peter john rios

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LSH season 2 ep.1: “The Man from the Edge of Towmorrow, part 2”

Decided to start watching season two of the Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon, mostly in an effort to absorb more DC Animated Universe shows (and yes, I include LSH in that) so I can finally start watching Young Justice. I know it doesn’t necessarily always connect show to show, but I’m all about history and the shows build on each other at least in terms of design, execution, production continuity, etc. So I need to power through this season so I can move on to the Batman and then Brave and the Bold and then finally YJ. Somewhere down the road I want to go back to the Batman Animated series from the beginning all the way through to the Superman Animated series and ending with Batman Beyond. But that’s for the future.

For now, I’m back with Legion and we return to the 31st Century after some time has passed since the end of Season 1. This is evident by Brainiac 5 looking taller, Lightning Lad sporting a beard, more characters on the team (Chameleon Boy in this episode), etc. I knew a “new” Superman appeared in this season, but I thought it was a character from the 31st Century. I didn’t expect him to be from the future of the future - namely the 41st Century. It’s a set up introducing the new Superman (and his “parents” named K.3.N.T - or the Kents. Clever.), a new villain threat (Imperiex - a crossover from the Jeph Loeb Superman books years earlier) and a subtle nod to the Legion’s status quo (preparing for a possible attack by the Dominators). The story is fairly straight forward, giving Superman X his space, but there are some other interesting bits as well: the warp key that enables time travel is said to harness “long lost technology” (Boom Tube?), Anti-Matter Waves destroying Superman X’s time (very Crisis), and, in this part, the seeming death of one of Triplicate Girl’s bodies when she’s grabbed by a mechanical arm and pulled into the destructive waves (somewhat resembling the way she dies in the comics at the “arms” of Computo). So far it’s an interesting set up and I look forward to part 2 and the rest of the season!

LSH ep.8: “Lightning Storm”

Really enjoyed this episode (sorry for the blurry cap). From the title, I guessed that this would be Lightning Lad specific, possibly with his origin story, but I had no idea we were going to get the return of his brother Mekt and the early stages of a Legion of Super-Villains team! They’re called the Light Speed Vanguard. LSV. Get it? Tyr, Hunter, Esper, Ron Karr (with Chameleon King powers), and Wave - and shame on me for not recognizing her. I considered her a Spider-Girl stand-in, figuring they couldn’t use the codename “Spider-Girl”. But I totally forgot that Spider-Girl became Wave, blue hair and all, during the latter half of the Five Years Later Legion run. Tsk tsk, Rios. So of course she’s still Spider-Girl. Mad love to the writers on that one. And the two teams were matched up nicely: Superboy with Tyr (strength), Saturn Girl with Esper (mind), Timber Wolf with Hunter (ferocity), Lightning Lad with Mekt of course, and the team-up of Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl with Ron Karr and Wave (shape changing). Gotta love the seed of a relationship building with BB and TG. For all the warning that this cartoon is too kiddy, there are some nice plot developments going on here and there. Another subtle touch comes when Esper relives Lightning Lad’s origin with Mekt and his sister (Ayla!) and the Lightning Beasts. She says “Everyone has a past” and has a look on her face. Not sure if it’ll play out later - or even if the whole Legion of Super-Villains angle will come up - but I appreciated the characterization.

Other Legion bits: Colossal Boy! And in his eagle crest costume no less. Mekt actually uses his powers and they are a different color from Garth’s (in the books, Garth has yellow lightning, Mekt has white and Ayla has pink). It’s stated that Lightning Lad helped start the Legion. And the ending, the scene with Saturn Girl talking to Lightning Lad, is another push between the two towards something more than a friendship.

And who can’t love the Legion Tryouts! Or “auditions” as they call them in this ep. As I watched I noticed mostly future Legion of Substitute Heroes: Antennae Lad, Night Girl (beehive and all), Chlorophyll Kid with Infectious Lass (handing her a rose that dies - hilarious), Double Header, Polar Boy, Fire Lad, Porcupine Pete, Color Kid and Stone Boy. Other characters I saw were Invisible Kid II (with the stripe in his hair), Polecat, Quantum Queen (thought she was Calorie Queen at first) and apparently Absorbency Boy makes an appearance but I didn’t recognize him.

