The Quest for Cosmic Boy ends and we find out that Brainiac 5 is a sociopathic monster... we look at Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #35 & 36

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #35

Oh no... we've reached that time again... when the cover doesn't match the story inside. It's always the first sign that the Legion is headed towards bad times...

Also, if you told me that Light Lass wasn't on the original version of this cover and got Photoshopped in later, I'd totally believe you.

It's The Quest for Cosmic Boy: E.R.G.onomics part 2 by writer Tony Bedard and artist Dennis Calero. For those of you who missed last issue, and this Bedard run, here's the quick recap.

Supergirl was elected team leader but Brainiac 5 is running the show. Cosmic Boy disappeared (he actually joined a super-team 1,000 years in the future) so Brainy figured out three places where he may have gone. Atom Girl, Shadow Lass, and Timber Wolf headed to Lallor to try to find their former leader and discovered a plot to assassinate Lallor's president because he wants the planet to join the U.P. A super-powered assassin named E.R.G.-1 blasts into the palace and faces off against the Legionnaires. Timber Wolf gets buried under rubble and turns into Wolverine. And just when you think Shadow Lass and Atom Girl couldn't get any more shallow, they drain a little more water out of the pool.

The fight continues as Timber Wolf attacks and Shadow Lass wants to yell at Brainy because he knew this transformation was coming. Brin, in full feral mode, is even drooling all over the Roll Call page... which doesn't include Shadow Lass because why start actually having a useful Roll Call page?

E.R.G.-1, who we know as Drake Burroughs, is being ordered to kill by his brother Randall, who's talking to him during the fight. Brainy is scanning the transmissions but is too far away to actually track them.

Atom Girl talks to Brainy, making sure that no one else can hear them talk. She asks him to call off the assassination and she knows that he wanted Timber Wolf to get a full dose of radiation from E.R.G.-1 to see what would happen. Brainy promises that he'll reveal his information source soon but asks whether she really believes he'd try to kill a planetary leader.

I would believe it. I mean, I'm fairly confident that he was the one behind the mind control on Winath in previous issues. Why would murder stop him?

E.R.G.-1 has knocked Timber Wolf unconscious so it's up to Shadow Lass to take him down. He won't kill the Legionnaires, choosing to knock out Tasmia as well. He walks into the president's office, ignoring his brother's calls for death, and we get back to the first page of last issue. Atom Girl flirts with E.R.G.-1 so he removes the comm link on the side of his helmet and cuts contact with his brother.

We get the big reveal - it was Randall who saved Drake after his atoms dissipated and, if he doesn't get back into the big tank he's "stored" in, he'll fall apart again. While he's explaining this, Randall is planting a huge bomb to destroy the tank. Atom Girl promises that Brainiac 5 can solve his problems - all Drake needs to do is call Randall.

So he does. And Atom Girl follows the signal and emerges from the phone... because they're using landlines on Lallor... in the 31st Century... ugh... Randall surrenders and she knocks him out.

She calls Brainy, who theorizes that the tank was never needed and Randall was lying to his brother. He wants them to bring E.R.G.-1 back to Earth so they can make a Legionnaire out of him.

In case you were wondering, we wrapped that up in 15 pages. Is it safe to assume we're sprinting the end of Bedard's run and he wasn't planning to wrap everything up this quickly?

Let's get to the finale, shall we?

Brainy calls Lightning Lad, who was sent with Saturn Girl and Supergirl, and finds out that Supergirl is gone.

We head to the Gobi rainforest 37 minutes ago. Supergirl admits that she took Brainy's advice when selecting the teams and Lightning Lad warns her that he's a threat.

Somewhere in the forest, someone is building a time machine, which emerges into view. Who has built it? Evolvo Lad, of course. He's a super-evolved human who doesn't want to answer any questions and his wicked smart. When threatened with violence, he devolves into a brute, ready to fight.

The battle begins as the chrono-machine begins running. Saturn Girl calls for help (someone should have told Calero that Imra doesn't speak because he's constantly drawing her with her mouth open like she's talking) but it's too late. The temporal window is open to the 21st Century... and through it we see Black Adam holding the Martian Manhunter by the throat.

As much as I'm not really digging everything story-wise, I will give Bedard a lot of credit for writing these three stories separately, but happening at the same time. I'm not 100% sure that it's working, but it's at least more interesting than a straight-forward linear tale.

On the other hand, he's turned Brainy into even more of a sociopath.

But I get Wildfire back, so that's gotta be good, right?

 

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #36

Kinda like last issue, if you told me this cover was three different images pasted together, I'd believe you.

We've reached our finale... it's the final chapter of the Quest for Cosmic Boy and also the end of the run for writer Tony Bedard and Dennis Calero. I don't think creative teams get enough credit for taking over a book and trying their best to make things work even though they know they're only getting six issues (or maybe eight and it got cut short?) and they can't really do anything.

And of course they're going to bring Cosmic Boy back right? Right? I mean, none of this makes any sense if they don't. I mean, a quest for Cosmic Boy must end with them finding Cosmic Boy. Right?

