Legionnaires #22 (1995)
written by Tom Peyer & Jeff Moy
The conclusion of the Planet Hell storyline. How will the Legionnaires manage to ditch those stylish sunglasses?
The Legion is completely surrounded by the escaped prisoners, and while last time Brainiac 5 seemed to suggest the team was doomed…
…he was actually already aware that they have the only negotiating advantage here.
The warden is going to keep most of the Legionnaires as hostages, while Brainiac 5 picks up the team that will assist him.
In the most Brainiac 5 way possible.
Brainy is not the only super-genius in the team: Invisible Kid gets a spot on the team thanks to his expertise on technobabble.
Don’t feel bad, Cosmic Boy. He probably would have just complained that luck does not exist.
The Reboot has my favorite version of Brainiac 5, so identifying my favorite Brainy quote of this continuity is nearly impossible. I wouldn’t put this one on the podium, but it’s a small moment that really stuck with me.
Just to give you an idea of how badly the force field generator has been damaged: even Brainiac 5 can’t fix it right away.
Does the fact that Invisible Kid is scared of heights ever come into play again?
Brainiac 5 can come across as heartless, but he really does care about his teammates in his own way. For example, he’s ready to stop working on the repairs if they are harmed… even if that would inevitably lead to his own death.
Let’s check up on the hostage Legionnaires.
If anything, this situation gives the lightning twins some time for a productive talk.
It’s hard not to take Spark’s side in the discussion. You can’t even say she should have refused to be drafted, since we were told Legionnaires would be punished by their worlds for doing so.
This is an interesting concept that will be explored later (although I don’t think to its full potential).
Live Wire’s speech doesn’t only imply that they have a dangerous power, but that it also makes you impulsive. Perhaps the idea was that his power is what made him so impulsive (his sister did say he acted differently before he had powers), which leads to the power contributing to his older brother going nuts.
It’s ultimately disproven by his twin sister not suffering from the same effects, though.
So far, the greatest disappointment in the Workforce members has been Karate Kid, who didn’t even seem to fit the general criteria of having a grey morality.
We finally get an explanation for why he’s in the team; he calls it “selfish”, but he’s just hanging around McCauley to broaden his experience.
We will slowly see him get VERY distant from him.
Unlike his original counterpart, he doesn’t start off with an impressive feat… but you won’t have to wait much for that.
Leviathan and Chameleon are developing an unusual friendship; they WERE best friends in the original continuity after all.
This is something I never really thought about… when Apparition turns intangible, does she still need to breathe?
Also, I just realized how incomplete her costume is when she doesn’t wear the cape.
I feel that most Legionnaires could escape their imprisonment at any moment, but Apparition is the one least inconvenienced by it.
You kind of have to admire Ultra Boy and Spider-Girl’s addition to horniness.
Every other character complains that it’s unbearably hot, but that doesn’t stop them from making out! Although I guess Ultra Boy might switch to invulnerability.
Well he might if he was thinking with his brain.
Even Inferno is bothered by the heat. I guess that despite her fire powers she’s not immune to it.
Meanwhile, the repairs are not going well. AT ALL.
All hope rests on Invisible Kid…
…despite the fact that he had NO IDEA of what Brainiac 5 asked him when he tested him.
Take a moment to appreciate the chutzpah of trying to prove your technological prowess TO THE SMARTEST SENTIENT IN THE GALAXY by just saying gibberish!!!
Maybe that’s why the warden endorses it.
The moment that turns the tide, however, has nothing to do with the two geniuses.
I did promise an awesome Karate Kid moment, right?
How about kicking down a force field by finding its weak spot?
Yeah it’s not reversing an earthquake with a kick, but it’s awesome!!!
While Karate Kid will take an unusually long time to join the Legion, you can already see hints of how he will play with the others.
To calm down the prisoners, Saturn Girl decides to broadcast the warden’s thoughts.
WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?!? You know he’s unstable!!!
The prisoners storm the generator room, with Brainy’s team standing little chance… until Invisible Kid completes his work.
His plan is to use the station’s force field to make the star repel them!!!
You really should have come up with this on your own, Brainy, you’re supposed to be the expert in made up science here.
