Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #52 (1988)
by Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen
cover by Steve Lighle
Now that the cataclysmic issue 50 and its epilogue are behind us… we are STILL dealing with the aftermath.
In addition to leaving the Legion, Brainiac 5 has left his latest creation: a new form of Computo.
Who is still acting as the Legion’s butler, but he has a new humanoid form.
On the upside, that’s a creative look.
On the downside, if you thought Levitz’s insistence of having every single computer finish every sentence with a “breep!” was irritating… man is Computo going to be infinitely worse!
One of the reasons why I like the design of Li’l Computo is that I love Validus.
So you can see why Saturn Girl is not a fan.
And speaking of not being a fan: Dream Girl’s new Giffen design is atrocious.
Which is too bad because it’s distracting from a very good dialogue.
Quislet is trying to be his old comedic self, but Element Lad is having none of it.
No wonder Quislet won’t hang around after Volume 3, everyone is so rude nowadays.
Brainiac 5 leaving is a huge loss for the Legion because apparently he did EVERYTHING.
Also: Polar Boy, you were the prosecutor in Brainy’s trial… and you didn’t have any single plan for what would happen if he was found guilty???
I mean, I assume Brainy would’ve been expelled from the Legion in that case, right?
He really sucks as a leader. Contrast with Dream Girl immediately rising to the occasion and at the very least ATTEMPT to deal with the situation!
And his only contribution is trying to give the responsibility to Dream Girl.
Who, with Brainiac 5 absent and Mon-El in a coma, is currently the Legionnaire with the most scientific knowledge.
I gave Dream Girl a hard time when she was the leader, but right now Polar Boy is making her look like Captain America.
At least Polar Boy recognizes his own failures. A bit late… okay it’s REALLY late, but that’s a start!
But now we move to the main plot, which will give Magnetic Kid a much-needed spotlight as it’s set on his home planet.
The comment of only 4 planets providing more than one Legionnaire is interesting, because technically speaking it should be 5 planets:
1) Braal (Cosmic Boy, Magnetic Kid)
2) Winath (Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass)
3) Earth (both Invisible Kid I and II, Bouncing Boy, Wildfire and Ferro Lad)
4) Naltor (Dream Girl, White Witch)
5) Krypton (Superboy, Supergirl)
Superboy is explicitly still in continuity thanks to the Pocket Universe, and theoretically Supergirl should be as well. So this might be the first occasion where she’s removed from the canon.
Also, technically speaking Cosmic Boy was born on Earth.
So Lightning Lass hates the Legion traditions now?
Because I seem to remember she had a slightly different attitude in LSH #36.
Man is she insufferable in this period. She can’t even stop complaining when they have to deal with a sudden earthquake!
On one hand I get what Tellus is trying to say, in addition to the fact that I’m assuming an underwater civilization doesn’t have the same problems with earthquakes.
On the other hand, what was the Legion supposed to do?
Wait, is she flirting with Magnetic Kid now?
We don’t get a very good look at it, but Lightning Lass has one of the very few redesigns that I don’t hate.
It’s incredible we don’t visit Braal more often. Not just because it’s the birthplace of one of the founders, but you’d think there would be ways to use METAL DINOSAURS.
The dinos are restless, so Tellus takes the opportunity to interview them.
This is an interesting aspect of Tellus that is sadly dropped immediately.
This provides enough clues to find the next clues at an open mine.
Is it just me or is Tellus starting to be a bit judgmental? Then again, you would also be cranky hanging around Volume 3 Lightning Lass.
No, seriously, what IS she doing?
Is Tellus having second thoughts about voting “innocent” at the trial?
The search leads them to find a Gil’Dishpan hiding in the mine, with its hand hanging out of its bubble.
At least I hope that’s a hand and not something else.
Whatever that appendage is, the Gil’Dishpan has considerable powers: not only it’s behind the earthquakes, it can also summon a tornado.
This is not Zymyr, the Gil’Dishpan with teleporting technology that worked with the Legion of Super-Villains. It’s the even less pronounceable Hywyndr.
Aaaand it gets away. Great job, Legionnaires!
If this was an attempt to increase Magnetic Kid’s appeal by giving him the spotlight, I’d say it failed spectacularly.
Also what the heck is his facial expression supposed to be? Embarrassed or constipated?
In other plots, we visit Daxam.
Shadow Lass has brought Mon-El there, since they have the most advanced medical technology in the galaxy.
I’m a bit confused by the fact that the doctors are having trouble treating Mon-El because of his invulnerability.
The serum that cured his lead poisoning also protects him from red sun radiation, but I was under the impression that it only cured short-term exposure and moving to a red sun orbit should de-power him. But if it’s not the case: where IS Daxam right now?
Darkseid switched its position, moving it around a yellow sun: does it mean that currently the entire population of Daxam has powers?
Or did they manage to move the planet back to orbiting a red sun?
See what I meant last issue when mentioning how weird it was to see Shadow Lass holding a regular rosary? She’s really holding on to her Talokian faith to pull through.
At least Mon-El survives the ordeal and wakes up. That’s more than even Brainiac 5 was able to accomplish, so Daxam’s fame is earned.
Also, love the visual detail of the holographic glasses!
Mon-El really, REALLY took a beating from the Time Trapper fight… both physically and mentally.
Told you Shadow Lass would not take this well, to the point of CUTTING OFF ONE OF HER FINGERS to pray for Mon-El!!!
