Legionnaires #30 (1995)
written by Tom Peyer & Tom McCraw
pencils and cover by Jeff Moy
Poor Lightning Lad can’t catch a break, no matter how he’s called.
Live Wire and his brother are being hunted by the Science Police, and if you thought Lightning Lord’s animal cruelty was going to be a one-off…
It’s clear that Live Wire has been idolizing his big brother and using his power as an excuse… but he’s coming to the realization that no, Lightning Lord really IS a psychopath.
Despite that, Lightning Lord is a sympathetic character (at least up to a point).
Just like in the original continuity, he’s from a planet where EVERYONE is a twin… but he’s one of the extremely rare exceptions.
In fact it’s so rare that, while we will visit their planet several times, I don’t think we ever see another case.
Honestly, is it all that unbelievable that he would develop a superiority complex? Thinking that his uniqueness had to be a blessing?
I did say “up to a point” for a reason, though.
Just in case you didn’t catch it.
Thankfully, Live Wire is rescued by someone who actually saw through his brother.
Eventually, Lightning Lord goes too far even for his brother.
It looks like Lightning Lord wasn’t entirely off thinking that being an only child makes him superior to his siblings, considering he’s powerful enough to stand up to both at the same time… until you remember that last issue he was explicitly absorbing the power of multiple Lightning Beasts, so he’s kind of cheating there.
Being reminded that he’s alone in a world of twins, Lighting Lord decides to give his brother a very literal example of one being better than two…
…by BLOWING OFF ONE OF HIS ARMS.
Lightning Lord will eventually get a partial redemption, but right now he’s as psychotic as his pre-Crisis incarnation.
(also, cool subtle threat there: “move it AND lose it”, not OR, meaning he’s going to kill her regardless of what she does)
She’s not having any of this.
Live Wire is UNDERSTANDABLY going into shock, but the lighting twins have some unusual biology. When their brother said they bleed lightning, he was being literal.
Let’s not get overboard, Spark, if there’s one constant in your brother’s life is that it can always get worse.
Despite being the one most likely to act childishly, turns out that the sister is BY FAR the more emotionally mature twin.
If you’ve ever read an action series, it’s no shock (pun intended) that the twins manage to win by combining their powers.
That blast was so powerful that it completely discharged Lightning Lord, in addition to giving him his trademark white hair.
He will eventually get his powers back, but in many ways he will never truly recover from this.
Let’s not get six-dimensional about this. Whatever that means.
The issue has only one other subplot.
I wish we saw how Brainiac 5 got the other souvenirs, in addition to the beer he took on the Guy Gardner book.
We are finally launching the plot that will bring back Mon-El.
It is possible that the script says that Triad is praying in the background, but coming up with a way in which her people would do it is definitely a Jeff Moy detail.
It never ceases to amaze me how good he is in this run.
Remember that Mon-El is not trapped in the Phantom Zone, since that doesn’t exist yet in post-Crisis continuity. However that’s just a technicality, because this confirms that his exile works exactly like the original.
Also, as a reminder, I’m using Mon-El instead of Valor for consistency across continuities.
One we reach the point when the two names don’t mean exactly the same thing, I’ll start using his Reboot codename.
Mon-El has been able to make his presence known through power surges, but that’s hardly a stable method.
In fact the only way to reliably access the Stasis Zone is long gone: you can only free Mon-El in the 20th century.
Not a big problem: Brainiac 5 built a functioning time machine in his spare time.
The Legion doesn’t have the classic Time Bubble™ in the Reboot: they have the Time Platform™.
Yeah that’s just about the reaction I’d have if one of my co-workers built a time machine like it was nothing.
The choice of who to bring in the mission is interesting.
Of course Brainiac 5 has to be there, plus Saturn Girl’s and Chameleon’s power are quite useful if you don’t want to attract attention in the past. Good luck keeping Triad out of the mission to rescue her god, and Spark is on her own mission.
Leaving Leviathan behind is a twofold: in addition to the reasoning given by Cosmic Boy, he’s by far the one who would attract the most attention when using his powers.
I mean, how could you NOT trust this guy?
It’s possible that Cosmic Boy takes XS because she has very direct ties to the 20th century… but the omissions are weird.
Kinetix is justified because she’s only TECHNICALLY still on the team… which only leave Invisible Kid and Shrinking Violet as being left behind.
Wouldn’t their powers be INCREDIBLY useful if they don’t want to get attention???
And so we close the issue with everyone looking terrified of being thrown into the timestream… except Brainiac 5 who designed the thing and Triad who is just too happy to meet her good.
Legion significance: 10/10
Live Wire loses his arm (which will be his status quo for 99% of the rest of his career), plus there will be consequences for Lightning Lord’s sanity AND of course we have the first time travel story kicking off.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Nothing in the main plot, but Brainiac 5 casually building a time machine absolutely qualifies.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
I never cared for Lightning Lord before this. He was entertaining in Volume 3, but he was just a stereotypical megalomaniac and his 5YL redemption just came out of nowhere.
He’s just as deranged here, but the dynamic between the three siblings REALLY works. You just feel Live Wire’s pain at finally understanding that he’s been making excuses for his brother for so long, and it’s VERY satisfying to see the twins work together to stop him.