And then an added bonus: this episode was the Teen Titans voice actors reunion. With Tara Strong as Esper (she played Raven), Khary Payton as Tyr (he played Cyborg) and I SWEAR that Breath Boy sounded like Greg Cipes (Beast Boy). Even if it’s not, I’m still saying it is. Because that would be awesome.

LSH ep.7: “Child’s Play”

Another element of Superman’s mythos is explored: his vulnerability to magic. This is done by using the young Mxyzptlk-like character of Zyx who is running rampant with his magic powers. The Legionnaires discover he’s from Zerox, the Sorcerer’s World, and it’s up to Phantom Girl to save the day through diplomacy. Lots of Legion and DCU nuggets dropped here and there: the Legion Cruiser, a Green Lantern lantern, Dr. Fate’s helmet, Superman pushing two cement globes (much like pushing planets in the Silver Age), an evil looking unnamed wizard on Sorcerer’s World that is clearly Mordru, even Zyx’s helmet kind of looks like the helmet worn by JLA villain Brainstorm. In another visual of Zyx’s powers, he turns himself into a fire being - and it’s straight out of the Human Torch handbook. We also get the return of Drax’s “dogs”, Comet and Cupid.

So while this wasn’t an overly fantastic episode, I definitely enjoyed the Legion-world building.

LSH ep.6: “Phantoms”

I’m watching these in production order, not in the order that they aired, so this ep makes much more sense. There’s a line about Phantom Girl’s mom being the President of the United Planets - which they found out in last episode. But that’s production order. In the order that they aired, this ep comes before the Champions ep where we met PG’s mom. So that way doesn’t make sense at all.

Anyway, a totally Superman focused episode - again pushing the idea of trying to build up his mythos so that he’ll (I assume) return to the past with all of his Superman-ness. Drax is obviously connected to Zod (he has a Z on his chest), perhaps even his son. Inside the Phantom Zone we even see the Silver Age version of General Zod, other Phantom Zone villains and Doomsday. Earlier in the ep, when Brainy is talking about Superman’s history, he mentions that information was lost in the Great Crisis. Another DCU nod.

It’s suggested that, at this point in Superman’s early career, he has yet to encounter Kryptonite. Brainy had it on hand and tried to use it against Drax but it didn’t work. Considering the friendship they are pushing between Brainy and Superman, it’ll be interesting to see if there’s a twist along the way either considering Brainy’s knowledge of Superman’s recorded history or Superman questioning what secrets are being held back from him.

By the way - Drax’s creatures are very familiar in design to creatures that showed up in Superman the Animated Series.

LSH ep.5: “Champions”

What a fun episode. So many Legion names or concepts dropped in this one: Khunds. Lightning Lad’s older brother Mekt Ranzz. Jo Nah, Drake Burroughs and Tenzil Kem all listed as participants in the ongoing contest. The Fatal Five returns. The United Planets. Jo Nah showing off his Ultra Boy powers! Phantom Girl crushing on him! Tenzil Kem chomps on the Persuader’s axe! Probably not the last time we’ll see Mekt. Jo Nah’s wink to Phantom Girl. Totally forgot how much I enjoy those two characters as a couple. Great stuff.

LSH ep.4: “Fear Factory”

Nice homage to the horror film genre. Everything from Aliens to Last House on the Left to Frankenstein, even the Munsters and a little Rocky Horror. And probably so many more I don’t recognize. Brainy also called up “Computo” this ep. Wonder if that’ll play out in later eps? All in all the series is playing out as it was premised in the first ep: this whole idea of making Clark Kent into the superhero future legends talk about. Last ep was about doing what was right for your friends, this ep was about making hard choices. Interesting stuff - surface-y for now, but it’s there. And I’m still enjoying the way Coluans are visualized in this series.