Legion of Super-Heroes Appreciation 2019 [Long Live the Legion!]

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Light/Lightning Lass is one of those characters that I'm torn over who she should be with.

I loved her with Timber Wolf and I loved her with Shrinking Violet.

In the end, I'd probably put her with Violet and find Timber Wolf a new love to help him move on.

Violet and Lightning Lass have pretty much been an item for some time now, and I'm fine with that.

[HandofPrometheus]

These are the only two LoS continuities I'm familiar with.

[kurenai24]

I had to google who these guys were (i.e LoS) and then realized that I've seen a version of them from the cartoon of the same name despite hardly remembering any details.

It's pretty cool that animation introduced me to so many DC characters, I hope to reaquaint myself when a relaunch happens.

http://www.multiversitycomics.com/in...wonder-comics/

Looks like Bleeding Cool were right, then.

I mean the symbol in his 2019 tease and the frequent tweets of particular panels of Kon with the Legion were big enough hints for me but yeah this seems like confirmation.

20190116_055744.jpg

The circled tweet is the one Bendis liked, it might not mean anything but I can see Jon being the supe character that's a part of the relaunched team.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

These are the only two LoS continuities I'm familiar with.

Now that the original Legion history/continuity has been posted in easy-to-follow format on page 1 of this thread, ANYONE can be an expert on the original Legion in no time!

[Comic-Reader Lad]

We now have more details about the Legion Five Years Later book coming from DC.

Legion of Super-Heroes: Five Years Later Vol. 1 will be in hardcover format at 376 pages for $49.99. It goes on sale at Amazon on July 16, so it might be in comics stores a week or so earlier.

The book will reprint Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #s 1-12, and Annual 1.

The idiot summer intern who wrote the submission for Amazon describes it as taking place AFTER Zero Hour, but of course, post-Zero Hour was the Archie-Legion reboot, not the Giffen/Bierbaum retcon that's in this book.

So, at a $50 retail price, is this still an attractive proposition given that the 5YL direction hasn't been in continuity for 25 years?

[jamgut]

Frame from the Sneak Peek of The Justice League vs. the Fatal Five upcoming animated movie. Mon-El, Brainiac 5, Saturn Girl, Star Boy, Dawnstar and Shadow Lass are all seen in action sequences in the sneak peek.

I've seen Brainiac 5 (Noel Fisher), Saturn Girl (Tara Strong) and Star Boy (Elyes Gabel) listed among the voice cast. Hoping a few others are heard from as well.

[Lonewolf36]

I've seen Brainiac 5 (Noel Fisher), Saturn Girl (Tara Strong) and Star Boy (Elyes Gabel) listed among the voice cast. Hoping a few others are heard from as well.

Probably in non speaking roles.

[Panic]

We now have more details about the Legion Five Years Later book coming from DC.

Legion of Super-Heroes: Five Years Later Vol. 1 will be in hardcover format at 376 pages for $49.99. It goes on sale at Amazon on July 16, so it might be in comics stores a week or so earlier.

The book will reprint Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #s 1-12, and Annual 1.

The idiot summer intern who wrote the submission for Amazon describes it as taking place AFTER Zero Hour, but of course, post-Zero Hour was the Archie-Legion reboot, not the Giffen/Bierbaum retcon that's in this book.

So, at a $50 retail price, is this still an attractive proposition given that the 5YL direction hasn't been in continuity for 25 years?

The price is too high, but I expect it to come down if/when it is published as in paperback; I'll probably do as I did with The Great Darkness Saga - knowing I still have the original issues I will wait for the digital version to be offered in a sale, then pick it up for under £5.

As for the out-of-continuity aspect, why would that put people off? If you love the stories then you love the stories, regardless of whether they are relevant to whatever continuity is supposed to be this week.

[Adset]

Has the third Legionnaires trade been officially axed? I'm fearful, as it probably should have been released awhile ago. I haven't seen an official announcement, like we got with the cancellation of the third Kyle Rayner Green Lantern volume.

[Gurz]

Just ordered Superboy and The Legion of Super Heroes Deluxe HC, vol. 1 how is it guys ? i should have asked this before getting it probably but it doesn't matter, i like Legion, and if it's bad, it won't be my first bad Legion book...

[Zero Hunter]

Has the third Legionnaires trade been officially axed? I'm fearful, as it probably should have been released awhile ago. I haven't seen an official announcement, like we got with the cancellation of the third Kyle Rayner Green Lantern volume.

The last two were released about a year apart with vol 1 coming out in April 2017 and vol 2 came out at the very tail end of May 2018 so that still leaves the window open hopefully. I really want one more collection at least so we get the Superboy crossover and the Fatal Five/President Chu stories collected. It would be nice if they collected everything up until the team split in two which would be Legion issues 73-84 and Legionnaries 30-40 plus the Superboy crossover issue, but that might be asking too much.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Just ordered Superboy and The Legion of Super Heroes Deluxe HC, vol. 1 how is it guys ? i should have asked this before getting it probably but it doesn't matter, i like Legion, and if it's bad, it won't be my first bad Legion book...

I liked the stories in the book, but I grew up with them as a pre-teen. I have all the original issues. It contains the wedding of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl from the Legion Tabloid among other issues.

Volume 2 is arguably better in that it contains Paul Levitz's first Legion epic, Earthwar. You can see a preview of that story on page 2 of this thread. Vol. 2 also contains the resolution to the Legion Traitor storyline by Levitz and Jim Starlin.

About the quality of everything, I'll say that these are Bronze Age comics so your enjoyment level will depend on how much you like comics of that era. Also, you should know that when Mike Grell left the Legion as artist, Jim Shooter and Cary Bates left as writers around the same time, so the issues were written and drawn inconsistently.

