Reboot: Legion Lost #7

Legion Lost #7 (November 2000)
title: "Singularity"

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:  
Apparition, Brainiac 5.1, Chameleon, Live Wire, Ultra Boy, Umbra; and apparently, Cosmic Boy, Element Lad, Spark, Violet

Guests: 
Lorcans (likely illusion)

Opponents: 
Shadow beast, Singularity

Recap: 
Several Legionnaires are lost in an unknown part of space. Though Element Lad was lost with them, he disappeared before they woke up from stasis. The strain of the isolation and journey has started to show, on Umbra especially. When Saturn Girl tries to telepathically alleviate her pain, it backfires, releasing a strange shadow creature about the flying Outpost, sending Imra into a coma, and making Umbra leave in an escape pod to a mysterious planet below. Ultra Boy and Monstress follow and find Umbra fighting the planet's defender, Singularity...

Synopsis: 
As he and Monstress scour the alien city, there's only one thing on Ultra Boy's mind, and that's finding his wife, Apparition, who he believes has been kidnapped by Umbra. He's soon discover this is not the case. Umbra, for her part, fights Lorcus Prime's defender, the super-powered Singularity. When the other two Legionnaires try to stop the fight, Umbra sends them packing with her most powerful shows of shadow force.

Back on the ship, the Shadow beast has taken out Shikari, Wildfire and Kid Quantum. Brainiac 5.1 figures out the beast is actually part Saturn Girl's mind, part Umbra's. Imra tried to strip away Umbra's fears and this is the result. It explains why Tasmia is acting the way she does too. Brainy immediately his skills to create a countermeasure. As Apparition returns to save Chameleon from the beast, explaining she couldn't be found because Tasmia had trapped her in shadow, Brainy succeeds and traps the creature in a vacuum-like weapon.

Below, in between rounds with Singularity, Tasmia cruelly insults Monstress who gets a couple of satisfying licks in. Meanwhile, Ultra Boy notices something strange. Every time he switches on his invulnerability, the city disappears and he finds himself in a wasteland. Above, Live Wire greenlights Brainiac 5.1's plan to land on the planet with the Kwai use-weave system he built, even if there's a risk they couldn't escape the planet again. As they prepare for atmospheric entry, they detect a small ship using an advanced quantum drive. It docks. Out come Element Lad with Spark, Cosmic Boy and Violet, apparently there to bring them home.

Commentary: 
Shotgun
I have so many questions, I don’t know where to start. What is this place that reacts to Ultra Boy’s powers? After Siskoid confirmed I jumped to a conclusion regarding where we’re at and who that golden boy was, plus seeing the silhouette witnessing the fight on page 3, I think I feel confident enough saying that Singularity is the defender of his home world. Not very surprising that they would need protection after we’ve seen how the Progeny treat anything that’s not themselves. That also explains why Singularity would hit first, ask questions later when that’s the way the Progeny are operating. I just wish someone other than Umbra – even worse, fearless Umbra – would have made first contact with that society. If she can’t even handle her friends while in that state, it was definitely too much to ask to be diplomatic when intruding on a new species' planet. As much as I hated seeing her in a state of constant fear and great pain, I kinda miss it right now.

Compared to what’s going on at the planet’s surface, the operation on board the outpost really went smoothly. They captured the weird dark Umbra-Imra mixture in a timely and safe fashion. Once again, I admire Garth’s leadership when it came time to decide if they should make landfall or not. His trust in Brainy’s work, but especially the way he gets the opinions of the rest of the team, show his strength as a leader but also as a team player. Now, as much as I’m glad to see some of the rest of the team getting included in this story, I’m SUPER confused about their presence. ESPECIALLY with Jan’s appearance. After everything we saw in the crystal, you would’ve thought he would be older. So, what’s with those crystal memories? Were they fake? Or is it simply that coming back home reset the time lost in this new place? Where is home from this location anyway? I guess I’ll just have to be patient once again...

SiskoidThe question you're not asking is: Is Element Lad's return real? Because we Ultra Boy seeing things differently when he turns his invulnerability on, it's likely some kind of illusion is at work (which he can be impervious to), and that may be responsible for Singularity's aggressive stance too. When Jo turns his power on, the city disappears. There are no Lorcans anymore. He's defending precisely nothing. And it's only once the Legionnaires enter that thick atmosphere that they start seeing things, i.e. the rescue team they've been hoping for. Sorry, but this is grade-A NOT REAL(TM). Feels like the plot of Solaris to me, expect probably faster-paced.

As for the rest of the issue, there's certainly a lot of fighting going on, mostly between Tasmia and everybody. Even with the explanation that Brainy gives, it's not exactly saving her character. The only thing stopping her from being cruel to Monstress is fear? Not exactly endearing. At least Candi gets to slap her down. That's something, I guess. I just want Tasmia to be redeemed sooner than later, y'know?

Science Police Notes:  

• This issue is told from Ultra Boy's point of view.
• Saturn Girl, Kid Quantum II, Shikari and Wildfire are mentioned, but do not physically appear.