Fancy alphabet letter styles

here are some highlights from the yearbook! :3

Ps : reposting again because someone told me i did a shitty job hiding her face

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Howdy, messy roommates. If you felt a bit tickled-pink-to-death by April’s roseate flurry of events, this year’s May just may have the cure with a foray into the airborne, outdoorsy, and adventurous. Thanks as always to Miranda, Bassieeee, and Ray for help datamining. We’ve got our airships, our kites, and our handheld birds, so let’s get our flight gear in check and take off our Zipper constumes (please I’m begging you guys)!
Twitter preview image for May 2024 in Pocket Camp

• Version Codes
  
  • v5.6.0 was 61b5c, v5.6.0b is 45822.
  • This is a client-side update that should not require downloading a new version of the app.
• May Seasonal Event – Village-Green Lazy Day
  
  • It’s with great embarrassment that Pete regretfully admits why there was no Valentine’s Day this year… Some troublemaking slingshotter hit clean through his mailbag, scattering all this year’s love letters in the snow! With Wilbur and Orville taking over, Pete is taking a little spring break sabbatical from all the stress… These breezy days are perfect for daydreaming about his longtime love, Phyllis. “Do you know what she said to me the other day? ‘What are you looking at?! Wipe that dopey look off your mug!’ Oh, my heart… Her billed lips are so beautiful when they speak such harsh words!” But while Pete relaxes, there’s still work to be done! This May, we’ll be participating in Harvey’s Colorful Picnic gardening event, the Kite Flying Fishing Tourney, and the Hide-and-Seek Scavenger Hunt to collect 30 wildflower bouquets from each for a total of 90 wildflower bouquets available from events this month. The more bouquets you gather, the more outdoorsy prizes you’ll receive through the planner including handheld foxtail and wildflowers, grassy napping spots, and the grand prize, the wildflower rest spot! We’ll need to forage deep in the woods to gather all the love letters scattered months ago… and hopefully even Pete’s treasured missives to his beloved would-be missus! (Not that she would ever agree…) May’s amazing, not-so-lazy days begin with Harvey’s Colorful Picnic a little early on April 30th GMT!

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• May Terrain – Village Green
  • May’s new terrain set ushers a civic springtime atmosphere into your campsite with a verdant park square replete with striking fountains, blue flowerbeds, weirdly cubic trees, and a rustic clocktower standing watch. What’s more, this terrain’s middle ground will be given to all players—a little awkward without the foreground to complete the water path, but you can get a little creative and hide the rift with other water features or large-scale decorations. The background includes a homey albeit bustling, old-fashioned town and a blimp roving the airways while the sky adds fresh greenish, teal, and gold hues to your vista you might not often see. Your visitors might not exactly be green with envy considering everyone’s getting this terrain, but they can still park their rears to enjoy your campsite’s outdoor amenities when this terrain set of middle ground, foreground, background, and sky becomes available April 30th GMT.

Tip screen for the village green terrain; auto-designer images using the village green terrain and items from May's main three events; event preview image for Harvey's Colorful Picnic gardening event

• May Gardening Event – Harvey’s Colorful Picnic
  • Harvey’s not sure why his beloved Harriet never responded to his thoughtful love letter a couple months ago… But he’s totally not gonna let it get him down! With the breezy, clear weather, it’s the perfect time for this free-spirited nomadic dog to have a picnic with his favorite pals… and put his aspiring photography skills to good use to document the event with a panoply of pics to post on social media. Harriet is bound to see it and know for sure that he’s not pining for her day and night! But for the picnic to work, we’ll need to plant daisy seeds to attract sandwichbees… The prospect of eating these creatures is a bit disturbing to stomach, but just think of them as lively kebabs! More importantly, sticking enough of bite-sized buzzers will earn fixings for a festive picnic including flag garlands, take-out drinks and sandwiches, and shaded picnic blankets! Completing this event in full will also yield 30 wildflower bouquets as part of May’s Village-Green Lazy Day campaign, so be sure to replant and exchange bugs with friends often! With outdoor hors-d’oeuvres and sportive knickknacks, it’s the almost-perfect respite between RV outings… Now if he could only get them to call him “Harv” like she used to… Stuff down your doggone feelings with a refreshmental health break when the groovy gardening begins April 30th GMT.

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• Rudy’s Airship Cookie
  • Maybe it’s a resemblance to a certain reindeer, but Rudy’s always taken as much pride in delivering goodies as he does in his favorite pastime of taking to the skies with inflatable aircraft… He’s not especially careful aboard these dirigibles or hot-air balloons… but if he finds himself freefalling from these feline-friendly floats (and it’s happened many times before), he always manages to land on his feet. So when he spied a love letter addressed to Harriet lost in the brush on one of his airborne outings, Rudy saw it as his civic duty to trustily tend to its safe delivery… And to make sure his noble act of inspiration inspires as many as it should, he’s taken the opportunity to hire a bountiful brigade of blimps and balloons to celebrate the letter’s airborne journey, no expenses spared! For no other particular reason, it’s a raucous, helium-fueled festival starring an airship helmed by Boomer (who has no time for such foolishness but takes his piloting task with utter seriousness), and animals have come from miles around to watch the airshow as Rudy suddenly realizes how hard it is to make out Harriet’s address from the frankly indecipherable scribbles on the envelope. And what is “Harv”? Is that even a word? With refreshments from the balloon-fest food cart, viewers watch the proceedings through their handheld opera glasses as Rudy makes his grand pronouncements over the intercom of his 5-star balloon-fest airship. “Thanks everybody for all your support in completing our big mission. We were gonna hand-deliver this letter originally, but we figure there’s a pretty good chance this ‘Harriet’ is in the crowd somewhere, so we’ve made the decision to helpfully read it out loud for her own convenience, and also to, uh, save fuel and the environment. Ahem: ‘TO MY DEAR SWEET HATTIE. YOUR PRECIOUS PINK FUR IS MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN THE FRESHEST MORNING PEONY. BUT THIS AIN’T NO PUPPY LOVE. YOU’VE TRIMMED THE UNTAMED HAIR OF MY HEART INTO A PERFECTLY COIFFED COAT THAT KEEPS IT WARM, AND NO OTHER GAL WILL ’DO! SORRY, I NEED TO WRAP THIS UP—THIS ANNOYING BIRD ON MY HEAD KEEPS TUGGING AT MY HEADBAND. FUREVER YOURS, HARV. PS: THIS LETTER IS FOR HARRIET’S EYES ONLY.’ Wow, well, that definitely wasn’t worth this big party... Uh, let’s go find some more lost mail to rescue, Boomer—mush, mush!” Launch into the catmosphere to jubilantly help out animals in need with a spy-high view of all their business when this read-nosy cookie launches May 1st GMT!

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• Airy Picnic Outfit Collection
  • You can carry your merry little derrière a little airier with this crisp attire featuring the colors of blooming spring flowers, comfortable blue skies and ponds, and even your favorite manilla folder. And even if you live in a pollution-ravaged landfill, you can still see the striking, verdant greenery of spring through the keen lenses of the green picnic sunglasses! Make sure life’s a picnic with this cookout-ready clothing collection served hot off the grill May 5th GMT.

