Slugfest!

It's hard to believe that it has been over a year since Mark Waid and Barry Kitson rebooted Legion. Last issue's all-out battle against Terror-Firma and its leader, Praetor Lemnos, was so entertaining, it was a shame to have to wait so long for the next issue to read the conclusion of the story. Since the story in issue #13 is untitled, it makes me wonder if it was originally intended to be published in one giant-sized issue, which would have been great. Of course it would have probably set the cover price somewhere around $6 or $7, but it would have made the story more eventful. Plus, issue #12 was released on November 30, so everyone had to wait seven weeks for the conclusion!

Well, issue #14 comes out this week (only two weeks after the release of #13), and I should mention that it seems like it would be a good jump-on point for new readers, especially if you enjoyed reading a cosmic, space-faring series like Rann-Thanagar War. Waid has done a really good job of slowly re-introducing the legion of Legion characters a few at a time. This time in issue #14, it's Atom Girl a.k.a. Shrinking Violet, who had a brief cameo in issue #12.

Issue #13 opens at the moment Lemnos give the command to attack! His troops are poised before hundreds of transmatter gates as they prepare to invade dozens of worlds from the enemy's baseworld at the charted edge of space, and as a result, just beyond the United Planets' jurisdiction. A team of Legionnaires on the planet Ttrxlian manage to shut down the teleportation transmatters, preventing the galactic assault.

Caught unaware, Lemnos troops turn to the Legion as the staging area erupts into a slugfest! After Projectra aids in releasing the captive, Brin Londo (Timber Wolf), Brin then joins the Legionnaires as the battle intensifies when Lemnos' elite guard, Terror Firma, arrives to exert even more pressure.

Meanwhile, Rokk Krinn (Cosmic Boy) and Dirk Morgna (Sun Boy) locate and confront Lemnos himself in order to put a final end to his bid. Lemnos and Cos exchange words and both realize how their goals are so similar: they share a vision of spurring the United Planets away from complacency in the hopes of ushering in a new era of interstellar progress. Of course, they differ because Lemnos intends to accomplish the goal by starting an interplanetary war!

Then a cadre of Lemnos' elite guard, Terror Firma, seemingly come to his rescue. They trap Dirk in a stasis field, and Lemnos orders them to execute Morgna. But suddenly, the tables turn as Lemnos' guard refuses to participate in murder or fight what is by all accounts a losing battle. Cosmic Boy is livid as he fails to understand how the band of renegades can think they will simply be able to walk away from all the damage they have caused. The members of the guard explain that they only joined Lemnos in order to gain retribution against the United Planets for being born in exile as children of the criminals the U.P. simply left for dead among the planets on the far-reaches of the galaxy.

Never one to miss his cue, Lemnos uses the opportunity to make a break for it. With a sizeable lead, and thinking he's made good his escape, he is suddenly confronted by a transmatter portal from which Braniac 5 emerges! Querl Dox zaps and subdues Lemnos, then hauls him back through the portal.

And on the battlefield, the last vestiges of the Lemnos troops have succumbed to the Legion's battlefield tactics! Once again, a teleportation gate appears and Braniac emerges. Cos and Brainy exchange words about Lemnos fate, but Brainy cuts him off and directs him to give the order to direct the Legionnaires home, or what's left of it seeing as how Legion headquarters was destroyed by Lemnos right hand man, the terrakinetic Elysion. Cos acquiesces and is about to instruct what will be done with the Terror Firma agents in custody, when Dirk Morgna tosses his Legion flight ring to Cosmic Boy's feet and announces, "They're with me!"

Having been on the verge of quitting the Legion for several issues, Dirk takes this opportunity to start his new life and help the Terror Firma members find their way.

This issue also has a 6 page back up story that focuses on Dream Girl titled The Hours, written by Stuart Moore. And it include another illustrated letters page. If you haven't bought a Legion book lately, you should at least flip through one to check out how Waid and Co. conduct their letters page! Also, every issue of Legion clocks in with at a whopping 40 pages: 28 pages of story and art; 30 pages of art if you include the illustrated letters page. All a pretty good bang for your buck.

I tried to resist. I mean, Spider-Woman??? Marvel has been tossing out so many different mini-series lately, it makes it hard to commit to five issues. I had paged through the first issue on a couple of different visits to the local comic shop, but I still wasn't convinced. But then I saw the cover to issue #2 by Jonathan Luna. And inside: Hydra. The High Evolutionary. Bova. The TaskMaster. A story written by Brian Bendis and Brian Reed. Art by the Luna Brothers (Joshua does the layouts and Jonathan does pencils, inks, and colors.) Okay, I'm in.

Another plus for me is I got a sneak-preview copy of the book thanks to the fine folks at Hobbies and Heroes in McAllen. This book will be on the shelves next week with the January 18th releases.

