Cosmic Boy #2

Cosmic Boy #2 (1987)
written by Paul Levitz
pencils by Keith Giffen, Arnie Colon and Bob Smith
cover by Steve Lighle

After basically nothing happened in the first issue, will Cosmic Boy accomplish anything?

90% of the first issue is summarized on the first panel.

Night Girl… he’s explained this to you like five times already! Plus YOU also met Superboy!

Ah, so here’s my answer to the question I had in the first issue: Cosmic Boy DOES still believe the past can’t be changed.
Still waiting on why he doesn’t think this is another Earth or another timeline (alternate timelines were rare pre-Crisis, but the Legion HAS knowledge of a couple).

While I’ve always liked the weird consistency that the Silver Age had on time travel rules, not all of them seem to make all that much sense under scrutiny.

Cosmic Boy has been moping around for so long that Night Girl decides to take the matter in her own hands.

And now an update from our partner PCNN.
Plot Convenient News Network:  it beats writing dialogue

There’s being lazy with the artwork, and then there’s this.

Thank you for the update, PCNN.
Plot Convenient News Network:  it beats writing dialogue

Night Girl’s call to action was… buying plane tickets.
Talk about anticlimactic.

That night, the couple breaks in a NASA facility. Cosmic Boy commenting he doesn’t have much experience breaking into placed got a chuckle out of me… he HAS done it, but it’s true that it’s not typically his job.

Aaaaaaand he IMMEDIATELY triggers an alarm!!!

I swear Night Girl is currently carrying this entire series.

They’re here because it’s where NASA is storing the nuclear reactor Cosmic Boy saved from the Space Shuttle, and he can easily track it magnetically.

Weirdly enough, they were expected!

Discount Norman Osborn here is Jason, the inventor of the Space Shuttle that blew up.

I understand he’s upset about his Space Shuttle blowing up, but inviting a couple of complete strangers after witnessing them breaking into a government facility is weird.

Wait, you designed the Space Shuttle THAT EXPLODED and you’re convinced it wasn’t sabotaged but just “an accident”, soooo… are you admitting that you suck at designing ships?

Come on, this is ridiculous… I know this is immediately after Crisis and so superheroes are relatively new, but are you seriously suggesting people don’t believe aliens exist IN DC COMICS!?

With the first issue I initially thought they were protesting actual nukes being out in orbit, but they’re actually protesting a nuclear reactor being part of a satellite.
Which is both ridiculous… because there are satellites powered by nuclear energy that are incredibly safe… but also realistic, because people DID protest the real-life nuclear powered satellites.
Admittedly those were not satellites orbiting Earth, which made them definitely safer, but still.

This feels like it’s almost getting into parody, but these people have the excuse that the general public is being mentally manipulated during Legends.

So Cosmic Boy and Night Girl are caught in the middle of a fight between scientists and protesters.

This might just be the most pathetic action scene in Legion history that is not part of the Karate Kid series.

What did I say about Night Girl carrying this entire thing?

Plot Convenient News Network:  it beats writing dialogue

Watching scientists and astronauts fighting motivates Cosmic Boy. And not in the usual “normal people who risk their lives are the real heroes” way… wasn’t this ALREADY his motivation at the beginning on the story?

The irony is that, despite being published October 1986, this issue has a cover date of January 1987.

Yeah I’m sure this will make the general public love superheroes again, Cosmic Boy.

(no, the “they’re using tanks” sentence doesn’t make sense in context either)

Jason made a big impression on Cosmic Boy, for some reason.

Perhaps because the story implies Jason is a distant ancestor of Cosmic Boy.

I mean that’s the only reason why the last panel reveals his name is “Jason Krinnski”, I suppose.
Cosmic Boy’s real name is Rokk Krinn, after all.

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Legion significance: 0/10
Cosmic Boy says it himself: this doesn’t advance the plot, AT ALL.

Silver Age-ness: 0/10

Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
Twenty-two pages that don’t go anywhere. The artwork oscillates between better than issue 1 and way lazier. The dialogue between Cosmic Boy and Jason isn’t bad, but… did we REALLY need to waste an entire issue on this?