Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1

Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1 (1982)
by Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen

I tend to forget that the Legion’s first annual was part of the Great Darkness Saga, since it wasn’t included in the Italian series that introduced me to the Legion.
But not only it ties directly into the main series… it’s kind of important for the Legion’s history.

And we begin by basically re-introducing Shvaughn Erin, who we haven’t seen for a while… you might remember that she was introduced all the way back during Earthwar, specifically in issue 241. That was four years ago, but Shvaughn is here to stay: she’s now officially the Science Police liaison to the Legion.

It’s going to be a WILD ride for her. But as even she reminds us, she volunteered for the job!

Element Lad gives her a tour of the HQ, but mercifully he skips explaining WTF the Reflecto storyline was. He DOES point out that the Legion has gone paperless, so hey, Best of DC #24 wasn’t completely pointless after all!

The latest attraction of the HQ is a state-of-the-art medical lab that Brainiac 5 built specifically to cure Matter-Eater Lad, but he’s currently using it to cure a sick young girl: Danielle Foccart, who will eventually become a familiar face to Legion readers…

…and more importantly her brother Jacques.
Danielle is being cured not just by Brainiac 5, but by the other resident scientists: Mon-El and Dream Girl.

Her scientific knowledge has been brought up several times lately, but you’d be forgiven for forgetting that Mon-El is also a scientist.

Crucially, Brainiac 5 uses the Computo circuitry as part of the procedure… which naturally immediately causes problems!

(weird to see Dream Girl swear by Cassandra. Is that the same woman from Greek mythology? Anything’s possible in DC Comics)

So, uhm, yeah. Computo is back by possessing Danielle’s mind, and he’s WAY scarier as a little girl than in his original form!!!

And so Computo takes control of the entire Legion HQ, launching attacks on the various Legionnaires.

Starting with Cosmic Boy who is FINALLY getting a decent costume! Not only that, this variant will be the basis for pretty much all his future costumes.
And weirdly enough it was sewed by Light Lass, of all people.

It’s a clever trap, and it does make sense that Computo would take out Cosmic Boy first: his magnetic powers are probably the greatest defense against the various machines Computo controls.

In the light of all the Light Lass drama, it’s telling that Saturn Girl’s first instinct upon her return was an attempt to get closer to her husband.

I’m not entirely sure what Computo is doing to defend itself against Element Lad, though.

Computo’s way of dealing with Mon-El might be the cruelest one. Hasn’t this poor dude suffered enough?

As soon as the Science Police gets word that Computo is back, they are so terrorized that they evacuate the entire city!!!

It really goes to show how scary Computo is. While the Legion has faced more dangerous villains, remember that Earth is a peaceful utopia in the 30th century… until Computo did THIS:

This hits particularly hard for Duo Damsel. The original Computo saga holds up very well, but its weakest point was the complete lack of drama of Triplicate Girl losing one of her bodies.
Thankfully, this issue does a great job at contextualizing that!

That being said, I call bulls##t on Shadow Lass not knowing what Computo was.
Sure, she wasn’t part of the Legion back then and I can assume her planet of Talok VIII is pretty isolated from the rest of the United Planets… but come on, didn’t she study ANY of the Legion’s history!? Blok I could but being this clueless, but not Shady.

Computo is very straightforward: most of the Legionnaires won’t take much to kill.
I guess the message on the screen should’ve been in Interlac, but I’m glad that wasn’t the case.

Things are so dire that Superboy feels a chill down his spine centuries earlier!!!
Also, notice Superboy is now EXPLICITLY from 1969. Since the Legion is always set 1,000 years in the future, “present day” would be 1982.
That means Superboy is currently 13 younger than Superman. I don’t think Superboy is older than 17 at this point? Superman being 30 years old feels right for the beginning of his career, but he must’ve been Superman for several years by 1982.

The poor Subs still can’t get respect.

At least Lightning Lad is back on his feet! That’s kind of at odds with what happens in the next Legion story, but it’s good to see him recover.

Star Boy has FINALLY grown his beard! The combination of the beard and the star-filled costume means he’s finally reached the best look he will ever have.

When a D&D game goes a liiiiitle out of hand. Also: did they get Mordru to sign off the royalties?

Admittedly Computo doesn’t get to do a lot in the story, but I really really like its dialogue. It’s both personal and ice cold at the same time!

This is also an interesting moment for Brainiac 5, dealing once again with the pain caused by one of his inventions. And admitting that being insane felt much better than this.

We interrupt this superhero comic to bring you an episode of the Odd Couple.
And your regular reminder that Blok is, in fact, awesome.

The situation is apparently so bad that the Green Lantern Corps call to help!!! They didn’t show up when Grimbor CHAINED THE EARTH, but apparently Computo is THAT scary.

The near complete disconnection between the Legion lore and the Green Lantern lore has always been the space elephant in the 30th century.
The distrust and seemingly hate that Earth has for the Corps is extremely interesting. Too bad that the eventual resolution will be disappointing, in my opinion.

