 |
| "Everybody Hates Vril Dox" from R.E.B.E.L.S.'94 #2 (DC, 1994) by Tom Peyer, Derec Aucoin and James Pascoe |
As a big fan of L.E.G.I.O.N., I of course kept reading when Vril Dox lost control of his enforcement organization (to his toddler son, no less) and went on the lam with the rest of LEGION's heroes. The title is absurd, of course. I mean "Revolutionary Elite Brigade to Eradicate L.E.G.I.O.N. Supremacy"? There's an acronym in that acronym! (L.E.G.I.O.N., by the way, means Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network).) The book lasts about a year in a half on that premise, and ends the LEGION saga on a happy ending. Perhaps it didn't have the exciting vibe it had as LEGION its first couple years, but I think it did give the story a bit of a bump where it otherwise might have been summarily cancelled. The addition of Captain Comet to the team never did anything for me, but I suppose there was merit in connecting the "cosmic series" with other elements of the DCU.
Well...he IS kind've a jerk.
ReplyDeleteI read the early issues of the Giffen/Grant series, but it didn't hold my attention. I remember it more for key moments, like Dox's rape and the birth of Stealth's child, than I do for the individual characters and plots. I found Tom Peyer's darkly satirical work vastly more appealing, so I'm of the small camp that favors R.E.B.E.L.S. The art was rough in the early issues, but once Derec Aucoin-Donovan settled in, the title became a gem. I read the entire significantly inferior '00s series under Bedard based on the abiding positive feeling toward the property this run engendered. Vril Dox remains one of my favorite DC characters.
ReplyDeleteI loved LEGION and REBELS, a great spin-off [or not] of LSH,
ReplyDeleteWish it would return.
Sally: That's why he's one of my favorite DC characters ever.
ReplyDeleteFrank: I agree, Tom Peyer knocked it out of the park.
Karl: Spin-in?