Legion of Super Heroes #1 preview

[manwhohaseverything]

Jon x brainiac 5 is as wierd as jon x imra. For God's sake,these are his uncles and aunts,His dad's childhood friends.what's next? Jimmy x jon, yuck!! Why can't they find something not wierd? And no, jon x damian should never happen.Jon be better of just finding someone who is original and not connected to his dad. This whole jon and clark sharing the same legion is kinda bad. Jon should have had his own legion.
I still feel kathy, brenden and Hamilton county should return, as Jon's supporting cast.

[Sutekh]

I don't mind it to a degree, but prefer when it happens organically in a story. I'm certainly not waiting with bated breath to see who gets with whom. On the other hand, I recall that old Mordru story by Jim Shooter -- and how Duo Damsel had an unrequited crush on Superboy. It was really a nice character moment.

That's actually something I've always liked about the original Legion, over the Reboot, Threeboot or 5YL crews, is that their looks came from a variety of artists and styles, and so the team had a sort of uncoordinated motley collection of different styles, which totally fit for a group assembled from a dozen different worlds. Style differs on different *continents* here, and I can generally tell when I'm seeing a bunch of people down from Quebec, just by their dress, here in New Hampshire.

I would kind of want that sort of accidental design philosophy to extend to other aspects of their lives as well, such as this sexual fluidity notion. Sure, it's been a thousand years, and *some* worlds may well be predominantly sexually fluid, but I could see others being 'old-fashioned' about sticking to one preferred gender (Talokkians) or entirely polyamorous (Carggites) or totally ace (Colu). Everyone to be monolithic in any sense, whether team uniforms, or everyone being omnisexual (and having no concept of long-term relationships and just hooking up randomly all over the place), would be, IMO, missing the potential of the setting.

[KangMiRae]

This is gonna end poorly no matter which way DC and Bendis go. He’s just pulling his X-Men stint all over again, lol.

[Superlad93]

For God's sake,these are his uncles and aunts,His dad's childhood friends.

What? No they're not. In past continuities maybe. But right now in this continuity, with this version of the characters they're Jon's college age friends.

[Superlad93]

This is gonna end poorly no matter which way DC and Bendis go. He’s just pulling his X-Men stint all over again, lol.

Not really. At least not in a technical sense. Jon's sexuality has never been overtly established because till now he's been 10. And this is a totally new version of the Legion rather than a continuation of any previous continuity.

His X-Men thing with Ice Man was battling piles of continuity that unambiguously said Bobby was straight. This instance isn't really all that comparable.

_____.

I reality I doubt Bendis has it in him to make the whole team/the future sexuality fluid. It'll likely just be a larger smattering of orientations than the Legion's seen before, and some expected couples likely won't be seen.

[manwhohaseverything]

What? No they're not. In past continuities maybe. But right now in this continuity, with this version of the characters they're Jon's college age friends.

This continuity is the past continuity. Doomsday clock states Clark and legion had a history. Clark was running around as legionnaire. Age of the character is irrelevant when we are talking about aliens, immortals and time travellers. Jon and Clark's friends, A big no for me. I have said this before when jon x imra thing came up. This is getting wierd in a bad way.Bendis should have made all new characters. A legacy legion wouldn't have been this wierd.This feels very short sighted.

[Stick Figure]

I reality I doubt Bendis has it in him to make the whole team/the future sexuality fluid. It'll likely just be a larger smattering of orientations than the Legion's seen before, and some expected couples likely won't be seen.

I actually hope he does push things in that direction at least a bit. The opportunities for great character stories would be endless. I know he has to have some restraint but I do hope he’s fairly bold with some decisions. Having this book focus on the relationships and having the standard “super hero” action in the background would be awesome! With such a large cast there should be tons of options he can go with.

[Superlad93]

This continuity is the past continuity. Doomsday clock states Clark and legion had a history. Clark was running around as legionnaire. Age of the character is irrelevant when we are talking about aliens, immortals and time travellers. Jon and Clark's friends, A big no for me. I have said this before when jon x imra thing came up. This is getting wierd in a bad way.Bendis should have made all new characters. A legacy legion wouldn't have been this wierd.This feels very short sighted.

The Legion book itself doesn't seem to reflect that. Scott Snyder said famously said that Doomsday Clock wouldn't be dictating his JSA book, and Bendis unambiguously had his books say that the Legion was inspired by Jon Kent, his forming of the UP, and the age of heroes in general rather than Clark. This is unlike how he's handled the Kents being alive. He's been very coy and ambiguous with if they were alive through his whole run so far, and unlike Clark's involvement with the Legion he's never contradicted it.

Plus the costumes he Legion are wearing when they say Clark inspired them are their classic costume and looks rather than their current ones.

So till it's stated that Clark hangout with them first, these are Jon's friends and his version of the team to interact with as he wishes.

[Superlad93]

I actually hope he does push things in that direction at least a bit. The opportunities for great character stories would be endless. I know he has to have some restraint but I do hope he’s fairly bold with some decisions. Having this book focus on the relationships and having the standard “super hero” action in the background would be awesome! With such a large cast there should be tons of options he can go with.

You may end up disappointed if you're looking for so something with the action in the background. Bendis' has really been hyping up the scale of this book for a while, so I think that'll remain.

That said, he seems super focused on the idea of their interpersonal relationships, so I expect pretty large focus on that. Already Ultra Boy and his home life is a plot point so far.

I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for how Bendis handles the whole thing

[manwhohaseverything]

The Legion book itself doesn't seem to reflect that. Scott Snyder said famously said that Doomsday Clock wouldn't be dictating his JSA book, and Bendis unambiguously had his books say that the Legion was inspired by Jon Kent, his forming of the UP, and the age of heroes in general rather than Clark. This is unlike how he's handled the Kents being alive. He's been very coy and ambiguous with if they were alive through his whole run so far, and unlike Clark's involvement with the Legion he's never contradicted it.

