Another fill-in! Brainy sees a medium! Projectra continues her turn to the dark side! And more Legion tryouts and the return of an old Legionnaire! We look at Legion of Super-Heroes #47 & 48

 

Legion of Super-Heroes #47

Things I didn't think I'd be typing in a Legion of Super-Heroes review: There an angry dog on the cover. We've had camel aliens. And bugs. But dogs now?

This strongly looks like a fill-in issue. It's called "Dream Wedding, Blind Love" with no reference to the Enemy Manifest storyline and I'm guessing this means we're taking a break from the planetary threat and all the other romantic subplots. Written by Jim Shooter with pencils by Rick Leonardi and inks by Dan Green... which would've been an amazing creative team on an X-book in 1985 but I'm not sure what they'll do in 2008.

We begin with Brainiac 5 analyzing the weapon he cut off Chameleon's body last issue (seriously... he got Cham to recreate a piece of alien tech, which is when we found out that Cham doesn't just look like whatever he turns into, he can recreate complex mechanical objects as well... which makes no sense... and then Brainy cut that weapon off his left arm, further reminding us that he's a psychopath in the Threeboot universe) while Dream Girl lounges on a table, staring at a snow globe.

For those of you who forgot this horrible subplot, Dream Girl is now actually a ghost, connected to Brainy, and they're in a romantic relationship. So the fact that she's interacting with something Brainy built (the globe) means that either they've completely forgotten her limitations, they're expanding her abilities, or he's dreaming.

As Brainy is able to build a new alien weapon, copying what Cham "made," Dream Girl tells him she is getting a glimpse into the future - Brainy's going to be travelling into the past (which Brainy says is impossible even though he built a device to send Supergirl back to the 21st Century) and they'll be making love.

And if you were wondering what personality change Dream Girl would get with Shooter writing her, she's lost all the drive, strength, and character she had before and she's back to vapid.

The weapon comes to life and regenerates a body. The alien attacks, killing Dream Girl. Brainy sends the alien through a wormhole portal into a solar core (glad they wrote that out on the device... seriously, they did...) and is then reminded by Nura that she can't actually be hurt. She's just a dream. His dream. And nothing can hurt her... except him... ooooh, subplot!

He wakes up from his dream, stares at the weapon sitting on a table, and heads into the Bridge to talk to Lightning Lad.

Okay - here's my first WTF aside. If Brainy is dreaming, and testing this weapon, how can he possibly know how it's actually going to respond. It's not real. None of it is real. Has he already run this test and watched the device bring an alien to life? I know that this is a fill-in issue, and Shooter doesn't really care about this, but come on...

Back to the story - We get a nice recap of the intruder planet and how the Legion is on high alert and how they're not allowed to do anything because the UP wants to pursue diplomatic negotiations.

To the Rec Room, where Projectra demands Phantom Girl tell her the story of Brainiac trying to take over other planets... and demands that she change the ending so Brainiac wins. Wow, just no subtlety on her turning into a villain, is there? Tinya's getting sick of reading the same stories over and over again and her generosity has run out.

We head to New Orleans, where everything has been preserved so the French Quarter looks like ancient times. They even have horse-drawn carriages. Now this I like - a nice little touch for a city that should be stuck in the past.

Brainiac 5, in a holographic disguise that changes hair color for no reason, ends up talking to a psychic named Meander so he can communicate with Dream Girl while he's awake. Of course, he keeps calling Meander a fraud but stays to arrange a "date" with Nura. She says it'll cost a lot more, so let's see where this goes.

Next we go to the home of Baron Biehler, where Projectra joins other Orandan survivors to discuss revenge against the UP and the Legion for the destruction of their home world. They're worried that Dream Girl will be able to figure out their plans because her powers will let Brainy know what's going to happen.

Wait, so not only will Projectra be able to get somewhat justified payback for both the UP and the Legion doing absolutely nothing about the destruction of her home world, she'll be able to hurt Brainy and break up this weird ghost relationship?

Is she the hero of this story now?

Back at HQ, Phantom Girl wants to apologize to Projectra for being so mean to her before (and if by mean, you mean setting a boundary and sticking to it) so she phases into her room and discovers that she's only an illusion. Tinya watches Jeckie come home and shut down the fake Projectra.

Tinya reaches out for help but both Saturn Girl and Brainy aren't willing. Imra doesn't want to face Garth (which is understandable) and Brainy has a date. Nura takes over Meander's body and they go out for dinner.

As they have a romantic time, kissing, the Orandans approach to get Dream Girl. Projectra enters... something... opens one of many doors and... sorry, I honestly have no idea what happens here.

The next morning, Brainy's happy, Meander's happy (and when I say happy, they're in post-coital bliss - not going to touch the moral implications of this...), and Brainy immediately takes a nap to be with Nura.

In the dream state, he proposes and then evil creatures (from the cover) appear. These creatures are from Brainy's psyche, released by Projectra, and they're every evil aspect of his personality. Considering what he's done during this run, they've got to be very violent and nasty.

Brainy takes control of his mind, blasts all of the creatures away, but he's too late. They blinded Nura, taking away her second sight. She's very forgiving of this, just happy to be marrying him. He doesn't want to leave her, but she knows he's got to help the Legion.

The Orandans celebrate and somehow, one of the creatures got out into the real world.

Wow, this was a bad one. The story makes no sense - Shooter's just throwing mystic crap at the wall and hoping something works. And the art was horrible. I like Leonardi's past work. And Green's. But this issue is terrible.

Let's hope next issue is better. It can't be worse, right? Right?

