Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #25 (1991)
written by Tom & Mary Bierbaum
pencils & cover by Dusty Abell
Considering the massive tonal shift in the previous 24 issues, it must have been a shock to see the original Legion on the cover.
We begin with an EXACT replica of the last page if issue 24, with the only addition of Devlin’s dialogue. Weird choice.
Is the 5YL in their 30s? Some of them should be pushing 40 by this point, right?
These younger Legionnaires… which I’ll be referring to as the SW6 Legion for now… recalls waking up naked.
I don’t question the fact that they’re waking up naked, given the heavy implication that they are clones…
…but I do question the fact that Ferro Lad is wearing his helmet! What, did they clone it too?
As if waking up naked in an unfamiliar place wasn’t bad enough… they’re waking up naked after THE MOON WAS BLOWN UP and it’s freezing cold.
Brainiac 5 is naturally the one to find a way to make clothes.
Okay this is obviously innocent fun so don’t misunderstand me, I’m not angry about it or anything… but we can all agree that this is a stupid moment just for the fun of it, right?
Both for the “no peeking” line after everything has been on display for a couple of pages, but most importantly… PROJECTRA IS THERE, why does anyone look naked for more than a single panel?
Speaking of Projectra, she’s one of the first SW6 Legionnaires to be injured as soon as the Dominators return.
Well at least Karate Kid is safe… they wouldn’t kill him a second time, right?
Right?
Projectra still proves her worth by helping the others escape the Dominators, ending the flashback.
I really hate this era’s opinion about costumes being silly, but I have to admit this moment made me laugh. Well played.
I’m with Brainiac 5 here: at this point why should they trust Devlin? As far as they know he hasn’t done anything! He also did BARELY anything in the other issues as well.
But somehow being around “null radiation” gave him superpowers, which we haven’t discovered yet.
Once the Legion approaches civilization, Sun Boy witnesses something truly horrible: THAT HAIR.
And also the total character assassination that completely wrecked his reputation for no reason, but must importantly, THAT HAIR.
I will talk AT LENGTH about my opinion of Sun Boy being forced by the plot in this position, but I have to say that one of the things that make reading this period uncomfortable is the level of spite that the writers seem to have for him.
When the SW6 Legion finds the team’s headquarters, they feel compelled to salute. Something that naturally gets the attention of the Dominators.
The SW6 Legionnaires are supposed to be young and naïve, sure, but sometimes this era treats them as idiots.
The shots miss the SW6 Legion though, and they take refuge and quickly deduce the Dominators are not using lethal force because they want them alive.
Regardless of how unnecessarily complicated the resolution of its mystery will be, the original Dominator plan for the SW6 Batch is incredible.
Had it worked, they would have had the entire Legion at their disposal! Although I suspect this might have made Brainiac 5 and Karate Kid less useful.
Rather than hide forever, the Legion manages to lure the Dominators where they want.
Notice Saturn Girl being the only one to almost openly distrust Devlin… she does have a point, by why not at least try reading his mind?
Up to this point Devlin has been a complete non-entity, but thankfully he’s finally developed a personality. He’s a bit lost in the shuffle with so many characters around, but he can be pretty likeable.
While I criticize the earlier characterization of the SW6 Legion, I don’t have much of a problem with them allying themselves with Universo’s gang believing they really ARE freedom fighters.
Especially since they kind of are, despite still being the bad guys.
But I still have to ask why isn’t SW6 Saturn Girl EVER using her powers!?!?
The SW6 Legion can’t be too picky choosing allies right now, and it’s not entirely unrealistic they would be willing to believe Universo’s redemption since they come from a time where they haven’t had a ton of fights with him.
Only Matter-Eater Lad would be able to talk his way out of a Dominator negotiation.
Having superheroes around helps, though.
Still, the SW6 Legion would’ve gotten Devlin killed if it wasn’t for his sudden superpower!
Which is not explained very well here (and for a while), but he reflects back whatever energy hits him.
As fun as that was, if this is the Legion that is supposed to save this grim future… I don’t like their chances.
The text page is an entry from Shrinking Violet’s diary. Annoyingly every S has been replaced with a 5 making it kind of hard to read.
