Reboot: The Legion #30

The Legion #30 (April 2004)
title: "Foundations The Final Chapter"

writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

penciller: Chris Batista
inker: Chip Wallace
lettering: Ken Lopez
colorist: Sno Cone

editor: Stephen Wacker

cover: Tony Harris and Tom Feister

reviewers: Siskoid & Shotgun

Mission Monitor Board:  
Apparition, Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Dreamer, Ferro, Gear, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Kid Quantum II, Live Wire, Saturn Girl, Sensor, Shikari, Spark, Star Boy, Superboy II, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, Umbra, Violet, Wildfire

Guests: 
Big Barda, Clark Kent (pre-Superman), Firestorm, Lobo, Mister Miracle, Oberon

Opponents: 
Darkseid, Parademons, Servants of Darkness (Big Barda, Firestorm, Lobo, Martian Manhunter, Orion)

Recap: 
A fossilized Darkseid has mobilized his servants to create a time dam 10 years in the past by siphoning the universe's dark matter into a massive Boom Tube. The Legion takes the fight to him just in time to see a younger Darkseid emerge from the time stream. Older Darkseid plans to steal his body and rule the future while the past is destroyed in the paradox. Young Darkseid takes the plan for his own and destroys his old self. The Legion is on the ropes. Superboy and the few Legionnaires left behind ride in like the cavalry...

Synopsis: 
The Legionnaires start punching at Darkseid, then everyone realizes the time dam isn't holding and the present is going to be erased too. Older Darkseid obviously had another step to his plan, but he's dead, and young Darkseid doesn't know what to do. Oops! Surmising that there's probably about 30 minutes of stable past left, Kid Quantum takes her small team back through time to the moment young Darkseid arrived and change immediate history!

While the Legion is tasked with "keeping older Darkseid busy", the sub-team from the past punches young Darkseid down through the Boom Tube back to where he came from. Kid Quantum realizes that her hallucinations were actually caused by their punching the New God back through time, not any kind of malfunction. Darkseid will end up back in the 5th Century, festering resentment for a team that won't exist for centuries.

Back in the present, old Darkseid is running out energy so he starts draining Apokolips itself rendering the planet dormant again, and of all his Servants, which sends them back to their places in time, without any memory of how they were used. All but Clark Kent who lands the final blow. Having won, the Legion founders bring Clark back to Smallville in time for his history test, Saturn Girl removing any memory of these events from his mind. Superboy isn't allowed to return until they find the exact point from which he was taken, but he'll help Brainiac 5 put all the dark matter in the galaxy back where it's supposed to go via Darkseid's boom tubes. On a dead Apokolips, a seemingly dead Darkseid's eye glows red with a dim light.

Commentary: 
Shotgun
Did Darkseid foresee the treason from his younger self and voluntarily make his dark matter barricade too weak to protect the 30th Century? I wonder if even the 30th-Century Darkseid would’ve been able to do anything against the time collapse. Let’s be real, probably not… Villains, amirite? Can’t even plan for a safe apocalypse! They always end up leaving it to the heroes to save them from their own mistakes. It’s almost pathetic!

We are keeping Superboy around for a little longer. His arrival is still a mystery, but I can see him being a big help in bringing back the 30th Century to what it was. I’m glad he’s staying around because the kid deserves more praise from the Legion for his important role in stopping Darkseid’s plan. I sure hope Cos will give him some slack now. And I also hope Garth will come out of his heroic deeds a changed man in his own eyes and in those of his teammates. It’s time we learn a bit more about his return and see him interact with the gang.

I read Siskoid’s replies to my questions from the past issues and yet, it was only when I saw the heroes being transported back to their own timeline (who’s that black-haired albino?!) after being absorbed by Darkseid that I finally understood what he meant by corrupted heroes.

Siskoid
You don't recognize Lobo? Maybe count yourself lucky. (I just sent Shotgun some Lobo covers, should be explanation enough.) SO! Big storyline finale! Big! Big! I loved this. Young Darkseid isn't yet the schemer he will become, and he made a big boo-boo. The Legionnaires have to change local history, and get to punch DC's Big Bad into last week (literally, though a week is like 1500 years). It's AWESOME. And I checked, the fight was definitely referenced in Kid Quantum's visions as far back as  Secret Files 3003. DnA are better planners than young Darkseid ;-).

While Superboy gets to punch and punch and punch, this proves to be a good day for all Kryptonians. Clark Kent also lands the final blow on old Darkseid, freeing himself completely from his corruption. It does beg the question though. Do they think Darkseid is dead? Or that his life doesn't count somehow? There's no mention of it, and the Big D does light up like a Terminator at the end (not that the timeline will continue long enough for him to return), but it's still a bit weird that they let Clark Kent "kill" someone. But they didn't impound Darkseid's remains either, so...?

Science Police Notes:  

• While the Servants of Darkness in the previous continuity were clones, these are actually known heroes taken out of time and corrupted. Though we think we may have seen some destroyed, they apparently were only sent back to their own times without any memory of these events. By the end of this issue, history seems to be back on course.
• It would also seem that punching Darkseid back through time prevented the shockwave that destroyed history from happening at all or Darkseid wouldn't have had a time to return to.
• Kid Quantum's assertion that she's been detecting her own travels through time with her quantum powers can be confirmed by looking at her hallucination in The Legion Secret Files 3003 which shows outline of these very Legionnaires fighting Darkseid's.
• There are Legionnaires undoubtedly present (since they were there in the previous issue) not listed in the roll call above, as they are simply never glimpsed in this particular issue (for the record, Triad and XS).