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Legion of Superheroes: Week Twenty Seven

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    mekdinosaur | Male | 53 years old | Port Moody, BC. Canada

Born in Vancouver, BC Canada...and after living in a lot of different places since then....has finally returned home.

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REBOUND FOR GLORY


Make way, comics fans! Here comes Mekdinosaur: bouncing along with another batch of your favorite comics reviews. I’m like a freight-train brimming with precious cargo, headed straight for your eye-holes. I’m blasting past all the bullshit and negative nonsense of regular, everyday life, just to bring you word of the most amazing tales in human history. They said comics are just for kids. They were wrong. They said it would never last. Don’t believe it. I’m living proof: comic books will endure forever in the hearts and minds of those who love this medium. Pass it on down the line. But stay off the chugga-choo-choo-tracks, cause I’m coming through. Make way for another cart-load of Legion of Superheroes comics adventures, about to be dissected for your reading pleasure…ding-a-ding-ding.

 

But, first: a eulogy…

Steve Ditko passed away a couple of days ago (July 4 th). He, along with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, is one of the founding architects of the modern Marvel Entertainment empire. Back in the 1960 s, he helped create one of the greatest superheroes ever imagined. Yes, without Ditko’s vivid imagination and dynamic talents, the world may never have known the majesty and wonder of Earth’s very own Master of the Mystic Arts. I’m talking about Doctor Strange, folks! By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth; there be no work of art in the world greater than those first few Strange Tales. Oh, and Steve also had a hand in bringing life to some famous wall-crawler as well, along with many other amazing creations. I didn’t really know the importance of Steve Ditko when I was growing up, though. I was introduced to Spider-Man through lunch-pails and Electric Company magazines. I was exposed more to the John Romita-type version of the character and compared any other iteration to this more conventional style. Growing up in the 80 s meant dreading a “guest-pencils” job by Ditko on any of my favorite titles. I knew him as the guy who drew weird-looking faces in the Micronauts Annuals and ruined any other book he filled-in on. I didn’t appreciate Steve Ditko until I got my hands on some reprints of the first Amazing Spiderman issues. There, he was brilliant.

Sadly, I wasn’t alive in the 1960s, when Steve was producing some of his best work. I did not get to experience the moment when these fresh, new characters like Spider-man, X-Men and Hulk were filling the comic racks for the first time. There will probably never be such a burst of imaginative expression (for twelve-cents, a pop) to happen again in this world. Although I could never quite appreciate his style in anything over the last forty-years of his limited production, Steve was exactly the right man for ushering in the age of Marvels. He helped create and develop all the Charlton heroes too: Blue Beetle, the Question, Captain Atom, et al, who became the inspiration for Alan Moore’s Watchmen. And don’t forget, he created some of the most hated villains in comics lore: Green Goblin, Dormammu, Sandman, Electro, Doctor Octopus, Vulture…these are now some of the most widely-known characters in media history. While Stan Lee has hogged so much of the lime-light in recent years, Steve always languished as a reclusive figure. Perhaps that was more to his liking, but he still should have received some royalties from the smash success of all the recent Marvel movies. Steve may never have gotten a fair shake in this world, but I hope he has found something incredibly amazing in whatever place there is, beyond. He deserves it for all the joy he has brought to the many generations of fans of his creations. RIP, Steve Ditko. He was one of the greats.

LEGION OF SUPERHEROES: WEEK TWENTY-SEVEN

After escaping the prison ship, Starlag, Vril Dox and a few of his good friends established the galactic police force, now known as: the L.E.G.I.O.N. (Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network). This is their story…

L.E.G.I.O.N. ROLL CALL:

Vril Dox: Chief strategist.

Garryn Bek: Wedge-head administrator.

Stealth: Fierce warrior.

Strata: Muscle maven.

Phase: Field commander.

Lobo: Crazed maniac.

Captain Comet: Master blaster.

Garv: Purple powerhouse. 

Marij’n Bek: Science officer.

Lady Quark: Quantum commando.

Telepath (real name too long to print): Communications.

R.E.C.R.U.I.T.S. ROLL CALL:

Lydia Mallor: Deadly damsel of the darkness.

