Legionnaires #36 (1996)
written by Roger Stern & Tom McCraw
pencils and cover by Jeff Moy
The Legionnaires have had better days.
We begin with XS being chased by a Daxamite soon after returning to the 30th century.
Two Daxamites, actually.
We circle back to the very first issue of the Reboot, because right now Braal (Cosmic Boy’s planet) and Titan (one guess which Legionnaire is from there) are just about to go back to war again.
I’m sure that’s completely disconnected from the threat of the Sun-Eater.
Also unconnected: Apparition’s mother, who was discovered to have brainwashed Element Lad into becoming Starfinger, is currently under house arrest.
And obviously they have to take precautions to work around her intangibility powers.
And with the setup out of the way, we rejoin the Legion… who is at the mercy of the Fatal Five, with Gates being the only one still conscious.
But help is on the way thanks to the Rescue Squad, also known as I Can’t Believe It’s Not The Legion.
A team that includes former Legionnaires like Live Wire and Andromeda, but also almost-Legionnaires like Element Lad and Mon-El.
I suppose I could call him Valor, but he’s a bit touchy about it. I’ll stick with Mon-El until he gets his actual Reboot codename.
Turns out that XS was really late to the party. Well she IS related to Barry Allen.
Last time Persuader’s Atomic Axe failed to break through Brainiac 5’s force field, and this time it seems to have a similar problem with Ultra Boy’s invulnerability.
I think it’s fair to say that its “cut through anything” fame is quite overstated in the Reboot.
There is A LOT going on here, because the Rescue Squad is actually the results of a long subplot we weren’t even fully aware existed.
Great little touch here: they try to use the “there’s no time to explain” trope… which gets wonderfully subverted!
And here’s when the big Cosmic Boy plan comes into focus. He wasn’t being a jerk to the Legion for no reason… he was being a jerk to hid the fact that he was secretly building a second team!!!
But also: all the Legionnaires introduced but seemingly forgotten along the way?
They were STILL on the team!
Well, not ALL of them, they did forget Sun Boy.
Although introducing Andromeda to Mon-El could have gone better.
There ALSO an explanation for why Saturn Girl didn’t pick up Cosmic Boy’s plan, but that will have to wait next time: it’s back to fighting.
The whole gang (minus Sun Boy) is here, as Kinetix FINALLY bothers to show up!!!
Kind of impressive for Violet to instantly recognize Kinetix, considering she looks nothing like she did the last time they met.
The Fatal Five have a nasty habit of teleporting out of the way whenever they’re not on top.
Kinetix’s plot… will not be addressed in the slightest during this story, and honestly she’s even more confused than the readers at this point.
Hilarious Gates moment though.
We are still not done with the Fatal Five, since they haven’t reached their daily rate of murders.
Specifically, they just stole some powerful weapons.
Just how many times can Saturn Girl be drafted!? She was already drafted into the Legion!
Whoever the Fatal Five are working for sure loves to create diplomatic incidents.
A good indication of just how massive the Legion is: they don’t just split the team into two separate groups…
…they have enough people for THREE!!!
There’s still the problem of Brainiac 5 still technically being a fugitive.
Chameleon of all people has a solution for it, which we will learn next issue.
First order of business is dealing with Apparition’s mother, who is a prime suspect as the one behind the whole conspiracy.
Things don’t go well in the mission though…
…in fact, both Chameleon and Invisible Kid die in action!!!
And that’s not all: there’s barely enough time for Brainiac 5 to turn himself in…
…before he’s ALSO killed!!!
Next issue will the final one in the draft era.
Because I guess that if it went any further we wouldn’t have any Legionnaires left alive.
Legion significance: 10/10
Together with the next issue in the retrospective, this is essentially a two-parter for the finale of the draft era.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
With that amount of planning? Yeah right.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
It’s just soooo satisfying to see the Legion come together like this, after so many growing pains.
ESPECIALLY with the revelation that not only Cosmic Boy’s jerkass persona was just an act, but also that he’s been a couple of steps ahead of everybody!
The squad he assembles isn’t only satisfying because it uses every potential Legionnaire we’ve seen so far (except poor Sun Boy)… we ALSO have Andromeda, Element Lad and Live Wire using their own pain from their own personal journeys to aid a fellow Legionnaire.
The only part that I wish had been handled better is Kinetix… she’s been stuck in her own subplot even longer than XS and it STILL hasn’t amounted to anything yet! It definitely will, but man has that subplot been jogging in place for ages.
The best part? This isn’t even the FULL Cosmic Boy plan, as in the last chapter he will help the Legion pull off one of the most well-thought victories of their entire career.
Moy Tongues: 17
Spark takes the opportunity to update the count during the roll call.
Who did it better?
No direct comparison comes to mind.
We are legion
In any other era, I would be counting the Rescue Squad as joining as members.
But in THIS era, the Legionnaires are not the ones who get to decide who joins the team, so they are not counted yet.
I would count Chameleon, Invisible Kid and Brainiac 5 among the dead… but I don’t think anyone was fooled for a second that they are actually dead by a single gunshot for quick shock value.
This is not 5YL anymore.
- 12 active Legionnaires (3 volunteers, 9 drafted)
- 2 expelled members (Live Wire, Brainiac 5)
- 1 resigned member (Andromeda)
- 1 honorary member (Superboy)
- 2 deceased members (Kid Quantum, Apparition)
- 18 people have been members
- 2 Legion leaders (Leviathan, Cosmic Boy)
- 2 members have been rejected