Saturday, March 22, 2008

Legion of Super Heroes #2-11 Review

What Happened That You Have To Know About:

The Dark Circle is on a crime spree, and the Legion are using Dream Girl's visions to their best advantage to stop them. So the Circle figure this out, and get the notion of using Dream Girl against the Legion. So the Legion figure this out, and... you get the idea.

Review:

Well, that's more like it!

Some backstory for Dream Girl, woven in to the already-existing saga of the Ranzz family. Nicely done. Also, continuing the tradition of strong characterization for Lightning Lad, who (like he always does in this show) acts like a bit of a jerk but shows by the end of the episode that he's actually not that bad of a guy. Good action sequences, as always. Sensible plot. A chance for Brainy to show off how smart he is in a way that's both realistic and something that an ordinary smart person wouldn't be capable of. One of the better episodes of this series, I'd say.

Nothing to advance the season-long arc, again. I guess the two-part finale is going to have to take care of everything.

I continue to resent the portrayal of all these Legionnaires as, as Neal Stephenson would say, stupendous badasses. Especially Timber Wolf, who is now ridiculously feral. Lightning Lad and Brainy are almost as bad. I don't care if kids are supposed to like it; this is just not what the Legion was ever supposed to be all about. It's obnoxious is what it is. Oh, and: just one female character this episode. Again.

Was there a reason for the Dark Circle to be the villains in this story other than that the writers wanted to use the Dark Circle? As far as I can tell, they could have been just any crooks with gadgets. That's not a complaint, of course, but if there's some detail that came into the story that made the Circle particularly appropriate, I missed it.

Okay. Good! Looking forward to next week!

Notes:
- I presume that Dream Girl's past alias, 'Madame Mysterious', is a nod to her brief use of the 'Miss Terious' name when she first joined the Legion for keeps
- I also presume that Star Boy's prominent role in the episode was because of his and Dreamy's longtime relationship in the comics
- So... does Computo record everyone's dreams, then? Or just Dreamy's? Really I suppose it should record them all. I don't suppose there's been a random and meaningless dream in the whole history of the superhero genre
- This episode's bone tossed by the writers to those who think that 'references to Legion continuity' = 'quality': the use of Ontiir as the name of a Dark Circle member

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sometimes I read the Superman homepage reviews for this season and almost have a heart attack at the negative vibes there... Your previous review of "Trials" was a little more shocking then there.

I still don't understand, how when the Legion has Dream Girl they can allow themselves to be caught so easily (Ep.2 of this season). Well with two eps. left of this season... Lets hope the end of ep preview... Is better then I hope.

4:13 PM  
Blogger Matthew E said...

They don't like it at the Superman homepage? Huh. I wonder why not. Maybe I'll go check.

There are a couple of things about this season I don't like, but the show really elevated its game for last season's finale; maybe they can do the same thing this year.

6:56 PM  
Blogger Bill D. said...

Funny how the episodes this season that have the least to do with the ongoing plotline are the ones I like the best. Not having to put up with Kel-El this time around made this one even better still for me.

7:40 PM  
Blogger Matthew E said...

Aah, he's not all bad. The big lug.

11:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Stupendous badasses? Skilled fighters,I'd call them.A superhero team has to win battles.Now if they picked fights in bars and such,that would be obnoxious,but the Legionnaires are usually well-mannered off-duty when they're not mind-controlled or suffering space brain fevers or the like.Let's not carp just because the Legion is good at their job.
The use of Ontir is how continuity should be used;as an easter egg. Not recognizing a reference should make no difference to the viewer not in the loop.
Why not the Dark Circle? They've always been a criminal cartel at heart,even when acting as jihadists(like there's a difference)The odd thing is how the Imperiex plotline was ignored.It would've been so easy to intergrate that into this episode with a line saying that the Dark Circle were agents of Imperiex.Maybe the writers were already tired of that storyline, and right before the season finale too.Odd.

2:45 AM  
Blogger Matthew E said...

Stupendous badasses? Skilled fighters,I'd call them.A superhero team has to win battles.Now if they picked fights in bars and such,that would be obnoxious,but the Legionnaires are usually well-mannered off-duty when they're not mind-controlled or suffering space brain fevers or the like.Let's not carp just because the Legion is good at their job.

The Legion has been good at their jobs basically continuously throughout their published and broadcast history. They didn't look, or seem, like this.

8:37 AM  

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