It is kind of funny that, waking up in the middle of a planetary disaster, all her attention is about being naked. Well these ARE teenagers.
Light Lass coming from a planet where nudity is not a taboo obviously has precedent going back to Volume 3. I am a bit surprised by the implication that Saturn Girl was one of the Legionnaires who didn’t mind being naked, since the Bierbaums seem to write her as a bit of a prude.
Also, the canonic confirmation that Ferro Lad’s dick is not made of iron.
The more you know!
The Grid: 22 pages out of 24
0 pages without a grid
1 splash page
1 text page
Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #26 (1991)
plot & breakdowns by Keith Giffen
dialogue & plot assist by Tom & Mary Bierbaum
pencils & cover by Jason Pearson
After that interlude about the SW6 Legion, let’s go back to the regular one.
This is the beginning of the Terra Mosaic storyline, which begins with a totally necessary splash page.
You might remember B.I.O.N. has the powers of all the SW6 Legion, so he’s able to go toe-to-toe with Laurel Gand despite her attempts to go undercover.
This results in, you guessed it, a Grid Fight.
B.I.O.N. is basically the post-Crisis version of Composite Superman but without the goofiness to make him funny. This powerset SHOULD make him terrifying, but he lacks any personality to go with it so this falls flat for me.
Plus there’s the fact that, despite all his talk of being invincible, he’s clearly not as invulnerable as the Legionnaires if Laurel is able to hurt him like this.
Laurel decides to leave Earth to warn the Legionnaires, worrying about her daughter Lauren as well. I believe she mentioned having a daughter ONCE since rejoining the team.
Meanwhile the Dominators are pressuring the President of Earth to formally endorse their rule.
Seems a bit out of character for them to be so diplomatic, especially since we already know they have a de facto leadership role.
Also the SW6 Legion is being manipulated a bit too easily.
The Substitute Heroes, or should I call them the Substitute Commandos at this point, continue to be the most useful heroes of this entire volume.
Kind of dumb to have Chlorophyll Kid so useful just because we’ve introduced the idea that the Dominator technology is “plant-based”, SOMEHOW.
Also, “Karr” is Ron-Karr. You know, the reject who ended up joining the Legion of Super-Villains.
Because I guess we didn’t have enough characters already, and we REALLY needed the help of a guy who can turn himself flat.
As irritating as the exclusion of codenames is, it’s not even consistent because they address Chlorophyll Kid as “Chlor” instead of his real name (Ral Benem).
Color Kid of all people shows that his power CAN be useful, injuring both the villains and my eyes.
For the record, I don’t hate the fact that the Subs are more useful now… it’s honestly kind of endearing. I am complaining about them being MORE USEFUL THAN TWO ENTIRE SETS OF LEGIONNAIRES.
While the Substitute Commandos are still heroes… Universo’s men definitely aren’t.
I forgot to mention the Quiet Darkness has ONE redeeming quality: it got Timber Wolf out of the Furball form. He won’t stay like this for long, but I’ll take what I can get.
No text page in this issue, because as the title promised we get the layout of the Legion base.
Remember the old layouts, especially in the Giffen days? Those were masterpieces!
Here… we get THIS.
I really like the idea of the various comments scribbled over the drawing, but the layout itself looks like crap.
Some of the comments ARE hilarious though, like the “what are we gonna do with this” about the Girls Lounge.
We also continue the running gag of Brainiac 5’s labs exploding. Also notice this might be the only layout ever for a superhero headquarters to include bathrooms.
There was a not-so-subtle joke in an earlier story suggesting some of the rooms had sex toys, so you have to love one of the suggestions being “ask before removing them”.
Stay classy, 5YL.
So while I don’t like the visual design of the layout, at least it tells a little story of its own.
The diagram of the asteroid where the headquarters is located is an unreadable mess.
The Grid: 23 pages out of 26
0 pages without a grid
3 splash pages (one is a two-page spread)
0 text pages
Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #27 (1992)
plot & breakdowns by Keith Giffen
dialogue & plot assist by Tom & Mary Bierbaum
pencils & cover by Jason Pearson
Personal space, B.I.O.N.!!!
