{"id":5190438,"date":"2020-01-31T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T17:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidepulse.dev\/?p=5190438"},"modified":"2020-01-31T12:21:47","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T17:21:47","slug":"retro-review-timber-wolf-by-gordon-phillips-dc-comics-legion-of-super-heroes-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/2020\/01\/31\/retro-review-timber-wolf-by-gordon-phillips-dc-comics-legion-of-super-heroes-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Retro Review: Timber Wolf By Gordon & Phillips DC Comics! Legion Of Super-Heroes Spotlight!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Timber Wolf #1-5 (November 1992 – March 1993)<\/span><\/h2>\n

Written by Al Gordon<\/span><\/p>\n

Pencilled by Joe Phillips<\/span><\/p>\n

Inked by Al Gordon, Bob Smith (#5), Steve Leialoha (#5)<\/span><\/p>\n

Colour by Tom McCraw<\/span><\/p>\n

Spoilers (from to twenty-eight years ago)<\/span><\/p>\n

In the early 90s, the Legion of Super-Heroes really stood out as an oasis of quality.\u00a0 A lot of the mainstream fare at Marvel and DC was getting stupider by the month, yet this complicated and dense book set in the 30th Century managed to share well-considered and deeply affecting stories.\u00a0 At the core of this initiative was Keith Giffen, who plotted and penciled, or later, laid-out, the book. He collaborated with Tom and Mary Bierbaum, as co-plotters and scripters (who sometimes shut him out of the writing for an issue or two at a time).\u00a0 The inker in the early days of that run was Al Gordon, who himself started to receive credits for assisting with the plotting. There was a strong feeling of collaboration on the title, and I suspect that different people became responsible for piloting the fates of different characters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gordon got the chance to write solo for his sequel to The Great Darkness, the classic Legion\/Darkseid story.\u00a0 And it was from that story arc that Gordon got the chance to write this miniseries, starring one of my favourite Legionnaires, Timber Wolf.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Giffen years were hard on Brin.\u00a0 He was devolved into a big humanoid creature who was called Furball, but every once in a while, he reverted to his original, more or less human, form.\u00a0 At the end of the Quiet Darkness, Darkseid changed Brin back to normal, but that was more kindness than curse, as he was wracked with pain, and looked to be dying.\u00a0 This was all a side effect of the drug (or is it an element) called Zuunium, that gave him his powers in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n

As he was on death\u2019s door (this happened in Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #3), Aria, the young girl who became a bridge between mankind and God, and began calling herself Gemini, came to save him.\u00a0 She did manage to cure him, and transform him into a werewolf-like figure. She also managed to strand them both in the 20th century, where Brin caught the attention of some police, some gangsters, and a half-Durlan 90s stereotype named Thrust.\u00a0 That\u2019s where this series picks up.<\/span><\/p>\n

If I\u2019m being honest, I don\u2019t have the best memories of this series.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t enjoy the story in the annual, nor did I the six-page preview of this title that was published in an issue of Legion.\u00a0 I like Brin a lot, though, and I remember being impressed with Joe Phillips\u2019s artwork. I don\u2019t actually hold a lot of hope for this run, but as I know that TW ends up back with the Legion eventually, I want to see how that happens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s track who turned up in the title:<\/span><\/p>\n

Villains<\/span><\/p>\n