feature requests

LEGION OF SUPERHEROES: WEEK FIFTY

  • Lifetime Member

    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.

March 2024

SuMoTuWeThFrSa
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31 

Archives

LEGION OF SUPERHEROES: WEEK FIFTY

2394 views • Dec 17, '18 • (0) Comments

LEGION 1

In many ways, L.E.G.I.O.N. is the antithetical flip-side of the LoSH. In the L.E.G.I.O.N., there is always just the one leader, they don’t stick to any rules, loyalty is always in question and they make no bones about killing. The group even exists in a totally different time-line from the LoSH, so there’s little chance of any cross-overs or team-ups. And even if the two teams did meet, I’m sure they wouldn’t mesh well. The only connecting thread to these teams is their historical relationship. Some of the Legionnaires like Brainiac 5 and Shadow Lass have ancestors associated with the L.E.G.I.O.N. and they both generally interact with the same sort of alien races. There’s usually a few Durlans, Khunds, and Dominators running around in both series. Otherwise, these two books could not be more different; especially in tone. LoSH is typically an optimistic group: meeting every threat with hopeful exuberance. The L.E.G.I.O.N., however, is full of disgruntled misfits and reluctant heroes usually trying to avoid trouble. The members are largely influenced by the disposition and selfish actions of their founder: Vril Dox. Much to his associates’ displeasure, his many schemes typically involve inflicting some pain and suffering on their loved ones as much as their enemies. Vril would probably even sell his own mother to the Psions, so long as he got a few crumbs of galactic control out of the deal.

In general, Vril Dox embodies everything I dislike in a person. He’s a smug, narcissistic, manipulative and condescending . I can’t figure out why I enjoy reading about the dude so much. Maybe it’s because, underneath all that cool demeanor, he really isn’t that bad of a guy. He just has a skewed viewpoint, compared to the usual heroic character. While he seems to care nothing for whatever individuals may be in his proximity, even so far as using them to further his own ends, Vril usually has a larger benefit in perspective…or at least he uses altruism as cover for the many dastardly deeds he endorses. One can never tell what’s truly churning around that flat-topped green dome of his. Just when you think the guy has gone off the deep end, he pulls out some explanation that shows him serving the greater good. Vril always has the big-picture in mind when he makes decisions. That and he always has-to be the one in charge, of course. Even when his team abandons him and the L.E.G.I.O.N. is torn from his megalomaniacal grip, Vril just becomes a rebel and still finds a way to claim victory from defeat. I can’t help but admire the guys’ intelligence and tenacity when dealing with all the outlandish challenges he faces. But, he’s still an insufferable .

So, if the goody-two-shoes Legionnaires are not your thing, give the L.E.G.I.O.N. a try. There are cool aliens, big explosions, outrageous brawls, and even a few intelligent schemes littered around the series. If you think the L.E.G.I.O.N. is all just heartless nasty business, don’t be fooled by Vril’s harsh veneer. He’s really a super-great guy once you get to know him. Oh, grife…who am I kidding? I bet you will learn to hate the dour green doofus as much as all his team-mates do. But it’s all to make for a more twisted, unpredictable ride. This is what the L.E.G.I.O.N. is all about.

LEGION OF SUPERHEROES: WEEK FIFTY

The story so far…

In the wake of the recent dissolution of the Green Lantern Corps, the galaxy quickly fell into a lawless, chaotic state. Seeking to take advantage of the destabilization, an alliance of power-hungry aliens joined forces to instill their own vision of inter-planetary control. The Alien Alliance’s first effort was to attack Earth in order to rid themselves of the planet’s pesky “meta-human” contingent. After failing in their objective, however, the Alliance members turned on each other and eventually dissolved. This left inter-planetary relations in the galaxy, even more volatile than before. During the conflict between Earth and the Alien Alliance, Starlag prisoner Vril Dox grew determined to assert his will over the growing chaotic atmosphere and began to make plans for engineering his own vision of order in the galaxy. With help from a group of fellow outcasts; Stealth, Phase, Lyrissa Mallor, Strata and Garryn Beck, Vril escaped to the planet Cairn, eliminated the local criminal empire and established a new galactic police force there. This newly established cosmic-police force is known as: L.E.G.I.O.N. (Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network).

