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

[Overhazard]

That is the problem with Bendis. Yes he does bring his fans to the books he works on. The problem is Bendis has just as many people that HATE his work as he has people who love it. I love the Legion and have almost every appearance of the team in either singles, trades, or hardcovers. I am the person who should have been first in line for a new Legion series ....... until I saw the name Bendis attatched to it. I will not read a team book that man writes because he just can't write teams. Never has. To make it worse he was going to be on the biggest team ever which is way outside of his skill set.

You can not take a polarizing writer and put them on a non A list series. For as many new fans that come on board you lose almost as many longtime fans or people who will not even give the book a chance because they dislike the writer that much. You can get away with a polarizing creator on A list books, but not the rest.

In addition to teams, Bendis also has a tough time with space. His Guardians run was propped up by movie hype and great art, Kevin Maguire even did a few issues, and I never saw him do a Marvel book before, but it wasn't fun to read. Not a lot happened in it. Abnett's short lived G3K was more enjoyable. I think him not being good at space books makes sense since his strengths are noir and street level characters. I admit that I was surprised that he was going to write Superman at first because he didn't seem like the kind of character Bendis liked to write but there was no way DC was going to kick Tom King off Batman at the time, he also doesn't like Wonder Woman, which explains why she's being replaced by her mom in his upcoming Justice League.

I'm relatively new to the Legion, I do love the characters, and I don't know exactly what the solution is, but it doesn't look like Bendis is it.

[Frontier]

In addition to teams, Bendis also has a tough time with space. His Guardians run was propped up by movie hype and great art, Kevin Maguire even did a few issues, and I never saw him do a Marvel book before, but it wasn't fun to read. Not a lot happened in it. Abnett's short lived G3K was more enjoyable. I think him not being good at space books makes sense since his strengths are noir and street level characters. I admit that I was surprised that he was going to write Superman at first because he didn't seem like the kind of character Bendis liked to write but there was no way DC was going to kick Tom King off Batman at the time, he also doesn't like Wonder Woman, which explains why she's being replaced by her mom in his upcoming Justice League.

I'm relatively new to the Legion, I do love the characters, and I don't know exactly what the solution is, but it doesn't look like Bendis is it.

Has he ever actually expressed this?

[ironman2978]

The ones from the cartoon were pretty good. I don't understand why people harp on the old costumes so much. Are they a little dated, sure, but some act like they're the WORST. COSTUMES. EVER. When they weren't. Dawny and Karate Kid's new looks are insensitive, Timber Wolf's and Matter Eater Lad have been sharing protein bars, and Blok doesn't have a neck. I do like the diversity though. I'll give Bendis credit for that.

Honestly the Animated Legion are some of my favorite designs (take elements from classic, Threeboot, and Zero Hour and modernized it and with unique elements). Honestly Bendis looks need more improvement because even though they are in step in the right direction, it still has a long way to go.

[Artemisfanboy]

Has he ever actually expressed this?

I have a couple of saved images of now deleted tweets of his. Admittedly he may have been, and probably was, playing into the old Marvel vs DC rivalry angle and being inflammatory for attention. But as a Wonder Woman fan, it does not endear me me to him.

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[Korath]

Reboots are never the answer -- unless you're willing to alienate the old fans. DC and Bendis could have injected new energy into the franchise by introducing new characters and concentrating on those. The old guard could be mixed in --- with some taking on more of a teacher role. Bendis did add some new characters - Beast Boy (is that his name) maybe being the most interesting (though he can't do anything that Chameleon Boy can't do). I don't really get the new Dr. Fate when they already have White Witch. Gold Lantern is also an odd choice as it opens the door to many characters with artificial powers, but whatever.

Had DC and Keith Giffen not gotten LSH off track those many years ago, the series should be able to support multiple books.

It is my intimate conviction that it wouldn't have worked, because the book would have been plagued by complaints any time it wouldn't have focused on the old character. It would also have suffered from constant remarks that "Character X" should be able to do this or that to stop it and that the new characters have to step down to let the real heroes handle what's happening. It's really a given to me, because it is quite clear that whatever remains of the supposedly large fanbase of the original LOSH doesn't want new things as much as they want their team, with their relationship and everything like it was when they stopped reading it (or well, when they read it before stopping, if I'm intelligible here).

Which means that the book would be extremely new-reader adverse, which isn't a good thing at all.

[kurenai24]

I have a couple of saved images of now deleted tweets of his. Admittedly he may have been, and probably was, playing into the old Marvel vs DC rivalry angle and being inflammatory for attention. But as a Wonder Woman fan, it does not endear me me to him.

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So you knowingly kept tweets of him joking about WW to what... continuously post it when proving what exactly...

Although if he actually disliked Wonder Woman what would would be the issue and why would it be a problem...

Ya'll Bendis haters get weird and personal for no reason.

[Artemisfanboy]

So you knowingly kept tweets of him joking about WW to what... continuously post it when proving what exactly...

Although if he actually disliked Wonder Woman what would would be the issue and why would it be a problem...

