The Daily Procrastinator

This is part 2 of a series of posts looking back at the Epic Comics title “The Alien Legion” – see this post for a quick introduction to the origins of the series.

Any comic title’s first issue not already based in an established universe has a lot of work to do (as, really, any piece of fiction does). Not only does it have to establish setting and characters, it has to do so in a way that will get the reader invested in both and want to pick up the next issue. Realizing this information would have to be presented in prose rather than merely the art, Potts and Zelenetz chose to dedicate the inside cover of the premiere issue to giving readers a quick rundown as to the nature of the universe they are about to be thrown into:

Not exactly as simple as Star Wars’ “It is a period of civil war” scrawl, is it? (nor do we have the benefit of listening to a John Williams score while reading it). It’s actually quite heavy in its use of sci-fi jargon: “Galactic Union”, “Sidereum Galacticum”, “bioforms”, etc., along with the appropriately alien-sounding names of planets and political entities. I wouldn’t be surprised if many readers at the time moved right past that page and into the book itself. Still, the summary offers up the central conflicts that will be played out in the pages of the comic.

Next, Potts and Zelenetz present a series of “bio summaries” of the key players of Force Nomad. Written as if they are taken from the Legion’s private databases, the entries introduce us to the characters with fare such as age and place of origin (immediately giving readers a sense of the enormity of this universe), along with brief psychiatric evaluations.

These entries were an attempt to highlight the more important characters for readers, as the sheer number of legionnaires presented in just the first issue could be a bit overwhelming. Combine this with the unfamiliar setting and numerous planetary references, and the writers were probably concerned that without this foothold, many readers would feel lost before the adventures really got underway.

The story itself begins with a bang, literally, and I wouldn’t begrudge you if you thought the images were vaguely reminiscent of the first scenes of Star Wars, what with the ship under attack and the planets in profile in the background.

Still, while some of the imagery is similar, the story departs soon enough as two squads of Legionnaires manage to evade the Harkilon (the series’ central bad alien race, looking like a cross between the Dark Crystal’s Skeksis and hermit crabs) attack and crash land on a nearby planet.

Things go bad for Vector Squad pretty much immediately as a band of mineral pirates find them and, at the urging of the pirates’ captain, annihilate the legionnaires. Unfortunately, due to their original directives, the soldiers are only armed with biodegradable darts that would not affect the fragile environment, leaving them easy targets. Force Nomad soon finds the remains of Vector Squadron and realize they’re in for a rough time in what would be a common theme in the series – undermanned, outnumbered, and hamstrung by distant politicians’ rules.

It is at this point that the characterization picks up a bit, and we start meeting the core members of Nomad. The humanoid lieutenant Torie Montroc gets quite a bit of space allotted to him, as does Captain Sarigar (seen above), a serpentine alien whose first appearance comes when he breaks up an inter-squad fight among two members of Nomad when tensions run high:

The characterization of each legionnaire is by and large distinct. Above, you can see a bully in the larger Skathe Mescad, and the Bospor (the froggish alien) is a fawning, insecure weakling whose choice was either a prison sentence or a stint in the Legion (Mescad, in a noble moment later in the issue, would save the Bospor from certain death, proving that, at least for him, the brotherhood of the Legion matters). After things calm down a bit, Nomad has to plan a mission to take on the murderous pirates and save the planet from further ecological harm, which is easier said than done, what with the limited resources they have. Still, through the battle intelligence of Sarigar and the viciousness of some of the other legionnaires, Nomad would prove up to the challenge.

Speaking of viciousness, Jugger Grimrod, another legionnaire who would go on to be a fan favorite, only gets a page or so devoted to him in this first issue. But he makes it memorable:

That’s character development!

Frank Cirocco’s artwork is fitting for this series, and he manages to invest each alien with a distinctive look, although many of the aliens tend to be humanoid in structure (an issue that would be commented on by readers throughout its run). Still, there’s a nice pacing to his artwork that can help detract a bit from the fact that there’s so much prose on the page. And that fact is one of the drawbacks, admittedly, in this first issue: sometimes the pages are just drowning in dialogue and other forms of exposition, and talking heads don’t usually make for engaging comics, particularly in what’s supposed to be a space opera. Still, much of the information is needed and engaging in its own right…

Intrigued? Then look next Thursday for Part III continuing this look back at the legionnaires of Nomad Squadron.