R.E.B.E.L.S. #19 and #20 - DC

After defeating Brainiac, during the storyline in the Superman titles, Vril Dox, Brainiac 2, brought him to Colu. Vril is a clone of his 'father'. And as such, he has the usual resentment and inadequacy issues. Although I'm sure he'll be the last to admit it. Anyways, Vril saw this action as more than just incarcerating a 'bad-guy'. Vril saw this as a way to show his father that he was superior . . that he could best him. And I'm sure it's a relief to have him out of the way . . considering all the grand schemes and machinations that Vril is continually concocting. However, even though he considers himself an intellect, Vril couldn't resist gloating a little bit in front of him before leaving the planet. Not a good idea. Especially when it comes to Brainiac. So, at the same time all of this is going on, Vril's son Lyrl, Brainiac 3, has constructed the ultimate weapon of destruction . . an artificial intelligence star called Pulsar Stargrave. Well while Vril is gloating to his 'father', Lyrl is attacking Colu. Which accidentally sets Brainiac free. When Lyrl attacks Colu he wants 2 things. He wants the ruling council to surrender to him. And he wants access to the data-core . . all the compiled knowledge or the Coluans . . the Universe's smartest race. But while he's trying to argue with the council, Brainiac has taken control of the data-core himself. Which leaves Vril and Lyrl having to combine forces, and . . while Lyrl is attacking Brainiac directly with Pusar Stargrave, Vril goes off to get a secret weapon . . Lobo! After returning to Colu, Vril is at first concerned that he may have made a mistake. But after Brainiac hijacks the controls of Pulsar Stargrave, he realizes that Lobo is the only one capable of slowing him down. During all of this, Lobo has a Red Lantern ring around his neck, but . . he never uses it. I'm not sure why. Anyways, Vril and Lyrl attack Brainiac, knowing that they don't stand much of a chance, but . . Vril also knows that Brainiac would never give up the chance to acquire more knowledge. In thier defeat Brainiac will try to siphon all the knowledge out of their heads. But Vril has a secret weapon. Because of his issues with his 'father', Vril has a lot of emotions that have built up over the years, as well as baggage. But he knows that this is a weakness so he's set up mental blocks to lock all of this stuff away . . to hide it. Brainiac will see this as a challenge and will assimilate it before he has a chance to realize what it is. In the end, Vril wins. Not only because he weakens Brainiac, but also because he leaves him with the emotions and resentments that he's built up. 'Now you know what it feels like to be your 'son'.' But Brainiac does escape, with Pulsar Stargrave and the Data-core. And with the ruling council dead, Vril and Lyrl are going to have to figure out how to rebuild Colu. As well as dealing with Lobo . . now that the job that he's been hired to do is done. But first they're going to have to deal with the Green Lanterns that have come to arrest them. I think Tony Bedard does a fantastic job with this book. It's very structured and precise, as you would expect from Vril. There's also a couple of different themes floating around here. It's a Police story, as well as one of Outlaws. But there's also a kind of 'spy' and 'espionage' type of theme to it. And I've really enjoyed this Brainiac story-line. Also Claude St Aubin continues to improve every issue with his pencils. This book has a great look and feel to it. Our 2 covers here are by Kalman Andrasofszky and David Finch. David draws a pretty mean looking Lobo. I may have to rethink my belief that Simon Bisley is the definitive Lobo artist. Anyways, this is a great series. It's worth picking up . . if you're not.

Legion of Super-heroes #3 - DC

Well, if nothing else . . Earth-Man is certainly shaking up the status-quo of the Legion. The Legion, or Brainiac 5, doesn't know yet that Earth-Man used his Green Lantern ring to short-circuit the tracking device on his Legion ring. However, Earth-Man may have just been to smart for his own good. He kept the Green Lantern ring because he knew of the power it posessed. However, he wasn't aware that each ring comes with an obligation . . a sector of space that they're required to patrol. And now he's fighting with Colossal Boy because he's trying to leave. Gim doesn't understand that he's not trying to leave because he wants to . . well he does, but . . he's being compelled to right now by the ring. There's someone in the sector that he's been assigned that needs his help. But the Legion is still wary, so they send a team to follow him. And it's a good thing he does because he gets in over his head and the Legion has to bail him out. Kirt is already a xenophobe so, he's not to thrilled about being compelled to go to another galaxy to help out an alien race that he certainly doesn't give to squats about. When the mission is complete he gets rid of the ring and tosses it onto the planet. 'Take me back to Earth, Legionnaires . . let the Guardians name a bug Lantern . . I've had it with playing Green Lantern.' But when the ring lands, we see that embryo kind of looking creature that we've seen before. The Legion also has to confront Saturn Queen . . who's stirring up trouble out in the rubble that was once Titan. She's also holding Brainiac 5, Tyroc and Wildfire captive. But when the other Legionnaires show up . . it's just to much for her. And Garth and Irma are still out looking for their boys. They were abducted in some form of mystical flash. When Irma gives Garth the mental image that thier son saw as he was being taken, he figures out it was Avalon. It used to be a medieval world full of 'creepy magic'. However, when they arrive, they find the planet is bustling, and they see a giant statue of Darkseid. We also see a gaggle of Durlans who seem to be plotting some form of revenge against the Legion because they feel that they let RJ Brande die. So, as you can see, Paul Levitz has the Legion going in all different directions. Which is good . . it's realistic, especially considering the sheer number of members that they have. It's really the only way to work all of these various characters into the plot-lines. And I'm sure it takes a considerable amount of effort on Paul's part. But he's doing a terrific job with it. I think everybody has a favorite Legion member, and it sucks when they don't show up in one of the issues. The way Paul fills up these books, it's a pretty good chance you'll see yours. I'm also impressed with Yildiray Cinar's pencils. But he does have Francis Portela helping him a bit this issue. I liked Yildiray's work on Noble Causes. I thought he was improving with every issue. Now I think he's doing a great job. The variant cover, once again is by Jim Lee. Overall I really enjoyed the book. I definitely think that Paul and Yildiray are on the right track.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #18 - DC