Bertron: Battering ram.

Amon Haak: Khund warrior.

Borb Borbb: Transporter. 

Zena Moonstruck: Illuminator.

Davroth Catto: Reconnaissance.

The story so far…

L.E.G.I.O.N. saved the population of Arga from a planet-wide disaster. Vril’s old girlfriend, Ig’nea, returned to exact her revenge on her beau. She kidnapped Stealth and their baby; threatening to kill them both if he did not surrender himself to her. Then, Ig’nea proved she wasn’t kidding; gutting Stealth during a live broadcast to Vril and the gang. The team flew off to a stinky planet to face the and battle her assembled crew. Vril was almost eaten by Ig’nea’s pet dragon. Stealth got better and saved Vril from certain death. Ig’nea tried to kill their baby by throwing him into a raging fire, but Borb teleported in to save the tyke. Darius got smashed during the fight. Out of respect for their fallen friend, the L.E.G.I.O.N. recruits decided to return Darius to his maker. They transported his head to Acheron where the residing robot civilization willingly rebuilt his body. Once revived to full power, Darius completed his quest to meet his maker. The guy turned out to be a heartless , so Darius killed him and took over rule of the robots himself. Lydia finally met her father and then returned to Talok to face the ghosts of her heritage. 

And now…

Legion #56

 

L.E.G.I.O.N. #56 (1993)

Written by Mark Waid.

Drawn by Val Semeiks.

Someone has been murdering L.E.G.I.O.N. troopers on Cairn. Seven random agents have been found crushed to death over the past few days; each body splayed out in the center of a circular divot in the ground. With no discernable cause or evidence to follow, the Operative, Pukka, resorts to calling Vril Dox for some back-up in the case. Strata is called in the handle the job. She first visits the local L.E.G.I.O.N. precinct to gather information from Chief Hogarth. As the chief briefs Strata on the mysterious deaths of his subordinates, a mysterious cloaked figure watches on from above. Operative Pukka hangs out in-front of the precinct to have a smoke when: splat! He gets creamed all over the pavement. Strata and Hogarth race outside to find Pukka’s body crumpled up inside a newly formed divot in the ground. Could it be that stranger in the dark that’s somehow crushing people from above? No. That’s just Garv pretending to be Batman now for some reason. Then who could be the one making human pancakes out of L.E.G.I.O.N. Operatives? 

Why, it’s that rejected recruit: Jiv Reddu! That proto-Bouncing Boy who never made it into the L.E.G.I.O.N. had such a chip on his shoulder, he decided to start murdering people. Yikes. I know I don’t take rejection well myself, but I wouldn’t resort to belly-flopping on dudes just because I couldn’t get into their clubhouse. What a weirdo. So, after Jiv gets found out by Strata and the mysterious cloaked vigilante (Garv), he goes on a bouncing rampage: crushing anyone in his bouncy-way. He boing-boings all over the place like a maniac until careening out of control onto the tip of a pointy flag pole. POP goes Jiv. While all the Operatives of the Precinct look on in horror, Strata gazes skyward to the fleeting mysterious figure already swinging off to the building tops. Who was that masked man, she wonders?

(It was Garv)

This starts out as a hokey little mystery tale but quickly becomes quite engaging once Strata shows up to investigate. Her pining for Garv and his silly attempts to emulate Earth’s Dark Knight make the whole affair way more interesting. Once Jiv Reddu shows up to play human pin-ball, I became infinitely more amused by the tale. In midst of Jiv’s bounding reign of terror, we get a glimpse of his backstory. He truly was a sad individual. It’s a good thing the L.E.G.I.O.N. never brought him into the fold. The artwork by Val Semeiks works perfectly for this little vignette. The departure of style from Kitson’s usual tight, detailed renderings provides an enigmatic quality to each page as the story unfolds. Mark Waid expertly weaves together each character’s journey of discovery and reveals Jiv’s motivations at just the right time. Highly recommended fun story about unrequited love and the different ways people handle rejection.

Grade A.

Legion #57

 

L.E.G.I.O.N. #57-58 (1993)

Written by Barry Kitson & Mark Waid.