No intro - we start with the Roll Call and we've only got 4 active members listed (Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Supergirl, and Brainiac 5) along with the aforementioned missing Cosmic Boy.

In the Gobi rainforest, Saturn Girl stands alone against Evolvo-Lad, who's knocked out Supergirl and knocked down Lightning Lad. Imra wakes Kara up, who immediately flies into the villain. I guess Evolvo-Lad has also been powered up for this story because I'm fairly certain the old Evolvo-Lad couldn't go toe-to-toe with a Kryptionian.

Supergirl reaches out to Brainy to figure out a way to stop him without killing him. To no surprise, Brainy offers no help. But Lightning Lad blasts the ground underneath and Evolvo-Lad falls down into a mystery chamber.

Inside is a transmatter portal of some kind. But instead of transporting someone to a place, it sends them back in time. Supergirl recognizes the 21st Century and knows her friends are in trouble.

Evolvo-Lad changes back to the super-smart version and explains what's going on. Saturn Girl says she doesn't trust him so she sends Lightning Lad to sweep the area for reinforcements. Why? Not because she thinks someone bad is on the way. But because she sensed one word in Evolvo-Lad's thoughts: Chronexus. It's a way for someone to see in the past but they can't go there.

Who built the original one? Brainiac 5. And who worked with Evolvo-Lad on this one? Brainiac 5. The plan is to convince them there's a genuine threat in the past and Supergirl would volunteer to go back. Cosmic Boy was never there - this was a trap to get rid of Supergirl.

Saturn Girl convinces her she needs to go back and inspire the Legion. So she agrees. But not before telling the returning Lightning Lad that he's team leader now.

Supergirl flies through the portal and joins the huge DC crossover called World War 3. At least I'm guessing that's what it was.

We go back to Legion HQ and Saturn Girl invades Brainy's consciousness while he's sleeping. She meets up with Dreamer, who's still living in Brainy's dreams. Dreamer smacks Brainy, demanding to know what he's done.

Brainy then reveals his whole plan. He determined that Mekt and the Wanderers would end up taking over the Legion from within so he needed to remove them. At the same time, they needed to clear Cosmic Boy's name. First problem solved.

Second, he wanted to get Drake Burroughs back on the team, so he sent the Legionnaires to Lallor. They also made Timber Wolf stronger at the same time.

Third, they needed to send Supergirl back to her own time. Evolvo-Lad also wiped her memories of her time with the Legion... so I guess it was just a dream for her after all. Dreamer hugs him and it looks like they're going to have a little dream fun, so Saturn Girl gets out of his mind.

For our final moment, Lightning Lad is named leader and flies into the sky to celebrate.

If there's been one theme of the Threeboot Legion so far, and something that both Mark Waid and Bedard seem to embrace, it's this: "The ends justify the means."

Brainiac 5, for this entire run, is essentially a villain. He does horrible things, places people in horrible danger, breaks every rule imaginable, and yet somehow ends up being left alone to enjoy his dream girlfriend with the knowledge of a job well done. 

For Bedard's work, all I can say is that he did pretty much exactly what he was told to do. I assume the conversations within DC editorial were this: get Supergirl off the book, get Wildfire back on the team, make Mekt a villain again (who wants him as an interesting anti-hero?), make Timber Wolf into a more popular Marvel mutant, and you have 6 issues to do it. Good luck!

For Calero, I'm sorry to say this, but his artwork just never worked for me. You can see the talent, and you can see that he's got a lot going for him, but there are so many ugly panels and bad character drawings that I wonder if he just needs someone else to ink his work. Or maybe this grind was too much and he was rushing it. I dunno. It's still better than a lot of guest Legion artists, but it's a real step down from Kitson.

I wonder if Jim Shooter can save this mess.

 

But before we find out what Shooter does, next week we're going to enjoy more Waid Legion entertainment... with George Perez! 

 

Our next Legionnaire in the spotlight... Inferno!!! 

 

 

Is it bad that I'm almost offended that Inferno has her own Wikipedia page and Monstress does not?

Is it even worse that she was rebooted in the Threeboot Legion as a member of the Wanderers and I didn't even notice... or care...?

If nothing else, Inferno is part of an answer to an insane bit of Legion trivia - which 3 Legion members have had their own solo mini-series?

Originally a villain (and some would argue she stayed one), Sandy Anderson (not really her real name) was a member of the Workforce and was presented as a bloodthirsty killer who set people on fire. She ended up going back to the 20th Century after a huge battle with the Emerald Eye, kinda joined the team, and just got left behind. Yep, they left someone from 1,000 years in the future in present day. Just 'cause.

It was not a high point for the reboot Legion.

She had fire powers, she seemed to be a horrible human being, I never cared about her in the slightest, and her mini-series might be the worst thing that was published during the reboot Legion... sorry, Stuart Immonen.

She was also part of one of the cringiest moments in Legion history - the time when Ferro told her he had a crush on her and Inferno did more emotional damage than I thought imaginable. It was so badly done, on so many levels, and proved that she deserved whatever horrible fate she received. 

 

That's it for this week. Please comment either here or on the Reddit boards and let me know what you think about the end of Bedard's run on the Legion or Inferno as a character. Until next week...