This is topic Before the Legion of Super-Heroes, there was the L.E.G.I.O.N. in forum The Legion of Super-Heroes at Legion World.


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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 


L.E.G.I.O.N.
Base of Operations: The planet Cairn First Appearance: INVASION! #2 (1989)

(left to right: LYDEA MALLOR, GARRYN BEK, CAPTAIN COMET, MARIJ’N, VRIL DOX, LADY QUARK, PHASE, LOBO, STEALTH, TELEPATH; rear: STRATA, GARV)

HISTORY

The Licensed Extra-Governmental Inter-stellar Operatives Network - or L.E.G.I.O.N. - is a vast and powerful peace-keeping squadron that acts as a police force for those worlds that choose to subscribe to its "service." Though it has a relatively small core membership, the L.E.G.I.O.N. employs literally hundreds of operatives from many different worlds, many of whom have paranormal abilities that make them particularly effective on specific missions.
The L.E.G.I.O.N. was organized by Vril Dox II, one of the most brilliant and inventive minds in the galaxy. Dox was one of thousands of aliens taken as prisoners of war by the Alliance, an organization of extraterrestrial races intent on conquering the Earth. Dox, who refused to accept imprisonment in the Alliance's "Starlag," engineered a revolt and, in the ensuing riot, led several fellow prisoners to the docking bay, where they stole a starship and made their getaway.
The Starlag escapees - Garryn Bek, Lyrissa Mallor, Strata, Stealth, and an unnamed Durlan - were anxious to resume their lives. Instead, they were duped by Dox into accompanying him back to his homeworld, Colu. There, Dox enlisted their reluctant aid in overthrowing the computer tyrants that ruled the planet.
Successful in their mission, the escapees decided to remain together as a team rather than let the untrustworthy and megalomaniacal Dox – and his newest ally, a vicious psychopath named Lobo – loose on an unsuspecting galaxy. Next, they accompanied him to Cairn, home to a narcotics network that spanned five star systems. Dox’s plan was to establish and lead a peace-keeping force with a galaxywide reputation for effectiveness; to that end, he manipulated Cairn’s warring druglords into exterminating each other, assassinated the head druglord himself, and thus cleaned up one of the dirtiest planets in the universe. As a result, not only had Dox almost instantly built the reputation he had craved, but the entire police force of Cairn came under his control as well and formed the foundation of Dox’s L.E.G.I.O.N. The team is overseen by an inner circle comprised of the Starlag escapees and is led by Dox.
L.E.G.I.O.N. members routinely leave Cairn to aid the planets under their protection; the L.E.G.I.O.N. has even traveled to Earth in pursuit of Vril Dox’s father, Brainiac. Their most celebrated case, one that added immeasurably to their notoriety, involved Dagan-Ra, a slave trader and interstellar criminal, Dagon-Ra, who could transmute elements at will, quickly proved to be the L.E.G.I.O.N.’s most formidable opponent; working together, however, they defeated him and released his captives, many of whom have joined the L.E.G.I.O.N.’s ranks in gratitude.
The L.E.G.I.O.N. has endured several changes to its core membership since the team was founded. Shortly after Lobo’s arrival, the Durlan was shunted through time to the 30th century by a sorceress named Glorith; he was later to adopt a Terran name, R.J. Brande, and finance the Legion of Super-Heroes. Glorith replaced the Durlan with the 30th century heroine Phantom Girl, who arrived in the 20th century; though suffering from amnesia, she retains her powers and operates under the code name Phase. Lady Quark and Captain Comet, both involved as solo agents in the Dagon-Ra case, also joined the Network subsequent to Ra’s defeat, as did a new hero, Telepath. Shortly thereafter, Lyrissa Mallor was killed, a victim of the Colu Computer Tyrants.



text: MARK WAID/art: BARRY KITSON/colors: TOM McCRAW
 

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Posted by DrakeB3004 on :
 
Great tribute Gary! With Barry as a regular here and L.E.G.I.O.N.'s upcoming appearance in "Adam Strange", the timing is perfect. I really liked this series, but dropped it at some point (I think it was a L.E.G.I.O.N. annual where I first saw Mik McKone) and I'm curious to find out what happened to these characters (well, not Lobo...)
 