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• Blue-Sky Wall & Floor Collection
  • This expansive wall and floor collection might come in handy if you want to transform your cabin or RV into a well-kept city park or attempt an interior design that takes place entirely midair! We’ve had a couple sky and cloud wallpapers before but none before that featured a swarm of balloons like in that disturbing number from the Brave Little Toaster Mars movie. The vintage-style illustrations of the plentiful-picnic wall will also harken back to simpler days of rustled-up breakfasts on rustic vacations at the family cabin or on the open road. Look for these vagrant and free-floating designs when they release May 10th GMT.

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• Grasshopper Goals
  
  • You have much work to do, young grasshopper. But it’ll probably be pretty easy. This misleadingly named rerun of an April 2022 goals event will see the return of Animal Crossing mainstay and Pocket Camp common insect long locust to Sunburst Isle, where you can find it hopping about the tropical grass—make sure not to step on one! They only sell for 10 Bells, so you might find them to be more of a nuisance than an asset after you finish catching enough for your standard Leaf Tickets and Rudy's airship cookie. But they’re sure to hop along when this goals event concludes after May 11th – 14th GMT.
• May Fishing Tourney - Kite Flying
  
  • For May’s fishing tourney, we’ll be gliding over to Saltwater Shores to catch an ironically grim assortment of monochrome fish from tourneys past. String enough of these sable sea fish together to unfurl prizes you can let sail into the wild blue yonder like colorful stacked kites and a birdy parachute toy—perfect for May’s spring breezes. Handheld pinwheel toys and even colorful wind socks make appearances as well, likely as loving references to the Gamecube days where wind socks could be spotted in May and players could carry pinwheels around as rare handheld decor. Completing this event in full will yield 30 wildflower bouquets as part of May’s monthlong Village-Green Lazy Day campaign, so be sure to set up your rod, reel and string every 3-hour rotation you can. You might get a few bites… or a few kites to catch a gale of a tale! Turn your attention upward and decorate your campsite skies with this colorful assortment of draft-ready aircraft… And while we don’t have any stormy or windy terrain still (tragedy of tragedies), you can still pair this with items from last June’s Drizzly Daydream Scavenger Hunt with its windblown grass and trees to complete the picture of a windswept, fun day. And if there’s any animals bothering you, tell ’em to go fly a kite when this winding race to the skies kicks off May 12th GMT, ending May 18th GMT.

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• Special Visitor Furniture – Pete's Petite Post Office
  • With collected letters fluttering back in, it’s not too late for Pete to roll up his sleeves and start sorting the retrieved mail in his simple post-and-beam treehouse… as long as Twiggy’s pet birds quit harassing him. With this special visitor furniture, you can install Pete’s rustic postbox in your cabin or at your campsite and listen to him regale you with lofty thoughts on the lost arts of mail and romance… You can even do some matchmaking by combining it with Pelly’s postal counter to see if Pete will be too busy mooning over Phyllis to notice the admiration of her sister down below… Clear up a mess of messages with mailman whose treetop cubby is as well-billed as its drama when this pillary, pelicanny post goes on sale May 15th GMT!

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• Twiggy's Chirpy Cookie
  • With the muddy trail of Curly gone cold, Detective Beardo has had to return to field the mountain of requests on his desk for his P.I. services, but one lonesome plea stood out from a Java sparrow by thname of Peck… “You’ve gotta help me, crunch. I finally achieved my dream of a solitary bird sanctuary all of my own. Then the next thing I know, I’m getting kicked out by Lyle with a whole series of lawsuits, and this birdbrain named Twiggy moves in! I don’t like the way she’s looking at me, Beardo! She keeps calling me her super-cute pet and won’t let me leave—she says it’s too dangerous for a bird like me. Is anybody home in that hollow noggin of hers, crunch? These wings of steel can beat up anybody! Holy moly, and the racket around here! She moved in with eighteen flocks of the loudest birds alive. I’m lucky if I get two winks of sleep! Peck’s Peaceful Paradise is a thing of the past—now it’s Twiggy’s Tweedledeelightful Chirpatorium, and she says she’s opening a new branch of Flora’s bird and breakfast retreat! When I tell her how hard I’ve worked these muscles to get here, she says that’s ‘just the way things are’ and the ‘fortune cookie powers that be’ have this stuff all hammered out! I’m not afraid to say it, Detective—I really need your help! I’m starting to think there’s something a little sexist here about who gets to have what fortune cookies, but I don’t wanna ruffle any feathers.” With a sparrow in harrowing straits, and never one to turn away from fowl play, Beardo and his trusty sidekick Merengue book the first flight out to Twiggy’s brand-new bird haven… only to find that Peck is nowhere to be seen! They check every nook in the bird-haven birdhouse, try to interview bird-lovers lounging on the redundantly named bird-haven birdy sofa… but with all the colorful bird-calling and caterwauling going on around them, they can scarcely hear any potential leads! They meet with Twiggy at the 5-star bird-haven tree, but it leads to more chicanery than answers… “ISN’T THIS PLACE THE TOTAL BEST? IT WAS SUCH A SNOOZEFEST BEFORE I GOT HERE, AND NOW IT’S, LIKE, A CHIRPY CHOIR CACOPHONY DELIVERED STRAIGHT IN MY EARDRUMS! WHAT’S THAT? WHERE? PECK? UH—I GUESS ON THE CHEEK, BUT ARE YOU SERIOUS? I JUST MET YOU! TALK ABOUT CHEAPERS CREEPERS! OH, YOU MEAN THAT HIGHTAILED HOTTIE WHO WAS HERE A COUPLE MONTHS AGO? I HAVE, LIKE, NO CLUE WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM, BUT I CALLED DIBS, SO IF YOU SEE HIM, HANDS OFF!” There’s no trace of Peck to be seen, but just then, that’s when Beardo and Merengue spot it—a handheld java sparrow perching on Twiggy’s forewing! This seems a dark coincidence… Did Peck make a brave avian escape, or did this burly boy-chick meet a perilous fate as a pet?! Beardo and Merengue keep watch on every bird and bird-watcher in this pet-filled paradise, but mum’s the bird among the patrons and no one’s making a peep… Just a cuckoo commotion that they can’t help consider would drown out a Java sparrow’s cry for help… Try to reach the bottom of a cheep trick of bye-bye birdie when this birdcagey cookie makes some noise May 17th GMT!​

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Tip screens for Twiggy's chirpy cookie, the Bright Bird Outfit Collection, and the Birdy Wall & Floor Collection

• Bright Bird Outfit Collection
  • May’s second clothing collection works as a companion to Twiggy’s fortune cookie. It’s bright, it’s birdiful, and it’s very LOUD with bird-emblem tunics and long cardigans in, ahem, very strong colors that will certainly make a statement flapping in your viewer’s face. We reached out to Robin for her thoughts on this collection’s bird bags… “So undignified. I can’t imagine people would be too pleased if I started wearing plastic people bouncing around my derriere, carrying my loose change, hm?” Being a crazy cat lady is so 8 months ago… Become a crazy bird lady (or a crazy bird lord!) when this collection flits in on May 18th GMT.​

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• Birdy Wall & Floor Collection
  • This set of ravin’-avian designs will set the heart aflutter of anyone who has birds on the brain… (for anyone else… they’re not bad). You can capture the visages of birds forever in the bird-photo wall or cavalierly set them free with the bird-window wall. If you enjoyed last June’s lily pond wall but feel like it was just a little too beautiful, the park-pond wall here will do you nicely. Get a little cocky with these bold patterns for your cabin or camper when this flock of refurbishments alights May 18th GMT.

