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

[skyvolt2000]

Good points! You cannot try to revitalize an old-timer like LOSH with a problematic writer. It is just bad word-of-mouth.
Plus I am reading a lot of comments that LOSH is destined to be a mid-tier. This is far from the truth. It has immense potential to turn into a healthy franchise. They have the cult following and devoted readers -all DC needs to do is good planning and a seductive team to gain NEW readers. Bendis always runs you on credit. Every new fan he brings to his projects he loses two old followers.

Then what writer do you get? Because SOMEONE is going to have issue with them.

Be it skin color, gender, sexuality, old tweets, issues with the Gators, store owners not liking them or something.

Because the alternative is to stop doing LOSH books.

Raise your hands if you want that?

Didn't think so.

Bendis got a book on the shelf. He might be the last shot Legion has.

[kalai]

The problem is just another reboot.
Honestly Bendis could have just repeat what he did for New X-Men and that could have been a much more interesting Legion story.
Follow where Paul Levitz left off in the New52 era, and Brainiac-5 using the time machine brings the OG Legion from years ago. Could be something.

But no, yet another reboot.

[Thor-Ul]

Bendis got a book on the shelf. He might be the last shot Legion has.

A shoot in their foot, I would say.

The problem is just another reboot.

Exactly.

[Lee Stone]

When Bendis was announced to be doing Legion, the worse I could think of was lots of word balloons, characters that all sounded the same and White Witch going evil.

Then it became a reboot.

On the bright side, the core Legion team didn’t really get impacted by it and could return one day.

[Thor-Ul]

That is a very positive way to see it. I bet in 2024 the Legion will return.

[Korath]

The problem is just another reboot.
Honestly Bendis could have just repeat what he did for New X-Men and that could have been a much more interesting Legion story.
Follow where Paul Levitz left off in the New52 era, and Brainiac-5 using the time machine brings the OG Legion from years ago. Could be something.

But no, yet another reboot.

Who, besides a handful of old timers would want to read about that **** ? Nobody, that's who. Nobody wants to have to read hundreds of back-issues with very dated art and stories just to start understanding what's happening.

Look, I get it. What you liked to read once, you want to read again, that's fair. But what you liked already failed otherwise it wouldn't have been discontinued. And it needs to change to resonate with new readers. I'll take a character I like a lot, Honor Guest, the Silencer. She hates Talia al'Ghul in her series but appears on good term with her in Event Leviathan.

Well, I don't mind at all because I'd rather Bendis makes use of her and change some things to make her works better with readers if need be. LOSH is in the same situation, with the added malus that fans of older series are out there clomaring for things to get back the way they liked it and it makes them sort of gatekeeprs, which doesn't help the series either.

[Factor]

Using the classic versions of the team doesn't automatically mean the stories wouldn't be accessible to new readers.
Morrison didn't reboot the X-men but still managed to create one of the freshest takes on the team that was very easy jump onboard to.

That said, I'd hate to see Bendis redo his terrible ANXM concept. Editors should have allowed him to write the Legion of 3120 instead of 3020 or something. This way the classic version would be intact and could factor in future stories without much effort.

My "solution" would be to make it so that are multiple possible futures/Legions. Each version of the team would end up connecting to a character from the present. So the Levitz version would still be closely connected to Superman, but the Bendis version would be Jon's Legion (and Waid's Supergirl's).
So any Legion could appear depending on the story.

[j9ac9k]

I agree that if they decided to go that way, it would be very easy to reintroduce the old Legion without burdening everyone with backstory. Honestly, most of the characters only had one or two big events in their lives that really ever need to be touched on again. They don't have complicated backstories or personal lives outside the team. Most of the time, the characters remained fairly static or just evolved over time in a way that you can just present them as is without needing to know anything more about them other than that they're superheroes who operate in the 31st century. The most complicated thing is whether or not Superboy was on the team, and that's always been up to the Superman office.

[Robanker]

EDIT: Nevermind. It's just not worth it.

[Mike]

EDIT: Nevermind. It's just not worth it.

That's my feelings with the Legion and DC comics as a whole.

[kcekada]

Nobody wants to have to read hundreds of back-issues with very dated art and stories just to start understanding what's happening.

No one has ever had to do that. Most stories are complete unto themselves. Sure stories can pick up on elements of the past, but MOST fans are intrigued and actually want to discover that history. I get it -- storytelling does get dated as does artwork, but quality is quality. You should be able to recognize that in some of the past stories (not necessarily all -- because there have definitely been klunkers along the way). Some stuff in Bronze Age was not written in the most realistic manner. At the same time, comics were more fun then.

Rebooting the Legion has never worked long term, and I don't think it will work this time either. The last Legion failed because, simply put, it wasn't very good. People are giving Bendis' version a chance, but it has yet to really grab an audience the way Legion did at its peak.

[Crisis]

What I see mostly in this thread...

People who forgot that v7 did not do well at all...if people bought those legion issues bendis version of the legion would have had to be... but go on...

[Factor]

What I see mostly in this thread...

People who forgot that v8 did not do well at all...if people bought those legion issues bendis version of the legion would have had to be... but go on...

Let's be honest. That series' failure had more to do with it being incredibly dull and unoriginal than the version of the Legion that was used. Levitz was just way past his prime and DC chose to cancel the book instead of trying a new creative team.

[Crisis]

Let's be honest. That series' failure had more to do with it being incredibly dull and unoriginal than the version of the Legion that was used. Levitz was just way past his prime and DC chose to cancel the book instead of trying a new creative team.

it was the fans who wanted him back because they thought they were gonna relive their childhoods/teen years again...

[Factor]

it was the fans who wanted him back because they thought they were gonna relive their childhoods/teen years again...

Eh. I don't remember people actually demanding his return, but obviously once it was announced, his track record made people optimistic.
Of course, after a while it was clear to everyone but DC that the title needed a creative team change. And even with the mediocre run, the book sold enough to have a 39 issues run (16 + 23 because it got a New52 relaunch) AND have Adventure Comics become a spin-off title for 15 issues (until Flashpoint hit).
The title was far from the sales failure some are making it out to be. DC just thought replacing it with another JL spin-off (JL3000) would sell better (which failed miserably).
If anything, the last Levitz run proved there's enough interest in that version of the team for the title to survive for quite a while without being in its creative prime.