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Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #283

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #283 (Jan 1982)
title: "The Startling Secret of Wildfire"

writer: Roy Thomas

penciller: Howard Bender
inker: Bruce Patterson

letterer: Ben Oda
colorist: Gene D'Angelo

editor: Mike W. Barr
cover: Jim Aparo

reviewer: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage

Mission Monitor Board:
Wildfire, Lightning Lad; cameo appearances by Superboy, Phantom Girl, Chemical King, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Timber Wolf, Shadow Lass, Matter-Eater Lad

Guests:
Lamprey, Nightwind, Crystal Kid

Opponents:
ego, pride, ignorance

Home-Made Legion Club-House

Editors' Note: Today we here at the Legion of Super-Bloggers would like to present a "How To" lesson from Ultra Legion fan Emsley Wyatt. He contacted us recently with some photographs of his home-made Legion of Super-Heroes Club-House. We thought everyone would like to have a look at his creativity, and he gladly sent us the following essay.

The Threeboot: A Requiem

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interrèd with their bones.

Mark Antony from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

Friends, Legionnaires, UP residents, lend me your ears.

Because after 15 months of reviews, my look at that Threeboot Legion has come to a close.

It is hard for me to believe that I have come to the end. But in some ways I am happy it has as the last several months of reviewing the Shooter run hasn't been easy.

More than any run, it seems like this volume has both good and evil. I unlike Mark Antony, I don't want the bad portion of this run to live on. And I don't want to bury the good. I want to take a broad look at the Threeboot one last time. And really, what I want to hear most is from everyone out there. What did you think of this run of the Legion? Did you love it? Or hate it? Are there moments that stick out? What do you think?

And unlike many versions of the Legion, despite the Threeboots' short run, there are definitely discrete and distinct runs within the 50 issues. So let's dip our toes one more time.

Reboot: Legionnaires #37

Legionnaires #37 (June 1996)
title: "Decisions"

writers: Roger Stern and Tom McCraw

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

assistant editor: Mike McAvennie
editor: KC Carlson
special thanks: Mark Waid & Karl Kesel

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

Mission Monitor Board:
Andromeda, Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Cosmic Boy, Gates, Invisible Kid, Jan Arrah, Kinetix, Leviathan, Live Wire, Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet, Spark, Star Boy, Triad, Ultra Boy, Valor, XS

Guests:
Brad Majors, Chuck Taine, Keema Delf, Lori Morning, Marla Latham, Proty, R.J. Brande, Tenzil Kem, Athramites, Vyrgan ambassador

Opponents:
Empress, President Chu; virtual versions of Captain Cold, Gorilla Grodd and Weather Wizard

Who's Who: Caress

Caress
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name: Chi Tsan

Super-Power(s): Acid excretion
Planet of Origin: Earth

Relationship to Legion: Villain; member of the Fatal Five

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #282

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #282 (Dec 1981)
title: "If Answers There Be..."

plotter: Roy Thomas

writer: Paul Levitz
penciller: Jimmy Janes
inker: Bruce Patterson

letterer: Ben Oda
colorist: Gene D'Angelo

editor: Mike W. Barr
cover: Dick Giordano

reviewer: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage

Mission Monitor Board:
Lightning Lad, Karate Kid, Blok, Dawnstar, Phantom Girl, Superboy, Ultra Boy

Guests:
Lana Lang as Insect Queen, Reflecto

Opponents:
The Time Trapper, Dirigible Dictator

Secret Origins #46

"The Little Clubhouse That Could!"
writer: Gerard Jones

penciller: Curt Swan
inker: Ty Templeton

letterer: John Costanza
colorist: Tom McGraw

editor: Mark Waid
cover: Elliot R. Brown

reviewer: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage
Fortress Lad created by KC Carlson

Mission Monitor Board:
Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad

Guests:
RJ Brande, Fortress Lad

Opponents:
Mnemonic Kid

Threeboot: Legion of Super-Heroes #50

Recap: A hard-light world and its army has been invading the United Planets. The actual world exists only in the ether, an 'internet database' that exists only on a virtual level. The Legion is the last line of defense to keep this other culture from erasing reality from existence.

Meanwhile, Princess Projectra is planning her own coup, armed with the power of all Orando magic. A nasty aspect of Brainiac 5's persona has gained corporeal existence and is running around. Cosmic Boy and others have been recruited by mystery heroes from the 41st century. Saturn Girl has had a tryst with Lightning Lad, breaking up the Legion's power couple. And Brainy has proposed to Dreamy.

But none of this really matters.

Legion of Super-Heroes #50 was the last issue of this threeboot run. The book was canceled.

In many ways, I'm thankful.

Jim Shooter has had something of a rough run on the book. His issues have been somewhat scattershot in their approach. There were too many plotlines and far too much sexism and cheesecake for my taste. And while I would have a hard time overlooking those flaws, the biggest in my mind has just been the nasty feel to the book and characters. No one seems to like each other. No one gets along. There is a lot of pseudo-swearing and intersquad battles. It would be hard to believe this group coming together and shouting 'Long Live the Legion'.

I feel that DC may have pulled the plug abruptly on the book. Shooter uses a pseudonym on this book, Justin Thyme. I am sure this is explained somewhere on his blog. And art is not by Francis Manapul here but the serviceable if less polished Ramon Bachs. But with the book canceled, we get almost no closure on everything that had been simmering away.

How sad that I was happy the book was ending.

Reboot: Legion of Super-Heroes #80

Legion of Super-Heroes #80 (April 1996)
title: "Trust"

writers: Tom Peyer and Tom McCraw

penciller: Lee Moder

inker: Ron Boyd
lettering: Pat Brosseau
colorist: Tom McCraw

assistant editor: Mike McAvennie
editor: KC Carlson

cover: Alan Davis & Mark Farmer
reviewers: Siskoid & Shotgun

Mission Monitor Board:
Andromeda, Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Cosmic Boy, Gates, Invisible Kid, Jan Arrah, Kinetix, Leviathan, Live Wire, Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet, Spark, Star Boy, Triad, Ultra Boy, Valor, XS

Guests:
Dr. Micah Aven, Marla Latham, R.J. Brande, Winema Wazzo, the President's bodyguards, Science Police, Titan Home Guard, U.P. delegates

Opponents:
Empress, Mano, Persuader, President Chu, Tharok, Validus