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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 
Barry Kitson was the artist from the beginning, L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 #1 (Feb 1989). He drew the series (with various inkers) through L.E.G.I.O.N. '90 #18. Jim Fern took over through L.E.G.I.O.N. '91 #24, with Barry returning on L.E.G.I.O.N. '91 #25-28, 29-37, 39-43, 46-47, 49-50, 52-55, 57.

Barry is listed as the co-plotter after Giffen left as of L.E.G.I.O.N. '90 #13. He co-plotted until #18, returned for #25-27, 28-39. When Alan Grant left, Barry became the writer with L.E.G.I.O.N. '92 #40-48. L.E.G.I.O.N. '93 #49 brought Mark Waid into the mix. They worked together for the next issue #50 and came back for L.E.G.I.O.N. '93 #52-55, (Waid wrote #56), 57-60.

Although the series lasted until L.E.G.I.O.N. '94 #70 (Sept 94), the remaining issues were by Tom Peyer (writer) and Arnie Jorgensen (penciller), with the only exception being Stephen Jones & Tom Tenney (pencillers) on L.E.G.I.O.N. '94 #62.

The series changed to R.E.B.E.L.S. after Zero Hour.

[ November 03, 2004, 09:59 PM: Message edited by: Nightcrawler ]
 

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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 
Thanks, Drake!

I did some smilies and added some avatars, as well.

Maybe when Barry returns he can let us in on some behind the scenes tidbits. And I know I'm interested in what may have happened to the characters after R.E.B.E.L.S. '96 #17 (Mar 96).
 

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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 

 

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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 

 

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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 

 

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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 


[ November 03, 2004, 03:55 AM: Message edited by: Nightcrawler ]
 

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Posted by Reboot on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Nightcrawler:
The series reverted to R.E.B.E.L.S. after Zero Hour.

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How can it revert to something it never was before?
 

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Posted by Lightning Lad on :
 
Gary, you know I love this stuff and your graemlins are brilliant as usual. But shouldn't this, or at least a copy, be in the Encyclopedia Galactica?
 

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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 
It will be when I get there. I've still got to finish the first Who's Who series. Consider this a sneak peek at how the loose leaf section will look.
 

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Posted by Mearl Dox on :
 
Ha ha, L.E.G.I.O.N., the series whose name is kind of a pain to write out. I actually didn't start collecting it until after R.E.B.E.L.S. was over, but I ended up collecting all of L.E.G.I.O.N. and R.E.B.E.L.S. eventually and overall, I liked it a lot. There were slow points and the underlying idea of R.E.B.E.L.S. was pretty sorry, but I usually enjoyed the writing and the art. Even with the problems I had with R.E.B.E.L.S.'s underlying storyline, I thought the dialogue was a lot of fun in it. And L.E.G.I.O.N. did have some really fun points, I especially liked the first two years and later on the business with Ig'nea. I think the series kind of gets a bum rap. I'd be happy to see L.E.G.I.O.N. come back in some form. Or better, I'd like to see a Vril Dox II miniseries. Or better than that, I'd like to see another plotline with Brainy and Vril versus Brainiac like that Showcase story.

Now I've gotten myself all distracted with wonderful thoughts...
 

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Posted by l.e.g.i.o.n.JOHN on :
 
i loved L.E.G.I.O.N and collected the series right up untill it became R.E.B.E.L.S (what the hell did it stand for any how?) stopped then started again when Dox got DoxIII inteligence reduced to that of an infant and Capt Comet came back to lead the team.
damn i miss that book.
 

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Posted by Stargazer on :
 
I enjoyed both of those series...I did hear that we might get to see them in the current Adam Strange mini series.
 

