Legion Worlds #2

Released May 16, 2001

DC Comics, Color
39 Pages

Story #1 - You Are Here:Winath
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Enrique Breccia - Artist
Tom McCraw - Colors
Comicraft - Letters
Mike McAvennie - Editor

Synopsis

We open with a very TMK intro to Winath with a lot of astrographic and background information about Winath, including the key element about most Winathians are twins. Then we meet Ayla and learn that she's been travelling to Winath from Earth for six months! We get more background on her, Garth and the information around the current galactic situation as her ship docks at an orbital Tower. As she steps out she is immediately recognized, and we are treated to a slightly different reflection to the rift disaster from a 'regular joe' type character, as well as a reminder that her twin is assumed dead.

Ayla, wearing her Legion ring around her neck, boards a shuttle to go to the surface and has a flashback to the Outpost evacuation in LSH 125, but a new scene where she Cosmic Boy and Kinetix get in an escape pod. More introspection on how she misses her brother and is alone as the shuttle descends and the exposition talks about the "Winwood" trees that cover the planet and helps enable the planetary climate control.

An interesting Winath is presented to us here. A mix of exotic creatures and mechanized animals, including horses, rabbits and goats. And landspeeder-type vehicles. She encounters the Gulz twins. We are reminded of Garths loss again, yet the conversation turns to the economic destruction of Winath due to the interstellar travel situation, so many farms are banding together as cooperatives, as well as the tidbit that the weather control of Winath is failing with more frequent storms adding to the impact of the failing farms.

Ayla leaves the truck, reflecting again that she's a solo. This time its used to introduce the concept of her older brother Mekt also being a solo, and a real quick overview of their origin while she stares at Garth's memorial. A stuttering Mekt actually appears, apparently on parole after assaulting Garth and Ayla WAAAAY back in Legionnaires #30 and blowing off his brother's arm, so yeah, just put at tracking bracelet on him!

We meet Ayla's parents, Kirth (dad) and Dalya (mom) as she drops by unannounced. Her father's been injured in a farming accident due to the freak weather storms. Family dinner discussion turns to the fact that the Gulz family's Co-op is cutting corners and has been pressuring the Ranzz farm to join in, but the elder Ranzz is too stubborn being an organic farmer to stoop to that level.

The next day, Ayla is out repairing a fence when a freak tornado appears and threatens to flatten the neighboring Begz farm. Ayla springs into action and puts her flight ring on and jumps in to save the children, even as the Outpost PTSD threatens her thoughts. She uses her lightning powers to dissipate the tornado, but the entire Begz homestead has been flattened. Mekt suddenly appears, making Ayla immediately suspicious of him and he tells of a story where he didn't feel like a solo freak on a childhood trip with Ayla. The flip side is that Mekt lost his temper due to her talking about Garth. The eternal question - was Mekt always a bad seed?

Ayla's mother assures her that Mekt has changed, but Ayla is still suspicious. She does a little research and notes that the storms have increased over time - since Mekt apparently came home six months prior. Mekt leaves on an errand that night, so Ayla changes into her Spark costume (sans Legion belt) and trails him to a climate control station. She confronts Mekt about what's going on, and the twist is revealed - he's been suspicious of the increase in weather problems as well, leading to a confrontation with the Gulz family, who, it seems is the true party behind the freak storms, programming them to take out their competition.

The ensuing fight takes out the weather control equipment, but the massive storm has already been triggered. Ayla tries to stop the storm, but the lightning is too powerful, even for her. She ruminates that because she's a - you guessed it - solo now, she's on her own and can't fight the storm without Garth's help. Cue Mekt, wielding a lightning vane to intercept one of the bolts and take the load off of Ayla. They successfully dissipate the storm but not without burning their hands.

The coda to the story is Ayla visiting Garth's memorial, only to be interrupted by Mekt, telling us of the Legion Outpost's return. Ayla is excited and wants to contact Garth. A suddenly non-stuttering Mekt blasts away Garth's memorial, and walks away having ditched his custody bracelet.