Legion of Super-Heroes #48

I can never figure out why they like to draw these tryouts like they're some kind of torturous horror for the prospective candidates. I know that it's a cover, so perspective is a little skewed, but why make it look like the Legionnaires are looking down at them like they're in some sort of star chamber?

Also, isn't every under-ager already a Legionnaire? Do they really need tryouts?

It's Enemy Manifest part 3: The Edge of Doom and the first delegates have arrived from the new planet that entered the solar system. That's what they say is going on, but this really looks like a wedding.

Shooter is joined by regular penciller Francis Manapul and inker Livesay, so at the very least the art will be dynamic and interesting.

I guess the President doesn't want the Legion anywhere near this first meeting, or since the UP Secretary of Diplomacy hates the Legion, they're watching this on video screen from their HQ. As they argue about what's happening, and Brainiac 5 drops a comment about a wedding, M'rissey enters and says that he thinks it's time to have tryouts for new Legionnaires.

I thought Lightning Lad and some others had already talked about that before, but if I've learned one thing about this Shooter run, it's that M'rissey has to make every important decision. To no one's surprise, he's already lined up the candidates in the Green Room.

During the diplomatic meeting, they're still unable to communicate because they're unable to decipher the aliens' language. They show off the Cosmodome, where you can see the entire galaxy. But the aliens still won't show where they're from.

Also, would it have been too hard to make these aliens look less human-like? Are we still in Star Trek? (And yes, I write that fully expecting them to change shape into monsters and kill the diplomats before this issue is over...)

Time for the tryouts - our four candidates: Turtle, Sizzle, Night Girl, and Gazelle.

You know, I kinda wish they kept the 60's style names. It was a nice touch that Mark Waid leaned into the "Boys," "Lads," "Lasses," and "Girls" with this new version of the Legion.

One fascinating thing they do is show the test scores and dossiers on all the prospective candidates. I have no idea how they test a "Courage Quotient" or a "Willpower Index," but at least they're trying to get the best candidates.

Gazelle goes first, showing off the powers we've already seen for many, many issues. She says she can kick Timber Wolf's butt. We also get Invisible Kid going, well, invisible, because he's shy around her.

So if she's going to try out for the Legion for no reason at all, especially after she rejected the Legion because they work for the UP, but then joined the UP's teen super-hero group, does anything she does make sense? Is this her personality or is it just bad writing?

Next, Night Girl, who's super-strong in darkness or cold pseudo-light (I have no idea what that is). She challenges Ultra Boy and they fight, almost destroying the room. For some weird reason, her costume also tears a bit on the right shoulder... I'm assuming Ultra Boy was being a scumbag again.

Sizzle and Turtle approach together, which is never a good idea if you want to join the Legion. But before they can show off their powers, Sun Boy enters and gives Sizzle more energy than she can handle. She blasts Turtle, who's very shaken by the attack.

They join minds telepathically, including Sun Boy, to talk about who to let onto the team. Timber Wolf immediately challenges Dirk, saying that he's the leader of the group that destroyed Projectra's home planet (which is true). But Sun Boy says that Elysion did most of the damage and he's already in prison. They mention the leader, Lemnos, but there's no mention of him being in prison... because he's not... did we ever get a resolution after Brainy used his body to try to save Dream Girl? Of course not...

Sun Boy talks about how those former criminals, who he was trying to save, ended up reverting to their evil ways and he ended up putting them all in prison. Wow... that was... anticlimactic. I guess bad guys are bad guys, no matter what. Or Sun Boy is not good at helping people.

They vote, and Gazelle and Sun Boy are accepted. But the other three are asked to join a new group, the Legion Reserves. We also get our first (I believe) reference to how Shadow Lass and Night Girl could work together. So that's a nice touch.

Also, and I'm just going to point out the stupid logic the Legion is using here, if they reject Night Girl because if someone turns on the lights she's powerless, why are they not rejecting Gazelle because once she runs out of energy she's useless as well? 

Oh wow - Shooter addresses two of my earlier comments. Lightning Lad mentions that they have a standard to the names: power-descriptive and then gender. And Saturn Girl asks Gazelle why she'd join the Legion now. She says that the UP promised to cure her but didn't. And she learned the Legion wasn't what she thought it was.

I know we're two issues away from this all being wrapped up, but I really wish they turned Gazelle into the newest version of Nemesis Lad.

To get back to the threat that's hanging over these stories, Brainy and Invisible Kid explain to Lightning Lad that the weapon they've been working on is actually a data-ripper that creates an exact copy in virtual space. And they just scanned the Legion HQ. He also says that when these devices are aimed at a living being, it "sucks" the life force out of the person, killing them.

Brainy's theory? That these aliens are in virtual space and they're copying things that interest them in "real" space. These aliens aren't living beings - they're avatars that come from nowhere. And they can't fight them because they don't live in real space - any action against them will be useless.

Oh, and Brainy has no idea how to defeat them.

On the final page, the delegates zap the Secretary of Diplomacy with their device, killing her.

This is one of those moments where the story was in the wrong order. If we didn't get Brainy's theories until next issue, and the death of the Secretary was more of a shock, that would've been more dramatic. I mean, we all know the aliens are going to be evil and diplomacy wouldn't work, but they could've teased it out a little more.

But otherwise, I actually kinda liked this one. I love tryouts, even when you already know the results before they begin. And having Manapul back was a breath of fresh air after last issue.

No Legionnaire in the spotlight this week... or next... just taking a little break from that for the summer as I don't have as much time to write all this as usual. Last week's focus on Gear took us to the end of the Reboot Legion so I think it's a good place to pause this feature.

Please don't hesitate to comment on these issues either here or on the Reddit boards. And our latest Long Live the Legion podcast is up (a spotlight on Jim Shooter!), so check that out as well!