We go back to Kandor, discover a missing Legionnaire, and the campaign for Legion leader begins... let's look at Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #23 & 24

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #23

You may ask yourself, why do comic companies release multiple covers?

Supergirl and the Legion #22, continuing the downward sales trend from the boost of adding Supergirl to the book, sold 36,731 copies.

This issue, featuring the two covers you see above (and an Adam Hughes cover at that!), sold 41,535 copies.

Does that mean there were almost 5,000 people who would buy a comic they didn't care about solely because Adam Hughes drew the cover?

Anyway... we're back with the regular creative team of writer Mark Waid, penciller Barry Kitson, and inker Mick Gray.

We begin this issue as Supergirl wakes up on the planet Krypton. She's back home and everything is just a bad dream...

Until it isn't, and she's greeted by Brainiac 5, Light Lass, Saturn Girl, and Cosmic Boy. I guess we're finally going to wrap up this long-running subplot.

But before we do that, we head to somewhere else in Metropolis. Element Lad and Triplicate Girl are down in the underworld, looking for evil robots. Luornu isn't happy to be searching through old parts as they look for clues regarding the Robot Rebellion.

Two of Luornu's bodies discover a scavenger who can get plants to grow quicker and want to talk to him. To her (their?) surprise, he's never heard of the Legion before. She tells him all about how he can get fresh air, but, to no surprise, the newly-titled Plant Kid reveals that he's working for someone and probably isn't who he seems.

As they head back to the surface, we discover Element Lad and the other Luornu kissing. That's just a little awkward...

Back to a crying Supergirl and we learn that we're seeing the results of Cosmic Boy's plan to get Kara to accept the truth. Saturn Girl had placed some mental blocks on her to forget but now she needs to remember.

They flew somewhere in space, heading to a planet that doesn't have transmatter gates. Suddenly, Kara feels sick and the plan is revealed - Brainy explains that her belief that everything is a dream is dangerous... and they're sick of it. So they exposed her to green Kryptonite and knocked her out.

Why did they tranquilize her? So she couldn't know they were headed to the planet Rokyn, where the Kryptonian city of Kandor is located. We get the quick recap of how Kandor still exists: shrunk by Brainiac the first, rescued by Superman, placed here and enlarged; they now are isolationists but wanted to help another Kryptonian...

Only Light Lass has problems with this, complaining about the harsh treatment of Supergirl. She's angry about being dragged along to watch Kara suffer, but Brainy tells her that she's needed - since Rokyn is a high-gravity planet, Ayla is there to make it easier for Kara to adjust. I'll bet 50 cents that this never happens and they never reference it again.

On one hand, I've enjoyed the fact that Ayla has been such an important member of the team in the past few issues and she's using her powers in new and interesting ways. On the other, her personality seems to change to fit whatever story she's participating in.

Kara's crying, upset to know that the Legionnaires are leaving her. She's struggling with the realization that her family and planet are gone. Cosmic Boy's not proud of needing to shock her into reality. Kara asks him if he was actually starting to love her and Rokk, the dummy that he is, reveals that it's because of the radiation that Invisible Kid explained last issue. She asks why he's punishing her and Cosmic Boy tells her that he has no choice - if there's a chance she could lose control of her emotions and hurt people, he has to make these choices. They hug and the Kandorians tell them they have nothing to worry about.

Why not start a romance between Kara and Rokk? Why not do something that, I think, would make fans happy? Why not have some moment in these books where the characters do something that makes them happy?

Kara goes off with the doctors and the Legion promises they'll stay, waiting for her to come out and let them know she's okay. Saturn Girl gets a feeling that they're being watched but figures it's just the anxiety of the room. I can't wait until they get experienced enough to never, ever ignore those psychic warnings.

To Talok VIII we go and Shadow Lass is fighting her brother Grev while their village watches and cheers every move. They both use their powers but the outcome isn't ever in doubt - Tasmia wins and Grev is a sore loser.

