Learning to Love the Legion: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #11

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

We’re back, with a Thanksgiving edition of Legion of Super-Heroes! Gobble, gobble!

You know who’s not thankful? The assorted Legionnaires caught in four kinds of catastrophe, as Rogol Zaar attacks New Krypton, Doctor Fate explodes, Ultra Boy encounters resistance as he tries to introduce democracy to Rimbor, and Mordru kidnaps Cosmic Boy in a raid, causing Rose’s Thorn personality to reemerge.

This issue — with the full creative team of Brian Bendis, Ryan Sook, Wade Von Grawbadger, Jordie Bellaire, and Dave Sharpe — proceeds not unlike the prior issue, with the action split between multiple locations. The difference is that, this time, each thread ends in a crisis that will hopefully be resolved next issue.

Variant Cover by Nicola Scott

Team New Krypton hangs out at Mon-El’s place until they’re suddenly attacked by Rogol Zaar, riding a space dragon and backed by a small army. Superboy, Doctor Fate, and Saturn Girl investigate a cave on Xanthu, where they discover what appears to be Superman’s cape. When Doctor Fate attempts to scry into its origin, he (she? they?) spontaneously combusts.

On Rimbor, Ultra Boy accepts his father’s mantle as planetary leader, then immediately proclaims democratic elections. Rimbor is not pleased. On Earth, Triplicate Girl consults with Dream Girl about the unusual dreams one of her has been having, foretelling the Great Darkness, while Brainiac 5 attempts to glean information from Gold Lantern about his ring’s power source. Finally, on Daxam a crew of Legionnaires, plus Rose, attempt to hunt down clues as to the Horraz hidden base. They’re attacked by Mordru, which leads to Blok being teleported into deep space and Cosmic Boy being kidnapped.

Honestly? This is all great stuff. It feels like Legion during the “Great Darkness Saga,” or the run Giffen and Levitz had afterwards, with multiple plotlines interweaving, splitting and combining. That’s probably my favorite Legion era, so I’m quite pleased with how things are developing. I’m glad the “what’s up with RJ Brande?” plotline, if it hasn’t been resolved, has moved to the background, and new mysteries are being seeded, like what’s the deal with the Gold Lanterns, and why does Mordru need Cosmic Boy?

(I will say I’m maybe getting a little tired of Rimbor; that’s the one piece of this issue that felt a little out of place in terms of the stakes)

The one thing I wasn’t a huge fan of is that this issue was pretty heavy on double-page splashes, and while that sometimes worked, occasionally there was a Big Fight Scene laid out as a double-page with cut-outs and it could be a little difficult to follow the action. The art, as usual, is fantastic, whether it’s a space dragon crashing into Mon-El’s house, Doctor Fate exploding, or Triplicate Girl talking to herself.

Hopefully we’ll get a satisfying resolution to at least some of these plots next month, but in the meantime I really enjoyed this issue.

Bits of Legion Business

Heh, cute costume.

So Doctor Fate is dead… Maybe? I dunno, this could be a for-reals character death, or it could be Doctor Fate being zapped to another dimension in an evocatively disturbing way. On the one hand, disgusting teleportations are the sort of thing that would happen to Doctor Fate. On the other hand, we haven’t REALLY gotten to know this Fate all that well, and Fate’s not a Classic Legionnaire, so killing him/her/them off for shock value wouldn’t be too surprising.

Also, a thought I just had: if Mordru’s collecting Artifacts of Ancient Earth’s Heroes, the Helmet of Nabu seems like it fits right in with Superman’s Cape and Aquaman’s Trident.

This confirms that Rimborian is a dialect of Yiddish.

Budding romance between Dawnstar and Ultra Boy.

Wonder if this was part of DC’s whole Generations thing? Or perhaps something we’ll find out about in Future State?

Huh! Cargites don’t dream, apparently! Also of note that one of Triplicate Girl’s triplicates had a different subconscious experience than the others.

I think they’ve mentioned this before, but: Triplicate Girl’s three selves have their own experiences, and when they merge they “synchronize” their knowledge and psyches. We haven’t seen the merged Triplicate Girl yet.

I think this is the first mention we’ve seen of Darkseid, whom the Horraz evidently worship. Note the Omega pendant the acolyte is wearing. Also, this scene vaguely reminded me of the Death Sticks merchant from Attack of the Clones?

So say we all.

Pretty cool design on Thorn’s emergence from Rose.

And that about covers it! See you next month!

But first…

Bonus Feature: Learn Interlac

Only one Interlac block this issue, and it’s not especially long!

The oceanic event that led to Earth regaining its oceans has attracted schools of Zatarki, that are lovingly referred to on New Earth as Space Whales, to what was once known as the Indian Ocean.

 

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