Soon after establishing this new order in the galaxy, Vril was unexpectedly attacked by his own team-mate, Stealth. During the ferocious unprovoked attack, Stealth forced Vril to impregnate her. Then, after killing her impromptu-suitor, Stealth ran off to an unknown world to give birth to the child. Lyrissa Mallor briefly took leadership of the team while Vril’s consciousness was revived in a cloned body. Then, Lyrissa’s daughter was manipulated into becoming an assassin who eventually murdered her mother. In the wake of the tragedy, Vril resumed control of the L.E.G.I.O.N. program and led the team through many further adventures. As the team continued to grow influence in the galaxy, they picked up a few new members, including: Captain Comet, Lobo, Lady Quark, Telepath and Garv along the way. When Stealth finally re-united with the team, Vril witnessed advanced intelligence in his infant son, Lyrl, and began running tests. Over time, Lyrl and Vril formed a close working relationship together. Intelligent, yet undisciplined; Lyrl became impatient with his father’s demands and began to secretly assume control over the L.E.G.I.O.N. When Vril confronted the child about his latest misdeeds, Lyrl exercised his full authority by commanding the execution of his father. After narrowly escaping Lyrl’s assault, Vril convinced a small group to join him in hiding, then used their abilities to facilitate his eventual return to power. From here on, the team would be known in the galaxy as: the R.E.B.E.L.S.

And now…

REBELS 1

R.E.B.E.L.S. #1-14 (2009-2010)

Written by: Tony Bedard

Drawn by: Andy Clarke, Claude St. Aubin and Geraldo Borges

Vril Dox is on the run once again. It’s been fifteen years since the L.E.G.I.O.N. was usurped by his son, Lyrl. In the interceding years, Vril managed to counter Lyrl’s ambitions and regain control of the galactic police force. After lobotomizing his son, Vril and Stealth settled down on the jungle-planet Vrool, where they all lived in peaceful bliss for a nice, lengthy period. Once Lyrl became old enough to fend for himself, Vril abandoned his family and resumed his place on Cairn, actively running the L.E.G.I.O.N. Dissatisfied with how far L.E.G.I.O.N. had deviated from his initial vision, Vril overhauled the program: converting its member-base to a purely mechanized force and moving central operations to the planet Maltus. Although this plan worked very well for a time, the rest of the universe remained ambivalent to the Coluan’s latest venture. After eighty-three worlds signed up for protection with Vril’s robotic Peacekeeper-force, the entire system was suddenly commandeered by some strange and powerful alien being. With the Peacekeepers now answering to a different master, they began a reign of terror over all the worlds Vril had sold his protection to. Without his mechanized forces to protect him, Vril bailed from Maltus and headed for the sanctuary of an insignificant little blue planet, known as…Earth.

REBELS 2

Whoever recently wrested control of the L.E.G.I.O.N. from Vril, has put a price on his head. Four bounty-hunters chase Vril to the planet’s surface and begin hunting the Coluan through the streets of some unsuspecting small-town, America. They are: the cyborg Getorix, telepath Skwaul, monstrous Tribulus and one-time L.E.G.I.O.N. member, Amon Hack. Before the group of misfits can apprehend Dox, however, Supergirl arrives in response to all the damage caused while hunting Vril. Believing the green-skinned jerk to be associated with her future-friend, Brainiac 5, she helps Vril escape the bounty-hunters. After defeating Getorix and the gang, Vril steals their ship, takes control of their mindless giant, Tribulus and then leaves the planet. During his voyage from Earth, Vril crosses-paths with fellow fugitives, The Omega Men, and demands their assistance in regaining control of L.E.G.I.O.N. When they refuse, Vril uses the bounty-hunter’s ship communicator to alert Peacekeepers of their location. The robots quickly swarm the Omega Men, apprehend the team and ship them all off to Maltus. Afterward, Vril heads for Starhaven where he gains a new ally in a young misfit named Wildstar. He converts the girl into being to pure energy, stuffs her in a containment suit and uses her to track down further clues to the recent peculation of the L.E.G.I.O.N. program.

