Jon Kent Superboy Appreciation 2021

[Superlad93]

I think Bendis was probably brought on specifically because he is known as someone who makes comics with successful adaptations. DC were probably trying to tap into that magic and that's why they gave him so many projects. I don't think it really paid off for them though. Naomi was well regarded but Young Justice was a flop and his Superman run was controversial. DC has never stated otherwise but I don't think Legion met their expectations either. DC was teasing and advertising for that book for a while. They were teased in DC Rebirth and then in Doomsday Clock. Then Bendis brought them back in his Superman run. They were given a lead up with Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium. Bendis even went on Seth Meyers and promoted his upcoming Legion book there https://www.avclub.com/seth-meyers-g...ays-1836722033

And then the book came out and debuted to a soft 75,000 copies https://www.comichron.com/monthlycom...9/2019-11.html
But by issue 5 had fallen to 29,000 https://www.comichron.com/monthlycom...0/2020-03.html which is pretty bad for a book with as much marketing as it got.

Considering the book was cancelled by issue 12 and DC have taken their time in getting a new one going I don't think it met their expectations. If and/or when they do get around to having a new Legion series I kinda expect to be back-ups in another book, probably Justice League. If they do give it its own book then I would be very pessimistic of its chances of success. And if they can't get the Legion to work as a comic book I have no idea why they would get it to work as an ongoing show. A previous Legion of Superheroes cartoon adaptation from 2006 wasn't successful either. Unless there's someone beyond the scenes with a lot of power that's pushing for it I don't see if happening. I think Bendis is just complimenting the art and making a wishful statement, that's my cynical take on the situation.

That said, if it does happen it won't be live action and won't be connected to the CW shows. They'll probably make it animated since it wouldn't make financial sense otherwise. You're making a show in the far future with a massive cast full of aliens. There's no way someone would greenlight the budget needed for that for that to be a live action show. Not with something that has such weak brand power and public awareness as the Legion of Superheroes.

Like I said, I don't bet against Bendis when it comes to these things. His batting average is far too high.

People talk about how RiRi was a flop and how it was Bendis shamelessly trying to do Miles again and failing, and how she wouldn't go anywhere especially after Tony got back.

Now she's coming to live action TV and has already been in a cartoon.

More than any other writer working today, I take Bendis' "wishful thinking" when it comes to getting TV shows made about his stuff fairly seriously especially in this climate.

But that's just me.

[oneveryfineday]

Like I said, I don't bet against Bendis when it comes to these things. His batting average is far too high.

People talk about how RiRi was a flop and how it was Bendis shamelessly trying to do Miles again and failing, and how she wouldn't go anywhere especially after Tony got back.

Now she's coming to live action TV and has already been in a cartoon.

More than any other writer working today, I take Bendis' "wishful thinking" when it comes to getting TV shows made about his stuff fairly seriously especially in this climate.

But that's just me.

Agree on the likelihood of LOSH being adapted. It looks like DC is pushing the Superman franchise in a big way again given all the announcements they’ve made just this year alone (and I hope that the 20s will be better than the 10s), and since then I’ve had a strong gut feeling that they’ll want to launch LOSH with Jon Kent. He’s pretty much the perfect Super for it since the general public doesn’t associate Clark with LOSH and Conner already covers Titans and Young Justice. Given the ambition DC has for Jon I think they’ll want him to stand out by having him in his own team franchise, especially if they’re reviving successful Silver Age elements with him.

Not sure if DC will go the live action route just yet unless they’re willing to bet on huge production costs to bring the 31st century to life. SyFy’s Krypton flopped on a big budget. I think they’ll go animation first, the same way Titans built its fanbase on animation before going into live action. My dream project is to have Studio Mir do a Superman TAS revival with Jon Kent in the hybridized style of Voltron or Korra. That could easily also be a LOSH show or have a strong LOSH focus. Studio Mir already worked on Death of Superman, Batman Soul of the Dragon, and Young Justice s4, so maybe my wishful thinking of another DC project isn’t too far off?

