Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes #36

Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes #36
Oh my god, is this unbelievably AWFUL. In an effort to get Supergirl out of the way for Shooter, they contrive the lamest way to send her back to the present, and for the stupidest reason: Supergirl belongs in the past. Well, duh, but being in the future doesn't preclude her from returning to the past eventually, able to arrive at any point in time, so why is it so imperative to get rid of her now? It's not like anything in the 31st century is truly a threat to her. Plus, the whole "Search for Cosmic Boy" storyline was a bluff. It was never about looking for Cos. And they never find him. Instead, it's all about Brainy manipulating events in his favor. What unbelievable stupidity. I'm so fucking glad there's a new creative team next issue. Because if the current creative team were staying, I certainly wouldn't be.

Supergirl #22

Supergirl #22
VERY GOOD. Beautiful art by Renato Guedes and perfect characterisation of Kara by Tony Bedard make this issue a keeper. Unfortunately, DC's pulled another bait and switch on us. This issue is their last.
Some furtherance of the multiple Legionnaire timelines plot occurs in this issue, with at least a hint of an upcoming resolution. But I wonder who's going to be writing it. Bedard would be a good choice.
At least Kara can now remember all of her time spent as a Legionnaire, but it appears that that's going to be ending very soon. A new writer is coming on board SLOSH, and Kara is all set to be booted back to our era. Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted.

Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes #34

Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes #34
Some of the most godawful ugly-ass art I've ever seen in comics is paired with a story with actual forward momentum. The only problem is, the art is so unbelievably atrocious, you hardly notice that there's even a plot.
The search for Cos' continues, but we get a two-parter here starring the All-New, All-Different Wildfire. It's kind of interesting. I'm just not sure that I care any more.
EH.

Supergirl #21

Supergirl #21
Even saddled with a crossover from a book that sucks ASS, this issue still manages to be GOOD in and of itself, and to put the lie to the claim that Countdown is required reading, as it certainly seems that nothing relevant has really happened in that series that isn't explained herein. Likewise with Amazons Attack!. (I feel silly and slightly dirty every time I write that.) Supergirl suffers from some reality something: Why didn't she remember the Legionnaires? Why don't they remember her? Are these Legionnaires the same ones? Are they earlier iterations? Are they from earlier in the timeline than SLOSH? Have their minds been wiped? These internal questions overwhelm Kara, and she collapses. Which actually seems like a much more sensible course of action than trying to figure out the answers to these questions by reading MORE DC comics. Because either the writers don't know the answers to these questions either, or they've decided to leave the questions dangling for as long as possible without any resolutions. Excellent characterizations by Tony Bedard and excellent artwork by Renato Guedes with an assist from Jose Wilson Magalhaes on inks.

Brave and the Bold #6

Brave and the Bold #6
(The first time I typed that, it came out Boild! Hah!)
VERY VERY GOOD. Sure, it's nonsensical. Sure, the Challengers weren't a big surprise - I was wondering when they'd finally show up. The main thing is, this here's a modern age comic with silver age overtones. The plot is silver agey, the characterization is silver agey, the incidentals and details (a giant firing gun?!!) are silver agey, hell, even the art is silver agey! It's great! This is probably very similar to what All-Star Superman would be like if it were in-continuity. A wonderful wrap-up to this first arc ending a whirlwind tour of many corners of the DCU including the mainstream superhero universe, Waid's 31st century, Rann, Lobo, the Challengers of the Unknown, and even Destiny of the Endless! All that's missing here is a visit from John Constantine.
Great stuff, and it leaves me wanting more, always the best sign of a VERY GOOD comic book.
Why not EXCELLENT? Strangely enough, for the very same reason that I lauded the book above: Silver age weirdness. Sure, it's all good, but in this modern age of readers with deeper scientific backgrounds, more education, and more inquisitive minds, it's not fair to throw in all the weirdness and not explain it sufficiently. In the Silver Age, they often had copius editor's notes explaining the science of the concepts used in the stories. Sure, it was often overly simplistic or wrong, but at least they made an effort. In this story, the characters all seem to understand the internal logic of the concepts involved, but the same is never made clear to us. Still, it's fun, and the lack of explanation, is sorta retro - in a way - so it gets that high rating.

