Legion of Super-Heroes Annual v3 #1

Legion of Super-Heroes Annual v3 #1 (1985)
written by Paul Levitz
pencils by Keith Giffen & Karl Kesel

It’s time to answer the mystery: who shot Laurel Kent?

It’s monitor duty time at Legion HQ, with only five Legionnaires staying on Earth.
This is why I just love the use of the Legionnaire symbols… just one panel and you instantly know where everybody is without having to write down a list!
Granted, you have to remember the symbols, but most of them are easy.

This is Magnetic Kid’s real chance to have a proper first mission, after the complete dud that was issue #15.

While the others are fine with just playing cards, Brainiac 5 is too restless and asks for anything to do.

That’s a fine character moment for him, but it really makes evident that the Legion really didn’t take the assassination attempt of Laurel as a priority.

So they begin by questioning Laurel. Who despite what some panels suggest is not exactly naked.

If you though Laurel going around wearing a cape like a poncho with nothing underneath was the peak of her fanservice… she really goes all the way in this.
I can’t make fun of her catching a cold since she’s invulnerable, but this is kind of nuts.

Colossal Boy and Magnetic Kid then decide to follow Laurel, disguising themselves with some tech provided by Brainiac 5.
That’s an awesome alien design, but the five Legionnaires following this case include Shrinking Violet and Chameleon Boy, why aren’t THEY the ones following Laurel!?

They don’t even do a good job at it: they think a civilian approaching Laurel is an assassin and they IMMEDIATELY blow their cover. Even worse: they’re just as bad at this as officer Dvron from the Science Police.

Weird to see Laurel swear by Rao. That’s the name of the god of Krypton… but she’s the descendant of Superman after 1,000 years of her family living on Earth.
I wonder if Rao’s religion had a resurgence after people started worshipping Superman?

In any case, Laurel is not worried about the possibility of being targeted a second time.

After all, Kryptonite is very rare in the 30th century. It’s not like THE ENTIRE SKY WAS FILLED WITH KRYPTONITE years ago.

Magnetic Kid, despite screwing up everything up to this point, finally has a good idea on how to trace the gun that shot Laurel.

So the investigation moves to Thanagar, a.k.a. Hawman’s home planet. Always neat to see what the planets we normally only see in the 20th century are doing in the future!
Fitting since Thanagarians often acted as space cops, the planet is now home of the Science Police’s museum.

Also Chameleon Boy is sort of a minor celebrity around here.

Magnetic Kid’s hunch proves correct: the gun was stolen from Thanagar by an unknown being.

Meanwhile Shrinking Violet is following another lead, and it’s an interesting one.
Remember when Timber Wolf hired a private eye to follow Lightning Lass? I assumed he was murdered by the Legion of Super-Villains, since they kidnapped LL before she could be found.
But apparently Shrinking Violet has another idea.

This is a very cool sequence. It’s not just narrated by Violet, but every panel is a shot from her perspective.

And we get to see what she thinks of LL’s planet. She’s not a fan.

That’s hardly surprising, since Violet doesn’t like many people in this period. Although her distrust of the Science Police’s detective work is 100% justified considering their track record.

Unfortunately she ends up triggering a bomb left behind by the person who murdered the private eye, so this part of the investigation ends nowhere.

We then return to Earth, and I think it’s still Violet narrating here.

Okay up to this point every Legionnaire involved… except Colossal Boy… has been rather competent as a detective.
But it’s time to let Brainiac 5 show them how it’s done.

I freaking love this guy.

Despite that revelation, Brainiac 5 asks the Legionnaires to just sit down and wait, watching the target be hit by an explosion.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Brainiac 5 is my favorite Legionnaire.

Also, this MIGHT be the origin of reboot running gag of Brainiac 5 incorporating explosions into his scientific process.

Brainiac 5 managed to deduce the next target by estimating that the various leads were connected and that every attempted murder happened during a full moon.

