Your favorite version of Legion of Super Heroes

[Jim Kelly]

As I say, I haven't read any Bendis Legion. I'm okay with re-skinning and re-colouring most of the Legion. They are aliens after all--you could just argue that the colourists got it wrong before--and modern colouring can do a better job of rendering their actual complexion. Although, I do like to think that most of the human-looking aliens originated on Earth and colonized these other planets--changing their D.N.A. to adapt to the conditions on these new worlds.



However, just because Lightning Lad has brown skin, that doesn't make him African-American and that's no substitute for actual representation. Hopefully the Ranzz family history was kept intact.

A lot of the design choices seem random to me. How does giving Bouncing Boy red-brown hair advance representation? He looks oafish in this new version. Chuck was always one of my favourite characters and he had a happy appearance before. Something about his black hair looked right. Maybe that's partly because his uniform is black, white and blue.

Timber-Wolf looks like a generic white guy from Earth--but he's from another planet, so why not keep his alien look? And why make him beefy and muscle-bound? The one super-power he actually has, what qualified him for the Legion, is super-agility. How does a bulky character embody the idea of agility? He should be lean so he can leap and flip with ease.

Some look so different, I'm not sure who they are. Of the members I can identify, Dawnstar is the worst. Okay, maybe they wanted to cover her up. Her original design made her look like Cher in a photo-shoot for "Half Breed." But they simply made her look like even more of a stereotype. Sure, this is how most white people see indigenous people--as these quaint relics of the nineteenth century and not as people who move forward in time and wear modern clothing.

And they clipped her wings. Oh yeah, she has "spirit wings" so the artist doesn't have to try to fit them in a panel. In the natural world, winged beings don't lose their wings when it's convenient. Their wings are a part of them and who they are. Yet in comic books now, all wings are optional.

Her design just looks vaguely "Indian." But bands own their imaging. In the past, too many colonizers stole the cultural symbols of First Nations and got rich off of them, without bothering to ask their permission. If they wanted to do indigenous representation right, they should have gone to a Puebloan band and asked an artist there if they would re-design Dawnstar for them--and then pay for the right to use that imaging. Also, create a name for her that comes from one of the Puebloan languages. Yes, her people now live among the stars, but they originally came from a group of Pueblo people.

A lot of the other designs just look silly--why would Saturn Girl have such a stupid hair cut? Mind you, many of the designs in the 1970s were quite silly, too. That's a long-held tradition with the Legion.

[caj]

I loved his short Legion Academy run over in Advrnture Comics and his stories from the past stuff with Superboy too. To me the stuff in Adventure Comics (0, 12, 515-529) was so much better than what was going on in the main book. You could tell in Adenture Levitz could just tell great Legion stories about worring about the mess the main books was continuity wise.

I agree. I liked his work on Adventure Comics so much more than what he did in the main Legion book.

[Uncanny X-Man]

I agree. I liked his work on Adventure Comics so much more than what he did in the main Legion book.

That Phil Jiminez are was gorgeous too. Jiminez is a creator I would absolutely LOVE to take a stab at the Legion (again)

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

Jim Kelly, most of the Legionnaires from other planets always looked human.

With the exceptions of Brainiac 5 (green skin), Shadow Lass (blue skin), and Chameleon Boy (orange skin, pointed ears, antennae, and no hair*), virtually all the Legionnaires looked like they came from Earth.

There were already more than a few Earth-born humans in the Legion: Bouncing Boy, Colossal Boy, Ferro Lad, both Invisible Kids, Karate Kid I, Sun Boy, Tyroc, and Wildfire. Depending on what year it was and who was drawing him, Karate Kid/Val Armorr either looked Caucasian or like Bruce Lee. Ferro Lad was intended to be black, but Mort Weisinger wouldn't allow it, so he was said to be a disfigured mutant who had to always wear a mask. Wildfire was turned into formless anti-energy who needed containment suits to interact with people until his energy got reshaped into a solid energy humanoid form by Quislet (until Quislet returned to its home dimension and Wildfire returned to formlessness as a result).

Blok was a humanoid-shaped silicon-based being whose humanoid facial features were blasted away during a battle in one of Levitz & Giffen's least popular storylines.

White Witch was originally a redheaded girl who looked completely human; when she showed up during the Great Darkness Saga, her hair and skin were virtually albino white, and antennae were growing out of her eyebrows. It was later explained that this was a result of her magical studies, but then Giffen and the Bierbaums did the Five Years Later Legion and completely undid the changes to her appearance.