Action Comics #850

Action Comics #850
A satisfying read. It's nice to get my first glance at Supergirl looking like a real girl, and not just stick figure baby. Cute story, with nice fanboy nods thrown in. Some continuity questions arise though, are all the previous iterations of Superman now considered to be in alternate universes? Including Doomsday? What about the hinted at meetings of young Superman (we won't call him Superboy! It's not Superboy!!!) and the Legion? What did the Eradicator(s?) have to do with the destruction of Krypton? So the rocket wasn't specifically designed for an infant? Where do all the myriad versions of Brainiac fit in to continuity? Wow, lots of questions! Still, nice art, good writing, and an interesting story make for a VERY GOOD, if slightly throwaway, issue. And thank god, next month we get back to Richard Donner's (shyeah right!) story. I love Busiek, Nicieza, and done-in-ones, but I'm sick and tired of all the fill-ins.

But, maaaan! What an ugggly baby!

More 52+ fixes

Me, responding to Duncan's comment (static link):
Are you saying to bring Bloodhound back or retcon him away? If the former, I agree. If the latter, why bother? Also, it would create problems with the first run on Firestorm's most recent title.

It's not "Lazarus Man", it's "Resurrection Man". And he isn't gone...he is, and always HAS been, one of the "Forgotten Heroes".

It's not Metzger, it's MELTZER!

It's not Tachyon, it's TAKION. He's currently the leader of the New Gods, which, since they don't get used very often, doesn't really impact the rest of the DCU that much. It was a cute little book. Did it really traumatize you that much? Or were you just mystified at his recent appearance in JLU?

Bloodlines was DEFINITELY stupid, but as far as larger impact upon the DCU in general, it didn't really have one. The idea for this contrived series was to create a mechanism for the introduction of a new crop of Superheroes. Very few ever got used beyond the annuals: Anima, Loose Cannon, and Hitman were the most persistent of the new characters. Others used for a time were Edge, Nightblade, Prism, and Joe Public. Ballistic, Geist, Mongrel, and Razorsharp were also headliners of the Blood Pack, a cute four issue series, and appeared elsewhere in the DCU...but not much. So, although the crossover was AWFUL, it was mostly because of the writing. The events within didn't contradict anything within the DCU, and really haven't been referred to since.

The purpose of this exercise isn't to delete all bad stories from the DCU without any selectivity. It's to selectively delete stories which have, over time, posed massive continuity problems within the DCU and contributed to the sense of muddled history that plagues it today.

For instance: the first of my recommended deletions? Millennium. It posited that there had been Manhunter agents hidden throughout the DCU for years, just waiting for the proper time to strike. What made no sense about this was that many of these agents were characters who had been established for YEARS, with no hint of such motivations. Even worse, DC didn't stick with it following the event. Everyone pretended it hadn't happened. One of the more famous failures here was Lana Lang. Even stupider was the fact that the Millennium event had a Legion of Super-Heroes crossover...IN THE FUTURE! That's right! The manhunter agent in that book waited 1000 years AFTER the utter DEFEAT of the Manhunters to begin her machinations. STOOOOOPID. However, the Millennium event did, unfortunately, have larger and more persistent ramifications throughout the DCU. One of the most atrocious was the creation of the "New Guardians", some of whose members were most recently seen in the pages of Green Lantern (vol 4) as members of the Global Guardians. Others, thankfully, are dead.
Also, the Millennium event changed the status of the Green Lanterns and the Guardians for quite some time. And the Manhunters have kept on showing up from time to time.
So it needs to be taken care of.

My second recommended deletion? Zero Hour. Zero Hour threw the entire chronology of the 30th century into flux, erasing all Legion stories up to that point, creating severe continuity glitches throughout the 20th century due to all of the stories where time travelling Legionnaires played a pivotal role. Booster Gold's history got messed up due to this. So did, once again, Superman's. Not only did Zero Hour mess up the Legion, it messed up the (incredibly lame) Team Titans by positing that they'd been agents of Monarch or the Time Trapper. Dumb, poorly written, and best forgotten. However, the Team Titans had many crossovers in their short-lived series with other, more enduring characters, two of which are Donna Troy and Damage. Also, don't forget that the most persistent character in that series was the original Terra. They actually worked for the US government for a time. So when Zero Hour hit, it messed up all these stories. Zero Hour also served as the catalyst for the Warrior-ification of Guy Gardner, something which is also best forgotten. And it removed the death of Joe Chill from continuity. Or did it? The final issue of Zero Hour featured a fold out timeline of the DCU, many of whose elements were incorrect, and even more of which were IMMEDIATELY contradicted. The ONLY positive thing to come out of Zero Hour was Starman.

