Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #78 (1996)
written by Tom Peyer & Tom McCraw
pencils by Lee Moder
cover by Alan Davis
Something familiar with this cover. I can’t put my finger on why.
The President of the United Planets has dispatched the Legion to deal with the return of the Sun-Eater. Don’t be shocked, but Apparition’s mother is not a fan of this idea.
My first thought was “Why is she free? Didn’t Cosmic Boy prove that she brainwashed Element Lad into killing people as Starfinger?”.
Then I remembered:
A) his proof is little more than “I saw it in someone else’s dream”
B) she’s a powerful politician
And speaking of politicians, the Sun-Eater is the best thing that has happened to the extension of the United Planets.
The idea behind this new version of the Fatal Five is that they were created to fight the Sun-Eater.
Validus is the only one I buy.
But I still can’t wrap my head around the idea that Empress, who in this version is ONLY a hand-to-hand fighter, was created to fight the Sun-Eater.
Also: the Legionnaires being annoyed by Gates is great, but Leviathan is going too far here. I get he’s joking, but still.
The first criminal to be recruited is going to be Mano; fitting, considering he’s the only one we already met. And it turns out he’s under McCauley’s custody.
It looks like Evolvo Lad is the only member of Workforce who hasn’t quit his job.
Clearly he was the best member of the team.
As for Mano, he’s not in the best hands. Pun intended.
As a reminder, the reason why Mano is in jail is that he attempted to blow up a moon AND murdering a bunch of McCauley employees.
So he gets a pardon for murder and attempted murder because he helps stop a genocide?
Sounds legit.
Meanwhile, Validus is rampaging on a random planet.
Why wasn’t the Legion called to deal with him even before the Sun-Eater business? I get it’s a big galaxy, but he’s kind of hard to ignore!
Something I’ve never considered: would Validus even be put on trial? I feel like the United Planets would either consider him a wild animal, but the concept of giving him a pardon implies he was charged with specific crimes. Would Validus be sentient enough for it?
How do you stop a building-sized baby throwing a tantrum? Have his mom yell at him.
While I really don’t like the retcon of Saturn Girl being his mother… Validus works WAY better as some kind of space monster that nobody can explain… I do enjoy her being the one to take him down.
In my opinion, Validus should NEVER be defeated by brute force.
Next up is Empress, who has been killing time by killing EVERYONE in her prison!!!
She is BY FAR the most underwhelming of the Fatal Five in this version.
I get that they couldn’t give her the Emerald Eye so early because it’s part of a different storyline, but they could at least have given her some interesting abilities!
The next to be recruited is Tharok, who is hyped as the most dangerous one.
Interesting detail about Gates not being great at walking. He’s the only teleporter of his planet, so it’s not like his species never walks.
Does his planet have a lower gravity? Is his species particularly sedentary?
I think he’s just lazy because of his powers.
Which tracks: if you could teleport, wouldn’t you walk considerably less?
Tharok’s new origin isn’t all that different from the original.
He surrenders without a fight. Nothing suspicious there.
The last to be recruited is Persuader, who is charming as always.
Ironic that the Legion got to visit Takron-Galtos to free a prisoner… and it’s not Brainiac 5.
Empress is not anywhere near as manipulative as Emerald Empress used to be, but I do find it notable that she immediately singled out Gates as the most promising chance to splinter the Legion.
Aaaaand the Fatal Five IMMEDIATELY betray the Legion.
Who could have seen this coming?
Other than everyone?
Legion significance: 8/10
The Fatal Five will play a smaller role in the Reboot than they did in the original continuity, but they’re still quite important.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
A mostly solid re-introduction to the Fatal Five and a continuation of the political intrigue beneath it. As a standalone issue it’s definitely weaker, but understandable as the series is beginning to wrap up several plots.
One flaw is that while the Sun-Eater is indeed a big deal, the Legion completely ignoring any potential consequence of the Starfinger plot is weird to say the least.
Who did it better?
As much as I love the Reboot, the introduction of the Fatal Five doesn’t hold a candle to the original version.
We are legion
- 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
Interesting letters: several letters so far have suggested that Apparition might return, and the answers have always been vague.
By now they are insisting that she is not coming back.
Judging from the letters, the reaction to Apparition’s death was a mixture of incredulity and sadness. But some like Larry took as a sign of deterioration from the series, including being overly critical of the team’s bad public relations.
Angst in a 90s comic book? Who’s ever heard of something like that?