L.E.G.I.O.N. '92 #47

L.E.G.I.O.N. '92 #47 (December 1992)
title: "Transitions"
writer: Barry Kitson
penciler: Barry Kitson
inkers: Robin Smith
colors: Digital Chameleon
letters: Albert DeGuzman
editor: Dan Raspler

Recap: Dox led the team to the planet Arga-Prime to deal with insurgents, but found the problem to be more complicated than expected. He learned that the planet's leaders had not been honest with him, and that the population was unhappy due to racial strife. The planet erupted in rebellion, and although he initially resisted choosing sides, Dox offered to send a strike force to capture the Grand Council to avoid more bloodshed. They successfully captured the Council, but learned that they introduced a virus into the oceans that will be carried into the atmosphere, eventually releasing a deadly rainfall on the planet. Violence erupted among the population and the L.E.G.I.O.N. tried to contain it while searching for a cure. Fortunately, Hal Jordan of the Green Lantern Corps arrived to help. Meanwhile, Captain Comet succumbed to his recent seizures and lost control of his powers. It is revealed that he had been possessed by an alien entity and that it wanted Lady Quark. Dox uses some of Lady Quark's DNA to create a biomass in hopes of attracting Comet. The plan works but after the being possessed the biomass, it erupted from its holding tube in a new form.

With the aid of the legendary Green Lantern from Earth, Hal Jordan, the L.E.G.I.O.N. has successfully evacuated the population of Arga-Prime, although many are still seething with the racial hatred that led to the poisoning of their planet. Unbeknownst to anyone onboard, one of the former ruling class is secretly holding a vial of the same virus that was released into their atmosphere.

On the control ship, the creature that possessed Captain Comet has used the biomass of Lady Quark's DNA that was created as bait to build a new form. Much of the core team has been incapacitated, leaving only Dox and Garv to confront the creature. Dox tries to reassure the creature that he was merely trying to protect Lady Quark and has done it no harm.

The creature slowly starts to take a shape similar to that of Lady Quark's husband, who was killed in the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series. It notices an army of L.E.G.I.O.N. soldiers gathering behind Dox and fleas the ship, promising to return for revenge when it is at full power. The new recruit, Di'ib, uses his rocklike body to temporarily patch the hole in the ship while the rest of the team recovers. Dox is concerned that such a mentally unable creature appears to possess the powers of both Comet and Lady Quark, and sends Lobo to bring it back, dead or alive. Stealth has awakened and assists Garv in getting the wounded to the medi-bay.

The departure of the creature caused some destruction among the fleet, but Green Lantern uses his ring to patch holes in the ones that have been damaged. The man holding the poisoned vial was knocked down and is helped back up by a man from the other race of Arga-Prime. (Reminder: The only distinction among the two was that the lower class had pigmented eyes, and the eyes of the ruling class were unpigmented.) The unpigmented man is surprised to receive help, believing his people to be hated by everyone in the lower class. However, the pigmented man asks how he could hate his race when his own wife was a member. He explains that he was a farmer in the Southern Wilds, where racism was not as strong as in the cities.

Meanwhile, Lobo strikes one of the artificial arms created by Green Lantern and his bike is destroyed. He loses his temper and unfortunately, Dox has collapsed from injuries sustained in battle against the creature and is unable to stop him. 

Back on board one of the ships, the man with the vial has been taken to meet the family of the one who helped him earlier, including his younger daughter Sofi. She reminds the man of his own daughter, who was taken away by the elite guard at age four after she began developing pigment in her eyes. After his wife was sterilized and his daughter put to death, he channelled his anger into his work and it is suggested by the art that he created the very virus that is ravaging their planet.

Later, the young girl notices the vial in his hand and asks if its medicine. He tells her that it is a magic potion that will put right all the world's wrongs when it is opened. It is clear that he has not let go of his hatred and remains intent on releasing it. Outside, the fight between Lobo and Green Lantern has escalated and the ship is struck. The young girl and her family are in a section that sustains significant damage, and when the roof collapses, both parents are killed.

The man with the vial witnesses their death and holds the girl while she cries. Outside, the battle ends when Telepath tricks Lobo into thinking that Dox has ordered him to stop fighting and return to base. When Lobo returns, Telepath and Bek convince him that Dox collapsed into unconsciousness right after recalling him from the fight.

The man with the vial takes the girl to visit her father on his deathbed and she asks the man to use his magic potion to save him.

A large funeral is held for the couple who were killed in the destruction. The man asks Sofi if she remembers the magic potion, and she asks if he will use it to bring her parents back. He explains that not even the potion could do that but the things said by her father helped him decide how to use it. They made him realize that he was not the best person to take care of it so he gave it to her father to carry on his journey.

This was a wonderful ending to a great arc. Kitson took a surprising turn here by focusing not on our heroes, but instead on a few average citizens of Arga-Prime. The opening scene of one holding the vial was ominous, and with how things had gone so far, there was no reason to think that he would not be successful in his plan of wiping out the survivors (or at least a significant number of them). And with a plan that horrifying, no one would expect such a character to be redeemable. However, after seeing the backstory of what he endured due to the prejudices of their world, and his bonding with Sofi, Kitson pulled off a remarkably moving and hopeful resolution.

I did feel a bit of hesitation at the thought that a person who was implied as being responsible for the virus and the poisoning of their world could escape any punishment. But his backstory showed that there was plenty of blame to go around in his society for how things were, and his acceptance of Sofi left hope that if he could see the error of his ways, there was a chance for them all.

Despite the more personal focus, there remained plenty of action here thanks to Lobo. As I have mentioned before, the frequent use of Lobo as comic relief often pulls me out of otherwise engaging storylines. Kitson made much better use of Lobo here though, and I appreciate that we saw real consequences to Lobo losing control. 

Of course, the deaths of Sofi's parents thanks to his carelessness should make Dox rethink having someone as unstable as Lobo around. But Dox will likely view their evacuation as an overall success when he compares the large amount of survivors to the small number of casualties. And he is unlikely to ever let someone as powerful as Lobo go as long as he can hold him under his sway. 

Hal Jordan is my least favorite Green Lantern (I know, I know, blashemy) but Kitson also made good use of him here. Although we did not observe all of the details of the evacuation, it is clear that Hal was a big part of its success. Normally, Hal would try to draw Lobo away from the fleet for the safety of the civilians but his ring was holding together too many of the ships that had been damaged by the creature for him to leave. With such a handicap, he did the best he could to try to defend himself and restrain Lobo. Most importantly, he never let their fight distract him from holding the damaged ships together.

With most of the team incapacitated, it was up to Bek and the Telepath to step up and handle things. Fortunately, Bek continues to show a better side of himself since becoming free of the Emerald Eye, notwithstanding his recent outburst at Marij'n, and Telepath really saved the day in the end. Telepath has a tendency to be on the timid side, and when he was initially introduced, I did not know quite what to make of him. But he has come through several times since then, and has become as important a part of the core team as the founding members.

Overall, this was a very satisfying conclusion to a very satisfying arc. Kudos to Barry Kitson for how he brought this one home on both the writing and the art.