Most of the Legion is in action, which I love! We get another retelling of R.J. Brande's history, which I don't! Let's take a look at Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 6) #2 & Adventure Comics #516

Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 6) #2

To recap, the Legion has to invite Earth-Man to join the team to keep xenophobes in Earthgov happy, Earth-Man has also been given a Green Lantern ring, and Titan has been destroyed because three scientists in the Time Institute looked at the beginning of time and, as we all know from DC history, that causes massive chaos.

Oh, and Saturn Girl's children have disappeared in time and, without any preparation or knowledge of where they are, Imra's grabbed a Time Bubble and is looking for them. In case you're wondering, her husband and the father of those twins, Lightning Lad, has no clue what's happening because he's off searching for his brother Mekt's long lost twin.

This issue is brought to you by writer Paul Levitz, pencillers Yildiray Cinar and Francis Portela, and inkers Wayne Faucher and Francis Portela.

We begin with Mon-El and Ultra Boy punching rocks in space to prevent the larger pieces of what used to be Titan from damaging space traffic. Brainiac 5 is telling them what to do and providing important exposition, so Ultra Boy calls him an "overgrown data monger." Huh? Is Brainy a jerk because the Legionnaires treat him like garbage or vice versa?

We learn that Mon-El left the team for a while because he and Shadow Lass broke up. He was able to justify that departure because Tyroc, who is now bald and wearing a pretty mediocre costume, is back and in better control of his powers. Oh, and Marzal is now a planet, not a island from Earth.

Since pilots of spaceships are idiots, there's already one heading directly into the wreckage. Am I the only one who remembers that last issue, when the planet blew up, the psychic screams of everyone who didn't escape Titan affected everyone in the universe? And no pilot thought, "hey, maybe I should stop mid-course and wait to see what the heck's going on?"

Tyroc blasts the debris, clearing the space lanes for the ship, and we get our first moment of Levitz attempting to write the character. They've also given him a logo that, to be blunt, just doesn't really make sense. It's a "T", which is nice. But it looks a lot like the dots that were on reboot Brainy's forehead.

Mon-El grabs a gigantic ice ball and says he's going to bring it to Tharr, where he can also pick up Polar Boy. Why would your bring a ball of ice, which is something that you can find all over the galaxy, all the way to Tharr? To cool it down? Do they need water? And, again, these things are literally everywhere.

Brek's been on extended medical leave (losing your arm will do that) and they joke about how he's flirting with more girls than Sun Boy. Once Mon-El flies away, Brainy continues planning what to do, insulting his teammates, and then gets a big surprise.

Saturn Queen is there, wanting to know what happened to her home world of Titan. She reads Brainy's mind and discovers something interesting.

We head to Naltor, where Dream Girl, Dawnstar, and Gates have arrived to assure Nura's home world that Earthgov is safe now. To no one's surprise, Gates doesn't think much of Earthgov. Good to see they have that part of his personality right.

To Legion HQ, where Earth-Man has accepted Legion membership. We learn that his flight ring is booby-trapped in a way that prevents him from using his powers without permission. This plot point is immediately done away with as he uses his Green Lantern ring to shut down the Legion's flight ring.

Chameleon Boy, Cosmic Boy, and Colossal Boy bring us all up to speed on what's going on. Since Titan exploded, and there are now millions of refugees that need housing, Earthlings are protesting against accepting anyone. The S.P.s are all busy protecting the ships from debris. Because there aren't enough cops, Cosmic Boy sends Gim, Sun Boy, and Earth-Man to go calm down the protests and protect the Titanians.

I'm confused why only Sun Boy is written as super-angry at Earth-Man. Shouldn't Colossal Boy be just as furious due to what Earth-Man did to his wife? Or, really, the entire team because he kept them imprisoned in glass coffins so he could steal their powers?

Back where Titan used to be, we get a really nice bit of internal dialogue explaining Saturn Queen and why she hates her former home world. Then she takes over Ultra Boy's mind and orders him to attack the other Legionnaires. He smashes Tyroc, knocking him unconscious, and then uses his ultra-vision to destroy Wildfire's suit.

You would think that someone would have developed a self-repairing suit by now, right?

