Long Live The Legion!!! Legion of Superheroes: Millenium with Bendis and Sook An

[Superlad93]

The X-Men began about 5 years after the Legion first appeared and has about as many members, a much more convoluted history and yet we haven't really seen them fully rebooted yet. You just need to write the stories so that you don't necessarily NEED all the backstory but it just gives some added flavor if you do.

But is that an totally fair comparison when X-Men is a multimedia giant made up of nearly a dozen films, cartoons, anime, live action TV shows, and comics? The Legion had a period of great popularity, but since then they've only been able to muster up one cartoon onto themselves, and less than a handful of meaningful cameos in other cartoons and two live action TV shows. Their comics have even stop being distributed more than once while X-Men has gone basically uninterrupted

There's simply more of a consistent familiarity with the general concept and continuity of X-Men due to its largely uninterrupted mass media footprint. It's not a fair comparison at all.

[Johnrevenge]

Got a question. Do you think that the skull guy that in the group shot that is behind Shadow Lass is Invisible Kid or a new character? In the interview Bendis only mentioned Monster Boy, Golden Lantern and the new Doctor Fate as the new characters of the Legion, and Invisible Kid, Tyroc and Polar Boy are the only classic members that haven't appeared yet.

[Lonewolf36]

Got a question. Do you think that the skull guy that in the group shot that is behind Shadow Lass is Invisible Kid or a new character? In the interview Bendis only mentioned Monster Boy, Golden Lantern and the new Doctor Fate as the new characters of the Legion, and Invisible Kid, Tyroc and Polar Boy are the only classic members that haven't appeared yet.

I think Chemical King myself in a hazmat suit of sorts. Invisible Kid is there Element Lad is seen bumping into him in the original pic supposedly.

[Sutekh]

So why flip Lightning Lad and Bouncing Boy? Because Lightning Lad's the bigger name? Or they didn't want the "fat" one to be the main black member? (Even though black heroes with lightning powers is pretty cliche'd by this point).

Agreed.

Sounds like this Legion will be less Superman-centric and more "all around DC Universe" centric.

One the one hand, I had always wondered what was up with the Amazons and Atlanteans, and whether or not there would be Green Lantern (like Rond Vidar) or Flash (like XS) legacies banging around the setting, if not all active as Legionnaires.

On the other hand, I also do not want a 'Justice League 3000' situation, where the Legion just becomes futuristic teen versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. 'cause that's super-boring, nor do I necessarily want all the pre-existing Legionnaires tied more solidly to 20th century characters (like tying Dream Girl to Dream, of the Endless, or Chlorophyll Kid to the Green, or Shadow Lass to the Shade), 'cause we've seen how that went over when everyone in the DCU was being tied to one of the elemental forces (Firestorm is a fire elemental! 'Cause he's got 'fire' in his name, I guess, even if his main power was transmutation???). Yuk. It's clever to mine continuity this way, but also super-limiting, because if something happens to Dream, it's going to have to be reflected in the effect on some 1000 year old legacy Dream Girl, too, and that way lies madness. "Wait, suddenly the ageless mentor of Nura has been dead for 1000 years? He was a ghost all the time? What sort of M. Night Shamalamadingdong twist-ending crap is this, and why are the storylines in my far-future Legion book being hijacked by an 'event' that happened, by their reckoning, *ten centuries ago*?"

I think I prefer it mostly stay the way it is, with Superboy/man being the primary connection between the Legion of the future and the DCU of the present day.

I also prefer that, instead of agonizing over whether Garth or Chuck is black this week, they just use Tyroc or Jazmin, one of the Legionnaires who was black when introduced (and has way less cliched powers than 'Black Lightning/Static 2.0').

There is a weirdness to the notion that the pre-existing black or Asian characters like Tyroc, Jacques, Jazmin, Dragonmage, Dragonwing, Chemical Kid, Glorith, etc. have been erased, and a few of the white Legionnaires given a splash of blackface (or yellowface) to somehow make up for surgically purging most of the color from the team...

[protege]

I think Chemical King myself in a hazmat suit of sorts. Invisible Kid is there Element Lad is seen bumping into him in the original pic supposedly.

That was my guess, a few pages back.

[Frontier]

At least Garth's still ginger...kinda.

I am of two minds about reboots. On one hand, they're a good jumping on point for new readers, and lo as I am to admit, the Legion fanbase needs to grow, on the other hand though, I kind of see them as an insult to the intelligence to the audience, I honestly believe that fans are smart enough to connect the dots themselves and they don't need their hands held.

I guess it's the argument against a reboot vs. a relaunch.

[Robotman]

It's kind of weird to see him say that they don't need to be redesigned, and are great as is, considering how dramatic some of the visual revamps have been for this Legion.

So why flip Lightning Lad and Bouncing Boy? Because Lightning Lad's the bigger name? Or they didn't want the "fat" one to be the main black member?

