Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes v5 #20 - Big Trouble!


Released July 19, 2006
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

The United Planets Presents The Legion of Super Heroes

Mark Waid & Tony Bedard - Screenplay
Barry Kitson - Director
Adam DeKraker - Cinematographer
Mick Gray - Line Producer
Nathan Eyring - Technicolor
Stephen Wacker - Editor

Synopsis

At Legion Plaza, the new HQ is dedicated with a big sponsorhip sign of the UP on the top. The Legion groupies are confused as to what's going on as the UP continues to roll a video to the crowd basically undermining the Legion's message of rebellion. Something alerts a break in to the UP Headquarters building, where delegate Ardeen and others are watching the crowd and the video. Cos, Garth, Imra, Brin, Thom and Jo bust in and demand the video stop, as they were never asked for approval.  Garth signing the contract in haste has come to bite them. Other alerts from across the world appear with giants attacking other cities.

Brainy, Ayla and Jan are in an old L.E.G.I.O.N. cruiser looking at the Crab Pulsar, which is part of Brainy's plan to bring back Nura. Jan tries to convince Brainy to let go. It doesn't work.

At HQ,  Cos and team are trying to make sense of the eight Giant attacks. Dream Boy joins the meeting, trying to be relevant, but is bullied by Ultra Boy. Each team goes over their missions.

Triplicate Girl and Lightning Lad handle one giant trying to steal an artifact before he was stopped by Supergirl.

Projectra tells her mission of her and Brin taking on a female giant. Projectra creates an image of Colossal Boy that sets the giant off; he's not well liked by these kids. Brin starts to jump in but Supergirl takes care of this giant as well. 

In both stories, the team is frustrated with Supergirl. Something about Kara makes Rokk uneasy, but she's listened to the whole thing.  However, she's not at all upset.  And we get the backstory of the Giants - basically created by Bizarro Brainiac 200 years prior.

In Big City jail. Gim is trying to understand what set these kids off. Apparently someone is recruiting them into a new group. 

Back in space, Atom Girl jumps out of Lemnos' tube as Brainy preps to take it into the pulsar. Essentially Brainy is using Lemnos' ability to process data and the power of the pulsar to rebuild Dream Girl. 

Back at HQ, Rokk and Kara have a candid discussion that turns into flirting. Rokk wonders if what's making him uneasy around Kara is love.

Commentary

Pretty good issue here. Solid work from the artists and the story moves the meta plot along without creating any major waves. I'm a little surprised that the writers didn't spend more time on the "sellout" aspect of the story, as I'd think it would make much more of a splash given the first fourteen issues.  Maybe it will be addressed coming up. Although the giant invasion was slightly odd in its telling, I did find it fascinating as we finally learn why there are human giants! I'm glad they finally addressed this plot point. And it looks as if we are getting to the big moment of Brainy trying to bring back Nura. Rokk having a crush on Kara is a neat idea, and hopefully one that relaxes him a bit as a character.

It looks like we have three plots moving forward from now: Dream Girl resurrection, Robot Rebellion, and whoever this new team is.  I am guessing it's Star Boy's new team, if anyone, created after the perceived selling out of the Legion to the UP. 

A few other notes:

We're given confirmation the old HQ used to be a jail, which was hinted at during the first year. 

Hey, look at that - Jo's a dick again! I'm so surprised. 

The girls on this team REALLY consider Kara to be a threat to their femininity.

All the giants live in Big City in Antarctica, now near the equator with Australia as the south pole, and Bizarro Brainiac made them big! I'm glad that we received this breakdown and honestly would love to hear more, even though I can't stand anything Bizarro. Its a testament to the Waid/Kitson team that we've been able to go this long with this new team and world, yet still be pretty good with the lack of information about this universe. 

Grade - B.  Solid issue but nothing major happens.





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