The betrayal of the century! Projectra joins the dark side! Phantom Girl reads! Out loud! We look at Legion of Super-Heroes #45 & 46

Legion of Super-Heroes #45

Quick recap: A planet has just appeared near Jupiter and its gravity well is affecting everything. The U.P. President has called the Legion for help.

Oh, and the Legion is now loved by the U.P. - amazing what lawsuits will do to solve problems, right?

It's Enemy Manifest Part 1: Monster in our Midst by writer Jim Shooter, penciller Francis Manapul and inker Livesay.

Before the Legion agrees to help, new assistant M'rissey takes over communications from Lightning Lad and gets President Kieselbach to agree to full pardons and diplomatic immunity for every Legionnaire. Wow - amazing how quickly every Legion subplot is resolved.

Just as we recap everything M'rissey has done over the past couple of issues, and enjoy Phantom Girl's new costume that looks remarkably like Dave Cockrum's design from decades earlier (and it's about time), both away teams arrive at the same time, bleeding and tired. But before they can rest and recover, Light Lass (with a concussion) and Star Boy are sent off with Brainiac 5 to save the solar system.

Lightning Lad tries to get Saturn Girl to accompany him and Element Lad to the President's Situation Room (no idea why they're going there - it's not like this was mentioned before) but she turns him down. She's tired and a wall fell on her. And she's obviously not able to keep going. Light Lass can, still concussed and recovering from almost being sexually assaulted last issue, but Imra can't.

Shadow Lass, Timber Wolf, and Colossal Boy head to the infirmary, where a lovely robot named "Nurse Ratched" is there to take care of them... fifty cents if you're old enough to get that reference. But Atom Girl is no where to be found.

She's in the training center, hitting and kicking things. Gim joins her, trying to get her to go and get healed up. But she wants to be ready to beat the S.P. officer who defeated her. They have a somewhat nice and tender moment before she curses him and shrinks down. Okay, so now we know Salu's got issues...

At the Science Nexus, Brainy, Ayla, and Thom arrive and immediately use their new, President-provided access to take over the Spaceguard Command Center. We get a brief moment of the person in charge not wanting to let an underager (wow - Shooter does remember what version of the Legion he's writing) take over but after a tremor, Brainy is quickly placed in charge.

As Lightning Lad and Element Lad arrive at U.P. HQ, they see a huge lineup of applicants who want to try out for the United Planets Young Heroes. Hey - it's Night Girl!

Inside the Situation Room, most of the other adults are not happy the Legion's there, but the President seems content to talk this out and find out what Lightning Lad and his team can do to help. The U.P. hasn't been able to find any sign of life on the new planet, they're cloaked by a disruptor field and Garth figures the Legion Espionage Squad can get past it. 

I guess we should just forget every previous Shooter-penned issue where the U.P. hates the Legion. The President had a miraculous change of heart.

Every image of Garth and the President is trying to make it look romantic... which really doesn't work. There's another tremor and the President ends up in Garth's arms... this probably would be less creepy if they weren't drawing her like she's at least 20 years older than him.

Back at Legion HQ, Ultra Boy has followed Saturn Girl into the kitchen. He starts hitting on her by talking about how badly Garth has been treating her and how low her self esteem is. Negging in the 31st Century.

Then we get this bit of dialogue:

Saturn Girl: "You think I'm dumpy. Don't argue..." 

Ultra Boy: "Well... you're sexy for a dumpy girl."

And somehow that works, because she doesn't want him to leave.

When we talk about character assassination, it's moments like these that immediately come to mind.

Elsewhere, Projectra is pardoned and Phantom Girl is there to take her back to Legion HQ.

Back to the Science Nexus. Brainy is using the multiple tractor beams in the galaxy, super-powered by Star Boy and Light Lass, to move the planets around to prevent the solar system decay. But half a page later, he's done - he was too late. They're all dead soon.

As Phantom Girl and Projectra fly back to Legion HQ, we get a recap of all of Jeckie's crimes, we get a better sense of how horrible she has become, and we all know the heel turn is coming quickly. Could we have just a slight amount of subtlety?

Also, why Phantom Girl? When have they ever shown these two paired up? Ever?