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• Threadfin Trevally Goals
  
  • This oddly timed rerun of a November 2021 goals event will see the return of the threadfin trevally to Saltwater Shores in the form of tiny-size shadows (size 1 of 6). They sell for 400 Bells each at base price and are uncommon-tier when gifted to animal campers, so not a bad catch, but if your interest in this wispy fellow is dangling by a thread, or a fin, you can still nab some Leaf Tickets and an Rudy’s airship cookie for your trouble during this limited-time event from May 19th through 22nd GMT.
• May Scavenger Hunt – Hide-and-Seek
  
  • For May’s scavenger hunt, we’ll be searching the very best hiding places around the various recreation spots to spy hide-and-seek gyroidites. And watch out for their extra foliage as camouflage… even their bushes might be hiding behind bushes! Ferret out enough of these stealthy sneaks to earn prizes for a recess-ridden recreational park, crammed with nooks where animals can hide for classic games of hide and seek… some of them more effective than others. (I’m looking at you, Al.) Judging by the Happy Homeroom classes, the most likely Leaf Ticket items are the hide-and-seek slide and jungle gym, and then either the hide-and-seek lightpost, pipes, or drinking fountain—just some speculation, though. Completing this event in full will yield the final 30 wildflower bouquets to complete May’s monthlong Village-Green Lazy Day campaign, so be sure to keep the hunt on even past sundown (and check out the quarry and your campsite animals too!) to finish off the month in sneaky style! This outdoor décor makes for a calmingly mellow ode to nostalgic days from childhood (and from Animal Crossing: City Folk and New Leaf!) that will make finding your campers for your daily chats more ~~frustrating~~ I mean fun than ever! Hunt for gyroidite and animals when this oxenfree-for-all begins May 20th GMT (ending the 30th GMT)!

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• Curlos and Pals
  
  • While there isn’t technically much datamined here, this update did add an animal batch under the name of “Curlos and Pals” to the date of May 25th GMT. It seems this will be after the next update as map assets haven’t actually been added yet for this batch, but we do know that “Gwen and Pals’ Island” will be joining Curlos’s island, likely as part of this batch. With only 8 animals left— Benjamin, Biff, Curlos, Gwen, Sydney, Velma, Freckles and Mott—it seems likely this means they will be finished releasing all the animals at the end of this month, but as of now, this is unconfirmed.
• Happy Homeroom
  
  • This update included the typical 3 classes each for Harvey’s Colorful Picnic gardening event, Rudy’s airship cookie, the Kite Flying Fishing Tourney, Twiggy’s chirpy cookie, and the Hide-and-Seek Scavenger Hunt, as well as 8 classes each for new normal Courses 53 and 54.

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And that’s all of May’s merriments! Our fellow dataminer Koopavocelot has also spotted a noteworthy notice that may be coming this month but no info yet on its contents… Hopefully it’s not some sort of end-of-times apocalyptic alert with the last of the villagers likely coming out this month. Er… right? As for June, we’ll probably get the Twitter preview in only a week’s time. June is often themed around seasonal rain or weddings as they’re what the month is known for in Japan, and given that we just had a windy-themed event this month, I’d expect more of the latter matrimania for next month’s events. But who knows? We might get some of both in a dewy bridal shower! (Or maybe something completely different.) I’ll aim to have that datamine posted for you fine folks when the update drops ASAP. Until then, thanks for reading, and remember, even if a bird is super-hunkalicious, that doesn’t make it okay to keep him as a pet!
—Woodsy

First post here and thought you guys would appreciate this! Just hanging out with death and the ghost of my legacy challenges original matriarch walks by and Death starts to cower with the thought bubble of a ghost over his head. Sure enough his moodlet changed to scared over seeing a ghost. Uh, I think you may be in the wrong profession buddy😂😂 I’m doing an alphabet legacy challenge of my own creation where the gens names start with the letter of the Gen as well as career (which took some word play lol) and color. For example Aria (our spooky ghost😂) was an astronaut and her clothes/house were aqua themed. I know I’m not the first to do a challenge like this but I couldn’t find any that had every single letter of the alphabet so I just made up my own. Also every Gen gets a new house, I am working on my building, decorating, and landscaping but I’m on console and can’t use cheats so it’s not perfect but I’m proud! I’m starting to upload them to the gallery just to challenge myself. Let me know if you want to know more about my legacy challenge! I’ve been considering writing down the rules and actually posting it.💕

Part 1
Judaism: a Retreat from Biblical Monotheism
The history of the Jewish people is clearly divided into two periods: before and after the expiatory death of Jesus Christ. As the Sacrifice for the sins of the world had not yet been carried out, Old Testament history continued, the entire meaning of which consisted in waiting and preparation to meet the coming Savior. Messianic expectations were particularly pronounced during the last decades before the arrival of the Savior into the world. People not only in Jerusalem, but also in other cities and villages of Palestine, waited for the Messiah foretold in the Holy Scripture.
Christ and the Pharisees
Time was fulfilled. The Messiah came, but Jewish leaders, Pharisees, and Sadducees condemned him to death. But why were the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes offended? Why was it enough for the Samaritan woman to reveal the secret side of her life for her to gladly believe that the traveler standing beside her, weary from the road and asking her for water, was Christ (see John 4:42)? Why did the Pharisees and scribes, who were witnesses to the magnificent miracles performed by Jesus and knew the Scriptures better than anyone else, stubbornly refuse to recognize Christ? Finally, one more question: why did they hate Him, despite the fact that he delivered many people from terrible disease and suffering?
The answer must be sought in the peculiarities and character of the spiritual life of the leaders of Israel. Religious life demands of a person self-attentiveness, moral sensitivity, humility, and pure intentions. Without this, the heart gradually hardens. A change inevitably occurs, the consequences of which are spiritual death.

Already before the beginning of our Savior’s Gospel of the Heavenly Kingdom, the Jews had begun to imagine the Messiah as a powerful earthly king, who would exalt them above all nations and make them wealthy and powerful. This concept of the Messiah corresponded to their spiritual and moral condition.
For a proper understanding of the prophecy inspired by the Holy Spirit, not doctrinal erudition, but pure, uncorrupted faith was necessary.
The consciousness of lawyers and scribes, corrupted by sin, did not notice the parts of the Old Testament in which the spiritual qualities of the promised Messiah are given: "behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass" (Zech. 9:9); " Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth" (Isa. 42:1-3; cf.: Matt. 12:20).
Despite all the seemingly multifaceted events preceding the trial of the Savior of the world, there is only one reason for such a grave sin to have been committed—the people were rooted in sin and loved it. They seethed with anger at He who had come to the world to conquer and destroy sin.
After Christ the Messiah, who came to save the world, was slandered, profaned, and put to death, the spiritual death of the chosen people began. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke to the Hebrews directly, "He that hateth me hateth my Father also" (John 15:23). This means that the monotheism of the Hebrew leaders became entirely formalistic.

