Review: Adventure Comics #520

I am sort of sad to see this run of Legion of Super-Heroes come to an end in Adventure Comics #520. I don't need a primer on the Legion but it certainly has been fun to see the Legionnaires in their youth, in their Silver Age costumes, and learning hard lessons on being heroes in the 30th century.

Much of this run has been focused on the Legion 'growing up' ... moving from curiosity, to questionable ally of the Science Police, to adjunct to the SciPo, to finally mourners as one of their own has fallen in battle. And, I have liked how we have seen those changes through the eyes of Saturn Girl who has had to do some growing of her own. She has gone from shy girl with low confidence to weary warrior in a short time and doing that while making some dubious decisions about the use of her powers. Imra has always been a rock in the foundation of the LSH, certainly a perfect counter-balance to Lightning Lad's irascible nature.

Paul Levitz shines here, building on definite moments in the Legion's history without leaving new readers behind. And Kevin Sharpe's art works well, showcasing a young Legion. Onwards!

Reboot: Legion Lost #12

Legion Lost #12 (April 2001)
title: "First & Last"

writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

penciller: Olivier Coipel
inker: Andy Lanning
lettering: Comicraft
colorist: Tom McCraw

editor: Mike McAvennie
special thanks: Pascal Alixe and Martin Griffiths

cover: Olivier Coipel & Andy Lanning
reviewers: Siskoid & Shotgun

Mission Monitor Board:  
Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Kid Quantum II, Live Wire, Monstress (flashback), Saturn Girl, Shikari, Ultra Boy, Umbra, Wildfire

Opponents: 
Omniphagos, Progenitor (Element Lad), Progeny

Recap: 
The lost Legion has encountered the Progenitor and it is Element Lad, who has gone insane living through the birth of the universe and becoming an amoral god to a whole galaxy. He has a portal to get the Legion home, but plans to take the Omniphagos through and let it eat everything so he can start over. And he's just disintegrated Monstress...

Who's Who: Taurus Gang

Taurus Gang
by Russell & Siskoid

Members: Group consisting of Black Mace, Mystelor, Quanto, Rogarth, and Shagrek
Super-Power(s): Power (see individual listings below)

Planets of Origin: Various 

Relationship to Legion: Adversaries

L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 #4

L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 #4 (May 1989)
title: "How to Win Friends and Influence People!"
plot/breakdowns: Keith Giffen
script: Alan Grant
penciller: Barry Kitson
inker: Mark McKenna
letterer: Gaspar
colorist: Lovern Kindzierski
assistant editor: Art Young
editor: Karen Berger
cover art: Kevin Maguire and Al Gordon

Future L.E.G.I.O.N.airres: The Durlan, Garryn Bek, Lyrissa Mallor, Stealth, Strata, Vril Dox.

Their Opponent: Lobo

Recap: After escaping from the Starlog prison, Vril Dox tricked his companions into helping free his people from the Computer Tyrants of Colu. But now their society is in chaos as the Coluans experience free will for the first time. Disgusted with Dox's constant manipulation, Lyrissa Mallor and Garryn Bek depart the planet, but Bek's poor piloting results in him striking and killing a space dolphin. Lyrissa understands the danger this has placed them and the duo return to Colu to seek help from Dox. She realizes that the space dolphins share a special bond with the intergalactic bounty hunter, Lobo.

Legion Homages: "Hit Squad of Super-Teens"

Next on our round tour of Legion homages, parodies, and knock offs we'll be taking an in-depth look at the only time the old Wildstorm Comics imprint sought to feature their own Legion, way back in The Authority #27 by Mark Millar and Art Adams.

Don't hold your breath, because they appear for about all of three pages before they're totally decimated and killed off. In fact, their appearance was so brief that they aren't even mentioned in the online summaries, which makes sense since they aren't the main plot or subplot of the issue. They're just the opening act to showcase what the main villains are capable of.

Still, one has to admire is how the artist, Art Adams, went out of his way to give the majority of these guys interesting and unique character designs instead of mainly rehashing the Legionnaires' looks.