After the events in Adventure Comics . . this issue Vril Dox takes his father, Brainiac, home to Colu. He's not his actual biological father. Not in the sense that we think of it. Vril is actually Brainiac's clone. Anyways, in Adventure, with the help of the Legion, Brianiac was subdued, and it's Vril's pleasure to return him to Colu and a thought-cell. However, at the same time . . as we saw at the end of the last issue, Lyrl, Vril's actual son, has created Pulsar Stargrave and is planning on using him to destroy Colu. When word of what is going on hits the masses, Lyrl is quick to step up and take credit. But at the same time Vril is with Brainiac talking to him, and when Brainiac finds out what's going on, he's deeply distressed . . pissed even. He busts out of his cell and says, 'No! No more Brainiacs. I share nothing. Not my knowledge . . and certainly not my name.' So it looks like Lyrl is going to have to come face to face with his father if he wants to take control of this planet. I'm betting that wasn't a confrontation that he was anticipating. Meanwhile, with the REBELS, we learn a little bit about Captain Comet's history. And we see that there seems to be a budding romance between him and Starfire. That wasn't something that I expected, but . . I can see where it's coming from. The only thing we don't really deal with this issue in New Rann. Or new Tamaran. Whatever it's being called right now. The only real reference this issue is when Vril announces that Komand'r and her people have settled the southern continent. Tony Bedard writes this story, with Claude St Aubin doing the art. As usual . . they both do a great job. I think this is a good book. And this issue, the first chapter of the Sons of Brainiac storyline, would be a good point to jump in for people that don't normally follow it. I'm just sayin'. This book has a lot going on.

Adventure Comics #516 - DC

Well now that the Legion has wrapped up the adventure that RJ Brande has sent them on . . fixing the time-line, and saving Superman during the War of the Supermen storyline, they've come back to the future and are ready to view the rest of Brande's last will & testament. It was a good story. It showed a lot of the elements of the rich history that has made the Legion so great. And for new-comers, it showed how serendipity brought everyone together . . Rokk, Irma and Garth, on the flight that Brande was taking back to Earth to try to recover it's greatest hero . . Superman. Shortly after they end of saving his life. And that was the match that started the bonfire that spread across the future universe . . the Legion of Super-heroes. It's kind of funny because we didn't discover Brande's connection to the Legion, and specifically to Chameleon Boy until, I think, the 80's. But to people just starting to follow the Legion now? They get all of that information right up front. Which is cool because the past is the past. It's been written . . it's known, now . . now it's time to move on and create new stories. I think this issue was kind of set up to pull it all together . . to fill in the reader of what came before. And now, with the next issue, we can move on to bigger and better things. I love the Legion. And even though I felt like this issue was basically a recap. I still enjoyed it. I'm thrilled that Paul Levitz will be chronicling their adventures. And I think Kevin Sharpe is doing a great job on the pencils. I can't wait to see more. I also enjoyed the Atom back-up story. It's good to see Ray Palmer back. Even if he does seem to be the target of the Calculator. And it appears his father is in dire straights. This one comes straight out of the Atom one-shot, with the same creative team of Jeff Lemire and Mahmud Asrar. This also looks to be an interesting story. I can't wait to see where it goes.

Legion of Super-heroes #2 - DC

Well, with the Legion back in action, it appears that Paul Levitz will be focusing on the current xenophobic nature of the citizens of Earth. All of that started in the Earth-man story. Now it's carrying over here. Plus, Earthgov has demanded that the Legion accept Earth-man into their ranks. Which . . isn't really sitting well with anyone. Including Earth-man. But right now the Legion has other things to worry about. Last issue Titan, the planet that Saturn-girl is from, blew up. Luckily they were able to save most of it's citizens, but . . now there's a hundred thousand refugees . . obviously from off-planet, needing a place of refuge. Of course the Legion offers up Earth, but . . that's probably not the smartest move right now. They're looking for someplace more permanent for them, but . . there's not a lot of other races out there that are willing to accept the inclusion of these very adept mind-readers into their general population. Brainy may have to get a little creative to solve this problem. Which brings up yet another issue. Brainy, as well as a few other Legionnaires are amidst the destruction of Titan. They're trying to make sure that the space-lanes are clear. And that none of Titan's pieces cause any problems with any other planets. However, as they're doing this, Saturn Queen returns because she wants to see what's happened with her home planet. She takes over Brainy's mind, and from there . . Ultra-boy. I guess she's decided that she wants a plaything with which to strike back at the Legion. However, her interference couldn't have come at a worse time. She sends Ultra-boy to attack Legion headquarters, but . . the Legion is already wrapped up with the refugees, and trying to deal with this xenophobe behaviour. Meanwhile, Garth is on Winath trying to look into Mekt claims. He's always thought that he was an aberration . . someone born on Winath without a twin. But now he claims that he was actually taken away from his twin, and that his 'other-self' is out there . . somewhere. But Garth is interrupted by Ayla when she comes to tell him that his 2 sons have disappeared. They know that Irma got into a time bubble, so . . they assume that she's gone after them. But regardless, Garth can't continue on this fool's quest with his sons in danger out there. We also see that Irma went back to the exact time that the boys were taken. She's trying to get an image from their minds of what they see as they're crossing over. She's hoping that will give her some kind of clue as to where they went. Also, Dream Girl, Dawnstar and Gates are on their own mission to bring Earthgov's reassurances to the outer worlds. But Gates definitely doesn't believe in the validity of their mission. And finally, amidst all of this, Earthman has another secret he's been keeping from the Legion. In the last issue he received a Green Lantern rings. This issue, behind their backs, he's been trying to learn how to use it. He also uses it to override the booby-trapped flight ring that Brainy had given him. So, essentially . . he's more of a loose cannon now than he was before. I think Paul is doing a great job with this book. He's got a whole lot of story-lines going, with a tremendous amount of character involvement. Not every writer out there can pull that off. But Paul's doing it in spades. I'm also enjoying Yildiray Cinar's art. He's one of those guys that just seems to improve with every issue. Francis Portela is also helping him out. I'm thrilled that this book is back. As well as the cross-over stories that will be occurring with Adventure Comics. It's a great time to be a Legion fan.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #17 - DC

