Random Happenstance

Most comics fans know the Imperial Guard from Uncanny X-Men is actually a homage to the Legion of Super-Heroes, although the Guard fairly quickly added members that weren't direct pastiches of Legionnaires, but probably could've made it through try-outs. One such member was Earthquake, shown here clobbering Storm in Uncanny X-Men #137. (By the way, the X-Men just get pantsed in that fight, don't they? They're fighting for Jean's life, and still get dropped like chocolate prices after Valentine's Day.) But I can't remember the Legion ever having a specific member with earth-moving powers. Too bad, it would make the Mordru issues a lot quicker...From 1997, Legionnaires #50, "The Bride of Mordru" Script and co-plot by Roger Stern, color and co-plot by Tom McGraw, pencils by Jeffrey Moy, inks by W.C. Carani and Philip Moy. And an Adam Hughes cover!


The titular potential bride is "Veye," the merger of Shrinking Violet and the Emerald Eye; and while he's much, much older Mordru looks like a bit more of a catch than usual: trimmed beard, nice arms, unlimited power. (Usually, Mordru looked like an angry hobo in a ren-fair wizard outfit; and even got an action figure as such!) The assembled task force of heroes is taken aback by this development, especially since Mordru had previously destroyed inhabited planet Sklar and had just obliterated one of their heaviest hitters, Atom'x. (That might not have been the end of him, though.) When the heroes deploy, Element Lad is benched, as he had recently been turned into crystal by Mordru. (We see him trying to transmute a horga'hn from Star Trek: the Next Generation; does R.J. Brande just have that out!? There's kids there!)

Several of the heroes we see here weren't Legionnaires proper, but since a good chunk of the team was stuck in the 20th century and might've been presumed dead, they needed to shore the numbers up. Using her powers to the maximum, Kid Quantum was able to distort Mordru's perception of time, so his shots were all off. Kinetix, Sensor, and Mysa manage to get Veye to another dimension, and try to convince Vi to renounce the Emerald Eye. Vi was guilt-ridden over being corrupted by the Eye, but sought redemption by using it against the greater threat of Mordru. Meanwhile, Mordru counters Kid Quantum and Star Boy's effects by growing massive; and the heroes are taking some hits. Young hero Radion gets his face blown off, and Legion reject turned Work Force member Blast-Off is disintegrated. (But again, that might not have been the end of him, either.) Mysa gets the Emerald Eye and attempts to turn the tide, but Mordru restores her lost youth, since she was his first-born daughter! Resisting, Mysa goes down, but the Emerald Eye frantically attacks Mordru, refusing to be enslaved by him again. The returned Shrinking Violet, riding the Eye, guides it; then has to send it away so Mordru can't steal its power.

With Umbra (Shadow Lass) blinding Mordru, the heroes rally; until Mordru hears the Eye and grabs it, then wipes them all out. The Eye submits to his control, but Mordru, exhausted, falls to his knees...completely fooled by the Legionnaires working together! Mordru goes dormant without oxygen, sealed away again. But the win has costs: among other injuries, young Legionnaire Magno may have lost his powers permanently. That would be picked up in the next issue, as well as some of the Work Force becoming Legion members.

It takes a bit more to shut him down here, but I thought Mordru's usual weakness was being buried, or extreme claustrophobia; established from his time entombed from an earlier defeat. Earthquake wouldn't have needed an extra-sized issue to wrap him up.