The Legion #38 - Reboot's End

Released August 25, 2004
DC Comics, Color
22 Pages

For No Better Reason Part Four - Moebius Strip

Gail Simone Girl - Writer
Dan Jurgens Lad - Breakdowns
Kid Andy Smith - Finishes
Sno Cone 5.1 - Colors
Rob Leigh 'Onel - Letters
Timber Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

In Metropolis, the streets are still burning and Trudy's still journaling. Canary is trying to wake up Dreamer and spells out the whole scheme - the destruction of Legion World and the Kwai gates - as she brews tea on a makeshift stove.  Outside in the streets, the crowds are getting restless and mob rule is starting to descend.  Umbra sweeps in and takes out a team of would-be looters. Brainy tries to convince Umbra to not get distracted by the mobs and focus on her main task. Violet is putting out fires. Devil watches. Trudy triages the injured and finds inspiration in Tinya.  

On Oasis One, Persuader attempts to leave with his daughter, but suggests an alternative to Val - he'll return to his cell on the condition that Val looks after Lialla. In the med center, Ultra Boy attempts to convince Piter to act as a surgeon by offering all his organs to Piter when he dies (knowing that Piter won't read the fine print). Cham interrogates Arrow and Lantern. Canary and Dreamer continue their chat, and Dreamer says that she saw pain in the future. 

On Legion World, Gear notes the spike is spreading and the radiation shields will be falling, starting to kill those with incomplete immune systems. They make the call to bring back the Karahdia team. Wildfire goes to get them and help contain the other situation. 

Devil returns to the apartment and hits Dreamer in frustration for Vi interrupting her attempt to kill Brainy and Umbra. Canary asks how she was supposed to survive the attack on Legion World - an idea provided by Dreamer. Devil gets Canary to increase the dosage, when Dreamer burns herself on the flame.  This breaks the connection between Canary and Dreamer, and all the technology starts turning back on. Devil attacks Dreamer with intent to kill until Timber Wolf crashes through and takes out Devil. 

Later, back at the plaza, the rest of the Legion reappears. Lialla asks Val if they can date.  Trudy - now going by her real name of Hannah Wells, takes over her career. She is about to give the news of President Wazzo's death, when Ultra Boy brings Winema - in her hospital bed - to the plaza, still alive and saved by Piter.  Hannah gives the family some privacy from the camera. 

Epilogue - Brainy and M'Onel return to Karahdia. It turns out that the Karahdian cycle just needed to run its course before they started to de-volve.

THE END

Commentary

So here we are - The end of the Gail Simone storyline and the last regular issue of the reboot.  We get a decent wrap up of the plot that does generate a few questions, but delivers the mail well enough to not worry about them too much.  Basically, it appears this power singularity is in place solely because of the link between Canary and Dreamer due to the former's powers and the latter's sedation.  Once that is broken by extreme pain, the "energy singularity" disappears and tech functions again, so it was great to see Nura take agency and be a very active part of saving the day here.  The 2 page spread of the technology coming back on was a nice bookend to the onset of the spike in issue 35.  But Devil is very much revealed to be a garbage person, and this helps me enjoy her takedown by Nura and Brin.  Canary is revealed to be almost autistic in a way, and this makes Devil an even more horrible person to be using Canary as she is.  Even though I suspected that Winema would surive, the manner in which it was done was clever on Jo's part, finally showing a bit of that Ultra Boy cunning long time readers are accustomed to, although I did question the wisdom of flying the president's hospital bed back to the plaza.

While we are talking about some odd points, Brainy talking Tasmia down from hunting mobs was interesting as a counterpoint to her settling Brainy down in 36, but seemed a bit odd to me - aren't the Legionnaires there to help retain the order?  Persuader voluntarily going back in his cell seemed to be an odd choice as well.  Finally, this repeated mention of the radiation screens seems to come out of nowhere as a new threat.  I don't ever remember reading about this in any of the earlier issues.  Does it affect all of Earth?  And the whole Karahdia subplot was a bit of a storytelling cul-de-sac.

In the end, the story is just as much about Hannah Wells as it is about the Legion overcoming the odds, and this aspect contributed to my enjoyment of the read just as much as the Legionnaires' actions. She has come out the other side of this storyline as a changed character, and that's a good thing. 

Other Comments:

Cute play on the Legionnaire names with the "Girl" "Kid" etc in the credits box. :)  But I don't think anyone thinks that "Timber Wacker" is a good idea.  :D

Tasmia here seems MUCH softer than she did for most of her reboot presence.  I like this Umbra better, to be honest.

SOMEONE get Vi a more flexible dress!

Trudy not being her real name is a nice touch. 

Jo's offer is really gross, but of course he has the advantage.  But the whole thing about Rimborian organs not matching humans - that seems kind of weird to me if different humanoid species can intermarry.

Reading the Infectious Lass dialog, I obviously mentally slipped Covid into that list

Devil - "Most of the Legion will be nothing but memorial statues" - um, actually, they already are. :)

Kind of noticing it here for the first time - but Dreamer - who was arguably the most sexualized Legionnaire in the classic age of the Legion, is much more modest than most of the other Legionnaires (aside from the cleavage window), which is in contrast to Vi and Apparition's outfits in this story. 

Cute moment with Lillia and Val.

Grade - B+ Good wrap up and character work here.