There's something about this book that I really like. It may be Vril Dox . . his irreverent attitude, and his scheming and manipulations. It could just be the plethora of characters that this title taps in to. Between the participants in REBELS, the LEGION, the Omega Men, and all the various races out here in this little corner of the galaxy . . there's definitely no shortage of unique or interesting characters. Or it could just be that the settings for the stories are so much different than what we usually deal with . . with all the DC 'superhero' titles. But I think it's the marriage of all of this combined. I especially like the current direction that Tony Bedard is taking us in. To lay out the pieces for you . . Tamaran, obviously, was destroyed. Rann was razed by Synnar and became a lifeless husk. Leaving the Rannians living on Throneworld, and the Tamaranians wandering the universe. Anyways, Vril also needs a new home-base for his LEGION operations. So he thinks outside the box and basically solves everybody's problems. He moves Rann into Tamaran's old orbit, and then begins terraforming the planet. The Rannians have a new home, and Vril has a base for LEGION. However, when Blackfire finds out what happened she get pissed. But Vril also handles that by offering her one of the southern continents of this planet for her people. And finally, since the Rannians and the Thanagarians don't have to share a planet, he brokers a peace between them. The biggest problem, I think, is just going to be the location . . the Vega sector. A sector known for it's lawlessness. I mean, it's home to the Psions, the Tamaranians, the Okaarans and the Gordanians and the Citadel. It's quite the eclectic melting pot of warrior races. And now it's got 2 rookie Green Lanterns watching over it . . Altin Admos, from Okaara, and Gorius Karkum, a female Psion. Have we ever seen a female Psion? Anyways, while all of this is going on, and they're in the process of rebuilding a planet . . Vril's son, Lyrl, has been creating something of his own. He's created Pulsar Stargrave . . 'A sentient Solaris Class Macroprocessor created when imploding a neutron star.' I don't think he'll earn a merit-badge for that little experiment. Anyways, his plan is to visit his grandfather in jail, spring him . . 'and suck his exquisite brain dry.' As a plan goes . . that doesn't seem to be a good one. Plus, you just know it's going to come crashing down around him. So . . I really like this series. I think it's got a lot of originality and fresh ideas. I think Tony has done a great job so far. Sergio Arino fills in on the art this issue. I like the current direction. And this is one of those books that I can't wait to see what happens. Because it's very rarely what we expect.

Adventure Comics #12 - DC

Well . . DC seems to be trying to charge $3.99 for as many of it's books as it can. But, at least for that charge you get 30 pages of art, instead of the usual 21 or 22. They started out doing it with back-up stories. But every now and than, as with this issue, they just stick the extra pages onto the main story. Which in this issue, with Superboy and the Legion being the source . . it's a very special treat. This story gives us one of Superboy's very first visits into the future. He knows who the Legionnaires are, but . . he hasn't actually seen where they come from. Overall, it was a pretty basic story. But, if you're a Legion fan like I am, it was still pretty cool. Basically, it was under the premise that . . Superboy visits the future, but . . rather than following along with the normal tour, as provided by Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5 or Phantom Girl . . Clark has his own to do list for the day. The funny thing is though, I don't think that it was necessarily a list for this specific day, but rather a list for the day that Clark finally was allowed to venture out of Smallville. It includes . . '1 See the city, 2 Test what my powers can do, 3 Play a ballgame without holding back, 4 Have fun at party, 5 Kiss a girl without my glasses on, 6 Be myself'. And with the help of the Legionnaires he able to do all of that and more. But of course, before going home, Saturn Girl has to tweak his memory a bit so that he doesn't remember anything that he's learned about the future. Also this visit to the future was before RJ Brande had died. You know, the whole Lightning Saga, and Legion of 3 Worlds and all that. So, as much fun as it was reading this issue, next issue is advertised as . . 'Brande Speaks! (and the real story of how the Legion was founded)'. As a long-time fan, I'm pretty sure how that story goes, but . . with Paul Levitz writing it, it'll be interesting to see what he adds to what we know so far. Or if he changes anything. Overall I really liked this issue. It was brought to us by Paul and Kevin Sharpe. Oh yeah . . and, next issue we start a new back-up feature . . the Atom. Ray Palmer is back in the DC Universe . . the full-sized version, and I guess these stories will be spinning out of his adventures in Brightest Day. Also . . nice covers by Scott Clark and Lee Bermejo.

Legion of Super-heroes #1 - DC

Not only is the Legion back this month, but . . so to is Paul Levitz. Well . . that is to say . . Paul never really went away, but . . he hasn't scripted the Legion in quite a while, so . . some would say he's back home again. My only question is . . and this is nothing against Paul, but . . what about Jim Shooter? It just seems strange to me that he took over near the end of the last title, but now he's not here. I know he busy relaunching his titles over at Dark Horse, but I also know that he's always had a special affinity towards the Legion. But I'm just asking . . I'm not complaining. I'm more than happy that Paul will be heading up the creative talent on this book. This time around Yildiray Cinar will be doing the art. Yildiray cut his teeth on Noble Causes, but . . he's come a long way since. I was a little concerned when I saw that he would be doing this book. I thought he showed a lot of promise at Image, but . . I wasn't always thrilled with his art. But since then, he's done a few projects for DC, and I think he's progressed quite nicely. Overall, this issue looks really good. There's a couple of panels, here and there, that are a little wonky, but . . he did do 39 pages of art for this issue, so . . a few minor problems can be forgiven. Paul throws a whole lot of stuff at us this issue, so . . I'm just gonna kind of list it out. First of all, the whole story is framed around the circumstances of Earth-Man. You remember, the guy that led the xenophobic revolt against the Legion in Action Comics. The one that dealt with the JLA of the future. Anyways, they got him incarcerated, and are constantly draining his powers, but . . there seems to be the usual bureaucracy and subterfuge in the government as they're forcing the Legion to take him on as a member. That seems to be the newest 'condition' for them to keep their base on Earth. Meanwhile, the Time Institute has moved it's base to Titan, and no sooner do they get powered up than there's a major FUBAR. One of the scientists demands that the first thing they view with the new monitoring screen is the dawn of creation. Hello? Haven't they read any of the cautionary tales from the Green Lanterns or anything? Of course there's a huge explosion, from the backlash of energy, and Titan's fate is sent on a downward spiraling path. By the end of the issue the whole planet, or moon, is destroyed. But it's sent other repercussions throughout the universe also. On OA, where Sodam Yat is the final Green Lantern, the chain of events seems to have triggered some long dormant initiative by the Guardians. Sodam is met by Dyogene, a slug or embryo kind of looking creature, who seems to have been born of the planet itself, and ends up taking Sodam's ring. He then heads straight to Earth, and Earth-man. 'Mogo is no more, and Dyogene must perform his duties. OA has sent me . . to you. You are chosen to become the possessor of the ring for sector 2814 . . Green Lantern.' Thats' an interesting turn of events. So it's Earth-man's hand we see on the cover wearing the Legion ring and the Green Lantern ring. Which begs the question, are all the security measures and redundancies that Brainy programmed into Earth-man's ring even going to work anymore? And how do they even hope to control or influence him when this addition puts him in a whole new league of power? This guy could arguably be the most powerful man on Earth right now. Also during all of this, as Irma is trying to get as many people off Titan as possible, her sons, Graym and Garridan seemed to be zapped away in a burst of energy. She assumes that it was some kind of time-transport beam. Which leads her to the rubble at the Time Institute. She grabs the last remaining time-sphere and wants to use it to go back and save her boys. And this is only the first issue. I've been a big Legion fan for quite a while. I followed it through all of it's various series, and it seems like the stories over the last few years have been in an effort to consolidate everything down to one specific timeline . . or continuity. I applaud the effort, and hope that they can make this all work. There's been a lot of incarnations of the Legion. Some good . . some . . questionable. But, I've always been excited to see what they're going to throw at us next. This team, and these characters have a rich history that continually seems to be in the process of definition. Which I think is what helps to make it such an interesting book. I look forward to this new book and can't wait to see what Paul brings us. Also, nice covers by Yildiray and Jim Lee. By the way, there's a caption on issue #15 of the last series asking, 'Hey, shouldn't this be issue #568?' If that's the case, then with this series, if they ever decide to consolidate everything into a numerical scheme . . as seems to be the trend in a lot of comics lately . . we should be approaching issue #700 . . eventually. Right?

