Legionnaires #40 (1996)
plot by Tom Peyer & Tom McCraw
script by Roger Stern
pencils and cover by Jeff Moy
Shrinking Violet has gone through quite a change now that she has the Emerald Fanservice of Ekron.
It is important to note that, up to this point, NOBODY in the Legion has ever dealt with the Emerald Eye. In fact, Kinetix is the only one who knows anything about it.
Violet has teleported the team back to Legion HQ, but now she sends away the Workforce members who were with them. What was even the point of bringing them along?
Well, the McCauley plant they evacuated was flooded by toxic chemicals, so it’s quite possible that they would have died there. So perhaps Violet’s humanity is still there.
A rare interaction between Shvaughn Erin and Element Lad. There’s an age gap between them in this continuity… we don’t know how old she is but she’s definitely an adult… so don’t expect them to be a couple anytime soon.
Shrinking Violet is still the leader, so she decides to call for a meeting.
I stand corrected: there IS another Legionnaire who is familiar with the Emerald Eye.
Because M’Onel did encounter it in his time in L.E.G.I.O.N. when he was Valor.
Normally I would complain about the missed opportunity to reference it, but considering the complete mess that his the Valor continuity… yeah good call keeping it vague.
We get an unusual roll call for the team. Neat detail about XS being the shy one this time around.
Oh there you are, Brainiac 5! Where have you been, everyone’s been looking for you!
Good call, Violet. Since you took the Eye, the only thing that’s been shrinking has been your costume.
Kinetix tries to warn her about succumbing to the power of the Eye, but Violet points out her hypocrisy.
Also, not really surprising that Violet used to have a HUGE inferiority complex when it comes to her power. I’m assuming this was less of a problem in the early years of the original continuity because Bouncing Boy was around.
We learn when exactly Violet found the Eye… or rather, when the Eye found Violet.
It was during Legionnaires #31, on Scavenger’s lair.
I find it hard to believe that Scavenger could resist the Eye or that he was smart enough to keep away from it. I think it’s more likely that the Eye just found Violet regardless of where she was.
The Legion might be under Violet’s control, but can the Science Police save the day?
Of course not.
So does this make Violet the Reboot Glorith? We won’t get one despite the original intentions.
The Emerald Eye was particularly effective in manipulating Violet because of what she was going through. With Kinetix gone, she grew obsessed with finding her heterosexually platonic friend while simultaneously being jealous of Leviathan’s crush.
You could read this as Violet being elected leader JUST because the Eye forced the vote.
I very much prefer to think that her new assertive self was just genuinely believed to be a good choice.
Up to this point I was under the impression that Violet didn’t fully realize she even HAD the Eye until she transformed. But no, turns out that she knew all along: it was the reason why she didn’t interact all that much with Kinetix.
To be fair, it’s not like Kinetix was around a whole lot.
Very good misdirection here, making us wonder if Apparition is back just because of the Eye.
Well, at least I think it’s misdirection… that storyline will become so convoluted that I wouldn’t find it weird if it ALSO required the Eye.
The death of Leviathan has traumatized her so much that now she’s done being selfless…
…although Leviathan is still very much in her mind.
She takes a few Legionnaires with her in her new quest…
…but not the most useful ones for the mission, thanks to Saturn Girl’s quick thinking.
Because regardless of the continuity, Saturn Girl is the freaking best.
M’Onel is dispatched to get the help of some space monks who deal in resurrection…
…while others are sent to deal with Leviathan’s corpse.
Which is still stuck at colossal size.
Are those guys still androids like the Probes of the 5YL era, or in this continuity are they just eyeless aliens?
The latter seems to make more sense considering their attitude; we will see a few of them scattered here and there across most of the Reboot.
It’s getting increasingly easy for Violet to take over the minds of the Legionnaires.
Meanwhile, Triad has had an idea: use virtual reality to shield their minds from the Emerald Eye.
I can see why Brainiac 5 is generally in charge of thinking.
WHY WOULD THIS HAVE WORKED!?
Violet has become so unrecognizable that the Eye is now creating a second version of her.
Yes Violet, it was totally necessary to split into two separate bodies for a total of 4 panels…
…because this gave her (them?) an idea: creating the Emerald Legion.
Legion significance: 10 / 
Just like last time, the consequences from this arc will extend throughout the entire Reboot.
Silver Age-ness: 0 /
Not really.
Does it stand the test of time? 10 /
The only nitpick might be that most of the Legionnaires don’t get to do much, but it’s not a problem because this is very much Violet’s story. And a few of them actually DO manage to contribute to the story anyway.
You can definitely tell that the writers (all three of them) took the time to plan this storyline, given the amount of callbacks. It IS a little weird that Violet had the Emerald Eye during the finale of the storyline involving the President… it would fit a little better if she was initially aware of the effects and only slowly realized the Eye was truly there. But again, it’s not a big enough problem to negatively affect the issue.
Who did it better?
This is not the first time we have a sympathetic character being corrupted by the Emerald Eye.
