Durlans attack and Dream Girl is the best fighter on the team! Green Mon-El gets his butt kicked! Let's take a look at Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 6) #8 & Adventure Comics #522

Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 6) #8

Two? Two covers in a row for Tyroc? And Chameleon Girl in costume? And does this mean Shrinking Violet's back? 

The more important question is, of course, who shall lead the Legion?

It was pointed out to me on Reddit that I was very wrong with my comments last week on Tyroc becoming a master forensics scientist and creating a visual ultrasound for everyone to see. And the more I think about it, the more I agree that I was completely incorrect. So kudos to Tyroc for having new powers and showing off that he understands murder weapons. It's leagues better than him just disappearing into an alternate dimension in a story ripped from a mediocre Broadway musical.

Not much to recap - Durlans have infiltrated the S.P. and one of them is pretending to be Chief Zendak and, at the same time, are murdering U.P. councilors. Brainiac 5 is trying to figure out who Professor Harmonia Li is. Cosmic Boy has called an election for the new Legion leader. Wildfire and Dawnstar were blasted by some super-fast light. Mon-El is the new Green Lantern of the universe and has taken off with Dyogene to fight... something... 

This issue was written by Paul Levitz, pencilled by Yildiray Cinar & Daniel HDR ( which stands for Horn da Rosa and may be the name of his studio in Brazil), and inked by Wayne Faucher & Bob Wiacek. Wiacek? One of my favorite inkers? Awesome news!

Dream Girl and Colossal Boy are at the Brande Estate, comforting Pheebs, Brande's former private secretary. Pheebs lets us know that the U.P. murders are his fault - he put together the leaders of the Durlan group trying to rebuild their planet and they blame the U.P. for Brande's death.

But before he can really help them, a Durlan flies in and knocks Pheebs off the balcony. I've watched enough action movies to know that when someone is confessing, you never let them stand around windows or in open spaces.

The Legionnaires fly into action, Gim wishes the Nura could have seen that coming, and the Durlans keep attacking. Gim grabs Pheebs but takes a slash to the side. 

Tellus has grabbed the unconscious Dawnstar and takes her to, I believe, Medicus-One. He pretty much orders Dr. Gym'll to rescue her (and no, I don't know why they're still writing Gym'll as someone who only cares about credits and isn't used to working on Legionnaires by now), forcing him to help with his telekinesis.

Tellus keeps talking to the blob of energy that used to be Wildfire and S.P. Chief Gigi Cusimano wonders who he's talking to. She asks for his help, hoping that his telepathy can get into a Durlan prisoner's mind.

Back at Legion HQ, Phantom Girl and Cosmic Boy recap everything that's been happening and lament the fact that the team is stretched so thin. The universe is a dangerous place when a "legion" doesn't have enough heroes. Maybe they could recruit more members??

Regardless of the injury, Colossal Boy was somehow able to get Pheebs into a safe space and is now facing off against the Durlan... who's somehow able to grow to Gim's size while maintaining his monstrous form. Dream Girl is making short work of the other assassin, using her superior fighting skills and ability to predict the attacker's moves. She knocks him out and the Durlan quickly reverts to his "usual" body.

Other Legionnaires have arrived to assist and Earth-Man grows to the same size as Colossal Boy so he and Gim can punch the gigantic Durlan together. Shadow Lass follows, commenting that Cosmic Boy thought they could use some help.

Rokk calls Brainiac 5 and Chameleon Boy, asking the former to assist them with the Durlan problem and wait on finding out the truth from Professor Li. Brainy tells Rokk to get something out of his lab to help with the problem and then he and Reep head for Durla.

But not without making a very snide comment about how he was surprised Rokk lasted his entire term as leader. Why? Why take that shot? Why make Brainy such a jerk in this version?

