The Legion kicks alien butt and then we travel to China to learn more about Dragonwing's background... let's take a look at Legion Secret Origin #5 & Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 7) #6

Legion Secret Origin #5

I'm not going to lie - if you had told me that Legion Secret Origin would be the best of the three Legion books coming out of the New52, I don't know if I would've believed you. I'm waffling between this and LSH. Legion Lost is a, no pun intended, lost cause at this point. This, admittedly, is kind of a roundabout way of saying that I'm going to miss it when it's gone, flaws and all.

So, of course, because I've started this review so positively, I'm fully expecting this issue to be horrid. "Time" is written by Paul Levitz, pencilled by Chris Batista, and inked by Marc Deering.

We begin at what might possibly be the most important moment in Legion history. Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, and Cosmic Boy are in the Time Bubble, heading back to meet Superman. What? Not Superboy, you ask? Don't you remember during the Adventure Comics run that the Legion was trying to recruit Superman but "accidentally" ended up in Smallville? I think I've spent too much time trying to figure out what Flashpoint actually did to the Legion. My answer? Nothing.

The trinity talk about how egotistical Brainiac 5 is, but also how he was the only person in the galaxy who could've built a Time Bubble. They appear in the past, land the Bubble, and realize that Brainy's calculations went two-for-two - Clark Kent is right in front of them.

Back in the 31st Century, two different groups are having very, very different reactions to the Legion breaking the Time Barrier. Brainy lets Phantom Girl know how perfect he is because of such an accomplishment. The Security Directorate is less enthused. Mycroft, the human member of the team, wonders if they've failed to protect the United Planets.

He leaves, having been summoned to meet the U.P. council, leaving Coluan Zarl and Naltorian Anisa to stare at blank screens. I mentioned this last issue and I'm just going to assume there were supposed to be graphics here but someone messed up. Considering the editorial missteps we've seen during this time at DC Comics, let's just write it off as that. If that's not the case, why would these three spend so much time staring at shiny, blank viewscreens?

While Mycroft is walking to his meeting, he thinks about how they should've killed Brande a long time ago - he's the cause of all their problems. Which is when someone speaks to him telepathically: "There is no time like the present."

We get a new villain here, who refers to Mycroft as "mortal" and takes control of the man's body. The villain figures that Brande must die and his Legion stopped, so I'm guessing this is the being that's been taking over all the other assassins in previous issues.

Which is when the past gets thrown out of whack. Instead of the meeting we were expecting, a black hand forces the three Legionnaires back into the Time Bubble and then throws everything back into the time stream.

They end up back at the Legion Clubhouse and almost smash into Colossal Boy, Triplicate Girl, Invisible Kid, Chameleon Boy, and R.J. Brande. The Bubble's destroyed, Brainy's not happy with the damage, and Phantom Girl points out the obvious - they now have to go up against the alien invaders without any help.

Speaking of the invasion, let's go to the wormhole, where Admiral Allon orders the fleet to battle stations and gets ready for the attack. We learn that the U.P. has sent no back-up (the Directorate decided sending the Legion was enough last issue) so they're on their own.

In six panels, Allon decides that his only course of action is to ram the invading ships with the fleet. Nope, no need for any sort of strategy, right? He really is the worst admiral in the U.P.

Thankfully, the Legion has arrived to save the day. A ship appears and the Legionnaires, wearing fishbowl helmets and jet packs, fly into action. We also see the newest member: Ultra Boy! He immediately proves to be valuable in the fight, and according to Phantom Girl, he's "cute," too.

Glad to know that space travel happens so quickly and the Legion wasn't too worried about the Time Bubble debacle. If these ships are able to get to the wormhole so quickly, then why didn't the rest of the U.P. fleet show up? Further to that point, how was the planet able to be attacked prior to issue #1 without immediate help from Earth?

Back on Earth, Mycroft has convinced Brande to accompany him somewhere, and Invisible Kid is not happy with Brande's choice to trust Mycroft and leave Lyle behind. Brande rants about how safe he will be with Mycroft and I'm starting to think that he's not the smartest guy after all. Let's see, R.J., you've had random strangers try to kill you (and equipment), you've recruited a bodyguard who, for reasons that don't make any sense, ended up joining the Legion and ignoring his job, and you're oblivious to the danger around you.

