Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #18

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #18
Rating: 3

Writer: Mark Waid
Penciller: Barry Kitson & Adam DeKraker
Inker: Mick Gray & Drew Geraci
Publisher: DC

Synopsis: 31st century Metropolis is divided between the upper world and the under city world below, which is primarily inhabited by maintenance workers. S.P.'s patrol the area but are ambushed by robots. We find out that several centuries before that A.I.'s (Artificial Intelligence) threatened all human life, and mankind banished all the datasouls of every A.I. robots to an electrochemical dimension never to return. S.P. HQ has been alerted and they scramble to send back-up help. An S.P. named Daggle disappears and in the background as the S.P.s mobilize and "pumped up" with leader talk, you see a Legionnaire fly outside their window.

The scene switches over to Brainiac 5's lab, where microscopic Imskians work on Lemnos (villain responsible for Dream Girl's death as alluded by Timber Wolf's dialogue with Brainiac 5) temple area. Timberwolf brings in a sealed box to Brainiac 5, which according to Brainiac 5 is for protection. Perhaps the contents of the sealed box is something similar to Brainiac 5's skin color. He has enough trust to show Timber Wolf the body of Dream Girl in stasis state, which catches Timber Wolf by surprise.

Meanwhile, Dream Girl's people, the Naltorians who can foresee the future is disappointed with the LSH for not delivering Dream Girl's body to her people, as attested by the Naltorians' high seer on the video screen at LSH HQ. In another location at LSH HQ, Saturn Girl is linked with Cosmic Boy and Supergirl trying to extract memories from her mind. As Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl talk about failing to pick up any information to explain Supergirl's appearance in their timeline, Kara has been playing with her Legionnaire ring. Ring on and she's Supergirl dressed in the red and blue. Ring off and she's dressed as a civilian with dirty blonde hair. Ring on and she's Supergirl once more. Ring off and she's a civilian looking like a librarian with glasses and dark jet black hair. Ring on and she's Supergirl again. Cosmic Boy finally annoyed with Kara yells at Supergirl, "Will you stop that? Your flight ring is not a toy!" They are interrupted by the rest of the LSH in the HQ, with Phantom Girl citing they have a situation ugly one. They need to find Brainy ASAP! But before they can discuss a plan about the Brainiac 5 problem, Supergirl flies off.

Outside in Metropolis the LSH follows Supergirl. And Supergirl above a building points and says there's a problem underneath, and dives down. The LSH follows her. What they see is the S.P. being mauled by legions of robot A.I.s. Combat ensues. And the LSH proves they are the powerhouse that keeps the public safe and not the less powerful S.P.s. Cosmic Boy is the leader of the LSH, but he is communicating with the lead S.P. trying to figure out what happened. At the same time, Saturn Girl takes the initiative and orders Supergirl and Ultra Boy to initiate the beginning of an action. The action finishes up, and Supergirl scans the head of one of the robot's and with her x-ray vision see's Atom Girl fly off from the palm of her hand. She pursues Atom Girl with the LSH behind her.

Atom Girl arrives at Brainiac 5's HQ. It's ceiling bursts as Supergirl and the LSH breaks in. Brainiac 5 explains to his LSH team mates that he sealed Dream Girl within a force field upon the cessation of Dream Girl's corporeal functions. Basically, he did this to prevent her soul from escaping. Brainiac 5 adds also that a soul is nothing but a specific configuration of data. It is information. Information according to the laws of the universe cannot be destroyed, but it can be reconstituted. The LSH does not buy into Brainiac 5's sales pitch. They order him to stand aside, but another person enters the area accompanied by Timber Wolf. It is Dream Boy, the new Naltorian there to replace Dream Girl as member of the LSH. The book ends with Cosmic Boy confronting Dream Boy.

Comments: There are 22 pages out of 32 pages worth of story, with 9 ads and the last page concerning the DC Nation news. We finished last issue with Supegirl becoming an official member of the LSH. This issue finally brings the LSH confronting their estranged team mate Brainiac 5. Mark Waid brings a little religious-science fiction dialogue in this issue. Brainiac 5 captured a soul by surrounding Dream Girl's body with a force field.