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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Stargazer:
I enjoyed both of those series...I did hear that we might get to see them in the current Adam Strange mini series.

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quote:

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Originally posted by l.e.g.i.o.n.JOHN:
R.E.B.E.L.S (what the hell did it stand for any how?)

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Revolutionary Elite Brigade to Eradicate L.E.G.I.O.N. Supremacy
 

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Posted by Reboot on :
 
So that makes it the Revolutionary Elite Brigade to Eradicate Licensed Extra-Governmental Inter-stellar Operatives Network Supremacy.

No wonder they shortened it
 

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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 
I don't write these things. I just point them out.
 

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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 
So exactly how many of you have read or collected this series?
 

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Posted by Outdoor Miner on :
 
I have.

I was intrigued by their appearance in Invasion, but not quite sold to the point of picking up the book. I started picking it up later when I found out they were bringing back Captain Comet, who was an old fave of mine. But I stayed with it because I liked the stories, the mix of characters, and the whole overall "space opera" aspect. (Not to mention the art, much of it by some guy - Barry something. Wonder what happpened to him? ) I stayed with it in spite of Lobo, a character who had outlasted his welcome even then.

Waid has said there will be a L.E.G.I.O.N. connection in the new LSH book, and I'm rather curious to see what that will be.
 

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Posted by Fat Cramer on :
 
I got the whole L.E.G.I.O.N. series on eBay last year, and one issue of R.E.B.E.L.S. - I had been following the original, but it went flat for me at some point - certainly after Lyrl was born and started being the baby genius. That was sorta funny/corny, but more of a groaner. Up until that, I enjoyed it, except Stealth's birthing issue...

Stealth was a very interesting creation, however and I'm sorry her race hasn't appeared in Legion continuity.

There was a lot of funny stuff in that series. It could get campy. Lobo was okay when first introduced but he always gets real old real fast for me.

Was this the first superhero-as-a-business group? Maxwell Lord's Justice League was something of a hero-for-hire, IIRC, but not profit driven. L.E.G.I.O.N. was a good take on this concept, and the idea of a wheeling and dealing Coluan struck me as funny. Dox was something of a pirate, it seemed to me.

I read an article about Dyna-Corp (a private security firm that operates globally) in Wired Magazine - it sounded like that company was lifted straight out of the pages of L.E.G.I.O.N., without the superpowers and aliens.
 

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Posted by DrakeB3004 on :
 
My L.E.G.I.O.N. collection is kinda spotty and relegated to a specific period of time, which was when I was an intern at Marvel and was able to get free comics evey week ("spotty" because DC comics were less available there). I liked the series, but not so much that I went out and spent money on it though. I wasn't really up on Legionlore at the time so its connection to the 30th century didn't mean anything to me - I kinda liked the characters and art. I think I lost interest after Kitson stopped doing art though.
 

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Posted by Faraway Lad on :
 
I am currently building a collection of this. Always a long term plan because of the tenuous links to the legion and I do have a certain AR tendency in me

I brought forward the plan, because of two reasons, firstly Barry Kitsons role in the new legion so I wanted to see what his work was like, and secondly because it was cheaper than spending up to £100 a comic for the remaining Adventure issues I need.

As a series it definitely has its up and downs. I am not, so far, sold on Captain Comet, nor am I keen on Strata (sp?) who I think was only introduced because of the legion connection, i.e. let’s have a Blok analog. Dox is a fascinating character, and the early issues with his escape from Colu are among my favourites. Lobo is a pain in the proverbial and I can do without him.

I like the scale and scope, the “space opera” as it’s been called, feel to the book. I don’t think I will be disappointed with the full run.
 

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Posted by Cham55 on :
 
Started collecting the early issues, but found availability on east coast of Scotland patchy ... and specialist comic book shops were more rare than sunshine. Enjoyed what I read, and may yet follow Faraway Lad's route through ebay.
 

