Let’s take a break from the regular Legion retrospective to have a look at the second attempt at a spin-off series (after the disastrous Karate Kid).
The Wanders are a curious bunch.
Introduced towards the end of the Jim Shooter run in Adventure Comics #375, you can literally count their appearances on one hand: they also have cameos in Superboy #200, LSH #294 and LSH #300. Even the Heroes of Lallor have more impact on the Legion!!!
But it comes with a slight advantage: we know NOTHING about the Wanderers, other than the fact they’re famous heroes throughout the galaxy.
This is a 13-issue series that doesn’t have a lot to do with the Legion, so I will be skipping A LOT during the review… also because this series is a bit of a slog to get through.
Wanderers #1 (1988)
by Doug Moench & Dave Hoover
cover by Ken Steacy
Based on the cover, we’re not off to a great start. It’s not a BAD cover, mind you, but it looks interchangeable from any 80s fantasy series.
Speaking of bad starts: the first scene has a Controller finding the corpses of the Wanderers after a failed mission.
Our heroes, ladies and gentlemen!
So the Controller decides to give them a second chance.
The Controller, who has the very subtle name of Dr. Clonus, creates a clone of himself and gives him the task to create clones of the Wanderers.
The cloning process doesn’t work on Celebrand, the leader of the Wanderers, but all the other are reborn as 18 year olds.
The clones are given the memories of the original Wanderers. As I’ve explained, they don’t have to go through many issues!
It’s understandably a lot to take in.
So… we’re changing the look of all members and most of them also get new names.
Wouldn’t it have been easier to just create new characters at this point?
Psyche immediately begins to have nightmares about the cloning process and about giving birth.
Yeah, uhm, this is going to be one weird series.
I swear I have no idea what’s going on most of the time in this series.
But let’s get to meet who exactly the Wanderers are.
As you’ve already seen and as implied by her name, Psyche is an empath.
Aviax has the power to transform into any bird.
Immorto has a more interesting power: not only he can heal from any wound, he can lend his healing factor to others.
I’m sorry, he wants to go by “Re-Animage” now. That’s lamer than Immorto, who wasn’t even that good of a name.
Quantum Queen can control light, become invisible, shoot lasers, fly and turn into pure energy.
Elvar has a sword. That’s it.
And Dartalon is basically a Porcupine Pete who can’t even shoot his quills.
So to recap, the Wanderers have the following powers:
-Feel feelings
-Turn into a bird
-Throw darts
-Heal
-Control all possible applications of light
-Own a sword
Yeah, uhm, this team is SLIGHTLY unbalanced.
And then there’s the costumes, which… ehm…
They look like “true heroes”. Yeah, sure, let’s go with that.
And the first issue end with the original Controller showing up to die.
So what did we learn about the Wonderers in the first issue?
That they died, that most of their clones have lame powers, and that there’s some weird stuff going on involving genetic experiments and childbirth.
How the heck did this series last 13 issues?
Wanderers #2 (1988)
by Doug Moench & Dave Hoover
cover by Ken Steacy
This is a very well done cover, but if you’re trying to capitalize on the popularity of the Legion shouldn’t it be even slightly recognizable by Legion fans?
The fact that cloning is illegal for the Controllers was already mentioned in the previous issue, but this one attempts to provide a reason.
The Controller that cloned the Wanderers dies in this one, meaning it’s the second issue of the series and they haven’t succeeded in anything.
To add insult to injury, the healing powers of Re-Animage don’t work on him.
This is the premise of the series: the Wanderers are going to, well, wander around tracing the journey of their creator to understand why he died and why they were cloned.
But the Controller is also NOT dead, because he uploaded his mind into the ship.
Also Psyche is a “psychic vampire” because she’s happy when she’s around happy people. Wait, what?
These guys are going to take forever to do anything, isn’t it?
The issue ends with Psyche giving birth to some weird creature, possibly coming out of her mind.
Have I mentioned this is a weird series?
Wanderers #3 (1988)
by Doug Moench & Dave Hoover
cover by Ken Steacy
Finally some Legion connection!
Psyche’s “baby” was hatched by some crystal left behind by the Controller.
She’s so protective of her “baby” that the Wanderers eventually have to knock her out.
Which is easier than it sounds since her powers suck.
At least she makes Elvar suck just a little less.
Eventually the Wanderers discover that there are multiple “babies” being hatched.
Looking for the other crystals on the planet, the Wanderers run into the Legion.
This issue shares the cover date of LSH #49 so White Witch is still in the team.
