Yeah, when I did my Bronze Age Legion survey on the DCU app, I had to switch back and forth every other issue for a while. It went okay, but once I hit 5YL and the SW6 crowd, it got worse, because now I feel like I have to choose between two casts that can intersect.
Yeah, that was my basic premise, just have them work together and see how their personalities mesh. Having the likes of Dev-Em show up for a few issues could be a lot of fun too!
"You know the deal, Metropolis. Treat people right or expect a visit from me."
Who was your favorite Legion Leader and why?
Legion Elections was just one of the unique things about the title that made it so much fun! There's gotta be a way to revive that with the internet these days... I feel DC and Bendis are missing out on a lot of opportunities to make this title a new animal other than "just another superhero comic book." Oh well...
Saturn Girl. It was an unusual and bold move for its time for a comicbook to make.
My honorable mention is Cosmic Boy. In some ways, he remained the Legion's leader all the way through to the end of their original run, in much the way Captain America is the heart of the Avengers, regardless of who is actually holding the chair at the time.
I prefer the original, but with that order having been given, I can imagine the Legion with Jr., and Mary fighting the Time Trapper at the Rock of Eternity. The later introduction of Cece would also have been interesting, and she’s a character Bendis & Sook should consider re-introducing.
When Levitz returned to the Legion in 2010, they did an election.
I like the elections because:
1. It promotes fan involvement. These are those little things that make an impact.
2. It takes the weight off the writer to figure out who should lead.
3. It puts a new coat of paint on the book.
And most importantly,
4. It gives the writer an idea of which characters are the most popular and which ones need help.
Using #4, the writer could do a storyline using three or four popular members and one or two unpopular ones. After a while, those characters could be elevated to being someone's favorite just by association.
"There's magic in the sound of analog audio." - CNET.
This is probably the easiest it's ever been. Put the poll online either on twitter or something and have a small blurb at the end of the book mentioning it or burn an ad page to do it, maybe with a scanable QR code. Day of, post it on their official twitter account and pin the link for a week or something. Instant results, no need to count anything.
I'd love a Legion Election. Those were always great fun.
It is neat in that it challenges the writer(s) to see characters in a new light, and perhaps clues them in to how they are writing some of them, in that they might totally not realize that they've written a certain character in such a compelling way that a number of fans want to see more of them in a position the writer might not have ever remotely considered.
On the other hand, we now live in the age of griefing where a bunch of yobbos who aren't even fans of the franchise / property can get together to flood an online poll with the most absurd choice, just to be jerks. I wouldn't care if it happened to this later bunch, since they are all new and unformed to me, so if ten thousand Bendis fans called out for Monster Boy to be the new leader, I'd care not at all (or even be intrigued by the idea, since I want to know more about him anyway, and it's not like we have any idea if the more traditional 'founders' are even a thing in this 'boot, or have any more experience or history as leaders than he does), but if the 'classic' or Reboot continuities came back and a bunch of people voted for Harmonia Li or Gates or whomever to be leader only because they think it would be 'funny' and disruptive, that might annoy me.
Yeah, that was a hoot:
Wildfire: Dream Girl, you're really serious about running for leader? Next thing you know, Krypto the Super Dog will be running.
Star Boy: Do you really think Nura would have run for leader if she hadn't foresaw herself winning?
Timber Wolf: Oh no. I never thought of that.
Ultra Boy: STUFF IT!
Dream Girl: Thom, if you're laughing, I'll pluck your beard out one hair at a time.
My favorite leader, huh?
Might be Element Lad. I think that was around the time I decided that he's my wonderful pure zen son.
"Pansexual" got added to the list of adjectives later, after that poorly-aged mess with Officer Erin.
Last edited by Adekis; 02-17-2020 at 07:43 PM.
"You know the deal, Metropolis. Treat people right or expect a visit from me."
If I remember correctly, she won because a reader came up with a unique way to stuff the ballot box (I don't know if Levitz ever went into detail as to how that happened). Levitz decided to ignore the technicality and go with it.
Levitz had a way of revamping weaker members, particularly the female members. He revamped Dream Girl, Light Lass, Shrinking Violet, and Projectra just to name a few. With the latter three, they all went away for awhile and came back stronger.