REBELS 3

Back on Earth, A Durlan girl named Ciji commands a space-craft in search of the missing bounty-hunters. After finding the group incarcerated at the Slabside Penitentiary in Antarctica, Ciji busts them out, and returns to the stars in search of Vril Dox. Unfortunately, Skwaul and Getorix get splattered during their escape. On the planet Cairn, Wildstar leads Vril to the location of his former partners: Strata and Garv. Although still displeased with Vril, the rocky pair, along with friend, Bounder, agree to join his crusade. When the Omega Men finally arrive on Maltus, they discover the entire planet is over-run by mind-controlling, cosmic star-fish. While everyone shuffles around adorned with the starry face-huggers, a giant five-pronged creature hovers above: spewing millions of the critters out like spores, from its belly. The fugitive team manages to escape receiving the face-flap for long enough to be rescued by a wily group of Psions. They are beamed-over to an orbital-laboratory, where the Psions request their help in defeating Starro. Despite the Omega Men slipping away from Starro’s grasp, the alien conqueror has larger concerns on his collective-mind. After wresting control of L.E.G.I.O.N. and subjugating Maltus, he and his lackies begin to advance toward their newest prospect: The Dominion. These yellow-bellied toothy-bastards put up a good fight but are soon overcome by the sheer volume of alien star-faced warriors. When the medieval-style master of the stars finally manifests on the Dominator’s home-world, the conflict is all but over. Only a single Dominator, the admiral of the Xylon Expanse, survives the onslaught; escaping the planet in his personal space-craft. Meanwhile, Ciji helps Amon Hack catch up with his stolen bounty-hunter ship and, after much dissertation, eventually joins forces with Vril’s crew.

REBELS 5

Once determining the true nature of the alien threat, Vril sets his mind to regaining control of the L.E.G.I.O.N. operating system. He programs his robotic Peacekeeper forces to re-organize in space, then combine their collective mass to form an enormous, impenetrable barrier around Starro’s annexed territory. With the alien conqueror’s ambitions now curtailed, Vril sets his mind on eliminating any possible way he might circumvent the barrier. Anticipating Starro’s next move, Vril heads for Gil’Dishpan. The wormy creatures residing within the methane oceans of Gil’Dishpan are naturally capable of teleportation and Vril figures they are most likely, Starro’s next target. Vril petitions the natives for assistance in countering Starro’s efforts, but the wormy native creatures waffle at the idea. Sure enough, Starro’s forces soon do arrive on Gil’Dishpan and begin to flood the planet’s oceans with their mind-controlling starfish. Rather than just teleport out of the way, the methane-swimmers of Gil’Dishpan allow the alien face-huggers to consume them. Vril’s team scrambles a hasty retreat from the ocean-world just as the starfish begin to fly. Once the Gil’Dishpan leader is fishy-faced, Starro assumes control of his teleportation abilities and prepares for a jump into un-protected space. As Vril’s team escapes Gil’Dishpan, the Dominator from Xylon Expanse shows up, hooks his space-craft up to theirs and dumps his over-loaded hyper-drive onto the planet. The resulting explosion ignites the methane ocean covering the planet and the whole place goes nova. Thanks to the Dominator, Starro’s scheme is undone.

REBELS 7

Although Starro’s efforts to gain teleportation have failed, the larger threat still exists. Starro will stop at nothing to get past Vril’s containment field and resume his unfettered march toward galactic dominance. Recognizing this potential, Vril begins to develop a plan to eliminate Starro, once and for all. In order to have a chance at defeating the alien conqueror, all connections with his mind-controlled servants must first be severed. A weapon to perform this mental disruption must be forged. Before embarking on this plan, however, Vril decides to first pay a visit to his family on Vrool. Recognizing his son, Lyrl as having some possible value to Starro, Vril lands on the planet and dispatches a search party to find the boy. Once located, Lyrl is at first resistant to his father: claiming his father had orchestrated the murder of his mother, Stealth. Lyrl describes how the once protective Peacekeeper robots, suddenly turned volatile. Stealth was killed while saving him from the gone-rogue-robots. Lyrl has been on the run ever since his mother’s demise.

Somewhere near the Xylon Expanse, The Omega Men continue their tour of the Psions laboratory. These freakish, lizardy-geeks have been busy experimenting on Starro’s star-fish creatures since the star-conqueror’s arrival. After some genetic altering of the starfish, they have determined a way to eliminate their mind-controlling aspect, while still maintaining a connection to their expansive hive-mind. Thus, the Psions have developed a sort of “camouflage” for the Omega Men. After donning the “stealth-fish”, the team heads through the Xylon Expanse, and onto Starro’s home-world, in hopes of finding some method of accelerating the conqueror’s demise.

