Your favorite version of Legion of Super Heroes

[caj]

Since the JLA favorite version thread resurfaced, I thought I'd bump the Legion of Super Heroes favorite version thread.

[Thor-Ul]

There is something I don't understand: Why the New52 Legion and Post Crisis Legion are set in separated items? As I remember, there were not huge changes and even Legion was one of the few series than almost didn't change anything, from creators to background at the beggining of the New52: they keep the original storylines, the same creators and a visual identity than didn't break too much with what had happened before. Same as with Green Lantern and Batman titles. (But really, the new52 was an mess behind scenes with all the disarray than were among creators). You could argue than half of the Post Infintie Crisis and the New 52 Legion is the Levitz second era.

Bendis ' Legion is a more New52 Legion than the New52 Legion.

[Falcon16]

Not my first-ever comic, but my first LEGION comic was the issue before yours: Superboy 203, which was Mike Grell's first issue on pencils and where Invisible Kid gets killed by Validus.

And the issue before THAT is where I discovered Colossal Boy. CCA... ruined that issue. (They didn't show bullet removal)

But yeah, I voted for the '70s ones, because Curt Swan's artwork... love...

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

And the issue before THAT is where I discovered Colossal Boy. CCA... ruined that issue. (They didn't show bullet removal)

But yeah, I voted for the '70s ones, because Curt Swan's artwork... love...

Could you maybe NOT mention your fetish every post you make? Or at least stop complaining about comics made decades before you were born not catering to it?

[Falcon16]

Could you maybe NOT mention your fetish every post you make? Or at least stop complaining about comics made decades before you were born not catering to it?

Yeah, I'm aware I talk about it way too much. Besides, the reason they didn't cater to it was the CCA (it WAS important to the story.) I actually had a talk with my counselor about it, and she said not to bother with it.

[caj]

Over half the votes are for Pre-Crisis books. That's pretty cool IMO.

[superduperman]

Just to be contrarian I'm going with the version from the Smallville season 11 comic. Jackets for everyone!

[krazijoe]

Maybe I came late to the party but I never really got into the Legion. Sure Superboy grabbed my attention back in the day but the powers and names just had me laughing etc. Maybe I will put my DC Universe sub to better use and read some old comics...

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

Maybe I came late to the party but I never really got into the Legion. Sure Superboy grabbed my attention back in the day but the powers and names just had me laughing etc. Maybe I will put my DC Universe sub to better use and read some old comics...

Why would you have a problem with the powers? Most of the Legion have your standard, found-in-plenty-of-other-characters powers: magnetism, telepathy, size-changing, invisibility, super-strength, various forms of energy projection (heat, light, electricity, etc.), cold projection, and more. Even some of the more, shall we say, unique power sets can be portrayed well by writers willing to put in the effort. The ones that seem to be treated most like a joke or burden to write about are Matter-Eater Lad's (duh), Tyroc's (by writers who find his origins embarassing and refuse to take him seriously), and Chemical Kid's (because that requires a better knowledge of chemistry than most comics writers apparently have).

[Thor-Ul]

Why would you have a problem with the powers? Most of the Legion have your standard, found-in-plenty-of-other-characters powers: magnetism, telepathy, size-changing, invisibility, super-strength, various forms of energy projection (heat, light, electricity, etc.), cold projection, and more. Even some of the more, shall we say, unique power sets can be portrayed well by writers willing to put in the effort. The ones that seem to be treated most like a joke or burden to write about are Matter-Eater Lad's (duh), Tyroc's (by writers who find his origins embarassing and refuse to take him seriously), and Chemical Kid's (because that requires a better knowledge of chemistry than most comics writers apparently have).

Don't disrespect Matter Eater Lad! He is the best legionnaire.

[superduperman]

Don't disrespect Matter Eater Lad! He is the best legionnaire.

What about Arm Fall off Boy?

[Panic]

As much as I loved the 5YL Legion stories, and it did go off the rails at some point, that iteration meant nothing without the Levitz/Giffen era. So that's where my vote went.

I agree with this. I was blown away by several of the early issues of the 5YL Legion (particularly the first 6 or 7 issues), but it did occasionally get too gritty for me, and eventually collapsed in on itself; so the Levitz/Giffen Legion it is. I remember how good the Great Darkness Saga was when it first came out, one of the greatest super-hero stories of the 80's (and that was a strong decade) with both writing and art hitting the mark every issue. Great times.

[John Venus]

Maybe I came late to the party but I never really got into the Legion. Sure Superboy grabbed my attention back in the day but the powers and names just had me laughing etc. Maybe I will put my DC Universe sub to better use and read some old comics...

That's the funny thing about superheroes, we get desensitized to the silliness of it really quickly. Catman is not inherently sillier than Batman but we are so used to the latter that the former just comes across as silly, almost parodyish.

[hareluyafan1]

Maybe I came late to the party but I never really got into the Legion.

Neither did I until fairly recently. I knew the gist of what the Legion was and who it's members were but was reluctant to read it because of such a long and complex history. Eventually I decided to give it a go and I absolutely loved it.

I feel like, and this is a weird thing to say, that DC is somewhat embarrassed by / ashamed of the popularity of at least some of their properties, as if they somehow 'aren't serious enough' or 'not real art' or some argle-bargle nonsense.

They keep trying to update them and 'make them relevant,' in the process somehow surgically excising anything *entertaining*, or even, some cases, even *human,* from the properties. At least a few times in the last few decades, someone has come along and tried to reinvent Superman, a bright hopeful *smiling* inspiration to the world, as angry and alienated, a red-eyed, scary, scowling demigod. The same sort of mindset goes into trying to turn Diana, an ambassador of peace to 'man's world,' who the song says, 'can win a war with love,' into a sword-wielding head-chopper-offer warrior badass (with an army of bees? Whatever.).

Yes, stories like the Watchmen exist, that can take the 'funny book' format into bold new thought-provoking directions, but, here's the thing. That was a work of genius. Not every attempt at 'deep' storytelling since then has succeeded on that level. And not every property or character or setting lends itself to that sort of story (heck, they had to invent all new characters and set them in their own world to make it really work!). And even if there are plenty of geniuses out there, and possible thought-provoking storylines waiting to be told with just about everyone, that doesn't mean that *every* story needs to be shocking and edgy, racing to out 'mature' or 'controversial' the last one. Some stories, indeed, I'd argue, *most* stories, just need to be entertaining. It's not rocket science. I don't go to the comic store expecting to read something that changes the world. I just want a good story, and don't expect (or want!) *every* story to be attempting to escape the horrible curse of being 'just comic books' and becoming some sort of high art.

But as for the Legion, specifically, I love the bright colored clean future depicted in the older stories. The real world is gritty and depressing enough. I don't want to read about 1000 years in the future, Earth being a few city-habitats floating in space, the planet itself long destroyed, or various other dystopian things. Threaten the hell out of that idyllic future. That's what heroes are for, after all, stopping that sort of nonsense! But don't wreck it.

'Cause if you, as a writer, do wreck your heroes setting and make it all dark and hopeless, that means that they already failed.

And that's not the story I came to read.

I agree 100%

[hareluyafan1]

You may laugh, but this is one of my favourite comics of all time and it went a long way to making me a Legion fan.

I actually read that issue but I can't remember how they were returned to normal. Could you please enlighten me?