new lease on life and the first real chance to developmore fully (both characters have, thank- fully, been focused upon to some extent in the Legionnaires’ adventures since the new teen group emerged). There are also a few entirely new characters thrown in, in the persons of new recruits Catspaw, Dragonmage, and Computo, not to mention Reep “‘Chameleon’’ Daggle of the adult Legion, who serves as the new team’s financier and adviser. The mixture of new and old characters in a vastly new setting ensures

that this is not exactly the same Legionas it was -

before, and even the clone characters are in some cases developing in new directions ac- cording to their new situations, while at the same time remaining consistent with their origi- nal personalties.

The writing is quite competent. Series writ- ers Tom and Mary Bierbaum, long-time dia-

logue writers for Legion of Super Heroes, make their debut as fulltime plotters and scripters here. While it’s too early in the series to defini- tively assess their plotting talents, they do ex- hibit a good working knowledge of the im- mense background knowledge that the series entails, and they have managed to quickly es- tablish the Legionnaires in their new situation and setting on New Earth. Their characteriza- tion is varied and true to the original personal- ties of the Legion characters, but some charac- ters (such as new additions Catspaw and Dragonmage) seem noticeably lacking in depth, though the Bierbaums have displayed a knack fornaturalistic characterization and personality revelation in the past. The tone of the new series is light, with an emphasis on action and adven- ture with touches of humor, and it’s pleasant if not immensely sophisticated reading if you approach it on that level.

The art is similarly accessible in a pleasantly basic fashion. Penciller Chris Sprouse’s solid linework captures the more upbeat, polished atmosphere sought by this series, particularly in the representation of the various high tech lo- cales and equipment, not to mention the sleek hew Legionnaires costumes, whose variations on a uniform design provide a consistent team image that is still varied and colorful. Sprouse also provides a solid variety of facial features and physical appearance on his characters, and his fairly simplistic figure drawing is very clean and eye-catching, well-suited to the youthful ‘one of the series (right down to the slim figures and big, soulful eyes that Sprouse has a pen- chant for).

A monthly standard format comic book Priced at $1.60, Legionnaires is a very accessi- ble, appealing book when taken at its level as a 800d-old-fashioned super hero series ina future Setting, light reading of the adventure-fantasy Senre, The series does recapture a lot of the ‘pirit and energy of the old Legion series while ‘landing on its own, and both old and new 'eaders may well enjoy the book. @

This Week: The Lawnmower Man

outside, making whining noises around the eaves of the house, begging me to stop using the computer... : No, wait. That’s my little brother. Sorry. Well, it’s been a couple of weeks, and I thought it was about time I got back in action. This week’s feature, The Lawnmower Man, is an interesting mix of virtual reality, grass, men- tal retardation (possibly caused by grass), and ‘spectacular special effects (probably conceived while smoking grass). It’s got virtual video games, scheming quasi-scientists, bit-mapped bees, murderous cyborg monkeys, and, believe it or not, an actual lawnmower. In fact, The Lawnmower Man has all the makings of an epic sci-fi\horror blockbuster. It

E ven as I write this, the wind is howling

‘wouldn’teven belong in this column ifit weren’t

for events near the end... but I’m getting ahead of myself.

First, a plot synopsis. Pierce Bronsan stars as Dr. Angelo, a pacifist scientist with a govern- ment grant. He wants to use a virtual reality technology he pioneered for educational pur- poses. The government want to use it to create psychotic soldier simians (chimps, to the rest of you). Naturally, Angelo balks at using his com- puter universe for violent means, especially after his favourite monkey escapes and ismowed down by moronic, trigger happy government goons. So the government operated lab, VSI, allows Angelo to take a vacation. Angelo spend much of his time on hiatus either drunk or flying through a computer. His marriage is falling apart. His mind is starting to go ona vacation of its own.

Until the day Angelo meets Jobe, an amica- ble mentally challenged lawn care specialist with all sorts of troubles of his own. They are; in random order: the hypocritical priest who runs Jobe’s life and periodically beats him; Jake, a gas station attendant who makes fun of Jobe to make himself feel big; and a child-

beating redneck asshole with all kinds of preju- dice against Jobe because Jobe makes the asshole’s son happy. VSI is ruining Jobe’s life,

- too, because the aforementioned ape made

friends with Jobe just before being perforated. Jobe mistakes the ape for Cybo-Man, his fa- vourite superhero, and is so traumatized by its violent death that he blabs it all over town. This causes the assholes to beat him, make fun of him, and keep their kid away from him, in that order.

Angelo picks up on this, feels guilty, and decides to make it up to Jobe by making him smarter through virtual reality! Think of the possibilities! Talk to Big Bird face to face! Put on funny clothes with Mr. Dressup! Go on a trip to Mr. Roger’s Neighbourhood without leaving your house! Realistic hallucinations with better special effects than an acid trip and no after- taste!

Ahem. The next twenty minutes or so are spent in an interesting time warp as we see little vignettes that prove Jobe is getting smarter. He starts to take more pride in his appearance, dressing better and mowing lawns faster. He can read, talk in grammatically correct sen- tences, and understand his comics. He stands up to the priest, tells off Jake, and gets laid.

Upto this point, the movie seems like strai ght - ifa tad cheesy - science fiction. Then, without warning, it turns into one hell of a horror movie. You see, the tests and treatments have to be moved to VSI because Angelo’s home unit has nothing left to teach Jobe. And when Jobe moves in, the organization that really runs the show decides to try the old chimp treatments out on Jobe. You see, VSI is actually an offshoot of DSI, a.k.a. the Shop. Stephen King readers will know what the Shop is all about from novels like Firestarter or the tv series The Golden Years. For the benefit of people who haven’t

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