RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Calling the Roll of Dream Crime Part Two: spoilers

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Calling the Roll is a character-by-character look at the latest issue of THE LEGION. All responses are welcome, but those following the roll-call format are particulary appreciated.

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Let the roll be called...

SATURN GIRL: Page one. Panel one. Battle-stance Saturn Girl ready for action. Panel Two. Dreamy-eyed diner waitress reads a pulpy-looking sci-fi novel (complete with Colossol Boy and a de-antennaed Infectious Lass on the the cover. Well, maybe not...) before being summoned back to work by her boss, 'R.J.'.

Ah, yes. It must the dream half of 'dream crime'.

So- are Imra's dreams coming from her own psyche, or is each scenario implanted into her dreaming, down to the details?

I imagine a bit of both. Since we as yet have no insight into the motives or mindset of Universo, I'm going to treat Imra's dreams as purely her own.

DREAM ONE: Imra as waitress, stuck near, but outside of the fulfillment of her own personal dreams, taking orders from everyone else. Remembering that Imra originally wanted to join the science police, is this how Imra sees herself?

Or is she dreaming a past averted?

Eight pages of Imra denying herself, waiting on others. Then she comes to herself with a kick to Jo's chops. Pages 12 and 13 are pure empowerment. "I'm a Legionnaire. I'm Imra Ardeen. I'm Saturn Girl." (Interesting order...)

COS and SHVAUGHN: Why Cos as science police? These two must be the people Imra most respects and admires. That's what her attraction to Cos is wrapped up in. He represents what she would most want to be. As does Shvaugn.

TINYA: Ow. Imra doesn't think much of Tinya, in this dream, anyway. Nothing but spoiled brat jealousy represented here. Though the sunglasses perched atop Tinya's head seem to suggest a sort of celebrity/star role.

WILDFIRE: Why? Guess he's the one Legion 'hit on 'em' guy left not involved in Imra's romantic geometry.

JO: Imra *loves* Jo's attention, but deep down sees him as a threat. A bad boy outside of her borders of duty and responsibility. Therefore, he's the one-who-must-be-brought-down. Especially when he challenges Imra's superego-figure, Cos.

TIMBER WOLF: who is an extension of Jo-who-must-be-slapped-down.

XS: Don't get her inclusion, really. Fellow waitress, more in tune with herself (i.e. flirtatious). Perhaps just verisimilitude.

TENZIL: Yay! Where's the 'real' thing?

INTERLUDE: Floating rainbow heads in space... transitioning to...

DREAM TWO:

SATURN GIRL: Now that she's empowered, Imra's ready to 'visit' Garth. Pages 17 and 18 are the substance of this dream. On the surface, it's sexual. But at the same time innocent. Imra, naked and fully 'herself', gives a bit of exposition, recapping recent events. At the same time, admitting how much she (still) needs Garth.

Garth's instincts are the real meat. "Your mind powers are very strong, baby. Maybe you're reading something from home that's really happening." "If it's real and you've got a fix on it, maybe that's how we'll track our way home."

I think these two sentences will resurface and resonate.

KID Q, JO, TINYA, BRAINY, SHIKARI, WILDFIRE, UMBRA and CHAM all turn up smiling- along with MONSTRESS- but don't contribute much, really. Their role is all set-up for the GARTH/IMRA scene and then the rush-into-battle panel... which presumably will be followed up on sometime in the next three issues.

They all looked great, though.

SUMMING UP: "You think, therefore I am." Universo. Hmmm.

Did any Farscape fans find themselves thinking of the Aurora Chair in those last two pages?

ART: Pages 1, 2, 6-9, 13, 14 and 17-18 all impressed. Batista's Ultra Boy and Cos looked great. So did what we saw of Umbra. And I appreciated his Imra. Was that a pair of robotic Athramites I saw in R.J.'s diner?

STORY: Provocative character illumination beneath a deceptive romance-story veneer. There are layers here, that we don't fully see yet. I hope future installments make use of these layers. Otherwise, this issue really didn't advance the 'Dream Crime' story quite enough.

I like the 'casting the heroes in unfamiliar settings and roles' structure- but DREAM CRIME PART ONE built to a certain note of urgency that this installment apparently did little to maintain or further. But I can see that it is a part of a whole. The rest of that 'whole' will determine the effectiveness of this 'part'.

TN

Hooray, roll call's here! I already replied at the LMBP board, but happy to see this thread everywhere.

Batista has won me over as LEGION ARTIST in a mere 2 issues. I hope he is the new regular guy.

I'm pretty sure it was the erotic Garth & Imra scene that did it... Garth has never and I mean NEVER looked sexier... except maybe when Sprouse drew him... but I digress... as usual...

I don't look at this issue as filler since what's happening to Imra is obviously vital to DREAM CRIME.

I *will* grant, however, that Imra was perhaps the LEAST in need of a spotlight issue...

All in all, very good stuff and a 9 out of possible 10 for the whole package...

Hey Mystery lad great analysis of the Dream Crime Part Two. I thoroughly enjoyed both the latest issue and seeing your thoughts on it! I want the next part now.

I liked how Tinya was drawn. There was a Cordelia Chase-ness to her (in her demeanor, it wasn't an exact likeness).

¡Caramba! Have we ever seen so much of Garth ??
I'd still like to see more! :lol:

Can anyone give me some info on Universo? I'm not quite sure how his messing with Imra's mind allows him to work over the other Legionairres.

We don't really know yet what's going on. There still may be Darkseid at work, as well.

In the past, Universo has used his hypnotism powers to gain control over all the Legionnaires. However, Saturn Girl has proven the least susceptible - or the first to break loose of his control, her being an iron-butt in the mind control department herself. This time around, we see Universo saying she is too clever - I expect he is controlling her because she is the biggest threat to him. We're not sure if the others are under his control.

I don't think so, because cover #1 shows Brainiac 5 at his computer, with a screaming Saturn Girl on a screen. So I expect he knows something is wrong with her, and he is not under Universo's control.

We'll see. The real villain may turn out to be Nardo, for heaven's sake!

So he's a hypnotist? Sort of like a 31st century Rasputin?

In one incarnation (pre-boot), he was a Green Lantern gone bad. Unlike Rasputin, he hasn't traditionally shown any great attraction to women, booze or royalty. (However, he did like to take over the minds of Earth presidents.)

In the Legion/Titans crossover, he was a relative of Saturn Girl. I didn't read that series, it's supposed to have been abysmal, so I don't know the details.

Using Universo would be big enough. Adding Darkseid in would just be overkill, don't you think? DnA are better than that.

My interpretation of Imra's dream is that she is drawn to Jo's overt sexuality and the fact that she finds it somewhat arousing frightens her (in dream terms, the bloody confrontation at the end might be seen as her guilt/ fears of the consequences of her own sexuality which she literally fights in the dream) . Jo was one end of the spectrum in her mind and Rokk, the innocent crush, the SP officer / symbol of order and authority, who could never think of her in a sexually inappropriate way, was the other end. So she ends up actually having sex with Garth (in her dreams anyway) -- the happy medium. That was my interpretation of the dream anyway.

On another note, I thought it interesting that Wildfire was shown as being in Jo's gang. They were teamed up during the hunt for Ra's al Ghul too. Did these two become buddies during their time in Kwai space? Or did they just think he looked like a biker anyway? Or maybe in Imra's mind, she sees him as irreverent and outside the bounds of decorum as Jo.

I don't think they've shown them as friends.