To the Time Stream we go and Saturn Girl uses her powers to... float just outside of regular time at the exact moment when her boys were taken, read their minds in the past, and then use that information to figure out where they've been taken. She guides the Time Bubble forward... or maybe backwards...  But at least they've explained how she can figure out where they are.

We head to Winath and Lightning Lad has just found out from his sister, Lightning Lass, that his children are missing and his wife's gone to rescue them. They lament that, once again, their older brother is causing them problems. We get yet another recap of Mekt being born without a twin (Garth's gone to the medical center to confirm everything) and that he's now claimed to have a twin. Then he abandons the quest to go back and find his wife and kids.

Wow - we finally have a moment that shows Lightning Lad is actually a caring parent and husband. It only took us over a year, right?

On Earth, Earth-Man absorbs Colossal Boy's powers to scare away the protesters and prove that he can be a good Legionnaire. We get our first looks at Invisible Kid and Phantom Girl as they wander through the crowd to see how dangerous it looks.

If you asked what they did to hide themselves, the answer is "nothing." If you asked why don't the Earthlings around them notice two Legionnaires in their midst, the answer is... "who knows?"

But one of the Earthlings pulls out a gun so Invisible Kid grabs it. They finally notice Phantom Girl and we are getting closer and closer to a riot. Tinya flies away, her back to the crowd throwing rocks, and gets hit. Yes, the Legionnaire who can turn immaterial doesn't use her powers during a soon-to-be riot and gets knocked out.

Which leads to Sun Boy turning on his powers and things are escalating quickly.

Shadow Lass shows up to blanket the crowd in darkness and Earth-Man isn't happy to see an alien face. Not sure why he'd be okay with Phantom Girl, but I guess she looks more... Earth-like??

Fast forward to Phantom Girl waking up in the Legion Medilab. Shadow Lass is there to bring her up to speed. They talk about how they don't trust Earth-Man, but Shady admits that he did help with the mission like he had been a Legionnaire for a while. If growing and scaring people is the bar he's got to get over to be a Legionnaires, we're really not doing well, are we?

There's another crash in the HQ and Shady flies off. Phantom Girl struggles to move - I guess the concussion is worse than we thought.

Ultra Boy has returned to destroy the headquarters. We get yet another shot at his lack of intelligence (this time from Shadow Lass) but they all recognize that he's being controlled. Jo knocks both Shady and Cosmic Boy out and continues through the building.

Phantom Girl shows up and, after seeing her, Ultra Boy just collapses.

Elsewhere, Earth-Man demands the Green Lantern ring show him how it works and we get the beginning of that dramatic oath, "In brightest day..."

Yeah, that's not going to end well.

 

I enjoyed that issue far more than the first one, but that might be solely because I've accepted Earth-Man's presence on the team. The annoyance is somewhat worn off.

I'm also starting to overlook all the continuity problems or things that don't make sense. After reading the entire New Krypton saga, I'm assuming that DC doesn't care about this either. So I'll point it out in my usual sarcastic style, but I'm not going to keep it from affecting my enjoyment of the book. This isn't the OG Legion, so I have to stop pretending that it is.

I loved seeing so many Legionnaires in action. I may not like his look, but having Tyroc back was a pleasant surprise. I know that Levitz actively avoided writing him the first time he was on the book, so it's good to see he's trying something different and using different characters. I feel the same about Gates, who I was assuming Levitz would ignore.

We get a nice moment or two with Phantom Girl and Shadow Lass, a Lightning Lad/Lass scene that fits the story, the Legion protecting people, and the reintroduction of a classic villain. I've always through Saturn Queen was drastically underused, so bringing her back in this way made the story hum.

I'm probably going to sound like a broken record (or malfunctioning media player), but the artwork was great for another issue. Cinar is proving with every page that he understands the assignment, can handle the massive cast, and is bringing a lot of energy and life to the book. I think we're a few issues away from starting conversations like, "If this book has lasted a few years, or had been better accepted by the fans, would we be talking about Cinar the same way we talk about Lightle, LaRocque, or Moy?"

 

Adventure Comics #516

I know this is going to sound crazy, but I actually wish they had kept the new numbering. Or, at the very least, have both. That way it pays homage to what came before but also lets new readers know there are only a year's worth of tales (and, honestly, this book has been kinda all over the shop).

