L.E.G.I.O.N. '93 #51

L.E.G.I.O.N. '93 #51 (April 1993)
title: "L.E.G.I.O.N. '67"
writer: Alan Grant
penciler: Quiqie Alcetena
inkers: Quiqie Alcetena
colors: Digital Chameleon
letters: Gasper Saladino
editor: Dan Raspler
reviewer: Mike "Nostalgic Kid" Lane


Recap: Ig'nea and Stealth travelled to Mother-Beast, the creature who was caring for Stealth's baby. After retrieving the child, Ig'nea contacted L.E.G.I.O.N. and demanded that Dox turn himself over to her in exchange for the safety of his son. To convince him, she murdered Stealth in front of the team.

Dox accepted her demand and ordered the core team and new recruits to get ready to accompany him. On Batrok, the team attacked and eventually overcame Ig'nea's troops. Dox learned that Stealth was alive, although badly hurt. He found Ig'nea and she was about to unleash her pet beast on him when Stealth jumped in to fight it. The body of the cyborg, Darrius, was destroyed, but his head lived, and Amon swore they would find his maker so he could be repaired. Ignea surrounded Dox's child with flame and was flown away by one of her soldiers. Borbb was able to enter the flame and retrieve the child, which he gave to Dox. The team was fearful at first to see Dox with the boy, but he gave him over to his mother, Stealth, realizing it was for the best. Dox and Stealth appeared to finally achieve some sort of peace with one another.

Lobo and Telepath find themselves marooned on an asteroid after his bike breaks down. They are accompanied by a prisoner, Fangkor Wat.

Telepath suggests a sing-along to help cure Lobo's boredom but Lobo does not care for the idea. Instead, Lobo tells them they are going to have a story-telling competition.
Fangkor tells the tale of a good and kindly professor, who was loved by fellow staff and pupils alike. But he held a dark secret in that he longed for the forbidden taste of his fellow beings' flesh. When he decided to indulge himself on one of his students, he was caught in the act, and in fear of being exposed, he murdered all of his students. Realizing his exposure was not inevitable, he had to decide whether to confess immediately or eat them all first. He chose option #2.

Lobo enjoyed his story, although he felt it could use something more in the middle, such as torture, but still gives it an "A" grade. It is now Telepath's turn, so he tells the tale of his own world, where the only two life forms were his own and an edible fungi that sustained them. 

With no need or possibility of evolution, they remained in that delicate balance for thousands of years, at least until radicals such as himself began to call for change. Telepath (who we learn is named Qi-Qi), challenged their isolation from other races in the galaxy, and when his people disagreed, he chose to contact aliens himself.

Telepath also explains that his race only had one sexually active female, their Queen, who was serviced around the clock by all of the Hive males. When the females of their species reached maturity, they battled to the death until only one survived to ensure that only the strongest traits were passed on. Sadly, the most recent victor was his love, L'ol'a.

Telepath's call for help was accepted, but unfortunately, it was by the pirate, Dragon-Ra, who was in need of his own telepath. When he arrived, Dragon-Ra began killing people. He demanded that the one who had contacted him come forth and used his matter-changing power to turn their Queen into crystal. Telepath stepped forward and agreed that he would serve Dragon-Ra if he would not further harm anyone. He had Telepath taken back to the ship and killed everyone anyways, including L'ol'a. Telepath remained in his service until he was finally freed by the L.E.G.I.O.N.

Lobo enjoyed this story too and seemed to be in a much better mood until he heard Fangkor laughing.

Two mechanics finally arrive to fix Lobo's bike but one turns out to be the same one who fixed his bike last time. Lobo punches him out and demands that the other repair the bike. However, that one is merely an apprentice so they are stuck waiting for his boss to wake up.

This was obviously a filler issue but I enjoyed it mainly for the glimpse into Telepath's tragic past. One of the strengths of this series was how it could get away with things the typical mainstream DC series never could at the time. I mean, how often are we going to see one of our lead characters be responsible for the murder of his entire race? Well, okay, Jon Stewart had a similar development when his carelessness led to a planet being destroyed in Cosmic Odyssey, but that was a major and unusual event. Here, this sort of things is more par for the course.

I did not care so much for Fangkor or his story because it was just so over-the-top grotesque. I know thats precisely what Grant was going for, and there has been no shortage of dark humor to his writing in this series. But this time, it was just a bit too much. I did enjoy Lobo standing up for Telepath at the end though. A very rare endearing moment for Lobo, although expressed with his typical flare for violence.

There is not too much more to say here given the nature of this issue. Next issue, Barry Kitson and Mark Waid return as coplotters with Scott Kolins filling in on art. Kolins has a very distinctive style today so I am looking forward to seeing how similar it looked this early in his career. The larger cast returns, although if I recall correctly, the new recruits get the focus for a while. So check back next week to see what the rest of the L.E.G.I.O.N. is up to!