Timber Wolf never had an alien appearance. He was introduced looking fully human. Then Dave Cockrum redesigned his costume in the early 70's and gave him a slightly more bestial-looking face. Levitz had that face restored to normal human in the first issue of his second run on the Legion in the early 80's, and depending on the artist, Wolf's face would briefly change to the more bestial look when he used his powers. Then came Five Years Later and suddenly Timber Wolf was either a) transformed into a giant, mute, wolfish/Bigfoot hybrid creature except during full moons, when he was briefly restored to baseline humanoid form, or b) turned permanently into some human/wolfish hybrid form who could speak.

It wasn't until the second year of the Baxter-paper/direct market series that any truly alien looking Legionnaires were introduced, with Tellus and Quislet.

*Yera, the Durlan actress who was misled into impersonating Shrinking Violet during the early years of the Levitz/Giffen run, looked even more alien than her fellow Durlan, Chameleon Boy. Bigger ears, much smaller antennae, bigger looking eyelids and forehead, still no hair. Then Geoff Johns and Gary Frank did their "Superman & the Legion of Super-Heroes" story that returned the pre-Zero Hour Legion back to continuity (but at a point in their development that was post-Magic Wars/pre-Five Years Later) and turned her into a Legionnaire as Chameleon Girl, and Frank gave her a full head of hair, antennae comparable in size to Chameleon Boy's, smaller ears, and essentially Caucasian facial features. Basically, she looked like a cosplayer in orange paint.

[Sutekh]

It wasn't until the second year of the Baxter-paper/direct market series that any truly alien looking Legionnaires were introduced, with Tellus and Quislet.

I do wish that Tellus had made more of a splash. He's not one of the 'original' Legionnaires that tends to appear in the Reboot, Threeboot or Bendisboot, and that's a shame, since he was the first really *alien* looking alien Legionnaire.

[Jim Kelly]

Of course, if you included the Legion of Super-Pets as a greater part of the Legion, then you'd have some sentient characters that don't look human. Maybe the translation of the Interlac is wrong and "Pets" isn't the right word. In the future, I think calling another creature a pet will become politically incorrect. All the Super-Pets, not just Proty, were highly intelligent and could have qualified for Legion membership.

As they go along, you do get more representation of the non-human kind. Even though Erg-I was a human being, Drake Burroughs became a sentient ball of energy after anti-matter energy destroyed his human form.

Blok has kept changing in his appearance. He's essentially a sentient rock. Durlans have been established not to have any particular appearance and the form they choose to wear most of the time is not who they really are.

I'm on the fence about the weirder looking Legionnaires, to be honest. One of the things that put me off Marvel in the 1970s, was how weird looking so many of their characters became, such as the Shi'ar. I couldn't relate to all these strange guys. Making aliens look like humans isn't realistic but science fiction is allegory--the aliens are really ourselves in a fantasy environment. We relate best to characters that have a face.

[kcekada]

The best parts of the Bendis Legion, for me, was the beautiful Sook art, and the intriguing new characters like Monster Boy. (I've always had a fondness for new characters joining the team, whether it was Wildfire, Blok and Dawnstar, in the old days, Polar Boy, Sensor Girl and Tellus in the glory days, or Dragonwing, Chemical Kid and Glorith, more recently.)

Yeah, had Bendis not retconned the classic members and instead focus on his new characters -- the book may have been better received. I was introduced to the Legion in the Bronze Age through its connection to Superboy, but I felt the Jon Kent Superboy probably was not a draw to Bendis's Legion -- and I actually think the stories suffered from Jon Kent overload.

[kcekada]

I agree. I liked his work on Adventure Comics so much more than what he did in the main Legion book.

Same.

I wouldn't doubt that editorial interference killed the new book. I hated the Green Lantern stuff with Mon-El. I also would have preferred Levitz bringing in some Academy members of the new ones he created (Chemical King II, and the two women Dragon-something and the weather manipulator). Boring as F.

[Sandy Hausler]

1. ADVENTURE COMICS in the 1960s. The funny in them is what allows you to abstract some other explanation for what's happening. I think it was in an introduction to one of the Archives, where Paul Levitz (?) said that you could see these as 20th century representations of the actual story--we would not be able to understand the actual story because it's so far in the future that the concepts are beyond our present understanding.
2. SUPERBOY (& the Legion of Super-Heroes).
3. The first Baxter book run of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES.

Yeah, those are pretty much the best (in my opinion).

