The Legion of Super Heroes v5 #14 - The Incredible Shrinking Violet!

Released February 1, 2006
DC Comics, Color
31 Pages

Mark Waid - Writer
Ken Lashley - Pencils
Adam DeKraker - Pencils pgs 7-12,18-20
KWL Designs - Inks and Color
Rodney Ramos - Inks pgs 7-12, 18-20
Sno Cone - Colors pgs 7-12, 18-20
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

On New Year's Eve, the UP is looking at the rubble of the Terror Firma attacks and all the negative press going their way for not listening to the Legion.  Imra's mother recommends granting the Legion official UP status and delivers it to her daughter, Garth and Tasmia. Garth, who is interim leader while Rokk is away, but he doesn't know what to make of this offer, which will make the Legion supposedly independent of, yet economically tied to the UP.

In Legion plaza, Luornu, Thom and Val, apologize to Lyle about the Atom Girl prank and Val for getting mad after Lyle blamed Atom Girl for snitching to Brainy about the lab break in.  He promptly disappears. 

At Colossal Boy's house, Ayla wakes up very confused (apparently a normal thing). Most of the team is there since Legion HQ is destroyed.  They get up for breakfast and Gim's brother jokingly orders the small Legionnaires to do his bidding.  This pisses Atom Girl off and she clocks him out.

At Legion HQ, Garth and Imra are trying to make heads or tails of the UP's offer and get feedback from the team, most of whom don't want the direct connection to the UP.  The pair go out to attend an impromptu memorial for Dream Girl.  Dirk's parents criticise them for leaving Dirk at the edge of space, then a young man with reflective powers tears through the crowd, devastated about Dream Girl because he was in love with her. 

Above Metropolis, Lyle considers his future in the Legion when Atom Girl confronts him about his using her legend as his lie about snitching while dangling him by the jacket in the air. She actually thinks its funny as it builds her rep up in the team. 

In the plaza "Reflecto" is making a mess of things, reflecting any projected powers until Triplicate Girl pins him down so Ultra Boy can subdue him, by which time the Science Police has already started making things worse.  Saturn Girl reads "Reflecto's" mind and sees that he's just an obsessed fan. The SPs keep raging until, to the shock of the rest of the Legion, Garth signs the UP agreement.

We then get a Lettercol where Karate Kid and Star Boy spar with an OMAC (a tease from the prior column) that mainly teases the coming of Supergirl to the title.

Commentary

I'm going to just put this on the front here and say this is one of my favorites for the simple reason of Violet being on the cover. She's my favorite all time, and I distinctly remember being giddy at the prior issue for her introduction and this issue for the cover. This is another A/B/C story structure that funnels down into one: Garth dealing with the choice of joining the UP, the Legion handling living in a new environment, and Invisible Kid dealing with his guilt, all funneling into a confrontation with "Reflecto" and the SPs. The events of this issue naturally lead out of the aftermath of the prior arc - the UP recognizes the Legion as a legit force (to the disapproval of many), Dream Girl's impact, as well as Lyle's are dealt with.  

Overall, I think it was all very well done. I really liked Garth being in a position of leadership and then presented with a critically tough decision, as well as being able to give a nice speech. I agree with his ultimate choice of aligning with the UP, at least at this point, given the state of things after the recent battles, but its really fun to see that most of the Legion, notably including Imra, are taken aback by the decision. The issue makes a statement on the dark side of fandom, specifically obsession, with this new "Reflecto" character. I obviously loved Vi in this story being kind of a badass, both with her aggressive nature (hinted at a couple issues prior) and her playfulness.  She is a character who is definitely more than she seems, knowing the power of a reputation. She's like a blend of the badass v3 Vi and the Leviathan reboot VI without the growth powers.

This is the first of a "breather" issue for the artists as we have an assortment of pencilers, inkers and colorists. Lashley is probably the best substitute artist after Kitson, while DeKraker does a good job on his pages.  But it all works really well. 

The one sequence that doesn't sit well with me was the Ayla scene.  It was funny on the surface, but I didn't think the implication, nor Ultra Boy's snark, plays well for me 16 years later. Maybe its being hit over the head yet again about the sexual lives of these Legionnaires, but I don't read the LSH to read Sex In The City - if I wanted that, I'd watch that show. I'd think it'd be more dramatic and soap-operaish to establish relationships and then maybe break them up versus a spin the bottle approach of who Ayla's spending the night with. Also, the specific call out of Gim's brother being gay also highlights the fact that there are no LGBT Legionnaires again. Another part that just seems thrown in is the confrontations with the Morgnas. It just seemed to be quickly acknowledged then tossed. 

A few other items worth noting:

After the events of the last couple issues the language of the intro splash page has changed.  Instead of saying "We could scream" it now says "so far so good".

The first page has a nice Iwo Jima reference with the Legion flag being hoisted. It is also quite satisfying to see these UP bureaucrats getting put in their place.

I had a fun laugh out loud/shake my head moment with the comment about Ultra Boy having three arrest warrants since noon. I'll have to wait to the future to see Jo's reaction to Garth's decision, I guess!

Interesting note about Gim's brother - he has a Star of David necklace, so it leads me to wonder about the backstory of the giants.  They are obviously human, but how did they come to grow, or more specifically, become giant normally then shrink?

Grade - A-.