Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes v5 #32 - Lord of Lightning Part 1

Released July 25, 2007
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

The Quest for Cosmic Boy - Lord of Lightning Part 1 of 2

Tony Bedard - Writer
Dennis Calero - Artist
Nathan Eyring - Colorist
Mike Marts - Editor

Synopsis

This issue picks up right after the end of 31, on Winath where Thom, Mekt and Dirk are arguing with Tenzil about what to do with Rokk once he's rounded up. Tenzil records everything through his lie detector glasses, but Thom and Mekt do a decent job of threatening him to stand down.  They enter the Ranzz home and find it empty after a massive E-M burst.

Brainy is manning the nerve center on Earth where he is fielding calls from Atom Girl needing backup on Lallor while Thom calls to ask for Kara's help - no one is answering his calls for assistance on Winath as no one is around. Brainy leaves them to their own devices. The foursome goes underground to avoid an oncoming storm - which is where most of Winathian business happens. They find "Validus" graffiti on a wall, and Mekt freaks out, thinking Tenzil planted that, and a fight breaks out between Mekt and Dirk until Thom shuts them both down. 

Mekt gives the background of Validus - a lord of lighting myth used to scare children. We get a bit deeper into Mekt's origin as a solo and how his treatment as such drove him to the cult of Validus, and that was why he was traveling to Korbal, leading to him and his siblings to get zapped with lightning powers. But because Garth and Ayla also adopted powers, the cult rejected him.  Its strongly implied that he destroyed the cult himself.   

Elsewhere underground, Tenzil tries to get a signal out and encounters two young kids. They lead him to a door, telling him the Legionnaires are dangerous and they will lead him to the mayor.  Its a trap and they lock Tenzil in the silo and start pouring grain into it. The two kids go to a candle lit room. 

The three metas fly through the underground complex, and Mekt finds his parents, who somehow zap him out of the air, saying the Lord of Lightning demands his punishment. 

Commentary

This issue is a mixed bag, but ultimately worth the time, I think.  I was initially turned off by the different, and inconsistent, art of Dennis Calero. Some frames look great, but others look like a complete mess. But the story kept me going.  The first half of this story seems to focus on this new version of Winath, where most of society is subterranean, combined with the mystery of where everybody disappeared to following the energy surge.  The second half focuses on Mekt and the Cult of Validus - an interesting way to bring that character back into the Legion fold. Solo Mekt getting seduced by a cult seems to ring true here, as does his apparent dispatching of said cult, which leads to the confrontation at the end with his possessed parents. That is keeping me interested in this story angle.

I think I was used to Calero's style by the end, as his faces seem to be overly expressive, and I honestly laughed out loud at the first picture in the book as it seemed over the top. But when it works, it works, and it definitely did so by the end of the story.   

More observations:

We see a bit of the Ranzz kids origins, and interestingly, we know that Garth and Mekt get lightning powers.  Did Ayla, as well?  If so, how did she get the gravity-nullifying powers?  More unknown backstory that IMO held this team back from the start of the series.  But it's at least good we got SOMETHING.

Tenzil was a "glasshole" way before Google Glass was invented. :D

He calls out Terror Firma as a terrorist cell - good call, that. 

Neat bit of world building about Winath doing most everything underground.

Thom gets the best line of the issue - Acting like Uranuses - Hah! 

Tenzil getting trapped in the silo was funny, but I wasn't concerned about him. :)

Grade: B.