My last issue of Legion as a child was Annual #1 in 1982. My last comic with the Legion in it was New Adventures of Superboy in late 1983. I went from there to Legion of Super-Heroes #19 in 1991. I was getting back into comics in college and the Legion had featured in the "Time After Time" story in the Superman comics. The Legion is my third favorite superhero team after the JLA and JSA, so I thought this would be a good point to jump back into it.



I was about to drop it when Batch SW-6 showed up. I kept reading for that team and got a wonderful Legionnaires series out of it for a brief time.

I've read every Legion story DC has published and I would rate this era as the worst. It was over a year before I got the earlier issues to get the full picture, but it didn't change my mind. It was a long tedious slog from start to finish. I was thrilled when the Legion got rebooted after Zero Hour.


SUPERBOY: I do think he's essential to the Legion and I still think of the team as part of Superman's supporting cast.

KEITH GIFFEN: I don't know what happened to his art. I loved it in 1982, wondered what was going on in 1983 and disliked it in 1991. It would get even worse later in the 1990s reaching Liefeldian depths. I did like the 9 panel grid though.


Now all that said...good reviews Pharozonk! I hope you have a successful thread.


LLL

Giffen's style for the run, while expressive, often made every male character look the same. When I first read the run, I had trouble distinguishing Rokk and Jo a lot of the time!

Legion of Super-heroes (1989) #3



Writer: Keith Giffen, Tom Bierbaum, Mary Bierbaum
Pencils: Keith Giffen
Ink: Al Gordon
Color: Tom McGraw
Editor: Mark Waid

Grade: B

Summary: The issue opens with a page of different images taken by a probe of different Legionnaires. Though none of the Legionnaires are show in the images themselves, their location as well as current activity are shown. We then cut to the castle of the evil mage Mordru who has captured longtime Legion ally and secret Green Lantern Rond Vidar and is torturing him by letting some creature eat him alive, though it is merely an illusion that will last for eternity. One of Mordru’s servants informs him that the Legionnaires are regrouping once again. On the planet Winath, Garth Ranzz aka Lightning Lad and his wife Imra Ardeen aka Saturn Girl are now running a successful produce shipping business with Garth’s brother, the once villainous Mekt Ranzz aka Lightning Lord. Though they are better off than most, the galactic economy is still hurting their business. Meanwhile, Salu meets up with Ayla and she takes Salu into a secluded grove on Winath to surprise her, revealing the statues to all the dead Legionnaires that were bought by Garth from Earthgov. On Rimbor, Rokk and Reep are looking for Jo when a large, furry creature beckons for them to follow it. Though they are wary, they decide to go with it. They find Jo and are happy to be reunited after so long. Back on Earth, the Dominators are noticing all this Legionnaire activity and are worried that it could pose a threat to their plans of galactic domination. They have hired an agent to deal with the problem and have a tape of his work to see if he’s worth the price. The tape reveals that the agent is the man dressed in Victorian clothing from the end of the last issue. He reveals himself to be the space pirate Roxxas, who murdered the entire Trommite race except for Element Lad. In an attempt to establish his brutality, he murders the Legionnaire Blok, who was hibernating(?) on a barren planet. Shavaugn gets her hands on the same tape and his heartbroken to see what has happened to Blok. Back at Mordru’s castle, it’s revealed that one of Mordru’s servants had been eavesdropping on the Legionnaire’s conversation and their plan to get back Mysa Nal aka White Witch from Mordru. Mordru tells one of his servants, Vyrkos, that they should prepare for their arrival. Back on Winath, Garth finds that he has received a mysterious package in the mail. In it, he discovers the broken body of Blok that Roxxas has sadistically delivered to him. He tells one of his workers to prepare a transport to Shanghalla to bury Blok. The issue ends with a mysterious voice speaking as we see the grave of Lar Gand aka Mon-El. The tombstone explodes and a figure rises and walks off.

Thoughts: These summaries are getting more and more tiring to write, but I’m not complaining. TMK’s relentless assault of information and plotting is so refreshing to read in an era where an issue like this would be told in six issues, with at least one of those likely being a tie-in to some company wide event comic. It’s nice to check back in with Rokk and Reep again, as their return ties the first two issues together and begins a more cohesive focus for the book. The banter between the trio is beautifully written and its small moments of camaraderie that give these early issues their spark, contrasting with the dark setting the heroes find themselves in.

The return of Mordru as a villain is an odd choice, especially since Paul Levitz had the Legionnaires remove Mordru’s evil soul and essentially make him a good guy during his run on the Baxter series. I do have to wonder if this is a deliberate regression on the part of the writers or whether they were simply ignorant of that story. Either way, Mordru is used effectively here. In contrast to his usual self, his much more calm and composed, giving as a villain who’s both calculating and cunning, relying on his true power only when needed. His torture of Rond is very disturbing, especially since Rond’s mouth is gone, preventing him from screaming.

The one failing of this issue is the perhaps the most obvious: the death of Blok. Putting aside my own general distaste for killing off characters, Blok’s death here just doesn’t work, neither on an emotional nor storytelling level. It’s no secret that the Bierbaums were staunch enthusiasts of the pre-Adventure Comics #350 Legion roster, so newer characters like Blok, Wildfire, Dawnstar, Tellus,etc. were often written out of the book or completely changed past the point of recognition under their pen. Their use of Blok seems to be more of a case of the former. Even during the Levitz years, Blok never really had much of a personality and had a tendency to fade into the background. He also wasn’t popular among readers, a fate that unfortunately befell many of the non-humanoid Legionnaires. I’m guessing those reasons gave TMK the backing to write this story, since they felt they wouldn’t face any reader backlash for killing off a character simply to prop up their villain. The problem is that Roxxas as a villain has no connection to Blok that would make their confrontation have any meaning beyond a superficial fight sequence. Tom Bierbaum has said that Shvaugn Erin was originally supposed to die at Roxxas’ hands, which would have made much more sense considering their shared connection to Element Lad. However, Shvaugn was spared and Blok was given a pointless death that served no real purpose other than a cheap stake raising moment. The fact that Roxxas sends the body parts to Garth undermines some of the tension and just becomes silly, like something out of an 80’s slasher movie.

The fight between Roxxas and Blok also brings to light my earlier point about how the nine panel grid can be both a boon and hindrance to conveying action sequences. Like I said to Paradox, this fight is an instance where things are too vague for the reader to understand. How is Roxxas hurting Blok? Is he simply touching him and causing him to explode? Is he carrying bombs? What's going on here?

I think it is pretty A-Ok. Roxxas is exploding bombs on Blok. I'm a big fan of the 9-panel grid and I like how it is used here. It leaves a lot to our imagination and furthers the story along.