Chief Zendak is, once again, waiting in the Hall of Heroes to talk with Cosmic Boy. Zendak wants to know why Rokk didn't save Brande when he was assassinated. Zendak gets angrier and angrier as they walk into Brainy's lab (really? they're that close together?) and suddenly changes into a violent-looking Durlan form. As Rokk defends himself, he seems more worried about Brainy will do to him than anything the attacker will do.

To no one's surprise, Colossal Boy gets knocked out and Earth-Man has to start using Durlan powers to defeat the villain. Yep, Dream Girl takes one out by herself but Gim can't.

They trade punches, changing shapes, and Earth-Man reminds the Durlan that they weren't the ones who blew up their own planet.

And I was wrong - Dream Girl didn't knock out the other Durlan (even though that's what it looked like) so she and Tasmia are fighting him. Still, one good Dream Girl kick and this Durlan's knocked out... again...

For those of you keeping score at home, one Durlan took combined punches from both Colossal Boy and Earth-Man and kept fighting while another took a kick from Dream Girl and got knocked out. Perhaps Nura is the most dangerous fighter in the Legion now.

Shadow Lass picks up the unconscious Durlan and they head over to see how the guys are doing. They have a nice moment, talking about how it's possible that a Durlan can weigh so little, and Nura responds, "Free particle attraction maybe? Brainy once said it was Galloway's theorem, but I never looked it up." I do always love when they remember Nura's a genius.

Damn... I spoke too soon. The two heroines see an unconscious Gim, a battered Kirt, and what looks like a dead Pheebs, and Dream Girl says, "Never, ever send boys to do a woman's work. Sigh... poor Pheebs."

Nope, no remorse for the death of another being, especially the one who was going to help them capture the Durlans. Geez... who are these people?

Back in Brainy's lab, Invisible Kid has come to the rescue but is almost immediately battered and thrown against the wall. Phantom Girl grabs the device Brainy told Rokk about earlier but the Durlan snatches it away. They guess it's Cancellite, Brainy's formula for shutting down a Durlan's shape-changing powers... I think...

But thankfully, none of this is needed as Element Lad arrives, surrounds the Durlan in a bubble without air, and causes our villain to go unconscious.

The next two pages show an injured Cosmic Boy and Element Lad watching as the election results come in. The winner? Mon-El. Who's not on the team.

The most shocking vote? Gates voting for Earth-Man. What the f---?

Finally, Tellus reveals all that he's able to glean from the captured Durlan's mind: "Even if only one of us lives, the United Planets council will die."

I'm getting tired of repeating myself every week and trying to come up with different metaphors to explain what kind of Legion this is. This week's: this is the Legion version of The Matrix Resurrections.  

 

 

Adventure Comics #522 

Under the "giving credit where credit is due" category, I do quite like when DC has cover theme months. This is a good one, even if the artist doesn't know what Shadow Lass' costume looks like or that Saturn Girl has left the team, or how basic anatomy works... 

This issue, titled "Consequences," was written by Paul Levitz, pencilled by Geraldo Borges, and inked by Marlo Alquiza. I liked how this book looked last week - let's hope they keep things going well.

We're near Saturn, in the remains of Titan (and yes, I am completely ignoring how the destruction of a moon would throw off every other moon in orbit around the planet), and an S.P. ship carrying a single prisoner is on its way to Takron-Galtos.

I haven't mentioned this before, but now is as good a time as any. Am I the only one who's struggling with the drop in technology on this series? I mean, we've had teleportation gates in the Legion for over 15 years by this point. Is there a reason why we've taken five steps backwards? (Oh, and I know the answer - this is all just rhetorical)

A solar flare blasts the ship and starts burning through the hull. The captain orders everyone into transuits but it's too late... Sun Killer has breached the ship.

The S.P.s on board send out a mayday to Chief Cusimano as Sun Killer politely asks for them to release the prisoner. He wants Saturn Queen, so he burns off someone's hand and repeats his demand. Maybe I'm just in a good mood here, but I like both Sun Killer's design (a big fiery guy who looks like a sumo wrestler) and his constantly saying please (We Canadians love being polite). The name? Meh. But everything else is okay.

