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Mild Mannered Reviews - Supergirl Comics

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #25

Scheduled to arrive in stores: December 27, 2006

Cover date: February 2007

Writer: Mark Waid
Penciller: Barry Kitson
Inker: Mick Gray

Reviewed by: Jeffrey Bridges

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Jeyra has a sorceress on her team (collectively known as "The Wanderers") erect barriers all through Legion HQ, separating the Legion members into small groups of three or four and isolating them from each other. Then Light Lass, Ultra Boy, Karate Kid and Star Boy are mysteriously transported out of Legion HQ and brought before the Wanderers, who are led by Light Lass's (and thus also Lightning Lad's) brother, Mekt Ranzz.

Mekt says that the Legion wasn't the first group employed by the United Planets. He was part of the first team, which was a black ops team who were decimated at the hands of the Dominators who have a plan and are coming for earth. Mekt was the only survivor and decided that he didn't trust the United Planets enough to deal with the threat so he decided to do something about it himself. He's been going around recruiting people to help him in his cause and they teleported the four Legion members to him because they were the most likely to join his cause.

Back in Legion HQ Supergirl's been attacking the magical barrier to no avail. Saturn Girl says Mon-El remembers being put into the Phantom Zone by someone with an "S" on their chest, which gives Brainiac 5 an idea. He let's Mon-El out of the zone, and as soon as he sees Supergirl he attacks her. While Supergirl and Mon-El fight each other continually, Brainy gets to work making a serum to Mon-El's lead poisoning; a serum that can only be made with Kryptonite.

As the battle between Supergirl and Mon-El escalates and they unleash ever more powerful attacks, the magical barrier weakens and is eventually destroyed altogether. Soon after the Legion members are able to administer the Kryptonite serum to Mon-El, which seems to calm him and return him to his senses. Just as Cosmic Boy asks him to join the Legion, he's teleported out and brought before Mekt, who seems to have the same interest in him.

There's also a small section early in the book where Brainy has a visit from Dream Girl, but it's all in his head and people around him seem to think he's daydreaming whenever he's communicating with her and it's still unclear whether it's real communication or a hallucination of some sort.

Story - 4: Let me start by saying that I have no problems with this issue. Many sub-stories weren't touched upon, but there was enough advancement in others that it didn't bother me too much. The only thing knocking this down from a 5 is that, from the end of issue 24 I feel like I was led to believe there was going to be a huge, all out brawl between the Legion and the Wanderers and there was nothing remotely like that in this issue.

The Supergirl/Mon-El fight was good, but after thinking I was going to get a huge team vs. huge team battle it still felt like a small letdown.

Did I read too much into issue 24? Is it my fault? Perhaps. But when I see a large group of people (who at the time are believed to be supervillains) descending upon Legion HQ, that makes me think there's a confrontation coming.

I'd like to give the book the benefit of the doubt and say that it wasn't intentional. But even so I can't help but feel the way I do. There's really nothing at all wrong with this issue. Even Brainy finding a cure for Mon-El's disease (which had previously been incurable) isn't that far out there considering Brainy's intellect and the fact that it's stated people gave up looking for a cure long ago. It's not like people had been trying for centuries and not been able to find it or something.

So again, there's nothing wrong with this issue, per se. It's fantastic and hits a lot of the beats I'd been waiting for. I was just expecting that big brawl and really looking forward to it, and the fact that it never materialized left me wanting.

Art - 5: This is some great stuff.

To me, there are a lot of great artists in comics today and Kitson is certainly one of them. But looking at this book, there's just something about his style. It's almost... nostalgic. This is absolutely what I'd describe as "classic" superhero art. Not in that "this looks like a Silver Age comic" kind of way, but in that "when you think of great comic book art, this is what you picture in your head" kind of way.

And the Mon-El/Supergirl fight was very nicely done.

I'd also like to compliment Nathan Eyring, the colorist, because his colors made that fight and indeed the entire book that much more vibrant and alive. Excellent work.

Cover Art - 5: This is a DREAM cover. How do I know?

1. No extraneous words, no horrible puns (Thank Rao!)

2. Awesome pose, awesome expressions, very dynamic

3. Not only does this happen in the issue (even just the two of them fighting would have been enough for me to count this cover as "happens in the issue"), but this exact piece of action happens in the fight and the cover is like a more detailed, enlarged version of an interior panel on the bottom left of page 16.

GOOD SHOW!

Mild Mannered Reviews

2007

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

January 2007

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Mild Mannered Reviews - Supergirl Comics

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #25

Mild Mannered Reviews

2007

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