Time to follow up on two stories… First was speculation that Vi and Ayla are lesbian lovers again. Second, I mentioned Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1 awhile back after spotting the hideous monstrosity of a new and very mannish Emerald Empress (sans cohorts in the Fatal Five) on the cover. The story features Vi and Ayla crash landing on Orando where they find a new girl wielding the Emerald Eye of Ekron. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the story or art, but was happy to see some panels of the book confirm the lesbian relationship between these classic Legionnaires and also glad to see the Emerald HEAD of Ekron (from 52) pop up on Vi’s hallucinations.
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On to what I DIDN’T like. #1. Not only was it ugly and not remotely sexy, but the atrocious rendition of a costume worn by the Emerald Empress (who is probably my favorite villainess EVER) was also so overworked and filled with detail that the artist got lazy and put her in a plain green tunic halfway through the story (for no good reason). She’s had too many really great costumes to clothe her like a cross between Queen Victoria and an American Gladiator. ICK. After Sarya and Cera Kesh this Empress is completely forgettable. To see what she SHOULD look like – check out this costume gallery.
I never cared for Keith Giffen’s art much. It is too sketchy for my taste. The boring panel grid was an unwelcome flashback to the bad old days when page layout was ALWAYS a 6 or 8 panel arrangement. And the story was just as much of a throwback to simpler times with it’s Hail Mary pass solution (which was used in the Legion cartoon when Vi sabotaged the Eye from the inside).
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Above are the panels that bring the prior relationship firmly into current continuity. Now if we can only get a boyfriend for Element Lad (where is Sean Erin?). One more thing that I am very excited about is the connection that The Eye seems to have made with Violet – I’ll wager we will see Veye (Emerald Violet from Threebooted Legion) as part of main DC future continuity sooner rather than later.