Ya'll Bendis haters get weird and personal for no reason.

Actually, I found them recently while browsing another message board, where this subject also came up.

And I was neutral towards him until he came to DC and the age up of Jon was confirmed. After that my opinions have only turned more negative. A side effect that I pretty much stopped paying attention to and divorced my self from Marvel comics after One More Day, meaning I missed out on lot of the controversies over there, and by largely am still uneducated on them.

[kf26]

Has Bendis explained whatever happened to the other legion of past continuities? I thought DC is now doing the everything happened approach to its continuity.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Has Bendis explained whatever happened to the other legion of past continuities? I thought DC is now doing the everything happened approach to its continuity.

I think there was an issue wherein Brainiac 5 explained that the chaotic time shenanigans of the fabled great age of heroes was creating new futures, which has rewritten history on several occasions.

[CaptCleghorn]

Has Bendis explained whatever happened to the other legion of past continuities? I thought DC is now doing the everything happened approach to its continuity.

I'm not sure he really needs to. DC's continuity is still a changing canvas and the various stories still ongoing after Flashpoint may eventually settle down, but I look at DClock and assume that since Superman is the major keystone of what the continuity currently is and he's going through shifting times then the Legion is strongly affected by that.

[Lee Stone]

Actually, I found them recently while browsing another message board, where this subject also came up.

And I was neutral towards him until he came to DC and the age up of Jon was confirmed. After that my opinions have only turned more negative. A side effect that I pretty much stopped paying attention to and divorced my self from Marvel comics after One More Day, meaning I missed out on lot of the controversies over there, and by largely am still uneducated on them.

I give you...

[Frontier]

It is my intimate conviction that it wouldn't have worked, because the book would have been plagued by complaints any time it wouldn't have focused on the old character. It would also have suffered from constant remarks that "Character X" should be able to do this or that to stop it and that the new characters have to step down to let the real heroes handle what's happening. It's really a given to me, because it is quite clear that whatever remains of the supposedly large fanbase of the original LOSH doesn't want new things as much as they want their team, with their relationship and everything like it was when they stopped reading it (or well, when they read it before stopping, if I'm intelligible here).

Which means that the book would be extremely new-reader adverse, which isn't a good thing at all.

I guess it depends on whether you want to introduce new readers to brand new version of a property or to re-introduce them to an older version.

In both instances I feel like you need to do about the same amount of establishing for the new reader.

[Digifiend]

I have a couple of saved images of now deleted tweets of his. Admittedly he may have been, and probably was, playing into the old Marvel vs DC rivalry angle and being inflammatory for attention. But as a Wonder Woman fan, it does not endear me me to him.

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I see he mentions Spider-Woman. He was Jessica's writer at the time (New Avengers and Spider-Woman Origin) so of course he'd claim she's better than Diana!

[Robanker]

I have a couple of saved images of now deleted tweets of his. Admittedly he may have been, and probably was, playing into the old Marvel vs DC rivalry angle and being inflammatory for attention. But as a Wonder Woman fan, it does not endear me me to him.

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This reads more like a 12 year-old dunking on some other character for fun rather than actual hate. It's just so over-the-top immature I can't believe he actually truly held any of these claims as factual.

[Thor-Ul]

This reads more like a 12 year-old dunking on some other character for fun rather than actual hate. It's just so over-the-top immature I can't believe he actually truly held any of these claims as factual.

In defense of Bendis, Twitter is not the best place to have well thought out discussions. You can't give extended arguments on a limited number of characters.

Now, about Bendis himself, it is the idea of another reboot what upset me the most. DC is stubbornly clinging to the idea than the Legion should be teenagers first and most and as Bendis is someone who has made carrer writing the most famous teenager character of Marvel comics and several others too. That is why DC put him in the Legion. Every reboot (but Geoff John's retroboot) follow that pattern: take back the Legion to be teenagers. Once and again.

And Bendis is good with giving characters, teenage characters deep and relationships... when he uses a small crow in a urban context. There is where his strenghs are. The Legion is the antithesis of Bendis: a big cast of different voices in the most possible sci-fi landscape and space adventures. I read his X-men and what he did? He take the teenage X-men back, but the rest of the cast was lacking. I haven't read his GoG, but from what I chave ear, it is better to keep the distance from that. Maybe Bendis wanted to try in this book to overcame his weak points, but it was necessary adding another reboot to the already weakned continuity? I don't know how is going, because I'm not reading. Not for me anymore I suppose. Why to follow characters I don't recognize anymore?

But the problem is than the Legion gained popularity from make the characters grow. Now that is lost. There is always the excuse of the Legion having a big cast. Sorry, but the x-men has a bigger cast and that doesn't stop them of creating new characters always. Do you think the X-men would keep their popularity if they rebooted to the beggining every ten years?

Also, I don't think this reboot was something well planned. The several preview art even showed the racebending of characters were different and the changes from talking from century 32 to 31 and the clumsiness with Doomsday Clock made me think than there was not a clear plan but a chaotic development of this book. That already happened with several books on the new52 and I had no desire to return to that kind of mess.