The Future of Legion of Super Heroes Franchise & The Bendis Problem

[Sutekh]

That concept is far too weird and wacky for people to grasp and enjoy! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch a movie about an anthropomorphic gun-toting raccoon and his best friend (who happens to be a walking talking tree) who fly around in a space ship and try to save the galaxy from evil gods.

Good day sir!

Ha, nothing like good snark to bring the smiles!

[Thor-Ul]

Ha! That is correct, mister.

[EmeraldGladiator]

They need to go back to basics....move the Levitz/Giffen team up 3-5 years ~ but not in the outlandish way they did in 5YL! ~ and go from there!
The secret with the Legion is not reinventing the wheel....build on what made it DC’s #1 book in the 80’s, keep older fans happy, and win new ones from there on!

That's basically what Geoff Johns' retroboot Legion was (is hopefully), a much better option for DC over Bendis' reinvention.

[OBrianTallent]

They need to go back to basics....move the Levitz/Giffen team up 3-5 years ~ but not in the outlandish way they did in 5YL! ~ and go from there!
The secret with the Legion is not reinventing the wheel....build on what made it DC’s #1 book in the 80’s, keep older fans happy, and win new ones from there on!

This. There's plenty of characters that can be used for diversity without race bending existing characters. Let's see Quantim kid, Xs, Invisible Kid, Tyroc, Dawnstar, Dragonwing....
Go back to being hopeful and bright. Yeah the universe around them can be hell but the Legion should be the bright spot.

[Thor-Ul]

That's basically what Geoff Johns' retroboot Legion was (is hopefully), a much better option for DC over Bendis' reinvention.

This. There's plenty of characters that can be used for diversity without race bending existing characters. Let's see Quantim kid, Xs, Invisible Kid, Tyroc, Dawnstar, Dragonwing....
Go back to being hopeful and bright. Yeah the universe around them can be hell but the Legion should be the bright spot.

That could had been so much better. I think Bendis coould had worked in this background and even created new charactes instead of making another reboot than will be (eventually, sooner or later) will be swept under the rug.

[Sutekh]

This. There's plenty of characters that can be used for diversity without race bending existing characters. Let's see Quantim kid, Xs, Invisible Kid, Tyroc, Dawnstar, Dragonwing....
Go back to being hopeful and bright. Yeah the universe around them can be hell but the Legion should be the bright spot.

Yeah, there's at least a dozen diverse characters from the classic and reboot teams they could use.

Invisible Kid II/Jacques Foccault, Tyroc, Computo/Danielle Foccault, Glorith, Dragonwing, Harmonia Li, Karate Kid II/Myg, Chemical Kid
Kid Quantum II, GEAR, Dragonmage, XS, Catspaw

And I'm sure I've forgotten a few!

[ducklord]

Yeah, there's at least a dozen diverse characters from the classic and reboot teams they could use.

Invisible Kid II/Jacques Foccault, Tyroc, Computo/Danielle Foccault, Glorith, Dragonwing, Harmonia Li, Karate Kid II/Myg, Chemical Kid
Kid Quantum II, GEAR, Dragonmage, XS, Catspaw

And I'm sure I've forgotten a few!

This. There's plenty of characters that can be used for diversity without race bending existing characters. Let's see Quantim kid, Xs, Invisible Kid, Tyroc, Dawnstar, Dragonwing....
Go back to being hopeful and bright. Yeah the universe around them can be hell but the Legion should be the bright spot.

I gotta say, as little interest as I have in the arguments over racebending in general, that disinterest increases by a factor of about a quadrillion-fold for discussions of Legion characters.

They're an army of (mostly) alien humanoids, set in a distant century in which Terran racial politics is a thing of the distant past. The color of their skin is perhaps the least important thing about them. Getting persnickety about an RGB-change on their meaningless skin tone is just plain weird.

Now, the travesty of Dawnstar's Bendis-era costume... THAT'S something worth breaking out the pitchforks over.

[Thor-Ul]

Now, the travesty of Dawnstar's Bendis-era costume... THAT'S something worth breaking out the pitchforks over.

It seems like Bendis don't like characters with featherd wings. Remember what he did to Angel's wings in X-men.

[SJNeal]

It seems like Bendis don't like characters with featherd wings. Remember what he did to Angel's wings in X-men.

Sorry to digress, but what did he do to Angel's wings in X-Men??

Warren's my favorite of the O5, but I dropped Bendis's teen team book about 5 mins in.

[Thor-Ul]

Sorry to digress, but what did he do to Angel's wings in X-Men??

00_Angelwings.jpg
Basically, he gave new "cosmic fire" wings and then he returned with them to the past. Since then, nobody seem s to remember he had them.

Warren's my favorite of the O5, but I dropped Bendis's teen team book about 5 mins in.