This issue was written by Paul Levitz, pencilled by Kevin Sharpe, and inked by Marlo Alquiza.

Brainiac 5 has arrived in the late 20th Century to pickup Superboy. While on the trip, he grabs some cockroaches before they head back to the 31st Century. This is different from last issue, as its an older Brainiac 5 and a young Superboy. Brande is dead in Brainy's world, so our favorite Coluan is nice enough to let us know about Brande's quest and some of the events of the current Superman comics. 

Which, of course, Superboy would have no clue about... and shouldn't know about.

This whole moment leads to a huge question - when does the Legion decide it's a good time to grab Superboy? It looks like Superboy is the same as last issue, but every Legionnaire has grown up. Does this mean that it's still the same 15-year-old Superboy but he's now dealing with a married-with-children Saturn Girl... who he had a crush on? How does the Legion determine when to grab Superboy? And also, wouldn't they want him to age as they do? Aren't the Legion becoming too mature to hang out with a teenage Superboy? "Hey, Superboy, we know you just got kissed by Triplicate Girl last month but she's marrying Bouncing Boy now. Cool?"

Man, this whole time travel thing hurts my brain sometimes.

In the future, Brande's longtime personal secretary (who uses French words for reasons that I won't try to make sense of) reveals that Brande created a holo specifically for 6 Legionnaires: Superboy, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Cosmic Boy. Brainy, of course, would rather be spending time in his lab.

He keeps complaining, earning a smack from Saturn Girl, as the holographic projection begins. Brande begins his speech, thanking them for listening to it (even the annoying green one). Has Brainiac 5 just lost all sense of personal connection to anyone he knows? Has he just decided that it's better to be a complete ass than do anything that would be considered kind?

Brande's tale from beyond the grave begins on Durla, where he tells about the planet's history, how he couldn't keep his mouth shut, and how he wanted to get off world. He's also inspired by some books he's found; stories about Superman.

He escapes after changing into a form that could fly away from Durla and starts his company using Durlan technology. He becomes a "star-starter," someone who can turn a red star into a brand new sun.

I'll just point out here that Levitz is still writing Brande is if he can't speak Interlac properly. The grammar is all wrong. I'm not sure why they're doing this - Brande lived with humans for decades and had all of them believing he was one of them (which is why, when he was assassinated, it was a shock he turned back to his Durlan form). I don't know why he's doing this, or why DC has decided this is how Brande speaks, but it's really not working for me. I also wonder why Brande speaks in such a stilted way but Chameleon Boy speaks normally. Or Cham hasn't said enough for me to notice anything else.

Brande also started working on making the U.P. better for non-Earthlings. He was worried they were all going to go to war, so he started using his wealth to make things better around the galaxy.

Which leads to yet another retelling of the time Imra, Garth, and Rokk saved his life on the cruiser. The only change they made was revealing the Brande paid for the attempt to be blamed on a cousin and not on Durlans looking to drag him back home.

He pays for everything for the Legion - a new headquarters, as many spaceships as they need, and labs where Brainiac 5 can invent and blow things up to his heart's content. He's happy, even though it's costing him a lot of money.

We get back to present day and Brande lets Cham know he's leaving him enough credits to do anything he wants. And credits for the rest to blow up as many starships as they want.

But for Brainiac 5, there's a special prize if he stays and listens to the whole thing.

Back to the story, where we see Brainy and Circadia Senius have built a Time Bubble. Brande wants them to go back and get Superman. Circadia thinks he's a myth, but that doesn't stop them from searching.

They bring Superboy back instead, leading to Clark commenting that he always thought Brande thought he was "a fake or something."

Then he reveals Brainy's "prize": a nice big endowment that lets him research whatever he wants.

We get the final wrap up where they talk about the dreams, and everything they've accomplished, and a nice "Long live the Legion!" to end the story.

This was... a story... leaving out my annoyance with turning Brande into a beginner English-as-a-second-language student, this really felt like something that would've been an 8-page story in the 1970s. But, instead, it's a 20-page story in the 2000s. Not much happens, as it's basically a history lesson that doesn't really change anything important.

I really don't understand why you'd use this as your second Legion story in this new Adventure Comics run. Surely there are more exciting ways to reveal Brande's background.

Thoughts? Do you agree or disagree? Please share your thoughts either here or on Reddit.

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