Brainy starts yelling at Light Lass, who had a concussion, and Star Boy for not doing enough. We get a bit of Brainy's previous rant about how insanely powerful these two are (yes, further proof Shooter actually read the previous issues of this series) and they try again.

There's a riot, actually it's two possible UPYH members, the Bludgeon Brothers, who want to break a few things because they can't try out. So Lightning Lad and Element Lad quickly defeat them... because there's so much going on in this book we can't slow down for anything.

Second time's the charm - the solar system is saved because, I guess, Light Lass and Star Boy finally tried hard? Wow... just dumb...

The guest planet reaches out with the following: "...nomad...pilgrim...migrant...peace...peace...peace..." so it's time for the U.P. to open diplomatic channels.

Invisible Kid wanders through the kitchen and wonders why Ultra Boy's ring is sitting on the table. So that's why he wasn't answering Garth's calls for help earlier.

He opens a pantry door and finds a naked Jo and Imra in a passionate embrace.

Shudder...

I've said this before and I'll say it again, you can create drama and add tension to a story without making characters look incredibly weak and stupid or by making them do things they'd never actually do.

If we had moments before where we saw Saturn Girl suffering from a lack of self esteem, or that she was desperate for attention, I'd buy this surprise a little more.

If Ultra Boy had any redeeming qualities... just one... I'd buy this.

All it would've taken would've been a moment or two during the fight on Rimbor. Some moment where Jo drops his guard and shows his "real" personality, something that isn't just a moronic, sexist alpha male, and bonds with Imra, and this would work. But no... why do that?

I really get the sense that Shooter is kinda giving up at this point. Let's see what happens next issue. 

 

 

Legion of Super-Heroes #46

It's Enemy Manifest Part 2: Imperatrix

We begin where we left off - Invisible Kid sprints away from the incredibly awkward situation. Ultra Boy, doing up his pants, and Saturn Girl, completely naked, rush after him to convince his that it's not what it looks like. With Lyle gone, and Imra determined not to mind wipe anyone, Jo says that he'll tell Lightning Lad what happened.

At the President's Situation Room, they celebrate Brainiac 5's success and the President wants her and Garth to start speaking on a first name basis. As he leaves to rejoin the team, she comments that he's an interesting young man. Must... resist... cougar... jokes...

At Legion HQ, Phantom Girl has gone to Projectra's room to see how she's doing. She's not doing well, saddened at the loss of everything. Is it rude to point out that even thought the President pardoned her, Projectra will still have to face all the lawsuits against her? Or did M'rissey end that storyline too?

As Lightning Lad returns to the HQ, both Invisible Kid and Ultra Boy want to talk to him. I have two questions - first, why are they drawing Lyle like he's a little kid while the rest of the Legion are adults? Second, why would he rush to tell on Imra and Jo so quickly? I mean, it's not like Jo has been the nicest, or the most self-controlled Legionnaire... wouldn't Lyle be worried he's going to get his ass kicked for this? Lyle ends up not saying anything about what he saw and sticks to Legion business.

Before Jo can admit his guilt, Garth lays into him for not answering his Flight Ring and assigns him to all-night patrol. Garth rushes off before he can learn anything about the betrayal.

Projectra gets a new costume, enters Phantom Girl's apartment, and wonders why she doesn't bow before her... which is something that has happened so infrequently in these issues that, at this point, I'm giving up. If Shooter doesn't care, why should I?

They bond over old comic books and, since they're not translated into Interlac but are still in English, Tinya reads them to Jeckie. I know this is supposed to be a nice bonding moment, but it really just ends up with Phantom Girl serving Projectra like a maid.

Jo takes down two wannabe Young Heroes as Shooter is trying to... I dunno... make him likable?

We get another dumb moment as Star Boy and Light Lass are surprised to see Invisible Kid on monitor duty - M'rissey came up with a schedule so everyone takes turns. Really? They never did this before?

Brainy says he needs a nap and Star Boy tells him to say hi to the ghost of Dream Girl. So that long-running annoyance is back? Brainy rips him apart, telling him that it's nonsense... 

Sociopathic Brainy is back and he convinces Chameleon to duplicate a weapon from an alien destroyer and cuts a part of Cham's body off him to study it. Yep, we see him with a gigantic knife behind his back and then Cham runs away with no left hand. Just when I thought they were making Brainy less of a villain...

