Reboot: The Legion #7

The Legion #7 (June 2002)
title: "Terror Incognita 2: Fear of Change"

writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

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

editor: Mike McAvennie

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

Mission Monitor Board:  
Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Cosmic Boy, Gates, Kid Quantum II, Shikari, Triad, Ultra Boy, Violet

Guests: 
Chief Zoden, Dreamer, Kinetix, Orla Eidoor, Q'Bahl, Wimena Wazzo; Khunds, Metropolis citizens, Xanthuans

Opponents: 
Abyss, Brainstorm, Leland McCauley/Ra's al Ghul, Repulse, Robotica, Twine; Terrorforms

Recap: 
President McCauley, revealed to be Ra's al Ghul, orders the destruction of the Legion and Legion World appears to have been destroyed by the U.P. fleet. He has transformed the Moon into an engine of change, and an energy wave is sweeping through Metropolis. Meanwhile, Robotica has left Xanthu in a hurry...

Synopsis: 
Ra's al Ghul explains himself to the citizens of Earth. He has kickstarted evolution with a hypertaxis wave, which is transforming one person in 100,000 into a Terrorform responsible for turning everyone else into small seed pods they will either nurture or abandon, until an evolved race is born. Exactly as it happened with the dinosaurs. Cough.

The Terrorforms are too powerful for the Legion and make quick work of them, turning several into seeds, until Kinetix, herself now a Terrorform "hybrid" saves them, allows Vice-president Wimena Wazzo's Titanet deepcast adept to scan her mind for information, and returns the seed Legionnaires to normal. The process didn't stop Brainy from thinking up a way to stop all this and three hours later, the Legion heads to the Moon with threshold technology.

In the meantime, Mr. Venge has returned with news Legion World is destroyed, the Oversight Watch shows signs of quitting on Ra's, but decide to throw in with him after all, and Dreamer senses the Robotica Worldship is heading for Earth.

Commentary: 
Shotgun
Wait wait wait!! Back up please. So those... “things” shooting energy blast are humans turned into these creatures and are turning back any other humans into... seeds? And as if that wasn't effed up enough, they will then only take care of the strongest seeds and bring them back while leaving the rest to rot????!! How about no. This is not how evolution works. If they would've really played a part in the dinosaurs' extinction, there would've been trace of it, no? I know I'm being way too practical right now and this is just a work of fiction, but it's bothering me nonetheless. Couldn't they at least have a different look? I guess panic is part of the process after all, but I think having them all looking like Kinetix does would work fine. She's more human-looking than the other terrorform as a hybrid, but still looks insanely powerful.

So it's pretty obvious at this point that, while the Legion will take care of the problem at its source, Robotica might have an important role to play in reverting everything back to the status quo on Earth. Whatever its role may be, I refuse to see their fast approach to Earth as a mere coincidence. I mean, come on! I don't want to treat them as good guys though. If they have a role to play in saving Earth, I still think it's going to be purely coincidental, and not part of their plans at all.

Siskoid
You might have added a few more ?s and !s, cuz I don't buy it either. There's something of Marvel's Celestials in this, but no, not only does evolution NOT work this way in the real world, it doesn't work like this in the DCU either! Humanity has a meta-gene which could have been activated by extinction level events without resorting to the hogwash science and weird historical (or prehistorical) retcon. There are just too many such events in the DC canon, and never did a Terrorform show its nose. And it really bugs me that Ra's goes on and on about humanity when Earth has a large non-human population. Evidently, if this process works on a Coluan, a Kwai, etc., it works on everyone, but it muddies the water when it comes to Ra's motivations. Comics and sci-fi have a tradition of playing around with "sudden evolution" (i.e. a person evolving rather than a species) and superhero fiction is full of it, but the concept here is just silly.

Worse, the art is very messy in showing the action. There are plenty of panels that show explosions from afar, but it's not always clear how they relate to the fight, which is otherwise shown in close-ups and silhouettes. Just about the only thing I liked was Ultra Boy FINALLY asking about Apparition, though of course her mom isn't gonna give up the goods. She's the villain in their particular family drama.

Science Police Notes:  

• The book is stamped as a Wizard Book of the Month, the first time such a distinction has been published on the cover of a Legion book.
• The story is called "Terror Incognita 2", as if the previous story was called Terror Incognita. In fact, #6's title was "Terrorform".
• Abnett and Lanning's Hypersapiens here would partly inform their Legion analog series Hypernaturals at BOOM! Studios.