Throughout these issues there is A LOT of talk between Dominators on how to get the rebels.
And I do mean A LOT.
The Substitute Commandoes now have control of the old Dominator bases, where they were hiding more than just the SW6 Batch.
Specifically, a list of imprisoned people who have been mind-wiped. That’s what the Dominators wanted to do with the SW6 Batch.
And those are A LOT. Thanks to www.cosmicteams.com and adventure247.blogspot.com for including a list of who these people are, because I would have missed most references.
Hold Atovio = Holdur, the henchman of Pulsar Stargrave from LSH #223
Dafe Meron = Polecat from Adventure Comics #331
Kirt Niedrich = Absorbancy Boy from Superboy #218
Chi Tsan = Caress from Emerald Empress’s version of the Fatal Five
Flynt Brojj = the Legion superfan from Superboy #209
Squire Burroughs = Wildfire’s brother, who we will see much later
Cocheta Disden = the new Charma we’ll eventually meet
Myg = Karate Kid II
Mick Yardreigh = Black Mace from Adventure Comics #374
A couple of those are easter eggs that I could only decipher through Tom Bierbaum’s blog, revealing these are references to specific Legion fans.
Spengler Bonita = Alana Filice
Wray Muntz = Michelle Muntz
Leemac Allen = David McLallen
That’s a neat inside joke, ruined by the fact that THEY JUST MINDWIPED FLYNG BROJJ, LITERALLY THE EMBODIMENT OF THE LEGION FAN.
Some prisoners are confirmed to have escaped the mindwipe, including:
Shanen Dreys = Quake Kid from Superboy #218
Annie Foxmoor = mentioned in the Mordruverse in LSH v4 #4
Bobb Kohn = Crystal Kid from Legion of Super-Heroes #272
Roy Travich = Radiation Roy from Adventure Comics #320
Ahnent Ustin = Visi-Lad from LSH v3 Annual #3
As well as newcomer Monica Sade, because the one thing this series really needed was EVEN MORE CHARACTERS.
It would be easier to track all these plots if we weren’t constantly jumping around issue to issue, because to be perfectly honest I had COMPLETELY forgotten that Universo allied himself with the Dark Circle.
The Legion finally discovers the existence of the SW6 Legion.
But we can’t dwell on THAT, because B.I.O.N. has found the Legion headquarters.
All while Brainiac 5 is trying to cure Laurel’s boobs.
The entire reason B.I.O.N. is after the Legion is that he mistook them as the SW6 Legion.
B.I.O.N. knocks him out, because Brainy STILL ISN’T USING HIS FORCE FIELD, and it looks like he might still have a bit of Computo in him.
How has B.I.O.N. not already won?
Kono and Cosmic Boy take refuge below the headquarters, and this series has so many characters that disappear for so many issues that it took me a while to get that this is Cosmic Boy’s war buddy from the beginning of the series, who WE HAVEN’T SEEN IN AGES, and not Chlorophyll Kid.
Well I sure am glad we gave the chance to come up with a booby trap to this guy we barely know while GIVING BRAINIAC 5 NOTHING TO DO.
And finally we have Spider Girl (from Adventure Comics #323, formerly with the LSV) stealing something. She’s been mentioned a couple of times in the text pages, and she’s going to be important later.
She has THREE text pages dedicated to her.
The Grid: 22 pages out of 25
0 pages without a grid
0 splash pages
3 text pages
Legion significance: 7/10
More for the establishment of the SW6 Legion and the beginning of Terra Mosaic; the ending is much more influential than the first issues.
Silver Age-ness: 5/10
Compliments of the SW6, who are even more naïve than in the Silver Age proper.
Depression scale: 4/10
On the positive side, the old useless heroes have stepped up and are fighting the good fight, plus there’s a new generation of heroes.
On the negative side they are being outmaneuvered by Universo, the new generation of heroes is a reheated version of the old one AND they’re kind of dumb, plus the Legion is barely doing anything. Still, things could be worse… they have been and WILL BE worse, in fact.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
I admit that this is my first time reading Terra Mosaic in its entirety. Despite hearing its praise, I was driven away from the previous issues and by the artwork.