Previously, Dr. Miles Warren (a.k.a. the Jackal), and Doctors Jonathan and Miriam Drew are working on genetic experiments at Wundagore Mountain in a project funded by the British government, all under the auspices of General Wyndham (a.k.a. Herbert Edgar Wyndham, i.e. the High Evolutionary.) They use a machine called a DNA compiler, a laser that records genetic information of various spiders and insects in an attempt to transfer and activate key traits of the various species to other species.
When the DNA compiler accidentally bathes Miriam Drew in its laser light, her unborn child is exposed to parts of the genetic sequence of the Wundagore Widow (latrodetus wundagore), a deadly spider that is native to the European hideaway. Initially, test show a few variances in the baby's prenatal development, but when Jessica Drew is born, everything seems fine.
Just as things between Dr. Warren and Dr. Jonathan Drew go sour, and the project begins to unravel, Jessica, who is now 10 years old, begins to demonstrate some unusual behaviors: she is able to handle the Wundagore Widow with her bare hands without being bitten, and her fingertips get stuck to a window sill. Her father takes a blood sample and after he runs it through the DNA compiler, he finds the genetic information matches the Wundagore Widow. Realizing he is on the verge of breakthough with his experiments, he begins to use Jessica as a test subject. When Jessica's mother, Dr. Miriam Drew, finds out, she intervenes and an arguement ensues which leads to Jonathan assaulting his wife. Jessica is witness to the violence and responds instinctively by attacking her father with a series of electro-magnetic pulses which come through her hands.

The second issue begins with Jessica Drew (now seventeen years old) coming out of a coma "after 11 years." General Wyndham is at her side to guide her through the ordeal and help fill in the missing time. Turns out General Wyndham no longer works for the British government; rather, he is part of Hydra!

Jessica still has the mind of a child. Wyndam employs one of Hydra's psychic operatives to probe her mind in the hopes of revealing exactly what happened to her parents at Wundagore. She sees Bova, the bovine-hybrid who served as her nanny (as well as the nanny for Pietro and Wanda Maximoff many years back), and remembers her father assualting her mother. Except in her mind, it seems her father's irrational behavior began when he transformed into a wolf-like being, perhaps the result of another accident or misguided experiment on himself (or experimentation by the High Evolutionary when he tried to create his NewMen.) After killing her father, who killed her mother, she runs outside and looks up to see the High Evolutionary standing witness to all the events.

The sudden shock of the revelation causes Jessica to unleash the electo-currents on the psychic operative who is sent flying against a far wall. Jessica then collapses onto the floor.
After some time passes, Jessica begins her training with the TaskMaster. Also, she has begun spending time with another Hydra operative named Jared. Jared explains Hydra function to Jessica: the richest people in the world control all the world's resources and the media, and as a result control the world's political leaders too. And in their attempt to grab more power and wealth, they are slowly poisoning everyone on Earth. Hydra is the organization that fights back.

Three months pass, and Jessica is still undergoing her training with the TaskMaster, but he is disgusted because although she easily defeats her enemies, she continues to rely on her anger and emotion for each victory. And as a result, he can still kick her ass too. (Ooohhh! the TaskMaster can beat up girls!)
Jessica approaches General Wyndam to request that she be allowed to participate in Hydra missions. Jared leaves on a mission to Latveria, and after a few weeks Jessica gets her Spider-Woman uniform in preparation for her first mission: to rescue Jared who has gone missing. Hydra believes he has been captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and is being held in Monaco.

The issue closes with Agent Arachne (Jessica Drew's original codename) attacking Nick Fury as he pounds away at Jared. The last scene of the book fits in seamlessly with Spider-Woman's original story in Marvel Spotlight # 32, which was recently included few months back in Spider-Woman Giant-Size # 1, as well as in the Essential Spider-Woman Vol. 1 reprint collection Marvel released in connection with this series and Spider-Woman being featured in current issues of The New Avengers. So I guess you could say Bendis really has a mad on for Jessica Drew.

Jonathan Luna's artwork really works well with this story. As you can see, the brothers use large, long panels that convey a lot of information and help pace the story. Frank Quietly uses this same visual style (which can be seen most recently in All-Star Superman # 1.) I've not read the Luna Brother's work for Image (Ultra and Girls), but I certainly have noticed they have been getting more and more attention lately. Their work reminds me of Udon's work when he illustrated Deadpool toward the end of volume 2. And strangely enough, those issues featured the TaskMaster too!

I find it very interesting that Bendis and Reed have chosen to portray Hydra as the sympathetic heroes, when they have always functioned as a villainous terrorist organization. And these issues are not without other problems. In a glaring continuity gaff, Jessica is 10 years old at the time of the coma in the first issue, but when she comes out from the coma "eleven years later", issue 2 says she is 17 years old.

But the errors and political subtext aside, the books have been a fun read. I hope the rest of the series is at least as entertaining and has further interesting plot twists.