The mark of a good comic is when some part of the comic book makes the reader think. Now Brainiac 5 must be just as fast as The Flash if not faster. How so ? I have been thinking about a speed that can be theoretically be faster than the speed of light. Now couldn't the ascension of the spirit from the body be faster than the speed of light. The moment the physical body dies, the spirit departs the host body at unbelievable speed. It is not slow motion. Of course I cannot prove this until I am dead to just see how fast that phenomenon actually is.

Mark Waid brings his humor into play a little bit more than usual in this book. Supergirl playing with her ring was a classic. It's like a kid with a new toy. And how about when Ultra Boy along with the other LSH flying behind Supergirl, tells Element Lad to "Shut up and enjoy the view." He even receives a jaw dropping punch from a robot A.I. as a result of carelessness during the battle. He was busy showboating with Supergirl instead of concentrating on the fight. Saturn Girl was shown as one of the led characters as seen in the battle with the robots when she was ordering Supergirl and Ultra Boy. For the smart aleck reader they will enjoy Brainiac 5's sarcastic dry humor. And is that a jaded colored rock perhaps inside the stolen sealed box given to him by Timber Wolf.

The lack of Light Lass and Shadow Lass in this book, along with the non-presence of the mystery man of the previous issue made me subtract one more bullet in this issue. The last two issues have Light Lass and Shadow Lass as the two primary female members of the LSH which is shown with disdain towards Supergirl. And that makes the book more interesting as the reader would like to have seen when and where will Mark Waid have those girls have a confrontation with Supergirl. At the same time the mystery man introduced last issue seemed to be gathering a team, which allows the reader to get excited on something bad is brewing. But nothing is shown here, so that was a let down as well.

The artwork was okay. The book was drawn well. But I had to remove a bullet for some of the panels where Supergirl's face seemed out of proportion. On page 22 the top panel has Supergirl's face somewhat distorted. The left jaw line looks to be too long and with the placement of the eyes and nose, combined with the long jaw line somehow reminded me of the distorted "monster" in the movie "The Goonies". It was a good middle panel side view of Supergirl's face on the same page. But then on the bottom panel, Supergirl's face looks distorted once more. He face is too narrow shaped like "The Impossible Man" in the Marvel Universe. There were two pencillers on this issue. Perhaps those Supergirl were drawn by DeKraker. Perhaps he was rushed and was not really familiar with drawing Supergirl's face as it is in the LSH books.

Final Word: Overall it was an okay issue. There are a lot of sub plots working together, which is the drawback. There seems to be a lot going on at the same time, that a mere 22-page book cannot handle all the loose threads together in one issue. But it still done that keeps the interest of the reader. The group interaction is great. You have immature and mature beyond their years types of Legion of Super-Heroes. It's a solid book with ideas that have been seen before but used in a refreshing light. This is definitely still a must read book.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #17

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #17
Rating: 3.5

Writer: Mark Waid
Penciller: Barry Kitson
Inker: Mick Gray
Publisher: DC

Synopsis: The story starts at a robot creation facility with a gathering of robots themselves in the midst of the completion of their "leader robot". The S.P. (Science Police) bursts in conducting a surprise raid with elements of the LSH (Legion of Super-Heroes). A battle ensues between the S.P., LSH, and the robots. During the battle, Supergirl pulls the giant electronic vertebrae and helmet from the "leader robot" which is left out of action for the remainder of the battle. Supergirl asks her team if they need any help, which Timberwolf says no as they are done and wanted to have some pride left. One of the S.P.s asked for Supergirl's autograph, which she politely does in her own Supergirl way.

Back at the LSH HQ still under construction, Cosmic Boy, Light Lass, Triplet Girl ( I think her name was), and Star Boy were talking about Supergirl's story from Krypton's destruction to her life as a superhero guided by Superman and Batman. She became a living legend and then suddenly disappeared. So at least now they know where she disappeared to as she materialized in the LSH's future. And Cosmic Boy theorizes that Supergirl sees the her current life in the future with the LSH as part of a dream she is having.