In literature, Old Testament religion, which ends with the conclusion of the New Testament, and Judaism, are often confused. This association is completely wrong. The expectation of the Messiah, which permeated the centuries-long history of the religion of the descendants of the Prophet Moses, ended. The goals and aspirations of the Hebrews, led by the Pharisees and Sadducees, stayed on Earth. Earthly well-being, wealth, success, and power became core values. In keeping with these, they imagined the anticipated Messiah.
However, the prophets foretold the coming of another Messiah—the Suffering Messiah. The Prophet Isaiah, who is called the "Old Testament Evangelist" (see Saint Jerome, Letter to Paulinus) because of his many prophesies and the precision of their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, speaks about this with impressive clarity and precision.
What then is the true Messiah? "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth… for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand" (Isa. 53:7-10).

Were the Jews familiar with this chapter of the great prophet? Not all of them. Usually during weekly readings at the synagogue this chapter is omitted. Here is an excerpt from the memoirs of Rosa Price, who survived the horrors of several Nazi concentration camps and accepted Jesus Christ. Her daughter became a follower of the Savior Jesus, but she adhered to old misconceptions. "I ran to the rabbi. He would tell me different Scriptures with which to challenge my family. In response, they would give me five more. At the urging of my family, I asked the rabbi about Isaiah 53. He said, “No Jew reads that, especially not a Jewish woman.” So I couldn’t read it. The same for Psalm 22. There are 328 prophecies of the coming of the suffering servant Messiah. I asked the rabbi about almost all of them. Finally, the rabbi told me not to come to the synagogue anymore because I had read him Isaiah 53" (Rosa Price. The Survivor // Sid Roth. They Thought for Themselves. WWP, 2007).

How did the lawyers, who knew many parts of the Old Testament Bible by heart, explain the chapter? In the period of the Talmud's formation, the scribes recognized that the 53rd chapter was a prophecy of the Messiah's coming. However, beginning with the famed Hebrew exegete Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki; 1040 - 1105), rabbis assert that the 53rd chapter speaks of the Jewish people. A simple reference to the text can refute this belief.

• "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" (Isa. 53:4). Whose grief did the Jewish people take on and whose sorrows did they carry?
• "With his stripes we are healed" (Isa. 53:5). Who has been healed by the wounds of the Jewish people?
• "For the transgression of my people was he stricken" (Isa. 53:8). If it is speaking of the Jewish people, then who suffered punishment for the transgressions of the Jewish people?
• "And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death" (Isa. 53:9). When and in which grave are the Jewish people buried?

In the holy Old Testament books there are signs of the appearance of Christ (the Messiah) and in it are described his chief characteristics. Of the prophecies on the coming of Christ into the world in the Old Testament, before all else it is necessary to note the vision of the prophet Daniel, foretelling even the year of the Savior's death. “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined" (Dan. 9:24-26). Week (seven) is understood as 7 years, and 70 sevens consists of 490 years. It is the timeframe for the "end of sin." Here, we are talking about Christ the Savior's atonement for people who have violated the will of God and fallen from grace. In the prophecy, the Messiah is directly indicated ("to anoint the most Holy"). To calculate the amount of time given here, one must turn to historical sources, noting the reconstruction of the city of Jerusalem, which fell as a result of the Babylonian destruction in 586. The count of seventy sevens begins from the date of the reconstruction of Jerusalem. The decree for the restoration was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus in the 20th year of his reign. He came to the throne between December 18, 465 and December 18, 464 BC. The seventh year of his reign, from which the countdown of weeks begins, comes in 458 or 457. From this time period to the time of the appearance of Christ our Lord, 69 weeks (483 years) should pass.
The Forerunner of the coming of the Messiah is also mentioned in the Old Testament. "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts" (Mal. 3:1). Dwellers in Palestine knew the Holy Scripture and saw in John, who preached repentance, the Angel of the Covenant predicted by the prophets. Thus, people from all of Jerusalem and all the outskirts of the Jordan came to him (see Mark 1:5).
In the holy books of the Old Testament, there are prophecies of all of the main events in the life of Jesus the Messiah. The prophet Micah identified the place of birth: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Mic. 5:2).
The Word of God demonstrated the great spiritual gifts of the future Anointed One. "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord" (Isa. 11:1-2). All of this was fulfilled by Jesus: "... the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Matt. 7:28-29).
Through the prophets, the Holy Spirit indicated a special distinguishing feature of the Messiah, the extraordinary power of wonderworking: "He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert" (Isa. 35:4-6). When the two men came to Jesus from John the Baptist to ask, "Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?" (Luke 7:20), the Lord before all else points to the miracles he has performed: "The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me" (Luke 7:22-23). The people knew that the Messiah would be characterized by the miracles he performed. "Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?” (Matt. 12:22-23).
A mind corrupted by sin could not notice the parts of the Old Testament in which the spiritual qualities of the promised Messiah are given: "Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass" (Zech. 9:9).

1. The Jews, having rejected the Messiah as the incarnate Son of God, could not remain in the scope of the Revelation given in the Old Testament. Gradually, to the Law given by God, the Pharisees and scribes added 613 commandments: 365 positive commandments and 248 negative commandments.

