Geoff Johns back on Legion of Superheroes?

[Last Son of Krypton]

Johns will come back at DC every new decade to restore the same characters and concepts all over again.

[Vordan]

DC's ability to reiterate the very same concepts for the umpteenth time with the same writers will never cease to amaze me. Anyway, taking for granted that Johns will get the classic Legion back if only he has a chance to do it (everyone and their uncle that this is what is going to happen, let's not fool ourselves) and therefore making Secret Origin THE Superman canon, I wonder what will happen to Bendis' Legion and in particular how putting it in a limbo will affect Jon. It was basically the one distinctive element of Jon's history in comparison to classic Superman. It's not that the character has much of a history once that specific element is deleted.
I'm also curious to know the consequences if Johns' comeback to DC in full force (which is a bit of a surprise, let's face it) is such a huge success that it will influence other elements of the Superman lore - including the secret identity, which I am quite sure he will do his best to reintegrate.

Johns likes to meddle with Superman but I don’t think he’ll get to completely override the Superbooks and impose his vision on the character again. Frankly I don’t think he cares that much about whether Superman has a secret identity or not as long as his stories are still canon.

He’s getting JSA and the Legion because those franchises have lain fallow for a long time and DC needs someone who can bring some excitement to them. Given the premise of a “War of Four Legions” mandates there be Four Legions I don’t think Jon’s Legion is going to get erased or that his time with them will be forgotten. More likely Johns will use Hypertime to say the future shifted from Jon’s Legion being the canon future back to his Retroboot being the canon future. Other Legions exist but are adrift in Hypertime and aren’t the future for the moment.

I think the Legion is a fun concept with a great cast of characters and a cool setting, but I'm already a fan of it so you'd need someone who can capture that for a new audience.

If you’re going to do a proper hard reboot I think you have to begin with the founding trio + a Super and start there. The Legion has an X-Men sized cast but isn’t X-Men tier popular. You have to begin small and slowly grow the team over time. The problem is that they keep trying to maintain the Legion’s cast from when it was at its peak, and it’s simply too much with how big it is. If I were rebooting I’d go two years where it’s just Clark/Jon + the trio having adventures and then introduce maybe 3 new members such as Brainiac 5. Slow growth that lets you build up the heart of the Legion over time.

[DABellWrites]

DC's ability to reiterate the very same concepts for the umpteenth time with the same writers will never cease to amaze me. Anyway, taking for granted that Johns will get the classic Legion back if only he has a chance to do it (everyone and their uncle that this is what is going to happen, let's not fool ourselves) and therefore making Secret Origin THE Superman canon, I wonder what will happen to Bendis' Legion and in particular how putting it in a limbo will affect Jon. It was basically the one distinctive element of Jon's history in comparison to classic Superman. It's not that the character has much of a history once that specific element is deleted.
I'm also curious to know the consequences if Johns' comeback to DC in full force (which is a bit of a surprise, let's face it) is such a huge success that it will influence other elements of the Superman lore - including the secret identity, which I am quite sure he will do his best to reintegrate.

With the upcoming Black Adam movie, Johns is the perfect guy to bring back the JSA.

[Digifiend]

Johns likes to meddle with Superman but I don’t think he’ll get to completely override the Superbooks and impose his vision on the character again. Frankly I don’t think he cares that much about whether Superman has a secret identity or not as long as his stories are still canon.

He’s getting JSA and the Legion because those franchises have lain fallow for a long time and DC needs someone who can bring some excitement to them. Given the premise of a “War of Four Legions” mandates there be Four Legions I don’t think Jon’s Legion is going to get erased or that his time with them will be forgotten. More likely Johns will use Hypertime to say the future shifted from Jon’s Legion being the canon future back to his Retroboot being the canon future. Other Legions exist but are adrift in Hypertime and aren’t the future for the moment.

If you’re going to do a proper hard reboot I think you have to begin with the founding trio + a Super and start there. The Legion has an X-Men sized cast but isn’t X-Men tier popular. You have to begin small and slowly grow the team over time. The problem is that they keep trying to maintain the Legion’s cast from when it was at its peak, and it’s simply too much with how big it is. If I were rebooting I’d go two years where it’s just Clark/Jon + the trio having adventures and then introduce maybe 3 new members such as Brainiac 5. Slow growth that lets you build up the heart of the Legion over time.

