Zero Hour Legion of Super-Heroes

[Adset]

just finished re-reading the Zero Hour reboot legion (legion of super-heroes and legionnaires #0 through the end of each title, i'm taking a little break before jumping into legion lost). hadn't read these since they were hot off the presses in the 90s.

thoughts on the reboot legion? memories? favorite storyarcs? complaints?

i was born in eighties, so these were "my" legionnaires, i suppose. i've gone back and read most of the 80s legion stuff (and waaaaaay back to the beginning via those black and white showcase volumes), as well as the threeboot and return of the originals incarnations. but since the ZH reboot legion is what first got me into it all, it has always had a special place in my heart.

overall, i thought the quality dipped towards the end -- ANOTHER emerald eye appearance? -- and the DnA "legion of the damned" and "widening rifts" stories were a breath of fresh air, but i still dig the stuck-in-the-20th-century arc in legion (85-100 -- anyone else COMPLETELY forget that "genesis" was a company-wide crossover? i sure did), the original emerald eye arc with kinetix and shrinking violet, the return of m'onel, and mordu.

i will say the whole series needed 100% more karate kid.

[Zero Hunter]

I really liked the first few years of the reboot. It felt fresh while still feeling like the Legion. It started losing its touch to me when the split the team into two parts with one half being stuck in the modern day. Even then it was not that bad it was just not as good as what had come before. For me the point where things really started going bad was when the team from the past was brought home. After that up until DnA came in with Legion of the Damned it just got worse every issue with just few decent issues mixed in.

I will say I do think that the art choices really hurt the franchise in that era though.

[Lee Stone]

I really liked the first few years of the reboot. It felt fresh while still feeling like the Legion. It started losing its touch to me when the split the team into two parts with one half being stuck in the modern day. Even then it was not that bad it was just not as good as what had come before. For me the point where things really started going bad was when the team from the past was brought home. After that up until DnA came in with Legion of the Damned it just got worse every issue with just few decent issues mixed in.

I will say I do think that the art choices really hurt the franchise in that era though.

I agree about the art.

I had lost touch with Legion after Millenium because the Waldenbooks that carried them in my town had closed.
When we briefly had a comic shop (actually a baseball card shop that added comics just before Zero Hour -probably because of 'Death of Superman' & 'Knightfall' and the whole store closed during the '90s crash), I saw the two Legion titles and it never got my interest. The art wasn't to my liking, Legionnaires looked like kids and the whole alternate versions confused the heck out of me.

However, when DnA launched the 2001 series with a harder sci-fi angle, I was all over it and went back and got Lost, Worlds and Damned.

But it was over much too quickly.

[JLH]

I wasn't a big fan of this version and was especially disappointed that they had so many Legionnaires join right off the bat. I was looking forward to the Legion slowly building its ranks--but at the same time I have to admit I was longing for the introductions of some of my favorites like Wildfire, Dawnstar and Blok. I guess they just had no chance of pleasing me!

I'm currently re-reading the 5-years later Legion and Legionnaires titles and as soon as I'm done will be going back in time to whenever the Archives ended. As soon as I finish Magic Wars, I plan on hitting the Zero Hour LOSH to see if I enjoy it more the second time around. Don't expect to be there until late next year though! Here's hoping that by then DC launches a new (and hopefully entertaining) Legion title! They've been MIA for too long now.

[j9ac9k]

I loved Pre-Zero Hour Legion, so I stuck with the new team awhile, but Moy's art really turned me off. I liked that the characters seemed late-teens, early 20's and I ultimately liked the relationships and characters that were crafted. (except Sensor as a reboot of Jeckie and it killed me that they took so long to reboot WILDFIRE who had not been seen since Levitz's run and then the new Wildfire origin was horrible)

So, even though I had gotten to like the characters and relationships and the uniformed look to their design, I wasn't able to get *excited* about the team until DnA took over and we had amazing Coipel art. They ended up losing steam after a couple years in and the book fizzled out. Bringing back Darkseid was a hightlight from latter part of that run, but it wasn't great. And Legion of 3 Worlds could have been such a great epic, but it was a bit lackluster - they ultimately didn't know how to bring that idea to life.

[Custodes]

I really enjoyed the first year as well. It has been a long time but, I was excited to have two books a month having always been a Legion fan. Plus getting to start at the start after 30 years of a story line.

The Legion continuity had become very complex before this. I had read about 25 issues...not all or all in a row, of the earlier Legion book where they were all adults. Very interesting and different. But, I missed the beginning and was a bit lost. Calling each other by their real names was a challenge sometimes but added to the elite feeling of belonging to something which had gone on for years that was hush hush and secret. A private joke. It was not for the masses. But, was well written. Always wish I could have found an entire run of those.

Then there was the Legion 94 stuff too.

So, I think the Zero Hour books were nice...for a time. I remember losing interest and being bothered by it. I always wanted to love the Legion. When I was a kid I was younger than them. They were adults to me. Then I was the same age. Then a bit older. Now they are all kids. But, always there. I like their agelessness. I always preferred the Mort Books to the Julie books. The fans ten years older than me preferred serious Julie editing. Back in the early days anyway. When I impressed on my favorite books.

[The Whovian]

However, when DnA launched the 2001 series with a harder sci-fi angle, I was all over it and went back and got Lost, Worlds and Damned.

But it was over much too quickly.

I can't agree more with this. Sums up my feelings about it exactly.

[SJNeal]

I found the Moy's artwork childish at the time, but now I find it charming, and quite suitable to the era.

[Custodes]

And didn't Chris Sprouse do art on Legion, in a different style from his usual. Cartoony but,not exaggerated like his X-Men work.