L.E.G.I.O.N. '92 #38

L.E.G.I.O.N. '92 #38 (April 1992)
title: "Welcome to the Palace of Pleasure"
plot: Alan Grant & Barry Kitson
writer: Alan Grant
penciller: Lee Moder 
inker: Brad Vancata 
letterer: Janice Chiang
colorist: Lovern Kindzierski
editor: Dan Raspler
cover art: Kevin Maguire & Karl Kesel
review by: Mike "Nostalgic Kid" Lane

Recap: The gangster G'odd placed a mole in the L.E.G.I.O.N., and agents throughout the galaxy began to act more like villains than heroes, placing the team's reputation in jeopardy. Phase attempted to deal with the blowback from member planets with no help from Vril Dox, who was focused on his romance with Ig'nea, one of the new recruits. Amid the chaos, Dox announced that he was disbanding the L.E.G.I.O.N. While the new recruits vowed to form their own organization to carry on the spirit of L.E.G.I.O.N., several of the core members came under attack while returning to base. Garv, Stealth, Telepath, and Captain Comet appeared near defeat but Comet let loose a burst of energy that knocked both them and their attackers unconscious. When they awoke, Telepath scanned one of their attackers and learned that G'odd was responsible. Meanwhile, Lady Quark, Bek, Marij'n, and Phase fended off an attack on Cairn, while Lobo recovered from his own defeat at the hands of the assassin Ice Man. Meanwhile, Dox and Ig'nea travelled to meet her father, who turned out to be the villain G'odd.


Lobo has tracked Ice Man to the hedonistic Palace of Pleasure where he is spending the money he earned from their recent battle. Ice Man is caught off guard by the speed of Lobo's attack.

Dox paints a portrait of his beloved Ignea while she sunbathes in the yard below, while thinking about how thankful he is for the new life she has given him. He is shaken from his daydreaming when Ignea reacts with rage after being accidentally sprayed with water by a gardner. Despite his please for mercy, she uses her powers to reach inside his mind and force him to kill himself with one of his tools.

While Dox absorbs the horror of what he saw, Stealth and Phase's separate squads agree to meet at G'odd's world and join forces for a surprise attack. At the Palace of Pleasure, Ice Man has recovered and goes on the offensive against Lobo. The two appear equally matched and the battle goes on for sometime. On G'odd's world, Dox is at first in denial over what he witnessed but slowly awakens to the fact that Ignea likely used her powers on him. He begins to formulate a plan to destroy G'odd's empire, which begins with an encounter with some of his soldiers.

Stealth's squad is welcomed on to G'odd's world because the arrive in the ship that belonged to G'odd's enforcers, and they are quite the surprise to the soldiers that have come to greet them.

Lobo is nearing victory when Ice Man lets loose with a powerful blast that destroys the entire palace. Lobo digs his way free from the debris but Ice Man has used the distraction to escape.

Phase and Stealth reunite their squads just as G'odd is told that the L.E.G.I.O.N. has arrived on his world. He orders all units to deal with them and concludes that he must also change his plans for Dox.

I have a few problems with this issue, the first being that Lobo's storyline was such a big part of it even though it continues to be the least interesting element to this storyline. I just do not care much for the Ice Man character and it still bothers me how easily he defeated Lobo with his traps a few issues ago. 

It was a huge relief to see Dox finally get back to his old self, although Ignea's personality turn seemed ridiculously abrupt given how careful she had been up until now. To go from being consistently pleasant and thoughtful in every previous appearance to cartoonishly villainous was a bit much.

When the G'odd storyline began, it seemed to move a bit too fast for me, particularly with respect to how quickly G'odd was able to destroy the L.E.G.I.O.N.'s reputation and how hard Dox fell for Ignea. It did not help that the reveal of G'odd being her father was telegraphed from a mile away. However, the last two issues were much more enjoyable for me, and a big part of that were the developments among Stealth and Phase's squad. We were treated to both some great action scenes and some nice character moments.

This issue felt like a regression to the beginnings of this storyline where things seemed to move a bit too quickly and be a bit too pat. And Ignea's abrupt turn only brought back my skepticism regarding how easily she was able to manipulate Dox before. I would not go so far as to say I disliked this issue, it just had a sort of by-the-motions feeling to it.

One thing I did not mention in my summary was a very brief cameo of the new recruits at their new business, "Heroes for Hire." (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.) It was essentially a joke about the difficulties they are experiencing trying to get it off the ground, but it really made me miss them. I feel like we were just getting to know a few of them when they were taken off the table and I look forward to them becoming more of a focus again.

Those are all my thoughts for this one, but please check back with me next issue to see if Dox is able to reunite with his former teammates and, if so, whether they are actually happy to see him!