Comics Archeology

Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #84 (1996)
plot by Tom Peyer & Tom McCraw
pencils by Lee Moder
cover by Alan Davis

I would have expected the ending of the Emerald Violet storyline to have a more colorful cover.

The issue begins with Workforce, where Inferno is still mad that Violet sent her away.
So she decides to finally quit the team, a decision that will have a surprising impact on this era considering how minor of a character Inferno has been.

Last issue ended with Violet creating her Emerald Legion, who gets a double page splash.

I think those designs are fascinating enough to look at them in detail, isn’t it?

Cosmic Boy looks pretty generic, but Saturn Girl has gone back to her 70s costume.
Neat detail with the Saturn symbol on her chest being replaced by a symbol of the eye while still keeping the rings!
Also, I’m sure there’s a perfectly heterosexual reason why Violet gave all the Legion girls new costumes that show FAR more skin than the boys.
There might also be a reason why Gates is cosplaying as Black Manta.

It can’t be to make Gates look less alien, because Chameleon looks decisively MORE alien now.
Spark looks like she could’ve been a Dazzler villain.

Star Boy and M’Onel look kind of boring; notice the latter sports a helmet reminiscent of Leviathan’s. Ultra Boy’s new look is… a choice. We’ll see it better later.

Each of the three Triad bodies have distinct looks.
I don’t think we’ve ever been told how her clothes triplicate, but here it looks like all three have just enough clothes for one.

Live Wire has the same lightning symbols of his sister, he just shows less skin and for whatever reason he has sunglasses.

Brainiac 5 goes full ancestor mode, and XS sports a design that isn’t bad at all for a speedster.
I do find it interesting that she’s the only girl who doesn’t show an unusual amount of skin.

Look I’m not saying that Violet used the Emerald Eye to create her personal harem, but you can’t blame me for suggesting it when you see what Kinetix is wearing.

As I’ve mentioned last time, the Emerald Eye is particularly powerful in this incarnation.
It seems capable of truly doing anything.

We do have a confirmation that Apparition was not a figment of Ultra Boy’s imagination, as she’s the only one who has not been affected.
This is also a good look at Ultra Boy’s new outfit. As if you thought he couldn’t POSSIBLY get more 90s than he already was.

Her attempt to reconnect with Ultra Boy fails, but Saturn Girl is able to sense her.

Her first thought is to free Violet from the eye.
Well, I’m guessing that was her second thought after “what am I not wearing?”.

Okay this got a genuine laugh out of me. Well played.

This would be a perfectly reasonable powerset for a Golden Age hero.

Good news: Saturn Girl is free from the Eye’s control!

Bad news: she’s the only one.

Apparition returns to Legion HQ where Shvaughn Erin and Marla are in charge of the situation.

We get our very first glimpse at this continuity’s Dream Girl, since she had a prophetic dream about the Legion being caught in a massive explosion.
Eh, I’m sure that’s nothing.

Right now the Legion has bigger issues… literally, as Violet transforms a satellite into a gigantic new eye.

Both Saturn Girl and even Inferno have reached Legion HQ now.

Now we have TWO Legionnaires who can see Apparition!

Saturn Girl is most definitely not a fan of Inferno.

But she can’t be TOO picky, so she deputizes both Inferno and even Shvaughn to help.

They better hurry, as Violet is eye-forming Earth to match the Emerald Eye.

Hey, a scene where Gates’s political worldview isn’t used as just the punchline!

He’s turned back into an egg by Kinetix, who breaks from the group mind.

In fact, the Eye might be more interested in Kinetix than even Violet is.

As Violet is busy fighting Kinetix, her grip on the rest of the Emerald Legion weakens… something that Saturn Girl can exploit.

“Surrender, the baby is armed” alone was worth the price of the book.

Violet ultimately wins the fight for the Emerald Eye…

…but this is going too far.

There’s only way to undo this: time travel!
The Emerald Eye can do anything, right?

Well… maybe not. We WERE promised a big explosion after all!

As we’ll learn next time, the explosion separates the Legion into two groups.
The two books will go their separate ways: “Legion of Super-Heroes” will follow the time-displaced team, and “Legionnaires” will stay in the 30th century, until the reunion at issue 100.
I will still alternate reviews of both series, as there are a couple of connections despite the time difference. But there are also A LOT of crossovers and cameos for the 20th century team.

Legion significance: 10/10
It’s the inciting incident of the rest of this era, plus Violet and Kinetix still have a lot of things to go through because of this.

Silver Age-ness: 2/10
Surrender, the baby is armed!

Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
Having nearly the entire team brainwashed throughout the story doesn’t allow us to see much of them, and considering the build-up the conclusion is a bit anticlimactic.
But it’s still a good comic: Moder does get creative with the new looks, the Eye is terrifying, and despite being cut short the strategy to deal with it was compelling.

Who did it better?
Nothing direct comes to mind.

We are legion
8 Legionnaires are lost in time after the explosion. We’ll learn this next issue, but I’m counting them as such from now. Apparition is the only one of them presumed dead by most of the team.