The story shifts outside where Supergirl is with Element Lad and Shadow Lass. The three have a conversation while in flight. You can tell Shadow Lass dislikes Supergirl with her bad jokes with reference that she should have called Supergirl, Dream Girl instead. Dream Girl is the recently deceased member of the LSH. Element Lad gets in the middle of them immediately citing it was a bad joke on Shadow Lass's part, and that they miss her. Supergirl suddenly hears a disturbance and zooms off to the problem. She arrives at a Legion Plaza where there was an earthquake and falling debris was about to crush civilian, with teenagers in particular. She destroys the falling debris preventing it from landing on the person who caused the earthquake. Supergirl whistles and the earthquake stops. A new super power. Cosmic Boy and a handful of LSH appear. As members of the LSH clean up the debris, a huge crowd gathers towards Supergirl, with some asking her if she is part of the LSH. Meanwhile, the person that caused the earthquake walked away disbelieving he has a super power. As he walks towards an empty space a stranger approaches him to "come to me.".

Invisible Boy and Light Lass are watching a video screen apparently monitoring S.P. HQ. From their conversation you can tell that there is perhaps an LSH spy amongst the S.P. Invisible Boy drops his drink as Supergirl materializes like a ghost. She catches his drink and hands it over to him, and they discuss her membership. Supergirl tells him that she has decided she wants to be a Legionnaire. An upset Light Lass, who was monitoring their conversation, turns around and by the exclamation marks on her dialogue was telling Invisible Boy that Supergirl can’t just be a Legionnaire with a snap of the finger and that this is reality and not a dream. Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy suddenly appear on the video and communicated, " The charter members have been talking it over, and we'd like to formally invite you to join the LSH!" And excited Supergirl and Invisible Boy in the background does not see Light Lass just smack herself on the face as if Homer Simpson just yelled, " Towrk! Bart!!!"

The scene shifts to an alien world where islands with an egg-like shaped base is resting on each one in the middle of an ocean. And there are Dominators. I am not familiar with Dominators except that in the modern DC Universe, they were supposed to be at the very end of the known universe where the Guardians of Oa cannot monitor their activity. The two Dominators must be leaders of that race. Their discussion is on turning their attention towards Earth and the native virus of that planet called "humanity". They mention the fifffdee-tu, perhaps referencing the "52" weekly series event of DC Comics. Okay maybe something else.

Back to Earth outside of LSH HQ. Supergirl and Invisible Boy arrive greeted by the LSH. They bestow honorary membership to Supergirl. She asks for her LSH ring. And a smirking Light Lass who is happy to tell her that there are no ring available therefore Supergirl is not a full member. Supergirl closes her eyes disappointed and whispers she wishes she had a ring. Atom Girl maximizes to her human size delivering a Legionnaire ring from Brainiac 5. Supergirl has an LSH ring and puts it on. Meanwhile, Cosmic Boy looked like his world just disappeared, and a distraught Lightning Lad looked towards Cosmic Boy as if there is something terribly wrong. Supergirl and the LSH fly off into the sunset. And Lightning Lad was thinking it was Brainiac 5's resignation while Cosmic Boy does not want to dwell on the fact…Element Lad finishes Cosmic Boy's dialogue, "…is that he took it off Dream Girl's corpse." And upon hearing this, Light Lass's eyes closes with the back of Supergirl in the background flying in front of her.

Comments: There are nine pages of ads as opposed to the previous issue's ten pages of ads. That's better. The first thing I have to praise is Barry Kitson's great use of silent dialogue through his art. This superhero team is composed of teenagers. And those eye communications between Legionnaires is fantastic. It captures the essence of teenagers. The reader understands those eye dialogue between teenagers, when instead of saying something not nice or something that should be kept amongst themselves, they just turn to each other and gives each other "That Look". When Supergirl said something weird, Lightning Kid and Phantom Girl looked at each other silently with "DUH !" written all over their forehead. How about that look of sadness and concern between Lightning Kid and Cosmic Boy upon seeing Atom Girl hand Supergirl a Legionnaire ring from Brainiac 5. But the look on Light Lass's face eyes closed hearing from Element Lad that the ring given to Super Girl might have been taken by Brainiac 5 from their deceased team mate, Dream Girl. That was priceless. You could tell the strength of Light Lass at the same time saddened by the memory of her dead friend. Capturing those character defining moments is what makes a book about teenagers add extra spice on a delicious plate called Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes. And Barry Kitson delivers an appetizing five-course meal. And finally, I would like to add that once again Supergirl is the most dynamically drawn female in the book. Her hair is drawn dynamically, which is always in constant movement. Phantom Girl who is drawn with the same hair, does not have her hair move. Where as Kara's hair is in constant movement even when standing up. It makes her stand out amongst the Legionnaires.