Considering the book was cancelled by issue 12 and DC have taken their time in getting a new one going I don't think it met their expectations. If and/or when they do get around to having a new Legion series I kinda expect to be back-ups in another book, probably Justice League. If they do give it its own book then I would be very pessimistic of its chances of success. And if they can't get the Legion to work as a comic book I have no idea why they would get it to work as an ongoing show. A previous Legion of Superheroes cartoon adaptation from 2006 wasn't successful either. Unless there's someone beyond the scenes with a lot of power that's pushing for it I don't see if happening. I think Bendis is just complimenting the art and making a wishful statement, that's my cynical take on the situation.

That said, if it does happen it won't be live action and won't be connected to the CW shows. They'll probably make it animated since it wouldn't make financial sense otherwise. You're making a show in the far future with a massive cast full of aliens. There's no way someone would greenlight the budget needed for that for that to be a live action show. Not with something that has such weak brand power and public awareness as the Legion of Superheroes.

I think focusing on sales and reception misses the forest for the trees, especially in an era where Marvel can use D-listers and make it successful. DC doesn’t need Bendis to make LOSH a smash comics hit, they need him to build a modern template that others can work off of. I’m not always a fan of Bendis’ execution on his pages, but I can’t deny on the pitch level he’s brilliant at nailing down the base ideas that will thrive when it gets passed to other writers. That’s likely what DC hired him for.

I agree with you that if Legion is going to be adapted in the relative near future it would be in animation.

[Vordan]

RESSURECTION!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTrYZkRl...medium=twitter

So, we now have a named for the next "season" (it seems to function like Naomi where the book comes and goes based on arcs): "The Gold Lantern Saga". It was a major plot point that Bendis deliberately left open at the very end of the book.

But the more potentially hype news is Bendis putting in the hashtag "I'd totally watch that show". This isn't even the first time Bendis has linked Legion to a potential screen adaptation. Granted, this could just be him flexin' along with some wishful thinking. But, Bendis' batting average on adaptations is, what, like 95%? Outside of like Lee and Kirby he's maybe the most adapted comic book writer around. Millar maybe comes close. The man's responsible for the two most popular on-screen takes of Spider-Man to date. And in what has to be the fastest comic to screen move I've ever seen, Naomi is getting a full TV show.

I find it hard to bet against him when it comes to this specific talent.

And to be honest, the Legion is the one other major team property DC still needs to put on screen (and likely wants to). Titans, the JSA, and the JLA are all seeing the light of day in some from, and with HBO MAX allowing for what seems to be more freedom with these shows (the Val-Zod show), I could totally see us getting Bendis' Legion on there. And, yeah, it would totally be Bendis' take. In today's social climate, Bendis' particularly diverse take on Legion would more than likely beat out the classic take.

Does that then mean there could be two TV Jon Kents (if this goes to Max). Or does this somehow make it to CW alongside Naomi and S&L, and my long standing theory/wish of Jon leaving S&L comes true?

Don’t see a live action Legion show happening, too expensive. I could see another Legion cartoon happening though, last one was back in the 2000s and HBO Max needs content as you pointed out. With Legion scheduled to appear in YJ, which also has a version of Jon as well, it wouldn’t surprise me if perhaps there are discussions going on about the Legion getting a spin-off series from YJ.

CW Jon wouldn’t be the one the Legion would want, they’d take Jordan lol.

Bad enough Bendis ruined comic book Jon. The last thing I want happening is the Superman & Lois version getting dragged into his Legion and ruined like the comic book version was.

Besides which, Young Justice animated series is most likely exploring the Legion in their own show. And with a showrunner that's actually proven, and proven to be good.

I feel very confident that any Legion adaptions going forward will use the Bendis Legion as the basis for the designs at least. Bendis Legion was much more diverse which is exactly what the studios execs want right now from their properties. Expect the YJ Legion to copy the Bendis Legion in terms of race, backstories, and costumes.

Like I said, I don't bet against Bendis when it comes to these things. His batting average is far too high.