R.E.B.E.L.S. #16 - DC

Now that the war with Starro is over, Vril is desperately trying to rebuild his L.E.G.I.O.N. . . Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network. As opposed to R.E.B.E.L.S. . . Revolutionary Elite Brigade to Eradicate LEGION Supremacy. So it could be argued that this is actually more of a L.E.G.I.O.N. book, than the R.E.B.E.L.S. But that's just semantics. Anyways, it's time now for Vril to rebuild. And a few things have fallen into his lap. First of all . . Rann needs a new home. The Rannians home planet was recently sterilized, and they've been living on Starman's Throneworld. Also, with Tamaran destroyed, the entire Vega system has been thrown out of whack. Moving the dead planet Rann into Tamaran's spot will solve a couple of problems. First it will solidify the orbits of the rest of the Vegan galaxy. Secondly, with a little terraforming, Rann will have a new homeworld. Because of their gratitude, the Rannians have agreed to let Vril also make Rann the homeworld of L.E.G.I.O.N. Giving Vril a place to rebuild. And . . with the widespread lawlessness of the Vegan system . . if he can pull it off, this will give Vril a place to not only make a stand, but to build his, and L.E.G.I.O.N.'s reputation. Talk about a win win. We are also introduced to Vegans 2 newest Green Lanterns this issue . . Altin Ao'ms, an Okaaran, and Gorius Karkum a Psion. Both races of which have also put Vril and his L.E.G.I.O.N. in their sites for having invaded their galaxy. As well as Blackfire, who has been living a nomadic life since Tamaran's destruction. And the Guardians, who I don't think are happy about the overlapping jurisdictions. The only ones we don't really see this issue are the Omega Men. I'm wondering what happened to them after the whole Starro thing. But something that Vril is desperately struggling with, throughout this whole process, is the Galaxy's perception of him as 'Brainiac's son'. He's vigorously trying to put that reference behind him as he tries to start his, and L.E.G.I.O.N.'s life anew. By the end of the issue, Blackfire makes it to Rann and is attacking. I don't think she'll be the last. As usual, I think that Tony Bedard and Claude St Aubin are doing a terrific job here. And now that we've opened up the 'outer-space' portion of the DC Universe, with all the recent stories of these characters out here, I'm hoping that this title has a long stretch ahead of it. Now they just need to bring back the Omega Men, and . . maybe start up another Strange Adventures title. I think both would be fantastic.

Adventure Comics #11 / #514 - DC

Everything with the Legion Espionage Squad comes to fruition this issue. So, I'm guessing, that they're no longer going to be involved in the Earth-war with New Krypton. Which is fine. They were really only involved because of Brainiac, anyways. Apparently when RJ Brande died, the founder of the Legion, he left specific instructions in his will. And this goes back all the way to the Lightning Saga in Action Comics a few years ago. His first priority was for Veep, Chameleon Boy . . his son, to take one of the cities, Tenz, to the planet that would become New Durla. Also because one of the Kel'Par, Queltop Daggle, was Cham's ancestor. Then Mon El would take the rest of the cities throughout the galaxies and help establish the new home-worlds of Rimbor, Cargg, Xanthu, Bismoll, Imsk, Phlon, Zoon and Titan. The last of which was the hardest for Mon El because he had to convince Jemm, King of Saturn, to allow him to enlarge the city on his moon. After all that was done, most of the Legionnaires returned to the 31st century. All except for Veep. He had one more mission. He had to save Mon El. The serum that Brainiac 5 had sent to him, for the lead poisoning, has begun to wear off. But before he dies, he'd gotten the information for Natasha Irons on where the base was where the gorilla scientist had experimented on him. He wanted to go back there because the gorilla had eluded to experimenting on another Daxamite . . a female. Which is also why he had asked for Connor's help in repairing his ship. He wanted it to be able to return to the stars, but not with him . . with the female Daxamite that he rescued. She'd been there for quite a while. I guess she also appeared in 2003's Human Defense Corps mini series. After she leaves, he's about to give in to the illness when Veep shows up and offers him a way out . . the Phantom Zone. Apparently only he can help out Mon El with this because the Zone is closed off to the 21st century. It takes quite a bit of convincing, but . . he finally talks him in to it. And once again Mon El has to experience the loneliness of the Zone. But we also get the image of him coming out, centuries later, to get his first look at the Legion. I guess it's assumed that he had forgotten all of this during his time of isolation. Oh yeah, and during all of this Brainiac 5 helps to transport his ancestor back to Colu, where he'll be imprisoned in a thought-cell. But Brainy is almost over confident. He wants to ask him some questions, so he brings him around just enough to provide some answers. But Brainiac tries to make a break for it. Luckily, Vril Dox, another of Brainy's ancestors, shows up to complete the transport. After which Brainy returns himself to the future. All of this was told in 2 different tales. One by Sterling Gates and Travis Moore. The second by James Robinson and Bernard Chang. All in all I thought it was a great issue. It wrapped up a lot of the various story-lines, and basically sets the stage for the new Legion series. Which I can't wait to read. Plus the Legion is still going to be taking up a big part of this series. Paul Levitz will be here scripting their adventures, as well as in their own title. Plus we have an Atom second feature coming up soon. I'm so glad this series is back. Even if we did take an almost 30 year hiatus. Man . . that was a long wait!

