Reboot: The Legion #15

The Legion #15 (February 2003)
title: "Legion Rookie Blues"

writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

penciller: Kev Walker
inkers: Andy Lanning and Simon Coleby
lettering: Comicraft
colorist: Jason Wright
seps: Digital Chameleon

editor: Stephen Wacker

cover: Kilian Plunkett and Tanya Horie
reviewers: Siskoid & Shotgun

Mission Monitor Board:  
Apparition, Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Cosmic Boy, Gates, Gear, Invisible Kid, Kid Quantum II, Live Wire II/Spark, M'Onel, Saturn Girl, Sensor, Shikari, Timber Wolf, Triad, Ultra Boy, Violet, Wildfire, XS; memorials: Element Lad, Kid Quantum I, Live Wire I, Monstress

Guests: 
Chuck Taine, Coluan delegates, Cub Nah, R.J. Brande, Trudy Trusoe, Wimena Wazzo, Xanthu delegate; Kwai, Science Police

Opponents: 
Fatal Five (Emerald Eye of Ekron, Empress, Mano, Persuader, Tharok, Validus)

Recap: 
Robotica has sued for peace and plans to settle Pluto/Warworld. Timber Wolf has just been inducted into the Legion...

Synopsis: 
Today: Brin Londo Timber Wolf is being beaten up by enemies unknown. 24 hours earlier, he was starting his first day as a Legionnaire, shadowing Kid Quantum to get better acclimated. First on the schedule was providing security for a United Planets council meeting, in which Xanthu and Colu opposed Robotica joining the U.P.; Colu left the union over it. R.J. Brande is made special envoy to Kwai Space to further relations with that part of the universe, and President Wazzo invited Brin to see her sometime.

Some 21 hours before the fight, Timber Wolf visits Apparition's Cub in the med center, irritating Ultra Boy when the baby responds better to him and its own dad. Not ling after, the Legion assembles at Shanghalla, the resting place of heroes, to commemorate Monstress and Live Wire who gave their lives in Kwai Space. Kid Quantum asks Ayla to take the name Spark again rather than her brother's code name, even though she herself did exactly that with her fallen brother's, arguing that Garth would have wanted it that way. Ayal agrees. Before returning to Legion World, Kid Quantum brings Brin to Trom for a more private ceremony to commemorate her friend Element Lad.

14 hours before the fight, Apparition asks Timber Wolf to come and mingle with the team, which leads Ultra Boy to jealously leave the party in a huff. The next morning, Brin is assigned to a small group of Legionnaires, which (sigh) includes Ultra Boy, to escort an inert Tharok, still alive after his infection by Robotica, to a space port for transfer to a prison world. The team is waylaid by the Fatal Five, and that catches us up to the present...

Commentary: 
Shotgun
I think we can all agree that the first day at a new job is a stressful experience. Now imagine joining an organization such as the Legion of Super-Heroes… Add the fact that you’re joining a team that includes the overly jealous and insecure husband of the girl you’ve protected and become close friends with. Overwhelming isn’t strong enough a word! Speaking of the jealous husband, can I kindly ask Jo to freaking grow up already?! Tinya can have male friends, you moron! You guys should have a real talk and fast. He’s most likely projecting his shame of kissing Imra onto Tinya and Brin’s relationship. They’re not in the wrong, YOU ARE! I’m sure Jo’s also feeling insecure about the way his own kid is scared of him but loves Brin. It’s nobody’s fault you ended up being away for so long while the kid was quickly growing up. Hopefully that lovely conversation will put an end to that stupidity. I gotta remind myself they’re still very young, especially to be married and have a baby. Wait… how old ARE they??!

Now we’re moving into tying up the subplots that were brought up during the Robotican attack. The U.P. is in a middle of a political crisis, we pick up snatches of conversation between Cos and M’Onel about the Terrorforms and Zoe’s implication in the issue's resolution, we learn of a new diplomatic special envoy mission to the Kwai Galaxy that will definitely lead to a conflict with Singularity and the Credo. But of course, all this isn’t enough! Who would’ve thought that a relatively simple task – transporting a dangerous prisoner – would lead the gang into a trap set by the Fatal Five aided by the Emerald Eye? Me… I did… First, the cover and couple of pages picturing a bloody Timber Wolf pretty much gave it away, but on top of it, they’re transferring Tharok, come on! It was surprising enough to see him working alone in The Legion #10. It was just a matter of time until the rest of the FF showed up (no… not “THE” FF… You know very well who I’m talking about)!

Siskoid
In the original continuity, Timber Wolf wasn't inducted into the Legion until relatively late (1968), but given his thematic connection to Wolverine and the type of character he is, it's amazing to me that he didn't show up in the Reboot until the 2000s, and didn't join until 2003. Still, that gives us the chance to see a new hero integrating into a well-established team, and a hero we feel like we know, more than if he were a new creation. Like a new reader at this point (or any point?), he's a little lost, doesn't know who everyone is, is learning the history from flashbacks and exposition, and is not sure he wants to engage. I don't know if DnA did it on purpose, but he's REALLY an audience identification figure here. To me, it's the pages of fighting that are tedious, as I want more of the social interaction stuff. We don't need that bookend to return again and again, and gobble up so many pages, especially if the identity of the villains is being withheld.

Elsewhere, I like the focus on the shifting politics of the U.P. Robotica's inclusion HAS to be addressed and I like that it will have long-term implications. Xanthu seems to have its say here, but they haven't been members since they joined the Khund alliance, so whatever. And Colu's been in and out. I can see why Wazzo is calling their bluff. Less believable to me are Kid Quantum's moments during the memorials. First, I don't see why Ayla CAN'T be "Live Wire". Kid Quantum took her brother's name, but begrudges Ayla the same choice, and it really feels like it's just because she can't help but call her Spark out of habit. Her argument doesn't make sense, nor the idea that Ayla would be convinced by it. Is this an editorial mandate? DC, or a loud portion of their readers, did not want her to be called that? Confusion with the Superman villainess (from the DCAU) with the same name? Well, if it can get us away from Ayla's only dialog being about how someone screwed up her name, I'll take it. Then there's the memorial for Element Lad. I can get that some Legionnaires would not want him on Shanghalla, but to bring Timber Wolf with her as sole witness, on the basis that he is the only "neutral" Legionnaire on this issue, is ridiculous. She cannot be Jan Arrah's only friend, ESPECIALLY among the Legionnaires who were not lost in Kwai Space. So some of the character beats here don't feel true to them, even within the context of DnA's run.

Science Police Notes:  

• Timber Wolf officially joins the Reboot Legion.
• This is Stephen Wacker's first issue as sole editor of The Legion.
• Ayla Ranzz goes back to being called Spark.