Even the Big Bad of the Great Darkness Saga senses Computo!!!
(your regular reminder that I’m not spoiling the identity of the villain until I have to)

Quite telling, however, he’s reluctant to attack Earth until he’s ready. Bonus, the shield they put around Earth actually DID something!!!

Speaking of Computo, its energies are slowly burning through Danielle’s body. Not that it cares all that much.

The idea of killing Danielle to take out Computo is never brought up… the Legion’s “no-killing policy” is firmly established at this point… but that doesn’t mean Brainiac 5 is not going to exploit Computo’s only weakness.

This is Brainiac 5 at his best: outgunned and outmatched, he thinks outside the box…

…turning Jacques into the next Invisible Kid!

Speaking of geniuses: Element Lad has spent all of this time trying to get past Computo’s barrier and he hasn’t though of trying the floor!?
Maybe Shadow Lass should make a try at being the Legion leader. I don’t think she’s ever run for the position.

One of the attacks has knocked out Light Lass, who is agonizing on the question of what Timber Wolf did with Saturn Girl on the asteroid.
Can’t you just FREAKING ASK HIM!?!?

Lightning Lad is forced to fight a younger version of himself…

…with the intent of causing a nervous breakdown.
Which may SOUND over-the-top for non-Legion fans, and it kind of is.
But to Legion fans, all I have to say is “SW6 batch”. They’ll understand.

 

On the other hand: Mon-El having an existential crisis when shown the device that has exiled him to a phantom dimension for 1,000 years? THAT I’ll buy.

Seeing how heartless Computo is, and how quickly his sister’s health is deteriorating, Jacques decides to take the Invisible Kid serum after all.

Technically speaking, Computo shouldn’t be able to do anything to Brainiac 5 as long as he has his force field. But that would be boring, so Levitz comes up with a compelling scenario: Brainiac 5 giving an opening to Computo in order to give both Dream Girl and Jacque a chance.

He’s also great at multi-tasking, because while dodging everything Computo is throwing at him, he ALSO instructs Mon-El to reveal the position of a crucial component.

This allows the now invisible Jacques to recover the device AND ambush Computo!!!

And that’s the end of the Computo threat. Danielle will stay in stasis until Brainiac 5 can cure her.
But can we PLEASE give her something to wear!?

Brainiac 5 feels responsible for all this. On one hand he technically IS, but it’s a bit unfair to say he should’ve predicted that Computo would be able to posses a human.
Brainy resigns and nominate a new member: the second Invisible Kid.

Wildfire DOES have a point: Jacques did indeed act admirably, but he BARELY qualifies as a superhero at this point. The fact that Wildfire uses the opportunity to push his proteges probably doesn’t help him, though.

Wait, resignations from the Legion can be refused? It’s a fully voluntary organization… you can’t exactly force someone to be a Legionnaire, can you?

I feel bad for the heroes of Legion Academy. They spend YEARS training and this guy is immediately made a member with few questions asked!

In the middle of all this (I couldn’t figure out where to point this out during the rest of the review): Chameleon Boy finally, FINALLY realized he’s screwed up royally. ABOUT TIME!!!

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Bonus: the story also includes a two-page spread showing the schematics of Legion HQ.
I always like it when superhero books do this sort of thing, but it’s kind of ruined by the coloring choices… it’s BARELY readable.

It is, however, quite possibly the only blueprint of a superhero headquarters that takes the trouble of pointing out where is the restroom!!

Also of note: the Multi-Lab being nicknamed “Brainy’s playroom” and the cell bank with Legionnaire cells, probably a deep cut all the way back to Superboy #206.

Also, the married couple of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad share the same quarters… but all the other current couples sleep in separate quarters.

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Legion significance: 10/10
How could it be anything else? It redefines Computo’s role in the Legion, it introduces the new Invisible Kid and to a lesser extent his sister, plus it pushes Shvaughn Erin to the frontline.
Not to mention Star Boy grows his beard!

Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Yeah don’t expect to see Bizarro Computo this time around.

Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
This is a great story. Computo takes a huge leap in how scary it is, which is impressive considering he barely accomplishes anything. There are however a few little things that prevent me from giving this a 10/10… some of the Legionnaires are taken out in lame ways, and for all the hype given by Brainiac 5 and other Legionnaires I didn’t find Invisible Kid II compelling enough to justify giving him membership right away. He’ll get better, but that was a rough start for the character.

We are legion
With the new Invisible Kid joining, there have been a total of 40 Legionnaires so far.
22 active Legionnaires
6 reserve members
1 honorary member (Rond Vidar)
1 on sick leave (Matter-Eater Lad)

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Interesting letters: WAS Legion fandom really dying at the time? This is the period when the Legion’s popularity explodes, so it’s an interesting time capsule.

Also, this is about the period when the Adult Legion canon gets called into question often.
Which is only natural: the Legionnaires may still be using “boy” and “kid” names, but they’re clearly written (and drawn) like adults.
I still think that counting the Adult Legion as the OFFICIAL future was a disastrous decision.