The Great Valor Yada Yada of 2021, part 2: Wrapping Up the Plot Threads

This is number 9 in a continuing series of Great Yada Yadas, where the motto is “We read them so you don’t have to”. Listen to it at episode 659.

• Karate Kid parts 1-2 in 2017 (18 issues), episodes 463 & 464
• Crisis on Infinite Earths (Arrowverse) parts 1-2 in 2019 (5 TV episodes plus 2 comics), episodes 583 & 588
• Timber Wolf in 2020 (5 issues), episode 624
• Eclipso parts 1-2 in 2021 (20 double-size issues), episodes 638 & 651
• Valor parts 1-2 in 2021 (11 issues) episodes 655 & 659

Last time we covered issues 1-5. To recap part 1 you can either go back and listen to episode 655 or just wait here for a couple of minutes, but last time, Lex Luthor gives Valor an interplanetary star cruiser with an AI named Babbage, which is programmed for a Star Trek (to seek out new lives and new civilizations). Valor goes cruising around space with it until he’s attacked by a space pirate named White Spider, so he flees to Cairn for help from the L.E.G.I.O.N. Lobo shows up to help, and the White Spider runs away. Valor and Lobo fight, just because, until Vril Dox stops them. Valor also wants a refill of the anti-lead serum that Dox created. Dox fixes Valor’s ship’s warp drive, while Phase warns him to check that he got the right serum. But Dox sent the ship to Starlag II, which is conveniently in a red-sun system where Valor is powerless. The ship shuts down just as Dox programmed it to, but Valor manages to send of a distress call first. He’s captured and taken to the Warden Kanjar Ru (Ro’s hot sister), who says he’s under arrest for stealing a L.E.G.I.O.N. warp drive – Dox set him up. He’s put in a cell with a former (and powerless Green Lantern), but his distress call was heard by Snapper Carr and the Blasters (who, you’ll recall, had been given powers after being experimented on during the same Invasion! where Dox met the rest of his future crew). Babbage finds something called The Unimaginable being held captive on Starlag II.

As a reminder: there’s a Valor in the 20th century who has his own series – let’s call him Valor A - and then at some point in his future a few years from now (as seen in the Legion annual) he gets put into the Phantom/Stasis/Bgztl Buffer Zone for 1000 years before popping out in the 30th century for good in 2975. This Valor B has been a member of the Legion for 20 years and we refer to him as Adult Valor in the LSH v4 5YL series. In 2978, he was cloned by the Dominators (or something) and then awakened in 2995 with the rest of the SW6 batch, he’s Valor C. As of now where we are in the retelling, the SW6 Valor C went back in time and hasn’t been seen since. Valor A, the one from the solo series, is at least 3 years younger than SW6 Valor C.

Anyway, onto the series….

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• Issue 6
• The Blasters are on a mission to spring a powerless Valor from the maximum security penitentiary known as Starlag II. But they have to go through Warden Kanjar Ru and her cyborg army to do it.
• cover date 4/93
• written by Robert Loren Fleming, pencils by Jeffrey Moore, inks by Trevor Scott, cover by Howard Chaykin
• On sale 2/9/93, which was 1 week after Timber Wolf #5, the same day as Legionnaires #1, and a week before LSH v4 #42 which was the return of Luornu’s formerly dead body #2

Issue 6 opens with the Blasters ship arriving at Starlag II with a THOOM. The Dominator uses his membership card to secure a docking port, and they turn to the Kanjar Ru channel. “We are the premier prison facility conveniently located at the hub of 12 major star systems and serving all life forms in your galaxy. Our 17 completely automated loading docks mean no waiting! And we are now accepting both liquid and gaseous life forms! Bring your own container and avoid the deposit charge! At Starlag II, you’re the boss! You tell us the term of incarceration, you tell us the conditions of the imprisonment! Do away with the uncertainty of confusing legal procedures, at Starlag II there are no questions asked! Easy payment plans are available upon request.” Taking a page from Han Solo and Luke Skywalker transporting Chewbacca to the detention block, several members of the Blasters pretend to be captured by the Dominator so they can move freely, and make it to the prison block. Nearby, Babbage in a tiny ship sneaks into Starlag looking for the Unimaginable, and finds it imprisoned in a giant crystal cube. (Tangent: the Unimaginable first appeared in JLA #42 & 44 in 1966, as an alien who wanted to join the JLA but sought revenge when it couldn’t join, at one point posing as the alien Dr Bendorion. After its appearance in Valor, it next appears 7 years later in the 2000 “Supermen of America” miniseries.) A couple of the other Blasters cause a diversion, they go off to the cell block to find Valor, run into some stormtroopers and show off their powers, rescue Valor and the GL, and then get stopped by Dr. Bendorion who says he has destroyed the Unimaginable.