Okay now you’re just showing off.
Our heroes are free to celebrate…
…though Jenni might be overdoing it a bit.
Despite a rocky start, the two teams depart on surprisingly friendly terms.
But it’s a bittersweet ending.
Legion significance: 3/10
Our first glimpse at Karate Kid’s personality and a step towards Brainiac 5 and Invisible Kid developing an actual friendship.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
I would normally complain about a different Legionnaire taking Brainy’s spot as the technological expert saving the day, but he really needed it to learn some humility.
It’s a satisfying conclusion to the saga, and most impressively all heroes get at least one scene… which is not an easy task, considering that between the Legion and Workforce we have 16 characters.
Not a masterpiece for the ages but a story that can be told at any time, helped by Jeff Moy getting better every issue.
Moy Tongues: 8
Both Triad and Spark are already pros at this, but category newcomer XS gives us TWO occasions in the same panel!
Who did it better?
No direct comparison comes to mind.
We are legion
- 10 active Legionnaires (4 volunteers, 6 drafted)
- 1 resigned member
- 1 deceased member
- 12 people have been members
- 2 Legion leaders (Leviathan, Cosmic Boy)
Interesting letters: this is the first Reboot issue of Legionnaires to have a letters page, this time dedicated to Legionnaires #0.
The comparison to the 5YL era is inescapable.
A question for the comments: with one book costing more than the other, is the quality of the paper noticeably better?
Not having a physical copy, for me it’s the other way around because for some reason scans for Legionnaires tend to be way better-looking than those for LSH.
(the letter is cut for brevity)
Jay brings up an interesting suggestion: reintroduce Nemesis Kid as a hero.
Being very fond of NK, I agree that this would have had potential. It is interesting to note that he worked SO well as a villain that the Reboot doesn’t even TRY to bring him back, and the Threeboot version is little more than a cameo.
Ironically the only attempt to introduce a heroic version was in the Legion TV show… in one of its worst episodes in my opinion, but that wasn’t NK’s fault.
Exactly what from the previous continuity is still applicable is a can of works we’ll eventually discuss when the Legionnaires meet the 20th century heroes.
I wonder why the Legion will cross over with Superboy at the first occasion.
Technically speaking THREE of the Superboys mentioned by Stephen will interact with the Reboot Legion one way or the other.
Jenni’s Just trying to recreate Val’s kick. Think of how many forcefield she could disable. Honestly it’s why XS grew on me so much, she has so much personality in little throw away scenes like that.
This is on a whole separate level. So much better than anything since the Magic Wars in late Vol 3.
I love that the characters have so much agency and personality and that the plot involves them actually interacting, learning, solving things.
I already knew of XS – I remember her being mentioned in the event some nine months ahead – but I did not realize that she had such a nice personality. Her talk with Val is just sweet.
On the down side – unfortunately, I don’t think I see any reason to reconsider my concerns about endless comparisons to the original continuity. On hindsight it could have been best to just take the general concept of the Legion and create a new team without so much revisiting of a previous continuity and previously existing characters. Once you open that can of worms, it is difficult to close it again.
Honestly that can of worms is one of the things that fascinates me about the Legion.
But I think the Reboot 100% stands on its own, even if you know absolutely nothing about the original.
Also people will always compare any character to a previous version. It’s been decades since the first Batman and Superman movies and cartoon and they’re constantly compared to the new stuff, but that doesn’t seem to be damaging their franchises.
Recreating completely new franchises just to avoid comparisons to older stuff is too extreme.
I bet you anything that if they threw away the Legion and created a brand new team set in the future, it would STILL br compared to the Legion anyway.
The “fact” that Invisible Kid is afraid of heights does come up again, although clearly you missed the foreshadowing. He doesn’t really have a fear of heights (that was just Brainy’s accusation), he was testing a prototype flight ring before or while coming down the shaft.
Bur Rac’s racism might be why I thought his masters are the White Triangle folks, the phrases used in his thoughts are almost identical to theirs. I guess that to people of similar minds, even knowing they’re inferior to some doesn’t blunt their opinion of being superior to others. Of course, it could be just a coincidence, but I think it’s more likely a hint.
