make you want to check out the book. My only quibble - no green blood?

Our creative team this issue - Mark Waid on pencils and Barry Kitson handling the artwork. I do love when an artist handles pencils and inks because you know you're seeing exactly what they want to present to the reader. Kitson being supremely talented doesn't hurt, either.

This issue begins in a Science Police interrogation room and a couple of officers are trying to break suspected murder Reep Daggle. Or Chameleon, as most people know him better. It's, I'm guessing, a bad cop/bad cop scenario as we get a bunch of hatred for both Durlans and the Legion and Reep gets to be suitably naive about the whole process. He actually tells the S.P. that if they just let him go, he could find the murderer.

The story begins as Cham tells his side of the story. He infiltrated the S.P. HQ and went to interview another alien who had been impersonating an officer (man, their security is horrible). But when he got to the holding cells, he discovered that the perp had been murdered. And there was no trace of the killer.

At Legion Plaza, Supergirl is flying around looking for someone. She grabs Theena, the person with the tentacle-like things growing out of her back who's been a solid recurring character so far. They fly to the roof of a building to chat. We learn a few things. First, the tentacles are attached to an alien symbiote that's been connected to her since she was a child. Second, that alien allows her to connect with her friends and her friends can connect to their friends through her. So she's the perfect communications service... which leads me to wonder why the Legion hasn't brought her inside their HQ and used her for team contact. Third, we learn that Seiss (the alien that farts seismic waves) has completely disappeared.

Back to Cham's noir detective story. The S.P.s brought in Jeyra Entinn, a powerful telepath from Titan, to investigate the perp. During one of her interrogation sessions (which were not under surveillance - something that makes no sense), a machine teleported into the room and killed the accused. She hit the alarm but it was too late. The machine was gone. But she has a lead and wants Cham (still in his S.P. secret identity of Reep Daggle) to join her.

Yep... while investigating a murderer, they're just going to let her bring a rookie along and not assign someone who's, you know, an actual experienced detective.

Or, and I can't believe I have to say this, we're supposed to believe that the S.P.s, who hate the Legion, don't have background checks on every single member and wouldn't know that Reep Daggle is Cham's real name.

So a disguised Reep and Jeyra head down into the underworld of Metropolis, looking for her informant. They pretend to be machines and hope they don't get found out. While wandering, they discover more fake S.P. officers and discover why they exist - they steal impounded tech from S.P. warehouses to reuse. These machines are recycling and reusing tech - not just throwing everything away.

The latest machine they've brought back to life: a gigantic version of Doom Patrol's Robotman. He immediately recognizes the imposters and the machines surround them. To save them, Cham changes into an alien monster and starts fighting his way out. She's shocked, but Cham doesn't know which is the bigger problem for her - that he's a Durlan or that he's a Legionnaire.

Cham defeats the giant Robotman and scares a fake S.P. officer into telling him what he knows. Which is nothing. These machines weren't responsible for the murder.

Cham flies away with Jeyra to safety and she rewards him with a kiss. He's shocked and doesn't respond. She realizes that he's not into "fixed-state lifeforms."

They go back to the cell to re-examine everything. While she uses her powers to hide them (and no, I have no idea how a telepath shuts down tech), he uses his to change into different creatures to investigate. He can't figure out how anyone could have gotten into the cell. So, like an idiot, he turns to her and says, "I've solved the case."

She immediately pulls a gun, admits her guilt, and shows that she had taken his Flight Ring. He figures it was when she kissed him. Jeyra, like all good criminals, begins a monologue to explain everything. She's also a rebellion agent and she was there to make sure the perp never confessed. She telepathically compelled him to commit suicide.

Cham can't change shape - she's taken control of his thoughts and motor skills. So she continues to brag - she'll use anti-Legion sentiment to convince the S.P.s that he's the killer. She keeps on rambling and rambling, getting ready to shoot Cham in the head. He tries his best to focus on something, anything, to change into and finally gets one clear image - the one thing Jeyra is focused on. Herself.

