Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! The ALL-Let's talk about the positive aspects of Mark and Barry's run thread!

Want to say something negative about WaK's run? Start your own damn thread!

This one's for listing the good things about Mark and Barry's Legion relaunch.

First, I love the fact that they restored the Legion to its "club" roots and away from the government-sponsored stuff of some previous incarnations.

Second, the Legion-as-SCA idea was brilliant. I really wished they'd emphasized that more than some of the themes that became prominent instead.

Third, at least they got rid of all the horrendous codenames that the team was saddled with during the 1990s! If nothing else, I will always be grateful to Mark and Barry for that!

Fourth, there's the return to more individualized outfit choices rather than the more "uniform" look of previous incarnations.

Fifth... Projectra was not a snake!

So, what did *you* like about WaK's run?

Triplicate Girl's origin issue was brilliant.

Brainiac 5 is fascinating!

Hey like I said in the other post I couldn't crack Legion until this run.

Thinking hard...

They brought Gim Allon back.
Dream Girl had a great "death" scene.
The back-ups were a great idea, though totally NOT in practice.
um...
The book came out on time?

...

The characters were interesting and behaved more like real people than two-dimensional comic book heroes. The legionnaires had a lot of spirit and they weren't goody two-shoes. I couldn't take that saluting the Legion flag stuff .

There were many new worlds introduced, lots of good new secondary characters (Theena! Sun Boy's fannish parents! General Toling4frd! Klar! Jeyra Entin!).

The backstories promised to be fascinating. At least we got lots of hints and I will continue to speculate about them.

The 31st century society that Waid & Kitson constructed was complex, diverse and presented us with many ideas which could apply both to our own time and our future.

The Brainy-Nura story was a classic.

I liked Supergirl's counterpoint of being everyone's sweetheart against the less well-esteemed legionnaires.

The females weren't sexed-up airheads.

Mekt leading the Wanderers was a high point. I really would like to have seen more of the re-imagining of the Ranzz family dynamic.

I enjoyed Mark's writing, if just a bit too slow paced. And Barry's art was the best especially on the new, retro costumes. His take on Dave Cockrum's classic Lighting Lad costume was my favorite but I enjoyed all of them, including the introduction of capes to more of the team.

Mark and Barry have brought back a modern type of Legion, that fits a lot of what I missed since the pre-Crisis Legion. Similar to another german reader on this board I lost trace of the Legion since the mid-80s. So I was happy to see a new formed team, especially with my teen-favorite hero Sunboy (altough he left the team for now, but nevertheless this time he is'n t dead) and I could understood what's going on in the 31st century without getting 100s of back issues. In other words those two guys, Mark and Barry, gave me the chance to come back to pursue a hobby I lost several years ago and I'm very thankful for this.
Well, I hope you get the content, 'cause I'm a little doubtful in my english writing abilities.

Ah, one more last thing. Even my girlfriend reads the new Legion run. Either this is pure love or a sign for good story writing (Mark) and an absolute gifted artist (Barry). May be both.

I've talked a lot at different times on Legion Abstract, here, and on other message boards about the virtues of the Waid-and-Kitson run, so here I'll just point out one thing:

Raymond Luxury Yacht!

The Wanderers is *the* high point, as far as I'm concerned. This is the only storyline I really, truly enjoy.
All the "legionnaires" we got to see.
The art was fantastic.
The costumes were once again individualized instead of variations on a theme.
The names.
Lemnos.

I like that they revived the "Boy/Girl/Lad/Lass" names.

I like Phantom Girl living in two worlds at once.

I like Colossal Boy's gay brother with his pineapple boxer shorts.

I like the portrayal of Chameleon as being just slightly out of sync with everyone else.

Although I prefer Gim being a regular human who can grow big, I like Big City.

I loved Violet's debut in this version and thought the fact that some Legionnaires didn't believe she existed was funny.

I like the addition of Theena.

I like the concept of all the Legion's fans being considered Legionnaires.

Theena. She goes up with R.J. Brande and Winema Wazzo and Dr. Gym'll on my list of supporting characters I love.

