The Legion of Super Heroes (v5) #7 - Follow the Leader!

 

Released June 22, 2005
DC Comics, Color
30 Pages

Cover Title - "Follow the Leader!"

Mark Waid - Writer
Barry Kitson - Penciller
Arth Thibert & James Pascoe - Inks
Chris Blythe - Colors
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

Brainy and Lyle are working in the lab when a message about Colu being the next Terra Firma target appears. In the prior issue when Brainy met Lemnos, he subconsciously sent a message to himself. He, Light Lass, Cham and Saturn Girl head to Colu.

Back at HQ, Cos argues with UP reps - the Coluans have been tasked to bargain with Terra Firma except, as Cos points out, they can't be bargained with. Triplicate Girl and Sun Boy discuss his thinking of leaving the Legion. 

The away team arrives at a very sterile looking Colu, but it turns out that everything is miniaturized! They arrive at a control facility but only find virus-wiped Coluans who are conscious but have no memories. Ayla rips her way into Brainy's mother's lab, which is in a state of disarray. His mother is singing a lullaby as its the only think she can remember. Imra prods Brainy if he can reverse the affects, and he aggressively states he has to to save Colu.  The ceiling collapses in streams of zombified Coluans pour into the lab. The Legion leaves to regroup alone, but Brainy loses hope. 

Suddenly Cham's antennae sense life with no one around.  Ayla reverses gravity on everything around them, pulling up sheets of material, while Cham changes into a beast and holds Imra and Brainy. They are able to suss out Lemnos from the chaos. They spar words for a bit, Brainy vowing revenge and Lemnos stating that their problems are closer to home. Lemnos breaks Brainy's shoulder and has Terra Firma port him offworld.

Meanwhile at HQ, Phantom Girl breaks into Brainy's lab for Cos, Garth, Lyle and Luornu.

Commentary

This is the issue of the threeboot that kicked things into gear and made me want to keep reading the next several issues.  It's an incredibly well done Legion story.  First, it keeps the group small; we're only dealing with four Legionnaires on the main story, and just a few more to breadcrumb a couple other b-plots across issues, so it's easy to keep track of who's doing what. Then, the main story beats are interspersed with cool interpersonal character bits that are written (and drawn) well to keep the action flowing to the next beat while revealing interesting character information without beating it over the reader's head too much. The stakes are pretty high here - Coluan society getting mind wiped is as close to genocide of a data-driven culture as you can get, and the Legion, especially Light Lass, really delivers with the way they reveal the antagonist. This, contrasted with Cos undermining Brainy (who is undermining Cos) was fascinating to me, and I kept wanting to read what happened next.

It's almost cliche at this point, but the art is amazing.

This Legion has a weird way of both bickering and carousing at the same time. Ayla and Brainy have an interesting argument, and Cham and Imra have a fun time with Cham mimicking other Legionnaires. Similarly the Cham/Ayla interaction was fun ("So is this gesture...") as his scanning of the konapple revealed Cham's powers for this iteration but also set up an important plot point.

While the interplay of Cos talking with the UP numbskulls was done well, if somewhat tropish (the thick headed adults in charge not listening to the kids who know better), the following scene with Dirk and Lu was really well done. It ties in elements from issue 3 with Dirk calling out Luornu on her spying for Cos - and that everyone knows it.

Interesting that Cham can sense life. But Colu is presented as extremely sterile. I wonder if the Imskians had any input into the miniaturization tech; that seems like an interesting direction to mine.

Dear G0d is the swear word on Colu.  Cute. 

The wrinkle of Briany being dismissive of Ayla because of her flightiness in relation to her powers is something I'm on the fence about.  On one hand its great character trait revelation for both Ayla and Brainy. On the other hand, its also showing Brainy's arrogance (Ok, well he IS a Brainy) but also Ayla's seeming flightiness regarding her powers. Ayla's reaction ("That is the worst compliment I've ever heard") is great, though, and I feel like she really proves him wrong in the end.

Brainy's mom - interesting take given how she was used in the reboot. So I assume the Brainiac title is only given to the men?  And what happens to all these lobotomized Coluans?

Ayla's reveal of Lemnos was brilliant - well told with the mechanics across the book as well as how those pages were drawn to show the actions. A standout moment.

Grade: A.  Extremely solid outing here that not only sets up what's to come even further, it made me want to jump to the next issue right away.