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• Issue 7
• Cutting a huge swath through Starlag II, Valor's mysterious foe causes no end of trouble for the powerless hero and his allies, the Blasters. The villain's next plan is the total destruction of a star system.
• cover date 5/93
• written by Robert Loren Fleming, pencils by Jeffrey Moore, inks by Ray Kryssing, cover by Howard Chaykin
• on sale 3/16/93, which was the same day as Legionnaires #2, and a week before LSH v4 #43 which was when Mysa confronted Mordru with what she thought were the powers of Amethyst

Issue 7 starts with Babbage and Pilgrim One coming for Valor, only his ship now has tentacles. Valor gets captured but then he feels his powers somehow kick in despite being in a red sun system, so he breaks free and goes inside the ship. There, Babbage tells him that he inadvertently released the Unimaginable, but as he’s telling the story, the tentacles that were battering the ship suddenly vanish. Valor tells Babbage what happened after the end of last issue, when Dr Bendorian confronted Kanjar Ru, Valor’s tracker found Pilgrim One in the Unimaginable’s cage. They escape Starlag II but see that the Unimaginable has reconfigured it. Valor races back in to rescue the GL, who tells him that Dr Bendorian wiped out the guards and then went wild. Pilgrim One races through the ship and sees the Blasters ship, and Valor helps fight off the guards so they can escape. Meanwhile, Kanjar Ru triggers the fail-safe. The Pilgrim escapes, and Babbage says that the Unimaginable is headed for the red sun because it gets its power by making suns go supernova.

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• Issue 8
• Valor must evacuate a stubborn environmentalist and her favorite endangered species before the Unimaginable causes the system's sun to go supernova, but there may be more sparks flying than just an exploding planet!
• cover date 6/93
• written by Robert Loren Fleming, pencils by Jeffrey Moore, guest inks by Ron Boyd, cover by Howard Chaykin
• on sale 4/13/93, which was the same day as Legionnaires #3, and a week before LSH v4 #44 which was when Mordru raised the zombies

Issue 8 opens on the escape from Starlag II. The Blasters are fighting their way out and are just about to leave when they realize one of their own has been captured. Suddenly the Starlag warps away with the Blasters on board. Babbage runs scans on the area and finds two life forms nearby. Valor goes down to the moon and finds a woman named Willa Farr hunting a small dragon-like “salt cretin”. They spend an inordinate amount of time chasing this mischievous creature, with the sun about to go supernova and all, but Valor’s powers come back and he easily catches it. She takes it, gets in her ship, and warps off. The Pilgrim warps away as the sun goes supernova. Valor decides it’s time to go looking for supplies.

[Digression #1: At this point, we’re 8 issues into the series and the book doesn’t know what it wants to be. In issue 1 he has daddy issues and fights Eclipsoids, none of which we ever see again. In issue 2 he fights Supergirl and with Luthor it seems to be a Superman office title. In issue 3 he meets the White Spider pirates and heads to Cairn for help from the L.E.G.I.O.N., and in issue 4 he fights Lobo. In issue 5 he’s captured and put in Starlag II, in issue 6 he’s rescued by the Blasters, in issue 7 he escapes Starlag II, and in issue 8 Starlag disappears with the Blasters and he finds an alien woman who he helps while he forgets about Starlag, the Blasters, or the Unimaginable. It’s like adventures keep happening around him, and he only sees a small part of it. It’s not a cosmic book, it’s just this guy out in space that things keep happening to. They haven’t addressed what keeps happening with his powers fading in and out, or why he has his powers in a red sun system (but they will, eventually).]