R.E.B.E.L.S. #15 - DC

Well . . Starro the Conqueror has been, well . . conquered. It happened last issue, when Vril Dox, with the help of Despero, finally took him down. Well . . there were more people involved, but . . of course Vril is going to take the credit. But the problem this issue is . . Despero has taken Starro to perform a public execution on his home planet of Maltus. Because of that, Starro is being hailed as the returning hero, and the savior of Maltus. While Vril . . Vril is lucky that somebody doesn't shoot him while he's standing on the sidewalk. Seriously . . even though this whole thing has been Starro's fault, Vril is taking the blame. Starro did strike here first. And he did use L.E.G.I.O.N.'s own robot army, and Silica to do it. So . . Vril, and L.E.G.I.O.N. take the blame. Which is too bad because Vril was looking to reestablish Maltus has the home-base of L.E.G.I.O.N. But with that planet being taken out of the equation, Adam Strange has another idea. He offers him Rann. Yes it was decimated by Synarr, but . . if Vril can bring it back to life, they'll both win. Vril believes that he can do so, but . . not where the planet is currently residing. He asks for Sardath's help . . building the biggest Zeta-beam he's ever attempted, and then he moves the planet to . . the space where Tamaran once stood. Which is kind of ironic because . . Starfire has just returned to space. She left Earth because she's tired of feeling so alone. But once she gets to this sector of space, she realizes that she has no place to return to. She doesn't know what's happened on Maltus, but . . it's to suburban for her. She thinks about Okaara, Euphorix and the Citadel. But it doesn't really sink in to her until she sees the empty space where Tamaran once stood. It was destroyed by the Psions. However, as she's floating there in space looking . . all of the sudden Rann comes Zeta-beamed into it's place. She doesn't know it yet, she thinks that Tamaran has returned. Oh, and back on Maltus, right before Despero is about to swing his blade and take Starro's head . . Storm Daughter and Smite come beaming in to take him away. So obviously, Starro is not quite as defeated as we thought he was. Tony Bedard is doing a great job with this book. I think it's great that all of our main characters are anti-heroes. Well . . some of them want to do good. But then they're lead astray by Vril. I also really enjoy Claude St Aubin's art. Not to mention the beautiful cover by Kalman Andrasofszky. I know that Starro has been defeated, but . . don't worry much. There's never really a dull moment for this band of characters.

Adventure Comics #10 / #513 - DC

In the lead story this issue . . everybody seems to be having trouble with Brainiac. At the end of the last chapter, we saw that Superman had been hit with a Red-Sun ray and was hurtling towards New Krypton's surface. Obviously that's not going to happen. But, it was funny when Quislet, who's been jumping in and out of Brainiac's robots, uses one of them to save Superman. Meanwhile, Superboy and the Legion are still on board and they're trying to get to, and save, all the captured bottled cities. Afterall, the future of the universe rests on them being able to do this. But they aren't having any better luck than Superman. It seems that the walls of the ship themselves are holding the Legion at bay. Meanwhile Mon-El is enjoying his travels through space. This is all he's really wanted, ever since he was a kid . . to be able to fly among the stars and witness the miracles of the universe. The problem is . . this is all a dream. It seems that Brainiac has already captured him, and has him mounted in some kind of device that's feeding him these images. Superboy gets hit by a cheap-shot from Lex, and when he wakes up he's been shrunken and inserted into the miniaturized version of Kandor. He doesn't have his powers, but he does still have his Legion ring. But in Zod's eyes, that's not enough to qualify him as a soldier. Zod is taking a small force outside of the bottle . . the Brainiac Revenge Squad, but he won't let Connor help them out. He still considers Connor a clone, and not a true Kryptonian. Zod's forces are outside of the bottle and ready to fight Brainiac when the story ends. This story will be picked up next in Supergirl #52. Sterling Gates and James Robinson had a lot going on in this story, but . . there wasn't a lot of progress made. And for everything that's going on . . all the people attacking Brainiac from various fronts . . we don't even see him this issue. So . . is he off orchestrating everything, or . . is he just off taking a nap? I gotta ask, because apparently nobody attacking him is important enough to draw his personal attention. Travis Moore and Eduardo Pansica do the pencils for this part of the story. In the second one . . we see that Officer Romundi . . er, Car-Vex, is trying to settle into her undercover position within General Lane's ranks. She's devastated that she had to eliminate her friend, Quex-Ul, to prove her loyalty to the General, but . . she's confident that it'll all pay off in the end. That's a big mistake. It turns out that ever since she entered the General's base, he's known that she's Kryptonian. And . . she's fallen into her own trap . . the irradiated bacteria that adheres to the Kryptonians when they move at super-speed . . removing their powers. But before going down, she finds out that the General has also captured Nadira and Az-Rel. It seems that they're the ones that gave her up because the General was after Quex-Ul. They didn't know where he was, but they knew that she did. And they just wanted to stop the pain. I know these guys are the bad-guys, but . . I almost feel sorry for them. General Lane has no compassion or understand. He's single minded in the plan to reach his goal. Car-Vex learns that at the cost of her life. I really enjoyed Eric Trautmann's story here. You could almost feel Car-Vex's frustration and anger permeating off of the page. Especially at the moment when she realizes that she was never actually fooling them. Pier Gallo does the art, and . . it looks really good. Not that it matters much, but . . I guess with the next issue they're just going to stick with the original numbering of this series. So #514 will be the next issue. I don't know why it matters, but . . whatever. Overall I'm enjoying this story-line. It's a little frustrating, but . . I think that's the point.

