Reboot: Legionnaires #47

Legionnaires #47 (April 1997)
title: "Lost in Time"

writers: Tom Peyer and Tom McCraw

penciller: Jeffrey Moy
inkers: W.C. Carani
lettering: Pat Brosseau
colorist: Tom McCraw

associate editor: Ruben Diaz
editor: KC Carlson
big fat help: Roger Stern

cover: Jeffrey Moy & W.C. Carani
reviewers: Siskoid & Shotgun

Mission Monitor Board:  
Andromeda (cover only), Apparition, Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Cosmic Boy, Element Lad, Gates, Invisible Kid, Kinetix, Live Wire, M'Onel, Magno, Saturn Girl, Sensor, Spark, Star Boy, Triad, Ultra Boy, Umbra, XS

Guests: 
Chuck Taine, Dragonmage, Ferro, Inferno, Koko, Lori Morning, Marla Latham, Proty, Rond Vidar, Shvaughn Erin, Tenzil Kem, Science Police (Jim), hospital guards and staff, 20th-Century police

Opponents: 
Evisceratronic, Mordru

Recap: 
Some time ago, part of the Legion was lost in the 20th Century with no way to get back. Recently, in the 30th, an ancient evil was awakened. Just now, in the 20th, Cosmic Boy has fallen into a coma following an encounter with Dr. Psycho...

Synopsis: 
Dragonmage arrives at Legion HQ with a warning about Mordru but is infuriatingly sent away just as an alarm pops up in the VR arcade. Seems like Brainiac 5 has managed to contact the 30th Century by leaching chronal energy out of senior patients at the hospital where Cosmic Boy is in critical condition. He gives Rond Vidar instructions on how to return to the 20th Century with a time machine to get the stranded team. Unfortunately, as Rond prepares to go back with a medi-kit, Lori Morning, afraid she would be returned to her time, fiddles with the machine using knowledge she learned from Chronos... and throws both teams (Cos excepted) into the time stream!

Meanwhile, the Science Police officer who lost Mano in the early days of the Legion blames them for his failures, has gone mad, and is using a glowing green rock to power a suit as Evisceratronic. The villain is distraught that Legion HQ is suddenly empty of Legionnaires and that he's been robbed of his revenge, but Mordru walks in, rips the stone which he claims to own out of the suit, and kills Evisceratronic.

Back at HQ, Lori kicks Rond in the gonads and steals the time machine, hoping to fix her mistake herself. But she only compounds it with another mistake, drawing the two teams together without first activating the synchronizers. The Legionnaires are together but are intangible and can't touch. Worse, they seem to be stuck in the time stream!

Commentary: 
Shotgun
Well well, we’re FINALLY getting the team together. It might not be in the best of circumstances, but it’s better than nothing. I need to remind myself that Lori is just a kid who doesn’t know better and that being selfish without thinking of the possible consequences is kinda part of the deal. Although, it is pretty impressive to see how much she learned from living with Chronos. She tried her best to fix what she had done, but it seems to be too little too late. They have quite the mess on their hands. And with Cos still stuck in the 20th Century, in his condition, they must find a solution and fast to first retrieve him and then get back to the 30th Century and deal with the menace that is Mordru.

Now, I need to talk about the confusion the cover created for me. Alright the 30th Century gang’s in the Time stream. I was excited as it made me believe in a reunion of the two groups and I was right about that bit. But why is Andromeda there? Was she meant to return with Mon-El? I was actually excited at the idea that she would come back with the team in this issue, but I guess I was misled by the image. Is it a hint that she’ll return to help the team back from the time stream? If that’s the case, why would they spoil it to their readers this early in the story? Come on DC… This is basic stuff right here!

Siskoid
I don't know what to tell you about Andromeda. She shouldn't be there except the Jeff Moy probably wanted to create a poster of all the Legionnaires (it interlocks with the LSH issue to make a complete image), though that's not exactly true either since it doesn't contain Leviathan, for example. As for Lori, I've had about enough. I like the character in principle, but if she's always going to be throwing wrenches into the Legionnaires' plans for no reason (and using the powers of being able to to whatever the writers want her to, Chronos or no Chronos, I mean come on), it becomes less and less credible that they would keep her around, and she becomes less and less a character and more and more a plot device. This isn't just one screw-up, it's at least three, and the result is confusing comic book physics you didn't really need Lori for.

And what about Evisceratronic? You know a guy is just cannon fodder when he's given a 90s code name to end all 90s code names. He refers to events that are some 2½ years in the past (as the reader flies) - was he even a thing? - and is out as soon as he's in. Just another soul corrupted by a glowy green artifact. A waste of pages.

And while I think the Legion Lost is a little quick to want super-telepath Saturn Girl as a leader - she seems a little dangerous, are they sure it's their idea? - the real leadership crisis may be Invisible Kid's. He's done well, but his dismissal of Dragonmage borders on the negligent. Of course, he was distracted by a pixelated Brainy, so maybe we can forgive him. I do love Roll Call: The Game, right next to it!

Very brief interactions in the time stream, of course - Apparition visible though they think her dead, Ferro thrown in with a lot of strangers and afraid he might lose his friends if they go back, Live Wire not realizing Imra's switched boyfriends - hopefully there's more time to catch up in the next issue.

Science Police Notes:  

• All-inclusive Legion numbering: 1997/7.
• The issue features an interlocking cover with that of Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #91.
• The Science Police officer who became Evisceratronic has been holding a grudge since the Mano incident in Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #63.