As for your favorite Brainiac 5 quote, is this the version where, in discussing relative intelligence levels, he says, “I didn’t say an Earthling is a 9. I said EARTH is a 9.”?
That’s a Threeboot quote. One of my favorites of that era.
The subtle bit about Lyle pretending to have a fear of heights and his banter with Brainy are two reasons why he became one of my favorite reboot Legionnaires. Another is that his invisibility was used so well. Since he is actually invisible and not just an outline, the reader has to pay close attention to what is going on in some scenes.
“I don’t have a fear of heights. I have a fear of falling!”
It’s not the falling but the landing that scares me.
With regards to Live Wire and Spark,I think the idea they were going for that the lighting power WAS dangerous if it wasn’t controlled. The reason Live Wire became rather impulsive and Mekt went nuts is because they never got formal training on using their powers while it’s implied that Spark got formal government training,hench why she didn’t have the personal change her siblings got.
In other words,the reason Garth got impulsive (and secretly fears )his power is because he never got any real and formal training with it while Ayla did and ended up not getting effected by the negative side effects.
I thought that it was simply their own personalities, and not that the lightning had any inherent qualities that affected them. I think Garth never saw Mekt’s dark side (big brother hero worship?) before the lightning, and when Mekt violent, Garth blamed it on the lightning, and was afraid for himself.
Did Ayla get training? Who could have trained them, aren’t their powers sui generis?
That’s how I read it. Garth was looking for an excuse to explain his brother’s criminality and his own impulsiveness. Ayla was the most level-headed of the three but still young and and with an impulsive streak.
I’ve always been bothered by just how quickly the Legionnaires were thrust into action without any apparent training besides that which they were given in between missions. Narratively, it makes sense: Getting into the action quickly is better than scenes of training that accomplish no purpose other than realism. But at times, the lack of preparation was taken to extremes. In a later story (I hope this doesn’t qualify as a spoiler), Live Wire, as leader, sends three recruits on a mission and complains that they had just joined “yesterday.” I took this to be an exaggeration on his part, but the three were thrust into a situation very quickly. Talk about on-the-job training.
The reason I think they were originally going to go with the idea that incident that gave them powers also messed with Garth and Mekt’s heads*More Mekt than Garth* Is mainly due to Ayla’s comment that Garth “changed” after they got their powers along with Garth’s little speech about how he sees his power *the whole “like violence,Like Anger” Speech*
As For Who trained Ayla, I figured it was just Winaths’ government itself that just put her through some kind of boot camp basic training to help her get better control over her power cause it seems awfully convenient that They were that quick to send her to the Legion…
The Ranzzes were the only Winathians with any powers, and the two boys weren’t around. That’s why they sent Ayla, trained or untrained.
It would be a bit unusual for a comic book to acknowledge this level of nuance, but in comparable real life situations it would be very premature to assume that the lightning powers would have to affect both Ayla and Garth if they have any psychological effects.
Many organic conditions are real yet subject to several factors that may influence their manifestation, and it is not always predictable just how. Even if Mekt, Garth and Ayla were genetically identical clones instead of regular siblings, they could still react differently for all kinds of reasons. Such as having been exposed to different intensities and durations of the electrical beasts’ powers back in the day, or having developed their bodies differently due to exercise and diet, or indeed having gone through some sort of training (physical, mental or both) to better handle the stresses that come with those powers.
Oh yes, and it is conceivable that at least one of them might turn out to be a mutant, unusual as that would be to this line of comics.
I want a polymorphic fruit snack too!
I’ve got LSH v4 #0 and #65 and Legionnaires #0 and #22 in my hands. In both cases, LSH is definitely printed on better-quality paper. The effect is much less noticeable digitally and it could just be a difference between Lee Moder and Jeff Moy stylistically, but LSH has lots of panels that run off the page and Legionnaires almost always stays within very rigid margins a la newsprint. Legionnaires also has the colored bars at the top of its pages that basically every newsprint comic has, although I couldn’t tell you what they do. They both have a similar amount of ads, although LSH mostly puts them after the story pages.