Adventure Comics #9 / #512 - DC

This issue gives us three different perspectives, again, into the storyline Last Stand of New Krypton. First we see Brainiac 5 in the future. Basically, he's trying to stop the end of . . well, everything. It appears that everything . . all space and time, is collapsing in upon itself. It's presenting itself as a giant red-storm that's consuming the universe. Brainy has surmised that it's because his ancestor, the original Brainiac, has killed Superman. But that was never supposed to have happened. So just before the Earth is consumed, he sends himself back to try to save the Universe. We also get a lesson on the actual lineage of the Brainiac family. This part of the story is by James Robinson and Travis Moore. In the second story, Connor and Supergirl are on New Krypton trying to help save some of it's citizens from these attacks by Brainiac's robot drones. The problem they're having is that none of the Guilds want to cooperate with each other. But because of that . . people are being mowed down. Connor and Tellus come up with an idea. Using Kara's connection to her people, Tellus broadcasts through her and tries to erase the years of class separation that have existed with these people. He's trying to get them to see themselves as one people and to fight together accordingly. He makes some small progress . . the people in their immediate vicinity. But in order for the plan to work on a planet-wide scale, he's going to need the help of some more powerful telepaths. Luckily Brainiac has a city on his ship filled with just the people Tellus needs, the Lanothians. With the Kryptonians focused as one force, Superboy, Supergirl and the Legion can focus on getting aboard Brainiac's ship and saving all the people in those bottled cities. This part of the tale is brought to us by Sterling Gates and Eduardo Pansica. And finally in the last story, we see Officer Romundi, formerly of the Science Police, but now working under the guidance of General Lane himself. But Romundi is actually Car-Vex of the Phantom Zone. Anyways, in order to prove herself she's tracked down another Zone fugitive, Quex-Ul, and she's leading an ops to capture or kill him. Unfortunately, the officers of Squad K are a bit overzealous, and . . they take him down with a head shot. Car-Vex is shaken, but . . she has to stay stoic to stay in character and not give up her true allegiance. With this operation, she proves herself to General Lane gloriously. He couldn't be happier. The third part of the story is by Eric Trautmann and Pier Gallo. Overall, I really enjoy this book. Especially with the inclusion of the Legion. They're one of my favorites. Also, I have to say, I much prefer the way DC tells these big stories, as compared to it's Marvelous competition. Especially when it goes throughout the Superman books. I think about 20 years ago, they started this thing . . because there were 4 Superman books coming out monthly at the time, where their stories would run congruently from issue to issue, and they put a number system on the cover just to make sure that no one was confused about which order to read things in. Over the years, they've kept that system going in the Superman books, and . . I think it helps out with the progression of the story tremendously. There's not a lot of back-tracking, or re-capping, therefore making more progress with the story-lines. Also if the Supergirl title is included in the mix, then that book will also get a number. If not . . then it won't. Like I said, I really like the system. You don't have to worry about making sure you read the books in order. They're already set up that way for you. Anyways, I enjoyed the book. I love the Legion. And I'm glad that Connor is back.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #14 - DC

This issue wraps up the Starro the Conqueror storyline. Although not the way we expected it to end. The Omega Men are approaching Vril Dox's location with the Starfish toxin that they found. While Adam Strange has Starro in his sights with the weapon that Vril constructed of the Gamma Gong. Not only doesn't Vril's gun work on him, but . . with Starro in such close proximity to the Starro's that the Psion's were experimenting on . . 'They were supposed to be off his "psychic grid", so to speak . . but now that he's seen them . . he's reasserting control.' The same thing happens with the so called 'black' or 'negative' Starro's that the Psion's gave the Omega Men. But they do shoot off the toxin darts before he gains control. However, in the end . . the only ones left are Vril, Elu, Wildstar and Despero. But Despero isn't much help because Starro scoops out his psychic third eye. For all of his planning, Vril couldn't pull this one off. That is until . . Starro pulls him in close to finish him off. It turns out human flesh is immune to the toxin. However, when he picks up a dart and puts it in the flesh of the Strarro on the Conqueror's body . . it immediately goes into a state of paralysis and he loses contact his hordes of Starros across the galaxy. In essence . . his bid to take over the universe has been brought to a halt. But they may have traded one tyrant for another. As soon as Starro goes down Vril sends out a message. 'If you are hearing my voice now, then you owe your freedom to me. Starro the Conqueror is defeated. His intergalactic invasion force is dispersing, it's soldiers no longer slaves to his will. In the days to come I will announce plans for our mutual recovery and the reestablishment of my peacekeeping organization L.E.G.I.O.N. And, of course, I will inform your leaders how they can repay me.' So now Vril begins the difficult task of not only rebuilding and organizing the universe, but also rebuilding and reasserting L.E.G.I.O.N. Hopefully with the Omega Men, Adam Strange, Captain Comet . . and some of the others he's gathered around him . . hopefully some of them will be able to help to keep him in check. And what of Vril's son, Lyrl? He was supposed to contact Smite, but he never did. I wonder where he got off to. Tony Bedard is doing a great job with this series. As is Claude St Aubin. I do have a question though. With all the recent attention on Brainiac, and Brainiac 5 looking into his heritage in the future, would that make Vril Brainiac 2? Everyone keeps referring to Lyrl as Brainiac 3, so . . that would be the logical assumption. Right?

Adventure Comics #8 / #511 - DC

This issue deals almost entirely with the upcoming storyline . . the Last Stand of New Krypton. It's told in three separate and distinct chapters. All related to . . but different aspects of , the upcoming story-line. The first one is told from the future. In it, Brainiac 5 is looking into his family name. He's a direct descendant of the Brainiac in our timeline, but . . for about 1000 years, their family gave up the Brainiac name. Because of everything bad that their ancestor had done, they were tired of being associated with him, and evil, through blood. This all weighs on Brainiac's mind because he feels like he has to prove himself, but at the same time . . feels like he shouldn't have to. Anyways, the Legion is fighting what appears to be cosmic storms, or events. However, upon further investigation, Brainiac finds that they're actually chronal tears happening all around the cosmos. He also finds out that they're directly linked to his ancestor Brainiac, 1000 years in the past. And that he has to stop Brainiac from killing Superman and destroying 1000 years of history. This part of the story is by Sterling Gates and Travis Moore. In the second chapter, the story picks up straight out of Action #697. In it, Connor has asked Mon-El to come back to Smallville with him. In the Kent family barn, the Legion Espionage Squad has assembled. They've come back to ask for Mon-El and Connor's help, and to give them a dire warning. 'The future is in danger. To be more precise, the future of the Legion. If we're not around one day to protect the universe, countless terrible things will come to pass.' But the problem isn't on Earth. The problem is on New Krypton. That's where they're headed next. And into the direct path of Brainiac. This part of the story is brought to us by James Robinson and Julian Lopez. And finally . . we get another look into Project 7734. This time it's right after the explosion at the Science Police headquarters. General Lane is looking into Officer Romundi's actions. We know that she's actually Car-Vex. An undercover Kryptonian placed here by Zod. She's worked her way into the Science Police, and now she's trying to get into General Lane's good graces. But he's suspicious. Her record is too clean . . and too good. So she has to win his trust. In order to do so, she gives up one of her compatriots . . Quex-Ul. She basically paints a target on him for General Lane. This is one cold bitch. Of course the General isn't all that stable in his thinking and reasoning either. So this should be an interesting pair. This part was by Eric Trautmann and Pier Gallo. All of the chapters brought us information about various aspects of the upcoming story-line. So it looks like it'll flow through this book, the Superman mini-series, and Action comics . . in the coming months. I can't wait to see where all the players land after all the dust settles. I don't think Superman and his cast of supporting characters are going to be the same after all of this. It should be interesting.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #13 - DC

