Review: Adventure Comics #522

In late 2010, the Legion of Super-Heroes had 2 books on the shelves.

Adventure Comics had been resurrected into an interesting Legion side book. I recently reviewed the initial part of the run which was a sort of flashback book, updating some important pieces of the earliest days of the Legion. Coming up the book will become a Legion Academy book.

Adventure Comics #522 was, like last issue, an adjunct book for the main Legion title. So events there are bolstered or replayed here. It is interesting. While the main book was dealing with a Durlan secret invasion, here we are concentrating on Saturn Queen and her impending LSV.

Paul Levitz does a decent job of making this feel like its own book while referencing enough of the other events to make it feel like a unified property. Geraldo Borges is again on art and brings his solid work the the proceedings. The most striking art is the cover by Scott Clark, a cheesecake cover of some of the female Legionnaires. They all seem a bit too thin for bendy ... but I suppose that is what much of cheesecake is.

For me, this whole LSV plotline with the blue baby Dharma never really clicked. But this whole book around this time was pretty rough going.

Onto the book.

The issue starts with Saturn Queen, kept unconscious and in a inertron whole head helmet is being transferred to a prison planet. The Science Police is appropriately worried about her. She has incredible power and few morals. She needs to be kept sedated.

Suddenly a new villain tears his way into the SciPo cruiser ... Sun Killer.

A sumo wrestler style guy, all crackly and on fire, he blasts and melts his way to the Queen. The problem is he can't do anything to inertron and he can't free her with his powers without hurting her. Stalemate.

I suppose adding new characters is a good thing. But this seems like the Sun Emperor with a wrinkle. Why not use him!

A distress signal goes out and reaches the SciPo and the Legion.

Luckily a 'sort of' Legionnaire is around. The newest GL, Mon-El.

I guess there is little concern for hull integrity of the ship. Because these guys are just tearing the place apart!

Meanwhile, the Durlans are trying to infiltrate EarthGov.
And the earthquakes on Earth is still happening.

Harmonia Li, a new character at this point, is remaining mysterious. She wonders if she should have intervened.

I wonder if some version of Harmonia Li will be part of the latest Legion.

She never quite clicked with me.

Meanwhile, in space, it is suddenly time for a throwdown.

Sun Killer gives us a one liner about his origin. He devoured the sun around Orvan, killing it, and gaining it's power.

I am intrigued at this part. I like how he bows to Mon-El before battle. And does Orvan mean anything to anyone?

Of course, he has sun powers, including red sun powers.

I will tell you a pet peeve. I am so sick of seeing Green Lantern shields 'overwhelmed' and exploding.

Hurting from the red sun, Sun Killer can top Mon-El's will power and blast him.

This newcomer can overcome a Green Lantern Daxamite veteran Legionnaire that easily? Seems wrong.

And then we see just what is driving Saturn Queen down her new path of brutality. The Blue Dharma, a space baby, flies towards the ship in search of her.

The Oan spirit Dyogene sees 'the adversary' and recognizes that indeed the Blue Dharma is back.

Dyogene can't have the blue baby win. So he re-energizes Mon-El.

I still don't know I quite understand anything that is happening in terms of Dyogene and Dharma and what each of them wants.

But the repowered Mon-El can get within arms reach of Sun Killer.

And a human can't win against a Daxamite. Using a nice trope, he flicks his finger, knocking Sun Killer out.

Finally the Legion arrives.

Luckily Saturn Queen remains unconscious in her inertron helmet. But even Tellus feels a blue flare.

This is an okay comic with okay art.

But it does make me happy that we are finally getting a new Legion book on the shelves soon.