Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes v5 #28 - No, THIS is the best Threeboot issue!

Released April 4, 2007
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

Mark Waid - Writer
Barry Kitson - Penciller
Mick Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti - Inkers
Nathan Eyring - Colorist
Mike Marts - Editor

Synopsis

Dream Boy floats alone in a void, soon visited by Dream Girl to give him some future advice. In Metropolis, Mon-El looks for any sign of Cosmic Boy, but is feeling feverish as the effects of the lead serum start to wear off. Brainy is upset because all avenues of getting any kinds of resources are held by the Dominators or the AI virus they've released, resulting in citizens starving or at risk.

Elsewhere, Jeckie and Shady care for a wounded Brin Londo, along with two Wanderers, a telekinetic and someone who appears to be Polar Boy.  A robot bursts into their room and is handily dispatched by a worn down Ultra Boy, who promptly collapses. 

At the former site of HQ (the second one destroyed), Phantom Girl and a couple Wanderers discuss the last ditch plan as they look for something. 

In Paris, Cosmic Boy is being tortured as Triplicate Girl and two Wanderers look on helplessly. They are looking for the location of the mass convergence location for the last stand of the Legion & Wanderers. Cos resists the torture, but the Dominators start to torture Luornu in front of him by pulling her into her different bodies unwillingly. They break one of her forearms and Lu quickly spills a location. Cos damns Luornu as she sobs. 

A host of the combined Legion/Wanderer force converges on the rendezvous point, where a transmatter portal opens and a host of Dominator soldiers come out. But its been a trap for the Dominators - the strongest Legionnaires - Supergirl, Mon-El and Ultra Boy - swoop into the portal and onto the Dominator homeworld and quickly take control of the Transmatter portal controls.  Cosmic Boy rises and subdues the Dominator torturers easily.  A portal opens on to their location to get Cosmic Boy, but Luornu finds she can't triplicate. The Legion sets foot on the Dominator homeworld. 

Commentary

Banger of an issue here. Things have rapidly gone to hell on Earth generally and Metropolis specifically, and the combined force of the Legion and the Wanderers can't seem to make a dent in the Dominator's attack. And that torture scene was perfectly done - I'd love to know who came up with the full plan, as Mekt says he knows the Dominators well, and the Legion has had no exposure to them, yet Cos' team played their role to a T - maybe too well in Luornu's case. But that part of the story made me seriously concerned in this book for the first time since Nura's death.  And speaking of, we finally get a good scene with Nura and her successor, that I'm sure will pay off soon. The Legion swooping in to pull defeat from the sharp jaws of Dominator victory was perfection! All this and the threat of Mon-El getting sick again! The issue has great pacing and packs a lot of content for the page count. I'm ready to get to the next issue ASAP!

Other notes:

Nice comment from Nura bout Dream Boy's pants. Glad to see that being dead hasn't changed her wit.

The "roll call" page has the wanderers and Legion - really cool. But the lack of character ID is not.

The scene at the rendezvous was kind of neat - the Wanderer and Legion forces seemed to be paired off with their similar counterparts, and we get an update on Lyle's freaky arm.

Last panel - Cos is giving off a HUGE Karl Urban vibe before he was a huge deal!

Grade = A+.  A Legion story at its best!

PS - I know I drag DnA a lot for their "Earth in jeopardy all the time" plots.  And it kind of seems that way here too, in hindsight.  But the difference is that for the most part, there's some kind of a build-up to the jeopardy instead of a magical switch being thrown for the sake of the story.