Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #81 (1996)
written by Tom Peyer & Tom McCraw
pencils by Lee Moder
cover by Alan Davis
After setting up a bunch of new plots, the new era remembers one it left behind: whatever happened to Sun Boy?
The poor guy has been fully powered ever since he got his powers (!!!), so no wonder he’s a wreck.
Notice he’s in the “California Institute of Psycho-Radiology”… I assume that’s meant to be a place where they study the effects of radiation on the mind? Makes sense in a superhero universe.
His father may not be a monster like he was in 5YL, but he’s not winning father of the year when he just stuck poor Sun Boy there and never visits.
Meanwhile, Brainiac 5 is examining whatever transformed Kinetix into a furry.
Brainiac 5’s distaste for magic is established here. It will be a recurring part of his characterization.
Even after dealing with Kinetix, Brainiac 5 has a lot of work waiting for him: looking for potential effects of time travel on XS, clearing element Lad after his brainwashing, and diagnosing whatever is making Ultra Boy sick.
If I were him, I would focus on the Giant Head Disease that seems to have infected the whole Legion.
Come on Brainy, like you don’t relish the opportunity to showcase just how smart you are.
And speaking of people who have had enough: Sun Boy escapes containment.
The damages on Legion HQ after their battle with Chronos have finally been repaired… until Star Boy crashes through a wall.
Honestly I would excuse Chuck if he became a supervillain after this.
Kinetix calls out Brainiac 5’s abysmal social skills.
Very interesting to see Triad, or at least Orange Triad, actually stand up for Brainiac 5.
She’s the shy and socially awkward part of the trinity, so it does make sense that she relates.
There is another lingering plot that gets resolved in this issue: Spark’s secret admirer!
And thanks to Kinetix, we learn that the secret admirer is actually Invisible Kid(citation needed).
Spark is into it.
Unlike Chameleon, who is the ACTUAL secret admirer!
And he definitely has a point: did Invisible Kid really think the best way to deliver the present was by walking into a room full of superheroes!?
In other plots, the diplomatic mission to Titan has begun.
Smooth, Live Wire. How did you manage to marry her in the previous continuity again?
This is the beginning of a sort of love triangle that will go into weird places.
I feel like the Legion fandom highly dislike any iteration where Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl end up being a couple.
There are certainly plenty of iterations where they’re not a good match, but I’m going to defend this one.
Given Live Wire’s extended leave, Saturn Girl has spent a lot more time with Cosmic Boy. Admittedly she thought he was a jerk for most of it, but she did learn it was all just to save everybody.
The two DID have some chemistry earlier, and it’s not like Cosmic Boy is actively trying to break the couple (which, at this point, is BARELY a couple).
We also have President Brande re-open the Time Institute. Where I guess Lori Morning will be staying to be studied?
I thought Rond could be older than the Legionnaires in this incarnation, but no he’s confirmed to still be a teenager.
Which is one of the few times where the fact that in the 30th century the legal age of adulthood is 14, as we learned in the Draft era.
A rare mistake from President Brande. Because I guess vague remarks are legally binding?
Sounds legit.
But back to Sun Boy…
…this is where he gets his codename.
Meanwhile, Brainiac 5 finally has some alone time with his lab.
For five minutes.
The emergency is that Sun Boy has broken into the laboratory where the radioactive material employed by Regulus is being stored.
The Legion shows up before he can do too much damage.
I’m afraid the damage to Element Lad’s GIGANTIC FOREHEAD is already done.
On the plus side, Element Lad, you won’t see that forehead again.
Yeah I’m focusing on that, it’s kind of hard to ignore!
Looks like Brainy can’t avoid the mission even when he doesn’t join the mission.
You might expect Sun Boy’s problem to be some comic book science, but he’s just gone crazy from isolation.
If you need more proof that Sun Boy’s dad is the opposite during 5YL: he’s willing to be burned alive if it means consoling his son!!!
XS prevents this unnecessary death…
…thanks to a quick costume change!!!
I agree with Brainiac 5, you really didn’t need 12th level intelligence to come up with this idea.
Especially since the Transuts™ are a well-established technology in-universe, and the idea of having clothes that can withstand Sun Boy’s heat shouldn’t have been far-fetched considering he’s been wearing underwear this whole time!!!
Brainy is admittedly being a dick about it…
…and he just resigns.
Well… at least that’s clearly the intent.
The following issues will still have Brainiac 5 as a full member without any mention of this, so I guess he just got over it?
Legion significance: 2/10
You would expect Sun Boy to join the team at this point… but he won’t show up for a while and ultimately will be a minor character in the Reboot.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
The secret admirer and the founder love triangle would have been the focus in the Silver Age, and would have been FAR dumber. But there is also the scene with Star Boy damaging the HQ despite Chuck’s recent repairs.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
Despite having fewer setups than the previous issue, somehow this came off as having less substance. The secret admirer subplot will continue, while the Sun Boy plot is basically done.
I don’t know why he doesn’t become a member; I assume the writers couldn’t find a way to balance his personality with the rest of the team? Seems like a waste.
The secret admirer plot, despite being around for quite some time, has kind of overstayed its welcome and fortunately will get a proper resolution soon.
Brainiac 5 has now started his more divisive era; a lot of Legion readers really don’t like his attitude towards the Legionnaires, coming off as almost hating his teammates.
He can certainly be grating at times, and while the Reboot version is my favorite incarnation of Brainiac 5 there are indeed moments in this era where he goes a bit too far being unlikeable.
But on the other hand, his complaints are not completely unjustified here. A lot of Legionnaires keep running into danger without thinking and then expect Brainy to fix everything afterwards, without giving much thought about him being overworked.
Yeah Brainy adores being in his lab, but he’s very vocal in how he considers his own experiments differently from the Legion work.
Also, why make such a big deal in him announcing he’s leaving if he doesn’t actually leave!?
“Don’t call me Brainy”: 7
Who did it better?
Nothing comes to mind, since we already talked about Sun Boy’s origin.
The 5YL story that made his father into an absolute monster has its defenders. But I personally want to have a shower whenever I even think about that story, so obviously I very much prefer this version.
We are legion
- 17 active Legionnaires
- 1 resigned member (Andromeda)
- 1 honorary member (Superboy)
- 2 deceased members (Kid Quantum, Apparition)
- 21 people have been members
- 2 Legion leaders (Leviathan, Cosmic Boy)
- 2 members have been rejected
Interesting letters: the Legion doesn’t have the best track record of being involved in 20th century crossovers. The one we had with Chronos and Underworld Unleashed was tame, but there will be more soon.
More than one reader was utterly confused by the Chronos plot.
I can’t imagine why, when even the editors have no clue.