Drawn by Barry Kitson, Stephen Jones & Chris Hunter.

From here, things get a little disjointed. Issues #57 and #58 are parts 3 and 6 of the Trinity cross-over with Green Lantern and Darkstars titles. I read all the other parts back in 2015. If you have been following me since the beginning of time, I made a passing mention of it in my March 15th blog entry. It wasn’t that great, so I decided not to read the whole eight-part story over again. Just the L.E.G.I.O.N. bits this time. So, the epic takes place on the planet Maltus: home of one of the oldest cultures in the universe. Legend has it, on Maltus: a triumvirate will one day return to the planet, to usher in a new age for it’s peoples. One day, three giant creatures arrive on the planet and begin to lay waste to it’s cities. The Maltusians believe these enormous beings are in fact the gods of legend, there to set the populous free. Vril Dox is not convinced. He brings a L.E.G.I.O.N. contingent to the planet to hold off any meddling forces who might oppose these giant monsters, then investigate a cause of their appearance. While the L.E.G.I.O.N. forces battle Green Lanterns and Darkstars to a standstill, Vril locates the Maltusian responsible for the monsters’ arrival and reveals them to be not gods at all but merely the creations of a madman intent on fulfilling the culture’s prophesy. Then, Vril gets his team to join the others to take down these fake deities. Lobo parties with Lantern Boodikka the whole time and Bertron finds his meaningless end while attempting to protect some wayward Multusians.

I wasn’t very enthralled by the other parts to this story when I originally read them, and the L.E.G.I.O.N. portion didn’t do too much to change my opinion. It seemed like just an opportunity to get three groups of space-faring heroes together to fight each other and then combine forces to match the big baddy. Standard stuff. While I enjoyed some of the side-plots within the tale, (like the part where Lobo arrives from his trailer with nothing but Boodikka’s panties on-natch) there seems to be little reason for any of this to matter in the end. It is fun to see the L.E.G.I.O.N. finally interact with other more recognizable characters in the DC Universe, for sure. This is all predictable stuff, though, and if you aren’t somewhat acquainted with the whole Trinity storyline, you will be lost reading these issues. Too bad Bertron had to bite dust in the middle of such a lame story. And here I thought the big lug was the traitor all those issues back. It seems the poor guy wasn’t so invulnerable after all. RIP Bertron.

See, I knew someone was going to die soon!

Grade C.

Legion #59

 

L.E.G.I.O.N. #59-60 (1993)

Written by Barry Kitson & Mark Waid.

Drawn by Arnie Jorgensen & Stephen Jones.

After all that mess with Trinity, things get back to normal. A L.E.G.I.O.N. contingent, including Stealth, Telepath, Zena, Phase, and Davroth, travels to the planet Dexll to help solve the mystery of some missing children. The Dexllians point Stealth and the gang to a giant circus tent where some wraith-like beings have been entertaining crowds of youngsters with their amazing abilities. As the team investigates, they come to find these interlopers have powers similar-to Phase and one of them even appears to know her. Phase, being still afflicted with amnesia, does not recognize these beings, but is still curious about their nature. After a brief altercation with a group of Dexllian parents, the wraith-like beings disappear from the planet, taking Phase with them. Once finding herself on the other-side Phase discovers that the wraiths had been stealing Dexllian children to feed an angry beast ravaging their realm. Phase defeats the beast and returns to Dexll with all the children. Hooray!

Phase’s origin has been a continuous mystery; a plot virtually untouched in the fifty issues since her sudden appearance on Cairn back in issue #9. Here, we finally get a glimpse of her heritage, and yet she is still just as oblivious as ever. Regardless, Phase handles herself with great intelligence, heart and heroism through the course of this adventure. The ending, where she bids farewell to Bgztl through a portal to the other-side, is a bitter-sweet nod to all Legion fans. Another tearful goodbye goes to Barry Kitson and Mark Waid. Issue #60 is their final contribution to this title. Speaking of tears: the artwork for this story is rough to look at. Jorgensen and Jones do not bring adequate gravity in their images to match Waid and Kitson’s grave scenario. The characters are often presented with cartoonish exaggerations or generic poses that belay any sort of dramatic tension the narrative was building. These are children getting lost in some other dimension. Freakin’ scary stuff! The fear and anxiety should have been way more present in the mannerisms and composures of each character. A missed opportunity for a poignant end to Kitson and Waid’s term.

