Superboy’s Legion #2 (2001)
by Mark Farmer & Alan Davis
Let’s finish the miniseries. Will it stick to landing?
Issue 1 ended with the death of Colossal Boy and a decisive victory for the Fatal Five.
Now the Legion is split on whether to go for a second round.
But rescuing Brainiac 5 is a priority. Luckily, Brainy and Invisible Kid thought of that.
So the team is going to be split to follow two separate teams, while Cosmic Boy will get medical help for having lost an arm.
You may have noticed a distinct lack of Superboy in the discussion. That’s because this version is really, REALLY out of his depth.
Perhaps surprisingly, Phantom Girl sides with Superboy over this.
I guess “Ultra Boy’s Legion” doesn’t have the same marketing appeal.
R.J. Brande is up to speed on everything, because the reporter we saw in the first issue is secretly working for him.
The OTHER surprise from the ending of issue 1 was that the Fatal Five were working for Lex Luthor, who explains that in this version he’s been looking for Brainiac’s people for a long time.
However Luthor has made a huge mistake in letting Brainiac 5 still able to think.
In Luthor’s ship, he finds references to the Universo Computer built by the United Planets.
It was namedropped in the first issue too, but it was just background lore.
More importantly, the ship has records going back to the 20th century. Which, since in this timeline Superman never arrived on Earth, coincides with World War III.
By which I mean it was mostly Luthor’s fault.
This was all part of Luthor’s plan to read Brainiac 5’s mind.
(all this dialogue is in a page with a complex layout that works better for reading the whole story than reviewing it)
So you can see we already have plenty of subplots going around. But sure let’s introduce some more Legionnaires out of nowhere!
This is just blatant fanservice for Legion fans: there is absolutely no reason to introduce these characters NOW, let alone the throwaway reference that Light Lass used to have different powers.
And I say this as a Legion fan! I should be the ideal target for this, but since it’s shoved into the story it doesn’t earn any genuine reaction.
This is especially clunky because we also throw Projectra into the mix. Why is she introduced together with the lightning twins!?
And why, while the whole miniseries gives EVERYONE their Silver Age codename, is she using the name Sensor?
Superboy, I might have given you a pass for acting like a teenager in the first issue.
But now that we’re dealing with death and planetary destruction, your temper tantrum is just annoying.
If anything, STAR BOY is acting more Superboy than him!!!
Yeah I’m not buying this pivot to “Superboy has grown into being a real hero”.
This miniseries must have something against Lightning Lad.
Not only he’s excluded from the founding members, not only Cosmic Boy steals his place as Saturn Girl’s boyfriend… but he also steals the plot about having an artificial arm!!!
And then out of nowhere Earth is under martial law!!!
This miniseries is also unfair to Saturn Girl. Can you picture ANY other incarnation being this scared and dependent on others!?
ALL OF THIS just because the Universo Computer malfunctioned!? So you guys rely SO much on this thing that society breaks apart the second it’s no longer working?
What is this, Krypton?
We now learn the full backstory of Brainiac’s people, and it’s completely different from any version of the Coluans we have ever seen.
They’re basically like Marvel’s Watchers except they actually DO avoid interference.
We also have a rather unnecessarily different Invisible Kid origin, and I guess a change in Brainiac 5’s as well. Why make them “semi-siblings”, whatever that means!?
Also, Invisible Kid is supposed to have spoken all these dense panels of infodump in TWENTY SECONDS.
And at this point this whole plot no longer has ANYTHING to do with Brainiac’s race. If you change things THIS much, you might as well use a different name!
Since the Fatal Five are already there this turns into, you guessed it, a big dumb fight.
And now Luthor is absorbed by the planet.
Why even bring Tharok into the story if you’re not even using the fact that he’s one of the smartest beings in the universe!?
So to recap: we have an advanced alien civilization that integrates biology and technology and who operate out of a geometrically shaped base.
Another unearned fanservice: Emerald Empress targeting Shrinking Violet.
This would make perfect sense in the reboot, but here it’s kind of wasted. Sure she kicked the Empress in the first issue, but come on.
At first you might think that Emerald Empress is being disrespected like Tharok…
…however this is a clever bit: it’s all an illusion from Sensor.
(also: was that speech pattern for the Eye of Ekron introduced in the reboot, or did we see it earlier?)
The whole Reboot relationship between these two summarized in a single scene.
I actually prefer that version over the original, but even in the most eclectic times they didn’t change their minds THAT fast.
Back to Earth, Saturn Girl FINALLY shows some initiative and threatens to expose the mind that is controlling the Universo Computer.
That mind is of course Luthor’s, who first frees Emerald Empress from Sensor’s control and then takes over her powers.
Which allows Bouncing Boy to do SOMETHING for the first time since he joined: be an airbag for the Legion’s ship.
Speaking of people finally doing something: Superboy rescues Brainiac 5.
Aaaaand now we go completely off the rails.
Luthor fuses with the ship to become a “Vril Dox”. Which used to be the real name of the original Brainiac, but here it means “Eternal Brain” AND it’s made of Inertron for absolutely no reason.
All while Saturn Girl is busy repairing Earth’s damages, all on her own.
Because no matter the continuity, Saturn Girl is the best.
Even she can’t defeat the Emerald Empress alone. Who I guess is a telepath here? Uh?
The arbitrary changes keep coming, because THIS Emerald Eye is powerless against iron.
Really? You have the entire LEGION OF SUPERHEROES to play with and you couldn’t come up with a better way to defeat her?
What this scene wants me to think: “Wow, Karate Kid sure is great!”.
What this scene DOES make me think: “Wow, this version of Emeral Empress sure sucks!”.
Oh that’s why she was a telepath: to control the Eye.
Without ever using her telepathy for anything else.
