posted
Superman's hand is bleeding. That certainly has got something to do with the red sun but he is flying...oh, wait! He's also wearing a Legion flight ring! That explains the flying. Oooooh, this has *gotta* be good!!
From: Somewhere in the Multiverse | Registered: Apr 2006
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How come Superman doesn't remember Brainiac 5 and seems surprised at learning Brainy comes from his future since he definitely knew the Legionnaires in Lightning Saga?
From: Somewhere in the Multiverse | Registered: Apr 2006
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Loved the artwork overall, though the eyes were kind of big and scarey and the skintones yellowish in some panels.
LOVED the 2 page splash of the silver age Legion. Didn't really bother me that Triplicate Girl and Ferro Lad were included with members who came later. I took it to be a representation of all the Legion from that area and not a particular moment in time, if that makes sense. (though Chem and Kara were missing, natch).
-------------------- Buy my new graphic novel! http://www.dodeka12.com
From: Champaign, IL | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I think I've stumbled across a plot point here.
1. The sun of 3007 (or whenever it is) is red. 1a. It was yellow the last time Superman saw it. 1b. A sun can't change colour naturally in such a short time, and anyway a red sun is so much bigger than a yellow sun that if it changed naturally in that time, Earth would be a cinder, if that. 1c. Therefore someone must have tampered with it. 2. Starman mentioned, in the Lightning Saga, that Sun Boy was missing. 3. I propose that these things are related. 4. Dr. Regulus?
posted
Pffft. After all the false advertising about "the original Legion", Johns doesn't even make a half-hearted attempt to honor the Legion's first and most seminal story. What we get in its place is a garish splash page plus four pages of vapid and pedestrian banter. The founders didn't come to invite Clark to join the Legion---he pleads with them to go to future. No reimagined retro space-age costumes, no initiation pranks, no Martian ice cream parlor, no yammering, bubble-headed Cosmic Boy, and a grossly mischaracterized Saturn Girl to boot. The time sphere is the only relic of Otto Binder's far superior story. Imo, the only thing Johns accomplished here is to sap all the magic out of the first meeting of Clark Kent and the Legion of Super-Heroes.
The art didn't work for me. Dawnstar looks 45 years old. Even the teenage versions of the Legionnaries look old. Everyone's eyes bulge out like they have thyroid disease.
I gather the first few pages were meant to set up the alien pogrom in the 31st century, but as a "homage" to Kal-El's legendary flight from Krypton, it's pretty noxious stuff. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I don't care to see child killing become standard fare in super-hero comics. This is the second time in recent memory, the first perpetrated by Johns, much more graphically, in one of the earlier issues of JSA.
At least the "original Legion" debate can be laid to rest. It's not them. And no, they're not close enough for me. Thank Rao there are alternatives.
From: Reimagined Trom | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Well, it would have been great to have the original story reproduced exactly, but we can't have that, can we? There's no Superboy.
I agree though that the original costumes of the 3 Legionnaires would have been a nice touch, even in a somewhat modernized version.
From: Somewhere in the Multiverse | Registered: Apr 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Tromium: Pffft. After all the false advertising about "the original Legion", Johns doesn't even make a half-hearted attempt to honor the Legion's first and most seminal story. What we get in its place is a garish splash page plus four pages of vapid and pedestrian banter. The founders didn't come to invite Clark to join the Legion---he pleads with them to go to future. No reimagined retro space-age costumes, no initiation pranks, no Martian ice cream parlor, no yammering, bubble-headed Cosmic Boy, and a grossly mischaracterized Saturn Girl to boot. The time sphere is the only relic of Otto Binder's far superior story. Imo, the only thing Johns accomplished here is to sap all the magic out of the first meeting of Clark Kent and the Legion of Super-Heroes.
The art didn't work for me. Dawnstar looks 45 years old. Even the teenage versions of the Legionnaries look old. Everyone's eyes bulge out like they have thyroid disease.
I gather the first few pages were meant to set up the alien pogrom in the 31st century, but as a "homage" to Kal-El's legendary flight from Krypton, it's pretty noxious stuff. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I don't care to see child killing become standard fare in super-hero comics. This is the second time in recent memory, the first perpetrated by Johns, much more graphically, in one of the earlier issues of JSA.
At least the "original Legion" debate can be laid to rest. It's not them. And no, they're not close enough for me. Thank Rao there are alternatives.
