Reboot: The Legion #5

The Legion #5 (April 2002)
title: "Credo"

writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

artist: Peter Snejbjerg
lettering: Comicraft
colorist: Tom McCraw
seps: Digital Chameleon

editor: Mike McAvennie

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

Mission Monitor Board:  
Invisible Kid, Saturn Girl, Spark, Wildfire

Guests: 
Enkenet, The Kwai (named: Leos), the Progeny and other refugees

Opponents: 
The Credo (named: Brek, Herros, Kusp, Ngangan, Nox, Rayl), Singularity

Recap: 
A small Legion team has gone to Kwai-Space (where the Legion was Lost for a year) to get help from Shikari's people the Kwai...



Synopsis: 
Saturn Girl, Spark, Wildfire and Invisible Kid are surrounded by Kwai warriors. After a brief fight, they identify themselves and the misunderstanding is resolved. The Kwai are merely protecting the remains of the Rosette, which they call a memorial, from would-be poachers. The Legionnaires ask to be brought to Enkenet, the Kwai Matriarch, and in spite of a recalcitrant Kwai called Herros' objections, they're brought to the Kwai township.

They find many alien ships in port there. The township is full of refugees from the Progenitor's mass genocide, refugees that even include Progeny. Spark reacts protectively when Herros bullies Progeny children, but Saturn Girl believes they shouldn't be helped, as the race participated eagerly in its master's crimes, and are thus indirectly responsible for the murder of both Monstress and Live Wire. Invisible Kid takes Imra to task, reminding her of the Legion charter, but she'll have none of it. An audience with Enkenet reveals the Kwai are helping refugees find home worlds, and she is not too interested in participating in the Legion's "war" back home. She promises to give her answer after some thought.

While they wait, Saturn Girl and Invisible Kid continue their argument, and witness a group of aliens called the Credo recruiting people for their cause: to eradicate the Progeny and anyone who might have worked for or with the Progenitor. Imra sees how ugly her argument is, but seems unmoved. Herros of the Kwai joins up and leads the group of super-powered aliens to the lower levels where the Progeny have taken refuge. There they face Spark and Wildfire who have also found their way below to help. A fight ensues, which the Legionnaires are losing until Saturn Girl comes to her senses and uses her telepathic powers to stop the battle and force the Credo to leave.

Epilogue: The Credo return to their leader and tell him about the Legion. He knows them. He's Singularity. And having massacred a Progeny planet, he and his army ship out to do the same to the Legionnaires.

Commentary: 
Shotgun
Oh great... The Progenitor is gone but here comes another gang with plans of genocide. I will never understand the will to kill. To kill someone... I just can't understand what kind of twisted mind these persons would have, and I can't see how you can live with yourself afterward. Revenge is dangerous, even at a much smaller scale. It can easily become a never-ending cycle in which everyone ends up losing. The Progeny are lost and helpless, obviously pushed away to try and survive on their own when all they have ever learned was to follow orders. I'm glad Invisible Kid called Imra out like he did and didn't shy away from the confrontation. She needed to be brought back to reality. It is terrible that it happened this way. I suspect the Kwai's Matriarch will decline the offer from the Legion. Then war will come to them in the form of the Credo on their mission to destroy the Progeny and the Legion, two birds with one stone. Then, seeing the Legion fight by their side and for the same ideals again, the Kwai will agree to their terms.

The Credo are better organized than I thought after seeing the small group trying to find new recruits. I don't quite remember how the Legion's encounter with Singularity ended, but I'm sure they never expected him to find such a terrible mission to fulfill as his new purpose. And let's say he succeeded, wiped out all Progeny from existence, what then? When you only find meaning in life through having a purpose, why not make it more lasting and less cruel. I don't know, he could've find another race/planet to protect, no? Anyway, I obviously don't like this guy. Then again, who would claim they love a genocidal maniac?

Siskoid
I know it's a tradition that goes back to the Silver Age, but I hate to see it: Saturn Girl as a most unreasonable leader. I get it, she's traumatized by the death of her fiance, but if Garth's twin sister can show love and compassion, I should think Legionnaires are better than that, especially a founder. It sounds false to me, and forces Invisible Kid to give a sermon, and Imra to have a very cliched scene where she stumbles across a Progeny child with a teddy bear. It's very cheesy, though I can't fault guest artist Peter Snejbjerg's expressions. Just ambiguous and complex enough to keep the tension.

Otherwise, a lot of super-powered fighting, which this book is good at, though it seems there are a lot of forgettable super-teams in DnA's 31st Century. I hardly had the time to figure out who was who that the sequence was over (and Saturn Girl's just a little too powerful in that moment; why do we even need a team if she can do this?). More interesting was what the Kwai are doing with their time, using their pathfinding powers for good. Seeing as they're busy dealing with a humanitarian crisis, asking them to help populate Legion World just seems like an unreasonable request from tone-deaf Imra. That, and how genocide begets genocide, are the more powerful statements in the issue.

Science Police Notes:  

• The Legion first met Singularity is Legion Lost #6 and he was last seen in #8.
• The Credo's Brek is a polar bear alien that can shoot a freezing ray. Brek was also the name of Polar Boy (Brek Bannin), who has already been introduced in Reboot continuity.
• The action does not return to our galaxy in this issue, leaving all those cliffhangers unresolved for the moment.