What Happened To The Legion of Superheroes?

[Sutekh]

The demographic got older, and it became harder to relate to young teenagers saving the world. Same thing happened to the Teen Titans and to a lesser extent X-Men, although with X-Men Marvel just aged them.

While this is partially true, various other teen hero teams managed to work just fine after the Legion's heyday, including the Academy X years of in the X-franchise, PAD's Young Justice, Image's Gen 13, the Runaways, Young Avengers, Avengers Initiative, Avengers Academy, etc. All had multi-year runs and iddn't all just 'fail because of low sales,' but often ran their course because the writers were done with the stories / arc they were telling with those characters.
(Granted, there seems to be a whole lot more Marvel on that list, but DC *should* be able to match that with teen hero teams of their own.)

I strongly feel that 'teen heroes don't sell' is less true than 'DC gave up on any lasting book that wasn't Superman or Batman (and I sometimes feel like they don't really love Superman...).'

[jamgut]

The original question of what happened to the Legion brought back memories of the first time I recall the Legion experiencing a “what happened” moment when they went from starring role to occasional backup status.

The May 1969 issue of Adventure was the Legion’s final appearance of its initial run in that title. Comichron’s paid circulation numbers for that time shows Adventure starring the Legion was DC’s top team book from 1965-69, beating out Justice League each year.

In spite of its success, the Legion was kicked out of their starring role in Adventure and relegated to Superman’s back up feature in Action. After appearing in 15 issues in Action, the Legion was further demoted to being an occasional back-up feature in Superboy.

So from June 1969 through September 1973, DC’s largest team had story-lines suited for half a comic.

The only recourse for Legion fans was to write letters to DC. So many of us wrote that instead of publishing one or two of our letters, DC summarized what we were saying and attached a list of some of our names.

Fortunately, the Legion’s status was eventually upgraded when Superboy’s book became Superboy starring the Legion of Super-heroes.

[M@Bowers2014]

The original question of what happened to the Legion brought back memories of the first time I recall the Legion experiencing a “what happened” moment when they went from starring role to occasional backup status.

The May 1969 issue of Adventure was the Legion’s final appearance of its initial run in that title. Comichron’s paid circulation numbers for that time shows Adventure starring the Legion was DC’s top team book from 1965-69, beating out Justice League each year.

In spite of its success, the Legion was kicked out of their starring role in Adventure and relegated to Superman’s back up feature in Action. After appearing in 15 issues in Action, the Legion was further demoted to being an occasional back-up feature in Superboy.

So from June 1969 through September 1973, DC’s largest team had story-lines suited for half a comic.

The only recourse for Legion fans was to write letters to DC. So many of us wrote that instead of publishing one or two of our letters, DC summarized what we were saying and attached a list of some of our names.

Fortunately, the Legion’s status was eventually upgraded when Superboy’s book became Superboy starring the Legion of Super-heroes.

Yup and then it became just Legion of Super-Heroes and went on to be a top selling title. DC has a history of not treating the Legion with the respect it deserves. When they put A-list creative teams on the book it tends to do well. The Bendis/Sook Legion was doomed for failure as soon as it was decided to reboot yet again. They should have stuck to their original idea of their version being set in the future of the classic Legion. Taking their names as inspiration but being an actual new team not a reboot.

[jamgut]

Yup and then it became just Legion of Super-Heroes and went on to be a top selling title. DC has a history of not treating the Legion with the respect it deserves. When they put A-list creative teams on the book it tends to do well. The Bendis/Sook Legion was doomed for failure as soon as it was decided to reboot yet again. They should have stuck to their original idea of their version being set in the future of the classic Legion. Taking their names as inspiration but being an actual new team not a reboot.

When I saw an early image of the Bendis/Sook Legion and didn’t recognize many of the characters, I assumed they had created a lot of new characters. When I learned the truth, I decided to make their version my jumping off point for the Legion. Making Dream Girl, one of my favorites, look like a descendant of Charlie Brown’s friend Pig Pen, was going too far for me.

[M@Bowers2014]

When I saw an early image of the Bendis/Sook Legion and didn’t recognize many of the characters, I assumed they had created a lot of new characters. When I learned the truth, I decided to make their version my jumping off point for the Legion. Making Dream Girl, one of my favorites, look like a descendant of Charlie Brown’s friend Pig Pen, was going too far for me.

Right, but would you have given it a chance it that Dream Girl wasn't Nura Nal but a new character with similar powers inspired by her? I think it would've been cool personally. Maybe have Wildfire be Drake since he's probably immortal being made of energy. He could've been the connection to the classic team but everyone else would've been new characters using the classic code names.

[Bruce Wayne]

While this is partially true, various other teen hero teams managed to work just fine after the Legion's heyday, including the Academy X years of in the X-franchise, PAD's Young Justice, Image's Gen 13, the Runaways, Young Avengers, Avengers Initiative, Avengers Academy, etc. All had multi-year runs and iddn't all just 'fail because of low sales,' but often ran their course because the writers were done with the stories / arc they were telling with those characters.

Most of them were not sustainable long running books like DC is trying to do with Titans. Runaways tried and it failed at it. Young Avengers/Initiative/Academy are tethered to specific events of the Quesada Era such as Disassembled (YA), Civil War/Secret Invasion/Dark Reign (Initiative) and Heroic Age (Academy). Academy X was one in a long string of Young X-Men failures with the cast taken out back/shot/depowered and replaced by their enemies. The only real success was Young Justice and that was done in the 90s when you stlll had a trickle of mainstream readers. Everything else then in that genre has been failures, which again hints it's the aging demographics both in the managerial/executive/editorial leadership and within the readership itself.

