We have a new Green Lantern... again... and the Durlans are killing anyone they can! Let's take a look at Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 6) #7 & Adventure Comics #521

Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 6) #7

Wow! Tyroc on the cover of a Legion comic! Anyone remember the last time this happened?

For those who missed last week, the S.P.s (led by a Durlan imposter who's replaced Chief Zendak after murdering him) have asked the Legion to protect U.P. council members who have been targeted for assassination.

We're down a few longtime Legionnaires: Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad have stepped away to spend more time with their sons, Mon-El and Polar Boy are just hanging out on Daxam, Wildfire is still floating in space after having his suit destroyed many issues ago, and Shadow Lass has been trapped inside some sort of alternate dimension and was replaced by an imposter.

Okay, the last one isn't true, but I think we're all kinda wishing it was.

Paul Levitz is back writing, Yildiray Cinar is pencilling, and Wayne Faucher is inking.

Somewhere in Metropolis, Timber Wolf, Cosmic Boy, Tyroc, and Ultra Boy are facing off against the S.P.s. One of the council members has been killed and the police are securing the area.

This leads to Rokk using his powers to push them away and enter the crime scene. The council member lies dead in their chambers while Chief Zendak takes time to be snarky and critical of the Legion arriving late.

We get some sparring between the two and it's a closed door mystery: Councillor Alb Razma was alone in the chambers when he was murdered while the S.P.s and Zendak stood outside. Tyroc checks the body and reveals something new to the case: there are no exit wounds but the blood somehow left the body - it's the result of an exotic weapon. He uses his powers and an ultrasound image appears - the man's heart was ripped open inside his chest.

Thankfully, Cosmic Boy says what we're all thinking: it's an impressive new way Tyroc's using his powers. Troy tells him that he's been developing his talents.

Maybe it's because I just watched Fast and the Furious (the 4th one), but this scene is just like the moment when Dom Toretto suddenly recreates a crime scene in his head after seeing the tire marks and oil spill. This doesn't make sense, no matter how you try to explain it with Tyroc's powers. But I'm going to roll with it because I'm just happy to see Tyroc being used in a competent way.

Back at Legion HQ, the newly-healed Polar Boy (remember that he lost his arm back in Action Comics and got it replaced on Daxam), Sun Boy, and Dream Girl are chatting about the new Legion leader and the game they're playing. Sun Boy flirts, almost touching Dream Girl's hair, and she violently slaps his hand away. That's not the reaction I was expecting. He apologizes quickly and after she storms off, the two guys know she'll be fine once Star Boy gets back. Brek lets us know that Mon-El has been spending his time moping in his quarters. I guess knowing your ex is seeing the literal worst Legionnaire ever would make anyone depressed.

While flying far above the crime scene, Ultra Boy uses his penetra-vision to spot anything and Timber Wolf shows off his keen sense of smell. No idea why he wouldn't do that in the actual room, but what do I know? He smells the same odor Chameleon Boy uses and Cosmic Boy realizes that it's gotta be Durlans who murdered the councillor.

Second movie reference of the column - I guess I'm just spoiled by the Knives Out mysteries, but I woulda really enjoyed seeing the Legion actually solve a mystery. Or, you know, call in their best detective, Chameleon Boy, to solve it.

Tyroc gets the news and suddenly finds himself under attack by three flying monsters. He blasts them with his powers and, to no surprise, the councillor is too stunned to get out of the way.

Next, the showdown we've been waiting for. Mon-El and Earth-Man. Kirt wants to know what happened between Shady and Mon. Mon-El, not surprisingly, says that it's none of his business. Kirt's determined to find out and tells him that since he's absorbed his powers, and more, he can take him easily.

Mon-El grabs him and throws him into space with ease. "Powers, sure. A thousand years of thinking about how to use them, no." Now that brought a smile to my face.

Back at the U.P. building, the Legionnaires and Durlans are fighting. Timber Wolf shows off his skills and, unlike last issue, beats everyone fairly easily. But when one of the Durlans takes on Brin's form, no one can tell them apart. The solution? Tyroc lets loose a blast and most of them are knocked out. Unfortunately, two of them fly away.