People talk about how RiRi was a flop and how it was Bendis shamelessly trying to do Miles again and failing, and how she wouldn't go anywhere especially after Tony got back.

Now she's coming to live action TV and has already been in a cartoon.

More than any other writer working today, I take Bendis' "wishful thinking" when it comes to getting TV shows made about his stuff fairly seriously especially in this climate.

But that's just me.

Riri totally was an attempt to recapture the success of Miles which fell flat on its face in the comics because the Iron Man brand isn’t as strong and Riri wasn’t as likable. But Comics success doesn't matter at all anymore, Riri is getting a chance on the live action side because they need an “Iron” replacement for Tony, Morgan Stark is too young, and Natasha Rhodes (remember her?) has been utterly forgotten. So Riri gets another chance.

And I agree with you, even if Bendis didn’t achieve the comic success DC was hoping for, I feel confident he made the Legion much more attractive as a property by how he rebooted it. Now it’s probably the most diverse team DC has, it’s got Superman’s son as a member which is probably more acceptable than Clark himself being a member these days alas, and it’s about to make another animated debut over in YJ. I’d watch a LOSH show with Jon in it (I’d watch a Legion show even without any Superfamily members in it).

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

They could try adapting Geoff Johns's Legion stories. Clark goes to the future and discover how xenophobic Earth has become since he left.

I'd be down for another Legion cartoon. I enjoyed the last one and I don't mind Bendis's take on the franchise. Although you might wanna incorporate Levitz's Legion Academy. So maybe a Legion cartoon should be more like YJ and do its own take on the series. What's one more reboot?

Edit- I posted about Vril Dox and LEGION before changing my mind.

[Vordan]

There's always LEGION with Vril Dox .
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.E.G.I.O.N.

If anything they could try adapting Geoff Johns's Legion stories. Clark goes to the future and discover how xenophobic Earth has become since he left.

Now there’s a character it would be interesting to have Jon meet, especially given Vril’s relationship with his dad and how Vril tries to protect the universe. I’m wondering if Taylor plans to have Jon meet the “sons” of his dad’s classic foes such as Lor-Zod and Vril.

Personally I’m still hoping to get an animated movie adaption of that storyline for Clark rather than see Jon poach it. I think the basics of Bendis’ Legion run would still work fine for a Legion show.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Now there’s a character it would be interesting to have Jon meet, especially given Vril’s relationship with his dad and how Vril tries to protect the universe. I’m wondering if Taylor plans to have Jon meet the “sons” of his dad’s classic foes such as Lor-Zod and Vril.

Personally I’m still hoping to get an animated movie adaption of that storyline for Clark rather than see Jon poach it. I think the basics of Bendis’ Legion run would still work fine for a Legion show.

I pitched LEGION for the show. So Clark would meet him anyway .

I think you pitched Braniac as a season 2 big bad. So using Vril is a way to explore him as a character.

[Journey]

RESSURECTION!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTrYZkRl...medium=twitter

So, we now have a named for the next "season" (it seems to function like Naomi where the book comes and goes based on arcs): "The Gold Lantern Saga". It was a major plot point that Bendis deliberately left open at the very end of the book.

But the more potentially hype news is Bendis putting in the hashtag "I'd totally watch that show". This isn't even the first time Bendis has linked Legion to a potential screen adaptation. Granted, this could just be him flexin' along with some wishful thinking. But, Bendis' batting average on adaptations is, what, like 95%? Outside of like Lee and Kirby he's maybe the most adapted comic book writer around. Millar maybe comes close. The man's responsible for the two most popular on-screen takes of Spider-Man to date. And in what has to be the fastest comic to screen move I've ever seen, Naomi is getting a full TV show.

I find it hard to bet against him when it comes to this specific talent.

And to be honest, the Legion is the one other major team property DC still needs to put on screen (and likely wants to). Titans, the JSA, and the JLA are all seeing the light of day in some from, and with HBO MAX allowing for what seems to be more freedom with these shows (the Val-Zod show), I could totally see us getting Bendis' Legion on there. And, yeah, it would totally be Bendis' take. In today's social climate, Bendis' particularly diverse take on Legion would more than likely beat out the classic take.

