Reboot: Legionnaires #49

Legionnaires #49 (June 1997)
title: "Let the Call Go Forth!"

writers: Roger Stern and Tom McCraw

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

assistant editor: Frank Berrios
editor: KC Carlson
adult legionnaire: Carmela Merlo

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

Mission Monitor Board:  
Chameleon, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Kinetix, Live Wire, M'Onel, Magno, Sensor, Star Boy, Umbra, XS

Guests: 
Andromeda, Dragonmage, Dreamer (in flashback), Fleet Admiral Everett, General Hol, Heroes of Lallor (Beast Boy, Gas Girl, Splitter), King Charlz of Orando, Lori Morning, Marla Latham, Mysa, Night Girl, Polar Boy, Prefect Lamar, Prince Wyllm of Orando, Proty, R.J. Brande, Uncanny Amazers (Atmos, Atom'X, Insect Queen, Kid Quantum II, Monstress), Workforce (Blast-Off, Evolvo, Karate Kid, Particon, Radion, Spider-Girl); Heroes of Lallor handler, medical staff, mystics (in flashback), the People of Orando, ship crew, Vyrgans

Opponents: 
Emerald Violet, Leland McCauley, Mordru

Recap: 
Some time ago, Shrinking Violet was possessed by the Emerald Eye of Ekron. Now she's on the run from Mordru who is trying to recover the evil artifact so he can add it to his power. Not that he's not already powerful, having just beaten the Legion, turned Element Lad into a crystal statue, and destroyed the planet Sklar...

Synopsis: 
In the wake of the destruction, President Brande sends out the call for other worlds to lend their super-heroes to help the Legion against Mordru. Some can't spare them, but some members of Xanthu's Uncanny Amazers and McCauley's Work Force are seconded to the Legion. Element Lad at least starts to awaken from his crystalline state, slowly returning to normal (hopefully), while Live Wire, who blames himself for the Legion's strategy falling apart, needs a pep talk from the president to get back into fighting form.

Meanwhile, Mordru continues to focus on the Eye of Ekron, something that becomes easier when he senses Violet trying to resist the artifact. In another dimension, Mysa tells Dragonmage and Kinetix about how she and her fellow mystics banished Mordru long ago, at the cost of all lives but hers. At that time, she had stolen the wizard's artifacts and hidden them. Now he has them all but the Eye. As Andromeda finds Violet and tries to take her away from the Eye, it tries to stop her and Mordru finally tracks it down. But it won't let itself get taken so easily.

As they fight for control, Atom'X flies out of the Legion's cruisers to take advantage of the wizard's distraction, though in large part because he wants to prove the Work Force's Radion wrong to treat him like a backwater bumpkin. Mordru disables and consumes him almost immediately. To stop the carnage, Violet merges with the Eye and offers to become Mordru's bride, as Veye!

Commentary: 
Shotgun
Brande’s announcement to the United Planets makes me feel uneasy. I guess it reminds too much of a speech any world leader would have to make following an act of terror. That act and its aftermath are shown to the population without censorship, the leader condemns those acts, asks for support and states that such actions will not go unpunished. Finally, Brande asks the inhabitants of the worlds to remain calm and makes reassuring statement about a future victory over such heinous crimes. We can observe an almost-universal truth in the following pages as everyone tends to become allies against a common enemy. It is in such adversity that the United Planets truly become what they should be: united. Some worlds will provide champions while others will give other resources and support. The task force that was created following this call for help is filled with great elements, but can they really work together in such a way as to defeat Mordru when the Legion failed beforehand?

The results of their expedition are already proving that having more troops won’t make this fight an easy one. Andromeda was taken out so quickly. While I understand that she was on her own and unprepared when Mordru attacked, it should’ve been a clear indicator of his strength even to the, let’s say more challenged, members of the task force. Atom’X should’ve known better. His arrogance brought him to his end and I’m not even sad to see him gone. The sorcerer destroyed an entire planet in seconds, forget your dreams of personal glory and get some self preservation instinct! I can’t see that Violet and the Eye are willingly joining with Mordru. They’re probably trying to seduce him into thinking they are now a team the better to turn against him… Anyway, I hope that’s the case.

And just before I hand this over to Siskoid, I just realised that R.J. stands for René Jacques and it made me giggle. Not used to seeing French names in comics hihi!

Siskoid
For an old Legion fan like me, the call to arms, including heroes both fleetingly seen and appearing for the first time in the Reboot, brings me great joy. Who doesn't like a good Substitute Heroes sequence (even if it's just one panel) or a cameo by Arm-Fall-Off Boy? And then having the three main superhero teams we know about get together to fight a major threat, well, it feels a little like the Great Darkness Saga, even if we really have to wait for #50 to get into it properly.

For me, the best part was the relationship between Radion of Work Force and Atom'X of the Amazers. Radio gets in the way of Atom'X talking to Kinetix, and from then on, every time you see them in the background, they're jostling for a position, giving each other an elbow or the side-eye. So Atom'X doesn't race off out of the blue, he's sort of been goaded into it. It's really a case of the snotty city kids (Earth's corporate team) vs. the hicks from the boonies (i.e. Xanthu), and we don't care for the way we're being treated! Of course, it's a big, fatal mistake, and one that makes Violet merge with the Eye (Veye? really? that's silly) before more blood (or, err, energy) is spilled. In this issue, I think we really do see her heroism, fighting the Eye, and sacrificing herself to become Mordru's bride. It's not a villain's move. It's brought on by the violence she sees done to Andromeda and Atom'X.

So... no one's going to mention the raccoons being ruled by Sensor's royal parents?

Science Police Notes:  

• All-inclusive Legion numbering: 1997/11.
• Xanthu's Uncanny Amazers were last seen in Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #82. Atmos was not then a member, though he was seen among Xanthu's homegrown heroes as far back as Legionnaires #0.
• This is the Reboot's first appearance of the Heroes of Lallor, originally seen in Adventure Comics #324. The full membership includes Beast Boy, Gas Girl, Evolvo Lad (in the Reboot, a member of Work Force), Life Lass and Duplicate Boy. Only the first two are features, along with Splitter (AKA Arm-Fall-Off Boy) who was not a member of the original team; there is no reason to believe he is a Lallorian, but instead probably went looking for another group after he was rejected by the Legion
• Radion, Particon and Blast-Off were recruited into the Work Force after being rejected by the Legion in Legionnaires #43.
• Also from that issue, Night Girl and Polar Boy are seen working with a team Lydda calls "poor substitutes" at best, meaning they aren't called the Legion of Substitute Heroes as yet. Difficult to tell who the other members are, though from their shadows, probably Fire Lad and Chlorophyll Kid.
• One of the ships used by the task force is called the Thanagar, after Hawkman's homeworld. The other is the Terra (i.e. named after Earth).
• Mordru appears to kill Atom'X in this issue.
• Mordru has a tradition of marrying Legionnaires; in another reality, he wed the White Witch.