The Legion of Super Heroes (v5) #4 - Fight the Power?

So before we get started here, an apology for the pause in publishing.  I had a lot going on with a household move and office construction, so there wasn't much in the way of time or space in which to get back to these reviews.  So with that, I'll return you to the Legion Threeboot!

Released March 30, 2005
DC Comics, Color
30 Pages

Cover Title - Fight the Power!

Mark Waid - Script
Barry Kitson - Co-Plotter
Leonard Kirk - Penciller
Mick Gray - Inks
Chris Blythe - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis (Fight the Power)

Dirk Morgna's parents are hanging out in Legion HQ passing out cookies; they are big Legion fans and are somewhat throwbacks in the overly conservative society, but Shady thinks that Dirk may be quitting.  The Science Police barges in to arrest the Legionnaires.  A bogus law has been trumped up to make the Flight Rings illegal by none other than Invisible Kid's father, who is head of a SP division. Cos naturally thinks that Lyle's membership is a setup.

Lyle's backstory is that he is a brilliant whiz kid in chemistry who was inventing an invisibility serum. When he found out his father was going to give his formula to the Science Police. He injected it and double checked his work with Brainy, then joined the Legion to spite his dad. This really pisses Cos off and he orders the Legion to SP HQ. He gives Lyle an ultimatum to pick a side.  Lyle puts some of his blood into a vial.

In the battle at SP HQ, Lyle confronts his father.  Office Norg plays the "we need the serum to fend off the hordes at the gate" card. Lyle offers his blood with the serum code in it in lieu of coming home, giving an ultimatum to his father. He accepts and the SPs stand down. 

Later, the blood sample is given to someone named Praetor Lemnos, who resembles the man from Nura's dream. As the sample is analyzed, the data erases itself, and what Brainy and Lyle see at Legion HQ is access to all the SP datasystems.  In a final confrontation with Lyle, Cos isn't kicking him out of the Legion, but is kicking him out of HQ due to trust issues and he stays with the Morgnas.

SYNOPSIS II ("There is this girl")

Mark Waid - Writer
Dave Gibbons - Penciller
Drew Geraci - Inker
Paul Mounts - Colorist
Stephen Wacker - Editor

The backup story is Karate Kid talking about his infatuation with Phantom Girl. This Tinya breaks through to the Earth's dimension from Bgtzl by sheer force of will. But she's odd, because when she is more in one dimension than the other, the people in the other dimension can see her, so if she's on Earth fighting, the people on Bgtzl see her phantom fighting. If she's on Bgtzl, say, making out, the people on Earth see her ghostly form canoodling with nobody. 

So the Legion goes to a club, where Val sees his chance to get to know Tinya better, but as it happens, as they are sitting in a booth together in the club, she's also having "the talk" with her boyfriend on Bgtzl. Unfortunately, Val only hears the breakup talk from Tinya and leaves Tinya alone before she finishes the conversation.

Commentary

Another pretty solid issue, where we get more background on Lyle's situation. It turns out he WAS the kid in the preview/Reboot transition story who jumped out the window based on a flashback frame in the story. A lot of interesting tension between Cos and Brainy and Lyle here. I found the bit about Lyle planting a virus into the UP computers via his own blood a neat little trick. The use of the Morgnas as this world's versions of hipsters was okay, but a little strange; it puts an interesting spin on Dirk's character as he's mainly doing what his parents want. This was an OK story beat, mainly acting as a transitional story before the main plot kicks off, as we have been introduced to Lemnos, but other than that, not much else happens.  There is a nice bit of mystery introduced around Lyle's and Brainy's motives within the team that gives the story it's energy.

For the first time we get a guest penciler, this time it's Leonard Kirk who does a great job. The entire art team brought this together very well to keep the style pretty much the same from Kitson's work, yet adding their own touches.

The backup story is interesting as it provides a twist on Tinya's nature, but is also sad in its own way, as its hard to see how someone like her could live anything close to a normal life.  The club scene hit a bit too close to home from my younger days.  It's also drawn well by Dave Gibbons, but not nearly as nice as the A story.

A couple observations - 

If the SPs just blew their way into HQ, what happened to all those kids in the plaza?

I think the problem I'm having is that I don't really LIKE anyone so far in this universe.  I don't like the background characters, SOME of the Legionnaires are ok, but the ones who have been in the spotlight so far seem like they would be annoying to hang with.  So what's great about this universe? Every other Legion universe seems to be a place that I'd like to live in, but this one is so dystopian to the point that the heroes come across as annoying dickwads half the time.

Grade: B+