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Posted by Loser Lad on :
 
I believe I own the entire run, all the way through R.E.B.E.L.S. I have them packed away somewhere, but haven't read them since they originally came out over a decade ago. I don't really remember it all that clearly (I *was* in college when the series finished it's run after all ), but I remember losing interest in it around the time the Dox baby started taking a real prominent role. Stewie from Family Guy aside I don't really have a fondness for infant geniuses.
 

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Posted by Belinda Hill on :
 
Dox from LEGION gave me the original starting point for the Kord Das character in my stories - I love a good machiavelian leader. I've only read through the run once though so can't remembertoo much else - Strata and Garv didn't do it for me but I thought Stealth and Lady Quark were great. Max G'odd looks like the headmaster at the school where I had my first placement - a sweaty creepy fellow!

quote:

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Originally posted by Cham55:
Started collecting the early issues, but found availability on east coast of Scotland patchy ... and specialist comic book shops were more rare than sunshine. Enjoyed what I read, and may yet follow Faraway Lad's route through ebay.

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What is it about the East Coast that it produces so many fabulous posters here (I'm from sunny Stonehaven, Sonnie and Numf are both Aberdeen Loons)
 

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Posted by SiliconDream on :
 
I've got the whole run from Invasion through R.E.B.E.L.S. #17 (IIRC)--except I'm missing one of the #30's issues where, as I understand, Lobo beats on Captain Marvel. I read through it all about once a year. It's my favorite non-Morrison book.

Vril Dox II is the bestest comic supergenius ever, and baby Lyrl really comes into his own once he goes into Hitler mode. Derek Aucoin's art is shaky at the beginning of his run, but it was quite beautiful by the last few issues of R.E.B.E.L.S.
 

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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 

 

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Posted by MLLASH on :
 
Full run of L.E.G.I.O.N. and R.E.B.E.L.S. here. Loved 'em and got to tell Barry so!

I was hooked from the get-go. The team was unique. Dox was freaking CRAZY! There was nothing he wouldn't do. Who was Lobo going to fight with today? It was awesome.

And the faboo characters kept coming-- Marij'n, Garv, Captain Comet, Lady Quark...

Peyer messed up. Man-- you do NOT kill off a character like Lady Quark. I like to think she ISN'T dead, just floating out there in space, recovering. Maybe after Zero Hour, she was restored.

And the less said about the "Phase isn't Tinya, it's her cousin", which was almost immedietely retconned away to make Phase Tinya again... the better.

I *loved* it when the Beks had possession of the Emerald Eyes. I kinda like seeing a husband/wife team in comics, even if they weren't really involved in the marriage.

This series had a damn healthy run-- 70 issues plus annuals, plus however many REBELS issues there were-- 16? 17?

I'm selling off as many comics as I can. Never once even considered letting go of LEGION and REBELS, even if the way the series ended broke my heart.


SPOILER SPACE for Years-Old storyline*****


Dox and Stealth playing house with the baby? BAH!
 

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Posted by Nightcrawler on :
 

 

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Posted by EuroMutt on :
 
We kind of got a bit of a peak at what was happening with L.E.G.I.O.N. post-Lyrl in Legion (volume 4) #84-100 or so, but haven't heard anything of them since that point (which is over 6 years old).

Reintroduction will be great, because I'm really enjoying the new Adam Strage series (as much as I thought I wouldn't before I started it).

Out of curiousity what happened to Phase, now that Apparition's Legion was taken out of continuity? I know its too soon for officlal account, but any speculations? Further, if the first Legion universe was wiped out, where did the Durlan get sent to? Migrane coming on from all the paradoxes.
 

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Posted by SiliconDream on :
 

quote:

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SPOILER SPACE for Years-Old storyline*****


Dox and Stealth playing house with the baby? BAH!

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It's okay, Lash! They had a troubled marriage!

I was actually very happy to see them get together, and to find out that their concept of "marital bliss" was something on the order of "Sex + incessant emotional warfare + Stealth's constant paranoia that the baby will try to kill her again." It seemed fitting.