The Lord rebukes the Hebrew teachers of the law. "For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men" (Mark 7:8). Faith in God as a real, absolute Person—this is monotheism—is replaced by ritualism. In Judaism, the authority of the Talmud is greater than the Torah (Pentateuch). The famed rabbi Adin Steinsaltz writes, "If the Torah is the foundation of Judaism, then the Talmud is the central pillar supporting the entire spiritual and philosophical edifice. In many ways, the Talmud is the most important book in Jewish culture, the backbone of creativity and of national life. No other work has had a comparable influence on the theory and practice of Jewish life. The Jews always recognized that as a people, their preservation and development depends on the study of the Talmud" ("What is the Talmud?").
What is this "central pillar" of Judaism? I will introduce an excerpt from the Tract Sabbath, with commentary from Rabbi Pinchas Kehati: "The cripple may go out with his wooden leg; such is the decree of Rabbi Meir, but Rabbi Jose prohibits it. If the wooden leg has a receptacle for pads, it is subject to defilement. Crutches are subject to defilement by being sat or trodden upon; but one may go out with them on Sabbath and enter the outer court (of the Temple). The chair and crutches of a paralytic are subject to defilement, and one must not go out with them on the Sabbath nor enter the outer court (of the Temple). Stilts are not subject to defilement, but nevertheless one must not go out with them on Sabbath."
Commentary: "The cripple, a man with one amputated leg, may go out on the Sabbath on his wooden leg, an artificial leg, made according to the size of his shin. Such is the decree of Rabbi Meir, who believes that an artificial leg corresponds to footwear, while Rabbi Jose forbids the cripple from going out with his wooden leg on the Sabbath. According to him, it does not correspond to footwear because the cripple stands primarily with his hands on a cane, while the artificial leg is only for appearance's sake so that his physical handicap would go unnoticed. Thus, the artificial leg on Sabbath is seen as an unnecessary load, and it is prohibited to enter with it. According to the other point of view, Rabbi Jose agrees that the artificial leg equates to footwear, however he is afraid that the man will detach it and will carry over 4 cubits into the public domain, but Rabbi Meir does not have this fear.”
I risk fatiguing the reader, but I will introduce one more place from the Talmud to fully portray the spiritual deadness of ritualism. “There are two acts constituting the transfer (of things which are prohibited) on the Sabbath, which are in turn subdivided into four for a man who finds himself inside a private domain (reshut hayachid). The two acts are, however, increased to four for a man who finds himself outside in the public domain (reshut harabim). How so? For example, a mendicant stands outside (in reshut harabim) and the master of a house inside (in reshut hayachid). The mendicant passes his hand into the house (through for example a window) and puts something into the hand of the master (let's say a basket, so that he might give him a piece of bread), or (another variation) the mendicant reaches out and takes something from the master's hand (a piece of bread). In these two cases, the mendicant is breaking the law of the Sabbath, but the host is not. Or, if the master of the house (being inside) passes his hand through a window and puts, say, a piece of bread, into the hand of the mendicant, or, having put out his hand, he takes an object (a basket) from the hands of the mendicant, who is standing outside on the street, and brings it into the house, the master of the house would have broken the law of the Sabbath, but not the mendicant. This is the first part of the Mishna, which has demonstrated to us what the “two acts” of transferring objects mean, from the position of one who is inside, and from the position of one who finds himself outside. Carrying out any of these acts on the Sabbath is prohibited" (Tract Sabbath).[1]
Instead of a living faith in a merciful God and love towards one’s fellow man, entire volumes of the Talmud are filled with the sophistic disputes of various rabbinical schools over what to do with an egg laid by a chicken on the Sabbath, or about a host giving bread to a beggar, so that he does not break the Sabbath.
What a huge spiritual distance there was between the prophets and the scribes! The first to shine in the faith were those who participated in the source of heavenly wisdom, while others directed their extraordinary erudition to "solving" questions irrelevant to life. The lawyers occasionally thrashed out whether one may move a ladder from one dovecote to another on feast days.
It is obvious that religious life, in which ritualism is the determining principle, will become formalistic. "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men" (Isa. 29:13).
Falling away from the living source of Truth will inevitably lead to dissolution and barrenness. In medieval European church art, the contrast between Christianity and Judaism was allegorically represented in the form of two female figures: the Church and the Synagogue. The south portal of the transept (cross aisle) of the cathedral in Strasbourg (approx. 1230) is decorated with such sculptures. The woman representing the Church, clearly and confidently carries a cross in her right hand as if resting on it. The straight folds of her cloak, flowing down to the ground, make her figure solid and firm. Her head is crowned. Her gaze is cast into the distance. The figure of the synagogue holds to her body a spear broken in several places. The bend of the figure repeats the broken line. Scrolls fall out of her left hand. Her head is downcast. Her eyes are blindfolded, a symbol of spiritual darkness.

1. The next phase of Judaism's retreat from Biblical monotheism was the rise and expansion among the Jews of Kabbalah (in Hebrew qabbalah means acceptance or tradition) of mystical teachings and practices. This esoteric theosophical teaching is in spirit and letter absolutely foreign to the Holy Scripture. Two books initiate an exposition of Kabbalah: Sefer Yetzirah (the Book of Creation) and Zohar (Splendor of Radiance). The former was likely written in the sixth and seventh centuries B.C. Confirmation by the Kabbalists themselves of the existence of Sefer Yetzirah already during the time of patriarch Abraham is absolutely mythical and has no evidence. On the contrary, the presence in these books of philosophical ideas of late antiquity, such as Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, and others, completely refutes this view. The author of Zohar is believed to be the Spanish Kabbalist Moshe (Moses) de Leon. It was written in approximately 1300 A.D. The desire of modern Kabbalists to make the author of Zohar the disciple of rabbi Akiva Shimon Bar Yochai (Laitman, M. The Book of Zohar. M., 2003. p. 185)[2] , who lived in the second century A.D., contradicts the view of experts. "The Aramaic language of all eighteen of these sections is throughout the same, and throughout it displays the same individual peculiarities. This is all the more important because it is not in any sense a living language which Simeon ben Yohai and his colleagues in the first half of the second century A.D. in Palestine might have conceivably spoken. The Aramaic of the Zohar is a purely artificial affair, a literary language employed by a writer who obviously knew no other Aramaic than that of certain Jewish literary documents, and who fashioned his own style in accordance with definite subjective criteria. The expectation expressed by some scholars that philological investigation would reveal the older strata of the Zohar has not been borne out by actual research. Throughout these writings, the spirit of mediaeval Hebrew, specifically the Hebrew of the thirteenth century, is transparent behind the Aramaic facade" (Scholem, G. (1954). Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. p. 163).[3]

Kabbalah is divided into the contemplative (Kabbalah Iyunit) and practical (Kabbalah Maasit). The central aspect of the Kabbalah is Ein Sof (The Infinite). In contrast to the God of the Holy Scriptures, Ein Sof has no name because he is without person, unknowable, and incomprehensible. No attributes can be ascribed to him. Ein Sof makes himself known in his manifestations (not to all, but to Jewish mystics). Ein Sof's chief manifestation is the original man, Adam Kadmon. Through his emanations (flows) the ten sefirot come into being, which are the attributes of God. Ten sefirot represent the mystical body of Adam Kadmon (heavenly Adam). He appears as a result of emanation and has no image or form. The earthly Adam was created in the image of heavenly Adam. The tenth sefirot is called "the Kingdom" or Malkuth. It unites all ten sefirot. In Zohar, Malkuth—or Kingdom—denotes how the Knesset (assembly) of Israel is a mystical prototype of the House of Israel (Shekhinah). In The Dialectics of Myth (XIV. 3), Aleksei Losev writes, “As a very well-educated Jew and great expert of Kabbalistic and Talmudic literature (from which I, with the nasty habits of a European observer, sought to learn exclusively about the Neoplatonic influences in Kabbalah) told me, the essence of all Kabbalah does not at all consist in pantheism, as liberal scholars think, who compare the doctrine of Ein Sof and the Sephirot with Neo-Platonism, but rather with pan-Israelitism: the Kabbalistic God needs Israel for His own salvation, He was incarnated in Israel and became it. Therefore the myth of the world domination by a deified Israel, which is forever contained in God.”
Kabbalists have established a correspondence among the different sefirot with parts of the human body. Becoming familiar with this primitive mythological arrangement of the structure of the universe, it becomes difficult to ignore the question that Kabbalists themselves do not ask: What is the source of this "knowledge"? How does one manage to conclude that the sefirot of the Crown (Keter) is the brow, the Tiferet is the chest, Victory (Netzach) and Majesty (Hod) is man's hip?
The esoteric teachings of Sefer Yetzirah and the Zohar are fundamentally incompatible with the biblical teaching on God, the world, man, and humanity's path to salvation. Contemplative Kabbalah represents a combination of elements of Gnosticism of the second and third centuries A.D. and Neo-Platonism. From the Gnostics, it borrows the teaching of the 10 eons, which comprise the pleroma (universal fullness). Dualism is the link between Gnostics and Kabbalists; the idea of eternal enmity began with good (light) and evil (darkness). Kabbalah's dualistic world view finds a direct expression in Sefer Yetzirah: "Also Elohim made every object, one opposite the other: good opposite evil, evil opposite good, good from good, evil from evil, the good delineates the evil and the evil delineates the good, good is kept for the good and evil is kept for the evil.” It is evident that the teaching, which ascribes evil an ontological status, leads to the justification of evil. In contrast, according to the Holy Scripture, evil was not created by God, but arose as a result of the abuse of the gift of freedom given by God to his creatures, Angels and mankind.
Kabbalistic teaching is an obvious expression of pantheism, a complete retreat from monotheism. God and the world are understood as one complete whole. The world is only a manifestation of God. Pantheism is fraught with internal contradictions. Its logical consequence is inevitably first the derogation of God, and next, denial of him, because all of the world's imperfections are attributed to him.
Kabbalists divide the world into male and female elements. The right and left spheres are respectively male and female. The world is presented as a loving union, as the unification of male and female elements. The relationship between the spheres is interpreted with the help of gender symbolism.
Kabbalah presents itself as a fantastical mix of esoteric occultism, blended with pagan religious and philosophical ideas. It attests to a complete regression from the great and saving teachings of the Bible with its deep and sustained monotheism.
Hieromonk Job (Gumerov)
[1] This appears not to be a direct quote from Tract Sabbath, but commentary based on Tract Sabbath: http://www.evrey.com/sitep/talm/index.php3?trkt=shabbat&menu=19. —Trans.
[2] This cite may not be accurate to the English version. —Trans.
[3] Page number may not be accurate to English version.—Trans.