*sigh*
What a MASSIVE downgrade from the previous issue: the Fatal Five were wonderful there, but they’re just a joke here.
Which admittedly DID happen a couple times pre-Crisis, but Legion writers should know better by this point.
They also did my boy Validus dirty. He should take at the very least half the Legion to get his attention, but this version is knocked out by Sun Boy.
This leaves Brainiac-Luthor… Brainiac-L if you will… the only villain left.
But the Legion manages to create a link between Brainiac-5 and Brainiac-L through some very convoluted teamwork.
Now we learn what ACTUALLY happened in the 20th century: Lex Luthor confronted the superhero community…
…and I think Batman kind of ruined everything.
What we have been following throughout the story isn’t even really Lex Luthor: the original died in the 20th century, and this is just a very virulent A.I.
That’s a neat concept, why make it convoluted by tying this to Brainiac’s world?
Soooooo… story’s over, right? Well we still have one unnecessary curveball: Inertron can now go nuclear for no reason!
You’d think this would be the perfect opportunity to have Element Lad DO SOMETHING, but no, we need to give Superboy the spotlight one last time.
With the blessing of Brainiac 5’s parents, apparently.
I know Cosmic Boy took Lightning Lad’s place in the founding and in the relationship with Saturn Girl, but that was worth it for doing nothing with the prosthetic arm subplot OR having it contribute to the main plot in any meaningful way.
I would rejoice if we had spent more than like five panels on the father-son relationship between Superboy and Brande.
And so we end the miniseries with a splash page showing off the expanded roster.
And to find a way to piss me off even further, because Superboy also steals Mon-El’s place.
Does any of this show up in any regular continuity?
SHOULD any of this have happened in regular continuity?
As far as I know nothing is picked up.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really.
Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
What the heck happened!? This is a gigantic step down from the first part!
The story is somehow both rushed and slow paced, multiple subplots and character traits are introduced or referenced only to be completely dropped.
I can’t think of a single change from the pre-Crisis or the Reboot versions of the Legion that adds anything. As a reimagining of the Legion, this sucks! While my judgment of the first part has raised since I first read this years ago, I have the same exact opposite position on the second issue.
Seriously, I’m beginning to think the only Legion fans who liked this better than the Reboot are either blinded by the artwork… which IS gorgeous, sure… or were hyper-focused on the loss of details like codenames and specific looks.
Which is bizarre to say the least considering this changes SO MUCH of the Legion universe! In fact, I would argue that this version is MUCH more different from the pre-Crisis Legion than the Reboot.
But this also sucks as a Superboy story. Not because his character is different, but because his characterization is all over the place and he’s absent for MOST of the story.
It ALSO sucks as a Lex Luthor story and as a Fatal Five story!!!
The more stuff I think about the lowest the score gets. I was going to give this a 6/10 until Luthor turned into Brainiac-L, it was a 5/10 by the time I got to the end, and it kept getting lower once I thought back about all the little things it gets wrong AND on how much of a chore it was getting to the end of the story.
We are legion
Active Legionnaires: 32
Unlike last time Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid, Ultra Boy, Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy are considered legitimate members throughout the story.
Lightning Lad, Light Lass and Sensor join within the story.
But the biggest increase comes from the final page cameo (which surprisingly includes several reboot-only characters), bringing the final list to:
-Superboy
-Cosmic Boy
-Saturn Girl
-Sun Boy
-Element Lad
-Shrinking Violet
-Bouncing Boy
-Shadow Lass
-Brainiac 5
-Invisible Kid
-Ultra Boy
-Phantom Girl
-Chameleon Boy
-Lightning Lad
-Light Lass
-Sensor
-Star Boy
-Ferro Lad (he was a reject last time)
-Karate Kid (he was a reject last time)
-Blok (cameo only)
-Dawnstar (cameo only)
-Matter-Eater Lad (cameo only)
-Tellus (cameo only)
-Tyroc (cameo only)
-Nemesis Kid (cameo only)
-Triplicate Girl (cameo only)
-White Witch (cameo only)
-Dream Girl (cameo only; she was a reject last issue)
-Wildfire (cameo only; he was a reject last time)
-Gates (cameo only, from the reboot)
-Monstress (cameo only, from the reboot)
-Thunder (cameo only, from the reboot)
-This girl (cameo only) who I can’t identify
Deceased members: 1 (Colossal Boy)
33 people have been members
Assuming there are no reserves, this makes it one of the largest incarnations of the Legion.
Legion rejects: 14
The unidentified legionnaire in the final splash is Slipstream. She’s easily forgotten because she’s really Lori Morning using the H-Dial.
Good thing I read Bryant’s comment before jumping in. I was going to guess Comet Queen.
The “I/eye” thing first appears in L.E.G.I.O.N., after Garryn Bek spends a few issues being controlled by the Eye. Speaking of which, how much of L.E.G.I.O.N. do you plan to cover? It’s obviously not exactly Legion, but there are several key links to it.
Good question. I definitely won’t cover everything, but some things do connect. I’ll probably do a quick overview of the Legion connections on a year-by-year basis parallel to the main retrospective.
Also part of it is during the 5YL era, which will be covered in a slightly different way than usual for a variety of reasons I’ll elaborate when we get there.
It’s an out-of-nowhere thing here (like so many other things) but Ferro Lad trumping magic fits with folklore about fey magic and witchcraft and whatnot being helpless in the face of cold iron. That’s part of where the lucky horseshoe thing and superstitions about carrying a nail in your pocket come from. The idea that simple iron being so rarely used for anything in the future that it might lead to magic-using types to forget that weakness is almost clever – although there’s an awful lot of nickel-iron planetoids out there in the universe. Did he ever actually face off against the Eye or Mordru or any other major magic user in his brief career?