Saturday – 21 April 2007
This morning started off with “Chain of Command,” today’s episode of Legion of Super Heroes.

In it, Winath – home planet of Legionnaire Lightning Lad – was experiencing severe storms due to a malfunction of their environmental control system.  In comes the Legion to try and avert disaster.  Naturally, the Legion’s resident spark plug was a bit anxious about this mission.  And then, there was yet another monkey wrench thrown into the works: Cosmic Boy, the Legion’s leader, who had been absent from the team for months, showed up.  Not only that, he brought with him a new recruit: Ferro Lad.  Needless to say, Lightning Lad – who had been acting as the “field leader” for the Legion in Cos’ absence – reacted badly to this double whammy.

The episode wasn’t bad… but I wasn’t happy with their portrayal of Lightning Lad.  He, Cos and Saturn Girl are the three founding members of the Legion.  They’ve been friends since before there was a Legion.  (Granted, it was very shortly before there was a Legion, but that’s not the point…)   His attitude towards Cos was downright antagonistic, which was out of character for him.  But, it did work for the story… to a point.  Also, Cosmic Boy was a bit more… overbearing than I’m used to.  Well, with the possible exception of the v5 Cos (in the current Waid/Kitson version of the Legion).
Other highlights of the episode include:

  • Colossal Boy and Cosmic Boy’s exchange:  “Hey, CB-1.”   “Hey, CB-2.”  *high fives*
  • Ferro Lad’s comment: “I’m doing you a favor.  You don’t want to see what’s behind this mask.”
  • Superman (sorry… it really should be “Superboy”) starting to act more… mature.  Which isn’t to say that he hasn’t been written that way before; but there was a moment in the episode where he had been struck down and, after a short respite, put on his “I have to get back in the game” face… and took off.

But, the real stand-out in this episode was Bouncing Boy.  Yeah, I said “Bouncing Boy.”  Long looked at as a secondary character or one who could easily be brushed aside, he actually stepped up and made some noise in this episode.  Even in the various four-color series, he was usually just… there.  Sure, he and Duo Damsel ran the Legion Academy after they resigned from active duty, but he was never really an A-lister.  I was pleasantly surprised with his characterization in this episode and it should be interesting to see how they develop it in the future.

On the whole, I give this episode a thumbs-up.

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And, in non-toon related news: I just chatted with .  She and are on their way back to The Land Behind the Zion Curtain.

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Attack the day like birds of prey…

Namaste.