Mark Waid does a good job moving the story. He brings Supergirl to the LSH's timeline. Now he makes marries her up to being a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Most of the guys appear dazzled by her presence. And some of the women resent her presence, especially when she let's them know that it's all part of her dream. Now you know how girls are when they have a common hatred towards a girl, they gang up on her like a queen bee and her royal subjects. I can sense this happening soon. Supergirl acting aloof as if she's in dreamland will acquire the ire of most of these female LSH members. After all teenage girls are very sadistic in their ways of getting even with another girl who has dissed them. Mark Waid has a good understanding of teenage psychology and has conveyed it well here in terms of the future and amongst superheroes. He has funny moments as well, with Invisible Boy's "crush-like" attitude towards Supergirl. Waid and Kitson combined the funniest moment of the book with Light Lass turning to Invisible Boy and Supergirl that SG cannot just become a Legionnaire and there are rules and SG cannot just wish it. After which, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl appear on the video extending an invitation to Supergirl to become an LSH. And Light Lass smacking her face with a jubilant SG and Invisible Boy in the background was a classic

He also foreshadows something bad will surely happen in the future issues by having the Dominators appear and talking about Earth. And at the same time, there is a mysterious stranger who reached out to the kid that caused the earthquake. Who is this guy ? And what group ? It feels like a villain group, but then shouldn't Saturn Girl have sensed his presence that close to LSH's HQ.

And finally, did Mark Waid just create a new super power for Supergirl ? I know I haven't been up to date with comic books after a long hiatus, but I never knew that SG could stop an earthquake created by subsonic waves with a whistle. Supergirl was able to dampen the effect subsonic waves with a supersonic counter frequency. Now that is creative writing.

Final words: It was a good issue. You expected Kara to become a Legionnaire and here it happens. And there are suspense added for the upcoming issues which draws the reader. What are the Dominators up to ? Who was that mysterious fellow that approached "Earthquake Boy". And why did Brainiac 5 remove Dream Girl's LSH ring from her corpse. He cannot have created an LSH ring within the same day. Will Shadow Lass or Light Lass finally have a verbal confrontation with Supergirl. I would buy the next issue, I am hooked.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #16

Extended Summary and Review

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #16
Rating: 3.5

Writer: Mark Waid
Penciller: Barry Kitson
Inker: Mick Gray
Publisher: DC

Synopsis: The initial scene has the LSH apprehending a criminal in a fun manner. Think of beach volleyball. Since they are teenagers with various super powers, this could happen. Then one of the residents of the area acts like a wiener and confronts the group of LSH, thereby causing a loud raucous that have the rest of the residents go outside. A brief verbal dialogue between the residents and the LSH results in the superheroes leaving the old people. Albeit not before Ultra Boy obnoxiously suggesting the new LSH Headquarters be built in that residential area so that the complaining old people can hang out with them more often. By old, the comic book shows civilians in their 30s and 40s.

The scene then shifts to Earth. United Planet Headquarters to be more precise. Ambassador Arden lets Lightning Lad know of an Unidentified Celestial Object (U.C.O.) heading towards Earth. They have been monitoring this UCO for the last three days. The UCO barely missed Neptune, but caused severe damage in Neptune on its near miss. Here's the best part, there's less than four light hours before the UCO hits Earth. An advanced tachyon image shows that the UCO is an "S" inside a triangle with the probable size of a human being.

The scene goes to Science Police Station in Metropolis. The criminal, a Jardonian terrorist impersonating an S.P. (Science Police) crashes into the lobby area. Ultra Boy did not know his own strength. The SPs told the LSH to get lost and they'll take care of the criminal. The LSH fly off but not before Chameleon Boy addressing his concern about something strange about the SP's defensiveness towards the LSH.

