The Legion #19 - Dream Crime!

Released April 30, 2003

DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

Dream Crime - Part One

Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Chris Batista - Pencils
Mark Farmer - Inks
Jason Wright - Colors
Comicraft - Letters
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

The beginning of Dream Crime features a new masthead logo for the cover, and a new introduction style that recalls the Legion books of the early 80s with a small blurb describing the setting of the 31st century and the Legion, as well as a quick summary of Saturn Girl's and Dreamer's trip to Titan.  The pair are on Titan to see if Dreamer's visions can be used as a UP early warning system paired with Titanet. A voiceover talks about being more.

Dreamer and Saturn Girl emerge from the portal on Titan and are greeted by our old friend Aven. Nura and Aven stare at each other for a beat before Aven realizes they were talking telepathically when Nura isn't telepathic.  Imra notes the amount of chatter going on around them while Nura notes how quiet Titan is. 

On Legion World, Shikari is cussing up a storm in front of Brainy, who notes that they haven't heard anything from Ferro or Karate Kid since the Legion's reformation.  He's located them on Steeple, but is unable to reach them due to the gravitic stress.  

Back to Titan, Aven, Imra and Nura float on Ethane seas to the Titanet powers.  Aven and Imra laugh together at a telepathic joke, and we get a quick update about Nura's powers as well as that of native Titanians not to force themselves into another's mind.  They quickly brief Aven on their purpose and he makes the arrangements to meet with Lena Erqol to discuss over dinner.  The mysterious V/O appears saying "I am MORE" that Nura hears, but no one else does and she suddenly sees everyone as burnt skeletons and reacts.  Imra think she may be having a Pre-cog vision, but Nura just says she's tired. 

On Legion World, Tinya is fretting over cub as he is ageing a week per day. Gym'll can't determine a cause, but Jazmin offers to create a time sphere to slow time for Cub.  Jaz asks if she should also consult Jo or her mother, and Tinya angrily tells Jazmine to move forward and Cub is contained in a quantum bubble.

Back on Titan in their suite, Imra calls BS on Nura's "tired" defense. She isn't sure what she saw was a pre-cog vision or not and comes clean about her uncertainty about seeing Thom's memorial.  Because of this, and the fact that his death may still be to come, Nura feels uncomfortable around him.  She convinces herself that the telepathic power on Titan is interfering with her pre-cog.  

Speaking of Thom, he's back on Legion World in the Gym with Super-Size Vi. Thom sets a 100 ton weight to work with.  Thom loses control and Vi saves him.

The dinner on Titan is taking place very silently before Erqol realizes that they are being rude excluding Nura in the conversation. We get a recognition of the trauma Imra's been through and a quick summary of Legion Lost's last months.  She will be in therapy provided by Aven.  Erqol agrees to meet to get deeper into the early warning idea, but senses something else is wrong with Nura. 

We return to Legion World to find Cham checking in on Jeka after her transformation last issue. She's having problems adjusting to her new form.  Cham tries to help her see change differently, but it just makes her angrier. Shikari and Brainy discuss Computo's fate and Brainy being driven since his evolution and they go to dinner.  Just as they leave, Karate Kid's message comes through the portal.

On Titanopolis, Nura gets a tour of Titanet by Erqol.  She provides a quick background on the function of Titanet's communications capabilities across the UP. She also brings up Nura's feelings of foreboding, when Nura hears another foreign thought no one else has heard, but this time the vision is much worse. Nura collapses and realizes that she heard the voice of Darkseid.  Imra is in therapy with Aven and seems to hear the same voice as Nura.  She calls out for Garth.

Commentary

Overall, I really enjoyed this issue.  DnA excels at the setup of a storyline. Lots of great items here, and it was a meaty issue; you can see just from the synopsis that there was a lot going on with a lot of dialog, but in a way that picked up from past events and moved things forward during all the cut scenes (very unlike the "Meanwhile" issue during Computo which did the opposite).  

Also - OMG this is the best the Legion has looked in YEARS.  I love Chris Batista's art so much. The new intro also gives the series a kind of "Star Wars" feel with the scroll at the beginning which is a nice touch.  Nura's foreboding visions are very compelling and keep driving the narrative forward with the mysterious voice overs, whom we are led to beleive are Darkseid. Portraying Titan as a largely silent world is slightly different from pre-DnA, but here it really works well and Nura constantly getting the silent treatment is written and drawn very well to have the readers be in her shoes.  We get a little more recap here than I would like, but I'm saying that from having just read Legion Worlds a few months ago, however it is refreshing to finally confront the fact that Imra is dealing with serious PTSD. The issue leaves on a great cliffhanger, with Nura thinking she's contacted Darkseid and Imra reaching out to Garth.  I felt with this issue's combination of art and writing, we were finally back to a more Legion-y Legion vs Warhammer with Legion characters.

Other rando comments:

I've never liked any Legion story putting a year in text unless its done from the get go and the writers and editors stick to it. I'm not going to go back over the prior 18 issues and see if they referenced the years 3001 or 3002, but having the 3003 AD is bad.  I think its a really bad idea to track the current year + 1000 in these books. Either two years have advanced since the end of the last issue or time itself is askew.  Just reference the century, please. Is this the fanziest of nit picks?  Yes it is, so sue me.  But it hasn't been three years since the Legion returned from the rift.  

I was a little confused with the issue's lead in, as it indicated that Imra and Nura were on a specific mission, when I thought the original purpose for her visit was R&R/therapy.  We finally do get to that on page 12, but it had me confused as we had not seen Nura in the infamous "hugging Jo" scene a couple issues back.  Speaking of Imra's traumas, they didn't even talk about her impersonating Tinya.

Again, Large Vi here is stupid stupid stupid.  It would be better to show Vi working out in a normal size then GROWING to save him.  This would better show her power.  If I've just picked up the book, I'd think Vi is a giantess by nature. I understand this is their way of showing her power, but its starting to backfire as she's only been tiny once since the series started.  Also, again, they are on a space station.  Space is always at a premium, I don't care. That said, I *did* enjoy the scene with her and Thom.  I always feel like they are looking out for each other, even prior to the DnA run.

Jeka's reaction is very realistic, but its a shame that they had to break her personality to do it.  Another good reflection of the Reep/Jeka friendship. 

Overall grade - A.  The story moves well without too many nits to pick that affect the story, and the art is fantastic.