Well, we can't have the "original legion" back anyway, as their story has been changed both by Crisis on Infinite Earths and in completely unknown ways by Infinite Crisis, so i don't mind an "updated" origin story as, after all, we didn't know how Superman met the Legion in the New Earth continuity.
So far, from what we've seen both in the JLA/JSA crossover and this first chapter, this is more what the Legion is to me than the Archie Legion or the threeboot version.
-------------------- Ze Frainch Legion fan
From: Edinburgh, Scotland | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Dain: Well, it would have been great to have the original story reproduced exactly, but we can't have that, can we? There's no Superboy.
I agree though that the original costumes of the 3 Legionnaires would have been a nice touch, even in a somewhat modernized version.
I didn't expect the original story to be reproduced but I had hoped they would try to recreate its spirit and characterizations. This wasn't a modernized version of Adventure #247, it was a completely new story, and a rather bland one at that.
From: Reimagined Trom | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I agree with Tromium that Johns has made unforgivable changes to the Legion's first meeting with Superboy. Whatever this is, it is most definitely NOT the "real" Legion it was purported to be.
However, it seems that this also is not the current New Earth Superman, but some silver age analogy.
Note that the clumsy Clark is much in keeping with the traditional mythos. Moreover, does anyone else find it odd that Perry chastises Clark for only having Jimmy for a friend at the paper, when Clark's been balling his best reporter for a couple of years now? Moreoever, note that Clark has no wedding ring.
I'm also not super-thrilled with the apochrophyl group shot. As noted, most of the team depicted never served alongside Triplicate Girl, while many also never met in the original clubhouse. And why does everybody keep forgetting about Chemical King?
From: Sumner, ME | Registered: Jul 2003
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How come Superman doesn't remember Brainiac 5 and seems surprised at learning Brainy comes from his future since he definitely knew the Legionnaires in Lightning Saga?
Given Saturn Girl's new personality, I wouldn't be surprised if Supes cant remember the Legion after crisis because she badly botched a mindwipe after having s fling with poor confused Kal-El. Didn't Supergirl set them up a few times back in the day?
And yes Tromium figured out what really bothered me about the look of the founders in the flashback. Imra, in particular, a bad case of hyperthyroidism. I didn't mind that look once Kal went to the future though, its clear they're under lots of stress.
As for the story itself funny how they keep coming back to the Xenophobia angle. I don't think it was ever a part of the LSH until Levitz installed the polymer shield. After that, successive writers have consistently remixed the concept. It was a driving undercurrent of both TMK and the early ZH Legion and Id argue that the current fear of the unknown in the threeboot is just a remix of it. So GJ is just giving a fourth remix of the xenophobic future and we'll see what comes of it.
And my reaction to the baby scene is a comment on the change in the American socialpolitical landscape since the 1930s. I find it sad that the Kents' acceptance of Ka-El requires more suspension of disbelief than the scene in this issue.
From: Canada | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
I'm excited about the images I've seen and can't wait to get to the CBS this weekend.
I disagree with Gary Frank nay-sayers. I think his art looks spectacular and is very welcome.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: I'm excited about the images I've seen and can't wait to get to the CBS this weekend.
I disagree with Gary Frank nay-sayers. I think his art looks spectacular and is very welcome.
Never been a fan of Gary Frank. It seems that all his women look crazy... He just can't do eyes and it's worse on female characters LOL
-------------------- Ze Frainch Legion fan
From: Edinburgh, Scotland | Registered: Oct 2004
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
quote:Originally posted by Pariscub: Well, we can't have the "original legion" back anyway, as their story has been changed both by Crisis on Infinite Earths and in completely unknown ways by Infinite Crisis, so i don't mind an "updated" origin story as, after all, we didn't know how Superman met the Legion in the New Earth continuity.
You see... I don't understand this at all. Why exactly can't we have the original Legion back? It seems to me DC could just say, "Oh yeah, we're going to start publishing the original Legion again, and all their continuity up to point X is intact", and there you go. What exactly is stopping them?
What we can't have is the original Legion back and have it's continuity square with the mess that DC has made of the rest of their universe. But I could care less about that. We've done the "something resembling the original Legion but with their history changed to fit with our current version of the present DCU" thing repeatedly since Crisis. Why should I think this is any different?
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Man! There is NO pleasing some people. And I thought I was a harsh critic.
I don't get it. There seem to be so many people hating the artwork and writing on this story (which, overall, I quite liked) and raving about the same on the SLSH #35 story, which doesn't appeal to me at all. I have to go read them both again to see what everyone loves/hates so much.
Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
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