So Lyle heads to the lab to talk with Brainy, hoping to get some respect. Of course Brainy talks down to him, but Lyle quickly proves that he knows more than a little science. He also mentions that the Time Bubble wasn't well synchronized, which leads to Brainy's latest eureka moment: time travel is asynchronous. And he sprints away to find Phantom Girl since she came from an asynchronous world.

Back in outer space, Admiral Allon is stunned at how much damage the Legion is doing, especially Ultra Boy, who's from an outlaw world. They smash through the attacking ships, sending them back through the wormhole, and declare victory. Before Allon can call Earth and tell them they don't need any backup, Colossal Boy calls his father and says that the Legion is glad they could lend a hand.

One page left, so we have to have our dramatic cliffhanger. Mycroft and Brande are in a small ship, heading somewhere, and Mycroft starts looking very evil. He ends this issue with this final threat:

"There are matters afoot beyond their ken... or yours, old fakir... and you will not be permitted to alter what is destined."

Can Mycroft just put on the purple robes now and we can reveal the Time Trapper is behind all this?

For all my complaints about Brande being an idiot here, I'm still enjoying this series. I've become convinced that Levitz is far better at writing these Silver Age tales then trying to write for a 2012-style audience.

Oh, and I haven't said enough good things about him yet, but Chris Batista is top-notch as always. As I read this series, and think about what he and Abnett and Lanning could've done with The Legion if not for Threeboot, I get just a little depressed. 

 

Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 7) #6

Is it bad that it wasn't until this issue that I realized Dragonwing was an Earthling, and from China? I mean, Harmonia Li is obviously Asian. But I never made that connection for Dragonwing.

Maybe I just thought there's no way the Legion's only two Chinese characters would be named Dragonmage and Dragonwing. That's just too... stereotypical, right? Right?

This issue, titled "Dragon & Phoenix," credits Paul Levitz as the writer, Francis Portela as the artist, and Javier Mena as the colorist.

For a drinking game this issue, I'm going to do a shot every time ancient Chinese mysticism, or Chinese mythical characters, are mentioned. I figure I'll be dead by the end of the book.

Sun Boy, Element Lad, and Chemical Kid are flying over The Sea of Fire, which is located in the Xinjiang region of Earth. What is the Sea of Fire, you may ask? Apparently an entire section of China has just become a pool of lava. Element Lad lets us know that it took generations to cause this mess and they're not able to fix it in a day. Chemical Kid continues with his personality transplant and nervously follows Jan down to the flames.

Also, and I know this is part of my "Brainiac 5 can fix anything" internal canon, but can't Brainy fix anything if he puts his mind to it? Especially something that is completely breaking all laws of physics, heat, and energy transfer. I mean, this Sea of Fire is gigantic. Like larger than cities gigantic. And we know this because there are literal cities, protected by force fields, on the lava "coast." Now there's a great place to live, right?

Considering that this Sea is getting worse, and the Legion has to intervene, shouldn't Brainy try to figure out how to fix it? Since he's not there, and Sun Boy has been left alone, Dirk flies down towards the lava and starts blasting it. He also comments on how Element Lad "doesn't play well with others...," which makes no sense to me or we have yet another personality shift.

Element Lad has generated a circle of oxygen (which would immediately burst into flames, right?) around himself and Chemical Kid, letting the rookie know that he's the one who's going to fix this problem. Here's Jan's explanation:

    "Ever since the Sea of Fire swallowed Urumqi 300 years ago, Earthgov's been using a catalytic converter to reduce the pollution and reclaim energy... but this latest eruption interrupted this process." 

He tells Hadru to restart the converter and the day will be saved.

I so want to make some snarky jokes about how that's not how catalytic converters work, or how Urumqi is so land-locked that it's no where near a fault line and, therefore, would be the last place where lava could take over an entire region, or wonder why anyone would still live anywhere near this, or how none of this makes any sense... but I'm just going to shrug my shoulders and remind myself that this makes as much sense as a reverse waterfall. If it worked in the Silver Age, it works here.