Story #2 - A Change in Climate

Dan Abnett - Writer
Darwyn Cooke - Art
Tom McCraw - Colors
Comicraft - Letters
Mike McAvennie - Editor

Synopsis

Dalya's twin Lilya drops by the Ranzz farm to chat with her sister. We're presented with more of the same information from the main story - Mekt is home and Kirth is recovering from an accident - but the reader is also given more background information about Winath and the UP. We again hear about the pandemic crisis on Vyrgra, as well as a looming population crisis, with the Ranzz farm being required to make accommodations for housing citizens due to the extra space they have. The population crisis on Cargg is also mentioned. Dalya finds Mekt's stuffed animal and the sisters ruminate about Mekt being - you guessed it - a solo, before Lilya reminds her sister that Garth and Ayla have made a big difference.

Inside, the sisters talk about how Dalya misses Ayla and that it will be hard for her now that she's a - sigh - solo. Dal looks at childhood picture of all three Ranzz kids in better times, and feels like there was promise of a future that's now been dissolved.

Our final page is a nine panel progression from Lil leaving in her hovertruck to a cheery Ayla walking up to the door.

Commentary -

Just to kick this off, I'm going to say that they should have renamed this Solo: A Legion Story. Even as a long time Legion reader and fan, the solo bit was just WAY overdone. I got it after the first couple times. It didn't need to be beaten in at least six times. Good lord...

So. Now that THAT is out of the way....

I was really looking forward to reading this one again, as Ayla is one of my favorite characters. The world building here was really interesting, as it took the Winath-as-Oklahoma concept introduced during the LSH/Legionnaires Dark Circle story and dialed it up to 11. I thought the concept of Winath being a DCU version of Kashyyk with the Winwood trees was interesting. (Winwood? I'll just roll with it...) I'm not sure I'm really in love with the anachronistic display of Winath in this way, as I don't understand the need for robotic horses or cattle. It makes for an interesting funny hat for a planet, but I thought the pre-reboot Winath was more interesting. And more naked. But that's another discussion.

The main narrative was well paced and well told as a classic mystery plot with a red herring suspect. The flow and rhythm of the story was much better than LW 1, and I really enjoyed Spark jumping into action and saving the day with an assist from Mekt. That being said, the mood of this story was depressing and I felt like I was back reading Legion Lost with no hope for the future. And in the end, I couldn't feel Ayla's happiness at the end of the story, as we know of Garth's fate at the end of Legion Lost. DnA spends so much time having Ayla wallow in her Solo-ness, that it brings the mood of the book down, which is probably by design. But after a year and a half of straight up depressing DnA Legion stories, I don't want to go back to that mindset. They also should have spent more time on Mekt's nature - is he a bad seed because of his solo-ness, or because he's always been a sociopath? DnA spends a lot of time in Ayla's head, but this is a question I'd like explored more regarding Mekt, as its probably the most fascinating thing about him.

I did have a problem with a sci-fi book talking about the only space travel being sublight. Sci-Fi connoisseurs such as DnA should know better and be able to invent some other kind of FTL, yet slower than stargate tech to reflect the slower six month travel times but not take a sci-fi reader out of the element with comments about sublight travel between stars happening at faster than light speeds.

The flashback to LSH 125 is problematic for me. Cosmic Boy, Kinetix and Spark are never shown together during the abandonment sequence. Also - and I'm not sure if this is just the art style and coloring - but it really looks as if Kinetix is wearing her pre-anomaly uniform. Overall, and for the point of the story, it makes no difference, but it speaks to McAvennie's lack of attention to detail as editor of a series where details are important.

Dinner at the Winath house reminded me a lot of the dinners at the Lars homestead in Star Wars, so that was enjoyable, as was Ayla jumping into action. Nice to see a breif mention of Cham. The final confrontation is also very well done and brings the story to a satisfying conclusion. And then the coda with Mekt - I really enjoyed that. I'm looking forward to more DnA Lightning Lord.

Overall I wasn't a fan of Breccia's art. It was serviceable and has a certain style that lends itself to the agrarian style of the story, but with him doing ALL the art, a lot of it seemed rushed, especially in the ink details. So I wouldn't go out and try and follow his work as an artist, but it did the job.

As far as the secondary story is concerned - I felt it was a waste of eight pages. Very little new information was provided in that short story other than stuff is going on with Cargg and a reminder of the Vyrgran situation. And although cheery Ayla was nice to see (finally), it was completely at odds with the rest of the story.

Summary - Good (but depressing) story, mediocre art