Why is the Legion of Superheroes so hard to get into?

[Jely4me]

DC and the constant reboots have done all kinds of harm to the line overall. It should be a cake assignment for someone into sci-fi, as long as it has some believability and humanity. Rich cast of characters, could be treated like the Avengers with a rotating cast, endless worlds to explore, villains, life forms etc. It’s a squandered property really. It was some of my first exposure to DC waaaay back when. But my comics heyday is behind me.

[kcekada]

-What is the central premise?
-What is the hook? What defines the Legion?
-Who are the core characters? Or more specifically what makes the core characters interesting? What makes Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl or that Lightning Kid appealing?
- So far the only Legion related thing I found interesting is the concept of the Substitute Heroes but they don't really appear much so....

I probably would never have read Legion as a kid if not for them being in the back of Superboy (before becoming the main feature). It was mostly the artwork that hooked me then as the Legion looked like nothing else coming out at the time (that aspect has largely been lost as these days the Legion looks just like every other team). But I guess the sci-fi/future aspect was something new as well. The concept to me , though, is that the Legion is a virtual army of super-powered heroes (didn't think of them as teenagers when I read them -- though they were probably meant to be 18 or older at the time). If you like super heroes -- why wouldn't you like a book that features all type of heroes -- not just one or two?! For me, the more -- the better. Yeah, you may not see your favorite in every story -- but with so many members, you're bound to have more than one favorite.

Back then, Superboy and Mon-El seemed to be the core characters -- as Superboy was in the masthead -- and Mon-El was leader. I think fans think of the founders as core members because they were often the elected leaders -- and were often the early focus. Personally, I've rarely found Cosmic Boy interesting, but am a fan of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl. Brainiac 5 being responsible for most of their tech is another core character, but I think the book works best when there isn't too much focus on any one or any one group of members.

There are lot of concepts that originated in Legion and were later used by other books -- especially the Legion Academy (though they could/should have had more focus over the years). Basically, the Legion has a unique universe full of exciting characters and concepts like the Subs, the Fatal Five, Time Trapper -- that were ahead of their time when the debuted.

That said -- DC is the Legion's worst enemy these days. I'm not sure why anyone would even bother after decades of mistreatment and reboots.

[Uncanny X-Man]

I don't think the Legion is any more complex than the Justice League, the X-Men or the Avengers. As other people have pointed out, it's the reboots who actually make it unnecessarily complicated.

[Stick Figure]

My first exposure was a friend showing me some of his old comics. I know the book was called Superboy’s Legion or Superboy & the Legion. It was from the 80’s or maybe even 70’s. I thumbed through it but it was atrocious. I never dreamed I’d read anything with the characters again but I am a Bendis fan & had to pick up the book when he was on it. Man I loved it!!! It definitely needed more time but what was there was so solid. What I didn’t get was the fact that many wanted a Legion book & then complained because the characters weren’t the same. That kind of means the book will never get a shot.

[ComicNoobie]

I'm glad this question is being asked. As someone who grew up on the Legion of Superheroes animated series I immediately wanted to read the comics that inspired the show. The problem was I didn't know where to start or which legion I would like. From what I gathered they rebooted like three times I think? Maybe four, and then they brought back the first legion after a reboot era ended and trying to collect which ones go to which it's confusing for me. It's a shame because I have always been interested in the legion I think it's a cool concept but as a new reader I'm intimidated on where to start.

[LifeIsILL]

As someone who has trouble getting into the Legion:

-What is the central premise? What is the hook? The JL are the best of the best, JSA represents history, New Teen Titans was a found family and Doom Patrol are the weirdos. What defines the Legion?

-Who are the core characters? Or more specifically what makes the core characters interesting? What makes Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl or that Lightning Kid appealing? So far nothing as made me feel a connection to those characters.

So far the only Legion related thing I found interesting is the concept of the Substitute Heroes but they don't really appear much so....

The Legion is just a long-running space opera. Along with Omega Men, probably the best space opera you will find in the Superhero genre, better than Green Lantern for the most part if you ask me. And kicks GOTG's butt all the way through.

[married guy]

I've always had a soft spot for the Legion but have never been a collector.
I enjoyed the 70's stuff quite a bit and the 90's Legion/Legionnaires books.
I STILL remember the issue where Matter Eating Lad saved the team by eating the Miracle Machine and going insane. (SO cool)
But everything from 00's onwards has been pretty subpar.

[Thor-Ul]

Reboots and timeline shifts.

It’s hard to follow a series of characters when you’re not really sure which version you are following or what history they have.

Simply the most direct explanation.

As a reader, my first book of the Legion was a casual number with an story already in the second act. But it was good enough to push me to know more about those characters I had just discovered. It were the years before the Crisis and any change had happened over the team. But it was not that complicated to follow, depiste the team already had a very heavy history behind. If the stories are good enough, the readers are going to stay and they alone will fill the blanks. But for that you must have consistency... something than the legion has lost after four reboots.
Also it not helps than the last series was horrible. Visually stunning but horrible.