Ah, of course, the assassin must be a werewolf!

Never change, Brainy. Never change.

This is not the first time of “Oli Queen”, by the way: he’s made a few cameos as the guy driving the bus that makes tour guides of the Legion HQ. He first showed up all the way back in issue #290, but he’s such a minor presence that I’m not even sure I ever showed one of his panels.

There’s only one last place where the assassin might strike, and once the Legionnaires leave the HQ to deal with that Laurel has decided she’s not cut out to be a superhero.

Sadly nothing really comes out of this. Laurel could’ve been more interesting than GiGi Cusimano as a second Science Police liaison.

Always neat to have some worldbuilding on Earth’s future.

The last targets are revealed to be the Tornado Twins, a.k.a. the Flash’s descendants that we haven’t seen since Adventure Comics #373 (outside of a cameo).

They’re attacked by THIS THING…

…and while in their original story the twins were a match for the entire Legion, now they need to be saved by Shrinking Violet.

The robot that tried to murder the twins escape, but doing this leads directly to the final act.

And now the true connections between all the potential victims is clear: they were all descendants of Justice League members.

When you think about it, the fate of the JLA descendants is kind of funny.
Flash’s descendants are occasionally superheroes.
Batman’s descendant was a detective.
Hawman’s descendant was a security guard.
Superman’s descendant is an aspiring Legionnaire.
Green Arrow’s descendant is the tour guide for the Legion HQ.

Notice the Justice League members who don’t have heirs are Martian Manhunter, possibly because he’s supposed to be the last Martian at this point, Wonder Woman who doesn’t exactly surprise me…

…and Green Lantern, because Hal Jordan not reproducing is the reason why the 30th century is a utopia.

Brainiac 5’s deduction is a bit weird. Why point out at the phase of the Moon instead of the fact that the assassination attempts are happening at regular intervals?

The robot has returned to its master, and once it fights the Legionnaires notice he has the symbols of his targets on its chest. You can barely see a miscolored Green Lantern symbol among those that have been crossed out, so Green Lantern might have had a descendant after all.

Having Magnetic Kid around means the robot doesn’t last very long, and it’s a fitting end since the kid was the one to open the investigation.

And so we arrive at the ending, and it’s quite the anti-climax: the would-be assassin doesn’t even show up or meet the Legion, since he’s still in cryo-sleep.

For some reason his name is not mentioned, but this is blatantly Professor Ivo, the creator of Amazo. The idea that he’s been acting as a serial killer for the past 1,000 years is very creepy, but he can’t have been THAT successful since there are still descendants to kill.

And that is the REAL introduction of Magnetic Kid into the team.

Although it is pretty funny that he solved the case only because Brainiac 5 was bored and needed something to pass the time.

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Legion significance: 0/10
You would think this would lead to doing more with the idea of the Justice League descendants, but with Crisis behind the corner nothing is done with this.

Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Despite having a very Silver Age villain behind everything, not really.

Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
A good story but sort of a missed opportunity. I would’ve preferred if the readers had ANY chance to guess “Who shot Laurel Kent?”, but there weren’t any real clues. I mean the answer turns out to be “A robot we’ve never seen built by someone who never interacted with the Legion and lived a thousand years before them”, how were we supposed to guess!?!?
There are also some baffling decisions, like having Colossal Boy and Magnetic Kid being the ones to follow Laurel incognito. Chameleon Boy and Shrinking Violet had a chance to shine, sure, but not using them in that capacity was weird.
Laurel Kent is also extremely under-utilized; this could’ve been the chance to do something with her besides fanservice, but no such luck.
The artwork can be a bit off-putting at times, especially since each chapter has a different inker.
Some sequences really work, particularly the one from Violet’s perspective, but others can be a bit jarring. Plus you have the way Giffen draws faces in this period.

We are legion
24 active Legionnaires
8 reserve members
10 deceased members