Long Live The Legion!!! Legion of Superheroes: Millenium with Bendis and Sook An

[Frontier]

It also helps that the picture is both diverse and the people in it are casually smiling, touching, and having what seems to be a good time.

Well, it's the Legion. Not the "Legion of Meta-Human Affairs" .

(I really hope they don't use that title much in the actual book).

The power that this new Saturn Girl design has.
The influence that this new Saturn Girl design has.
The impact that this new Saturn Girl design has.
The international implications that this new Saturn Girl design has.
Saturn Girl

I know you like girls with short hair, feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken, but I think Imra's had much more memorable costumes.

I'm disappointed that once again they didn't utilize their already original diverse characters. I was hoping for Kid Quantum II, Gear, Dragonmage, Invisible Kid II, XS, Tyroc and Harmonia. There's no point in racebending if you have the characters sitting right there.

Wasn't Star Boy black in a certain continuity? I know he was in the cartoon.

In the picture we are given there are 30 something character, and 12 of them are not human (as in characters with physical features not naturally found on humans). That's almost half the whole team. The rest of the team They then have about 9 people of color. No matter how you slice it, that's far more in the way of a diverse cast for the Legion than they've ever had on the regular.

I'd be very interested to see how much these designs and look catch-on in the long-term, and if that extends past the comics. I guess I could say the same for Bendis' take in general.

I think I remember part of his deal with DC was getting to be involved with the media side of DC/WB so he could potentially use that as a means of pushing his ideas.

Although I feel like the Legion cartoon did a good job of retaining the iconic visual and styles of the Legion with a bit more of an "alien" vibe while still being fresh. Something I kind of wish Sook had done more of. But I feel like I'm beating a dead horse on that.

I remember expecting Jon to get a big media push although it would kind of be funny if that's as teen Jon now instead of as his kid self.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

Taking another look at the image I just don't like a lot of the redesigns. That being said, they're not as bad as some of the atrociousness that was the New 52 redesigns, even though a lot of them are quite bad. Some of them are fine. I actually quite like Saturn Girl and Matter-Eater Lad's new looks, even if I think Imra loses a bit of what made her look unique by losing the skirt. However, what they've done to Dawnstar is just unforgivable. She looks like a stereotype, and losing the wings is a real loss for the character. Now, she's just another human instead of a human-like alien. Likewise, Cosmic Boy's new design makes him look like he's overcompensating for something and Blok's look is pretty bland as well.

[Frontier]

Taking another look at the image I just don't like a lot of the redesigns. That being said, they're not as bad as some of the atrociousness that was the New 52 redesigns, even though a lot of them are quite bad. Some of them are fine. I actually quite like Saturn Girl and Matter-Eater Lad's new looks, even if I think Imra loses a bit of what made her look unique by losing the skirt. However, what they've done to Dawnstar is just unforgivable. She looks like a stereotype, and losing the wings is a real loss for the character. Now, she's just another human instead of a human-like alien. Likewise, Cosmic Boy's new design makes him look like he's overcompensating for something and Blok's look is pretty bland as well.

To be honest, these feel like New 52 redesigns to me.

I'm not necessarily using that as a negative, but that's how they come off to me.

[caj]

Wow. For the first time I'm interested in the Legion of Superheroes!

So who is the person we're seeing from behind?

[byrd156]

I'm disappointed that once again they didn't utilize their already original diverse characters. I was hoping for Kid Quantum II, Gear, Dragonmage, Invisible Kid II, XS, Tyroc and Harmonia. There's no point in racebending if you have the characters sitting right there.

Race bending is just lazy especially when so many actual diverse characters could be used.

[manwhohaseverything]

In the picture we are given there are 30 something character, and 12 of them are not human (as in characters with physical features not naturally found on humans). That's almost half the whole team. The rest of the team They then have about 9 people of color. No matter how you slice it, that's far more in the way of a diverse cast for the Legion than they've ever had on the regular.

