#zymyr

[sprockyeahlegion]

Warpster

#Arne Starr #Robert Campanella #Zymyr #Legion of Super Villains #Ultra Boy #Chameleon Boy #Phantom Girl #Element Lad #Shrinking Violet

[blanddcheadcanons]

Faceclaim!

#faceclaim #losh #zymyr #legion of super villains

[why-i-love-comics]

Zymyr info page

art by Arne Starr & Robert Campanelle

#zymyr #DC #comics #comic books #DC comics #info page

[craigcermak]

Legion of Super-Heroes commission featuring Invisible Kids I & II, Lady Memory, and Zymyr (plus some alien ghouls!). Based loosely on The Spectre #2 cover by Neal Adams, by request.

For commission inquiries, email me at [email protected]

#comics #art #inks #dc #dccomics #legion of super-heroes #Invisible Kid #Zymyr #Lady Memory #commission #LOSH

[thecomicsnexus]

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1-5, VOL. 2 ANNUAL #3 AUGUST - DECEMBER 1984 BY PAUL LEVITZ, KEITH GIFFEN, STEVE LIGHTLE, LARRY MAHLSTEDT, CURT SWAN, ROMEO TANGHAL AND CARL GAFFORD

SYNOPSIS (MIXED WITH DC DATABASE AND COMIC VINE)

Lightning Lord stands within his castle conspiring with a group of shadowy figures. He vows to finally destroy his brother, Garth Ranzz.

On the planet, Ventura, Star Boy and Dream Girl visit a gambling hall. A criminal named Micro Lad and his robot servant break into the casino and begin shooting at several patrons. Micro Lad attempts to steal the casino's credit chips, but Star Boy and Dream Girl force him to retreat. He uses his shrinking powers to escape into the casino's lower levels. However, he runs into Shrinking Violet, who quickly takes him down. Before she can arrest him however, a dimensional rift opens up and Micro Lad is pulled into it.

On Daxam, several members of the Legion survey the terrain. Mon-El receives an emergency communiqué informing him that a renegade Daxamite is wreaking havoc on Takron-Galtos. The Legion flies to the prison world where they find Ol-Vir creating a wake of massive devastation. Mon-El flies into a rage and attacks Ol-Vir. During the fight, another dimensional rift opens up, and a disembodied voice draws Ol-Vir inside. The voice declares that he is to become part of the new Legion of Super-Heroes.

On Winath, a private investigator working for Timber Wolf spies on Ayla Rannz. He makes a record of her activity and downloads it into a computer scanner.

Back on Earth, Gim Allon and his wife, Yera, return home and settle into their apartment. Gim reads a vid and learns that his mother, Marte Allon, has resigned as President of the United Planets.

The Legion of Super-Villains continue their battle with the Legion of Super-Heroes. In the process, they're able to steal the Polymer Shield that covers Earth. Meanwhile, Saturn Girl is about to deliver her child.

While Saturn Girl is about to deliver her and Lightning Lad's child, the Legion must try to stop a group of mystics from reviving Mordru.

Saturn Girl is ready to give birth to her child. On Medicus One, Lightning Lad is in a rush to by his wife's side when a doctor asks him to come with him for a moment. The doctor is revealed to be Starfinger in disguise, but Lightning Lad is able to stop him. Meanwhile, a group of Legionnaires go to the planet of Avalon to find if Mordru is still within his earthen prison. When they arrive there, they realize he isn't and alert their teammates. 

A group of Mordru's followers released his body and are using their magic to revive him. The Legionnaires board spacecrafts and fly in space when Shadow Lass is magically kidnapped and teleported to where Mordru and his followers are, as well as Shadow Lad from the Legion Academy. The servants of Mordru believe the darkness power of Shadow Lass and Shadow Lad could help revive Mordru, and they are correct, as a darkness covers the galaxy. The darkness reaches Medicus One just as Saturn Girl gives birth to her child. 

The Legion arrive to Mordru's side and defeat his servants before they can fully revive Mordru, and the darkness dissipates. Saturn Girl gives birth to her new son, Graym, and is surprised to find that he wasn't a pair of twins since she believed she felt two mental presences with her. Meanwhile, Darkseid has Saturn Girl's second child and names him Validus, sending him in the past and transforming him.