The times are dramatically changing and we say goodbye to the longtime creative teams that, believe it or not, crafted this version of the Legion for 6 years. To put this into perspective, Paul Levitz's second run lasted 7 and the 5YL Legion lasted 5. So they're one of the longest runs in Legion history.
I wanted to make a point about the sales on this book to clarify an error I made before. Up to this point, this was the lowest-selling Legion book ever. The only saving moment they had was Final Night, where sales spiked up again because of the book's connection to DC's big crossover. But once that was over, they just went back down again, eventually cratering and heading for cancellation.
But, post-threeboot, Legion sales were even worse. Every Legion book follows the same pattern - nice sales for the first issue and then an almost precipitous drop quickly after.
However, and this is where I'm going to be a little mean, I think that this version of the Legion is the worst-selling Legion book when compared to the rest of the comic industry at the time. I think that Legion v7 selling 15,000 copies a few years ago is much worse than Legion v4 selling 17,000 in 1999.
Let's talk about the high points of this run:

• I'm going to call out Jeff Moy first. He lasted the entire run, brought a youthful energy and enthusiasm to the book that the other title was never able to match, and made the book his own. Yes, I could nitpick anatomy, perspective, and storytelling problems, but I can't argue with the simple fact that he drew the hardest superhero book for six years, hit all his deadlines, and created a good-looking book. His Legionnaires were fun, happy, and looked their ages. He's also a part of some of the best stories of the run and his contributions were unparalleled. I don't know if he gets put onto the Legion artist pantheon but he definitely deserves consideration.
• I know it seems obvious to say that Mark Waid was the best writer this run saw, but I don't know if that's something you can argue against. I think they really missed his talents when he left and the book would've been much better if he stayed.
• Roger Stern and Carmela Merlo brought a competency and professionalism to the writing team when they joined and brought back a lot of the youthful energy the book needed.
• KC Carlson oversaw one of the worst times in Legion history (the end of 5YL) and somehow made a reboot work that didn't completely offend longtime readers. It's a tough job to oversee two interconnected books (also something that was never attempted before or since) and made it work.
• We got some classic Legion tales: the Mordru battle, Violet and the Emerald Eye, the creation of the Fatal Five, the Daxamite attack on Earth
• We got the definitive takes on a few characters: Triad, Invisible Kid, Shrinking Violet... and some great updates on a few: Brainiac 5, Star Boy, Bouncing Boy, Matter-Eater Lad... and some of the best new Legionnaires: Gates, XS, Kinetix, Kid Quantum, and Monstress.

And the low points:

• For every Moy book that looked good, we got some really bad artwork from Lee Moder and Scott Kolins.
• I still will never figure out why Tom McCraw kept his plotting job after the bad ending to 5YL and he had just as many misses with this run. I know he's constantly talked about as a Legion historian, but there needs to be more to your job, right?
• I've seen a lot of posts defending Tom Peyer, but I just never saw it. He'd get one good issue out of 12 and, for the most part, dropped the ball more often than he scored. There were too many times when it just felt like he was phoning it in.
• Some absolute clunkers of stories: almost everything after the Mordru saga, the reintroduction of Invisible Kid II, almost everything involving McCauley, almost everything involving Apparition and her past...
• Some horrible new versions of the characters: Apparition, Ultra Boy, Element Lad, Saturn Girl as mind-controller... some shaky new versions: Live Wire, Cosmic Boy, M'onel, Umbra... and the worst new character in the Legion: Koko.

All in all, it's a run that has high highs and painfully low lows. I will still argue that this run needs to be included in any reboot/relaunch of the Legion and ignoring some of these characters and changes would be to the detriment of the series. But I also don't think it comes close to the second Levitz run or the first couple of years of 5YL.
Let's continue the reread:
Legionnaires #77
The entire Legion heads to the beach for sun, sand, romance, and to catch a thief... kinda...
These are the kinds of issues that this creative team has shown they do well so I'm expecting it to be fun. I've said before that I love it when the Legion is hanging out and just being friends.
Let's focus on the important parts of the story:

• Almost the entire team heads to Summer World, a planet that is basically all beach, so they can relax, spend some quality time together, and bond.
• While there, Element Lad wants to figure out who's been stealing stuff the past few issues (such as the crystals a while ago), so he's got Sensor, Monstress, and Kinetix to help. They go undercover (yes, the gigantic woman and the talking snake) to try to figure out which really rich person was behind all the crimes.
• In a fun twist, the criminal ends up confessing and turning himself in as he realizes that the Legionnaires are after him and he can't take the strain and pressure. Yes, it's silly, but it works in this issue.
• Lori Morning arrives as well, alongside Amilia Crugg, and we get a nice fashion moment with Monstress.
• To show you just how seriously the Legion is taking Jan's quest for the thief, Monstress deserts him to join Lori and XS to go on some rides. Like I said before, this issue is just about fun and anything remotely heroic is put to the very far back burner.
• On the romantic front, Chuck and the Luornu's spend some time together and it's revealed that at least two of the three personalities like him. We also get more Dyrk/XS moments, which I'm glad to see, and the introduction of a Monstress/Jan romance... now I'm sad that we won't get much more of this before the change in direction.
• I also have to give credit for how they handled Kinetix here - she finally gets her personality back and was key to a lot of things going on in this issue.

