Action Comics #863

Action Comics #863
Title: Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes Part 6 of 6 - Sun Rise
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Gary Frank
Inker: Jon Sibal
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Editors: Nachie Castro and Matt Idelson
Executive Editor: Gary Frank
Reviewer: Jude Deluca a.k.a. Sarcasm Kid

PREVIOUSLY: With the universe on the brink of war and the Legion scrambling to stop the Justice League of Earth, the Legion of Substitute Heroes are finally called into action as the Legion's wild card. While the Subs invade the JLE's satellite looking to avenge their fallen comrades, Superman and the Legionnaires finally discover most of their missing team-mates held in Earth-Man's stasis chambers. Brainiac 5 tries to free Sun Boy, but Earth-Man gets the drop on Colossal Boy and Superman. It finally comes down to Superman and Earth-Man for the fate of the Legion, the Earth, the universe, and the 31st Century.

And so we finally reach the end of this arc. We finally get the big showdown between Superman and the wannabe Nazi who has usurped his symbol for a petty grudge against the Legionnaires.

Action Comics #862

Action Comics #862
Title: Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes Part 5 of 6 - Revenge of the Rejects
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Gary Frank
Inker: Jon Sibal
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Editors: Nachie Castro and Matt Idelson
Executive Editor: Gary Frank
Reviewer: Jude Deluca a.k.a. Sarcasm Kid

PREVIOUSLY: The Legionnaires discovered that Brainiac 5 assumed the role of Colu's leader to stall the United Planets from launching a full scale war on Earth. We get a look into each of the individual members of the Justice League of Earth and also discover Colossal Boy's wife, Yera Allon, has become an official Legionnaire as Chameleon Girl. Unfortunately, Superman and the other Legionnaires fled Colu when Brainy gets outed as a traitor. The universe is inching ever closer to war! 

We've finally come to my favorite part of this story arc (aside from #864's epilogue story), where for once I have more to applaud on Johns instead of deriding him.

As you can see from the cover, this issue features the official reappearance of the Legion of Substitute-Heroes, who've been largely missing since a couple of cameos in the Reboot Legion's era. But most surprising of all is Johns expands the roster by including a Legion Reject who has never before been associated with the Subs, and she happens to be one of my absolute favorites of the old school Legion applicants.

Action Comics #861

Action Comics #861
Title: Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes Part 4 of 6 - Chameleons

Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Gary Frank
Inker: Jon Sibal
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Editors: Nachie Castro and Matt Idelson
Executive Editor: Dan Didio
Reviewer: Jude Deluca aka Sarcasm Kid

PREVIOUSLY: The Legionnaires rescued Polar Boy and discovered Brainiac 5 is on his home planet of Colu. Superman meets up with several Legionnaires underneath Metropolis, then are ambushed by the Justice League of Earth. Forced to retreat, Superman, Dawnstar, Wildfire, Colossal Boy, and Polar Boy crash-land on Colu, where they discover Brainiac 5 is now in total control and plans to have them terminated!

There isn’t a lot of action in this issue (despite the title), as we mainly learn about what Brainy has been going through on his home planet. Secrets and motivations of the individual Justice Leaguers are brought to light. We also learn there’s another Silver Age Legion Reject within the League’s ranks, and the status of two more Legionnaires gets revealed in the process.

The issue does have a number of references to "The Lightning Saga," the story that ran in Justice League of America and Justice Society of America establishing this Legion's return. For those who don't recall, a group of seven Legionnaires (Star Boy, Karate Kid, Dream Girl, Wildfire, Timber Wolf, Dawnstar, and Sensor Girl) were sent to 21st Century Earth to invoke an experiment involving lightning rods similar to the ones used to revive Lightning Lad. We never found out what the Legionnaires were specifically trying to do, but as a side effect they inadvertently brought Wally West and his family back to the main DCU. At the end of the story, Star Boy and Karate Kid did not return to the future. 

Action Comics #860

Action Comics #860
Title: Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes Part 3 - Lightning and Shadows
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Gary Frank
Inker: Jon Sibal
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Editor: Nachie Castro and Matt Idelson
Executive Editor: Dan Didio

Legion Roster: Superman, Dawnstar, Colossal Boy, Wildfire, Polar Boy, Shadow Lass, Night Girl, Lightning Lass, Timber Wolf, Brainiac 5

PREVIOUSLY: Superman learned all about what a xenophobic nightmare Earth has become in the 31st Century thanks to a bunch of Legion rejects crying about reverse racism.

The Legion founders tried to search for Batman's kryptonite ring as proof of Superman's alien origins and were brought down by the Justice League of Earth, just like the Legion Espionage Squad were.

Superman, Dawnstar, Wildfire, and Colossal Boy hope to find Brainiac 5 and another Legionnaires being held captive in an alien internment camp that looks disturbingly similar to the Legion's original headquarters.

In this issue, we find out more about what's happened to the other Legionnaires and how they've dealt with the persecution Earth-Man and the League have spearheaded with their "Neo Nazis of the Future" nonsense. And Geoff Johns does more of what he did in the last issue, which I'll share my thoughts on later.

Action Comics #859

Action Comics #859 
Title: Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes Part 2 - Illegal Aliens
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Gary Frank
Inker: Jon Sibal
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Editors: Nachie Castro and Matt Idelson
Executive Editor: Dan Didio

Legion Roster: Superman, Dawnstar, Wildfire, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl, Invisible Kid II, Ultra Boy, Shrinking Violet, Blok

PREVIOUSLY: A rampaging Brainiac drone in Metropolis catches Superman's attention, but the drone turns out to be controlled by none other than Brainiac 5. A blast from the robot brings forth long buried memories and Superman recalls his first time meeting the Legion of Super-Heroes when Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad traveled to 20th Century Smallville. It's been a long time since Superman saw the Legion, and now they need his help, because as Superman discovers, someone's messed 31st Century Earth up, starting with the fact that Earth's sun is red and the Legionnaires are fugitives.

I'll be picking up where the previous reviewer left off and attempt to finish recapping "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes." As always there will be my hate/love/hate with Geoff Johns and what he did to the Legionnaires when he brought them back. I look back on how much I loved everything about this story. I can't believe I was so young, so naive, so stupid.