....dang it!  Now I'm friggin' hooked on the Legion books again.  The Comic Geek Speak crew talked up the Villains book, so I picked it up.  The whole Saturn Queen plan sucked me in...destroying the three worlds in the future which keep good people doing good things.  I'm still trying to figure out the third so-far un-named world.  I really liked the Action storyline with the Legion and I thought Legion of Three Worlds was fun...but this one-shot did what they didn't...made me go back to the shop and buy up their copies of Legion and Adventure.

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  • Yeah, this LSV storyline is my favorite of the new run so far. I'm wracking my brain trying to come up with that third world, too -- and so far, no dice!

     

    Did you get the LSH Annual with the Giffen art? Man, that was like going home.

  • This really was an excellent book, part of an excellent series -- Paul Levitz clearly hasn't lost a step.

     

    And he seems to be in "Great Darkness" mode here, building to something big. Levitz keeps throwing new concepts at us that he implies are really old ones, and as a guy who has read every single Legion story every written, it's annoying the stew out of me that I can't guess what the blue flame is that is powering Saturn Queen, what escaped from the Rock of Eternity, or what the second planet is. (For those just coming in, the LSV is destroying 3 worlds representing faith, wisdom and will. The first is the Rock, the last obviously Oa, but the middle one is not my first guess -- Colu -- and now I dunno what it is. Which means I'll be reading.)

     

    You know, I was reading Mr. Silver Age's story about 1971 earlier today, and it reminded me just how important it was when Jack Kirby introduced Darkseid. Not only did this expand the scope of the DC Universe (gods and such), but it gave the DCU something it had long lacked: A really, really good villain. One that could stand toe-to-toe with Superman, one that was actually kinda scary.

     

    And that's something the LSH has long lacked as well. You'll note that the Legion's most famous story, the aforementioned "Great Darkness," borrowed the aforementioned Darkseid. But Saturn Queen is emerging as a truly scary bad guy, one who is almost psychopathically vicious and powerful enough to stop the entire Legion by herself. And now she's turning the LSV into something truly formidable as well: an actual legion of bad guys. It always seemed silly that three super-villains referred to themselves as a legion, but now that's what they're really going to be. This represents real, ongoing trouble even for a team with Wildfire, Mon-El and Ultra Boy on it, which (and I'm sorry to keep saying this) is something the Legion really hasn't had before.

     

    As to some of the other mysteries, I'm assuming this Immortus character is the android who pretended to be Brin Londo is the 1960s origin of Timber Wolf, but where's Cosmic King? Maybe Levitz didn't want a powerhouse like him around (despite his name and costume, his powers mirror Element Lad's, not Cosmic Boy's) while he's building Saturn Queen up into a Big Bad.

     

    All together, a fun book from a fun series. Or did I say that already?

     

     

  • The great thing about the Legion now is that it is being written as the team is as important as the Justice League in terms of scope. Until the return of the "real" Legion, they were only deemed relevant when in the present or dealing with its convoluted continuity with either the new Superboy, the new Supergirl or the revamped Mon-El.

    Now they are being portrayed again as THE heroes. In their titles, all other books, storylines, crossovers and such don't matter. And that's the way it should be. Plus, anything can happen because it won't effect the other DCU series. They could potentially expand the Legionverse, once more creating a potent and enjoyable "world" on its own.

  • Captain Comics said:

    . . . it's annoying the stew out of me that I can't guess what the blue flame is that is powering Saturn Queen . . . .



    Cap, I'm completely out of the loop on this, of course. But from your post, it appears that this LSV storyline involves not just Legion history, but eclectic elements from the rest of DC's past, as well.  In any event, I'll allow that this is just a WAG, but could the blue flame you mention be the one on Mars, from the story ". . . and So My World Ends", JLA # 71 (May, 1969).

     

    The Martian Manhunter described it during his account---as revised by Denny O'Neil---of his life on Mars before he was teleported to Earth by the robot brain.  The Manhunter spoke of the civil war on Mars between his people, the desert dwellers, and those of Commander Blanx, the pole dwellers:

     

    The reason for our struggle---the prize we both sought---was a gigantic "tree" of blue flame situated between our nations---the only source of heat on Mars!  The only fire we knew!  I hoped to harness it to power spaceships!

     

    By the conclusion of the tale, the blue flame has engulfed nearly all of Mars, and the combined efforts of Superman and the Green Lantern are unable to snuff it out.  The only recourse left is for the Emerald Crusader to use his power ring to peel the upper statum of Mars's crust, upon which the flame burns, and cast it into space.  Notably, the blue flame continues to burn, even in the vacuum of space.

     

    Like I said, I'm probably completely off base with this, but when you mentioned blue flame, this leapt into my mind.

  • That's a darned good guess, Commander. Although I'm not sure what the green Martian/white Martian status is now (or where J'emm of Saturn fits in, which he did for a while). Miss Martian of the Teen Titans is actually white, for example, disguising herself as green because the white Martians conquered Earth once in Grant Morrison's JLA run and aren't very popular. And she comes from a cell of white Martians, which all died in Final Crisis I think, but even so I think there are others around. I'm not sure. Which doesn't mean that Levitz won't lift it -- and make sense of it -- which would be welcome.

     

    Also, if I remember correctly the Warlock of Ys from Silver Age Green Lantern also used a blue flame, but it wasn't nearly as prominent as your suggestion. (And I don't know the status of Ys, either.)

  • Interesting about the Blue Flame but, since this is Saturn Queen, perhaps the planet of wisdom is her home planet of Alderaan Titan. It is a world of telepaths and there could be some revenge factor to it.
  • If planet one is the Rock of Eternity, and planet three Oa, planet two might also be a DCU world that wasn't formerly really part of Legion continuity.

     

    The Psions, I suppose, possess knowledge rather than wisdom. Perhaps New Genesis?

  • Except Titan already got blown up.

    Philip Portelli said:
    Interesting about the Blue Flame but, since this is Saturn Queen, perhaps the planet of wisdom is her home planet of Alderaan Titan. It is a world of telepaths and there could be some revenge factor to it.
  • I am greatly enjoying Paul Levitz' run on both Legion books, and on the LSV one shot.  I know that Command Adam is out of current comics, but this might just suit him... it's not tied in to current DC continuity, it's some darned good stories, and it's some refreshing work.

     

    As for a planet of wisdom... I was wondering what world it was also.  My only pseudo guess is that it's one from the 21st century DCU that's changed some, and will lead not only to a revelation of what happened to it over only a thousand years, but probably a new legionnaire who is evocative of an existing hero.

     

    As I think about it... for a WAG, any chance it's Orando?  They were based on magic, and practitioners of magic are witches, based on the wicca which is also a root of the word wisdom... we know it's not Zerox because Mysa is running things there, still.

     

    xoxoxo

    x<]:o){

  • To Travis: Really? Stupid Death Star! But seriously, when and why did that happen?

    To Luke: I was thinking it may be New Genesis as well if it is Darkseid manipulating Saturn Queen, though I thought it was destroyed by the 31th century.

    To Eric: Orando was featured in the Legion Annual and Zerox could be a target despite Mysa's presence there.

    I was pondering other possibilities but all I came up with were:

    The Controllers' planetary base: As they are cousins to Oa and a major power in the universe.

    Thanagar: With their combo of mysticism and technology plus that it is one of the well-known alien worlds not associated with the Legion.

    Lexor: a planet patterned after the mind and deeds of Lex Luthor, if it survived its Pre-Crisis fate.

    Vulcan: Nah, they wouldn't blow that up! No Way!

     

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