Welcome to another session of the [Legion Fan Club], 4 years 3 months of [Legion Fan Club] fun now, as we continue our quest to read all of Legion tales digitized on DC Universe Infinite…one issue at a time!
July 27th 2023 Reading: LEGION OF SUPER HEROES (2004-) #3-4.
What do you think of this origin of Triplicate Girl? Do you recall the earlier origin stories for her / them?
Is this your favorite version of Chameleon (Boy)? If not, which one is and why?
Who likes Cosmic Boy’s style of leading this crazy team? Why or why not? What would you do to keep these super-powered kids in line?
Are you liking this total reboot of the Legion individual characters?
Please share any favorite panels / front pages from this time around!
We’ll plan to do this again in a few weeks with next Legion reading!
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For a “map” of where we have been and where we are going during our 6 year slow-but-sure trek through the nearly-900 Legion comics, check out the [Legion Fan Club]'s Google Sheet listing of all Legion comics ever published
What do you think of this origin of Triplicate Girl? Do you recall the earlier origin stories for her / them?
I have to be honest…no, no I did not recall her origins at all. After looking her up, I will say that I think this origin is definitely the most compelling, or at least mysterious. Her original origins of just being…from a people who can all split into three people because of…three suns…I guess it worked well enough back in the day, but kinda feels a little too silly now.
The reboot Luo seems like it has a lot more pathos, what with the insane asylum aspect. On the description alone, it sounds like it had potential to either be really compelling, or super-edgelord-y. Hard to tell without actually reading the comic.
This one was interesting in the idea of a whole planet being one person. I have questions of how exactly that all works, but the question of how her planet came to be that way, and the pathos of this iteration of Luornu being isolated from her people because of how different she’s become says something really interesting about the human condition – you can’t go back home and all that.
Is this your favorite version of Chameleon (Boy)? If not, which one is and why?
I do like the non-binary approach they’re taking with them, saying that they’re not really male or female because of their shape-shifting abilities. I think this makes sense for a species of shapeshifters. That said, I do like the history of Chameleon Boy from the original iteration, and right now Chameleon kind of feels like the butt of a joke instead of a real member of the team.
Who likes Cosmic Boy’s style of leading this crazy team? Why or why not? What would you do to keep these super-powered kids in line?
It makes a certain amount of sense – considering how this is less of a formal organization and more of a social movement, it makes sense that he can’t lead them all in the same way he’s done in the past; especially when it’s being strongly suggested that Brainy might be trying to attempt some sort of coup.
Are you liking this total reboot of the Legion individual characters?
I think it’s worked pretty well so far, from what we’ve seen. I don’t think there’s anything that’s significantly changes the core of what the characters are, but offers interesting tweaks and asks how they would be different because of that. Like a good example of this is Phantom Girl in #4’s back-up – she’s still a girl from a planet/dimension that’s intangible, but it then asks “what if she interacts with both dimensions at the same time?” Now you got a character who is struggling with keeping both lives intact and that is a character that you can do some cool stories with.
A lot of times, I view the short little tales at the end of a team comic book featuring one or two of the characters just as “filler” and sometimes don’t even read that part. But with Legion, it actually can be a very effective tool, because it’s such a crowded team, to have a few moments set aside every couple of issues to dig deep on one or two or three of the characters in a story.
I liked this Triplicate Girl origin a lot. I don’t remember any previous origin story very well, in general, I like that Waid’s approach is to give these new origin stories a lot more depth and emotional resonance. He tells them like complete stories, not just anecdotes, to explain how the character received their power. The Invisible Kid origin story in issue 4 was also a great example of this.
I don’t know if this is my favorite version of Cham, but I do like it. I agree with @Jay_Kay’s comments about Cham being non-binary.
Cosmic Boy’s style is a little dictatorial, but he is battling the chaos of all those rebellious and undisciplined egos, so it is perhaps to be expected. He seems to be the only one interested in forging an actual place in the UP instead of pushing back against its sterility.
Yes and no. I miss the “we all live in a glorious utopia” spirit of other Legion series. However, the characters are so deeply explored in this series while still being true to their established characters that I am along for the ride.
I’d say I’m feeling similarly about this particular version of Legion. I know historically it didn’t last as long as some of the other well-known versions for whatever reasons, so it’s hard to get a real vested emotionally when I know the train’s going to come to a hard stop after 30 or so issues and transform “boot” back into the more traditional Levitz-Giffen 80’s version of Legion.
I feel like we’re definitely being set up for a horror story and a tragic one with a Triplicate Girl origin. Being the only person left alive on a planet of dead people usually isn’t a positive indicator of who that person was or what their involvement was.
Nice origin/characterization for Triplicate Girl. I’m partial to Triad (Post Zero Hour), but I liked the new spins on the origins. The characters still feel like the Legion but updated. It’s a tricky balance. I’m less sold on this origin for Phantom Girl, but Tinya’s my favorite Legionnaire of all time.
I don’t think there’s enough of this version of Chameleon to judge compared to the others.
Cosmic Boy is leading so that’s good. I’ve been rereading some of the Adventure Comics stories from the archives, and the leader seems inconsequential to most stories.
Overall, I like this version of the Legion. It really feels like it’s building to a bigger story. It never quite gets there, but I remember my excitement as these issues were released.
I totally agree that Phantom Girl is one of the most compelling characters unique to Legion. You’ve given me an idea for a future theme where we could take a look at the various iterations of our top favorite Legion characters like Phantom Girl, sort of a face off two issues at a time over a few months, and include voting on which one is the all-time favorite or at least the top two or three favs.
This particular mini story on Phantom Girl is reminding me, I still haven’t finished up the Jeff Lemire run of the Terrifics that featured an earlier relative of Phantom Girl who was also a very interesting and complex character.