It's a victory, kind of. They saved the twin ambassador and one of the assassins is in neutralizers (not all of them?). Rokk and Zendak talk about how they don't even know how many Durlans are on Earth. But Rokk's glad Zendak is back and on the case.

Ouch, that's not going to end up good, is it?

Earth-Man gets back to Legion HQ and into Shadow Lass' arms, who tells him that he won what's important. But then that little blue alien who's handing out Green Lantern rings has arrived and this story is to be continued... next!

Well, almost next, because first we get the second story of the issue:

Levitz is writing and Francis Portela handles the artwork.

Time Bubble #2 arrives on 31st Century Earth and promptly crash lands in front of the Legion HQ. Brainiac 5 emerges from the wreckage and the safety droids cover him in fire retardant foam.

Chameleon Boy greets him and tells him to avoid going back into HQ - Cosmic Boy is angry he's destroyed something else. You'd think they'd all be used to this by now, right?

Brainy tells Cham to meet him at the Spaceport, telling him that he needs some help. The two head to Naltor in what is, I guess, the new Legion cruiser. Sadly, it just kinda looks like a space shuttle.

They spend two pages just recapping everything that's happened before... Brainy's grumpy, Durla's in rough shape, Colu is helping with Brainy's plan, Earthgov made them take in Earth-Man, the Time Institute's off Earth... I think someone needs to tell Levitz that anyone reading this book has been reading since issue one. Sales figures show that no new readers are picking up this book.

They almost run into another ship, barely missing because of Brainy's confidence in his abilities, and meet up with the High Seer... who didn't see them arriving. As Brainy rudely walks away, Cham tries to be diplomatic and is able to grab the High Seer as he collapses during a strong vision.

What did he see? Cham being attacked by his teammates.

We finally discover why Brainy is on Naltor - he wants to talk to Professor Harmonia Li. You remember her, right? Brainy explains every aspect of her back story: She was there when they viewed the beginning of the universe and caused the destruction of Titan. She turned down a chance to be a Green Lantern. And she was Circadia Senius' mentor.

Brainy's one question to her: "Who the hell are you?"

She reveals that she's from Old Earth and offers a chance for the two of them to cooperate on exploring time. Then she says that she knows Brainy's "recently come into an inheritance from my old friend Mister Brande..."

Most definitely to be continued... 

 

Adventure Comics #521

So does this mean we're not longer revisiting the past? That's it? Just a few issues and we're in the present?

Actually, I can't say I mind this choice if we're going to get to see more Legionnaires and less Earth-Man.

Nope... first page... Earth-Man and Shadow Lass.

This one's written by Paul Levitz and the artists are Geraldo Borges and Marlo Alquiza.

The Green Lantern alien thing that looks like a character from the Alien movies (whose name I don't remember right now) has arrived on Earth and, to no surprise, Kirt doesn't want to be a Green Lantern. Tasmia tells him to take it easy.

Dyogene (that's the alien's name - thanks Paul) tells them that he's already failed twice and, if he fails a third time, it'll be a disaster. But Earth-Man's not his choice. It's someone else within Legion HQ.

Shadow Lass is upset she wasn't chosen to wear the ring (and I actually kinda agree with her on this one if we ignore her bad taste in men) and Kirt tells her that Dyogene rejected Dream Girl as well. But he reminds her that she doesn't need the ring, she's already powerful.

Elsewhere, Invisible Kid (but not II... interesting), Sun Boy, Tellus, and Element Lad are in Kampala, Uganda to save as many people as they can from a massive earthquake. They save a falling mosque, a bunch of students, and Jan puts out a massive fire by turning all the oxygen into xenon, suffocating the fire, and then quickly turn it back to oxygen to prevent the people trapped from dying. Problem solved, they head off to join the other Legionnaires in their rescue efforts.