"Perhaps you should have considered if you wanted a child before you raped and murdered me!"

"Dox, it is so like you to throw that in my face!" Hee.
 

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Posted by l.e.g.i.o.n.JOHN on :
 
i always liked that line that she said before she raped and killed Dox,"Aren't hormones a BITCH!!!!!!"
 

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Posted by Charles Phipps on :
 
Giffens got a new book after Crisis.

They'res some rumblings he's wanted to Reboot L.E.G.I.O.N. for some time....
 

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Posted by Mediocre Boy on :
 
Oh, God, we can only hope!

I've got every issue of LEGION and REBELS (except for the Underworld tie-in annual), so I'd obviously buy the book.

And wouldn't it be great if McKone or Kitson did the art?!
 

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Posted by Jorg-EM on :
 
DC needs to put out a L.E.G.I.O.N. archive!! I heard they are going players possibly in a Dave Gibbons cosmic series? GL Corps possibly?

I bought a dozen or so issues for a nickel each. I will have to find special deals like that from now on.
 

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Posted by EmeraldEmpress on :
 
I really enjoy all the L.E.G.I.O.N. series, R.E.B.E.L.S. too, but was a little weak.
The characters are wonderful in special Phase, Lyrissa,Garryn Beck, Lady Quartz Strata and Stealth.
 

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Posted by Stealth on :
 
Hi. I'm new here. Nice to meet you all. I got here through a link on the DC Legion board; my name over there is ignea; the kind person who posted the link is named glc. 1 over there.

I got into the Legion books because of L.E.G.I.O.N. Back in the early 90s, the original Legion book was in the 5 Years Later era, which held no interest for me, but I loved L.E.G.I.O.N. and that led me to look for back issues of the original book (my favorite issue of the original book is Vol.3 #45, the 30th Anniversary issue.)

I have the first 51 issues of L.E.G.I.O.N. My favorite characters were Stealth, Phase, Lyrissa Mallor, Strata, Garv, Lady Quark, Vril Dox, and Lydea Mallor. My favorite storyarcs are the battle with the Khunds (issues #24-26) and the revenge of Ig'nea (issues #48-50.)

[ July 24, 2005, 05:47 AM: Message edited by: Stealth ]
 

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Posted by dedman on :
 
hey there, welcome to Legionworld Stealth!!

i just have to say that hearing that Kitson would be on the new LSH title really help peak my interest in it after the fantastic work he done in LEGION 'whateveryear.
 

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Posted by Eryk Davis Ester on :
 

 

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Posted by Jorg-EM on :
 
Speaking more of L.E.G.I.O.N. The Rann-Thanagar war mentions them quite a few times. Also nice to see Captain Comet (a member) get some panel time.

I hear LEGION dots is gonna make an appearance in GL: Rechage as well. cool.
 

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Posted by Director Lad on :
 
I never read L.E.G.I.O.N. while it was being published, but I recently picked up the entire run, including R.E.B.E.L.S., for $50 on E-Bay. It's pretty good. There's some of it that's a bit dated (the general storytelling style is very late '80s), but they managed to pull some nicely unexpected twists and inject a solid dose of humor without detracting from the story. I picked up the series partly from an AR perspective, but also because I was curious to see Barry's art from an earlier book. I'm actually glad I hadn't before the new series; Barry's art has matured and improved enormously in the last 10 or so years.

The one thing I was consistently impressed with on L.E.G.I.O.N. was the way they wrote character. Lyrl in particular was quite realistic. Despite being a super-genius, he was still a baby and behaved as one. I do hope that we get to see more of the group in the next couple of years, especially with the return of the GL Corps.
 

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Posted by Stealth on :
 
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by the storytelling style being dated; the one thing about L.E.G.I.O.N. that I think has dated badly are the terrible hairstyles worn by some of the characters.

And I think the coloring on L.E.G.I.O.N. was almost always outstanding, better than the coloring in comics today. Does anyone else think that advanced technology has actually made comic book coloring worse?