[Nomads1]

I do wish that Tellus had made more of a splash. He's not one of the 'original' Legionnaires that tends to appear in the Reboot, Threeboot or Bendisboot, and that's a shame, since he was the first really *alien* looking alien Legionnaire.

I guess, despite everything else, you have to have an exciting design. I don't think Tellus "allien design" is exciting enough, and his meek personality doesn't contribute to make him stand out (although I do like the character, and I do appreciate that he is one of the first "trully allien" Legion characters). One of my favorite Legionnaires is Gates. I like his design and his "in your face" personality. I wish they'd use him more.
As for the new Bendis' Legion, as I've stated in a previous post, the designs just don't cut it for me. Bland.

Peace

[Sutekh]

I guess, despite everything else, you have to have an exciting design. I don't think Tellus "allien design" is exciting enough, and his meek personality doesn't contribute to make him stand out (although I do like the character, and I do appreciate that he is one of the first "truly alien" Legion characters). One of my favorite Legionnaires is Gates. I like his design and his "in your face" personality. I wish they'd use him more.

Agreed that Gates has a way more abrasive and confrontational personality than Tellus, which is fun and makes for cool dynamic interactions with other Legionnaires. Sadly, Tellus came onto the team at the same time as Quislet, whose over-the-top personality kind of sucked all the oxygen from the room. (Plus Polar Boy and Sensor Girl had built-in side-stories. Tellus and Magnetic Kid, IMO, suffered a bit from being less 'big drama' personalities. Still, every team needs a few quieter more cooperative / conflict-avoidant types like Element Lad or Colossus, who generally avoid the big drama storylines and just sort of go along with the flow and get things done.)

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

I do wish that Tellus had made more of a splash. He's not one of the 'original' Legionnaires that tends to appear in the Reboot, Threeboot or Bendisboot, and that's a shame, since he was the first really *alien* looking alien Legionnaire.

I think it's less that he didn't make a splash (although I agree he didn't make a great splash) and more that he joined the Legion after the 60's Adventure Comics era. Five Years Later era introduced the young clones Legion, and the cut-off was clearly Jim Shooter's first story (with KK, PP, and FL). Post-Zero Hour introduced new versions of Timber Wolf and Wildfire, and also Shikari, who was basically "Dawnstar's powers but not Dawnstar."

[Nomads1]

I think it's less that he didn't make a splash (although I agree he didn't make a great splash) and more that he joined the Legion after the 60's Adventure Comics era. Five Years Later era introduced the young clones Legion, and the cut-off was clearly Jim Shooter's first story (with KK, PP, and FL). Post-Zero Hour introduced new versions of Timber Wolf and Wildfire, and also Shikari, who was basically "Dawnstar's powers but not Dawnstar."

I love the Post-Zero Hour Legion. In fact, although I started reading the Legion mid-70's, they're probably my favorite Legion (DnA phase included), and I think they gave unprecedented depth to most of the characters, but the Post-Zero Hour version of those two particular characters was really not up to task (I also didn't like ditzy Element Lad, but his fate in Legion Lost was really incredible, IMHO). The original were MUCH better. I liked Shikari, though, but I was never much of a fan of original Dawnstar.

Peace

[Sutekh]

I liked Shikari, though, but I was never much of a fan of original Dawnstar.

I kind of liked both of them, even if they are kinda/sorta not suited to being on the same team, being weird dopplegangers of each other.

Tons of Reboot characters, like Kid Quantum, Monstress, XS, Gates, etc. could easily have 'Earth-1 versions' and show up in the classic contuinity with Tellus and Quislet and Sensor Girl, but Shikari and Dawnstar really do feel like different interpretations of the same character.

[caj]

I guess, despite everything else, you have to have an exciting design. I don't think Tellus "allien design" is exciting enough, and his meek personality doesn't contribute to make him stand out (although I do like the character, and I do appreciate that he is one of the first "trully allien" Legion characters).

Tellus was actually created by the late great artist Steve Lightle.

There was a Legion Academy member mentioned in LSH #304 but the member was never identified or shown. When writer Paul Levitz told Lightle that he wanted a more alien looking member to join the Legion in Baxter LSH #14, Lightle asked about the member mentioned in 304. Lightle was given free reign to design the character.

I can't remember who came up with the name Tellus (Levitz or Lightle) but Levitz came up with his powers and abilities. While Tellus was never my favorite Legionnaire, I didn't mind him as a background character. I did NOT care for Quislet at all.