Naturally they don’t recognize the Wanderers, since they look nothing like them.
Also White Witch comes up with the truly ridiculous claim that “cloning of humans is impossible”.
Not only cloning in Legion stories goes as far back as Superboy #206… but White Witch should know that cloning is possible because she debuted in the Great Darkness Saga, which featured the Servants that WERE clones!!!
Yeah I’m with Wildfire with this one. The Wanderers haven’t exactly shown to be either trustworthy or useful.
But they eventually accept to work with the Wanderers to find the aliens, dubbed Hatchlings.
First order of business: make sure Psyche does absolutely nothing.
Our heroes, ladies and gentlemen!
Quantum Queen comes up with a simple but admittedly effective plan to force the Hatchlings out of the temple where they’re keeping their crystal/eggs: with the help of White Witch, create an illusion that the temple is on fire.
A plan that would’ve solved the Hatchling problem if Psyche wasn’t spoiling it.
Now we have adult Hatchlings to deal with.
Which SOUNDS bad, but they just reduce the temple to ashes destroying the crystal/eggs.
Well that was entirely pointless.
Wanderers #4 (1988)
by Doug Moench & Dave Hoover
Oh no, not the death of… wait, who is this again?
Is Quantum Queen going to do anything except complain about Psyche?
In this issue we learn the origin of the Controller that cloned the Wanderers.
He was a rogue scientist that fell in love with a human woman; since Controllers are immortal, he went into cloning with the hope of making her live forever.
And we FINALLY have something interesting in this series, with the Controller reminiscing about the moral implications of continuously cloning the woman while simultaneously killing the previous body.
But he also fixated on having children with the human, something that he managed only after repeated modifications to her genetic code.
Until all of their children were murdered by the Hatchlings.
I think you can see the eventual “plot twist” from light-years away at this point.
Eventually the team discovers Psyche still has her “baby”…
…and it is now rebelling against the other Hatchlings because he’s discovered he likes “the inside of humans” thanks to his relationship with Psyche.
Which in context means it has learned human emotions, but out of context… ewwww.
And they learn that the Hatchling are the result of what happens when clones of the Controllers reproduce.
Told you that you could see the twist coming.
This series is SUCH a chore… issue 4 is just 24 pages but it feels like 120 pages where nothing happens.
Wanderers #5 (1988)
by Doug Moench & Dave Hoover
At this point I’m rooting for the Hatchling. They have more personality than the Wanderers.
I’m serious, the Hatchling plot is a fascinating exploration of immortality and of parents that are more obsessed with the idea of having children than with raising children.
Not to mention the fact that the Hatchlings resurrecting their mother so that they can form a hive mind around her is incredibly creepy.
Quantum Queen gets YET ANOTHER power, because she wasn’t already making everyone else feel pathetic.
And mind you, she’s powerful enough to blow off a planetoid on her own!
This gets rid of the Hatchlings and their mother, so now the Wanderers are free to wander the universe in search of a plot.
Wanderers #6 (1988)
by Doug Moench & Dave Hoover
Let’s close this first batch of issues to see if they DO find a plot.
The first question is if they’re still going to be heroes on behalf of the United Planets, as they apparently used to be, or just mercenaries.
A “bonanza of flaring emotions” indeed.
You might remember that the original Wanderers included one member who hasn’t been resurrected: their leader Celebrand.
But a part of him is still part of the team… inside the left lung of Re-Animator.
THAT’S NOT A JOKE.
In their very first appearance, the Wanderers were well-respected heroes that even the Legionnaires admired. Now they get less respect than the Substitute Heroes.
Elvar and Dartalon have their own separate adventure (which is really boring, trust me) while the rest of the team… just waits.
Our heroes, ladies and gentlemen!
Once they are assigned a mission, turns out it was the one already solved by Elvar and Dartalon.
And we’re stopping here because I’m falling asleep.
How are there 7 more issues of this???
Legion significance: 0/10
Not just for the Legion: the Wanderers only show up in this series. The name will be re-used by completely different teams later.
Silver Age-ness: ???/10
Does it stand the test of time? zzzzzzz/10
I believe this is my third attempt to read this series, and I can’t remember a single thing I read the other times I tried. This is soooooooo boring!!!
The Controller/Hatchling plot is not bad, but the problem are the Wanderers themselves.
They’re just black holes of charisma, they have almost no characterization, and most of their powers suck. Quantum Queen and Re-Animage are the only one with interesting powers, but the others would have trouble standing out in the Subs.