Detritus of the Mind

Legionnaires #6: An Eye for an Eye Creative Team: Tom & Mary Bierbaum (writers); Chris Sprouse (artist); Karl Story (inker); Pat Brosseau (letterer); Tom McCraw (colorist); September 1993 Legion Roll Call: Chameleon; Computo; Dragonmage; Ferro; Gossamer; Invisible Kid; Matter-Eater Lad; Shrinking Violet; Triad; Ultra Boy; "and the other Legionnaires". Miscellaneous Notes: The note at the end of the roll call isn't a joke; the entire team gets play is this issue to some degree, and listing them all would be kind of pointless. Summary: Cera & McCauley have an Emerald Eye duel, where we learn he was the one who actually had control of Ingria's Eye.  Back at the capitol, there's an excellent fight between Persuader, Tharok, Mano, and many Legionnaires; we get to see Computo use her powers to make Tharok beat himself up, Alchemist give Mano a nice set of indestructible mittens, and - best of all - Matter-Eater Lad eats the Atomic Axe to disarm ...

Everyone who's a pop culture nerd should at least know of TV Tropes by now, right?  How they've created a handy-dandy guide to different archetypes, stock plots, and storytelling devices that is both informative and entertaining?  As a would-be writer, sometimes reviewing it can help with a story point or character beat that you're having a hard time defining, or it can help you avoid a potentially awful turn.  But not every trope has a name.  In fact, several of my personal pet peeves go nameless when they occur a lot and really need to be called on the floor for how awful they are.  So here is my first Bottom Five, unofficial tropes that drive me absolutely nuts. 5. All Aliens Are Invaders:  In every single movie or TV show built around aliens on right now, they are usually faceless, personality-free, unknowable destroyers & invaders.  Even when they try to give them a motive, it's usually no more than "they're taking our jobs stuff".  I...