I'm glad this question is being asked. As someone who grew up on the Legion of Superheroes animated series I immediately wanted to read the comics that inspired the show. The problem was I didn't know where to start or which legion I would like. From what I gathered they rebooted like three times I think? Maybe four, and then they brought back the first legion after a reboot era ended and trying to collect which ones go to which it's confusing for me. It's a shame because I have always been interested in the legion I think it's a cool concept but as a new reader I'm intimidated on where to start.

I am glad than you had expresed your opinion. It exemplifies the problem.
I would add than the Legion also has spend more time explaining its story than trying to create new stories, new enemies new background. Well, is kind of hard when you are being constantly rebooting and the newer menace is Mordru 3.0.

As someone who has trouble getting into the Legion:

-What is the central premise? What is the hook? The JL are the best of the best, JSA represents history, New Teen Titans was a found family and Doom Patrol are the weirdos. What defines the Legion?

The Legion is just a long-running space opera. Along with Omega Men, probably the best space opera you will find in the Superhero genre, better than Green Lantern for the most part if you ask me. And kicks GOTG's butt all the way through.

The Legion represents hope fot the future. The dream of Superman of a better tomorrow, incarnated as an club of alien superheores, inspired inhis figure. Think of Star Trek, with super-heroes.

-Who are the core characters? Or more specifically what makes the core characters interesting? What makes Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl or that Lightning Kid appealing? So far nothing as made me feel a connection to those characters.

The core character had been changing in each era. It was part of the charm. The originals three are central but even they were set apart in later eras. And they would still be apart if each reboot had not go back to the origin once and again.

So far the only Legion related thing I found interesting is the concept of the Substitute Heroes but they don't really appear much so....

Some of them later had become member of the Legion itself.

[Jim Kelly]

The classic Legion of Edmond Hamilton and Jerry Siegel always had one foot planted in science fiction and the other in humour.

It's the humour thing that some fans and some creators objected to and tried to take out of the team. But if you lose the humour, then the big swings in the science fiction are taken too seriously. The humour is what allows concepts like the Substitutes to work. When you see comics where the Subs don't exist or are subdued, that's a sign that the creators have tried to suck out all the fun from the book.

[kcekada]

My first exposure was a friend showing me some of his old comics. I know the book was called Superboy’s Legion or Superboy & the Legion. It was from the 80’s or maybe even 70’s. I thumbed through it but it was atrocious.

To be fair. there were times where the series fell into disarray during the Superboy & Legion period -- even after. Frankly, though a lot of people here liked Grell -- I thought his run was kinda rough artistically and the series was on a slow decline after Cockrum helped rejuvenate it. There were some good moments thereafter, but it wasn't really until Giffen came aboard that the series was a solid footing again.

[Holt]

I've always found the size of the cast off putting. The reboots and continuity reputation hasn't helped either. Which is a shame since I love Superman, but every time it starts going into Legion territory I just skip ahead or read something else.

[Johnny Thunders!]

I wonder if it’s the names. Lass, Lad, Boy… they don’t have the punch of names like Colossus, Storm, or Cyclops. The secret identity names are a mouthful too.

[Lee Stone]

I wonder if it’s the names. Lass, Lad, Boy… they don’t have the punch of names like Colossus, Storm, or Cyclops. The secret identity names are a mouthful too.

They did start mixing in more non-lad/lass names during their peak period, though...
Shrinking Violet, Blok, Wildfire, Dawnstar, Timber Wolf, Tellus, White Witch, Quislet...

And some of the names ussed for the '90s Legionnaires would've worked good for the originals, like Livewire.

Furball, however...

[LifeIsILL]

My first exposure was a friend showing me some of his old comics. I know the book was called Superboy’s Legion or Superboy & the Legion. It was from the 80’s or maybe even 70’s. I thumbed through it but it was atrocious. I never dreamed I’d read anything with the characters again but I am a Bendis fan & had to pick up the book when he was on it. Man I loved it!!! It definitely needed more time but what was there was so solid. What I didn’t get was the fact that many wanted a Legion book & then complained because the characters weren’t the same. That kind of means the book will never get a shot.

Interesting. I think you are one of the few out there who thinks the Bendis LOSH is better than the 70s or 80s LOSH.

[Johnny Thunders!]

They did start mixing in more non-lad/lass names during their peak period, though...
Shrinking Violet, Blok, Wildfire, Dawnstar, Timber Wolf, Tellus, White Witch, Quislet...

And some of the names ussed for the '90s Legionnaires would've worked good for the originals, like Livewire.

Furball, however...

Wildfire and Timberwolf came to mind after I typed, I could of joined the legion as Irrelevant-Boy.