The Legion of Super-Heroes continues to fight against the Legion of Super-Villains. Karate Kid and Nemesis Kid have a final showdown ending with Karate Kid fatally injured. In the few minutes he has left, Karate Kid destroys the LSV's powersphere crippling their plans.

The Legion of Super-Villains are defeated by the Legion of Super-Heroes. Princess Projectra, after seeing her husband Karate Kid slain by Nemesis Kid, takes revenge and snaps the neck of Nemesis Kid. Having to quit the Legion to be a leader to her planet of Orando, Projectra sends the remaining Legion members that were on her planet back to their rightful place through Zymyr's technology but it seems they may be lost in space.

REVIEW

If you only had to read one issue of these six... it would have to be annual #3. One would think that Darkseid would use that time traveling thingy to... you know... win. But he decided for the soap opera method that fits the legion so well.

Then for the rest, I still haven’t found a starting point to the Legion. It is definitely not this new number one. This Projectra/Karate Kid thing has been going on for 5 years. That’s how long it takes for character arcs to feel complete. As a result, you just don’t care that much if they die, as long as it trims the roster.

I think the main problem is that these characters didn’t have opportunities to impress me before, and as a result, I don’t feel particularly interested in any of the plots (that started a couple of decades ago).

I do care about the original three legionnaires and Brainy. And Mon-El. But they are not always part of these issues.

The change to a better paper does wonders to the art. Now with Steve Lightle instead of Giffen.

I give this arc a score of 7

#keith giffen #larry mahltstedt #legion of super heroes #dc comics #comics #review #1984 #modern age #darkseid #karate kid #princess projectra #legion of super villains #validus #lightning lass

[thisiscomics]

This Legion series (the ‘Baxter series’, or volume 3, but like New Teen Titans, it was referred to by its new fancy paper, a signifier of its Direct Market only status) is probably the one I know least well because of how I came to the characters. This was basically ‘Five Years Later’ Legion being really cheap in a back issues warehouse, so I could work my way through all that quality Giffen/Bierbaums stuff, onto Legionnaires as well, and then get the old stuff by bargain hunting the DC Archive editions of the Silver Age stuff.

This left a gap between early and later Legion, and it was a bit more difficult to fill from back issue bins for some reason or other. But I’m possibly nearly there now, I think, just waiting for the Superboy and the Legion of Super-heroes hardcovers to fill in any last gaps in Legion lore (and still need to get some post-Zero Hour stuff, probably. I’ve got gaps from when they did the same thing as the Superman books of the time and put a numbered ‘L’ on each cover to show the order of reading across titles). Which is a long way of saying that there is a reason why I always think of Giffen’s depiction of the Legion over anyone else’s- his earlier work with Levitz was quite different from the ‘Five Years Later’ stuff, but it still says Legion to me. No one else has quite that instant Legion recognition for me, purely because of where I started reading.

The unpleasant reactions to Giffen in the letter columns of volume 4 made me think that what came before must have been bland superhero fare, as these people- apparently knowledgeable in their Legion history- claimed the story was complicated, messy and everyone was just unrecognisable in appearance, character and power. Given that I didn’t know the Legion of Super-heroes from the Legion of Doom, I could not understand these criticisms- the book was dense and full of information, but it was not what the negative letter writers were suggesting at all. There was a bit of work on the reader’s part to fit everything together, if you wanted to piece together the hints about the Five Year Gap, but everything necessary to the central narrative was on the page. These reactions created an image of a book that people only liked because they could tell people apart by their costumes and take comfort in their constant safe story-lines, a book that asked nothing of its readers.

So it’s been interesting to once again read a few issues (mostly non-consecutive because they were bought to fill gaps) of Greg LaRocque’s work on the series, and notice some great features, like the abstract images used to depict the White Witch’s powers (here mixed with Zymyr using his teleporting powers to send her away). He often emphasises her antenna-things and uses negative space (echoing the white of her skin, with the red of her eyes available to mark out shapes for dramatic effect) to give a sense of an otherworldly power- this isn’t just a staid depiction of magic, or basic storytelling, which was what I originally thought the earlier Legion would be from those Five Year Later complaints.

