Thursday, February 12, 2009

Supergirl in Final Crisis:Legion of Three Worlds #3

Most people know that I am a pretty big Legion of Super-heroes fan. Legion was one of the first books I collected on a monthly basis and I have followed them through most of their incarnations. (I will admit I did not follow the Legion Lost years).

So Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds is an interesting idea for me. Mark Waid's reboot place in continuity was put into question by Geoff Johns' Legion from last year's Action Comics. And what of the Legion 5yL stories and the Legion Lost stories? Are they in continuity? Out of continuity? In continuity on one of the 52 worlds?

Of course it might have been nice if this mini-series was released during Final Crisis. But I digress. The third issue came out last week and included a nugget about Supergirl.


The plot seems a little muddled to me right now. Superboy-Prime forms an army of the future's biggest super-villains and goes on a reign of terror against the Legion. But he is more of a puppet for the Time Trapper who is plotting something larger.

Of course it is scenes like the one above that makes the comic so fascinating for Legion fans. Three Ultra Boys and three Phantom Girls? Kind of cool.

It is clear that the Johns' team, basically the Levitz/Giffen team (without the 5YL stories), is now *THE* Legion of the future.

There is a 2 page spread where the 3 Brainiac 5's talk about the universes' Legions and how they were formed. One thing is that XS, from the Legion Lost reboot, actually belongs on Earth-0 (the main DCU) but was shunted into a different universe for her protection.

And now the Kara nugget. The Waid Brainiac can't believe that he is not from 'Earth', that is Earth-0. He brings up the fact that his team included Supergirl for a time. The Johns Brainiac explains it away saying that time travel can often include universe-shifting.

So all those Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes issues are most likely in continuity, just occurring in a different universe.



Just a couple of comments about the Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes issues.

This was sort of the 'peanut butter and jelly' combination of my 2 big loves of the DCU ... a perfect blend.

Supergirl joined the Legion at the same time that the sub-par 'Candor' storyline was happening in her main title. 'Candor' was the beginning of a long string of issues where I didn't think Kara was being written very well.

In stark contrast, the Supergirl/Legion issues was much closer to what I was looking for. She was smart, powerful, and good. She often flew right into danger to save people or fight evil. So what if at the beginning of the run she thought she was dreaming everything. She still was a hero.

I picked a few scenes from Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #17 to highlight this.

Here she deactivates a giant robot threat pretty easily.


And here Waid shows his respect for the character. Cosmic Boy explains to the Legion that in her time Supergirl very quickly earned the status of 'living legend' in the 21st century.

Even semi-silly scenes like this, where Kara stops an earthquake by whistling a counter-vibration, really showed that Waid 'got' the character much more than Greg Rucka (briefly) and Joe Kelly did.

Yes it shows some Silver Age innocence but it also showed some ingenuity, quick thinking, and heroism.

On top of that, I really really liked Barry Kitson's rendition of Kara. She was cute, self-assured, and healthy looking.

Now we know that Supergirl gets involved in the new R.E.B.E.L.S. series because her time with the Legion impacts Brainiac 2. How (or even if) the revelation that Kara's Legion is from another universe impacts this new title remains to be seen. Review for that issue should be coming soon.

So in sum:

1) The Johns retro-fitted Legion appears to be the Legion of Earth-0.

2) The Waid/Kitson version of Kara was delightful, especially in contrast to the bitter one running concurrently in her main title. Certainly worth raiding the $1 box at conventions to look for them.

5 comments:

Nikki said...

Brainiac 5 remembers events erased from the minds of everyone else. Then they talk about supergirl. Threeboot Brainiac 5 is interrupted as soon as he mentions her name. I believe that Brainiac 5 has retained the history of the DC Universe like Donna Troy and Harbinger did.

Anonymous said...

I just finished reading the first three TPBs of Waid's "Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes" and I agree they were far superior to what the regular Supergirl comics had at the time.

I highly recommend the Justice League Unlimited episode "Far From Home" where Supergirl meets the Legion for the first time.

Anonymous said...

At the time, I'd a paid good money to get Mark Waid in as prime writer on Supergirl's solo book....he was one of those writers who just "got her".
And that is no rap on Sterling Gates he is doing yeoman work, quite literally Supergirl hasn't had it so good since the Imperial HIgh Noon of her solo book debut in Adventure Comics in 1969...
Ah but Mark Waid...with him, she just sounded "right"...the "armed innocent" as it were. And Kitson was great too, did I detect a hint of baby fat in her face?
Priceless!
If Mark Waid was available for a notional "All Star Supergirl" mini that'd be a cause for celebration.

John Feer

Anonymous said...

I was pleasantly surprised to see Supergirl in R.E.B.E.L.S. Looks like she may be on her way back to being in multiple books.

I loved the way Waid wrote her Legion, and also in "Brave and the Bold." Some people said she was a bit flighty in B&B, but show me an intelligent and outgoing teenage girl who isn't. It's part of their charm.

I second what Gene said about the JLU ep with Kara and the Legion. The one where she, Stargirl, and Green Lantern (John Stewart) wind up in Skartaris helping Warlord is really good too. I love the scene during the big battle. GL is barking orders and starts to tell a partly depowered Kara to stay back when she jumps over the wall with a sword and wades straight into the fight. That's our girl!

Anonymous said...

With all due respect to Anj and John Feer and Mike. Z this particular fanboy hated at the time the way Waid handled Supergirl because she came off as being a stereotypical blond air head with his whole 'dreaming' thing and that really rubbed me up the wrong way because of it.

Supergirl should never be portrayed as being this blond brainless bimbo like eva! >:( *Sighs* Ah well, what's done is done I suppose.

Nikki said...
Brainiac 5 remembers events erased from the minds of everyone else. Then they talk about supergirl. Threeboot Brainiac 5 is interrupted as soon as he mentions her name. I believe that Brainiac 5 has retained the history of the DC Universe like Donna Troy and Harbinger did.

As well as apparently now Power Girl at that. ;) But I wonder of you're eight in that the Post-FC E-0 eras Geoff Johns 'real' Legion own Brainy DOES indeed recall the Pre-COIE E-1 Kara Zor-El/"Linda Lee Danvers"/Supergirl? :/

Mike Z. said...
I was pleasantly surprised to see Supergirl in R.E.B.E.L.S.

Er, question, when the Waid/Kitson Legion's Brainy 5's holo addresses his 21st Century ancestor Vril Dox is he implying that eventually both Vril AND Supergirl are destined to fall madly in love and get married in time? Because that's kind of what I got out of reading that particular 'encounter' between the 2 Brainys conversation it the end myself. :/

Anyways, I truly LOVED R.E.B.E.L.S. #1 in the end! :D