Also, and this is probably because I'm still thinking about Legion tech because of the last Long Live the Legion episode, but why would Element Lad need to create oxygen? Couldn't they just use their transuits and that would provide breathable air and protect them from the heat?

Even though Chemical Kid isn't sure he can restart this ancient Earth tech, it only takes him five panels to fix everything. Well, to prevent more pollution from escaping... He then asks if they can catch up with Dragonwing on her vacation, although she'll probably kill him.

Back at Legion HQ, we waste two pages finding out what Dream Girl and Star Boy are up to, which is "not" and "much." We also learn that Portela can't draw a close up of a kiss. And that Dream Girl can heave Thom around like he weighs nothing.

We now join Dragonwing, who's not happy she's in the pouring rain in China. The door opens in front of her and she somehow ends up on her back with a dog named Fu on top of her. She's looking for Bao, but all she finds is a large projection of a red dragon. I do like the fact that they're not using Interlac symbols here, but I'm not too clear as to why she uses her powers on... something... 

We finally get to the point, and Marya reveals that Bao is her sister.

To Panoptes we go to keep the Dominators subplot going. Mon-El, Brainiac 5, and special guest Doctor Aven reveal a ton of information:

• The evil Daxamite, Res-Vir, had his powers boosted by the Dominators and that's why he was so hard to stop... but was he?
• If they hadn't stopped Res-Vir, he would've burnt out in months 
• The soldiers weren't controlled telepathically but imprinted by the Dominators

Then Mon-El grabs a large rock and throws it into space. For no reason whatsoever.

Considering how often Levitz enjoys having ships get hit by debris, I'm fully expecting this rock to destroy a cruiser somewhere. 

We head to the Dominators' home world, which I cannot complain about. The leader of the fleet drops to his hands and knees in front of Primus Dom, and lets him know that he failed. We finally see the "big" Dominator leader, and I mean that both based on power and weight, who orders the failure's death. Not sure why they went with a Jabba the Hutt look for the Primus Dom, but it's not the worst choice.

Dragonwing, claiming that she "fits in" while walking around in costume, takes Fu out to find her sister. She ends up at a tattoo shop and starts asking questions. The owner, who obviously knows her, says that she doesn't know about any connection between Bao and the Red Dragon clan and then asks if Bao looked to Blue Tiger for protection.

Before any of this is explained or makes sense, Fu takes off and leads Marya to her sister. Bao has a mohawk, tons of red tattoos, and is dressed like she's headed to the club. Oh, and most importantly, she has dragon spines (the "bones" between the wing, I think) coming out of her back.

Bao is not happy Fu lead her sister to her, so she threatens to break the dog as well.

Which is when we reveal that the dog is actually Chameleon Boy. Why? Why would he be there? Isn't Dragonwing on vacation? Was she actually smart enough to call for help? If that's the case, I'm shocked she's acting like a real Legionnaire and not an idiotic Academy trainee.

Bao lets Marya know that she's not her sister anymore and she's "chosen to be beautiful, strong, and part of the future..." A bunch of other half-creature/half-people pop out of nowhere to join the fight.

Cham turns into a big monster himself and the fight is on. It's sister against sister in a pretty underwhelming fight (two panels?) when we get the big reveal:

The main villain, who's got flames coming out of his body, lets them know that he is going to be "the phoenix fire of China's rebirth."

I never, ever, ever thought I would write this, but I really wish they had spent more time with Dragonwing (and Cham) in this story and less with everyone else. The beginning sequence was just more of the Chemical Kid reboot (which isn't working at all) and the cutaway to Dream Girl and Star Boy did nothing.

However, if you have started with Dragonwing on vacation, looking to meet up with her sister, and maybe bringing someone like Glorith along, you could've developed both of them a little more.

Here's me rewriting the story - Dragonwing and Glorith go to China as the former wants to see her family and the latter wants to explore Chinese magic. They discover Bao is gone, discover the Red Dragon symbols, and know they've got to get involved. Dragonwing wants to do it alone and Glorith calls for help. We add Chameleon Boy and, say, Shrinking Violet to the mix and now we have four Legionnaires going against whomever this Phoenix is going to be.

Yes, DC, I'm still waiting for the phone call...