Atom Girl pops in, enlarging a bit on Tasmia's shoulder, and wants to date Grev. I guess we're ignoring the name Shrinking Violet... again... 

Later, at the celebratory feast, the two Legionnaires talk about how Tasmia would make a great Legion leader, especially since she's already the Shadow Champion and leader on her own planet. Hmmm... so last issue she's the shallow girl who loves the dumb guy and this issue she's the leader who understand diplomacy and reciprocity. I guess she has more depth than most Legionnaires give her credit for. I also kinda like showing Legionnaires who actually want to be leader of the team.

Back to Rokyn, where the Kandorians are treating Kara as if she's an idiot and the Legion, pensive and bored, investigate an alarm at a nearby museum.

To no surprise, the police don't want them there, but the Legion investigates anyway. They're immediately attacked by two super-powered villains - one we already know. In case you don't remember, here's her opening dialogue to clue you in:

"My name is Jeyra Entinn, Legionnaires. Telepathic assassin. I'm the Titanian your teammate Chameleon tossed in prison recently. It was quite the turning point for me. I've made a bunch of new friends since."

Yep, that's the snappy, realistic dialogue Waid is known for.

With almost no effort, the villains make short work of the Legionnaires. Jeyra is able to mess with their heads and they're unable to fight back. Saturn Girl is completely distracted but they soon realize that it's not Jeyra who's throwing her off...

It's Mon-El, trapped in the Phantom Zone!

And someone owes me 50 cents. 

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #24

So we've reached the end of the second year of the Threeboot and we've already seen a Kryptonian added to boost sales. And now a Daxamite? Will readers care about this new addition?

We get Waid, Kitson, and Gray back for this issue. Three cheers for creative team continuity!

We're back in the Museum of Krypton (which they didn't actually name last issue) and the fake Legionnaires are threatening the real ones. Brainy's unconscious and Light Lass is trapped at almost absolute zero (but her Flight Ring is protecting her). Saturn Girl is still distracted by Mon-El. One of the villains blasts them with green energy and knocks Imra and Cosmic Boy unconscious.

The villains grab the Phantom Zone device but are careful not to touch it. As Jerya says, who knows what they could let out? We know. It's Mon-El.

They continue chatting about how they're not going to steal anything else and we find out that the green-skilled villain who froze Light Lass is Polar Boy. 

Here's my dumb question for this issue: I get why the Legionnaires use the "boy," "girl," "lad," and "lass" names. But why would any of the villains?

This should come as no surprise (because last issue's cover showed this reveal) - Supergirl comes to the rescue, ready to fight. The villains immediately realize that she's no threat - they're on a red sun world - and prepare to "kick her 'S'!"

Cosmic Boy recovers very, very quickly and starts shouting out that Supergirl is unarmed and doesn't have any weapons at all. Which is the clue for Supergirl to read the Kryptonian titles in the museum and start grabbing weapons to fight back with. She starts blasting, Saturn Girl wakes up, they rescue Light Lass, and the Legion quickly grabs hold of the Phantom Zone device.

The villains teleport away and the battle is over. Supergirl explains what the machine is and how ancient Kryptonians used it for punishing their criminals. She also references whomever is trapped in there (I have no idea how she would know what Saturn Girl felt because she wasn't there when Imra was explaining anything) and talks about setting up some safeguards before they release him.

We get a nice one-page recap of Kandor's history and how they survived 1,000 years inside a bottle before the Legionnaires leave, with the Phantom Zone Projector and without Supergirl. They also learn that they can never come back - they'll have to leave Kara there and never return.

Light Lass says her goodbyes, apologizing for being so nasty to her before. Kara can't believe it, not wanting to stay.

"Kara...come with us." Cosmic Boy ends this and Kara immediately flies into his arms. She's always a Legionnaire and stays on the team.