Cham changes into her, punches her and knocks her out, and is immediately arrested by the S.P.s because all of her mental controls are down.

We suddenly get back to the cell and find out that the S.P.s believe him. After he gives them all his intel, including the need to check for missing evidence, they let him fly back to Legion HQ.

But he's troubled. Who was behind Jeyra? And if they put a spy in the S.P.s, could they put a spy in the Legion?

Instead of getting answers to any of those questions, we deal with the Brainiac 5/Dream Girl/Lemnos subplot. The Legion was able to get the Naltorians to rescind their demands (so Dream Boy joining?) if they get the body back. But Supergirl quickly scans the room and realizes that Brainy has left with Nura and Lemnos.

I really, really, really wish they'd wrap this one up. And when they're done, if they don't kick Brainy out of the Legion, I don't know how they justify keeping him.

Regarding the main story, this was yet another example of the reader having to have known the long history of the Legion for anything to make sense. There has been no mention, in the slightest, of Cham being anything more than a naive goof this whole series and suddenly he's the greatest detective ever. Not by action but by his narration. It's written as a world-weary detective, not the Cham we've seen for 18 issues.

I enjoyed the story even though the twist wasn't really a twist and there were too many moments where they just sprinted though important plot points. And if any character needed some attention, it's him. But the whole story just felt like it would've made more sense in any other incarnation of the Legion. It really felt like something Jim Shooter would've written.

To end on a positive - the book looked brilliant. Kitson is so, so very good and you can see that on every page.

 

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #20

Huge creative team shift this issue. For the first time, Tony Bedard joins Waid writing the book. Art-wise, Kitson is back doing layouts, Adam DeKraker is on pencils, and Mick Gray on inks.

I have no idea why Bedard is co-writing this book and I don't want to speculate. I have really been enjoying DeKraker's work on the Legion and, after doing a shallow dive into his comics career, I can only say that I wish he had done more.

We start this issue in Metropolis and the opening of the new Legion HQ. Both EarthGov and the United Planets have their fingers in this now, as we see by the new title on the side of the building: "The Legion of Super-Heroes sponsored by the United Planets!"

To no surprise, the underagers surrounded the building are not pleased with this turn of events. Even the U.P.-sponsored video explaining the history of the Legion isn't enough to satisfy them... although you can't really blame them.

The U.P. council's security team (at least I think that's what they are) realize that someone or something is breaking into their offices. Who? Why, the Legion, of course.

No roll call this issue - instead, we get a huge splash page with every Legionnaire flying through the Metropolis skyline. They confront the U.P., upset about everything that's happening. Unfortunately for them, their complaints are quickly quashed as Councillor Ardeen (Saturn Girl's mom) reminds them that everything they're doing is according to the contract signed by Lightning Lad. Tails between their legs, the Legion rush off to stop yet another threat against the Earth.

To the Crab Pulsar we go, where Element Lad, Light Lass, and Brainiac 5 are sitting in a L.E.G.I.O.N. ship as we make a call back to another DC series.

Just in case you were confused, the huge splash page of the entire Legion (including the three Legionnaires I mentioned in the previous paragraph) was not showing the team flying through the sky, about to attack the U.P. No, it was part of the promo video. And in case you were confused because of the way the story was presented, don't worry... you're not alone...

Also, why, oh why, oh why are they trying to connect the L.E.G.I.O.N., which starred a Legionnaire from two reboots ago, with the current Legion? Does any DC continuity make sense here? I mean, I'll just ignore the fact that we're supposed to believe that Brainy has access to a space ship that's 1,000 years old... that still works...

We get a really dumb moment where Element Lad tries to convince Brainy that Dream Girl is really dead that only serves to recap the story for any new readers. What they need to do is answer two simple questions: why did Light Lass and Element Lad agree to this and why haven't they stopped Brainy?

Back at Legion HQ, instead of seeing the fights between the Legion and the giants they talked about before, we get to see them talking about the fights. Oh, and everyone is ignoring Dream Boy, which is probably the best strategy. I guess Naltor kept their demands.

