Everybody Stand Back. I've Lost My Emerald Contact Lens of Ekron

So I figured, let's try something. Pick out a Legion of Super-Heroes comic at random and see what's in it that I can write some kind of article about. So I reached into the stacks and pulled out Legionnaires #42. It's got Kinetix on the cover, in her kitty-cat look, being blasted by Mysa the Hag. Power... ...And Loss! (Written by Stern and McCraw; art by the Moys and Carani.)

Okay. Let's see what's going on in here. Title is "When Strikes the Sorceress!"

Basically, Mysa had previously sent Kinetix out to get the Emerald Eye of Ekron for her, but Kinetix failed to do that, and now Mysa wants to punish her, so Mysa brought a Legion cruiser containing Kinetix, her family, Live Wire, Triad, XS, and Invisible Kid to the Sorcerer's World. (Admirably limited dramatis personae!) There's a confrontation, and some fighting, and eventually Kinetix, her mother, and Mysa have an argument about some fantasy BS that ends with Kinetix being returned to her original form and powers, and everyone being magically sent home.

One thing I noticed about this issue, and the first part of the reboot in general, is that, there are a lot of women wielding power recklessly. In this story, Mysa, Kinetix, and Kinetix's mother Azra do eventually resolve their situation, but only after Mysa abducts seven people into considerable danger. Kinetix's own desire for power is always portrayed as a flaw. Elsewhere in this run, Saturn Girl's powers are always being policed in one way or another. Phantom Girl's mother and President Chu are both ruthless politicians. Shrinking Violet's tenure as Legion leader is compromised by her takeover by the Emerald Eye (itself a female-associated artifact). Andromeda's career as a Legionnaire is almost completely negated by her hateful ideas!

Meanwhile, there's no such negative association with male authorities like R.J. Brande or... well, actually, yes there is with Leland McCauley. So it doesn't all go one way.

The other thing about this comic is that it's got some chewy superpowered tactics to discuss. I love this stuff. Anytime you've got a team of superheroes and a problem, I want to try to work out what they can do to solve it. For instance:

- Mysa attacks the Legion with lightning, and Live Wire absorbs it harmlessly, astonishing her. "This cannot be!" Do some homework, Mysa

- Invisible Kid goes invisible immediately on their arrival, so Mysa doesn't even know he's there in the first place. He's therefore able to get Kinetix's family out of immediate danger. This is the thing about illusion powers: they work best when your opponent has no idea that they're facing illusion powers. Maybe he shouldn't call himself "Invisible Kid"!

- Mysa imprisons the Legionnaires in magical bonds, which XS tries to vibrate her way out of, but there's something else they could have done: what if Triad had reunited to a single (imprisoned) self, and then retriplicated? Would she then have two selves free? I think it was worth a shot

Things like this are important for teams like the Legion, where each individual hero is primarily a team member and not a solo hero. They need to know how to work the combinations to be effective; otherwise, you've just got a bunch of specialized hammers looking for specialized nails.

So that's what I got out of it. Good comic!