M'rissey has taken over Garth's office and we find out that Invisible Kid's crimes have been wiped away, Ultra Boy didn't actually kill anyone, and Projectra must submit to a psyche-scan because her crime was "willfully violent." Ummm... Ultra Boy was accused of killing someone while speeding in a vehicle and Projectra punched someone but the latter is worse?

Oh, and M'rissey is 13 years old but drawn like he's 8.

Projectra learns about the psyche-scan, cries about it to Timber Wolf, and then meets people from Orando in the bathroom mirror. To make more sense of that sentence, they appear to her in the bathroom mirror. They want to keep serving her as Queen and Imperatrix and teach her how to access her powers. They also provide her with a potion that will mask her emotions. This way she can beat the scan.

Ultra Boy keeps beating up wannabes throughout the book. The only interesting bit is when he ends up at Brande Park. Otherwise, it's a lot of wasted pages in a book that has almost too much going on.

On the Bridge, Saturn Girl tells Lightning Lad what happened between her and Jo and he's understandably angry. As she rushes away in tears, Brainy and Lyle let him know that this new planet is just the next step in the alien attacks that we've been seeing since the new creative team took over the book. They recommend adding new members and holding tryouts.

Jo comes in, confesses, but lies about how far he and Imra went. He offers Garth a free, vulnerable punch, but Garth refuses. He's the leader and he needs everyone to face the coming threat. But he wants Jo to "stay the florg away from me."

Projectra passes the psyche-scan - no surprise there.

For the final moment of this absolutely packed issue, Invisible Kid lets Ultra Boy know that he didn't say anything and asks if he and Garth got into a fight. Jo tells him that he knows Lyle didn't say anything, they didn't get into a fight, but Garth "couldn't have hurt me more." Imra's standing behind a wall, still teary-eyed. 

Tons of subplots, tons of things happening, and lots of Ultra Boy beating up unimportant, super-powered idiots.

The whole thing fails, however, because of one thing - you can't completely change Ultra Boy's personality in one issue and expect anyone who's been reading this comic to care. It's as if Shooter was writing the OG Ultra Boy here. And the final moment, where the shallowest of shallow Legionnaires, the one who's been a jerk for 46 issues, cares about the nothing moment between him and Garth misses the mark so badly that it ruins everything.

You have to earn these moments... and they didn't.

Same with Projectra and Phantom Girl - I don't know why I'm supposed to care because none of it makes any sense. I can justify Jeckie turning bad because she got screwed over so badly and all of her "friends" have ignored her. Phantom Girl's never been a friend so I don't know why she's sacrificing any time here - and she's never been shown to care about anyone else either. I think back to the story with her and Karate Kid where it appeared that she was just floating through the Legion and not really connecting to anyone. But now she cares? Again, this feels more like the OG Tinya.

I guess there is comfort in knowing evil Brainy's back?? 

4 more to go... 

 

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

 

 

 

Is it bad that I got more links and pictures for Legion merch than I did for the character?

Gear, or I.Z.O.R., kinda just appeared at the tail end of volume 4 of the Legion but soon found himself getting more and more involved with the team.

As the Legion came back together after the Blight, Gear became critically important, as he built Legion World and communicated with all the robot enemies. His presence was a constant in the control room.

Yes, he was kinda just an upgraded version of Computo II. And his best and most memorable appearance was in the comedic issue with Keith Giffen on pencils. But I think he could've become a key Legionnaire moving forward.

And he came back in Legion of 3 Worlds and wasn't killed... so he's got that going for him.

But he's yet another Legionnaire who's potential far outweighs anything he actually did in a comic. Let's hope we see more of him - the idea of a Legionnaire with a techno-organic body just makes sense. It would be cool if he was a little more like Warlock of the New Mutants and a little less like everyone else, but I'm nitpicking a little.

 

I'm also excited to announce that the Long Live the Legion Podcast is now on YouTube. We've re-released our first episode and will be bringing all of them to video in the coming weeks and months. Thanks to everyone who's been listening for all your support.

 

Please let me know what you think of these issues and Gear in the comments here or on Reddit. Until next week...