L.E.G.I.O.N. '94 #63

L.E.G.I.O.N. '94 #63 (February 1994)
title: "We Fight and Fight and Fight"
writer: Tom Peter
penciler: Arnie Jorgensen
inker: James Pascoe
colors: Gene D'Angelo
letters: Gasper Saladino
editor: Dan Raspier
cover: Barry Kitson

Note: Okay, I lied. Last week I said I would be covering two Superman comics because Lobo appeared in them and they would lead into Superman's appearance in this issue. But after looking at them again, it was clear that those comics have no connection to the L.E.G.I.O.N. beyond Lobo's presence. For this reason, I decided not to cover them and to just move on to the next issue of L.E.G.I.O.N. My apologies for the change in direction!

Recap: Dox welcomed their newest recruit, Gigantus, and  promoted Borb to the core team. Later, Stealth observed him with their child and witnessed the baby speaking like an adult. She immediately assumed that Dox was responsible. After discovering that Bek stowed away about their ship, Marij'n was furious that he ruined her romantic trip with Comet. She became even more furious when Comet seemed to take the development in stride and made her anger clear by kissing Bek in front of him. Lady Quark was dispatched by Dox to retrieve Bek but she is attacked by a powerful duplicate of herself. The being appeared to kill Lady Quark and leave her body floating in space as it departed for Ith'kaa to complete her mission.

After hearing her infant son speaking eloquently, Stealth believes that Dox has experimented on the boy to increase his intelligence. She flies into a rage and refuses to listen as the boy insists that his father is not responsible. Only after one of her comments to Dox hurts the boy's feeling does she snap out of it.

Superman is flying back to Earth when he appears to come under attack by Lobo. However, following a long battle in one of Superman's titles in which Lobo tried to prove himself against the Man of Steel, the two had come to a truce by issue's end. Here, Lobo is actually just taking Supes to one of his favorite bars to celebrate their new "friendship." Superman insists he is not looking for any trouble, but as Jim Croche taught us, one thing you never do is tug on Superman's cape.

On Ith'kaa, Comet is trying to make peace with everyone after Marij'n kissed Bek to get back at him for not paying her enough attention. Lady Quark arrives and Comet is relieved, hoping that the presence of someone else may diffuse the tension. Unfortunately, he is not aware that this is not truly Lady Quark. They began to suspect that something is amiss when she says she is there to arrest Bek for desertion. They agree to return with her but it does not take long for Lady Quark to get violent.

Comet pulls Lady Quark into space to get her away from Marij'n and try to take some sense into her. When she appears to try to kill him, he looks into her mind and discovers that this being is not Lady Quark.

Stealth has taken her child to the roof to show him the stars, most of which he can already identify by name. Phase joins them and the child reverts to behaving like a typical baby.

Superman uses his superbreath to swat away the alien that was touching his cape, which sets off a huge bar fight. Superman is trying to slip away when one of the aliens attaches a rocket to Lobo and sends him shooting off into the sky.

Comet and Lady Quark battle for some time, until one of her blasts leaves them both buried under a pile of rubble. She is the first to dig herself out and she appears to believe that Comet is dead.

The rocket strapped to Lobo's back has been programmed to send him straight into the sun and it almost succeeds.

Superman returns Lobo to the bar and leaves for Earth. But not before embarrassing Lobo by making clear to everyone there that Superman saved his life.

Despite how much I have complained about Lobo lately, I really enjoyed this issue. A big part of that is probably that I am a huge Superman fan and always welcome his presence. But also, Peyer did a great job at balancing Superman and Lobo's light-hearted story with the darker tale occurring on Ith'kaa. 

One of my issues with Lobo has been how the use of him for comic relief has been too over the top at times. So certainly, Lobo dragging Superman into a bar fight is not a scenario I would care for, right?? Well, I can be as much of a hypocrite as anyone I guess because I got a big kick out of it. Refreshingly, Superman still acted just as we would expect to act even in this setting.

The battle between "Lady Quark" and Comet was fun, but I am dying to hear more from Marij'n as to what she was pulling when she kissed Bek. Was she merely trying to make Comet jealous? Or does she still harbor feelings for her husband? I hope its the first because I have never cared for Bek. He occasionally has his moments, such as a few issues ago when he stepped up and took charge of things on Cairn. But more often than not, he remains as annoying as he was at the start of the series. Marij'n deserves much better.

One scene I did not mention was a brief one of Strata sneaking into Garv's apartment to surprrise him with a meal and flowers. She has not seen him since he quit the team and is unsure whether he still has feelings for her. Sadly, the man who enters the apartment is not Garv, but he is terrified at the large rock being sitting in his dining room. We learn that this is the new tenant and that Garv no longer lives there. I am fairly confident that Garv and Strata both still love each other and I cannot wait to see them together again. They are far and away the two most pure and noble of everyone who has appeared in this series so if anyone deserves to be happy its them.

That about wraps up everything I have to say on this one. I am still not a big fan of the art, but it did not take away from my enjoyment at all. So please check back with me next week as the L.E.G.I.O.N. encounters the wonderfully named Brain-Bandit!