The battle with the Fatal Four ramps up, we get a maiming, and Phantom Girl is completely ruined... let's look at Legion of Super-Heroes (vol 7) #19 & 20

Legion of Super-Heroes (vol 7) #19

We always start with a recap, so here goes. Sun Boy died and was cooked and eaten by aliens. Star Boy died because Brainiac 5 didn't want anyone to rescue him and fired off the cruiser's rockets (I don't know how else you can read that moment). The Fatal Five is back, minus one, and Tharok is shutting down quark relays so technology is dying all over the galaxy - if you thought this was similar to The Magic Wars, you're not alone. They promised Validus was going to show up but we haven't seen him yet. They promised the Emerald Empress would do the unthinkable. Oh, and the Fatal Five is targeting the Legionnaires' home worlds but we've really only seen Earth and Rimbor.

"World's End is written by Paul Levitz ("with a nod to Keith Giffen, Consulting Destructionist" yes, that's literally what the credits read), with art by Scott Kolins (pages 1-10) and Jeff Johnson (pages 11-20). I should also mention that, as of last issue, we have a new editorial team too. I'm just going to assume it's chaos behind the scenes as we get closer and closer to the end.

The Legion sent out a cruiser to Weber's World, figuring they needed saving more than Earth did. But before they get there, we see it's just destruction and death. They have no help and they're facing off against the new Emerald Empress... who I can best describe as... a Disney villain with massive cleavage. Her hair is bigger than her body, she speaks in "eye" instead of "I," and every drawing of her is from above, so we can focus on the only part of her look that's skin-colored. Yep, all the subtlety of a blow to the head.

She murders thousands and thousands of them, either by bringing down buildings, causing floods, or just by blasting them. She's finally stopped when Mon-El arrives and gets in front of one of her blasts.

We head back to the Promethean Giant, where Tharok has taken control of one of these massive, legendary beings and compelled it to scratch off the city on its chest. That's where Polar Boy, Invisible Kid, and Phantom Girl are trying their best to save the aliens who live in this city... even though they ate Sun Boy. Polar Boy tries to create an ice barrier but it's not enough - the finger breaks through it.

As they disappear in the "krunch" of the demolition, Tinya continues to be the worst Legion leader ever and I'm tempted to call this the most misogynistic writing of Paul Levitz's career. Instead of being the capable, strong woman she's normally portrayed as, Tinya gets this amazing dialogue:

    "Brek! Jacques! Have I lost the whole team?!

    I'm dooming the Legion!

    No. Leave me alone... let me die, too..."

At this point, I think this is in the running for the worst portrayal of Phantom Girl ever... and I'm including some of the horrid Apparition moments in the Post-Zero-Hour reboot.

Let's go back to Weber's World, where the Empress is really hammering Mon-El all over the place. She says that Tharok gave her Weber's World and she wants everyone dead.

Wouldn't it have been nice to actually give this new Empress some sort of back story? She's not the OG Empress, obviously... or is she due to New 52? 

Then Mon-El flies and grabs as many of the residents as he can, saving them "for the moment." To no surprise, they're not too happy that they can't get off world.

He attacks the Empress again but gets buffeted by a massive amount of green and black Kirby Krackle TM. And just as the Legion cruiser arrives, he's thrown off planet. We see Cosmic Boy, Shadow Lass, Lightning Lass, and Shrinking Violet are in the cruiser but they barely have any time to react as the Empress fires a shot at their ship.

Let's go elsewhere... Persuader and Tharok are celebrating. Persuader calls his leader a genius and Tharok calls the Legionnaires flies, easy to destroy by remote control.

Tharok starts losing control of the Giant, so he heads back to re-assume control. Persuader starts to prepare to head to Earth, promising to follow Tharok... "for now."

Back at Weber's World, the second Legion cruiser has arrived and Brainiac 5 has saved Mon-El by putting him in a force field. Along with him are Element Lad, Dream Girl, and Chemical Kid.

Mon-El is ready again, so the force field is dropped and he attacks the Empress again. They trade blows, and then she gets the advantage, using the Eye. She wants to hear Mon-El's death cry and blasts him. Brainy doesn't have time to raise another shield so we hear Mon-El scream in agony as blood flows everywhere and he loses his left arm. Wow - are they killing off another character from the 60s and one of the most recognizable Legionnaires?