I wonder if they'll show Jon trying to visit his Legion pals, only to find that they no longer remember him, because history has changed and one of the other versions is now canon again? He might think Imra's simply got a new costume and changed her hair, only to be told it's not the version he knows at all. Of course that wouldn't stop him still being part of a new lineup (can't see it being Clark because the Legion is mostly a teen team, but the whole time travel setup means that they could've had adventures with Clark a year or two ago, and then one of the others from 20 or so years in Clark Superboy's future - the present - comes along), they'd just remember Clark, Kara and/or Conner being on the team instead of him.

Dreamer also looks nothing like Bendis's Dream Girl (who doesn't even look human), so it'd make sense for Nia to actually be the ancestor of a different continuity's Nura Nal.

[Jim Kelly]

My instinctive response was cringe. There's probably some deep psychological reason for that.

How much does it pay to write comics these days? I gather they make tons more money than in the Classic days when comics were a mass market item--and the writers had to pump out loads of scripts each month just to put food on the table. Although, why today's writers should make more money seems counter-intuitive as I don't think publishing is nearly as profitable as in the old days (which probably means the owners of the publishing companies were taking all that money for themselves back in the old days).

I doubt that writing comics can pay Geoff Johns the income he's used to now--so there must be some behind the scenes extra incentive for why he'd come back to the medium even short-term.

[Frontier]

Johns likes to meddle with Superman but I don’t think he’ll get to completely override the Superbooks and impose his vision on the character again. Frankly I don’t think he cares that much about whether Superman has a secret identity or not as long as his stories are still canon.

He’s getting JSA and the Legion because those franchises have lain fallow for a long time and DC needs someone who can bring some excitement to them. Given the premise of a “War of Four Legions” mandates there be Four Legions I don’t think Jon’s Legion is going to get erased or that his time with them will be forgotten. More likely Johns will use Hypertime to say the future shifted from Jon’s Legion being the canon future back to his Retroboot being the canon future. Other Legions exist but are adrift in Hypertime and aren’t the future for the moment.

Maybe they'll use that idea that Jons' Legion are the descendants of the main Legion.

If you’re going to do a proper hard reboot I think you have to begin with the founding trio + a Super and start there. The Legion has an X-Men sized cast but isn’t X-Men tier popular. You have to begin small and slowly grow the team over time. The problem is that they keep trying to maintain the Legion’s cast from when it was at its peak, and it’s simply too much with how big it is. If I were rebooting I’d go two years where it’s just Clark/Jon + the trio having adventures and then introduce maybe 3 new members such as Brainiac 5. Slow growth that lets you build up the heart of the Legion over time.

That's why Bendis always seemed like an odd fit for the book. He doesn't do well with large casts, let alone for a team book.

[Mantis-Ray]

I'm reminded of the Legion cartoon and it handled itself well by just focusing on a specific core group of characters while having some guest-stars each arc or so to introduce the rest of the organizations.

Which leads to one of the reasons why Bendis' run didn't turn out well. For some confounded reason he had literally every single Legionnaire appear in every issue. Instead of just focusing on a couple of characters per arc, he drowned his run with way too many characters and had them all talking like crazy.

[Vordan]

THE NEW GOLDEN AGE #1
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by STEVE LIEBER, JERRY ORDWAY, and DIEGO OLORTEGUI
Cover by MIKEL JANÍN
Variant covers by GARY FRANK, TODD NAUCK, MICHAEL ALLRED, and DAVID TALASKI
1:25 variant cover by DAN HIPP
1:50 foil variant cover by MICHAEL ALLRED
1:100 foil variant cover by DAVID TALASKI
$4.99 US | 48 pages | One-shot | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 11/8/22
From the Justice Society of America to the Legion of Super-Heroes, The New Golden Age will unlock DC’s epic and secret-ridden history of heroism, launching a new group of titles set firmly in the DC Universe. From the 1940s to the 3040s, heroes take on the great evils of their time. But in the aftermath of Flashpoint Beyond, those heroes and villains will have their lives turned upside down. DC’s future…and its past…will never be the same again. But how are Mime and Marionette connected to this? Why are Rip Hunter and the Time Masters the most unlikable heroes in the DC Universe? And who or what is…Nostalgia? Don’t miss the start of the strangest mystery to have ever plagued the DC Universe.