REBELS 9

Back on Vrool: the team gains two new members in Adam Strange and Captain Comet. Both inform Vril of another dire threat occurring within the galaxy, and their involvement in countering a wave of undead monsters besieging the Green Lantern Corps. Vril shrugs their warnings off as insignificant compared to Starro’s threat and returns his focus on the master-plan. He conscribes his team-mates to seek out three critical elements yet required to build his Starro-disruptor weapon. Adam Strange zeta-beams to Dhor, to acquire Kanjar Ro’s Gamma Gong. This attempt fails, however, when the Gong is shattered by one of Starro’s intervening flunkies. Kanjar Ro, the despot leader of Delon, escapes back to Vrool with Adam Strange before Starro’s face-huggers can overcome them. While Vril contemplates his next plan of action, Starro’s flunkies track Adam Strange’s zeta-signal back to Vrool where they gather for a sneak attack. Before they can reach Vril’s main camp, however, they run across young Lyrl making a run for the jungle and decide to abduct him instead. Vril spirals into a rage when he learns of his son’s capture. Wildstar attempts to console the man, but he is much too distraught…not due to losing another member of his family, mind you…rather, he knows: under Starro’s control, his son could provide the means for circumventing his Peacekeeper-generated barrier. If Lyrl’s genius is unlocked again, and given the means to build a transmatter portal, the galaxy would certainly be doomed.

REBELS 10

And then Stealth shows up. Yes, she is Lyrl’s mother. Yes, with Lyrl now Starro’s captive, her protective instincts have kicked into overdrive. And, yes: she is still dead. With the Blackest Night storyline raging accross all other corners of the DCU, even this title gets sullied by the dourness of events. Stealth is reborn as a Black Lantern. She rips through space, on the hunt for her lost son. After also blasting through some Yellow Lanterns, Stealth is joined by the undead version of (Crisis on Infinite Earths) Harbinger. Vril is chosen to join the Yellow Lanterns for a short period and a bunch of Starro’s flunkies get turned to Black Lanterns as well. They all fight for a while. Lyrl does indeed develop a transmatter portal and uses it to bring all the Black Lanterns over to Maltus to fight Starro. The ensuing battle lasts for three days.

Starro, gathering his strength from all the beings under his influence, keeps pounding on the Black Lanterns. They, in turn, just keep tapping the Black Lantern to reconstitute themselves. It’s a never-ending stalemate until someone just flings the undead corpse-corps through the transmatter portal again and be rid of them. Wow. Maybe try that after fighting for three minutes, not three days, yah sprockin’ squaj! Oh well, with Starro conveniently occupied for a few days, Vril has enough free-time to complete his quest for the ever illusive, three super-important items. Adam Strange, Ciji and Bounder grab a gene-bomb off the Dominators in the Outer Kaipei system. Vril, Amon Hack and Tribulus drop by Kalanor to liberate Despero’s head. Kanjar Ro, Wildstar and Captain Comet return to Dhor to pick up the remaining Gamma Gong shards. Once all brought together, Vril forges a hand-cannon capable of disrupting Starro’s connection with his innumerable star-faced minions. All they need to do now is go find the creep.

REBELS 12

The Omega Men are still on Starro’s home-world, searching for clues to uncover some possible weakness in the eternally-conquering alien. After finding nothing of worth on the planet, they skip over to what is described as a “forbidden world”, nearby. There, they find the remnants of some long deceased, antiquated kingdom. Within a hidden temple, the team discovers a sacred potion, once utilized to fend off a Starro invasion, countless years ago. On their way home, the team’s robot doctor analyzes the ingredients and synthesizes an active batch. Over on Maltus: Starro makes plans to utilize Lyrl’s transmatter portal, to mount an assault on Earth. Lyrl tricks his master into walking through the portal to the Psion’s orbital laboratory, instead. Once there, Starro finds Vril at the ready with his newly fashioned and charged anti-Starro weapon. The hand-cannon is fired. There is a brilliant flash of light. Once the smoke clears, it is apparent that the weapon has zero affect. Gasp. How could Vril Dox be so wrong? I thought he was a super-genius or something. Starro just laughs the whole weak attempt off. “And what exactly was that supposed to accomplish?”, mocks the galactic conqueror. Adam Strange simply offers a useless quip to Vril’s underwhelming effort. “You got a plan B?” everyone just blinks in disbelief.

