L.E.G.I.O.N. '90 Annual #1

L.E.G.I.O.N. '90 Annual #1 (September 1990)
title: "Childhood's End"
writer: Alan Grant
penciller: Jim Fern
inker: Jeff Albrecht
letterer: John Workman
colorist: Lovern Kindzierski
editor: Art Young
cover art: Jerry Bingham
review by: Mike "Nostalgic Kid" Lane

Recap: In Adventures of Superman Annual #2, Vril Dox and Lar Gand travelled to Earth to find his father, the evil Brainiac. Due to faulty controls, they lost control of their ship and clipped an airliner on the way down. Superman saved the plane, but Dox's ship crashed into the ocean, and eventually, into an underground tunnel of Project Cadmus. Lyrissa, Lady Quark, Strata, Telepath, Lobo, and Phase were following in a separate ship, and were met upon their arrival by Superman. He overheard one of them mention the name Dox and became suspicious they were allied with Brainiac. He offered to help and went ahead into the tunnel where he found Lar Gand fighting the hero Guardian, who also mistook Vril Dox for his father. While they fought, the telepathic director of Cadmus, Dubblix, was possessed by Brainiac and forced to sabotage the project's reactor. Superman and the L.E.G.I.O.N. realized that they should not be fighting just in time for the alarms to sound. Superman and Lar Gand get the reactor out of Cadmus just in time. Before letting Dubbilex go, Brainiac told his son that he is on their home planet of Colu and challenged him to a confrontation. Superman tried to convince Dox that killing his father is wrong, even if that father is Brainic, but Dox did not listen and set out once again to find his father.

L.E.G.I.O.N. Crossover! The Adventures of Superman Annual #2

The Adventures of Superman Annual #2 (August 1990)
title: "Quest For Vengeance"
writer: Dan Jurgens
pencillers: Bob McLeod, Curt Swan, and Kerry Gammill
inkers: Bob McLeod, John Byrne, Dick Giordano
letterer: Bill Oakley
colorist: Glenn Whitmore
editor: Mike Carlin
cover art: Kerry Gammill and John Byrne
review by: Mike "Nostalgic Kid" Lane

Recap: Dox led an attack force on the asteroid base of the pirate Dragon-Ra but did not realize he was headed into a trap. He had sent Lobo to infiltrate the base and expected that by the time they arrived, Lobo would have killed Dragon-Ra. Instead, the pirate had used his ability to transmute matter to subdue both Lobo and Lady Quark.  Dox was hoping that Lar Gand would be his ace-in-the-hole but he was quickly taken out of action when Dragon-Ra turned his blood into molten lead. The pirate was on the verge of killing Dox when Lobo and Lady Quark caught him off guard and knocked him out. Lobo planned to kill him but was stopped by Lar Gand. Dox took advantage of a fallen boulder to ensure that Dragon-Ra was killed but not at the hands of anyone on his team. In the aftermath of the battle, Lady Quark accepted Dox's offer to join the team, and she mentioned in passing that he resembles someone she heard about on Earth, a green alien from the planet Colu. Dox realized that his father, Brainiac, somehow survived the Computer Tyrants and must be dealt with.

Legion of Superheroes S02 E08: Message in a Bottle

"Message in a Bottle" was directed by Scott Jeralds and Brandon Vietti, and written by Joseph Kuhr.

Original airdate: December 1, 2007. Review by Mike "Nostalgic Kid" Lane.

Mission Monitor Board: Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Lightning Lad, Shrinking Violet, Superman, and Timber Wolf.

Opponent: Imperiux and Validus

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #86-87 Point-Counterpoint

Jimmy Olsen #86 (July 1965)
title: "The Team of Olsen and Brainiac!"
writer: Jerry Siegel 
penciller: Curt Swan 
inker:George Klein
editor: Mort Weisinger
cover: Curt Swan and George Klein

and 
Jimmy Olsen #87 (September 1965)
title: "The Arena of Doom" 
writer: Jerry Siegel 
artist: Al Plastino 
editor: Mort Weisinger 
cover: Curt Swan and Sheldon Moldoff 
reviewers: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage and Mike "Nostalgic Kid" Lane

Synopsis
While covering a story, Jimmy sustains severe brain damage. Brainiac offers to help but secretly replaces Jimmy's brain with an electronic one. Now programmed to serve Brainiac, Jimmy lures Superman into a trap. The Man of Steel quickly defeats Brainiac. The villain agrees to restore Jimmy's brain in exchange for his freedom, but places him under hypnotic control. Now teamed with Lex Luthor, Cosmic King, Lightning Lord, and Saturn Queen, Brainiac forces Jimmy to steal kryptonite from the Fortress of Solitude and lure Superman into another trap. Weakened by the kryptonite, Superman offers to help the villains if they would agree to spare him. Lex and Brainiac want to accept, but are outvoted by the Legion of Super Villains. Jimmy executes Superman by exposing him to the kryptonite, but the moment Jimmy realizes what he has done, the villains are encased in transparent globes. It turns out that thee kryptonite is not real, but merely a container holding the bottled city of Kandor. Superman's cowardly behavior was so that he could bide time until the citizens of Kandor could activate a special machine to entrap the villains. Whew!

Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow?

writer: Alan Moore

penciller: Curt Swan
inkers: George Perez (part 1),
Kurt Schaffenberger (part 2) 

letterer: Todd Klein
colorists: Gene D'Angelo (original), Tom McCraw (collected)

editor: Julius Schwartz
cover: Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson

reviewers: "Bilingual Boy" and Dr. Anj

Mission Monitor Board:  
Superman; Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, Invisible Kid (1), Brainiac 5, Supergirl

Guests: 
Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Jimmy Olsen, Krypto, Perry & Alice White

Opponents: 
Bizarro, Brainiac, Lex Luthor, the Toyman, the Prankster, the Kryptonite Man, Metallo, the Legion of Super-Villains (Saturn Queen, Lighting Lord, Cosmic King), Mr. Mxyzptlk

Superman The Animated Series S03 E03: New Kids in Town

"New Kids in Town" was written by Stan Berkowitz and Rich Fogel, and directed by Butch Lukic.
Original airdate: October 31, 1998
Review by Glenn 'Continuity Kid' Walker.

Mission Monitor Board: Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Chameleon Boy, and Clark (Superman) Kent.

Opponents: Brainiac.

Lego Justice League: Cosmic Clash

The Lego DC Comics Super Heroes series of adventures have been a lot of fun, and for folks like me who grew up in the not-so-grim-and-gritty Silver and Bronze Ages of comics, they are much preferable to the darker and edgier animated DC movies out there. All that and we get semi-serious super-heroics mixed with fanboy inside jokes, good stories, and even the Bizarros and the Legion of Doom. And in this particular feature, we even get the Legion of Super-Heroes. Does it get any better than that?