Yep Johns is either writing Legion himself or at least overseeing the book as part of this “line”

[DABellWrites]

My instinctive response was cringe. There's probably some deep psychological reason for that.

How much does it pay to write comics these days? I gather they make tons more money than in the Classic days when comics were a mass market item--and the writers had to pump out loads of scripts each month just to put food on the table. Although, why today's writers should make more money seems counter-intuitive as I don't think publishing is nearly as profitable as in the old days (which probably means the owners of the publishing companies were taking all that money for themselves back in the old days).

I doubt that writing comics can pay Geoff Johns the income he's used to now--so there must be some behind the scenes extra incentive for why he'd come back to the medium even short-term.

They're probably letting Johns do what he wants again. He had the whole Killing Zone imprint, now is the New Golden Age, which is basically what the Killing Zone sounds like; a lineup focusing on lesser-known DC Comic characters. So instead of whatever the KZ was going to be, this new lineup focuses on the JSA and Legion, from the sounds of it. How long will it last? No idea.

[D.Z]

Expect one to override the bendis legion.

They still have Flashpoint Beyond to change other things. Even if it's just restoring Clark's secret ID.

[Mantis-Ray]

Legion of Superheroes needs a young writer with art that appeals to a younger demographic. Continuously reiterating the same thing with decades of contradictory backstory across several different versions for the dwindling audience of existing Legion fans has repeatedly failed since the '00s.

Johns' name would likely get eyes on it but if DC want to be serious about the Legion it needs something completely fresh, preferably with a few books running alongside each other.

Mostly, DC just needs to decide why the Legion needs to exist now, why the Legion is important to today's audience, and then put their focus on communicating/promoting that to fans.

Currently all they've got is that the property is old, occasionally tied to Superman, and was really good in the '80's. (Teen) Titans has the same problem.

The thing about the franchise needing a fresh young writer does make it amusing that they previously gave the keys to Bendis who has been in the industry as long as Johns and whose writing style has been steadily criticized more and more as archaic.

Bizarrely the guy was even given his own imprint in Wonder Comics, that was specifically about managing young teen heroes to the point Bendis was writing the Young Justice ongoing. Weird stuff.

[HsssH]

I guess the thinking goes that since he wrote Ultimate Spider-Man and Miles Morales then he is good at writing teen characters. And well, it doesn't work like that.

[Jim Kelly]

I started wondering about the comparative ages of creatives when they first began on the Legion, which took me down a rabbit hole. This is not a comprehensive list. I've skipped over a lot.


Otto Binder b. 1911, 1st Legion 1958 -- forty-seven years old

Curt Swan b. 1920, 1st Legion 1958 -- thirty-eight years old

Al Plastino b. 1921, 1st Legion 1958 -- thirty-seven years old

George Papp b. 1916, 1st Legion 1959 -- forty-three years old

Jerry Siegel b. 1914, 1st Legion 1959 -- forty-five years old

Jim Mooney b. 1919, 1st Legion 1960 -- forty-one years old

Robert Bernstein b. 1919, 1st Legion 1961 -- forty-two years old

John Forte b. 1918, 1st Legion 1962 -- forty-four years old

Edmond Hamilton b. 1904, 1st Legion 1962 -- fifty-eight years old

Leo Dorfman b. 1914, 1st Legion 1963 -- forty-nine years old

Jim Shooter b. 1951, 1st Legion 1966 -- fourteen years old

E. Nelson Bridwell b. 1931, 1st Legion 1966 -- thirty-five years old

Neal Adams b. 1941, 1st Legion 1967 -- twenty-six years old

Pete Constanza b. 1913, 1st Legion 1967 -- fifty-four years old

Win Mortimer b. 1919, 1st Legion 1968 -- fifty-one years old

Cary Bates b. 1948, 1st Legion 1970 -- twenty-two years old

George Tuska b. 1916, 1st Legion 1971 -- fifty-five years old

Murphy Anderson b. 1926, 1st Legion 1972 -- forty-six years old

Dave Cockrum b. 1943, 1st Legion 1972 -- twenty-nine years old

Mike Grell b. 1947, 1st Legion 1974 -- twenty-six years old

Ric Estrada b. 1928, 1st Legion 1975 -- forty-seven years old

Joe Staton b. 1948, 1st Legion 1975 -- twenty-seven years old

Paul Levitz b. 1956, 1st Legion 1976 -- twenty years old

Michael (Nasser) Netzer b. 1955, 1st Legion 1976 -- twenty-one years old

Jim Sherman b. 1948 (?), 1st Legion 1977 -- twenty-nine years old (maybe)