And finally, we have Blok wandering into a museum looking for a plot. He hasn’t received one in… uhm… holy crap, is this the first Blok-centric plot of Volume 3 ???
Blok’s character design change is one of the few that is addressed in-universe, and it’s not particularly abrupt: his body has been drawn differently a bunch of times.
I’m not a fan of this particular look, as it makes him look rather generic.
He wonders if he’s just going through puberty: he can’t be sure since he doesn’t know any other member of his species.
Brainiac 5 will essentially be proven right, by the way.
He then meets a short alien that offers to help him.
And Blok follows him, because he might be growing but his brain is still full of rocks.
Legion significance: 2/10
The start of several plots, few of which go anywhere.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
I can’t think of a Silver Age story where someone cuts off a finger.
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
Talk about meandering. The scenes between Dream Girl and Polar Boy work, although it’s a bit too little too late to redeem his leadership.
Speaking of failed redemptions, the spotlight on Magnetic Kid goes absolutely nowhere. As does Lightning Lass apparently having a crush on him.
The scenes with Shadow Lass are as depressing as they come; they kind of worked for me, but her going as far as cutting off her own finger was too much.
The artwork isn’t helping. Some of the facial expressions still work, and Giffen is clearly giving a lot of thought on the sci-fi details… but man is this rough to get through.
We are legion
From this moment on, Shadow Lass refuses to answer any calls from the Legion for the rest of Volume 3. Since White Witch did the same, I’m also moving Shadow Lass to the reserves.
20 active Legionnaires
6 reserve members
6 resigned members
1 on sick leave
12 deceased members
45 people have been members
50 people have been rejected
Interesting letters: the return of Giffen is already controversial.
I’ll save my comments on Polar Boy’s leadership until the Legion Awards as I suspect there was something going on behind the scenes… but it would spoil the last few issues.
and Yes, Lighting Lass IS doing what you think she’s doing,Which is kinda Squicky.
Given the medical technology of the setting, severing a finger is hardly an irreversible decision.
Paging Doctor Zan Orbal!
In addition to the ones you mentioned, Earth is also the home (as of the publication of this issue) of Colossal Boy, Sun Boy, Karate Kid and (sort of) Tyroc.
Mon-El’s serum is no longer just short-term, because Brainiac 5 infused Superboy’s blood cells with some and then injected that into Mon-El’s body back in issue # 23.
I imagine that Daxam is still under a yellow sun and all of the inhabitants are still invulnerable, so probably they never have to deal with trauma injuries of any sort. Mon-El’s injuries come from an extraordinary source.
Ferro Lad was also from Earth.
Paul Levitz begrudgingly stayed on Legion for 1 year more than he wanted, and I imagine it was to help ease Keith Giffen’s transition into writing for the 5YL era; it explains why Legionnaires drop like flies in these last few issues. It’s quite odd, then, how characterization is all over the place, as you’ve pointed out. Based on the rather violent shift in how dialogue is written, I assume Giffen is doing most of it at this point. Maybe this run on v3 is what convinced him he needed a separate dialogue writer for 5YL? The only explanation I can really think of for how incoherent this last stretch of v3 is is that Giffen just didn’t have a plan in mind for 5YL. He certainly had issues cranking out finished art on time for that run, but that was also due to the external pressure of DC office politics. I just don’t know what to make of this.
This issue was published just before the “Invasion!” event began. One of the main direct consequences of that event, of course, was the debut of L.E.G.I.O.N. and therefore a lot of new focus on Blok’s species, since L.E.G.I.O.N. has a relatively small core cast and one of those is another Dryadian named Strata.
L.E.G.I.O.N. received an ongoing just after Invasion!; its #1 was published in the same month of LSH Vol 3 #57 and #9 was published at the same time as LSH Vol. 4 #1. Keith Giffen was the main writer there, and I have to assume that he would rather not have Paul Levitz blocking his ideas. And there was a considerable degree of interference between LSH and L.E.G.I.O.N., mainly due to the characters Phase (debuting in #9) and Durlan.
I also believe that DC gave Giffen a bit more freedom than it otherwise would because it wanted to have a successful series to launch from “Invasion!”. The previous event, “Millenium”, did not really succeed at that.
The wrong decision IMO, but then I guess I am not paid to make those decisions.
In theory, Lightning Lad’s little sister and Cosmic Boy’s little brother would be a perfect match. Except that Ayla is Garth’s twin and just as seasoned a veteran as he is, whereas Pol is significantly younger and very green. Her cougar prowling isn’t arousing him. It’s scaring him. Ayla has better romantic prospects available.
As for Shady’s self-maiming, I believe most of fandom took it as more than a prayer. It was a wedding ritual. She’s married to Mon, whether he likes it or not. Significantly, when she takes up with [redacted] in volume 6, she gets her finger back.
As for Mon’s invulnerability, I believe Brainy’s serum regulates his power level, regardless of what kind of star is shining nearest to him. Superboy frequently remarked about the color of the local sun and its effects on him. Mon-El never did. Daxamite weaknesses are common knowledge, right there in the Encyclopedia Galactica. If red sun radiation robbed Mon of his powers, every Khund cruiser would be packing red solar cannons.
Carrying a white dwarf star would have wreaked havoc with Mon’s power levels if he were affected by differently colored suns!