Legion of Super-Heroes (LoSH) Appreciation 2020

[0nt1r]

Agreed, especially as he derailed the DnA run to create it. After everything Zero Hour didn’t offer us, they’d made the book really good.

[The no face guy]

This is not a good run at all. This is no where near Waid at the top of his game. He is more interested in making a point with this run than actually telling good stories, and the whole thing comes off as a giant preachy mess. He makes all the characters into just such unlikable assholes, and he changes Brainiac 5 into Vril Dox II from the L.E.G.I.O.N. series so much it is pretty much a carbon copy. At one point in the series he makes it look like the Legion commits actual genocide on an entire alien race with just a few knowing what really happened, but the ones that didn't know were perfectly fine with commiting genocide. That is just how wrong he got this series. As someone who has read almost every Legion issue (except this new Bendis mess) I can honestly say the Waid "threeboot" series is my least favorite of any Legion series i have read.

Your much better off avoiding it and saving your money.

Sound advice, I'll steer clear. I guess the Legion died in the 90's for me.

It has me curious though. If they rebooted the Paul Levitz timeline, would there be enough older readers out there to boost the sales to take off. I just remember the LEGION being so popular when I was kid.

[caj]

Sound advice, I'll steer clear. I guess the Legion died in the 90's for me.

It has me curious though. If they rebooted the Paul Levitz timeline, would there be enough older readers out there to boost the sales to take off. I just remember the LEGION being so popular when I was kid.

They actually did reboot Levitz's timeline back in the early 10s - with Levitz writing it. Unfortunately, he had lost his mojo by this point and it wasn't all that spectacular a run.

[The no face guy]

Too bad, it wouldn't have to be Levitz, just the same timeline, but at least they tried it. Oh well I'm an older reader now, maybe they will catch on with a younger generation.

Not to sound too negative, but I groan everytime I pick up a new Legion comic and they're reintroducing them as teenagers, it would be like rebooting Batman from the beginning, and watching his origin and early days everytime DC cleans the slate.

[Sutekh]

It has me curious though. If they rebooted the Paul Levitz timeline, would there be enough older readers out there to boost the sales to take off. I just remember the LEGION being so popular when I was kid.

I suspect not. They killed the golden goose with to get rid of Superboy, and trash the entire Legion with constant reboots post-Crisis, instead of finding some comic-book-y way to square that circle.

The older fans who made it one of DC's two top-selling books in the eighties have been driven away, and attempts to re-envision the team for a new generation has consistently failed to deliver a wave of new fans sufficient to justify a new title. The Legion is easily my favorite title, and while I'm willing to give alternate takes on it a change (my favorite is the classic Legion, but Superboy's Legion was also super cool!), the fact that they are unwilling to stick to any of them only serves to further fragment the dwindling fan-base, as those who enjoyed the Reboot are even more SOL than fans of the classic continuity. It's kind of a marketing no-no to compete against yourself when selling a non-essential product, and that's kind of what they did.

[Zero Hunter]

Too bad, it wouldn't have to be Levitz, just the same timeline, but at least they tried it. Oh well I'm an older reader now, maybe they will catch on with a younger generation.

Not to sound too negative, but I groan everytime I pick up a new Legion comic and they're reintroducing them as teenagers, it would be like rebooting Batman from the beginning, and watching his origin and early days everytime DC cleans the slate.

I think the big problem with his second run was not even Levitz seemed to know what what going on with the Legion after Flashpoint. Some stuff he wrote it was like he was doing his classic Legion and other stories it was like it was a whole new continuety. It was kind of a mess.

With that said there was some good stuff with the classic Legion to come out of that period though. There was a fantastic arc in Action Comics called Superman and the Legion of Superheroes in issues 858-864. That spun off into the Levitz series which had 15 issue Pre-Flashpoint and then another 24 issues set in the Nu52. The Pre Flashpoint series is the better of the two.

Levitz also did a bunch of Legion stuff in the relaunched Adventure Comics. He did a 6 issue arc telling stories of Superboy with the Legion set between the other stories (issues 12, 516-520) and then did a few that tied in to the main series (issues 521-522). He then switched the focus to the Legion Academy for the rest of his run in this book (issue 523-529). I honestly think his work in Adventure is better than the main books at the time.

[The no face guy]

Wow, you know there has been too many reboots when the former chief of DC can't figure out what is going on. Thank you for the recommendations I will check them out.

[Sutekh]

Levitz also did a bunch of Legion stuff in the relaunched Adventure Comics. He did a 6 issue arc telling stories of Superboy with the Legion set between the other stories (issues 12, 516-520) and then did a few that tied in to the main series (issues 521-522). He then switched the focus to the Legion Academy for the rest of his run in this book (issue 523-529). I honestly think his work in Adventure is better than the main books at the time.

Agreed, and the colorful art surely was a plus, since it made the new characters really pop on the page. Given how out of touch he seemed with the characterizations of the original cast (he honestly thought RJ Brande has some weird accent?), the new characters were kind of a breath of fresh air, since no one could 'get them wrong' characterization-wise, being new to us all.

Still, there were upsides as well. Bringing back Tyroc with a more updated costume, and simplified powers (standard sonic powers, instead of 'screams do random magic stuff?') was a major plus, for me, and adding new diverse characters, such as Glorith, Dragonwing and Chemical Kid, was also a nice touch. (Although I'd be even happier with classic-continuity-versions of Jasmin Cullen and Dragonmage! Or grown up Danielle Foccault/Computo and Karate Kid 2/Myg. Or all of the above!)

[Tugger]

I had this poster, back in the day.

[Tugger]

[Tugger]

[caj]

I had this poster, back in the day.

I still have it. LOL

Well, maybe not the original-sized poster but one came with a TPB of The Great Darkness Saga a couple of decades ago and I still have that one.

Keith Giffen blames this poster for frying his brain on drawing the Legion. He said it was why he changed his art style in #307 (that awful Omen/Prophet storyline)

[Zero Hunter]

Happened to think about this one the other day. One of the odder Legion crossovers, but a very fun read.

[kcekada]

I wasn't fond of the art on that -- I think it was Moy. Nice covers though.

[caj]

I still have this as well. It was in Legion of Super Heroes either #12 or #13.

I remember being disappointed when I saw it. It meant that most of the Legionnaires I loved and remembered would not be a part of this new team. And since I didn't care for Kono, Devlin, Celeste, or Kent, I couldn't understand why they were replacing great heroes like Lightning Lad, Colossal Boy, Shadow Lass, and Saturn Girl.

Of course I didn't realize at the time that Furball was actually Timber Wolf or Bounty (who strangely wasn't pictured) was actually Dawnstar. That might would've helped, but I doubt it.