In fact I don’t like Pearson in this; not only he’s VERY constrained by The Grid, but I find his characters rather bland. The coloring certainly isn’t working, as it’s giving kind of a plastic look to everything. Dusty Abell, who pencils issue 25, is slightly better but is clearly quite rough.
But there’s a positive, probably helped by the writing… I CAN FINALLY UNDERSTAND MOST OF WHAT IS HAPPENING.
The Grid and the baffling design choices are still harming the readability, but holy crap is it INFINITELY better than all the Keith Giffen issues COMBINED.
Despite my incessant nitpicking, the plot is fine. I think it’s not AS good as its reputation among its fans, as I believe it’s trying to do too much all at once, but this is not a bad story.
The B.I.O.N. stuff is the worst part, since it’s not a particularly compelling fight: the villain has no personality and he’s so utterly invincible that his defeat is not satisfying but frustrating.
Even if it still doesn’t feel like the Legion of Super-Heroes to me, at least the book is readable again.
We are legion
31 active Legionnaires
3 reserve members
32 resigned members
11 deceased members
77 people have been members
62 people have been rejected
Number of B.I.O.N. superpowers: 24
Not all are shown, but assumed since he should have all the powers of the SW6 batch.
These are FOUR MORE THAN COMPOSITE SUPERMAN.
-Eating anything
-Electricity generation
-Flight
-Heat vision
-Illusion creation
-Intangibility
-Invisibility
-Magnetism
-Mass reduction
-Shapeshifting
-Size decrease
-Size increase
-Solar energy generation
-Splitting into 3 bodies
-Super-breath
-Super-hearing
-Super-intelligence
-Super-speed
-Super-strength
-Telepathy
-Telescopic vision
-Transmutation
-Transmuting himself into iron
-X-Ray vision
Interesting letters: contrary to my previous statements, thanks to reader Monica Alarcon I have access to the letters page!
Everybody, please thank Monica.
We have ANOTHER change in editors. I think this is one of the things that screwed up this era, because it DESPERATELY needed a consistent editor.
Answering a letter of a fan who likes the latest direction of the Substitute Heroes, we learn that the one to turn them into serious heroes was none other than Keith Giffen… the same one who turned them into a cruel joke.
Glad to see that Charles makes a few of the same observations I’ve made: there are so many plots pushing for attention that the supposed importance of the Venado Bay flashback was completely obscured by a million other plots.
And also I was far from being the only one who didn’t like the juxtaposition of Earth’s greatest tragedy ever with cutesy humor.
I can’t wrap my head around the idea of people complaining that this era is moving too slow! While it’s true that a couple of issues were in a frenzy to move the plot forward, it’s mostly because we spent a dozen issues twiddling our thumbs.
A lot of readers were convinced that Sun Boy was killed… when actually his fate is going to be WAY WORSE THAN THAT.
Also, and I will discuss this AT LENGTH next time, but the idea that Sun Boy was “a me-first hedonist” is 90% an invention of Volume 4.
I swear I must be reading a different comic than some of the readers who praise this era, because I did not read the scene like this. AT ALL.
Also I am continuously baffled by the Bierbaums saying what they “guess” happened. YOU’RE WRITING THE STORY, YOU DECIDE WHAT HAPPENS!!!
The uniforms seem to have been divisive.
Honestly this Legion looks so little like the Legion that I didn’t even notice they haven’t been using the Flight Rings.
And the Bierbaums don’t seem to give a crap about the Flight Rings.
This batch of letters is from before the Quiet Darkness was completed, and there seemed to be a lot of hope for it when it started. With one notable exception.
In a letter that I’m cutting for brevity, Simon asks the question I asked myself every single issue after issue 19… WHAT ABOUT EARTH!?
In fact most letters seem to have a negative opinion of Lobo’s inclusion. Again, cut for brevity.
It might not surprise you at this point, but I believe it’s a).
I’ll give the comic that it thinks it’s doing b), and at least some readers agree with that, but I believe this book is doing way too much deconstruction and not enough reconstruction.
(once again, letter cut for brevity).
