The Future of Legion of Super Heroes Franchise & The Bendis Problem

[Thor-Ul]

I think than Wonder Woman kind of spoiled the FS Legion book.

[Korath]

Movie companies like sequels because they have a built in audience. Bendis' Legion was so new he ran off the built in audience and didn't bring in a new audience that would stay. Johns approach might not have initially gotten the new audience but it was very likely to hold on to the built in audience, and if he put out a good product eventually word of mouth would make a new audience jump on to see what all the buzz was about. Nearly all books have a history and no one is expected to know everyone of Spiderman's or Batman's or Wolverine's previous adventures before reading a new issue of it. I think the too much to handle is a bogus excuse. No one says I can't read JLA because that book goes back to the Silver age. You can go back to Starro if you want to but you don't have to. I have over time gotten all of the Legion adventures but I still haven't gotten around to reading the really early stuff and it hasn't lessened my love or excitement for the property. That reasoning is like the I would watch super hero movies if it wasn't for the secret identities the costumes and the powers. What that means is you don't want to watch a super hero movie, period. The Legion ain't for everybody but trying to make is so, might make it that nobody wants it.

Except that Spiderman or Batman and even Superman have fairly simple origins which can be summed up in a sentence at most. That's not the case with the Legionaires, which are also depended to a franchise which has lost a lot of its lustre (Superman's) for a long time now (and not all of it is due to mismanagement, but also the fact that "iconic" Clark Kent isn't as in phase with the mood of the average reader as he was in previous eras).

Also, none of it answer my point, which was that Johns wrote rather bad stories since he dropped the New 52 JL : Shazam, DDC, Three Jokers... even the Rebirth one-shot banked more on nostalgia than great storytelling. Which means that his Legion would also have been mediocre.

[Thor-Ul]

Wow!
Eleven new titles announced! Eleven!
11!
And guess what! No Legion! A testimony of Bendis success indeed!

[Korath]

As if it was his fault that Nosytalgia Fanatics never gave him a chance.

Even if Johns had brought your mouldy Legion back, it'd have lasted half as long as his Shazam, you know that right ?

[rpmaluki]

Wow!
Eleven new titles announced! Eleven!
11!
And guess what! No Legion! A testimony of Bendis success indeed!

There's no Superman book either so I don't think Bendis is the reason there's no new Legion book on.

[Robotman]

There have been 3 similar threads recently all asking what is wrong with The Legion of Superheroes. It’s basically been a circle of people pointing fingers at each other (myself included). Everyone trying to find a culprit and the exact reason why the LoS franchise is at such a low point. So far I’ve seen people say it’s Bendis’ fault, it’s the old fans fault, it’s the constant reboots, it’s lack of diversity, forced diversity, the future setting, it’s Superman’s lack of popularity, it’s the character’s code names, the LoS team is too big, the core members are boring, and I’m sure I’m missing a few others.

[HsssH]

Good point, someone probably should start a thread asking who is not at fault here, probably we'd have shorter list.

[bearman]

Damn. The Legion appears to be out of business, and Tenzil did not get a single line.

[married guy]

For me, I didn't like the way the Bendis Legion was introduced from the get-go.
I would have preferred seeing them appear in back-up stories (Super titles would be the logical choice) and reintroduce readers to them that way.
At least then DC could gauge the interest before launching another monthly title with MORE reboots and alterations to characters.

[LordUltimus]

Definitely feels like this was Bendis wrapping up the plots he wanted to write as quickly as possible.

[Zero Hunter]

This book was going to live and die on Bendis since his fans were really the only one reading the book for the most part. When he was done this book was done.

[Bruce Wayne]

Legion and Titans are dead franchises that failed to weather the 90s. DC didn't do LoSH any favors by mishandling the book. The failed Threeboot and the return of Levitz was the final nail on their coffin. The only surviving franchise from that era is now X-Men and they have a multitude of games/cartoons/movies helping them weather the shrinking direct market.

[kcekada]

Yes, aside from all of the points mentioned previously, perhaps the biggest factor in the Legion's failure is that readership for super-heroes continues to decline. The success of films hasn't propped readership for DC or Marvel. And I think in time, even those films won't be as well-received.

I still think Legion could succeed as a TV series, but not sure we will ever see a well-received Legion comic book series again.

[0nt1r]

The recent Legion is my first time reading a Bendis book. I’d heard the pros and cons, but had no opinion. The book was beautiful. I love Sook’s art. The writing confounded me. 31 Legionnaires seemed a bit much. More so because he rarely identified most of the characters, and one Green Corpse Lass - remains entirely unidentified in the book. It took until issue 10 or 11 to give us an actual hint of a plot, then the book appeared to have wrapped without delivering on that promise. Future State was no less confusing, in fact it might’ve been worse, as all the characters were re-designed in uneven artwork and still unidentified. Those two issues delivered more story than the last 14, and hinted at the resolution of the promised plot from the previous series. Love or hate him, Jim Shooter was right: Every issue is someone’s first, and you have to identify your characters, particularly when they’ve been wildly re-designed from established looks, or are entirely new to readers. Bendis never did that. His writing wasn’t up to Sook’s art.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Future State's tie in would have been better if they kept Sook instead of swapping for Rossmo. I love Rossmo's art but it made the book extra confusing.