In other words? Be more selective. Just because something was a bad idea doesn't mean it should be erased. But if said bad idea affects the rest of the DCU and has lasting impacts on future stories, or features prominently in later contradictions, not to mention if the story made NO sense in relation to anything which had been established previously, it should DEFINITELY be deleted.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes #25

Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes #25
Well, the beginning of this issue seemed pretty messed up, as if Glorith were about to undo continuity the way she did prior to Zero Hour, but by the end of the issue, Valor was back (following the events of Superboy #13, I'd imagine), and trading blows with Kara. Brainy made the antidote, as we all knew he would. But that's tangential to the main plot, which still remains something of a mystery. It's not all a rehash, only the details are similar. Oh, and the shadowy hooded figure turned out to be Mekt Ranzz. And the Dreamgirl plot continues in Brainy's brain. At least we get a few pages of exposition explaining what's been going on with the anti-Legionnaires, herein dubbed The Wanderers. I still don't understand it very well, but I can still enjoy it. OKAY.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #22

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #22
I like this title. I really do. It's so much better than the crap published monthly in our eponymous heroine's own book.
One question: I understand why Karate Kid wears wristwraps, but why does he wear them all over his body? Is he a mummy or something?
This issue: Everybody Loves Supergirl! Well, so we're led to believe at first. But by issue's end, it turns out the only person in love with Supergirl is that ultimate of stalkers, Invisible Kid. Yuck.
Even though he's only doing layouts on this issue, I'm glad Kitson's still with us. And Bedard has joined Waid! He's just popping up all over the place, nowadays, isn't he!? Not much else to say. A solidly GOOD issue. And the upcoming elections should be fun.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #21

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #21
I'm wavering between VERY GOOD and EXCELLENT on this issue. First, the reasons this is an EXCELLENT comic:
The whole plot with Dream Girl, Nura Nal's death, and the resultant effects on Brainy's psyche. Rewriting a "comatose criminal's brain" in order to transfer Nura Nal's consciousness back into her body is insane...or is it? Remember, we're dealing with 31st century technology of which the Coluan's, primarily Brainiac's is the most advanced of any. So, it might just be possible. And Waid is brilliant for leaving the actuality of the matter obscure - so that we don't know whether Brainy actually knows what he's doing...or if he's certifiably insane. And still, his friends back him, even though he treats them like shit. Because they realize he's distraught, even if he doesn't realize it himself. So, in the conclusion, is Dream Girl actually alive (after a fashion) and presently occupying a sort of spectral spirit realm wherein she can only be perceived by Brainy? Or did he obliterate her through his efforts and now has been driven into sheer insanity? Is he hallucinating? Or is it really her? Personally, I hope Waid keeps the answers unknown for as long as he can, because I honestly find the psychological aspects of this story to be fascinating.
Another EXCELLENT thing about this series? Kitson. He draws Supergirl with actual humanoid anatomy, not making her a stick figure with no internal organs like everyone else draws her. Hopefully Waid will resolve the plot of Supergirl thinking she's dreaming all this, because honestly, it's really getting tired. It was cute for the first couple of issues, but with no forward progress on this at all since her introduction, it feels like a very stale subplot. And I can't imagine where Waid could be going with it. Unless he intends to take Supergirl into dementia as well, in which case we'd have scenes of her reacting nonchalantly to the death of teammates, and become altogether unreliable as a Legion team-member, thus leading her to reevaluate her status in this reality, once she has become an onlooker rather than an active participant. Maybe that is where Waid is going with this. It would certainly make for an interesting story. However, with no forward motion on the plot at all since her introduction, it's honestly begun to get stale.
The book gets dragged down into VERY GOOD territory with the entire teen rebellion subplot. It would be interesting if it were actually a competing league of super-heroes, but that doesn't seem to be where Waid is going with this. He seems to be merely using it as a buildup to the announced forthcoming league-wide leadership elections - something which has been done several times in League history, but which often makes for an entertaining story. However, as a buildup, it really doesn't work...yet. I'm inclined to give Waid a pass on things for the time being, because his work on this title has been absolutely fantastic thus far.
Overall, the issue gets a very high VERY GOOD. Close to excellent, but...just...not...quite.
And bring back the letters page!!!