I was just stating my opinion on the matter of race change . Not saying it was of importance.
I counted a maximum of 6. That too if i am being generous. I didn't count the guys with different skin colours. Changing skin colours doesn't make you non human looking. Even if you include them. It goes about 10 people.

[twincast]

So the one I thought might be Condo because of all the green turned out to be Ultra Boy. And the one I hoped might be Lyle because nobody else fit the bill for either Invisible Kid turned out to be Mon-El. Whom am I supposed to read this series for again?

Not that I'm inherently against the idea, but they already did that with the "Threeboot" Legion being from Earth-2. I would rather they not "lame duck" the new team like that right off the bat though.

Threeboot was moved to Earth Prime (which made sense) and Reboot to some never-born Earth-multiplenumerals (as universe-hopping Wanderers never to be seen again). Retroboot is the one that was eventually moved to Earth-2 (which would prevent time paradoxes, but it's too late for that as DC time travel has always been rife with those and still is, anyway).

I don't mind that - could be a cultural thing or just the character's design choice. Like how we still sometimes like to use Roman Numerals. We know the Legion likes things from the past - we'll see how that shakes out.

The reasoning is sound, and Interlac is but a lazy cipher, anyway. It would certainly look better, though, as it is very hard to make most single letters look cool as a superhero/-villain chest logo to someone who actively uses that script. It took Superman a couple of tries. This one here fails, but it's not the end of the world.

But Bendis said currently (as in before issue 16 of Superman) there was no Legion of Super-Heroes in current DC continuity. He also said that this is the first time Superman will be meeting a Legion in this continuity.

It seems like Bendis is moving the Legion to the 32nd century to leave the 30th and 31st centuries untouched as symbolic memorial of those past stories from previous versions of the DCU.

I think it's similar to how, as per Doomsday Clock, Superman debuts later and later in the time line, and his previous first appearances are attributed to earlier continuities.

Yeah, people need to accept that this is yet another reboot instead of entertaining mental gymnastics based on a tiny change so recent that it's contradicted by the solicitations. Although with Clark's moved to another Earth, I don't get why he and Jon can't have experiences with different multiversal versions of the same characters.

So, it seems like all the main Supers have their own Legions. Superman has the original crew. Connor has the post Zero Hour Legion. Supergirl's Legion is the teenage movement created by Mark Waid. Jonathan Kent has this new 32nd century Legion.

And I'd be perfectly fine with that if we actually got to see the Reboot Legion once in a while.

Bendis said that this would be his DC equivalent to Ultimate Spider-Man in terms of intent, remixing of classic and past stories/the feeling he got from them, and use of modern sensibilities.

Almost kind of makes me wish we still had an "ASM" equivalent with a more traditional take alongside the Ultimate one.

That's what I wished - "hoped" would've been far too optimistic a term knowing Johns - they'd do with the Reboot Legion in the Retroboot era. Alas.

It could be Invisible kid. There is a space and is blur in that part (also the only one missing in this one comparing with the cover of Millenium 2 is the black Hair male to the right of Dawnstar.
With this photo we Know almost all the characters. I think the skeleton one in the green suit is chemical king/queen. A new doctor fate and looks like a gold lantern. Comet queen in the middle. The pinkish one with tiara i assume is princess projectra. Karate kid the shaved one, the purple skin in white suit phantom girl and the black punk with pinkish hair and green suit is Shrinking Violet. No clue for the one sit in the arm of Colossal boy

That male was wearing this Mon-El's collar, so not missing, but yeah, it would explain the awkward poses of Element Lad and Cosmic Boy. Since nobody seems to be missing, though, and this is basically the whole Legion posing for a 3D group photo (or GIF-like looping video), I am afraid that whichever Invisible Kid this may be, he might not (only) be pulling a prank there, but actually unable to turn visible.
I agree on all the characters (including having no clue regarding the one), but I seriously hope against hope that this isn't Chemical King. Yes, his powers were killing him early on, but he got better, and that skeletal look can't be explained by his powers. Clearly Bendis heard "Chemical King" and thought "chemical hazard/toxin" instead of "chemical accelerator/decelerator" - and Sook gave him a stereotypical "radioactive skeleton" look (possibly requested and definitely approved by Bendis), to boot. Long-term fan, my donkey. (I can see where people are seeing potential boobs. Maybe. I hope so. Anyone but Condo. But I doubt it.)