Maybe it's because I just had a nice, hot vacation, but I really enjoyed this one and loved that it showed the personalities of the Legionnaires again. Although, to be honest, I would've loved to have had just a couple of panels of Gates complaining about the opulence, the sand, and the heat...
It's also the final issue for the writing team and I think Tom McCraw, Roger Stern, and Carmela Merlo really leaned into what they did the best. It's a nice way to wrap up their run.
LSH #121
In a complete change of tone, we're back with the Fatal Five (four?) story. Let's go random stream of consciousness while I read...
We start with a desolate planet called Tenazor and a huge ship crash lands into the surface. Is this the Fatal Five? Someone else?
Oh, and I have to say I love the Walt Simonson sound effects they use here - not sure if they paid him for the style and look but they should.
Half the team is flying back to the Outpost (although at this point I'm honestly not sure who's assigned where, but that might just be my bad memory... or I'm wondering why the lightning twins aren't here) when their beach memories are interrupted by Brainiac 5, who's nice enough to recap last issue. He tells them they warped the whole Outpost through a stargate and they crashed on the planet from the first page... even though the ship that crashed didn't look big enough to be the Outpost.
Umbra and M'onel have already arrived at Tenazor and, since it's under an orange sun, the Daxamite is only at half strength. Which is perfect when going against the Fatal Five. The villains have already started turning the locals into slave labor, because they have to make the villains even more villainous, right?
M'onel tries to fight everyone by himself, uses absolutely no strategy aside from attack, and gets blasted by the Emerald Eye. I will repeat what I said last issue - does any Legionnaire actually think before they rush into battle? He and Umbra are quickly defeated before the rest of the Legion arrives, including Gates and Brainy.
We get a nice moment between Kinetix and Violet, as the latter worries about facing the Eye again and Kinetix reassures her that she's afraid because she hated the evil that she did. They hug and I, once again, wish they did more with Zoe.
Brainy comes up with the incredible plan of while the Legion is fighting the Fatal Five, he'll sneak in and regain control of the Outpost. Yep, that's it. No need to consider strategy, or the best members for attacking the different foes, or how Ferro is going to accomplish anything...
Subplot: Dreamer has, of course, a bad dream about something ending too soon for the Legion. We all know it's this series (only 4 issues to go), but wouldn't it be great to do a subplot with Dreamer where she wakes up, surprised by a good dream?
The battle starts and Karate Kid takes down the Empress (who I guess isn't tied to the Eye at all) with one move. Wow - they could've actually written a compelling fight scene and let the two of them go but, instead, just let Val defeat this killer with one move. Kind of a waste, if you ask me.
As the fight continues, and the Legion actually uses teamwork to go against the Persuader, we get a very strange scene with Gates single-handedly teleporting the Eye away. He also gets to throw in some nice socialist dogma while he's doing it, just in case there was anyone who wasn't sure what his political beliefs are. Just kinda overkill right now...
Element Lad and Kinetix try to change the Emerald Eye into something less threatening, Sensor makes Validus think his lightning is going against him so that Violet and Ferro can knock him unconscious. (That's something I never thought I'd see in a Legion comic).
And then Koko takes off to save a green monkey. Yes, you read that correct. We're interrupting the action to focus on Koko saving another monkey.
Brainy distracts Tharok, allowing Dyrk to cut the power to the Outpost and end the threat. He blasts the villain with a force field (just going to say now that I really liked that they added this to his arsenal - using the force field as an aggressive weapon was a great add to the character).
Element Lad creates a magnesium flare and blinds the Emerald Eye. Another thing I didn't think I'd see in a Legion comic.
We wrap everything up very quickly, as the villains are captured, M'onel flies the Outpost back into space, and Brainy leaves Koko on the planet so the white monkey can bond with the green monkeys. The Legion wonders what harm Koko can do, but we see that he's already leading the monkeys with a Legion wristband on him.
That's not going to go well, is it?
I actually kinda liked this one, if only for the massive amount of teamwork used. They probably didn't need to reform the Fatal Five for this, and they defeated them really, really easily, but the Legion worked as a team, so that was okay for me. Or maybe I'm just in a better mood today...
The more I think about it, the more I feel like the creative team used the Fatal Five for no other reason than they knew this was their last chance. It's their final issue and I think they wanted to go out with a bang, using the best villains in the Legion arsenal. I now kinda wish they had scrapped a lot of the previous issues and done something a little more epic. But that's been a constant complaint for the McCraw/Peyer team - they just never knew how to actually lay out a storyline.
Legionnaires #78
Here we have it - the first regular Legion title written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (Or DnA). Oh, and a barely remembered artist named Olivier Coipel shows up for the final two pages as well. Let's see how they handle these characters...
One of my favorite things to notice during rereads is how well the new creative teams introduce new concepts and ideas and how well they keep characterizations consistent. In some cases, the teams slow build, adding things here and there and try their best not to completely recreate the book. In other cases, they immediately start throwing their new ideas in.
Rereading this book, there are a couple of elements that are almost immediately evident:

• A more scientific slant to the book. Rather than have the book feel like a regular comic book, DnA immediately throw in basic sci-fi concepts such as Asimov's Law of Robotics (almost too much of that, but I'm still happy they're doing it). Brainiac 5 comes up with a solution to their problems by reprogramming their opponents. The book finally feels like something that is happening in the future. (On a complete aside, why would Brainy use anything by Asimov? Wouldn't Colu have come up with their own rules for robots because they created robots first? Or because they are superior, intellectually, to Earth?)
• Continuing with that, the introduction of Robotica. Unless I completely forgot some older Legion story, this is the first time we're hearing of a robots-only world... okay, I can think of a couple from the very old days of the Legion but I'm not sure that's what they're referencing. I doubt any reader knew where this was going in this first issue by the writers.

A change in a few relationships:

• Jo and Tinya immediately change, as they show her want to work away from her husband and do something without him. In one page, they establish that they're not just an annoyingly-attached couple that can't exist without the other. It's also the first time Tinya felt a little like Phantom Girl.
• Live Wire brings up the idea of marriage to Saturn Girl and she's receptive. Wow - that's fast. But, again, they immediately throw out the "Garth can't handle the separation and acts like a petulant child" storyline and have him acting like a more mature character.
• XS and Monstress joking together about their teammates, showing that they're more connected than we thought.
• Brainy no longer being a complete ass, but just kinda snarky and curt. It's a subtle change, but shows some growth.