Grade C-.

Legion #61

 

L.E.G.I.O.N. #61-63 (1993-1994)

Written by Tom Peyer.

Drawn by Arnie Jorgensen & Stephen Jones.

Come one, come all: to the fabulous world, Rigon! Here, you will have the chance to rub shoulders with the finest heroes of the galaxy, sample exotic foods and perhaps have a chance to glad-hand the esteemed genius of galactic law enforcement: Vril Dox himself! Izzatso?! Somehow, Garryn has cajoled Vril into traveling to Rigon to meet some prospective clients. Upon touchdown, Vril gets introduced to the likes of Shiver of Glacius, Gigantus of Motus, and WethePeople, champion of Rigon itself. In the middle of the soiree, WethePeople decides to air its grudge against Vril and a huge fracas ensues. Luckily for Vril, Lobo shows up in time to crash the party and takes Rigon’s formidable hero down. In appreciation for how Vril handled the unfortunate affair, Kaa Muugo of Motus offers Gigantus as an addition to the L.E.G.I.O.N. ranks. Gigantus is touted to be an enormous fighter, easily capable of filling the gap in place of recently departed Bertron. The running gag from here out is that Gigantus is only about three feet tall. Aww, haw-haw. Gigantus is just a little guy. It’s a riot.

After returning to Cairn, Vril introduces the team to their newest member: Gigantus. As the song goes: “Struggling for what is right! Using his excessive height! Never lost a single fight—Look up there! It’s Gigantus!” Sing it with me! Yeah. Gi-gan-tus! Gi-gan-tus! Weee!! Or not. The mighty mauler from Motus certainly makes a splash on Cairn. He has his own program and theme song. Plus: he’s got a really, big stick to poke people’s eyes out with…especially if you laugh at how short he is. In other news: baby-Dox starts to talk to Vril in intelligent, descriptive phrases. A little freaked out by his son’s advanced development, Vril runs some tests on the tyke’s brain. When Stealth finds out he’s been using their son as a lab rat, however, she freaks out and threatens to kill Vril…again. Baby-Dox calms her mother down before she gets the chance to finish daddy off. Meanwhile, Garryn stows away on a ship meant as a romantic getaway for Captain Comet and Marij’n. Before their vacation together can get too awkward, though; Lady Quantum shows up to spoil the party. But it’s not really Lady Quark. She’s dead in space after that animated lump of flesh from issue #47 stole her identity, and now it’s coming after Captain Comet. They tussle for a while until she/it finally stomps on Captain Comet: leaving him for dead and blasting off for Cairn. Also, Lobo gets into some fisticuffs with Superman.

Legion #63

Tom Peyer certainly picks the plotlines up where Waid and Kitson left off: exploring the leftover threads like baby-Dox and the Comet/Bek bizarre love triangle right off the bat. Throwing in the weird energy creature at the end ties everything all together. I haven’t enjoyed much of Peyer’s work in other titles he’s written but he does a fair job of getting the signature Alan Grant L.E.G.I.O.N. attitude just right. Tom’s scripts are not as dark, nuanced or heartening as Grant’s, though and there’s a bit more snark than I would care for. Grant’s L.E.G.I.O.N. had the members constantly at each other, but you knew they had each other’s back in the end. Peyer doesn’t bring so much of that “family” feel to the team. It’s more like these characters are just nasty for no reason. Despite all that: it’s still a fun read, though. The art, on the other hand, is difficult to get past. Kitson brought so much technical skill to the previous stories and he knew the characters so well: not many artists could match his effort. Unfortunately, Jorgensen makes everything look like a cartoon show; further minimizing any dramatic impact Tom Peyer may bring to the book. Characters seem to be dropping like flies now and it’s hard to even feel a thing with those goofy stylings marring each page. Bleagh. Oh, well: seven more issues to go.

Grade C+.

Next: The curtains drop.

Long Live the L.E.G.I.O.N. until the end of time.

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