Starro, has won, right? Hold on, now. Not so fast. Here comes the cavalry, right on time. It’s the Omega Men; all sporting their cool stealthy-fish and brandishing dart-guns tipped with anti-Starro venom. They burst into the Psion lab, and begin to fire their darts indiscriminately all over the joint. Dart-dart-darts go everywhere. A few hit Starro and just bounce off. All the starfish launch off the Psion’s laboratory equipment and affix themselves on the collective rebel team. Starro laughs once again. Okay, now it’s really the end, right. No hope. My face is now ready to be Starro-ed. But, as usual: the villain just has-to enjoy one last laugh. Starro grabs Vril by the throat and pulls him close to gloat in his victory. While gasping for air, Vril notices a stray dart hanging off Starro’s body. He plucks the dart out and then sticks it in the eye of the star-fish thing affixed to Starro’s chest. A sudden weakness overcomes the galactic conqueror. Star-fish all over the place begin to fall from everyone’s eyes. Starro releases Vril and drops to his knees. That did it. Poking the eye of Starro’s adorning star-fish at just the right angle caused a massive adverse reaction. Every being once under his servitude is now free. The threat is finally over. Yay! Vril Dox is victorious once again!

REBELS 14

The first fourteen issues of R.E.B.E.L.S. is some good old grock-bokkin’ fun. You can tell, by reading these issues, that Tony Bedard is very fond of Alan Grant’s initial L.E.G.I.O.N. material. All the characters are fully in-line with their original incarnations and the tone of the series has the exact same cynical snarky tang that made the first series so interesting. Bedard nails Vril’s cold-hearted and snobbish superiority to perfection. The newer characters like Wildstar and Bounder are excellent additions as well: fitting the mold of Vril’s unwitting pawns to a double-T. I only wish there was some way of bringing Garryn Beck back into the fold. I miss that lousy wedge-head. Plus, I was disappointed with how easily Stealth got knocked-off. It’s right in her name, man: she’s not going to be taken down by a couple of stupid robots! I must admit: the girl is a perfect choice for a Black Lantern, though.

Still, the over-arching plot is so full of super-enjoyable peril, mayhem and disaster; I grinned ear-to-ear while reading the whole thing. This entire story is fantastically entertaining from start-to-finish. The plot is thoughtfully planned out and woven together to perfection. I could not ask for a more satisfying tale. The heroes aren’t forced to perform acts so despicable as did in the previous series, but the part where the Dominator lights the Gil’Dishpan world on fire is sufficiently mortifying. Starro’s threat is magnificently realized and encompasses a wonderful array of creatures and locales within the galaxy. Inserting the Omega Men sub-plot and adding some timely humor to the series at key intervals just takes the overall enjoyability to a higher level. Although Vril Dox matched Starro with his brain-over-brawn; the resolution really did just fall to blind luck in the end. I wonder how Nekron would have fared if Starro did manage to best Vril and his rebel clan…I guess three thousand years of Black Lantern versus Starro fights would get boring though.

The first three issues drawn by Any Clarke are spectacular. His fastidiously detailed and realistic approach not only enhances Bedard’s script enormously, but every panel is completely synchronized with the story nuance. I love all the Maguire-esque facial expressions on Amon Hack and all the meaningful blank-stares on Vril Dox. It’s a nice mixture of Barry Kitson’s style with Steve Mcniven’s discipline. Clarke provides some of his best-ever work here. Unfortunately, he only draws a few issues of the overall run. Claude St Aubin takes over in issue #4 and does a valiant job at matching Clarke’s style at first, but then devolves into more of a rushed generic-look toward the end. By the time the crew hits Vrool, the visual appeal of the series goes down-hill. It’s not terrible, by any means, but the later sloppiness is a let-down, compared to the first couple of issues. Garv looks like garbage. This is still a great story though.

Grade A-.

 

Next: another reboot…it’s just another reboot…it’s just

Long Live the R.E.B.E.L.S.

  • Be the first to leave a comment
World Community Grid Logo
ComicBookRealm.com: 72 years, 186 days, 23 hours of Run Time
Help projects like: Smash Childhood Cancer, OpenZika, Help Stop TB, FightAIDS@Home - Phase 2, Outsmart Ebola Together, Mapping Cancer Markers, FightAIDS@Home
Join World Community Grid today!
When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
  • Newest
  • Walking Carnival's Johnny Grav & The Visioneer Issue # 2
  • Amphibia Comics's Newt Issue # 6
  • Marvel Comics's The Amazing Spider-Man Issue # 46d
  • Seven Seas Entertainment's The Kingdoms of Ruin Soft Cover # 8