At Legion HQ, Cosmic Boy has met Dyogene in the Hall of Heroes (again??) and complains that this alien from Oa isn't showing proper decorum when arriving in a new place. Dyogene just ignores him and tells Rokk to gather every Legionnaire so he can figure out which one is powerful enough to be a Lantern... or as Dyogene puts is, "to prevent final disaster..."

Back to Africa, where Wildfire and Dawnstar are at a damaged nature preserve to ensure that no person or animal gets hurt. When they fly higher, Drake spots the epicenter of the fissures - it's in Olduvai Gorge Archaeological Park. But it wasn't an earthquake. Everyone in the center is dead, scared to death, and the obvious culprit for both the quake and the deaths is this bright, shiny light off in the distance.

Cosmic Boy has gotten over Dyogene's breach of etiquette and shows him the Mission Monitor Board. Most of the Legionnaires are busy so only 9 could come and meet him. Yep, he really just called the Legionnaires together solely to talk to a rude alien who's barely explained anything.

I do take just a slight amount of pleasure at the fact that Earth-Man doesn't have an icon yet. Does that make me shallow?

In the meeting room, the nine Legionnaires are bathed in a greenish glow and Dyogene speaks in stilted tones while explaining that he's searching for a new, powerful person to wield the ring.

Also, on an aside, why are Element Lad, Tellus, Invisible Kid, and Sun Boy there? Wouldn't they have stayed to help Wildfire and Dawnstar investigate the bright light? I mean, wouldn't it have been one simple message and they would've stayed?

We get a dramatic nine-panel grid of rejection and complete indifference (not interested in Quislet at all) before Mon-El is selected. Even though he doesn't look like he wants the job, Mon-El almost immediately puts on the ring and gets a new costume.

Here are my stupid questions - why does someone with the power of Superman need the power of Green Lantern? Wouldn't it make more sense to give it to someone else who's not as powerful and elevate them? Like, almost any other Legionnaire? Personally, I was hoping for Matter-Eater Lad.

Somewhere in space, Dawnstar is tracking whatever rose out of the hole at the earthquake's epicenter. Wildfire has been reduced to an idiot for this page to work - he's basically asking Dawnstar why she's doing this and how her powers work.

Suddenly, some blue light smashes into them, knocking out Dawnstar and, once again, destroying Wildfire's suit. We get a nice page told from Wildfire's perspective, explaining how there's a signal built into the suit to let the Legion know where they are... and that's it's been destroyed again... and asking how they're supposed to stop something that attacks so quickly?

Am I the only one who wonders why they can't make a more powerful suit? Or maybe use Drake's powers to make it a little stronger? Or, and here's a crazy idea, fill it with nanobots that would instantly start repairing it?

Mon-El and Shady have a final goodbye and she explains that after Mon's last time in the Phantom Zone, he pulled away from her and that's why she broke up with him. I remember that she loved him so much she married him when he was near death... different time line, right? He also knows that he'll see the Legion again - but now it's time for him to be a Green Lantern.

 

First, a positive - if Levitz is going to tell two connected stories a month, just like they did during the Reboot era, I'm all for it. More Legion means we see more Legionnaires. We finally got to see some of them in action, which was nice.

As I've mentioned many times, I'm always happy to see the Legion rescuing people and I really liked the way Element Lad saved the day.

The art was good this issue - I could nitpick the anatomy problems, but Borges did a much better job than anything we've seen in Adventure Comics for a while, so I'm not going to complain. It's nothing that I'm going to talk about years from now, but it's nothing that's going to make me irritated while I'm reading.

 

I've gotten to the point where I no longer think Levitz is going for nostalgia anymore. I feel like he's pushing away from that as much as he can. It seems like he's trying his best to write stories that are darker and more vicious so he can keep DC editorial happy. I just think that's not his style. He's trying to write something that just doesn't come naturally to him.

We're also missing the friendships. One of the things I love most about the Legion is the friendships between the characters. But those seem to have disappeared. We're not getting any time for any real character beats unless they revolve around Earth-Man and all the current stories are suffering. We got them when Levitz was writing stories about the past. We're not getting them in the present.

 

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