Review: Adventure Comics #519

Adventure Comics #519 continued the title's retrospective love-fest of all things Legion. It has been a lot of fun to go back and read these stories and see a very young Legion in their earliest adventures. You can really sense how they are unsure of just who they are and what their role is in the galaxy. They are learning on the job as they jump into one dangerous situation after another; they are struggling a bit, stretching their capabilities as they try to do what's right. For someone who started reading these characters way back in the Grell days, it is refreshing to see them in these greener days. They haven't been scarred yet by death or deception or danger; they are fresh-faced.

One thing that I like about this title, and this issue, is the running theme on these young heroes making checklists of things they hope to accomplish. From (in this run of Adventure's earlier Superboy stories) Conner's 'what did Superman do?' list to Clark's list of things he never has been able to do like play baseball  without holding back to here - Brainiac 5's list of what to do in the 20th century. It is such a tradition ... adolescents making lists as they try to figure out who they are. To see that activity from the viewpoint of these young heroes is a nice little literary hook.

It is also pretty cool to be revisiting these 'early adventures' when a new Legion book is right around the corner.

On to the story by Paul Levitz and Eddie Pansica.

Reboot: Legion Lost #11

Legion Lost #11 (March 2001)
title: "One Billion Years of Solitude"

writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

penciller: Olivier Coipel
inker: Andy Lanning
lettering: Comicraft
colorist: Tom McCraw

editor: Mike McAvennie

cover: Olivier Coipel & Andy Lanning
reviewers: Siskoid & Shotgun

Mission Monitor Board:  
Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Element Lad (flashback), Kid Quantum II, Live Wire, Monstress, Saturn Girl, Shikari, Ultra Boy, Umbra, Wildfire

Opponents: 
Omniphagos, Progenitor, Progeny

Recap: 
Several Legionnaires have been lost in a spatial rift, winding up in an unknown part of the universe. The first to wake up was Element Lad, but he had to leave his friends behind in stasis to find a way home. They woke up to find him gone. Now, captured by the xenophobic Progeny and brought before their leader, the Legionnaires are shocked to find the Progenitor is none other than Element Lad...

Who's Who: Starlight and Starbright

Starlight and Starbright
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name: Unknown

Super-Power(s): Both sisters can fly and are super-strong; Starlight shoots black light beams of destruction; Starbright drains the energy of her antagonist via her "star shield." 
Planet of Origin: Unknown; found by Starfinger II in the desert of Mars

Relationship to Legion: Adversaries

L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 #3

L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 #3 (April 1989)
title: "How to Win Friends and Influence People!"
plot/breakdowns: Keith Giffen
script: Alan Grant
penciller: Barry Kitson
inker: Mike DeCarlo
letterer: Gaspar
colorist: Lovern Kindzierski
assistant editor: Art Young
editor: Karen Berger
cover art: Kevin Maguire and Al Gordon

Future L.E.G.I.O.N.airres: The Durlan, Garryn Bek, Lyrissa Mallor, Stealth, Strata, Vril Dox.

Their Opponent: The Computer Tyrants of Colu

Recap: After escaping from the Starlag prison during the Invasion! series, Vril Dox manipulated his fellow escapees into helping him free his people from the Computer Tyrants of Colu. While successful, Vril fears how the almost childlike Coluans will react to having free will for the first time in their lives.

Karate Kid #12

Karate Kid #12 
"The 'Time' of Your Death!"
script by Bob Rozakis
art by Juan Ortiz and Bob McLeod
lettered by Milt Snapinn
colored by Anthony Tollin
edited by Al Milgrom
cover by Rich Buckler (penciller) and Jack Abel (inker)
cover date: Feb/March 1978
review by Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage
dedicated affectionately to Glenn "Continuity Kid" Walker

Well even though this issue starts, literally one moment after the end of last issue, we are in a very different 1977 New York City, folks. Not only do we have a new cover logo (did you notice?) but we have a brand new creative team. New writer Bob Rozakis kicks the story off with a bang, and new artists Juan Ortiz and Bob McLeod hand in a more-than-capable job. The cover this time is by Rich Buckler, who was doing a lot of DC covers at around this time.

Clearly DC was trying to sell this book as a super-hero book and not as a karate or kung-fu tie-in. And you know what? It worked, because this is the first issue of Karate Kid that I actually bought off the stands!  I got it because of the Legion and because of the art inside.