Back to Legion HQ - Lightning Lad is trying to write is speech announcing his candidacy for Legion leader and Dream Boy keeps interrupting, pointing out all his mistakes and how it won't earn him any votes. So he rushes off, trying to get more information about the future of the election. But as Dream Boy tries to explain his powers, and why he's on the team, Garth continually gets distracted and doesn't pay attention at all.

Another nice character moment - it's a bit of a shame that it's taken two years for us to really see Garth as a person and not just "guy standing beside Saturn Girl" but that's how this series has been going. I can't believe it's been two years and we're just now seeing who Shadow Lass, Lightning Lad, Karate Kid, and Light Lass are as characters.

In Brainy's lab, he's trying to get the Phantom Zone Projector working when they discover something new - Phantom Girl can see Mon-El too. Brainy gets to be snarky as well, not surprised by this new discovery. Saturn Girl and Tinya merge minds so they can locate Mon-El and hone in on his whereabouts.

Saturn Girl and Mon-El start talking and he reveals that he's the one trying to save them. The villains who attacked the museum back on Rokyn have arrived on Earth, ready to attack the Legion headquarters.

I think it's safe to say that both the Legion's and the Earth's sensors and early-warning systems suck... horribly...

But most definitely to be continued!

Once again, and this is becoming all too common when discussing this series, I really like the small moments, such as the above-mentioned Lightning Lad bits, or Mon-El's reactions in the Phantom Zone, or Light Lass apologizing to Supergirl. But the bigger story points seem really badly thought out.

We have this collection of villains and we don't know who they are or what they can do. We don't know why they're in Kandor and it makes no sense why the Kandorians would let them in. We don't know why they want a Phantom Zone Projector or, more importantly, how they'd even know about it. Nothing in the grand scheme of things makes sense. 

Also, we know that Jerya is going to end up being connected to Nemesis Kid, who appeared in the issues I covered last week... so why not show them now? Why not have one of the giants from Big City... heheh... as part of the attack force in Kandor? Why not do something, anything, that ties anything together?

And I'm not even going to start on "Where did Sun Boy and his team of miscreants go?"

Another thing that I'm finding a little irritating about this series is Waid's inability to decide whether he's writing individual issues or writing for a trade. We get tons of exposition some times and nothing other times. It's as if he's struggling with that as well.

Let's hope all (some??) of these questions are answered next issue.

 

Our next Legionnaire in the spotlight... Kid Quantum I!! 

Is it rude to call James Cullen the Ferro Lad of his time?

During the 5YL stories, it was revealed that Kid Quantum was the first Legionnaire to die in battle and he was the reason why Legionnaires who relied on technology would not be allowed on the team. He was the statue in the background that led to readers pondering over his backstory and whether they'd ever get around to explaining who he was.

Unfortunately, they did. The story involved the "Soul of Antares," Glorith, the Proteans, and that James actually faked his death. It was... convoluted at best and silly at worst. Somehow you had to believe that a super-powered magician such as Glorith, who was at Mordru levels of power, couldn't find one person.

But if you thought that was bad, James came back in the reboot Legion to play almost the same role - he was, once again, the first Legionnaire to die in battle and that event led the Legion to ban heroes who relied on technology for their powers.

So does that mean they wouldn't allow Iron Man? Or Green Arrow? That seems... short-sighted...

This time, he died in the least heroic way possible - arrogant to a fault, he ignored the warnings of his teammates and Tangleweb broke his neck. He wasn't even buried with honors, as his coffin was booby-trapped by terrorists and exploded.

They just did not like this guy, did they? Even Thunderbird got more respect in death.

As I was reading the Tangleweb story, all I could think was this: "Do the writers not know that it's a cliche that the Black person always dies first in a horror movie?"

Honestly, James' best contributions to the Legion was as the motivation for his sister, who ended up being a great Legionnaire. But we'll talk about her later...

 

Thoughts? Agree or disagree? Please let me know in the comments on Reddit or here. Thanks for reading and we'll see you next week!