Legion of Super-Heroes vol.3 #19 (1986)
by Paul Levitz & Greg LaRoque
It’s easy to mistake this cover for being set much earlier, since it basically continues the plot of issue 8.
We begin with some superhero flirting, as Ultra Boy deals with a tsunami.
Having superheroes deal with natural disasters never gets old. It’s simple, it can be used to give some demonstration of power, and it can either be a breather or a deep dive into personal drama.
After all, what kind of absolute moron would argue AGAINST it?
But the mission is cut short by Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy being teleported away by an unknown entity.
Soon followed by Element Lad…
…as are Chameleon Boy and Shrinking Violet, although their disappearance is not shown.
Notice the seating arrangement at the meeting: it’s rarely casual in this period.
The four rookies are sitting on the same side of the table, and all the romantic couples are sitting next to each other, including the unofficial (Blok / White Witch)…
…and the long concluded (Lightning Lass and Timber Wolf, although is it me or are they arguing?).
Mon-El of all people is the one urging the Legion to do SOMETHING, since last time this exact group disappeared they did little to recover them.
Surprising Mon-El is the impatient one, the role is typically given to Wildfire or Ultra Boy.
Then again, Mon-El WOULD be the most committed to avoiding someone else being lost in another dimension for who knows how long!
Will Sensor Girl’s mysterious powers be the key to finding the missing Legionnaires?
Nope! There’s no need for that, because a Controller shows up to finish the plot of issue 8.
Predictably for an all-powerful godlike alien, the Controller is completely useless at providing any actual information.
So why has the Controlled kidnapped the Legionnaires? Because by destroying his planet back in issue 8…
…they have unleashed something worse than the Sun-Eaters housed there: Tyrraz.
If you’ve never heard of Tyrraz, you’re not alone!
Well, Tyrraz is not necessarily as bad as a Sun Eater… but if it DOES take a Sun Eater to defeat it, it’s bad news indeed.
Tyrraz is basically Warworld. I wonder why Levitz didn’t directly use Warworld… yes it was destroyed in its last appearance, but continuity was in flux enough. He could’ve just used the name without referencing any specific story.
Or maybe he really wanted to create a connection to our old friend Tyr, who shows up to fight the Legionnaires.
Not that he makes a lot of difference, considering the absurd firepower of Tyrraz.
We don’t have a fully fleshed origin story for Tyrraz like we did with Warwold, but it’s basically the same story.
And that’s our cliffhanger: since the Sun Eater isn’t there to stop Tyrraz, it’s going to reach inhabited space soon enough.
In other plots, Brainiac 5 has not recovered from Supergirl’s death.
This is a perfect example of why placing the Legion in the pre/post Crisis divide is so difficult: it’s still essentially the pre-Crisis continuity, but it’s set after Crisis.
Supergirl is not the only blonde Brainiac 5 is fixated on.
Legion significance: 4/10
It’s nice to have a better conclusion to the storyline than issue 8, but overall Tyrraz doesn’t have the same lasting power of Warworld.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
A perfectly fine superhero story, with less subplots than the Levitz standard. It holds up well, but it’s really noticeable that it’s taking its sweet time to get anywhere.
We are legion
24 active Legionnaires
7 reserve members
11 deceased members
Interesting letters: if we go by the letters page, Tellus and Quislet have been widely accepted by the readers.
There is an interesting exception.
(cut for brevity)
I think the Levitz answer makes perfect sense, and I respect that the membership is not 100% following the majority opinion.
I didn’t think much of the Tyrraz threat. But I greatly enjoyed the teases about Sensor Girl’s identity. Super Girl is S G. Sensor Girl is S G. Could it be…!??