Wasn't Star Boy black in a certain continuity? I know he was in the cartoon.

Threeboot.

I remember expecting Jon to get a big media push although it would kind of be funny if that's as teen Jon now instead of as his kid self.

"Funny" isn't the word I'd use.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

To be honest, these feel like New 52 redesigns to me.

I'm not necessarily using that as a negative, but that's how they come off to me.

Any time anything is reminiscent of the New 52, that's automatically a negative.

Having said that, though, I'm not seeing too many of the elements common in New 52 redesigns here. Maybe in Superboy's design, ironically, but even there it's not as bad as New 52 Superman was. I could also see the argument that Dawnstar's design is New 52-like...which is synonymous with awful.

[Superlad93]

I was just stating my opinion on the matter of race change.

Please don't take offence. I'm not attacking your opinion at all. But that's not the context that your first message was presented in. You specifically said "weren't they already that? I mean this doesn't look human to me." and posted a picture of a random durlan who wasn't actually a recurring character adding to the image of the Legion that a perspective fan would would see before picking up the book. As I said before, the majority of the time before this point the Legion look like those picture I posted.

I counted a maximum of 6. That too if i am being generous. I didn't count the guys with different skin colours. Changing skin colours doesn't make you non human looking. Even if you include them. It goes about 10 people.

You not counting changes in skin color that are naturally impossible for humans is your prerogative, but it doesn't somehow invalidate them as registering as alien to people that are not you, thus I'm sure you can at least conceptually appreciate where some perspective fans' excitement for this is coming from. Also counting those who have fantastical skin color the number is actually 13. I miscounted. And that's if you don't count Wildfire in the front with the red suit and helmet. He doesn't have a physical body outside of that suit. Either way the point still stands that this is more than it usually is.

[Superlad93]

I think I remember part of his deal with DC was getting to be involved with the media side of DC/WB so he could potentially use that as a means of pushing his ideas.

I remember expecting Jon to get a big media push although it would kind of be funny if that's as teen Jon now instead of as his kid self.

I actually keep forgetting about that aspect of his deal, but you're totally right. Given how much he and DC seem to be sinking themselves into this, I wouldn't at all be surprised if that's part of the plan.

I think this extremely diverse take would really tickle the fancy of some hypothetical filmmakers and perspective fans in today's climate. It would also really help DC roll out a whole bunch of forward moving younger heroes. Legion as a multimedia IP is a got damn goldmine, and gaining more relevance by the year.

And Jon may very well find his media push as a teen rather than a child. DC doesn't seem very interested in Clark as Superboy across any media, so if they did get a Legion product off the ground it would be with Jon as Superboy. If I recall correctly, WB's new person in charge of DC's multimedia stuff is apparently very interested in a level of product synergy between most of its assets.

[manwhohaseverything]

Please don't take offence. I'm not attacking your opinion at all. But that's not the context that your first message was presented in. You specifically said "weren't they already that? I mean this doesn't look human to me." and posted a picture of a random durlan who wasn't actually a recurring character adding to the image of the Legion that a perspective fan would would see before picking up the book. As I said before, the majority of the time before this point the Legion look like those picture I posted.



You not counting changes in skin color that are naturally impossible for humans is your prerogative, but it doesn't somehow invalidate them as registering as alien to people that are not you, thus I'm sure you can at least conceptually appreciate where some perspective fans' excitement for this is coming from. Also counting those who have fantastical skin color the number is actually 13. I miscounted. And that's if you don't count Wildfire in the front with the red suit and helmet. He doesn't have a physical body outside of that suit. Either way the point still stands that this is more than it usually is.