I'm not exactly sure what Lyrl is actually up to, but . . he appears to be playing both sides against the middle. We already see that he's setting up Smite and Starro. But, I'm guessing, he's also appears to be in the process of setting up his father, Vril. And . . I'm not really sure why he felt he had to warn Smite. I mean, when he transports Starro over to the Psion ship where his father and the rest of the REBELS are, Smite doesn't really help him and wouldn't have even know if Lyrl hadn't of told him. Smite does have a yearning though to take his master's place. So I'm guessing that he was feeding into that. Although I don't really know what for. 'Between rebuilding our central computer and pulling the fleets together, I ran half a billion threat scenarios. . specifically, the identify which individuals pose the greatest danger to the master. You name, Smite, came up more often than my father's. I'm trying to help you. I am psycho-mathematically certain that you plan to betray Starro and take his place. I just want you to know there's no need. Within the hour Starro will be dead.' With Despero's help, Vril has constructed a weapon capable of depowering Starro. Effectively making him human, at which time Despero can tear him limb from limb. He's constructed gun out of the shards of the Gamma-gong. 'The Gong's paralytic effects should shut down Starro, physically. The warhead contains Gene bomb tech that should cut Starro's psionic link with his slaves, and then . . .' Then Despero performs his part of the plan, which he is relishing after what Starro and his hordes have done to his planet. The final step is for Despero to use the Flame of Pytar to charge the psionic matrix of the weapon. They were planning on going after Starro, but . .within minutes Lyrl delivers him right to their doorstep. It doesn't come a moment to soon as Starro's next conquest is to be Earth. Also, the Omega Men have retrieved some agent that the original inhabitants of Starro's home galaxy used to drive him out. They died in the process, but . . a thousand years later, they were still able to figure out how they did it. I'm just not sure what use it's going to be, considering that Vril has constructed the weapon the take Starro down. Maybe it's a contingency plan. Next issue this concludes, so . . we'll see how all these plans and schemes come to fruition. I love the way Tony Bedard handles this book, and these characters. I'm just wondering, after this story-line . . what's he going to do with Lyrl? Vril won't be happy with him running around out there. First because he could disrupt his plans, but also because . . I don't think he wants someone smarter than him on the loose. Maybe he'll figure out a way to dampen his intelligence again. Who knows? I just really like this book. It's a team book, but . . it's not. Not really. It's actually more like Vril is playing a constant game of chess. And all the members of REBELS are his pawns. Including Despero. If they're successful, he'll have to find a way to take him down also. Schemes within schemes. I also think that Claude St Aubin is doing a terrific job with the art. I really like his details and style. And after this arc . . Starfire joins the merry band. And Vril begins rebuilding LEGION. Finally!

R.E.B.E.L.S. #12 - DC

It's funny how Vril Dox plays all these different people in this group that he's assembled here. They're all doing something to perpetuate his plan, but . . none of them know what the others are up to. They know the overall plan, but they don't know the individual components. Now that he's moved on from the Black Lantern threat, Vril is once again ready to put together his 3 part plan. First he needs the shards of the Gamma Gong. Captain Comet, Kanjar Ro and Wildstar are tasked with retrieving it. Next, Admiral Xylon will be taking Adam Strange, Ciji and Bounder to Kaipei to retrieve a Dominator Gene-Bomb. And finally Vril himself, with Kreel and Tribulus will go to Kalanor for the third component. From the cover, you can tell what that is . . Despero's head. Meanwhile, Strata and her family have left the cause. Or have they? And the Omega Men, after infiltrating Starro's home galaxy, discover a secret that Starro doesn't want anyone else to know about. On a remote world, now long dead, there once lived a hunter race that Starro targeted. They fought back, but were eventually defeated. However, in the process they had also discovered the secret to defeating Starro. They knew how to keep from becoming mind-slaves and how to kill the Starros. But, while all of this is going on, Starro has finally defeated all the Black Lanterns that Vril left him in the midst of. Of course he needed Lyrl's help to do so. And . . they didn't so much defeat them as transport them. Lyrl opened up a transmatter portal and sent them all to the event horizon of a supermassive black-hole at the heart of the Milky Way. And with Starro's High Vanguard now decimated, he needs Lyrl's help to coordinate his army. However, he lets Lyrl know in no uncertain terms that he owns him. And Starro's next target? The planet Earth. 'It was Earth and her heroes that drew me to this galaxy. I think it's time to test their mettle.' So I hope Vril Dox's plans, and that of the Omega Men, come together soon. Because, otherwise . . I think the Earth may be in for more trouble than it can handle. Tony Bedard is doing a fantastic job with this book. I always thought Vril Dox was an interesting character, and the way Tony has him manipulating and planning is just phenomenal. There's a plethora of fantastic characters in this book now. And Tony has them all jumping through hoops. This issue Geraldo Borges fills in as the penciller. I thought he did a pretty decent job. It looked ok. But I miss Claude St Aubin's work. It looks like he'll be back next issue. It looks like this story will wrap up with issue #14, and then we'll be heading off in a new direction with issue #15. I think this is a great book. If you aren't reading it . . you should give it a look. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Adventure Comics #5 / #508 - DC