As I caught up what came before, it was clear that a writer like Levitz (Giffen’s predecessor, and a writer of long standing on the series), and Shooter long before him, was not that sort of story-teller, and the artists involved were equally distinctive (Mike Grell, Keith Giffen, Steve Lightle, for starters). LaRocque is no different- his alien backgrounds and figures manage to be both ‘realistic and strange, his choices in depicting powers add to the sense of wonder that such things should evoke; there’s nothing simplistic here. It leaves me a little confused at the negativity I recall in those letters pages- to me, it was still the same book, with some stylistic differences and a significant plot twist, certainly, but quite recognisable as the Legion. I can only assume people really didn’t like Giffen’s art, and tried to justify that with some extra complaining, or were nostalgic for costumes, as though that was the only necessary ingredient to make a superhero comic good. In reality, with or without costumes, the Legion were good comics for quite some time, back in those days. And hopefully they will be again when they hit the shelves after too long an absence- it will be more than ‘Five Years Later’ since we last saw a Legion of Super-heroes book when Millennium is released in September.

From Legion Of Super-Heroes 33, by Paul Levitz, Greg LaRocque, Mike DeCarlo, Arne Starr, Carl Gafford & John Costanza

#comics #dc comics #legion of super heroes #paul levitz #greg larocque #mike decarlo #arne starr #white witch

[selkirkart]

zymyr plots ! :D by Selkirk

[comicbookcovers]

Legion Of Super-Heroes #6, January 1985, Pencils: Steve Lightle, Inks: Larry Mahlstedt, Colors: Anthony Tollin

#comics #lightning lass #lighning lord #lightning Lad #Zymyr

[fireandwaterpodcast]

Who’s Who: Update ‘87, vol. 5 - Zymyr

On the latest Who’s Who: Update ‘87 Podcast, we discuss Zymyr by Arne Starr and Robert Campanella. Click here to enlarge.

Be sure to check out the Who’s Who: Update ‘87 Podcast on iTunes! 

#Zymyr #Legion of Superheroes #Legion of Supervillains #Arne Starr #FWPodcast #DC Comics #Legion

[why-i-love-comics]

Zymyr info page

#zymyr #DC #comics #comic books #DC comics #info page

[why-i-love-comics]

Tyr, Zymyr, & Leland McCauley info page

#tyr #zymyr #leland mccauley #tyrraz #DC #info page

[craigcermak]

Being evil. #pencils #comics #art #LadyMemory #Zymyr

#art #zymyr #pencils #comics #ladymemory

[thecomicsnexus]

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #6-9, DC COMICS PRESENTS #80 JANUARY - APRIL 1985 BY PAUL LEVITZ, PAUL KUPPERBERG, STEVE LIGHTLE, LARRY MAHLSTEDT, JOE ORLANDO, CURT SWAN, DAVE HUNT, GENE D’ANGELO AND CARL GAFFORD

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE)

Zymyr takes Lightning Lass and Lightning Lord captive to use their energies to power his installation, and brother and sister must work together to escape. Meanwhile, the five lost Legionnaires try to find a way home.

The five lost Legionnaires find themselves on a planet which is being torn apart to manufacture a Sun-Eater, and Lightning Lass and Timber Wolf confront each other over their differences.

In order to prevent the Controllers from manufacturing Sun-Eaters, the lost Legionnaires may have to destroy a planet.

The Legion of Super-Heroes step through a Stargate and end up in the 20th Century, in which Brainiac has captured the city of Metropolis and intends to use the Legionnaires as bait for a trap for Superman.

The lost Legionnaires reunite with their comrades, Element Lad reunites with Shvaughn Erin, and Sklarian raiders are found in Hong Kong.

REVIEW

Finally! There is some balance in this title that allows me to follow the story more smoothly.

And Steve Lightle helps a lot as well. I am not sure if it is the layouts or what, but these issues were easier to read.

I also found the character interactions more interesting. Perhaps because the locations are more limited, so we have more characters under the same roof.

It also helps not having a Legion of Super Villains around.

Other things that help: Recognizable things like the Controllers and sun-eaters. And a descendant of Bruce Wayne, nonetheless!

Now, is this a starting point? no. If you survived the first five issues, you should understand these. It doesn’t help that the original title is still being published, but they run almost independent.

I give this story a score of 7

#steve lightle #larry mahlstedt #eduardo barreto #dc comics #comics #review #1985 #modern age #legion of super heroes #element lad #superman #dc comics presents #brainiac