Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #3

Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #3 (2011)
by Chris Roberson & Jeff Moy
cover by Phil Jimenez

The Klingons and the Khund share the official cover, despite the fact that neither alien species plays a role in the story.
Also, the Klingons are in their alien look from the 80s, but in the few panels they get they’re in the original 60s humanoid version.

In my opinion they should’ve gone with the alternate cover by Mike Grell.
Not only because it’s by an important Legion penciler, but because it features characters that DO contribute to the story!

At least they didn’t go with the other variant by Mario Alberti, where Uhura looks weirdly off-model and Shadow Lass isn’t wearing the same costume she has in the story.

But let’s get to the story itself. After basically wasting two whole issues for the introduction, the two casts FINALLY interact. In a big dumb fight, because comics.

Saturn Girl has a massive advantage: while there ARE telepathic races in the Star Trek universe, they typically aren’t on her level and the Enterprise crew has little resistance against it (with the probable exception of Spock).

Kirk versus Cosmic Boy is basically a tie, which is surprising considering Cos doesn’t have any weaknesses and I can’t think of a single Star Trek character with magnetic powers.

I’m also a bit disappointed in Lightning Lad losing to Sulu so easily. Electric powers should give him a huge advantage and, again, electric powers are very rare in the Star Trek universe.

Chameleon Boy losing to Chekov (who is even injured from the previous issue) is just inexcusable.

Dr. McCoy losing to Shadow Lass makes the most sense, since he’s not exactly an action hero.

The ones who get the most interaction are Brainiac 5 and Spock, with the former boasting about the superiority of his universe’s technology and the latter appealing to logic.

So the two teams stop fighting. Cosmic Boy complains that the Enterprise crew shot first, and… yeah I have to agree with Kirk’s answer. Plus all those phasers were definitely set to stun, so it’s not like they were going to kill anyone.

Kirk gives an explanation on the premise of the original Star Trek and explains what the Federation is.
This should’ve been in issue 1 for any Legion readers unfamiliar with Star Trek. While I understand this series is mostly fanservice for fans of both franchises, it could’ve been a neat way to introduce Star Trek to comic book readers.
After all, while Star Trek is definitely the more famous franchise between them, this IS a superhero comic book.

The Legion responds with a similar explanation of its universe, and it makes the chronological placement of this series a real mess.
First of all, it’s quite rare to have any apocrypha acknowledging the membership of Superboy and Supergirl, ESPECIALLY if they give her the costume she had in the 80s!
But also, this can’t be TOO close to the Great Darkness Saga because Shrinking Violet is shown wearing her post-kidnapping costume.
Except Light Lass is shown with the costume she wore until LSH #295, where she leaves the Legion, while Shrinking Violet was wearing a different costume until she the impostor was revealed in LSH #305. There is NO part of Legion history where both characters are wearing those two specific costumes at the same time!

The two franchises are similar enough that the two teams are able to become friends very quickly.
Good decision; forcing them to fight each other more than once would’ve required too many contrivances.
Notice the hilarious background gag of Chameleon Boy demonstrating his powers by turning into a copy of Uhura!

Spock and Brainiac 5 deduce that neither team changed history. Rather, history was changed by something else and they just happened to avoid being affected.
Which makes sense for the Legion, since they were inside the Time Bubble™, but I really don’t get why the Enterprise isn’t affected.

And then SUDDEN AMALGAM FATAL FIVE!!!

This is bizarre to say the least.
I can KIND OF understand having a variant of Emerald Empress and Persuader: you just have to give the Emerald Eye and the Atomic Axe to somebody else.
Specifically, they’re representatives of alien races from the original Star Trek: a green-skinned Orion and the lizard-like Gorn.

The other choices, however, are weird choices.
The Mano equivalent is a Benzite, a species from Star Trek: The Next Generation that needs special apparatus to breathe in an Earth-like atmosphere.
I don’t question using one as a Mano equivalent… honestly Mano’s bubble helmet looks WAY more advanced than the goofy breather the Benzites use… but why does one randomly have Mano’s powers???

By far the most ridiculous one is the fusion between Validus and Mugato, perhaps the goofiest looking alien from the original Star Trek.

But how does this alternate version of the Fatal Five work against the two teams of heroes?
Not great!

Uhura mentions that her roommate at Starfleet Academy was an Orion.
This is most likely a reference to the 2009 Star Trek movie where we DID see her Orion roommate… except that movie is not in continuity with the original series.
Although there could be a reference to her roommate in the books or something.

She’s no match for Shadow Lass, proving that possessing the Emerald Eye is not quite enough to make you the next Emerald Empress.

It’s weird how nobody comments having a Validus hybrid around!!!

Even weirder is how Spock knocks him out with a Vulcan Nerve Pinch!!!

The Mano equivalent requires the combined efforts of three people! When is the last time the real Mano was such a menace?

It took me a while to figure out WHY Kirk finds the Tharok equivalent familiar! With all his talk about resistance, I thought he was a fusion with the Borg…

…but since he’s called Ruk, he shares the same name of THIS GUY from the episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”. He’s an android, but I think he was just picked to be the Tharok equivalent because he’s bald.

Even after finding out this was the character, I didn’t immediately recognize him.
I thought I remembered that episode quite well, but for some reason I only recalled the other android from that story.

(I’m pretty sure Duo Damsel wore that costume in Superboy #216)

Captain Kirk ends up defeating Ruk in hand-to-hand combat, because of course he does. I’m a little disappointed he doesn’t randomly rip his shirt, though.

I kind of wish Uhura had the chance to use this quote in the Star Trek canon. She would totally pull it off!

Usually I don’t like when heroes become best buddies immediately… I prefer when they have to work through their differences first… but the franchises share enough similarities for this to work.

But there’s work to be done, and the two teams separate.
One will use the time machine built from what was left of the Time Bubble™ to check the Legion’s past, and the other will travel to the past to figure out what changed history.

And that’s how the third issue ends.

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Does any of this show up in any regular continuity?
Not really.

SHOULD any of this have happened in regular continuity?
Even on their worst day, the Fatal Five are not THIS easy to defeat.

Silver Age-ness: 6/10
That fusion between Validus and Mugato is so out of nowhere that it qualifies.

Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
Now THIS is what you would expect from a crossover between the two franchises.
Yes it’s basically just complete fanservice with very little story, but it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. It also manages to give EVERYONE something to do, which both franchises often struggle achieving. Some of the fights don’t make a lot of sense, but they’re all fun.
Besides a couple of continuity bits, my only real complaint is that this comes too late in the miniseries. This should’ve been the first issue: they didn’t need two whole issues for the setup!!!