There really wasn't a standard writer and artist team, and so the quality varies issue to issue. Stories are more "complicated" than in the relatively straightforward, more simplistic stories of the Grell-era, but not necessarily more enjoyable. Paul Levitz, who wrote most of them, was still a young writer at the time, so these stories are not as classic as the later Levitz/Giffen era.

Regarding the art, the more forgiving a person you are, the better. There's pretty much a different artist on every issue, and the inking often ruins what could have been good art. For example, Mike Grell comes back for 2 of the stories, but Vince Colletta inks him both times, so the result is noticeably "less than" the Grell we were used to. Other artists like Ric Estrada, Alan Kupperberg, Jack Abel, etc. have been largely forgotten by comics historians and for good reason. Jack Abel inks Walt Simonson in an issue that isn't great to begin with, but somehow manages to make it 10 times worse. James Sherman and Bob McLeod do some stories, and these are among the best looking of the period. The Jim Starlin story that begins the fumbled Legion Traitor subplot is also pretty decent.

Again, the more forgiving a person you are, the better. There are glimmers of Paul Levitz's potential in evidence here -- particularly on the Lightning Lad/Saturn Girl wedding issue, but the Legion doesn't get great again until Paul Levitz's second Legion stint beginning with Legion 284 from 1982, which I believe is reprinted in the Great Darkness hardcover. The post-Grell / pre-Giffen period of 1977-1982 (Superboy/Legion 225-283) is generally considered a "treading water" period for the franchise. The Earthwar storyline reprinted in Volume 2 was the best of it.

[Gurz]

Is the great Darkness saga considered the best of Legion stories ? I have the deluxe and i was like, when will the Darkseid appeare, i skipped and skipped and there was no Darkseid... lol and i dropped the book after 3 issues or something like that, but i will try it again 'cause everyone says it's the best Legion story... Well, it should be, the villain is the best, a great villain, what legion needs but never showed up lol I guess they played him like the sauron in the Lord of The Rings but in a less imperesive way, i guess. I don't know, i will try the great darkness saga again, if i can find my deluxe, that is... where did i put the damn thing, i have no idea... :/

I read some Legion before The Great Darkness and Legion Lost ( i didn't dig both of them unfortunatly) but i really like this run:


It was sexy with Legioners walking around half naked after showers and stuff... lol That felt so freash. I was closer the Legion members age back then ofcourse Lightining Lad was the leader, The run didn't last long, but i have the single issues. Not all of them though, Lightning lad was trying deal with all these politician who were working against Legion or something. They tried to shut them down. Legion was kind of like X-Men, they tried to protect a world which didn't like them and stuff. I really liked Lightning Lad. I hope they will collect those issues as hard cover and i will have everything finally.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Is the great Darkness saga considered the best of Legion stories ? I have the deluxe and i was like, when will the Darkseid appeare, i skipped and skipped and there was no Darkseid... lol and i dropped the book after 3 issues or something like that, but i will try it again 'cause everyone says it's the best Legion story... Well, it should be, the villain is the best, a great villain, what legion needs but never showed up lol I guess they played him like the sauron in the Lord of The Rings but in a less imperesive way, i guess. I don't know, i will try the great darkness saga again, if i can find my deluxe, that is... where did i put the damn thing, i have no idea... :/

I read some Legion before The Great Darkness and Legion Lost ( i didn't dig both of them unfortunatly) but i really like this run:


It was sexy with Legioners walking around half naked after showers and stuff... lol That felt so freash. I was closer the Legion members age back then ofcourse Lightining Lad was the leader, The run didn't last long, but i have the single issues. Not all of them though, Lightning lad was trying deal with all these politician who were working against Legion or something. They tried to shut them down. Legion was kind of like X-Men, they tried to protect a world which didn't like them and stuff. I really liked Lightning Lad. I hope they will collect those issues as hard cover and i will have everything finally.

The Great Darkness Saga really is a great story, but it's a slow burn. Paul Levitz comes back a much better writer with Legion 284 in 1982 and stays as writer until the series goes to its 5 Years Later direction in 1989. 1982-1989 is generally considered the very best era of the Legion.

Anyway, back to Great Darkness. Even though Levitz begins his long tenure as writer with 284, the Great Darkness Saga doesn't even begin until a backup story in 287, which was drawn by Pat Broderick, but I believe was redrawn by Giffen for the reprint hardcovers and trades. After this backup story, things are left alone until issue 290, where the Great Darkness Saga runs until 294. However, Darkseid himself does not stand revealed until issue 293 on the last page. Then, the Legion and pretty much every other character who ever appeared in a Legion comic face off against Darkseid and his minions in the giant sized conclusion, issue 294. So, you really only get one full issue of Darkseid.

It's a great story in both writing and art, but as I said, it's a slow burn. Darkseid's presence is mostly felt behind the scenes because, at the time in 1982, it was a big surprise that Darkseid was the villain behind everything. Darkseid had not appeared in DC Comics since Adventure Comics 460 back in 1978, and that was set in present-day, so bringing him back 4 years later and adding him to Legion continuity was a jolt to readers (although I had figured it out a couple of issues before the revelation). This kind of thing was not the norm for DC at the time as each title they published was generally self-contained.

Apart from the surprise angle that, of course, is no longer a surprise, the story is still a great, big sweeping epic that started small and kept growing and growing until it reached its exciting conclusion -- but you have to stick with it. Sounds like you gave up on it too soon. Great Darkness Saga is not an instant gratification story. It's a love letter to the Legion, its history, its expansive cast, and to its long-term fans. However, even newer readers should be able to enjoy it.

[bearman]

I would be really happy with an initial Legion roster consisting of the 17 characters shown in the picture from the animated series.
Perfect blend of power, and attitudes!