The Legion #24 - Legion After Dark.... oh yeah....

Released September 24, 2003
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

After Dark

Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writers
Steve Lightle - Art
Jason Wright - Colors
Comicraft - Letters
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

A threshold opens in pitch blackness and Tasmia Mallor steps forward into the shadow, suddenly broken by the lights of a vehicle coming right at her. She quickly latches on to the passing craft and holds on as it lands in a garage; it is a Science Police craft and everyone is spooked about the shadows outside.  The Talokians are kicking out the UP and cast shadow across their world in order to hide; this is why Umbra's shadow power has disappeared.  A giant shadow appears to attack the SP station and Tasmia challenges it as the rightful champion of the world, but it overcomes her.  

Tasmia wakes up naked in the house of the Shadow Maven, her former teacher, and she gets the breakdown from him as she gets dressed.  Essentially, Talok VIII freaked out when Tasmia was taken by the rift a year earlier and decided that it safer not being part of the UP.  They chose a new champion and used the shadow to wrap the planet completely. Tasmia notes that the reason she left to join the Legion was because she needed enlightenment, but now the planet has slid backwards in the same subject.  Her cousin Grev was selected as the new champion, but they had to augment his abilities with technology. Tasmia decides to confront Grev. 

Using some kind of VR glasses, she is able to see shadow shapes coming at her.  She fights off the shadows easily until some of the shadows cling on to Tasmia, remembering her. It begins to slowly come back to her when Grev redoubles his attack.  Tasmia, now able to see easily in the dark, finds Grev in his suit. Wrecking his suit, she finds that Grev has been dead for some time and the shadow technology has been running amok.  She absorbs all the shadow into herself and sunlight casts itself across Talok VIII. 

Back on Legion World, Tasmia briefs Kid Quantum now that her power is back.  It turned out that Grev's suit was pre-programmed to act as it did.  A permanent Threshold will be set up to Talok from Legion World. A number of animated shadows appear around Umbra.  Jazmin hugs Tasmia, telling her she's glad that she lightened up. 

Commentary

This is a very strange issue.  It's combination one-off filler that also addresses a character point from early in the run, namely Tasmia's loss of her shadow powers, so the story is basically one of her getting them back.  The challenge here is that there was no real sense of jeopardy.  Tasmia gets knocked out, her old teacher somehow finds her, takes her back to his place and undresses her (THAT's not creepy), then she just starts getting her mojo back naturally and blows up the bad tech that's taken over.  

We're told that her cousin is the new champion, albeit with technology to augment the capability.  But we are told that the tech is just there to assist him, not that it would have a programming of its own.  So the whole revelation that Grev is dead and everything has been like this because of the suit seemed like a cheap cop out to me.  Why not have an actual confrontation?  How did the technology of the suit recognize Tasmia?  Does the technology possess intelligence without a living brain to guide its actions?

The art while good was very disorienting. I enjoy Steve Lightle's work, but here it was hard to see what's going on a lot of the time due to the darkness everywhere, and I didn't get a good sense of what was happening a lot of the time.  Yes, we needed to get Tasmia her powers back, but it could have been more interesting with a confrontation between the cousins.

A few other thoughts.

Sure are amping up the sexy. Almost to the point of distraction here.  I don't have THAT much of a problem with her new costume, as I've said before it does harken back to the classic Shadow Lass costume, but here, especially like the Ayla changing scene, the addition of her being naked for no real reason is just titillation and thus was a distraction (especially in the context given).

Tasmia notes that she was sent away to join the Legion.  She joined the Legion as part of a tryout.  It wasn't a fait accompli that she would be a member. So bad job editing here (not like that's ever stopped the prior editor).

The end scene with her explaining everything to Kid Quantum bothered me on a couple levels.  First, its a repeat of the now annoying DnA habit of wrapping things up in a page.  This harkens back to some of the silver age stories, and not in the good way.  Second, they are reaching critical mass on the Kid Quantum usage.  Couldn't she have briefed someone else on what had happened?  It does make sense since she's leader. But its a LEGION of Superheroes.  Stop focusing on the same handful.

I'm going to grade this one a C-. Not a lot of meat on the bone on this one.