Legion of Super-Heroes #15

Legion of Super-Heroes #15
An extremely entertaining issue. I'm just sorry that Kitson missed the hilarity. He often has some very good lines to contribute, but still, there were some good lines anyways...(man, I'm writing unprofessionally tonight - giving in to fanboy impulses and whatnot - aargh!)
VERY GOOD stuff.
A few notes on the issue:
Original inception:
Roll calls (excluding current members of Legion):
Bouncing Boy, Duo Damsel
Wildfire, Tyroc, Dawnstar
regarding Woodrue: "That man seems particularly useless..." Woodrue:"This world--it's artificial--where are the plants?"
Post Zero-Hour inception:
Roll call:
Quislet,White Witch,Sensor Girl,Blok
Great Lines:
Quislet:"Disrupt crazy Kirby machines.."!!;"Quislet's Legends of the Millenium after-party";"Hurry up! Almost Zero Hour!"
The revealed names of those assembled at the end are as follows. Time will tell if any of these individuals will be added to Legion continuity:
Name/Home
Dav Huntr/T'spiri
Chaz Willad/Antares
Lise Stone/Venus
Van Thaddeus,Kahn W'Barr,Sunn E-Born,Jo Lee Rat,Sine Brgg,P'al Gif'n,Gor Vn'Gald'R
Lettercol reference to the Star Rovers. Follow this link to find out more.
Gobbledygook 27.4 Enemy fall down now
Cham masquerading as Bouncing Boy: "I gotta know all this stuff before issue 22...'cause that's when Bouncing Boy joins the legion!"

Legion of Super-Heroes #11-14

Legion of Super-Heroes #11-14
A VERY GOOD and satisfying conclusion to the arc that has lasted since issue #1(?).
Anyways, here's a breakdown of points for each issue, just a quick runthrough including some quibbles and nitpicks, some lists, some gobbledygook translations, and some other stuff:

Legion of Super-Heroes #11
Gobbledygook:
7.1: just a little rattled
say, what's that noise
7.2: who's speaking an alien language? wait, that racket
7.5: here we go!
Thing spoof by Chameleon on page 11.
Backup feature is brilliant, relating classic comics covers to "actual" Legionnaire poses.
Roll call (named legionnaires):
Code Name (Nickname, real name)/Homeworld/Power
Cosmic Boy (Cos)/Braal/Magnetism
Sun Boy/Earth/Heat Generation
Brainiac 5 (Brainy)/Colu/Unparalleled Intellect
Invisible Kid/Earth/Disappearance
Dream Girl (Nura)/Naltor/Precognition/deceased
Element Lad/Trom/Molecular Transmutation
Colossal Boy (Micro Lad)/Earth/Giant who can shrink to 6 feet
Ultra Boy/Rimbor/Super-strength,super-speed,flight,invulnerability,heat vision,x-ray sight one power at a time
Projectra (Jeckie)/Orando/magic spells
Shadow Lass (Shady)/Talok VIII/Creates Darkness
Triplicate Girl (Trip)/Cargg/Splits into Three
Chameleon (Cham)/Durla/Shape-changing
Lightning Lad (Garth)/Winath/Commands electrical force
Phantom Girl/Bgztl (dimension)/Phasing
Light Lass/Winath/Nullifies gravity
Saturn Girl (Imra)/Titan/Telepath
Star Boy/Xanthu/Increases gravity
Brin Londo (Lone Wolf)/unknown/enhanced strength and reflexes
Karate Kid/Earth/Martial Artist
Backup:
Elastic Lad/stretching ability

Legion of Super-Heroes #12
Roll call same as previous
Nitpick: Shady shouldn't be able to cast darkness, Sun Boy should.
Atom Girl (Salu Digby)/Imskia/shrinking to atomic size
16.2 Gibberish:
[chants some incantation that I swear I'll come up with in plenty of time for us to have it lettered]
I guess Waid never came up with it, did he now? This is similar to Bendis and his "insert threatening alien kree font dialogue here" from Avengers #503
Projectra revealed to be able to project illusions

Legion of Super-Heroes #13
Colossal Boy's name is really Micro Lad
Letters: Polar Boy

Legion of Super-Heroes #14
The letters column verifies my understanding that Batman initiated the Brother I/Eye project after the JLA's mindwiping of Dr. Light.