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Mild Mannered Reviews - Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century

Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #15

Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #15

Scheduled to arrive in stores: May 14, 2008

Cover date: July 2008

"In a Flash"

Writer: Jake Black
Penciller: Robert Atkins
Inker: Rick Ketcham
Cover: Alex Serra

Reviewed by: Adam Dechanel

Click to enlarge


Triplicate Girl and Bouncing Boy are enjoying a date at the Virtual Reality Game World. All is going well and smiles are all round. Suddenly both games they play are interrupted by a glitch. When the game reasserts itself suddenly instead on undersea trenches or jungle terrain we find Keystone City... home of the 90's. Home of Impulse!

Bart sounds and flirts so realistically could this be the real Keystone?

Impulse, aka Bart Allen at first believes they are to blame for his quandary but when he realizes they might be a virtual glitch he enlists their help. Building and people are beginning to vanish and even Impulse isn't fast enough to stop them.

As the trio race through Keystone the buildings, people, and sights begin vanishing even more quickly. Triplicate girl flies up to see if there is a clue from the air. All she sees is even more erased life. Bart is crushed, even being the fastest kid alive, he can do nothing to stop it!

Bouncing Boy activates his Flight Ring and call Brainiac 5. He explains that they were sucked from a game into what seems like either a computer simulation or the real Keystone city... Brainy searches the virtual reality network and discovers something - a link through the entire network that is devastating them all.

Brainiac can't hide his excitement at meeting Bart Allen, perhaps he has historical significance? Brainiac 5 reveals the reason Keystone seems so real, a glitch is directly at its centre... City Hall! Inside, the heroes meet the cause... Tharok!

The villain has been able to interface with the entire Virtual Reality network. He's able to manipulate it completely, and soon with the tech developed in his base in Keystone... real things in the real world! To prove his ability he materializes robot soldiers thankfully these are superheroes! While Brainy reprograms the machine to cut out Tharok's influence the Legion and Bart destroy the robot army.

The feedback from the reboot knocks out Tharok and repairs the city. In the VR network it is real. Brainy tells Bart the real world police will come to extract Tharok. Somehow the glitch occurred when Triplicate Girl and Bouncing Boy literally crossed wired as Tharok activated his plot.

They extend Bart an invitation to join the Legion but he declines... for now while he wants complete control of his powers before he can think about being in a team. Saying goodbye to their new friend the Legionnaires return home and the two lovebirds plan their next date.

ratingStory - 3: A great story and knowing Bart is still out there alive somewhere in a 'real' virtual city... well it's enough to make your brain hurt! Not enough action this month and not a fan of Tharok but it was great to see not only the romance develop and to see Impulse at his best. Which they had allowed for a villain from the past to be the cause. Ho hum! Now it's the last surviving DCUA book I hope more story crossovers begin.

ratingArt - 3: Very reminiscent of some superb Weiringo style. I wish that Impulse escaped the glitch so we could see more of him! Now he's part of the DCUA continuity and the show is ended surely he could stay... please... seriously a blast from the past that was superbly illustrated this issue.

ratingCover Art - 4: IMPLUSE! Nuff said! Where's Clark! Seriously, SO SO SO good! Really good stuff! I've noticed Clark is being featured less and less, I know it's a Legion book WITH Clark tagging along but more 'Young' Superman please!

Mild Mannered Reviews

2008

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

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