Legion of Super Heroes v5 #42 - Fear and Clothing???



Released May 28, 2008
DC Comics, Color
22 Pages

Enemy Rising Part 3:Fear and Clothing

Jim Shooter - Writer
Francis Manapul - Penciller
Livesay - Inker
Jo Smith - Colorist
Mike Marts - Editor

Synopsis

Lightning Lad rouses Colossal Boy from sleep to go on a mission. He, and most of the Legionnaires, have new uniforms. Several Legionnaires head to Rimbor to help repel the Alien invaders.  Once there, Imra briefly takes over Jo to use his ultra vision & she, Jo and Cham fly down to draw the invaders away.  Atom Girl, Gim and Star Boy will hit them from behind. Jo ends up taking on multiple invaders and he doesn't switch back to invulnerability fast enough - he's taken out. The aliens are adapting as the Legionnaires press the attack. A dazed Jo puts the moves on Imra as she tries to get him moving again.  He kisses her then jumps back into action. He does a much better job with the aliens as Atom Girl and Saturn Girl mostly use blasters against the creatures.

Back on Earth, Lyle is roused from prison and taken home to his family.  He and his father appear to come to terms. He tells his mother and father about his latest adventures and Giselle.  

On Rimbor, the battle does not go well, until Thom has an interesting idea of creating "air hammers" by making sections of atmosphere above the critters super heavy and slams into them.  Meanwhile, Gim bursts out from underground. 

At HQ, Brainy and Garth discuss the fact that no one knows  who ordered the new uniforms.

On Rimbor, Cham notes one of the aliens firing a beam at some vegetation.  He's able to scan the alien and is able to morph into one of them. He quickly shifts into a larger creature and destroys the invader. 

Back at HQ, Garth and Brainy discuss the fact that the UP Government hates the legion when Mr. Popoff arrives to ask for a favor.  The UP Young Heroes are in trouble on a mission and he wants the Legion to help.  But its a ruse. After Garth sends the aid, Popoff sends in the Science Police with a search warrant.

At Rimbor, Jo turns himself into an invulnerable missile and rips through more invaders, finishing the fight.  But as they prepare to return home, the local police arrive to arrest Ultra Boy.

Commentary

Overall, this is an okay issue.  I feel like the art seems a little more rushed than usual, but that may just be me looking at the new uniforms in the context of the current art.  Some of the faces looked a little off as well.  

Speaking of the new uniforms, not sure what the rationale is here for that.  I guess Manapul wanted to make his own mark on the book and freshen things up.  They are fine, I guess, but I really like Vi's skirt uniform, a design that would move forward into the retroboot (sans guns). It makes sense in-story with M'Rissey lurking about, but I feel like it should have been done sooner.

Story-wise, this moves along at a pretty good clip, although I'm starting to tire of these creatures at this point.  I feel like we should be at a point where we need to start figuring out ways to beat them, or have a better idea of who sent them. After six issues, it seems like we are kind of on a loop here. That said, I thought Star Boy's solution of the air hammer was wicked cool and pretty original.  I also enjoyed the tricky nature of Mr. Popov and am interested in where that is heading.

Another note - I'm really glad that we are getting a bit of reconnection between Lyle and his family.  Given the fact that the adults v kids tone was shone via Lyle's story at the outset of this version of the Legion, its good to see that changing.

Also, I'm not enjoying this as much either as it has a lot of Ultra Douche in this issue. I can't stand this version of Jo Nah and his behavior here with Imra shows why. Any time this jerk is given significant dialogue, I knock the score down a bit.

A few other notes:

Who's Suzy Porter?  Its on some kind of a souvenier in Gim's quarters.

I really hope Jo gets arrested and thrown in prison for life.

The Napoleon joke between Vi and Gim didn't work at all for me. 

Grade: B-.  Some good moments scattered around a retread of an issue.


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