Gerry Conway b. 1952, 1st Legion 1977 -- twenty-five years old

Martin Pasko b. 1954, 1st Legion 1977 -- twenty-two years old

Jim Starlin b. 1949, 1st Legion 1978 -- twenty-nine years old

Steve Ditko b. 1927, 1st Legion 1979 -- fifty-two years old

Jimmy Janes b. 1947, 1st Legion 1980 -- thirty-three years old

George Pérez b. 1954, 1st Legion 1980 -- twenty-six years old

Roy Thomas b. 1940, 1st Legion 1981 -- forty years old

Pat Broderick b. 1953, 1st Legion 1981 -- twenty-seven years old

Keith Giffen b. 1952, 1st Legion 1981 -- twenty-nine years old

Dan Jurgens b. 1959, 1st Legion 1984 -- twenty-five years old

Steve Lightle b. 1959, 1st Legion 1984 -- twenty-four years old

Mindy Newell b. 1953, 1st Legion 1984 -- thirty years old

Terry Shoemaker b. 1960, 1st Legion 1984 -- twenty-four years old

Ernie Colón b. 1931, 1st Legion 1985 -- fifty-four years old

Greg LaRocque b. 1954, 1st Legion 1985 -- thirty-one years old

Mark Waid b. 1962, 1st Legion 1987 -- twenty-five years old

Al Gordon b. 1953, 1st Legion 1988 -- thirty-five years old

Alan Grant b. 1949, 1st Legion 1989 -- forty years old

Mary Bierbaum b. 1955, 1st Legion 1989 -- thirty-four years old

Tom Bierbaum b. 1956, 1st Legion 1989 -- thirty-three years old

Tom McCraw b. 1962, 1st Legion 1989 -- twenty-seven years old

Chris Sprouse b. 1966, 1st Legion 1990 -- twenty-four years old

Stuart Immonen b. 1960, 1st Legion 1992 -- thirty-two years old

Tom Peyer b. 1954, 1st Legion 1993 -- thirty-nine years old

Alan Davis b. 1956, 1st Legion 1995 -- thirty-eight years old

Andy Lanning b. 1963, 1st Legion 1999 -- thirty-five years old

Dan Abnett b. 1965, 1st Legion 1999 -- thirty-three years old

Francis Manapul b. 1979, 1st Legion 2007 -- twenty-eight years old

Geoff Johns b. 1973, 1st Legion 2007 -- thirty-four years old

Gary Frank b. 1969, 1st Legion 2007 -- thirty-eight years old

Yildray Çinar b. 1976, 1st Legion 2010 -- thirty-four years old

Jeff Lemire b. 1976, 1st Legion 2014 -- thirty-eight years old

Brian Michael Bendis b. 1967, 1st Legion 2019 -- fifty-two years old


I couldn't find years of birth for creatives like Lee Moder, Barry Kitson and Ryan Sook, so they weren't included. I suspect that Grant Morrison used the Legion before the New 52, but I'm not sure where. Anyone who wants to add more info, feel free.

[Digifiend]

I guess the thinking goes that since he wrote Ultimate Spider-Man and Miles Morales then he is good at writing teen characters. And well, it doesn't work like that.

Bendis's strong point is street level. Alias (Jessica Jones's first series) is pretty much considered his magnum opus.

If he went back to Marvel, would he end up on Champions? He created two of that team's members (Miles and Ironheart).

Jim Shooter b. 1951, 1st Legion 1966 -- fourteen years old

Wait, what? An ACTUAL teenager?

[Thor-Ul]

Bendis's strong point is street level. Alias (Jessica Jones's first series) is pretty much considered his magnum opus.

If he went back to Marvel, would he end up on Champions? He created two of that team's members (Miles and Ironheart).

I doubt Bendis would return to Marvel.

Wait, what? An ACTUAL teenager?

And that breaking several laws about child explotation.