I said race change, not about the human looking or not thing. You are conflating the two issues. About human looking thing i still adamant.
There were legion members wbo were non humanoid.And they are all alien or have a alien lineage. That is not what we are talking about. . Doesn't mean they aren't human looking.
Skin colour doesn't make you non humanoid.you have to have the physical structure that does not resemble a human. The hulk is human looking. Therefore a humanoid. His skin colour doesn't make him non human looking creature.

This is humanoid (human looking). There are robots that look like human or have humanoid structures. So, guys with different skin colour(that are not found on earth) fall into this category.

This green martian from young justice. He has walks upright like human and has a neck shoulder,two hands and legs.. Etc. But he is semi humanoid if you count the way his legs and arms are structured. At best,new legion has couple of these. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say these are non humanoid as well.

These things are non humanoid(they don't have a human structure at all). They don't look like a human. Have minimum human features. I am not talking about the girl that is captured in the pic.

[Superlad93]

I said race change, not about the human looking or not thing. You are conflating the two issues. About human looking thing i still adamant.
There were legion members wbo were non humanoid.And they are all alien or have a alien lineage. That is not what we are talking about. . Doesn't mean they aren't human looking.
Skin colour doesn't make you non humanoid.you have to have the physical structure that does not resemble a human. The hulk is human looking. Therefore a humanoid. His skin colour doesn't make him non human looking creature.

You're arguing semantics right now, and I'm not entirely sure why.

As I said, you thinking the change to an abnormal skin color is not alien enough is entirely your prerogative, and no one is now or has ever been arguing that, but it doesn't somehow invalidate them as registering as more than alien enough to people that are not you, thus I'm sure you can at least conceptually understand where some perspective fans' excitement for this is coming from.

That's literally it. That's always been it. Nothing more, and nothing less.

[manwhohaseverything]

You're arguing semantics right now, and I'm not entirely sure why.

As I said, you thinking the change to an abnormal skin color is not alien enough is entirely your prerogative, and no one is now or has ever been arguing that, but it doesn't somehow invalidate them as registering as more than alien enough to people that are not you, thus I'm sure you can at least conceptually understand where some perspective fans' excitement for this is coming from.

That's literally it. That's always been it. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Maybe, i am bothered by it because of the underlying race issues.i don't exactly know why.but, i am bothered by it.
for example, suppose there were people with green skin color or blue skin color on earth. Would they not count as human?it is just iffy for me.you know because if there weren't black or brown people on earth. Would they be seen as alien or non human looking ?

[Superlad93]

Maybe, i am bothered by it because of the underlying race issues.i don't exactly know why.but, i am bothered by it.
for example, suppose there were people with green skin color or blue skin color on earth. Would they not count as human?it is just iffy for me.you know because if there weren't black or brown people on earth. Would they be seen as alien or non human looking ?

This seems like a very strange argument to be having. If that were the case then we wouldn't be having this conversation. And if black and brown people never ever existed in the real world, and a writer made them up in a comic book and said they were from another planet, then yeah, they would 100% not be humans by definition. Ironically I'm saying this as a black person.

I mean, it's very clear that these alien characters are treated as people and with respect. They are just biologically not human beings. I genuinely don't understand why this conversation has become such a thing. It all seems pretty straight forward.

[manwhohaseverything]

This seems like a very strange argument to be having. If that were the case then we wouldn't be having this conversation. And if black and brown people never ever existed in the real world, and a writer made them up in a comic book and said they were from another planet, then yeah, they would 100% not be humans by definition. Ironically I'm saying this as a black person.

I mean, it's very clear that these alien characters are treated as people and with respect. They are just biologically not human being. I genuinely don't understand why this conversation has become such a thing.

They won't be humans. But, they would still be considered human looking wouldn't they? I am hindu we have a human avatar of vishnu-Ram, who is depicted in blue skin color . We always considered him human.does that mean thor and clark isn't human looking? I guess, i am overthinking things. But what is the criteria for not looking human?does it Simply mean not being from earth.