Everyone's shocked - we know because they give us a head shot of every Legionnaire. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they completely forgot that Star Boy died last issue and Dream Girl doesn't look sad at all. Or maybe he's not really dead, following that great comic book logic of "no body, no death."

The Empress realizes that Mon-El is still alive so she readies to finish the job. Which is when the Legionnaires finally get out of their cruisers to do something. Element Lad wraps her in inertron so she can't move and Brainy surrounds that in a force field. So if the Empress is so easy to take care of, why wasn't Jan there with Mon-El right from the very beginning?

Dream Girl grabs Mon-El and takes him to the cruiser. Shadow Lass tells Brainy to get back so he can keep Mon-El alive.

But we have no time to think about mourning another Legionnaire. Validus has arrived at The Sorcerer's World, right at the same time Chameleon Boy, Ultra Boy, and Glorith got there (they used one of her spells last issue). To be continued...

 

Legion of Super-Heroes (vol 7) #20

My first thought when looking at this cover was "when did Shadow Lass go back to her old costume?" Yes, I know it's the Black Witch. But geez, couldn't they have given her any detailing to stand out? Like, say, antennae?

"Vanishing World" has the same writer, and call out, as last issue. Only this issue we have Francis Portela handling the artwork, so I'm much more positive about what I'm going to see.

They also say in the credits that the cover is by Portela and inker Javier Mena. But the signature on the cover is George Perez's. I'm not even too sure what to be snarkiest about - the fact that they didn't know it was Perez handling the cover when they wrote the credits, or the fact that Perez did such a below-his-standard cover that I kinda wish it wasn't him...

We began on The Sorcerers' World and Ultra Boy is trying to figure out what's going on while providing us some background to how we got there. Apparently Glorith, whose teleportation spell brought them there, is actually banned from the planet. She and Chameleon Boy fly off to talk to "the Witch" to get some answers. Why no, I have no idea why Glorith doesn't fly using her Flight Ring, but inconsistency is pretty much par for the course.

Ultra Boy hears some rumbling and then everything around him starts shaking apart, as if there's a massive earthquake. Jo jumps to his feet, climbs up a piece of rock while punching another, and then jumps onto Cham's back (he's turned into a giant bird and is holding Glorith by his claws). Why doesn't Jo fly beside him? I have no idea. Why didn't Cham put Glorith on his back and make her more comfortable? I have no idea. 

But we get a nice awkward segue from Jo: "-- I just wish Tinya was here..."

She's still on the Promethean Giant, who's still trying to scratch her, and the rest of the city built on it, off their chest. Once again, she lets us know how badly she screwed up and how she has to get out of there... "even if it means never coming back." So she's going to phase back to Bgtzl's dimension? So she's ready to completely give up and leave Jo and the Legion? Who the hell is this character?

Speaking of disappearing to other dimensions, Invisible Kid has brought Polar Boy to the dimension he last travelled to waaaaaay back in Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 1980s. Once again, it's an accident. And once again, the pair of Legionnaires run into some dead heroes. Only this time, it's not just Lyle Norg. Who else is standing behind them? Ferro Lad and Earth-Man. Shall we start putting wagers on whether they're going to run into a demon again or are they going to say that this is the dimension where Legionnaires go when they die? Also, Earth-Man? Really?

The trio of Legionnaires have reached the Black Witch's castle and Glorith is warmly greeted by Blok. They've chosen an interesting font for Blok and I can't help reading everything like he's yelling, which does make this whole scene much funnier.

Why is Mysa so busy? She's expending her energy to make sure Mordru doesn't escape from his prison. But something else is breaking the world apart so that must take precedent.

Cham gives us another nice recap of what's happening, with technology failing and people dying. This leads Mysa to say:

    "You are right to feel fear, man of Durla... all you love is under assault, and much of it is crumbling. And the deaths are not only those of strangers."

Jo immediately takes that to mean Tinya, stating that no one can hurt her. But Mysa says, "so we thought... but I feel her spirit no longer in our universe!"

She displays some mystic images and they spot Sun Boy's body. Mysa is also nice enough to recap some things - an ancient science, a monster wrecking the planet, - and they realize Validus is destroying The Sorcerer's World.

Let's go back to the Promethean Giant. Tharok is back in complete control and reveals that he feared Phantom Girl. He brags about being the only being powerful enough to shut down the quark relays and use them for his own desires. He believes that "lesser beings will be glad they have died." Then he "flies" off to see which member of the Fatal Five has destroyed the most Legionnaires.