[Digression #2: We don’t see the Blasters again in this book. At some point after this issue, Snapper Carr got separated from his teammates. He did not know if they were dead or alive and expressed some guilt over their unknown fate. While searching for them, he was captured by some Khunds, who cut off his hands. He was rescued by operatives of L.E.G.I.O.N. but knew nothing about the fates of his fellow Blasters. Vril Dox gave Snapper new hands but he had now lost the ability to teleport. Snapper was then returned to Earth. See Hourman #20-21 for details. Three other Blasters appeared in 2007 in Superman/Batman #32, 14 years later, but the others have not been seen since.]

[Digression #3: We never saw Willa Farr again, though it was obvious she was being set up as some foil or love interest. And we never saw Starlag II or Kanjar Ru again in any other book either, as far as I could tell.]

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• Issue 9
• Valor vs. Darkstar! Trying to impress a girl, Valor gets mixed up in a conflict between Darkstar Chaser Bron and marauding space pirates, in a duel to decide who will be planetary champion
• cover date 7/93
• written by Mark Waid, pencils by Paris Cullins, inks by Ray Kryssing, cover by Adam Hughes
• on sale 5/11/93, which was the same day as Legionnaires #4, and a week before LSH v4 #45 which was the Legion fighting zombies (part 1)

Issue 9 opens with a shot of Valor on a planet punching cyborg space pirates (like you do). One of the pirates threatens a couple kids, so Valor blasts him and saves the kids. He decides he likes being a hero, maybe he can find a girl to hang out with. Turns out that he landed on Baaltar IV, an old mining colony, for supplies, and an old guy tells him that those were Packard’s men. Valor tries to impress this one girl, while the old guy tells him about Chaser Bron, a Darkstar who decided to be the planetary protector. Bron flies up in his ship and drops off the pirates he caught, and the people tell him that Valor is the new challenger for planetary protector. Bron tells Valor that he’s busy with Packard’s pirates, and in trying to impress the girl, Valor talks back to Bron and challenges him to a duel. Of course, the girl is Bron’s daughter. Back at the Pilgrim, Valor is fixing the ship with the GL and Babbage, and he realizes he tends to act before he thinks. The GL tells him he needs to learn the difference between arrogance and pride. He realizes he has to back out of it gracefully. The next morning, he tries to do so but fails miserably, and they fight. While they do so, Packard attacks the two of them in preparation for raiding the town. Valor gets walloped while Bron sneaks inside the ship and disables it. Bron tells Valor that he put too much stock in youth and power instead of experience and cunning, and Valor admits defeat and lets Bron keep the title of planetary champion. (Chaser Bron appears next in the DC Universe: Trinity miniseries coming later in 1993, starring the Darkstars, the Green Lanterns, and the L.E.G.I.O.N.)

It’s hard to describe, but this issue feels like a Mark Waid story and not a Robert Loren Fleming story. Also, Lar Gand is supposed to be about 14-15 but acts like he’s 18 – which is how old the SW6 Valor is.

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• Issue 10
• When the secrets of the old Green Lantern are finally revealed, everybody is knocked for a loop. Also, the battle with the Unimaginable turns deadly as the villain brutally murders the White Spider and his gang…and then turns his sights on Valor and crew!
• cover date 8/93
• written byRobert Loren Fleming, pencils by Jeffrey Moore, inks by Mike Sellers, cover by Adam Hughes
• on sale 6/15/93, which was the same day as Legionnaires #5, and a week before LSH v4 #46 which was the Legion fighting zombies (part 2)

