Reboot: The Legion #25

The Legion #25 (December 2003)
title: "Foundations"

writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

pencillers: Chris Batista, Eric Wight, Tony Harris, Dave Cockrum, Al Milgrom, Paul Rivoche
inkers: Robin Riggs, Chip Wallace, Doug Hazelwood
lettering: Comicraft
colorists: Jason Wright, Eric Wight, Tom Feister, Paul Rivoche
seps: Digital Chameleon

editor: Stephen Wacker

cover: Tony Harris and Tom Feister

reviewers: Siskoid & Shotgun

Mission Monitor Board:  
Apparition, Brainiac 5, Chameleon (flashback), Cosmic Boy, Element Lad (memorial), Gear, Kid Quantum II, Live Wire, M'Onel (cover only), Monstress (flashback), Saturn Girl, Sensor (cover only), Shikari, Spark, Star Boy (cover only), Triad, Violet (flashback), Wildfire, XS

Guests: 
Chuck Taine, Clark Kent, Lana Lang, Legion Cadets (21, most unnamed except for Amp Girl, Babbage, and Retro; also recognizable are Kent Shakespeare and Comet Queen, possibly Stone Boy and Color Kid), Mekt Ranzz, Mekt's prison psychologist (flashback), Pete Ross, Wimena Wazzo; Presidential yacht's crew, Science Police

Opponents: 
Convict in the cell next to Mekt's (flashback), Lightning Beasts (flashback), Servants of Darkness, Warp Phantoms

Recap: 
The Legion is currently housed on Legion World, a planet-sized construct featuring habitats for all the U.P. Worlds...

Synopsis: 
When Clark Kent was a teenager in Smallville, he was approached by three kids from the future wanting to show him the impact he had... but wait, that's not the current history of the Legion, is it?! They bring him to Apokolips and reveal their true selves, servants of Darkseid!

In the 31st Century, Spark visits Element Lad's memorial on Trom hoping it will bring some closure and leaves crystals she found in the Kwai galaxy next to the tromium that's part of his tomb. She doesn't notice that they start to crackle as she flies off to rejoin the rest of the team on Legion World where the first annual Foundation Day is about to kick off, celebrating the inception of the Legion and honoring its fallen with every citizen of the United Planets. To mark the occasion, the Legion is also starting a Legion Cadet Program, and twenty young heroes have been invited to take part.

Meanwhile, some members of the Legion have gone to Braal space to rescue the president's yacht from Warp Phantoms escaped from a disused stargate. The yacht picked up someone coming out of the gate - Connor Kent, Superboy!

Back on Legion World, Spark meets her brother Mekt who has been allowed to leave Winath in her care, and he recounts how Garth was and is his hero and how he regrets his past actions, as well as an incident in which Live Wire came to visit him in prison and was jumped by another inmate, requiring Mekt to intervene. We later see Mekt wears his brother's Live Wire uniform under his coat.

On the command deck, one touring cadet asks a pointed question about why Element Lad isn't being honored the same way Live Wire is, which will make Saturn Girl later visit Jan's memorial and find it smashed to pieces. And there's Element Lad, except it's not, it's Garth in his body!

Commentary: 
Shotgun
Foundation Day seems to be a good idea to help the citizens of the United Planets deal with their past traumas and reinforce the importance of the Legion for its well-being. I also like the idea of having new recruits brought in to consolidate the unifying aspect of the Legion. I suspect the Legion Cadet Program is basically the equivalent of the Legion of Substitute Heroes in this continuity. I’m just a bit confused about certain things though. Like how, on page 7 Kid Quantum mentions "the twenty of you" when there are 21 cadets standing there – I counted several times! I’m also wondering why the flying squirrel-looking cadet hasn’t been made a full-fledged Legionnaire yet. I want it done yesterday please!!!

Lots of emotional moments in this story. I’m ashamed of myself for ever doubting Mekt’s intentions. I’m glad he really is making efforts to become a better citizen. It’s pretty heart-breaking to learn how he was looking up to his younger brother, and still is. Saturn Girl reflecting on Jan’s sacrifice and honoring his memory was terribly sad, but necessary. I am glad they recognized, thanks to this bold cadet (I don’t think I like Retro very much, but he made the right call asking), that Element Lad should definitely also be remembered on Foundation Day. How confused everyone will be when the founders return from Trom with Jan’s body containing Garth’s mind.

All that Superboy side-story probably serves as a way to introduce the new villains the team will face. I don’t know anything about them, but I have to say I would avoid visiting Apokolips at all costs!

Siskoid
Not Subs, SG (remember, we saw them around the time of the whole Mordru crisis), but a couple of the members COULD be former Subs, it's hard to say. The Legion Academy, however, is another proud Legion tradition and I'm glad to see it resurrected. I only wish they featured more than they eventually did. Maybe I'm misremembering my Legion lore. But quite nice to see Babbage, a Robotican cadet, pushing the theme of forgiveness that eventually allows Saturn Girl to give Element Lad his due and tell his story in the most heroic of terms. As if through that forgiveness, some of his sins are forgiven, namely with the return of Live Wire in some form.

One thing an older fan tends to think about is the art. I notice that Shotgun rarely talks about it unless something really bothers her (see Umbra's skimpy outfit last issue, for example). Here, a number of artists of vastly different styles work on the issue. Baptista carries the Foundation Day story as the series' main artist. I'm most pleased with Eric Wight on the Clark Kent sequence, which has a fun indie feel, naive and colorful, but then turns out to be perfect as a king of grungy Kirby for the Apokolips sequence. Gotta say, I really like the idea of pulling an Anniversary tribute to the original story without resorting to retcon shenanigans. We're already in a Reboot, after all!

Harris and Feister handle the space mission, but aside from the money shot with Connor, I find the art a special effects muddle. They're better on the covers, personally. Mekt's flashbacks are by Cockrum and Milgrom, the latter's thick lines smothering the classic Legion's artist's work in places, but it kind of works for the POV of the disturbed Lightning Lord. Yes, he's reformed, and he's another character who has been forgiven, but there's still something odd and potentially dangerous about his trying to BECOME Garth, don't you think? Paul Rivoche then handles the Element Lad flashback, and it's of a piece with the dark and gritty Legion Lost series, good job.

Two flashbacks in 48 pages and a lot of re-explanations besides, as for the second time in six months, the series tries to provide a jumping on point. (And there's a Secret Files book coming in the very near future too.) Makes me question whether the readership had dwindled and DC felt it was important to bring the numbers back up. (Connor's inclusion may also be part of that push.) Consider the series has just a little more than a year to go...

Science Police Notes:  

• Storefronts in Smallville name-check creators who worked on Superboy, specifically Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney.
• The sequences in Smallville are a tribute to Adventure Comics #247 which originated the Legion.
• Clark Kent was never Superboy in this particular continuity.
• First appearance of the Reboot's Legion Academy (including a character that appears to be Kent Shakespeare. Comet Queen had a prior cameo in Legionnaires #43. Color Kid and Stone Boy may be there as well, but have never been confirmed.
• The Robotican cadet, Babbage, took his name directly from the father of computing, not from the A.I. that drove Valor's spaceship.
• The issue marks the return of Live Wire, albeit in Element Lad's body.

Milestone: 
This issue celebrates the 45th anniversary of the Legion, and is dedicated to its creators, Otto Binder and Al Plastino.