In this next chapter of the Superboy-Prime story, we see the the Black Lanterns, specifically Alexander Luthor, have come to visit Clark Kent also. At first Clark appeared to be back in the visage of a normal Earth boy. He no longer appeared to be Superboy. Although he's still filled with the anger and hatred . . his parents and family are still scared to death of him, but . . it doesn't look like he's Superboy-Prime anymore. That is until Alexander shows up. He changes him back, giving him back his powers and costume, and then attacks him with the rest of the Black Lanterns . . everyone else that Clark has killed or terrorized. In this instance . . I'd say that the recipient of the Black Lantern's wrath was well deserved. You reap what you sow, as it were. But, through the course of this story it seems that Clark wants to change. The Black Lanterns have forced him to face his true feelings. After fighting them for a while, Clark realizes that he's not going to beat them in the traditional way. They just keep coming back. 'So if I can't beat you, Alex . . I'll join you!' And he puts one of the Black Lantern rings on his own hand. The weird part is . . maybe because he's alive, the ring takes him through the entire emotional spectrum. He goes through Green/Willpower, Blue/Compassion/, Orange/Avarice, Yellow/Fear before he finally settles on the Red/Hate. Apparently that's what he has the most of inside of him. Until he comes face to face with the feeling he has for Laurie . . Sapphire/Love. Because of that spectral outburst he seems to have defeated the Black Lanterns. Which leaves him to face his own thoughts and feelings . . 'I loved h-her . . I loved her so muh-much. I n-never . . I never get what I want. They don't want me to h-have it. They made me into their puppet. Forced to hurt people. I wasn't supposed to be like this. I was a her once! Why c-can't I stop being this way? Don't I get to make my own decisions? I do hate myself. I hate what I've become. They turned me into this monster. They turned me into a villain. But I was Superboy. Why didn't they give me a happy ending?' And by 'they', he's talking about the writers and artists and editorial staff of DC Comics. That's where his 'stories' originate in his world. But on the final page they do give him a little bit of hope. They give him Laurie back. The problem? She doesn't show it, but . . she's also wearing a Black Lantern ring. So where does this story go from here? It may be a while before we find out. This chapter was beautifully brought to us by Geoff Johns, Sterling Gates and Jerry Ordway. This truly is the character that we love to hate. It'll be interesting to see where he pops up next. Meanwhile, in the back-up story, Connor comes across his own 'Lori', in the girl that he met at school. He catches her doing a little vandalism. She's hit the Smallville Clinic. Connor tries to talk to her but I think he's overwhelmed by his conflicting emotions. On one hand he knows she's doing wrong, but on the other . . she does seem to have a pretty valid reason for her anger . . her mother is in bad shape, and this doctor has refused to help her once her insurance ran out. So Lori is acting out. I think Connor is trying to tell her that she's wrong, but . . he can also see her point . . feel her frustration. They're at her house talking when there's a knock on the door. It seems that Lori is niece of Lex Luthor . . and he's standing at the door, with a box of Kryptonite, as Connor and Krypto lay on the floor in the hall. It appears that Lex has finally shown up to claim what he thinks is rightfully his . . Connor Kent/Superboy . . a clone that Lex made with his and Superman's own DNA. This has made me wonder . . since these 2 worlds are so closely related, there's a Superboy and Laurie and Lex in both worlds . . is Superboy-Prime's Laurie also related to Alexander? And if so, what affect does that have on that story? Hmmm . . lots of questions, and very little answers. At least not yet. But that's the beauty of one of Geoff's stories. That and the fantastic interaction between Connor and Lori. You can almost feel his frustration and confusion as he's trying to figure out her motives and reasons. And Lori isn't doing anything to help ease his confusion. If anything, her advances are adding to it . . making things more complicated. I thought it was a great chapter, and I'm beginning to love Francis Manapul's interpretation of this character. Simply fantastic. I can't wait to see where all of these characters go from here. Adventure Comics is back . . long live Adventure!

R.E.B.E.L.S. #11 - DC

The funniest part of this book is when Vril Dox gets his Sinestro ring and he immediately gets a message . .'This is Sinestro: all corpsmen report immediately to planet Korugar, sector 1417! Repeat: this is Sines. . . .' Vril turns it off, and says . . 'Sorry. But no.' I thought that was hilarious. He has absolutely no interest in becoming a part of someone else's group, but . . he definitely sees the potential in having this ring for a weapon. Then later, near the end of the book, he gets the same message. He tells the ring to drop dead. It responds. 'Corpsman 1287 rejected for insubordination. Space sector 1287 scan for replacement sentient initiated.' And just like that . . he loses his weapon. But there was a whole lot of other stuff that happened in-between. Vril fights with the Black Lantern Stealth through pretty much the whole issue. And then he has to help out some other Sinestro Corps members, when they find themselves being chased by the Black Lantern Harbringer. While all of this is going on, Amon Hakk tries to put their ship back together after it got split in half last issue. Meanwhile, on Maltus, Starro has Lyrl Dox, Brainiac 3, working on a transmatter portal. With it he can instantaneously go anywhere in the universe to expand his base of power. Unfortunately, because his people on Voorl aren't responding . . he chooses that world for his first jump. Unfortunate because by the time he opens the gate all of his people on the other side have been transformed by the Black Lanterns. But the biggest surprise comes from the fact that even though both Starro and Vril Dox are fighting the Black Lanterns, Lyrl, Vril's son chooses Starro over his own father. 'This war just changed for me. I gathered our team to stop Starro. But we've spent the whole time running, hoping he'd slip up somehow. NO MORE! My son chose that monster over his own flesh and blood. If Starro survives the Black Lanterns, he will not survive me.' I love Tony Bedard's stories here. But then I liked Vril's character the first time around. Yes he's an arrogant SOB, but . . he knows how to get things done. And Tony has really brought the rest of these characters to life too. Also, I thought Claude St Aubin did a good job on the pencils this issue. I don't think this title gets enough credit. I think if you tried it out . . you'd like it.

Adventure Comics #4 / #507 - DC

This issue the lead story is completely devoted to Superboy-Prime. On his world, Earth-prime he's also recently gotten this issue of Adventure. He's so distraught over the ending that he makes his mom and dad immediately take him to the comic shop so that he can find out what's going to happen in issue #5 . . or, #508. It's also the Blackest Night cross-over for this book. So Clark is visited by Alexander Luthor. He rises out of the vaults of the Hall of Justice, but then almost immediately heads off to Clark's world. The Legion of Earth-prime is also concerned because they've sensed that something has just pierced the multiverse, back in the 21st century, and . . Superboy-prime is supposed to be under house arrest. They're concerned that he's out and running around. Anyways, Alexander appears in the comic shop and turns Clark back into Superboy-prime. I guess he doesn't want to fight the powerless geek. But Superboy's powers don't help him much because Alexander brings along some of the other people that are pissed about Superboy killing them. But then everything fades away as Clark is shouting, 'No, Wait! Wait, Alex! It can't end now! What happens next?' Well . . neither he, nor us will know until next issue. I liked Geoff Johns story here, but . . I thought it was kind of a cheesy way to end it. But . . we'll see what happens next issue. Maybe it will all be worth it. In the Legion story, Blok is distraught over the White Witch's leaving. She's recently beat Mordru, thereby assuming his powers, but . . that means she has to return to, and live on Sorcerer's World. Plus, after their encounter with Mordru, Blok seems to be going though some changes also. Rather than fight him about it, Wildfire and Dawnstar decide to accompany him back. Once there they soon discover that the White Queen no longer exists. At least not under that name. She now calls herself the Black Witch . . and she dresses and looks accordingly. She switches back for a moment, to help Blok complete his transformation, but then she quickly goes back. 'This world is free of the dark magic that ruled it for centuries. This world is free. But I am not. It's taking all the strength I have to contain Mordru's power and transform it into good. I fear rest. I fear sleep. I fear my weakness, but I don't fear my choice.' Afterwards Blok looks different, but . . I don't know how he's changed. I guess we'll find out later. Anyways, Wildfire and Dawnstar take it as a cautionary tale, because there's is also an unrequited love. I thought it was a good chapter in the Legion's lives by Geoff Johns, Michael Shoemaker and Clayton Henry. I really like the way Clayton is illustrating these Legion stories. And as I've said for the last 3 issues, I'm thrilled that this book is back on the shelves.