The fact that the Young Justice show (which we know was more of a Junior Justice League than the PAD version) was a limited success that was resurrected after cancellation should show that the ultimate barriers are the fact that comic books have removed themselves from the mainstream and have basically ended up with a shrinking (and aging) readerbase.

[Zero Hunter]

Right, but would you have given it a chance it that Dream Girl wasn't Nura Nal but a new character with similar powers inspired by her? I think it would've been cool personally. Maybe have Wildfire be Drake since he's probably immortal being made of energy. He could've been the connection to the classic team but everyone else would've been new characters using the classic code names.

They did that exact story in the Legion Annual #7.

[Stick Figure]

My only exposure to the Legion prior to Bendis was looking at a friends old collection. This was an issue with Superman as a teenager. I will never be able to wrap my head around that. I bought the most recent run because of Bendis and absolutely loved it. I’m not sure I’d return to the book with another writer though. Maybe.

[Jim Kelly]

The only recourse for Legion fans was to write letters to DC. So many of us wrote that instead of publishing one or two of our letters, DC summarized what we were saying and attached a list of some of our names.

This seems like that must have been on one of the Murray Boltinoff letter pages. He became the SUPERBOY editor in 1968 and he had the annoying habit of cutting letters down to just a few words. Some of my letters got that treatment. But it was a universal rule with him for letters of all kinds (not just those about the Legion).

From what I've read, it was Mort Weisinger who made the decision to take the Legion out of ADVENTURE COMICS and put them in ACTION COMICS. I don't think he was basing this on what the fans wanted or how popular the Legion was. It seems that he wanted Superboy and Supergirl to be more popular and he thought that the Legion were taking the spotlight away from them.

Mort was a law unto himself and it's hard to understand why he would want to undermine a group he created. Maybe he just wanted to exercise his power and show Jim Shooter and E. Nelson Bridwell who was the boss of them.

[Zero Hunter]

My only exposure to the Legion prior to Bendis was looking at a friends old collection. This was an issue with Superman as a teenager. I will never be able to wrap my head around that. I bought the most recent run because of Bendis and absolutely loved it. I’m not sure I’d return to the book with another writer though. Maybe.

That is the problem with Bendis. At this point you either love him or hate him with no middle ground. The problem is he doesn't have enough fans to carry a book on his own anymore, and he is so divisive and has such a lack of respect for the history of characters he doesn't bring in anyone else.

[John Venus]

Personally, I think they should go small with the Legion. Not saying the large roster needs to be erased or killed off or worse, rebooted but start off with a small roster and imply that there are more out there.

Look at what JLU did where they started off with a small roster first, developed them and then later on when they unveiled the massive roster, it had more meaning. Basically, less is more.

I think focusing on the Legion of Substitute Heroes would be a good approach since it will give the Legion corner it's own unique identity. I think it would help if some Legion members ended up in the main timeline and team up with present day heroes. My first exposure to the Legion was through Starman/Thom Kallor when he joined the JSA. On the other hand you could have some heroes thrown into the Legion timeline and teaming up with them in the future. Pick a small group of characters, flesh them out and then expand to other characters.

[Sutekh]

Personally, I think they should go small with the Legion. Not saying the large roster needs to be erased or killed off or worse, rebooted but start off with a small roster and imply that there are more out there.

Look at what JLU did where they started off with a small roster first, developed them and then later on when they unveiled the massive roster, it had more meaning. Basically, less is more.

What was going on in Adventure, in the 'Retroboot' seemed perfect to me. The new artist was amazing, which made the new designs pop (especially for Dragonwing, with that cape, but also for Gravity Kid and Glorith, with their tattoos). I would have preferred slightly more focus on previous classes, like Power Boy, Crystal Kid, Nightwind and Lamprey, but with the passing of time, it did make sense to focus on some *new* students at the Academy. (And Chuck and Lu having retired to teach at the Academy, and active Legionnaires like Drake and Rokk (and Lydda) having also taught / spent time mentoring there, meant there was plenty of room for walk-on parts from 'real Legionnaires.')

I would have loved for that title to continue, especially with a super artist like Phil Jiminez, because he was great.

[kcekada]

Right, but would you have given it a chance it that Dream Girl wasn't Nura Nal but a new character with similar powers inspired by her? I think it would've been cool personally. Maybe have Wildfire be Drake since he's probably immortal being made of energy. He could've been the connection to the classic team but everyone else would've been new characters using the classic code names.

Dream Girl as a sandperson seems like it was a nod to Gaiman's Sandman, but was not a great update, IMHO.

[kcekada]

I would have loved for that title to continue, especially with a super artist like Phil Jiminez, because he was great.

Didn't editorial take him off because they thought he was too popular/talented for a Legion book. Like I've said many times in the past, Legion's worst enemy isn't Mordru, Time Trapper, or Darksied. It's DC!

[M@Bowers2014]

Didn't editorial take him off because they thought he was too popular/talented for a Legion book. Like I've said many times in the past, Legion's worst enemy isn't Mordru, Time Trapper, or Darksied. It's DC!

Going from memory Phil said that DC took him off the book because he cost too much. That sales weren't high enough to justify an artist at his pay scale being on the title. It really sucks too because I think had they left him and Levitz on the title word of mouth would have driven sales higher.