Since reading this thread, I've come up with an idea: Inspired by Cobalt Kid's marathon reading of the entire pre-boot Legion, I'm planning to re-read all the L.E.G.I.O.N. issues in my collection, and if it would be okay with the administrators, I'd like to start a thread where I can post brief thoughts on each issue as I read it. Please let me know if I could have your permission. Thank you.
 

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Posted by Vee on :
 
No need for permission Stealth. Post away. I might suggest giving some consideration to which of the forums (fora?) would be most appropriate for your thread. Perhaps Nightcrawler or Lightning Lad (our wonderful hosts.) or some other posters will chime in with their suggestions.
 

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Posted by SiliconDream on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Jorg-EM:
Speaking more of L.E.G.I.O.N. The Rann-Thanagar war mentions them quite a few times. Also nice to see Captain Comet (a member) get some panel time.

I hear LEGION dots is gonna make an appearance in GL: Rechage as well. cool.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Vee:
No need for permission Stealth. Post away. I might suggest giving some consideration to which of the forums (fora?) would be most appropriate for your thread. Perhaps Nightcrawler or Lightning Lad (our wonderful hosts.) or some other posters will chime in with their suggestions.

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quote:

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Originally posted by SiliconDream:
There's apparently been a massive and not-particularly-worthwhile retcon, though. L.E.G.I.O.N. now has armadas of starships and robot armies, and Vril's changed his look and attitude and is back in control. No sign of the Core Team other than an inexplicably aged Comet.

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I'm not sure that the L.E.G.I.O.N. history was ret-conned away. In the Adam Strange Mini an Omega man asks Vril when and why he decided to switch to robot stormtroopers. No Policeman's Labour Union... of Space to deal with I guess.

Robots are dull compared to the other version, but I can see why it was done for RT War a series where everyone's complaining that they just keep introducing new characters that new readers have no clue about.
 

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Posted by Jorg-EM on :
 
Silicon Dream I agree. Just to make things less confusing they should have just changed the name to something else.

Now Vril Dox with an army of robots does sound interesting and I am glad they showed up. But rather have a different name.
 

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Posted by Candle on :
 
I had the whole run but lost it with my LSH/Adventure etc. stolen lots of years ago now!

I'm so glad the new year brings a new L.E.G.I.O.N. series.
I loved those books, both for their own stories and for their connection to and enrichment of the LSHs.

Just having the Mallor's was a huge boon to me.
By the way, Lyrissa was killed by her forceably aged, power added baby daughter, Lydea.

[After reading Stealth's wonderful thread that recaps dotLEGION issues, I want to add that the aging WAS done by the Coluan tyrants as Pulsar Stargrave.]

There were actually a couple of story arcs involving Talok VIII that I loved.
One interesting thing we learned about Talokians is that they can't be cloned!


Lar Gand was part of the team for awhile, too (he's in one of the pictures on the first page of this thread.)

I disliked R.E.B.E.L.S. a little, but bought it anyway.

I suspect that Phase is still gone from dotLegion. Since she was joined with Tinya in Archies, it would just be too confusing to try to bring her back.
Although, there's no telling what will happen now with the current LHS being . . . whatever it's going to be, and dotLEGION starting up again.
I know that I loved having Tinya in dotLEGION, even if she didn't know who she was.

Captain Comet was such a sweetie.
And, well, I liked Lobo in this series. I even was lead to by some of his own books!


[ November 24, 2008, 05:03 PM: Message edited by: Candle ]
 

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Posted by Korbal on :
 
Ain't It Cool! posted an interview with Bedard on the upcoming series:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39734

Click Here For A SpoilerAlthough he would like to use most of the prior team, for now, only Strata will appear.


 

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Posted by Chemical King on :
 
Currently rereading the old series from the beginning - it's really a fun read, nice characters, story developing smoothly. Did not make it farther than #18 the first time, meahwhile I managed to track down nearly the whole series - I'm excited to see how it will continue...
 

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