One smart think DnA did here was just use 4 main characters for the story: Cosmic Boy, Apparition, Brainiac 5, and Monstress. Instead of being overwhelmed by the gigantic team, they went small (something they'll continue for over a year) and focus on just a few of the characters.
And finally, the last two pages start the destruction, as stargates are destroyed and whole systems are wiped out. Death and destruction are coming and heading towards Earth...
LSH #122
Legion of the Damned, Part One
After reading this book, I spent some time trying to think of comic series that underwent dramatic, intense changes in both style and level of quality. I mentioned this before, but I always find it interesting when series get new creative teams and go in dramatically different directions. I like to see what big and small changes they make.
For this series, the change is incredibly dramatic.
The only comparable book I can think of is when Grant Morrison and Richard Case took over Doom Patrol. It went from a fairly standard, somewhat uninteresting superhero book to a trip through Morrison's crazed vision of a broken bunch of heroes. The book was immediately 10000 times better and eventually joined the Vertigo universe to allow Morrison to push the envelope even further.
I can't imagine what it must have been like at the end of 1999, after spending years reading the Archie Legion, to suddenly have everything shift to such a degree.
DnA have taken everyone's fears of Y2K and turned them into the Blight, an evil alien consciousness that has taken over the Earth, destroyed everything (including Interlac, which is no longer on display), and taken possession of the Legionnaires, turning them into slaves.
At the heart the of Metropolis is The Stem, the huge organism from which the Blight conjure energy ribbons for transportation. It's also believed to be part of the network that brought the Blight to Earth.
There are almost no beings left on Earth, just the Blight. The scared few who are free are trying to escape by getting resistance leader R.J. Brande to use the last remaining stargate to help them get off planet. And leading them are Live Wire, XS, Chameleon, and Shvaughn Erin.
But they face the possessed versions of Umbra, Ultra Boy, and Karate Kid and, except for Cham, fall under the Blight's control. Cham's lost, desperate, trying to find help, when the four Legionnaires from last issue (Cosmic Boy, Apparition, Monstress, and Brainiac 5) finally return to Earth with no clue of what's happened.
Wow, we just got really, really, really dark.
Legionnaires #79
Legion of the Damned, Part Two
DnA and Olivier Coipel continue this story, so I'm going to assume that this whole series was done months earlier to ensure they could hit this bi-weekly schedule. In that case, the previous creative teams had to know that their run was over far sooner than I guessed before.
We start this issue with Cham explaining to the four what happened and just how quickly the Blight took over the Earth and their former teammates. His big reveal, of course, is that everyone was taken to The Stem.
To further stress the darkness of the story, we see inside The Stem and see XS's fate. She's been taken prisoner and is now being processed for power sapping. She's trapped inside a cocoon, breathing some strange liquid, but because of her powers, she cannot be kept unconscious. So she's aware of the horror around her. She's heading towards the end and knows she's about to lose everything.
Then we get a flashback to when the four finally reached the Legion Outpost. Tinya is being her usual annoying self, whining about not getting to see Jo. Monstress is trying to keep positive but Brainy is tired of her tantrums. It's moments like these when you remember that Tinya's around 16 years old... and married... and emotionally immature. Last issue's change is already tossed to show that she sometimes is going to act like a little kid.
As the four board the Outpost, they immediately realize that it's empty, hasn't been used in a while, and something very bad is happening. The Blight recognize they're onboard and blow up the Outpost just as they get away. But the blast destroys their ship and they crash on Earth. I guess the Blight brought the Outpost to Earth at some point, right?
Tinya wakes up from that nightmare (strange that she's super annoying in her own dream) and chats with Cham about how they need to get into The Stem to try to figure out what's actually going on.
Within The Stem, XS is being taken further into the chamber when she starts communicating with a telepath. She's waking up, her speed powers allowing her to get over the sedative. She sees the remaining Legionnaires hanging from the ceiling, like food, and then decides it's time to escape. She also recognizes the telepath - it's Saturn Girl. She bursts from her cocoon, grabs Saturn Girl, and starts running.
Outside The Stem, the five head towards the huge organism, looking for a way to get inside. Brainy spots a opening and explains the science behind how they can get in. I'm just going to point out right now that I really like the way DnA are handling Brainy. He's actually acting super intelligent, and above the rest of the team, and irritating in a stubborn, smug way instead of just being an ass.
Inside The Stem, Jenni's too tired to continue and Imra tells her to leave her behind. Then Imra shares what she's seen, what she's learned inside The Stem and XS is stunned.
To make matters worse, the Blight have sent all the possessed Legionnaires to destroy those who are free.
We'll finish off the Blight next week!
Our next Legionnaire in the spotlight... Element Lad!!!
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To me, Jan Arrah is the soul of the Legion and the one who made the Legion a family instead of just a team. Having suffered from quite possibly the most horrific origin story of any super-hero ever created, he became the backbone of the team and one of the best leaders ever. Perhaps he, more than almost any other character except for Dream Girl, benefited from being the team leader during the Levitz run and that's what's coloring my judgment here. But I don't think so. I think the strength of the character has been there from very early on and Levitz and Giffen leaned into it, turning him into a must-have Legionnaire.
Sadly, post-5YL, he has never been used to his potential and most of the creative teams don't seem to understand his importance.

• Let's go back to the beginning - his entire planet was wiped out by Roxxas, leaving him as the only survivor of the planet Trom. As a child reading these books, I don't think I ever quite understood the magnitude of the suffering or the crime. As an adult, it's stunning that he can even get out of bed in the morning.
• Looking back through the issues, has Jan always had the best (or worst) hair of any Legionnaire? From the feathered look in the 70's to the awesome perm in the 80's, he's always been styling an epic do.
• I actually quite liked the way they turned Jan bisexual in the 90's and made it something completely normal and natural. It was epically progressive writing for the time and surprising from one of the big two comic companies. Looking back on it now, however, I do wish that their whole motivation for changing his sexual preference had been for a better reason than "he wears a pink costume."
• Speaking of costumes, I've always liked the Element Lad costume - especially when he had the Interlac letter E on his chest. It just felt more futuristic, if that makes sense.
• What I didn't like about that change was how they handled the Shvaughn Erin side of the story. The Jan/Shvaughn romance had been one of the strongest parts of the series, romantically, and a mature relationship that readers were happy to see. I honestly think they were in the same category as Jo/Tinya or Mon-El/Tasmia. But to reveal that Shvaughn was essentially a stalker who changed their gender to get close to Jan really debased it.
• I always love the issues where Jan lets loose and actually shows just how powerful he is. I mean, think about it - he could kill Superman in a heartbeat. He could've killed Darkseid and ended the Great Darkness Saga in one move. Luckily, his moral code is one of the strongest, but he could easily defeat any other Legionnaire. I think of that early 70's issue where he's about to kill Roxxas but can't - he just can't go against his own morality.
• I was far less of a fan of Jan in PZH as they just turned him into a stoned airhead who stumbled around, never really did anything of any importance, and seemed completely clueless about any social interaction. When he suddenly turned into a mineral, that made things worse. Sadly, they were only starting to use him in a slightly interesting way at the end of the series.
• And I really struggled when he turned heel at the end of Legion Lost. I get the reasoning but he just wasn't the character to do it to. It was so out of left field that it felt like something being done for shock value instead of story value.

Thoughts? What are your memories of Element Lad?
Next week we get to the end of the longest Legion title to ever exist and see what happens to the characters after that. See you next week!

There are several companies that make this style of Chinese rice noodles. I picked this one up because the box looked fancy without understanding what was written on it only to find out I've eaten noodles similar to this before (made by A'Kuan specifically)
I only added a marinated boiled egg which I bought prepackaged