That was a wise move. Curiously, that idea, the time displaced heroes, seems copied from the 5YL era of the Legion. That and the fact Bendis used the "new artificial Earth" concept makes me wonder if he did read the 5YLegion at any moment.

[Robanker]

That concept is far too weird and wacky for people to grasp and enjoy! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch a movie about an anthropomorphic gun-toting raccoon and his best friend (who happens to be a walking talking tree) who fly around in a space ship and try to save the galaxy from evil gods.

Good day sir!

Remind me to never read your posts while drinking water. Good lord. lol

Seriously, though. It's such an evergreen topic. If it wasn't for the super futuristic element demanding a huge budget, I'd be angry the CW didn't jump on it years ago. It's tailor-made to everything they love about their superhero soaps. Diverse, massive cast, emphasis on interpersonal relationships of young attractive people. It's all there.

I think trying to cram the Legion into 22 pages a month can be a lot to handle for the current method of slower storytelling. The IP may have outpaced the medium a little bit by virtue of how goddamn big it is. Outside of just centering the run on a handful of members and keeping everyone else to guests per arc, I don't know how it could sustain readership long-term. X-Men has the benefit of being long-beloved by more mainstream fans, so they're already committed. Legion has to find an audience all over again and I don't know how they'll accomplish that without shafting some favorites. :/

Breaks my heart because in the last year I really rediscovered my love for the Legion while working on some stupid side project for fun and I want them to be a successful, long-running book again. I don't hate the Bendis run by any stretch, though it has its problems (Planet Gotham, Doctor Fate, difficulty keeping its own continuity) but it has some pretty fun ideas as well... and the art has been consistently great.

[SJNeal]

00_Angelwings.jpg
Basically, he gave new "cosmic fire" wings and then he returned with them to the past. Since then, nobody seem s to remember he had them.


That was a wise move. Curiously, that idea, the time displaced heroes, seems copied from the 5YL era of the Legion. That and the fact Bendis used the "new artificial Earth" concept makes me wonder if he did read the 5YLegion at any moment.

Considering his X-Men felt like he'd never read an issue of *that* book, I wouldn't be surprised to learn he was drawing from LoSH as an influence...

[Sutekh]

Considering his X-Men felt like he'd never read an issue of *that* book, I wouldn't be surprised to learn he was drawing from LoSH as an influence...

I dunno, he sure doesn't seem to have drawn on the LoSH as an influence *when writing the LoSH,* so it seems odd that his X-Men run would be inspired by them...

[Thor-Ul]

I wouldn't say he was inspired by that run, he just take some ideas from that run and used them in his work.

[transformers03]

I gotta say, as little interest as I have in the arguments over racebending in general, that disinterest increases by a factor of about a quadrillion-fold for discussions of Legion characters.

They're an army of (mostly) alien humanoids, set in a distant century in which Terran racial politics is a thing of the distant past. The color of their skin is perhaps the least important thing about them. Getting persnickety about an RGB-change on their meaningless skin tone is just plain weird.

Morally, this is the stance that we should all take. The color of the skin shouldn't dictate what makes the character what they are. We live within a diverse world, and a future with aliens and other species should represent the progress we will hopefully make in a thousand years.

However, on the more hypocritical and problematic side of me, I'm not going to lie - the main reason I have been unable to read any of Bendis' Legion is because of the racebending of Lightning Lad. Lightning Lad was far and beyond my favorite legion member, and I have a hard time accepting the new Lightning Lad. That is why I have some sympathies towards those who express upset about the racebending of their favorite characters because I also feel like that sometimes. But I also recognize that's a problematic way of thinking about things. We should all move past that and have a desire to see more diverse representation in the media we consume, even if it changes something we love.

On that note, from everything I could gather, Bendis' Legion don't really act like any past interpretations of other Legion timelines. Which makes me not want to read it even more, unfortunately. While a lot of things on online comic book discourses make things seem more hated than they really were, Bendis' Legion of Superheroes really does not seem popular out all. It's to the point where that I don't know why DC would still keep him on it.

Breaks my heart because in the last year I really rediscovered my love for the Legion while working on some stupid side project for fun and I want them to be a successful, long-running book again. I don't hate the Bendis run by any stretch, though it has its problems (Planet Gotham, Doctor Fate, difficulty keeping its own continuity) but it has some pretty fun ideas as well... and the art has been consistently great.

On paper, I don't hate what Bendis has been doing. Nonetheless, I feel like Bendis' Legion has kind of been a failure for DC. Maybe I don't have the right to comment on that since I haven't read the issues, and maybe my opinion would change if I have. However, as an outsider looking in, that is how I see things at the moment. Despite getting the best artists in the industry, all written by arguably one of the biggest writers of the 21st century, the series couldn't make it past issue 12, with mixed reception all-around. The fact that Bendis is teasing more Legion has me, personally, more upset than excited; I just want classic Legion at this point.