Legion of Super-Heroes v5 # 46 - Imperiatrix: Enemy Manifest Part 2!

Released September 24, 2008
DC Comics, Color
22 Pages

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

Synopsis

Bodies scatter as Invisible Kid runs away from Saturn Girl and Ultra Boy, who are trying to cover up their nakedness in the pantry. Jo tells Lyle "its not what you think." He then tells Imra to wipe Lyle's mind. They both decide to come clean with Garth.  Meanwhile, Garth and Element Lad are accepting the thanks of the UP President for Brainiac 5's fixing of the solar system crisis. After Garth and Jan leave, Popoff is challenged if the UPYH could have solved the crisis. 

At HQ, Lyle gives Garth some bad news that we don't here. Jo tries to confess to Garth, but Garth reads him the riot act for not having his ring active when he was needed. As punishment, Garth puts him on patrol and orders him away before he can confess that he was banging Garth's girlfriend. Phantom Girl visits Projectra, who is grieving her parents, but is buoyed somewhat by the new uniform. They chat a bit, as Tinya tells Jeckie she can't be demanding people to behave for her, and Tinya reads her a comic book.

In Metropolis, Ultra Boy handles multiple rogue UPYH candidates. Brainiac, Star Boy and Light Lass return to HQ and talk to Invisible Kid.  Lyle informs Brainy that Cham had unknowingly replicated a key component of the alien invaders during the Rimbor fight. Cham duplicates the weapon with his arm, and Brainy promptly chops it off to analyze it. There is a possible conneciton between the intruder planet and the aliens.

Garth and M'Rissey chat about Legion business. Sales of merchandise are taking off, Lyle is pardoned, apparently Jo is off the hook for vehicular manslaughter, but Projectra may have a legal problem. Speaking of Projectra, Tinya is getting tired of reading the same comic to her over and over. Timber Wolf visits Projectra, now distraught that she has to be psysche-scanned for her behavior. She goes to clean her face in the bathroom when some Orandan survivors communicate her via the mirror. She is gaining even more powers due to her position, and they want to use that to exact revenge for Orando. They hand her a potion through the mirror that will help with her scan the next day.

Imra confronts Garth and ends up having to confess to what happened between her and Jo. Brainy and Lyle show up just as a tearful Imra runs away from a furious Garth. Distracted, they tell him that the intruder planet is likely to launch a massive attack shortly. Jo arrives and they talk. He admits to what they did, but says nothing happened. But Imra apparently says otherwise. Despite wanting to fry the asshole, Garth acts like a leader and tells Jo he'll be needed in the coming fight, but to stay away from him.  Projectra passes her scan easily. Lyle tells Jo he didn't rat him out as Imra cries in the corner.

Commentary

Well. What can I say here?  At least the plot moves forward. But it does so uber-horrible plot elements. Where to begin? The whole bit about he said/she said with Jo and Imra and their takes on things was done well to drag it out through the book, but we end up not really hearing any of it, at least the contentious bit about Imra's perspective. If there is some other perspective over what we saw - namely the implication that Imra may have been puppeting Jo - it needs to be told to the audience, but Imra had just refused to blank out Lyle's mind. Both of these characters have descended into a bad place and taking bedrock characters there is not a great idea.  It was one of the worst aspects of the DnA Legion, and it is failing here just as predictably. To make matters worse, Shooter is clearly trying to set up a romantic relationship between the UP president and Garth. 

Then we get to the Brainy and Cham scene. We were told way back in the first ten issues that Cham only mimics the form, not function, of the things he changes into. Therefore, cutting off his hand was a horrible and useless act based on what we know, so it seems to me that Shooter is basically doing things with the characters to make the plot that he wants. Really bad call there. A good scene that had Brin and Projectra starting to connect, but then has a weird moment with her interacting with others via a mirror, which was not quite as weird as Brin using the word 'loo' to describe a toilet.  This will definitely be what propels the plot, but Shooter is taking Legionnaires and really turning them into bad, unlikeable characters, even more so that they already were. Now I find this version of Jo Nah completely unsalvegeable and I have zero empathy for Imra. And Jeckie is a villain. I guess that's better than her being a snake, right?  RIGHT??? (I'm looking at you, reboot critics!)

What did I like?  I liked the interplay between Tinya and Jeckie; those scenes had some good chemistry, and was a bit touching, even though I suspect more is going on here. M'Rissey asking Garth for a note was funny. Garth being distracted in the scene where Brainy and Lyle brief him about the planet was well done.  The Projectra bathroom scene oddly enough reminded me of the latest Matrix movie where most of the cross-world interactions are done via mirrors. 

The thing I like the best is that I am just a few more issues from being done with this flailing run!

Grade = D+.  FML....