Issue 10 opens with a shot of Valor coming under attack by the White Spider gang from issue #3 (remember when that plot line had been dropped?). Valor is back on the trail of the Unimaginable, another plot line that had been paused for a couple issues, and rather than go out and disable those ships by hand like he did last time when he was angry, he says that his battle with Chaser Bron taught him lessons on the pitfalls of using brute force – interesting how the fill-in issue was referred to in the next issue. He decides to play chicken with the leader of the gang, but the Unimaginable (as Dr Bendorian) kills the White Spider pirate, causing Valor to have to break off. That’s one way to write off a plot line you’re not getting back to! Dr B destroys the other ships and comes aboard the Pilgrim One. But he’s there for the GL, and causes part of the ship to restrain Valor, who realizes he may have lost his powers again. Dr B says the GL will pay for his captivity, the GL says it was what he deserved, and Dr B says “for killing your child?” There’s a flashback to a child calling for her mommy while things start to burn. The GL says that’s not how it happened, that everyone died instantly when the Unimaginable caused the star to go nova, and the GL used every bit of the ring’s power to bring it to justice. Dr B says “can you do it again?” and uses his powers on the old GL to turn her back into a young woman. She flashes back to coming home to find her world burned, and Dr B confronts her, but she uses the last of her ring’s power and traps him while turning herself into an energy creature. The planetary federation arrived to survey the damage and found them both, and took them both to Starlag. The Unimaginable says it has returned her power to make it an even fight and they beam out to a nearby planet. Valor asks Babbage if he ever analyzed that anti-lead serum that Dox gave him back in issue #4, and it was normal, but that doesn’t explain why his powers are erratic and why he’s burning up (literally) with a fever. He leaves the ship, destroys the Unimaginable, and brings the GL inside, where he berates himself for dismissing her because she looked like an old-timer and he never even got her name. Then he has another spasm and passes out.

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• Issue 11
• Beginning an exciting new direction for VALOR that will ultimately lead to a major shake-up in the DC Universe. It's a race against time as Valor must return the injured and dying Green Lantern to Oa before Valor's out-of-control powers destroy his ship.
• cover date 9/93
• written by Mark Waid, pencils by Jeffrey Moore, inks by Mike Sellers, cover by Jason Pearson
• on sale 7/13/93, which was the same day as Legionnaires #6, and a week before LSH v4 #47 which we’ll get to next week (so we’re caught up with Valor now in the rotation)
• Chronologically speaking, Valor #11-13 take place prior to Legionnaires #16, which we won’t get to until spring 2022. And then, issues #14-19 of Valor take place between pages 10 and 11 of Legionnaires #16. I’ll remind you when we get to issue 16, which leads into the start of End of an Era. So for the next 8 issues of Valor, we’ll cover them in publishing order but not chronological order (because otherwise we’d have to stop reading Legionnaires #16 on page 10, recap six issues of Valor, and then come back to page 11). Wibbly wobbly and all that stuff.

We open on SW6 Triad, circa the future issue of Legionnaires #16, mooning over the missing SW6 Valor. Catspaw is not familiar with Valor, so Triad tells her his history, how he seeded the worlds and was then banished into a ghostly limbo by Glorith, before finally being released in the 30th century where he joined the Legion. “A few weeks ago, Brainiac 5 sent him out in a time bubble, on a mission into the past – and there’s been no sign of him since.” That was ten months ago (in our time) back in LSH v4 #37. She tells Catspaw how noble and compassionate he is. Meanwhile, in the past, we cut to Valor inside the ship, having woken up after collapsing at the end of last issue. He and Babbage decide to take the GL to Oa, but he’s not being noble and compassionate when his heat vision and his super-hearing and strength go haywire. He gets the GL – who finally tells him her name is Alia – to help him get the damaged ship through a meteor swarm. On Oa, Kilowog is working with some new GL recruits, and Valor bungles his way into getting captured and subdued. He needs help getting the ship to land safely, but their rings won’t work on Pilgrim One, which is a yellow ship. He manages to set the ship down and rescue Alia, leaving her with the other GLs, and says he needs to get back to Dox to help him with his powers. Kilowog finally recognizes him from the Eclipso affair, and then shows him that he’s salvaged what he could from Pilgrim One and it’s now a much smaller Pilgrim Two. Next stop: Cairn! But not before we see someone in a purple robe watching him…. The caption at the bottom reads “His name was Valor. He was the most powerful hero ever to roam the stars. His legacy would have spanned ten centuries, inspiring a Legion of young champions to galactic heroism. If only he had lived. Six issues that will change history: D.O.A., beginning next month.”

Dun dun DUNNNN!

This issue basically wraps up as many of the dangling plot threads that Waid could from what Fleming left, and sets the stage for a BOLD NEW DIRECTION. The readers didn't know that Zero Hour was coming, but the writers undoubtedly did, so this is how they start setting things up.