While Cera Kesh was one of the least infuriating parts of the 5YL Legionnaires series, as it was cathartic to see her get some revenge over the jackass protagonists… the Reboot uses the occasion to do a ton of character work on Violet without ruining anyone’s characterization, and it’s easily the superior version.
Does this storyline have the most powerful version of the Emerald Eye that we have ever seen?
I think there’s a strong argument for it; the Eye’s powers have always been vague, but it doesn’t appear there are actual limits from what the Reboot version can do.
We are legion
- 17 active Legionnaires
- 1 resigned member (Andromeda)
- 1 honorary member (Superboy)
- 2 deceased members (Kid Quantum and Leviathan)
- 21 people have been members
- 3 Legion leaders (Leviathan, Cosmic Boy, Shrinking Violet)
- 2 members have been rejected
Good character work.
IIRC, the Magic Wars storyline that ended Volume 3 strongly suggested that the original Emerald Empress might have been corrupted by the Eye as well, although I doubt we ever had confirmation – or, indeed, ever met Sarya before she was influenced by the Eye. Isn’t that storyline also where we first learn that the Eye may have a will of its own?
There are also Garryn Bek and his once wife Marij’n Bek (I don’t think they ever legally divorced, but they did separate). The Eye definitely changed both physically and it is not difficult to imagine that it may also have nudged them towards an attitude change, although the evidence is inconclusive IMO (they went through a lot during those times).
It seems that the Emerald Eye has a preference for female hosts. That could explain why it never possessed Scavenger.
Once Scavenger acquired the Eye, it probably figured that it could do better and just bided its time in his storage locker until Violet came along. What does time mean to a thing such as the Eye?
The Eye does seem to like powering up people with inferiority complexes. Original continuity Salu did stammer a bit in her early appearances, but then she acquired Duplicate Boy as a boyfriend. Having a powerhouse like him giving her attention likely helped, especially since she had to periodically stand up to him when he was being a jealous bonehead.
The Eye also amplifies what’s already there. Emerald Legionnaire Chameleon looks more alien, with facial tentacles. Emerald Legionnaire Ultra Boy has a goatee instead of his usual scruffiness. Everybody gets assorted Emerald Eye accoutrements.
Emerald Kinetix has puffy, diaphanous sleeves and leggings, like a harem girl. I’m sure there’s a perfectly heterosexual reason for Violet to envision Zoe as a harem girl.
What do you think about reviewing the arc of The Incredible Hulk in which Doctor Strange sends him to various alternate dimensions in which the Hulk would actually not be dangerous enough to its inhabitants? Starts with issue 300 of The Incredible Hulk. The Hulk finds himself in which even all of his strength is ordinary of even weak.
Hhmmm, it would be a good fit for Character Chronology. The run IS a bit infamous in Italy because it was completely skipped over in the first translated series and wouldn’t be published in any form for decades.
That is too bad. The Crossroads period was a worthy phase of Hulk’s stories, with lots of unusual situations, a fair bit of character study, and shocking developments both at its start and its ending. #299-300 did a superb job of reminding us how tricky it was for Doctor Strange to handle Hulk in all those years in the Defenders. The first half of #300 shows us how terrifying and unstoppable Hulk truly is; the second half shows how heavy is the burden of being the Hulk.
The ending scene is quite the heartbreaker; you don’t necessarily aprove of the decisions then made, but you sure feel how they weight on Bruce and Stephen. Tragic.
They completely skipped the Crossroads arc of “The Incredible Hulk” in Italy?!
I’m happy you liked my suggestion, it would be great to see a review from you of that arc!
Speaking of separate countries having different pecularities, Abril (the publisher of Marvel Comics in Brazil in the 80s all the way to the early 2000s) essentially created their own continuity and edited the original stories to fit, often even drawing new stories altogether. So much so that Secret Wars here are basically a different story altogether, with an exclusive and entirely unique ending! It’s the Abrilverse!
If you will recall, Abril later published a less revised version of Secret Wars (in later issues of “Spidey’s Web”.
Retooling licensed stories is not a particularly rare event. Famously, Mexico had it happen to a far greater extent than Abril ever did by publishing many Spider-Man stories that Marvel never made. Similarly with Marvel UK in the 1990s, although some Marvel UK characters made it back to 616 continuity.
Yeah, and there is often a lot of understandable context that leads to such scenarios being quite common around the world. For example: in the case of Secret Wars in Brazil, Abril had to make major changes because the comics’ timeline here was way behind America. Abril couldn’t delay Secret Wars, because of all the tie-in toys.
This is surely the best rendition of the Eye and its Platononic Heterosexual Friend. In L.E.G.I.O.N, the Eye was the closest thing to “Alien” and it was SCARY.
Now we finally see its power applied fully in a proper context, and it shows how much it can be dangerous. And Violet’s portrait is fully believable, as this reminds the reader that SHE IS AN ADOLESCENT. Insecure, emotional, traumatized, she answers to the Eye as if it were something between a best pal and a boost.
(next on the to-do-list: Brainy, for the sake of teaching, just TEACH the Legionnairers how to use their powers at their best! Violet’s ability is one of the most useful and versatile!)