Does that then mean there could be two TV Jon Kents (if this goes to Max). Or does this somehow make it to CW alongside Naomi and S&L, and my long standing theory/wish of Jon leaving S&L comes true?

Just the thought of Bendis getting Jon again forcing him with that blonde bimbo again...... ugh I'm sick!! Sidenote I am so sick of that f*cking haircut every media uses to depict the modern "badass woman" i hate it so much!!! Like that haircut is everywhere!!

[Superlad93]

The fact that some of you are saying that a Legion show could only work as a cartoon is reasonable, but also fairly short sighted and pretty dismissive of not just what Bendis' Legion ultimately boiled down to but what the Legion as a concept boils down to.

To put it simply, the point of a Legion show wouldn't be the world building or even the fact that it was in the future, but rather it would be about over a dozen attractive and hormonal young adults bouncing off each other and hooking up.

You're all thinking that they'd adapt a cosmic Legion book as written by like Hickman or something, but this is Bendis. 95% of his Legion run was them talking to each other. It's Riverdale or Degrassi meets Star Trek and not Star Wars.

Follow me for sec.

Look back at Bendis' run, and I mean really look back at it. Wrote and directed that run like a TV show on a budget. He had a set amount of locations that were mainly just a collection of visually distinct rooms. Ultra Boy and the Legion fight his dad three times in three locations that we establish and they're either rooms or Legion HQ (which is smartly the whole city and I'll get to why that's smart in a sec). They don't explore these planets or places but rather allude to the depth of them because they're dressing for the real draw: the young adult having it out with each other.

What Bendis did was turn Legion into what it's always been: a reality show in the same mold as classic Big Brother or Jersey Shore. He even has the characters start off each issue by speaking straight to the camera about how they feel on things. You take that idea of these young adults having to live together in this place and you add Star Trek to it, but you make the "ship" a city.

Realistically you'd only need to build a hand full of sets that would be reused all the time. You're not actually doing this show to see them fly places and punch bad guys believe it or not. Even the space travel in the run was totally made into an after thought because they teleported everywhere, so other worlds just became other rooms which for a show would be one or two more sets. We didn't take a tour of New Krypton when we got there, did we? No. We went almost directly to Mon-El's house because that's the significance of New Krypton for the Legion. Mon-El's living room may as well have been New Krypton for our reasons. The sense of what New Krypton was is given to us via Mon's lifestyle, Lor-Zod, and the style of his house.

The only time Bendis decided to really "burn the budget" was in the climax of both arcs, and he was really short and to-the-point with it.

The only actual issue is the number of characters, but Bendis even takes care of that because he just flat out singles out who our main guys are, and lets everyone else function as bit parts to punch lines or cool moments, and options them out for maybe greater one-off focus later.

A Legion show likely wouldn't need any more budget than the current Star Trek show, and even then if you put it on Max you could do half the number of episodes one of these DC shows normally has.

Ultimately it's basically a young adult drama that occasionally has punching and a little space stuff in it.

[Frontier]

I feel very confident that any Legion adaptions going forward will use the Bendis Legion as the basis for the designs at least. Bendis Legion was much more diverse which is exactly what the studios execs want right now from their properties. Expect the YJ Legion to copy the Bendis Legion in terms of race, backstories, and costumes.

I think the idea of race-bending the Legion will be stick but the costumes and characterizations might adhere more classic. Bendis' Legion is basically still in its infancy publication-wise compared to the vaster swath of Legion content that proceeded him.

And I agree with you, even if Bendis didn’t achieve the comic success DC was hoping for, I feel confident he made the Legion much more attractive as a property by how he rebooted it. Now it’s probably the most diverse team DC has, it’s got Superman’s son as a member which is probably more acceptable than Clark himself being a member these days alas, and it’s about to make another animated debut over in YJ. I’d watch a LOSH show with Jon in it (I’d watch a Legion show even without any Superfamily members in it).

