The Legion of Super Heroes (v5) #8 - Family Feud!

Released July 27, 2005

DC Comics, Color
29 Pages

Cover Title - Family Feud!

Mark Waid - Writer
Kevin Sharpe - Guest Penciller
Prentis Rollins - Guest Inker
Sno Cone - Colorist
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

Element Lad and Colossal Boy bust a ring of pirates who pose as Legionnaires and sell passage to young Legion fans before spacing them and keeping the money. 

At Legion HQ, Triplicate Girl, Star Boy and Light Lass deal with the ramifications of breaking into Brainys lab at the end of last issue. Cos chides Star Boy for doubting his leadership and busts through the lab force field. Cos pleads for unity in the face of approaching war and open communication.

At UP HQ, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl and Dream Girl plead with Lon Norg (Lyle's dad) about prepping for the war with Lemnos. He doesn't believe their story about Lemnos, even though he complains about his destabilizing effects and orders them arrested.  Garth throws back at Norg the fact that he can't remember how he got his promotion.

Back at Legion HQ, Ayla goes to check on Projectra who hasn't been seen in days. She's still mourning but has gained something. Element Lad informs Cos they aren't bankrupt, but Cos is suspicious. Sun Boy tries to quit to make his own way, but Cos refuses as it will make him look ineffectual and he complains about the team - broadcast by Brainiac 5 who was following Cos' orders about open communications among the team. 

Cos charges at Brainy's lab but is repelled by a stronger force field. Ultra Boy attacks Cos. Colossal Boy attacks Ultra Boy. Imra makes Jo power down so Garth can fry him. Val gets mad at Imra. Gim tries to grab Val who promptly throws him through the wall of HQ. Star Boy weighs down Val, and Shadow Lass blinds Thom. The team has picked sides and they start fighting. Cos asks Brainy if this is his idea of leadership. Brainy suggests that Cos' leadership is limited, and Cos causes a magnetic surge that makes all the Legion rings stick to the wall and tells people they can stay with Brainy or follow him.  

Then the final news twist - Braal has seceded from the UP and anyone offworld will be exiled.

Commentary

This was an interesting issue for me.  I liked it a lot, but it didn't really kick in until Cos starts to have his freak out and everything unravels. There is a lot of truth in this issue based on how these Legionnaires have been presented across the last eight issues. Namely, these teens have very grating personalities for the most part and open conflict within the team is inevitable. The challenging part here is that there has always been some level of contention between Cos and Brainy that has escalated in the last few issues, but Brainy's attitude towards everyone else makes me think others wouldn't necessarily gravitate towards him as leader, and his sly move of turning Cos' mic on to broadcast his rant makes me not trust Brainy.

Of course, Cos does nothing in this issue to show that he's a capable leader.  Indeed, he basically breaks under pressure and makes matters worse.  The Legionnaires then do a lot to put their worse foot forward; Imra turning off Jo's power was cool, but obviously problematic.  That said, I *really* enjoyed Garth frying Ultra Boy's ass here. But most of the rest of them are just as bad. The way it ended with the twist of Braal's secession was good; although to be honest, I was almost happy with the fact that Cos may be leaving.  The other side stories are serviceable and add several things to advance the larger plot - Something is going on with Projectra, and Lyle's dad was promoted by Lemnos in the SP ranks, but he doesn't remember; the whole thing with his overreaction was a little bit tropey to me. The opening scene where Gim and Jan bust the pirates was good, but didn't add much except for the revelation that Jan's powers only work for a minute before whatever he transformed reverts back. 

There is a guest artist team in this issue and they all do a good job.  Not quite to Kitson standards, but solid nonetheless, although I thought some of the faces were a bit inconsistently drawn.  We even get a return of Sno Cone studios here, who had done a lot of coloring on the prior series. 

Cos is getting an upgrade here with the ability to disrupt force fields.  And goodwill on the team, apparently.

Grade B+.  I'm giving it a B as the entirety of the story doesn't really start to flow until the confrontation with Sun Boy, and the opening and Projectra scenes seem kind of random.

The Plus is for showing how Imra would have really dealt with a freaking out Ultra Boy (I'm looking at you DnA, for padding a series!)