Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #17

Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #17 (1985)
by Paul Levitz & Greg LaRoque

I’m flattered, Sun Boy, but I’ve seen how you guys treat the new members.

After four whole pages of Leland McCauley discussing how to get rid of R.J.Brande with his subordinates…

…Dream Girl wakes up from her power nap with bad news.

It’s understandable that Dream Girl would be defensive of her powers, considering they’re the reason for her presence in the Legion… but the idea that her visions are always right is only TECHNICALLY correct, so I don’t blame her teammates for being skeptical.

She tries to talk to Element Lad about this, but she has trouble finding him. Maybe just give him a call? The Legion rings ARE supposed to be communication devices as well.

Nice moment showing us where all the Legionnaires are.
Mon-El and Shadow Lass are having a moment, Sensor Girl is talking to Magnetic Kid, and there’s a basketball game going on.
Notice Ultra Boy is SO committed to his symbol that he wears it on his civilian clothes. I wonder who he’s playing with… they look like Colossal Boy and Phantom Girl, but who’s the other guy?

Brainiac 5 is busy trying to learn how Invisible Kid’s random teleportation power works.

Only to be one-upped by Sensor Girl casually dropping by.

This is yet another clue to her identity, but to be honest I don’t think it’s all that helpful… even knowing who she is (no spoilers!), it’s a VERY sketchy clue.

Apparently unable to discuss things with the Legion leadership, Dream Girl went ahead talking directly to Brande himself. Who has a very R.J.Brande answer.

He’s also quick to realize that Quislet is, in fact, still awesome.

Still, Brande is just too stubborn to listen to his protegés.

But while they argue, one of Brande’s assistants reveal himself as one of McCauley’s goons using a Power Siphon™ to absorb Sun Boy’s energy.

Don’t worry, the Legion has got this.

But that’s only the beginning, because now Brande’s asteroid is ATTACKED BY MISSILES.

Not helped by the fact that the assassin managed to disable Brande’s security systems.

Quislet’s got this. Although I would’ve chosen a different sound effect from “poop”.

That takes care of the attack on Brande’s life. Now all we have to do is stop Brande from murdering his own would-be assassin.

Alright, that IS kind of funny.

The assassin reveals that McCauley was behind all this, so the Legionnaires launch an assault on his secret base.

If you don’t want to be mistaken for a supervillain, McCauley, maybe don’t make yourself a throne.

If you’re wondering why McCauley wanted to assassinate Brande… really, what wasn’t clear about it?

But he gets away with this, making the whole thing kind of pointless. Maybe Brande somehow uses this kind of stuff to get a tax deduction.

Brande is SO over his whole character that he decides he’s going to quit being R.J.Brande, abandoning his entire identity to create a new one.

That WOULD be a funny ending, Dream Girl…

…but YOU SAID HE WAS GOING TO BE KILLED!!!
What the heck DID you see!?

This is why your teammates don’t trust your power, Dreamy.

In other plots, the investigation on who mind controlled the Science Police officers in the previous issues is going nowhere.

Also, the nature of Invisible Kid’s teleportation is revealed to be ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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This issue doesn’t have ads, but the additional pages are taken by a roll call of the Legionnaires. I guess the issue itself was as bored as I was.

They’re very well done, but nothing new except apparently even in the 30th century SOMEBODY still isn’t using the metric system.

Also not very useful for the Sensor Girl mystery.

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Legion significance: 0/10
As skippable as it is boring.

Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really

Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
First the positives: the artwork is GREAT, with LaRoque proving to be a good match for the book.
Quislet is a lot of fun, and the scene where the assassin asks the Legion to protect him from Brande is a classic. And that’s about it.
This REALLY feels like filler, and I doubt it was intended as Brande’s last hurrah (which it won’t be). Even as a Dream Girl story it falls flat, with the final twist being very forced.
Overall it’s not BAD, just a snoozefest.

We are legion
24 active Legionnaires
7 reserve members
11 deceased members