Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes v5 #35 - ERG-onomics part 2!! More Wildfire!

 

Released October 31, 2007
DC Comics, Color
23 Pages

The Quest for Cosmic Boy: E.R.G.Onomics Part 2 of 2

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

Synopsis

We pick up right from the end of issue 34, with feral, powered up Timber Wolf going after ERG-1. Tasmia accuses Brainy of deliberately powering up Brin. 

Over the comm link, Randall is upset with Drake for not being able to take out Brin. Tasmia and Salu note that Drake is talking to Randall and ask Brainy to monitor the signal, which he already has done. 

ERG-1 is unable to blast TWolf, but does kick him away, so Shadow Lass takes him on. Atom Girl also assumes Brainy is behind ERG-1, but Brainy asks for patience. She jumps into the president's office and notices the land line on the president's desk. 

Drake knocks out Tasmia while his brother Randall keeps barking orders over the comm channel. He goes into the presidential office and we get to the scene with Atom Girl that issue 34 started with her flirting. Drake gets irritated with Randall and kills the comms with him.  

Atom Girl confronts Drake about why he needs to kill the president, and we learn that Randall has told Drake that he has a finite amount of time to finish the task - he needs to get back to his tank in a certain amount of time to stay cohesive. He can only be in the suit for an hour at a time. Atom Girl says that Brainy can help him out. 

At Randall's place, the phone rings, and Atom Girl jumps out of the phone; after a brief confrontation she knocks him out. She rode the landline to Randall's hideout.  After examining the tank, Brainy concludes that Drake probably never had to use it at all and that he was lied to by Randall. Randall goes into custody, and ERG-1 becomes a Legionnaire. Brainy contacts Lightning Lad to get to Supergirl, but she's missing. 

37 minutes prior to that moment, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad and Supergirl grouse about her reliance upon Briany for the mission breakouts as they fly over the Gobi rainforest. The three encounter Evolvo Lad on a pyramid. He states his purpose must be secret. Supergirl challenges him on that and he turns into his neanderthal, form who takes out Garth and Kara easily.  Imra calls Brainy for help while machinery senses a time incursion for the 21st century. 

Commentary

Another pretty fun issue with a lot going on. I was pretty sure they were going to make sure that Drake was redeemed at the end of his story, and that was well drawn out, even if a bit trope-ish.  Some really good story elements - The first page has a lot of good drama in it. Tasmia is upset at Brainy for what she thinks he did to Brin, and at Vi for her being an apologist for Brainy. Then we get threeboot Brainy's suffering arrogance at being bothered. The bit between Salu and Querl I found engaging "I guess neither one of us are murderers."  Still begs the question of why she's packing double heat if she never uses them that much; she could have shot Randall's kneecap or something without it being fatal. Still, it was nice to get that story resolved halfway through the issue with the promise of Wildfire joining the team; it showed a bit tighter storytelling and editing versus the Winath storyline. That being said, we don't know what Brin's current status is.

The second half, dealing with Kara, Garth and Imra, was also pretty well done, although I liked Evolvo Lad the best. He's brought in as a clear enigma as to his purpose. In a lot of past portrayals, his unevolved form seemed more ape than man - here its definitely Neanderthal-ish, which is a great touch! And we are given the mystery/cliffhanger to expect something to happen to Kara by the end of the storyline. 

I find that I think I like Calero's art better when things are happening in the brighter colored daylight versus the darker scenes we have had on Lallor and Winath. Still, I think this is probably his best work so far.

Grade: A-