Different team members recap their fights with these huge giants in different cities around the Earth. In each case, the enemies (who are from the same place as Micro Lad) hate the Legion and were inevitably stopped by Supergirl. All in all, they captured 8 giants who were trying to steal things.

Cosmic Boy goes on a rant about how he doesn't really trust Supergirl, which is why he hasn't told her anything. Dream Boy finally gets his attention to let him know that she's been listening in.

Isn't Cosmic Boy an expert on the past? Haven't they already shown that people in the 31st century know exactly who Supergirl is? Did none of them know she had super-hearing?

Rather than have any conflict, or more likely because she knows this is a dream, Supergirl is not offended in the slightest and is more curious about how we got giants on Earth. Star Boy relates the story, which involved Bizarro-Brainiac and the opposite of a shrink ray.

In Big City... yep, that's literally what they call the city Micro Lad is from... In Big City, Micro Lad is interrogating the eight criminals and they, with hardly any prodding, reveal that they Legion is being replaced. By whom? That's the mystery.

Back to the Crab Pulsar and Brainy is barking out orders. Atom Girl shows up... so we're not calling her Shrinking Violet this issue? Brainy orders Light Lass to increase the gravity affecting us... which isn't one of her powers. Before she does anything, she wants Brainy to explain his plan.

Simply put, he's going to deconstruct and remake Dream Girl from scratch. The rest of the explanation is just dumb science, so we'll leave that alone.

Our final scene is when Supergirl and Cosmic Boy talk about how he needs to let her in and be a real part of the team. Once she leaves, Rokk confides in Star Boy that he thinks he's falling in love with her.

Yeah, none of this issue worked for me at all. Well, except for the artwork. Yes, DeKraker shows that he's spent a lot of time admiring Kevin Maguire's work, but he's made every character look unique and you can see how they're feeling.

But, quite simply, nothing that's happening makes any sense. Why are any Legionnaires helping Brainy? Why do the Legionnaires smash into every place they go to? Why is it only the giants from Big City... chuckle... causing problems?

Let's hope any of this gets answered in the future.

 

Before we get to our running back-up feature, I'd like to thank Reddit user Patient-Reputation56 for reminding me that there are still some excellent Legionnaires from the 5YL Legion... more specifically, from the SW6 Legion... to talk about before moving on to post-Zero Hour. They had completely slipped my mind.

So our next Legionnaire in the spotlight... Catspaw!!!

 

 

I get that there are a lot of Legionnaires. And I get that Catspaw is connected to one of the worst runs in Legion history.

But talk about wasted potential...

Catspaw (April Dumaka) was first introduced during the 5YL run, a human who was experimented on by the Dominators and given cat-like powers with enhanced speed and agility, and night vision. She also got retractable claws and was, essentially, turned into a cat in human form. Personality-wise, she was overtly sexual but yet incredibly naive. There was a part of me that thought that instead of a human being turned into a cat, she could've been a cat turned into a human.

Once the Dominators were defeated, she joined the SW6 Legion and remained on that team until Zero Hour wiped everything away. She briefly appeared in the reboot Legion book as a possible member of the Workforce (one panel! She got one panel!), her legs appeared in Legion of 3 Worlds, and she showed up in Convergence in a tiny role.

Is she that original, with the cat-like powers? No. But was there potential? I think so. Forgetting about the fact that she brought some diversity to the SW6 Legion (which desperately needed it), she also could've been used as a bridge character between old and new. Or she could've been another fresh-to-the-universe character who was struggling with everything that was going on. Or a foil to Matter-Eater Lad. Anything except what we got.

I'd like to see her come back and I'd like to see her a part of the Legion. But with so many characters, and fans demanding their favorites, I don't think that'll happen. So I'll just ponder what could've been.

 

Please let me know what you think, either about these issues or Catspaw, in the comment section here on on Reddit. We'll see everyone next week and see if Brainiac 5 can bring someone back from the dead!