While brief, the subplot is also quite good: from Triad’s ecstatic reaction, to Brainiac 5 treating the historic occasion like another Thursday, and as always it’s full of small Jeff Moy details.
Notice that Cosmic Boy briefly returns to his old competent leader days, hinting that his latest insufferable attitude has reasons behind it.
Moy Tongues: 16
It’s been a while, so Triad continues the tradition in the roll call of the very first page.
As does one of the lightning twins in the flashback. I can’t tell which one.
If I had to guess, I’d say Spark because she does it again in the present.
Well, the future’s present… you know what I mean.
Who did it better?
Let’s compare the two ways Lighting Lad / Live Wire loses his arm.
It can be because the Super Moby Dick Of Space poisoned his lightning bolt, or it can be because of a climactic battle with his insane brother.
You will have a hard time finding someone who enjoys saying Super Moby Dick Of Space more than me, but this absolutely goes to the Reboot.
In a way, this issue is also a repeat of Superboy 172, one the many… excruciatingly MANY disappointing stories where all the three siblings fight.
The Reboot version has the courtesy of having the sister actually participate in the fight instead of being the damsel in distress (she no longer had lightning powers, but still).
We are legion
- 11 active Legionnaires (3 volunteers, 8 drafted)
- 1 expelled member (Live Wire)
- 1 resigned member (Andromeda)
- 2 deceased members (Kid Quantum, Apparition
- 15 people have been members
- 2 Legion leaders (Leviathan, Cosmic Boy)
- 2 members have been rejected
Interesting letters: the question on whether the relationship between Lightning Lass and Shrinking Violet will get a Reboot equivalent is raised.
The Reboot occasionally gets criticized for basically dropping it. While it is possible that it never happened because of editorial interference, I’m willing to defend the writers on this one.
Mark brings up a very good point: the Reboot Legion is approaching the franchise from a more optimistic angle, but that doesn’t mean it’s all sunshine and rainbows.
Despite the “Archie Legion” nickname, it’s not without its dark moments.
And ironically its latter phase will get criticized for getting too dark (a criticism that I completely disagree with, but that’s a discussion for when I get there somewhere before the 25th century).
I was planning to discuss the potential identity of Spark’s secret admirer once we get close to the reveal, but Steve beats me to it.
No spoilers in the comments from those who know the answer, but a challenge to those who haven’t read the reveal… who do you think the admirer is?
I might have spoiled that it’s not Shrinking Violet, but see why I defend the writers on this one?
One thing I never mentioned is that the letters page are always closed by some awful puns and jokes when crediting the cover.
Yeah there’s a reason why I never bring up those puns.
It’s too bad Garth, Ayla, and Mekt don’t have matching Lightning names in this continuity, but tightening up and better defining their relationships works even better than having them be Lad, Lass, and Lord. Mekt definitely benefits from having his story told in order this time around, as opposed to original continuity where he first appears in the Adult Legion stories and gradually has his backstory play out over the decades.
Regarding Winathian twins… As far as I can recall, every sets of twins we ever see are same sex, except for Garth and Ayla. No one ever brings this seeming anomaly up. Does this contribute to Ayla’s ability to disguise herself as Garth in her original continuity first appearance?
I think we see a couple of boy-girl twins in “Legengs of the Legion”.
This version of Garth losing his arm is condensed and combined with the other related story line of Garth’s rivalry with Mekt. It’s a masterful form of story telling, and, taken on these merits, it is certainly an improvement over the original story lines (especially the rivalry).
However, the Super Moby Dick story also had a lot going for it. Lightning Lad loses his arm on a routine mission, highlighting the dangerous lives led by the Legionnaires. Tension mounts as the Legionnaires fear that Garth’s injury has affected his mind, leading to his Ahab-like determination to kill the space creature. And Saturn Girl is well used not only as the Legion’s leader at the time but as someone who cares deeply about Garth. It is a very different story than the reboot version, making comparisons difficult.
If I have to pick one or the other as having done it better, I would go with the original for the above reasons. Also, the reboot version tries to combine and condense too many things at once. We have the injury, Mekt’s megalomania, Mekt’s singleton status, Ayla’s maturity and saving the day, and the Mon-El subplot. Again, it’s masterful story telling but a bit too neatly resolved in my opinion.
Nice personal story with the Winathian siblings.
I figure we are meant to understand that Brainy has been using the time plataform often for short trips, perhaps in anticipation of having to ask his ancestor Vril something about the lead antidote at some point. If I am not mistaken at this point he does not know that Andromeda survived, but he may have calculated that there are good odds. Even if he did not, he would want to have the ability to develop more general-use versions of the antidote – he does not easily accept that there are limitations to what he can accomplish.
Triad’s little ritual is a stroke of genius; just the kind of thing that she would of course have developed in order to reascertain and recalibrate her connection with her own selves now and then. It may or may not be comparable to what would be understood as praying in the 20th and 21st centuries (I firmly hope not).
I could see Brainy being Ayla’s secret admirer, but it is probably way too soon after his crush on Andromeda.
The secret admirer thing started before Andromeda’s “death”.
I’ll guess Matter Eater Lad for secret admirer, even though he just works in the kitchen. I could see it being Invisible Kid as well.