(Even though black heroes with lightning powers is pretty cliche'd by this point).

Sounds like this Legion will be less Superman-centric and more "all around DC Universe" centric.

It's the same problem I have with what they seem to be doing with the JSA. Basically starting from scratch again.

Wow I didn’t even think of that. Yet another black hero with electricity based powers.

[Superlad93]

Another interview https://www.gamespot.com/articles/me.../1100-6469161/

Apparently this is the pitch: "It's a thousand years in the future, and the galaxy finds itself in turmoil. So one teenager from each planet of the United Planets gets together, and creates the ultimate super team of superheroes, specifically living the ideals and experience of the 21st century age of heroes. They're bringing back the idea of heroes to inspire the entire galaxy to be its best self, the way Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman did a thousand years ago. This is a tale of the greatest team of superheroes, the biggest team of superheroes, coming together to bring about peace through understanding and love and adventure."

So, they're kind of like actual reps of each of their worlds? Interesting.

Also just to drive the point home: "So anyone reading our stuff today about the Legion of Super-Heroes, every character is meeting them for the first time. They see a brand-new situation for the reader. That's as reader-friendly as it gets."

[Frontier]

Another interview https://www.gamespot.com/articles/me.../1100-6469161/

Apparently this is the pitch: "It's a thousand years in the future, and the galaxy finds itself in turmoil. So one teenager from each planet of the United Planets gets together, and creates the ultimate super team of superheroes, specifically living the ideals and experience of the 21st century age of heroes. They're bringing back the idea of heroes to inspire the entire galaxy to be its best self, the way Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman did a thousand years ago. This is a tale of the greatest team of superheroes, the biggest team of superheroes, coming together to bring about peace through understanding and love and adventure."

So, they're kind of like actual reps of each of their worlds? Interesting.

Also just to drive the point home: "So anyone reading our stuff today about the Legion of Super-Heroes, every character is meeting them for the first time. They see a brand-new situation for the reader. That's as reader-friendly as it gets."

I mean, that's basically what they were in the original comics, more or less. It doesn't sound like they're duly appointed.

We also get more emphasis on the League as a whole inspiring the Legion instead of just Superman.

This makes me wonder if they're taking the same exact approach with the JSA, since it seems like the League is meeting them for the first time again in Snyder's stuff.

[HandofPrometheus]

Sounds like this Legion will be less Superman-centric and more "all around DC Universe" centric.

[/I]

On one hand I like that the Legion is becoming more in line with the whole of the DCU but it really s*&^@ on Superman's mythos. You will never see DC take away Batman's toys and share it with anyone else.

[HandofPrometheus]

I mean, that's basically what they were in the original comics, more or less. It doesn't sound like they're duly appointed.

We also get more emphasis on the League as a whole inspiring the Legion instead of just Superman.

This makes me wonder if they're taking the same exact approach with the JSA, since it seems like the League is meeting them for the first time again in Snyder's stuff.

Yeah, the Post-Zero Hour Legion doubled down on the whole representation of their worlds especially.

[byrd156]

On the other hand, I also do not want a 'Justice League 3000' situation, where the Legion just becomes futuristic teen versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. "

JL3000 was more of a comedy book anyway. You weren't really supposed to take it seriously, man I really miss that book.

[j9ac9k]

It doesn't seem they're going this way, but I've long thought that a good way to reintroduce the Legion was to establish each of them (or the initial group of founders anyway) as superheroes on their own worlds first - with backstories and their own adventures, their own villains, etc. first before getting them all together. More of a JLA approach so that when we see then together, they're not seen as just a mass of people we hardly know anything about.

[sifighter]

I mean, that's basically what they were in the original comics, more or less. It doesn't sound like they're duly appointed.

We also get more emphasis on the League as a whole inspiring the Legion instead of just Superman.

This makes me wonder if they're taking the same exact approach with the JSA, since it seems like the League is meeting them for the first time again in Snyder's stuff.

Honestly when it comes to this it’s honestly nice to see both Bendis and Snyder not ignoring John’s Doomsday Clock story. I mean fans of Legion may not like it but it’s consistent with the story about Doctor Manhattan meddling in the meta verse and erasing Superman ever meeting the Legion.

[Frontier]

On one hand I like that the Legion is becoming more in line with the whole of the DCU but it really s*&^@ on Superman's mythos. You will never see DC take away Batman's toys and share it with anyone else.

I feel like this new take can't make up it's mind how relevant Superman is to the group.

It doesn't seem they're going this way, but I've long thought that a good way to reintroduce the Legion was to establish each of them (or the initial group of founders anyway) as superheroes on their own worlds first - with backstories and their own adventures, their own villains, etc. first before getting them all together. More of a JLA approach so that when we see then together, they're not seen as just a mass of people we hardly know anything about.

Seems like a good idea for one-shots or backup stories.