Plus the costumes he Legion are wearing when they say Clark inspired them are their classic costume and looks rather than their current ones.

So till it's stated that Clark hangout with them first, these are Jon's friends and his version of the team to interact with as he wishes.

It had not reflected it till now because ddc hadn't finished. Its completed now. They should be catching up now and going past. It just would look really wierd whenever they do. No, The costume aren't that of classic legion. The intention is very clear. It is this very same legion. Having a book where a guy dates his father's friend is just wierd. Just because jon is aged up,Doesn't mean he can date wonder woman, zatanna, bruce wayne... Etc.

If jon can date imra or brainy. He can date wonder woman :shudder :. That's just bad. Wonder woman and superman even in postcrisis continuity had a thing. Nope! I don't want to fall into that rabbit hole. No, sirree!

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

I don’t care what Bendis says, the Legion were Kal’s friends first. And changing it to his son will never not be weird.

[Superlad93]

It had not reflected it till now because ddc hadn't finished.

That doesn't even remotely make sense though. They, the writers, have known the ending of Doomsday Clock for years now, and it would've just been a simple matter of Bendis not saying that Jon exclusively inspired the Legion with his actions on Unity Day. That's what he did with the Kents. Early on he wrote nothing to contradict the idea that the Kents were alive.

How do they "catch up" with a story where Clark Kent still has his secret identity and Alfred is still alive? The changes that they wanted to keep such as Clark being Superboy and the Kents being back have never been contradicted once in Bendis' Superman run. He's just simply not addressed them. But, again, that's not the case with Jon inspiring the Legion with Unity Day. He's unambiguously clear on that, and he's said multiple times that that is the first time anyone is meeting the Legion. He didn't play games like he did when asked if the Kents were still alive.

There's a clear distinction. These are Jon's friends in this continuity.

No, The costume aren't that of classic legion.

Yes they are. Look on the page before that where they're talking about how Clark as Superboy inspired them. That's a long haired Saturn Girl and (possibly white) Cosmic Boy with their classic suits on.

It's only the same Legion because it seems that Johns' personal intent was to make it so it was Superman that inspired the Legion and they had to use the new looks for general visual cohesiveness regardless of story (this is why Superman's and Betman's suit on the covers are from Reborn, but inside they are classic. It's because midway though they chanced in the books), but that's only Bendis' Legion in look alone. In intent that's basically Johns' Legion from Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes.

I don’t care what Bendis says, the Legion were Kal’s friends first. And changing it to his son will never not be weird.

Sure, and that's a perfectly valid personal opinion to have and feeling to feel, but it's factually not accurate in this continuity given everything we've seen in the actual books and heard in interviews. That is my only point. If he does date someone on the team, I'm sure it'll be odd for a few long time fans. But it's a reboot with a clear distinction.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

How do they "catch up" with a story where Clark Kent still has his secret identity and Alfred is still alive? The changes that they wanted to keep such as Clark being Superboy and the Kents being back have never been contradicted once in Bendis' Superman run. He's just simply not addressed them. But, again, that's not the case with Jon inspiring the Legion with Unity Day. He's unambiguously clear on that, and he's said multiple times that that is the first time anyone is meeting the Legion. He didn't play games like he did when asked if the Kents were still alive.

I mean, it's not like death in comics tends to be permanent. Plus, it's not like this is the first time a hero's identity has been made public only to be made secret again in a matter of months. However, and this might be me not remembering, but was there anything in Doomsday Clock that explicitly made it impossible for Clark's identity to be out there? Adrien seemed to know that Lois was Superman's wife. Maybe because it's public knowledge?

Yes they are. Look on the page before that where they're talking about how Clark as Superboy inspired them. That's a long haired Saturn Girl and (possibly white) Cosmic Boy with their classic suits on.

And when they show up, Imra literally says "You remember us now, don't you Kal." The intent is obviously that the "new Legion" is having its classic continuity restored.

[Frontier]

I don’t care what Bendis says, the Legion were Kal’s friends first. And changing it to his son will never not be weird.

Ideally we would have both, but yeah, it's a weird dynamic for me.

[Superlad93]

I mean, it's not like death in comics tends to be permanent. Plus, it's not like this is the first time a hero's identity has been made public only to be made secret again in a matter of months. However, and this might be me not remembering, but was there anything in Doomsday Clock that explicitly made it impossible for Clark's identity to be out there? Adrien seemed to know that Lois was Superman's wife. Maybe because it's public knowledge?

Probably the fact that he still works at the Daily Planet and wears his glasses as if nothing happened. In Bendis run there are very real questions on if he'll still be allowed to do that going forward. And given the fact that most reports and rumors say that 5G is likely to have a fairly substantial time skip where Alfred is still very much dead (thus requiring Bruce to be Luke's 'guy in the chair') I think it's pretty safe to say that Alfred didn't just come back from the dead between then only to die again before 5G.

And the idea that you're implying that DC would be cool with giving away that a character who has never died before will be back shortly after they are killed seems like an odd stance. Doomsday Clock is pretty clearly its own thing with only circumstantial parallels to things going on in the books. Again, Scott Snyder very clearly said as much.

And when they show up, Imra literally says "You remember us now, don't you Kal."

I'm saying that likely doesn't matter at all given the fact that they still contradicted it very directly even though they knew full well what Johns had in mind. The fact that Bendis went out of his way to contradict that but never contradicted the idea that Clark was Superboy in his youth or the idea that the Kents could still be alive seems to indicate the intent very clearly.