Legionnaires 3 #4

Legionnaires 3 #4 (1986)
written by Keith Giffen (plot) & Mindy Newell (dialogue)
pencils by Ernie Colon

Come on Lightning Lad, no spoilers!

Last issue focused almost entirely on Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy, so it does make sense to focus on the remaining founder.

The Time Trapper is forcing him to live his worst fears, which apparently includes going to a job interview.

This jumps around to him talking to a different person, who claims to be all ears but appears to be all neck.

Giffen was always fond of taking big villains and place them in a ridiculous setting; we’ve seen him do this with Pulsar Stargrave, and he was fond of the gag with Darkseid on Ambush Bug.
He also does this with Starfinger, although calling him a big villain is a bit of a stretch.

This is basically an extended dream sequence, so Lightning Lad is jumping from scene to scene. It’s disorienting for him but also a bit for the reader.

The couple is apparently fond of 20th century décor, because that’s not written in Interlac.
It is interesting to see Lightning Lad having the very realistic self-doubt of being able to support his family… but it’s a bit of a stretch to apply this to the Legionnaires. We know they are THE celebrities of the 30th century, would they REALLY struggle to get high-paying jobs?

The Time Trapper has been BY FAR the best part of this whole miniseries, so the fact that throughout this one he’s mostly just sitting and waiting for Lightning Lad’s time to be over… doesn’t help much.

The next nightmare is appropriately enough the Super Moby Dick Of Space, who gets an incredible redesign!!!

Now imagine if Adventure Comics #332 had been drawn that way!!!

After that, the next nightmare of being turned into a videogame played by his siblings (???) is a massive downgrade.

Although seeing THIS would make anyone’s skin crawl.

This is too much for Lightning Lad, who breaks down so much that he drops out of the panel grid.

Which is exactly where the Time Trapper wanted him, because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This would have more weight if we didn’t know that his OTHER son has been kidnapped by Darkseid and turned into Validus.

It is important to note that the Time Trapper is the one dragging this out.

I’m a fan of the character, but this is where the Time Trapper loses me. Because this entire time he’s been talking about torturing LL to get some kind of information out of him, but now for no reason whatsoever there’s a time limit involved! Which apparently he can’t ignore despite being the freaking Time Trapper!?

He then takes LL back in time to his origin story, where the Time Trapper is seemingly the one to murder his parents. At least he SAYS this is not an illusion, but can we really trust ANYTHING he says at this point?

The Time Trapper’s complete disregard for life while keeping a cold and detached demeanor continues to be the best part of the story.

This motivates Lightning Lad into starting the final showdown against the Time Trapper…

…but we’ve run out of pages, so he’s sent home.

Yep. That is SERIOUSLY how it ends!!!

All because the sand in the Time Trapper’s hourglass ran out. And no, if we go by the dialogue that’s not a metaphor.

What a letdown. The story just timeblocked itself!!!

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Legion significance: 0/
Well basically nothing happens, so…

Silver Age-ness: 0/
Even the Super Moby Dick Of Space doesn’t look like it’s from the Silver Age.

Does it stand the test of time? 4/
I love this version of the Time Trapper, I love a good psychological drama, and while I’m not his biggest fan I like Lightning Lad. The dialogue and the pencils are good, although as usual I keep finding Ernie Colon’s faces a bit weird. Having said that… what a disappointment.
This is 23 pages of looking for a point to the story and then just giving up! I wouldn’t expect the story to give every answer to the Time Trapper’s mystery, in fact it’s better to keep some stuff vague… but this was nothing.
Even the exploration of Lightning Lad’s character feels flat.
It’s like Giffen prepared the stage to get to a story where he could focus on Lightning Lad, only once we get there he finds out he really doesn’t have a lot to say about him.
Which is a shame because the structure is there… and analyzing the idea that LL has created this whole façade based on what other characters expect from him would be REALLY fascinating to explore… but the story just gives up before it says anything more.