To be honest I think him just bringing the Legion back again at least put them back in the limelight moreso than the diversity angle did.

I think Clark as Superboy being on the Legion in his youth is at least still on the table.

The fact that some of you are saying that a Legion show could only work as a cartoon is reasonable, but also fairly short sighted and pretty dismissive of not just what Bendis' Legion ultimately boiled down to but what the Legion as a concept boils down to.

To put it simply, the point of a Legion show wouldn't be the world building or even the fact that it was in the future, but rather it would be about over a dozen attractive and hormonal young adults bouncing off each other and hooking up.

You're all thinking that they'd adapt a cosmic Legion book as written by like Hickman or something, but this is Bendis. 95% of his Legion run was them talking to each other. It's Riverdale or Degrassi meets Star Trek and not Star Wars.

Follow me for sec.

Look back at Bendis' run, and I mean really look back at it. Wrote and directed that run like a TV show on a budget. He had a set amount of locations that were mainly just a collection of visually distinct rooms. Ultra Boy and the Legion fight his dad three times in three locations that we establish and they're either rooms or Legion HQ (which is smartly the whole city and I'll get to why that's smart in a sec). They don't explore these planets or places but rather allude to the depth of them because they're dressing for the real draw: the young adult having it out with each other.

What Bendis did was turn Legion into what it's always been: a reality show in the same mold as classic Big Brother or Jersey Shore. He even has the characters start off each issue by speaking straight to the camera about how they feel on things. You take that idea of these young adults having to live together in this place and you add Star Trek to it, but you make the "ship" a city.

Realistically you'd only need to build a hand full of sets that would be reused all the time. You're not actually doing this show to see them fly places and punch bad guys believe it or not. Even the space travel in the run was totally made into an after thought because they teleported everywhere, so other worlds just became other rooms which for a show would be one or two more sets. We didn't take a tour of New Krypton when we got there, did we? No. We went almost directly to Mon-El's house because that's the significance of New Krypton for the Legion. Mon-El's living room may as well have been New Krypton for our reasons. The sense of what New Krypton was is given to us via Mon's lifestyle, Lor-Zod, and the style of his house.

The only time Bendis decided to really "burn the budget" was in the climax of both arcs, and he was really short and to-the-point with it.

The only actual issue is the number of characters, but Bendis even takes care of that because he just flat out singles out who our main guys are, and lets everyone else function as bit parts to punch lines or cool moments, and options them out for maybe greater one-off focus later.

A Legion show likely wouldn't need any more budget than the current Star Trek show, and even then if you put it on Max you could do half the number of episodes one of these DC shows normally has.

Ultimately it's basically a young adult drama that occasionally has punching and a little space stuff in it.

This is really not making me want to check out Bendis' Legion run .

I would think a Legion series would be more like the YJ cartoon in-terms of balancing out the Superheroics with the relationship/character drama and playing off established relationships and comic history.

[Journey]

I find Legion as a whole uninteresting because it's too many people, I can develop no attachment to that many characters & the fact all the character are so unique in design like at a point I find them all to be too much. And their design doesn't even match their voice because Bendis is mediocre, though that's just me being shady.

[Superlad93]

I would think a Legion series would be more like the YJ cartoon in-terms of balancing out the Superheroics with the relationship/character drama and playing off established relationships and comic history.

To a degree, but Young Justice is a show that tends to get sucked up into its own ass when it comes to being impressed by its own overarching plot and ability to world build a universe. You don't actually want that with a Legion show. Not really. You're already in the future with over a dozen young adult heroes with little to no links to what most fans no...don't push it. As far as I've seen, the vast majority of Legion fans hardly talk about the great action or over arching plots in the Legion's history, but rather I mostly hear them talking about who is hooking up with who and who doesn't like who. Outside of The Great Darkness Saga, 5YL, and the idea of reboots, the main focus seems to be on the interpersonal, and the creators who grew up on it are exactly the same way.

Pushing that to the focus in a similar way that Superman & Lois is ultimately and through the season was mostly a family drama where Superman stuff would for a bit like once an episode.