On Medicus-One, Tellus and Gigi are discussing Dawnstar's recovery from the attack a couple of issues ago. They say Dr. Gym'll was not optimistic, but Gigi wants her to locate Chief Zendak. Of course, we all know he's dead... but it's good that the characters can't help but be optimistic, right?

Cusimano gets the message about the attack and asks Tellus if there are any Legionnaires near Titan's remains.

Back on the S.P. ship, Sun Killer is not happy to see Saturn Queen locked up. He threatens them again but finds out that they can't get her out of her restraints. The equipment to release her is on Takron-Galtos. Finally! A smart choice made by one of these characters!

Sun Killer realizes that he cannot save her by himself, so he starts burning everyone there. Of course, they've just told him they can't, so he's really just murdering people for no reason at this point. He says he's going to die as well, so I'm getting slightly confused as to what his plan is here. Why would he die? Can't he just go into space because the heart of a star is fused to his forehead? And if he can't, how'd he get onto the ship in the first place?

Anyone else remember the good old days when you could read a comic book and not spot plot holes kilometers wide on every page?

Which is when Green Mon-El arrives! Mon-Lantern? Green-El? Green Mon-tern? I'll think of something. Dyogene is right behind him and I'm hoping they're going to explain why he's following Mon and not finding more Lanterns.

We move to another space ship, flying through the wreckage, and Professor Harmonia Li spends a page speaking like someone who's taken a fairly powerful dose of a recreational pharmaceutical. Why is she not still on Naltor? Why is she not still with Brainiac 5? Is the editor paying any attention to these stories?

Space rocks start crashing into the side of the ship and she decides it's time for her to head to Earth. Of all the subplots that are currently running through this series, this is my second least favorite. We all know the worst.

Back to the showdown: Sun Killer identifies himself as Kodama-san and tells Mon-El that, by destroying the Legionnaire, he'll earn his place on Saturn Queen's new Legion.

Mon-El is surprised that Sun Killer recognizes him. Yep, hard to believe that a villain recognizes a Legionnaire with essentially the same costume and only a color change. Sun Killer starts using red solar rays on the Daxamite and, because Mon-El has stopped using the ring, his costume reverts to his red and blue version.

Why would he stop using the ring? Is that even possible without sending the ring far, far away? Anyone else remember when Mon-El was intelligent?

Suddenly, and I wish I was joking about this, a blue space baby flies into the wreckage to witness Mon-El getting blasted. The baby is the adversary Dyogene needs to fight and so he blasts Mon-El with more green energy (and no, I have no idea why he lost it). Mon-El easily defeats Sun Killer and I was actually wishing the villain would win here... that's bad, right?

Yes, Sun Killer was a mediocre at best villain. But he was different. And Mon-El was so incompetent he deserved to lose. What was the point of this?

Cusimano and Tellus meet up with Mon-El, forget to tell him that he was elected Legion leader, and watch as he flies off into the stars.

Tellus does a final check to make sure Saturn Queen is still under control and the S.P.s tell him everything is fine. Of course, since the next issue blurbs tell us that we're two months away from the Legion of Super-Villains Special #1, where Saturn Queen takes over, I'm guessing they're wrong.

I'm trying my damnedest to stay positive on this series. But it's really sucking any enthusiasm I might have had with its inane plot points and characterizations.

I also know I'm not the only one. LSH #8 sold 25,063 copies in December 2010.

Just four months earlier, LSH #4 sold 34,239. That's drop of 27 percent in readership.

Podcast news! The latest episode of the Long Live the Legion podcast was released today. In this episode, we're joined by Derek Binns from the Legion of Substitute Podcasters to discuss the Redemption of Reep Daggle! We take a look at the horrible choice to visit Khundia, the trial, the conviction, the loss of powers, the clemency, and then the return to Durla to get Chameleon Boy's powers back.

And if you're rather watch this on YouTube, here's the podcast link!