The next scene is at the Legion Plaza where construction of the new LSH headquarters is taking place. You have Cosmic Boy and Colossal Boy are having a discussion on LSH leadership, while moving oversized construction pieces of the headquarters. There are nice bits of information in the dialogue between the two. We learn from Cosmic Boy that there is 127,000 members of the Legion of Super Heroes, and that he suggest holding an open election for a new leader citing it is the fairest and most democratic way of giving everyone a voice. Of course Colossal Boy counters that no one is looking to replace Cosmic Boy as leader of the LSH. At the same time Colossal Boy thinks very little good results of a solution to something that is not a problem. Just leave it as status quo. They are interrupted by Light Lass communicating a "situation" and for Cosmic Boy to assemble a team ASAP.

An assembly of nine LSH are in Earth's space. Each LSH has a thin force field around them. And according to Light Lass's short talk with Karate Kid, the flight ring will protect the wearer from the vacuum and cold. The team was expecting a humanoid to encounter. Instead, they are surprised to see a gigantic UCO hurtling towards them. There was confusion on the team's part, but Cosmic Boy just ordered to attack. Cosmic Boy tries to break down the hurtling object by using his power over magnetism. Star Boy and Light Lass tear part of the UCO. Ultra Boy pours in the flash vision. Element Lad tries to turn as many parts of the UCO to gas as he touches those parts. Lightning Lad has sheared off half of the ports side. Karate Kid is well, karate chopping parts of the UCO. Chameleon Boy has turned to a yellow horned bird-faced thing and munching on some parts. But they cannot stop the UCO. Needless to say, the UCO flies past them. Colossal Boy is the last resort. Now think of Bill Goldberg of WCW and WWE fame "spearing" a jabroni. In this case, Colossal Boy was the jabroni, and he hurt his shoulder and there was damage done to his LSH flight ring. The thing is speeding and crashing in a couple of seconds to Earth. Metropolis to be exact.

Another problem arises as Colossal Boy is affected by the vacuum and coldness of space due to his damaged flight ring. Element Lad could not fix Colossal Boy's flight ring in time due to the complex alloy, it will take too much time. Colossal Boy suddenly disappears. Traces of something Blue, red, and yellow-orange streaks by so fast only a comic book reader could see it.

The scene is now on Metropolis and the populace panic. It seems two missiles are heading towards them, one big and another smaller one. Colossal Boy materializes out of nowhere in Metropolis by the people who are panicking. Or so it seems, there's that blue, red, and yellow-orange streak again. The people focus on Colossal Boy, then simultaneously everyone looks up. And you can almost picture it in different scenarios … look in the sky … it's

And a great splash page Supergirl destroys the missile with a punch. And the missile splinters into pieces and cause a visual fireworks display. The people rejoice. Supergirl lands and the people cheer. Then the LSH appears in the horizon and lands by Supergirl. Cosmic Boy talks to Supergirl. And the people are cheering. Then some start to get annoyed. And then there's arguments among people that this was staged by the LSH. It seems in the 31st century Earth, the Legion of Super Heroes aren't the most popular group around. Cosmic Boy asks Supergirl if she is indeed the genuine article. She whisks him away to a top of an infrastructure of a building. Supergirl confirms to Cosmic Boy that she is indeed the real deal. But she adds that she he is not. The LSH does not exist, she is merely dreaming them.

Comments: There are 32 pages in this comic book excluding the cover and back pages of course. Ten pages are ads. The most distracting ad is on page 27 which is a Batman: Secrets splash page ad penciled by that book's illustrator, Sam Kieth. If you really want to spoil a reading experience that was it. The page before had Supergirl just saving Metropolis and its citizens and having a dialogue with Cosmic Boy inquiring where she is. The art by Barry Kitson is a nice dynamic art and smooth. And you turn the page to follow the story, and you get the rough demonic art with Batman strangling and preparing to overhand power-punch a bloodied and laughing Joker. So you go from ice cream to sour grapes. It turns off the eye candy image inside the reader's mind. Therefore this distraction can make the reader somewhat let down from the good mood that was happening before. There's nothing wrong with ads, just bunch them up together at the last 10 pages of the comic book. That way reading experience from the audience can fully absorb the material with no distraction. The way these ads were systematically placed is like watching a really great movie in network television, and being distracted and annoyed by the abundance of commercial throughout the movie. You do not concentrate on all the parts. You kind of walk away a little annoyed.