Bendis made the future on a budget, and it totally works.

I find Legion as a whole uninteresting because it's too many people, I can develop no attachment to that many characters & the fact all the character are so unique like a ta point I find them all to be too much.

It's just X-Men but no one is older than like 22.

You can pretty comfortably ignore or allow the majority of the characters to become background noise till called upon to be more than that. You're really only following what is basically "Archie and the gang" in the form of Superboy, our main three, Brainy, and Ultra Boy. Anyone else on the team who has greater meaning is either a love interest (Shadow Lass) or a foil (Mon-El).

[Jackalope89]

Bendis' decompressed writing would be the worst thing for a tv show. If not for the top artists Bendis somehow gets for everything, his "stories" would flop harder than Magikarp because of it. A television show that would try and follow that may not even last a season.

[Journey]

Bendis' decompressed writing would be the worst thing for a tv show. If not for the top artists Bendis somehow gets for everything, his "stories" would flop harder than Magikarp because of it. A television show that would try and follow that may not even last a season.

This is true the only good thing about Legion was the art.

[Frontier]

To a degree, but Young Justice is a show that tends to get sucked up into its own ass when it comes to being impressed by its own overarching plot and ability to world build a universe. You don't actually want that with a Legion show. Not really. You're already in the future with over a dozen young adult heroes with little to no links to what most fans no...don't push it. As far as I've seen, the vast majority of Legion fans hardly talk about the great action or over arching plots in the Legion's history, but rather I mostly hear them talking about who is hooking up with who and who doesn't like who. Outside of The Great Darkness Saga, 5YL, and the idea of reboots, the main focus seems to be on the interpersonal, and the creators who grew up on it are exactly the same way.

Pushing that to the focus in a similar way that Superman & Lois is ultimately and through the season was mostly a family drama where Superman stuff would for a bit like once an episode.

Bendis made the future on a budget, and it totally works.

I'm not going to deny that YJ is a little into itself in terms of it's mythos and world-building but I think it's something that people still appreciate in the Legion as far as a futuristic alien Superhero team who patrol galaxies and the whole universe with cool powers. Without losing sight of the expansive and colorful cast of characters, of course.

To be honest I can't say I've seen a lot Legion fans invested in terms of who is hooking up with whom beyond the expectations of the canon de-facto Legion couples. Like obviously there's interpersonal dynamics and relationships like you would expect in a team book (let alone one with teenagers) but it's just one part of the whole puzzle of what makes the Legion the Legion.

Like I'd rather a Legion adaption set its sights high than set it low.

[Superlad93]

I'm not going to deny that YJ is a little into itself in terms of it's mythos and world-building but I think it's something that people still appreciate in the Legion as far as a futuristic alien Superhero team who patrol galaxies and the whole universe with cool powers. Without losing sight of the expansive and colorful cast of characters, of course.

Sure, if said patrols a only really designed to get two or more character alone to either hook up, argue, reconcile, or play up an interpersonal dynamic because the actual whoever-the-f#%k they're patrolling for couldn't matter less because it's in the far flung future with nearly zero context for the average viewer to draw from. It's why Bendis boiling the first in part down to Ultra Boy dealing with his father, and his father employing a wizard gangster to steal a DC artifact that actually means something to a reader works well and is adaptation friendly.

Then unironically being teen space cops would make you wonder why you don't just watch a GL show (which they already have in the works)

Like I'd rather a Legion adaption set its sights high than set it low.

You're equating "high" sights with high concept, and that's not really true or fair. High sights, especially in now that the superhero market is so saturated with content, is mixing genre and making these things a "_____show or movie that happens to be about superheroes". We're past the point of treating these shows and films as their own genre because no one is impressed or grabbed by that as much as they used to be. So aim to aim to make this show the one thing we've SHOCKINGLY not seen done well yet: superhero science fiction meets young adult drama.

Functionally speaking, DC's sitting on Harry Potter meets capes with this, so I'd rather they do THAT than space teen cops. Especially when they're literally making both an Adam Strange show and Green Lantern show.