Validus has reached the heart of the world and the Gemstone within. By destroying this gem, he'll destroy the Witch's powers.

Unfortunately for their evil plans, the Legionnaires arrive before Validus does. The battle begins and, once again, I get the sense that Ultra Boy has completely lost the ability to fly. Did I miss that moment in a previous comic? Or is this just something that "happened" in the New 52 that was never explained? Or it was and I forgot it... have to accept that's a possibility.

Anyway, we ignore that the core of a planet wouldn't be a pit of lava and would have a massive gravitational force that would crush everyone here and we get a big fight scene. A magma-covered Blok rushes across a stone walkway (don't ask) and tackles Validus into the molten rock.

Once more to Weber's World, or what's left of it. Harmonia (I honestly have no memory of her getting on either of these cruisers) is asking who the Emerald Empress is. I guess being as ancient as she is doesn't mean she learned about any of the Legion's foes.

The entire team is in shambles, depressed, and Mon-El is clinging for life. Element Lad wonders what this new Fatal Five is up to so Brainiac 5 delivers the depressing news - they're "living up to their name... whoever the fifth nightmare may be."

That's right - we haven't seen Mano yet. Or whomever his replacement is. I'm sure this'll be fine, right?

As Blok and Validus continue fighting, Mysa tells Glorith that she needs her help to cast a certain spell. Since Glorith has power over time, she's the only one who can help.

What does Mysa's first spell do? It shrinks Validus to the size of an action figure and tears away his strength and power. So she's been able to do this forever? Glad she waited until Validus almost destroyed her world before exercising her skill. Between her and Element Lad, they easily took care of two of the Fatal Five's strongest members. You'd think they would've done this much, much, much sooner.

Then Mysa grabs Glorith's hand, calling her the "heir to the power of time," and they transport The Sorcerer's World "beyond this hell-torn universe."

The planet completely disappears, leaving the tiny Validus floating in space and surrounded by rocks.

Multiple thoughts:

• I have no idea how Glorith's power of time had any effect on this spell, unless they moved The Sorcerer's World either forward or backward in time.
• I know that astrophysics shouldn't get in the way of a good story (which this isn't), but if you remove a planet from a system, wouldn't that just cause a massive gravitational collapse?
• Has Glorith become the biggest waste of story potential in this version of the Legion? It's obvious they're alluding to her being the daughter of the Time Trapper and they could do so many good things with this.
• Is there some sort of rule on comics that all magic users have to talk in some sort of weird English that's one part Shakespeare and one part Yoda? Maybe that's how John Constantine became so popular - he's the only one who speaks normally.

There's a "Pop" and Cham and Ultra Boy have been returned to Earth. They're in the wreckage of what once was their headquarters. I'll give you a nickel if you can guess what part of the HQ they arrived in, even as the building is completely collapsed.

If you guessed the memorial hall, you've been paying attention to these reviews. Yep, we, once again, get a golden statue (it's Ferro Lad this time).

And who's waiting for them, hovering over a fallen Duplicate Damsel? The Persuader, of course.

That's another point for the Legion being a gigantic collection of asses in this book - they're all fleeing the planet and they don't call Luornu and Chuck so they can save them as well? 

Two things really stood out in this issue.

First, I think every single trade ad within was for a Green Lantern-related book. Man, they were pushing these characters hard. Even Larfreeze got a book - written by Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with art by Kolins. 

Second, I thought Giffen was the blood-thirsty one on the creative team before. But we're now down three Legionnaires (two dead, one phased back to her own dimension) and more are out of action (Mon-El maimed, Jacques and Brek in some strange dimension, and Mysa, Blok, and Glorith gone). Did Levitz get the directive to rip this team apart or is has he reached the "F you" stage of this writing hob and is leaving a smoking pile of ash when he's finished?

If I could say one positive thing about these two issues is that at least they didn't kill a Legionnaire in an offensive way. And Portela's artwork was quite good. Okay, two positive things.

Three more to go... I wonder how many more Legionnaires are going to be wiped away.

 

It's the Long Live the Legion podcast episode that Jim's been waiting for since the beginning. We spotlight Shrinking Violet and talk about her with Comics Archaeology! Check us out on your podcast provider of choice or on YouTube!