Mark Waid wrote a good piece here. It's not really as good as it could have been. The first five pages could have been shortened to one page or two. I know that Mark probably wanted to convey a mood that Metropolis is against the LSH. But that could've been limited to a brief page or so, and then use up the remaining 3 to 4 pages on interaction amongst the LSH. Or better yet, those 3 to 4 pages could have been used to extend the scene in the United Planet HQ to show the gravity of the situation. That one page where a glowing fiery-like UCO could have been shown multiple angles and then a splash page with eye candy from Kitson on some destruction instead of a near miss off-Neptune. It could have brought it over the top with a sort of impending doom. It could have increased the tension and make the reader eager for more.

At the same time, this ensemble group of nine LSH could not stop a speeding meteor. This reminds me of the time a jabroni jobber in the WWF days would take on and get crushed by a name superstar WWF heel on network television. Or better yet three jabronis would take on Andre the Giant and he crushes them. This is not the best way to show the Legion of Super-Heroes to a new reader. It shows they are lacking the firepower to meet a take care of a threat of unearthly proportion. I kind of wished that perhaps the LSH could have somehow really slowed down the threat. Okay they did slow it down somewhat. What I meant was if only the threat did not go past them. It's like they were still in front of the threat and not handling it from the side or from behind it. It would make the reader care more for these characters. Reckless endangerment of their self to save the people. Instead of being a jabroni and taking on the problem from the side or behind. Even though Colossal Boy looked like he was the recipient of a concussion-causing tackle, he was in front of the problem and took the brunt. You kind of care for him, because he even suffered a near fatal experience with his flight ring being damaged.

Enough negatives. On to what was good about the book. Kitson shows that Supergirl is The Franchise Player of this comic book and group. She is the only superhero with a Splash Page. At the same time he draws Supergirl as the only female in the whole comic book who actually seems and feels to be flying and moving. Her hair is the only one that is waving through every movement. Supergirl comes out alive. All the females civilian and superhero alike either have short hair or hair that is in place. My guess is in the 31st century, all the girls use industrial strength gel or hairspray. Supergirl's face has that girl next door feeling. It's definitely not a type that rhymes with witch. Kitson draws Kara with an engaging look. It's not like a look that conveys a pushing-away look. It's an inviting look that wants to propel the reader to lean closer and find out more. On page 29, the bottom left panel has Cos asking Supergirl if she is the genuine article, and Kara looking at the reader with a slight grin as if she is saying "Duh!" and about to do something mischievous at the same time. And she whisks Cosmic Boy away. And once again Kitson gives Kara the main event status as she flies and all faces in the area look up.

I like the way Mark Waid would throw bits of information about the LSH through various interaction amongst its members. I never knew that their number reached six figures. It's epic in scale if you really think about it. No matter where there is a problem, there will be a Legionnaire around to save the day. The scene in space where Karate Kid was assured by Light Lass that Karate Kid's flight ring would protect him from the space elements. And he in turn asked Lass who was the first to test the flight ring's protection in space. What made the scene funny was the combination interaction and Kitson's drawing of a serious look on Karate Kid's face. The ending was a feel good ending. You expected Supergirl to save the day. After all her introduction had to deal with something of an impending doom kind of magnitude. The prevailing attitude of the time was conveyed well.

Final Words: I have just read an occasional LSH story or comic book here and there. And perhaps that is why I call Cos, Cosmic Boy, and not Cosmic Kid. This is 1001 years later from the beginning of the 52 series. It's not too bad. You get a heroic and cool Supergirl to join a group of LSH and see how they would mesh together. At the same time, seeing Supergirl only interact with Cosmic Boy and the look he got from the rest of the group of LSH foreshadows that perhaps she's not wholly accepted by the group. See the frowns on two or three LSH members towards her. All in all a good starting point for new readers.