The vision of Naltor and the 'precops' (and Nura as one of their best and brightest). Of all the 'twists' added to the characters, this was the only one I'd keep.

Lightning Lad's 'cockier' interpretation for the first half of the run. (Up until the Dream Boy conversation where's he's re-imagined as a buffon unable to complete his own sentences and suddenly on bad terms with Ayla.)

Projectra, not a snake. She still ain't the Jeckie I know and love, but at least she has legs!

I love having Sun Boy back.

I think Karate Kid, Colossal Boy and Light Lass have never been written better. Those three were my favorite things about this boot so far.

Loved the visit to Naltor, early in the run. That was a great issue!

In fact, I've enjoyed most of the off-Earth storylines.

I hope the new planets Ttrxl and Dormir, I'm sure there are others, pop up again.

I love Phantom Girl's costume even more than the original Cockrum source (blasphemy, I know). And I really appreciate the ideas of the changing symbols, computerized fabric, etc. that we really only saw realized on Lightning Lad.

I liked the friendship between Violet and Shadow Lass, and Colossal Boy's 'man-crush' on Ultra Boy.

I appreciate the concepts of the LSH-as-SCA with little 'l'egionnaires boosting them.

I like the new villains, Elysion and Jeyra Entin. I hope the interim and new writers use them again.

Ooh, I like Theena as well!

And Elysion was a pretty groovy bad guy, too!

I loved the fact that we got thirty page issues for awhile. It's a shame they couldn't have continued.

Yeah, the costumes were a *big* plus! I loved the "computerized" part of LL's costume, and Phantom Girl's is my second most favorite after Cockrum's.

The idea of Tinya living in two worlds at once was very original. I wish she had had a whole issue solo story to explore this in greater depth.

it made me a Legion fan. I had heard about it, but was never interested in collecting it. I have enjoyed the art, and I have enjoyed the story so far. I am even looking forward to the showcase editions.

now, whether or not that interest will survive a new creative team, time will tell.

This book made me a Legion Fan. I am becoming an obsessive Legion Fan. Since putting this needle into my arm I have been cruising eBay and won Legion Archives 1-4, a complete run of Valor, and all the pre Zero Hour Legionnaires issues. I haunt eBay looking for further Archive Volumes when I know I have the disposable cash to do so. I lent out the first 14 issues to my friend Robbie and now HE is reading Legion via trades.

I love the costumes

Atom Girl's introduction was fantastic.

Brainy/Dream Girl relationship. Witty and tragic.

This book actually made SUPERGIRL WORK.

The Triplicate Girl origin.

The Dave Gibbons Karate Kid/Phantom Girl back-up.

The Dream Girl/Starboy back-up.

The Bottled City of Kandor still small and bottled up even though they have their own planet.

Saturn Girl and all Saturnians(sp?) being mute.

Karate Kid and Timber Wolf are baddasses.

"I wouldn't follow that guy across the street."

"What did we just miss?"
"A very annoying compliment."

Creating a book that is bar-none the FIRST Big-Two title I read every time I get my monthly stack of books. (Well... only for the last 9 months. Casanova man.)

Barry Kitson is one of the nicest guys in comics.

The "Letter Columns" are brilliant. First they were a funny sidestep and with last issues they were a fitting tribute and passionate appeal to the genius that IS Dave Cockrum. Most tributes are just pros waxing eloquently about a passed ones genius. This one SHOWED us how genius he was. Lightning Lad's costume. Man that one STILL kikcks ass.

-N

One cool aspect that I'm sure everyone here can appreciate is how much time Barry found to let us into the creative process. This was pretty unique amongst the big publisher series I follow. He's made a lifelong fan of me anyway. (So much so I picked up most of his L.E.G.I.O.N. run out of quarter bins last summer)

So many things ... everything other people have already said and more.

For Barry's art, which made old-school look new. The spirit of Curt Swan is nodding his head in approval.

For understanding the real Legion lives on in its archetypal characters, no matter how continuity ebbs and flows over the years. The WaK Legion is the "real" Legion, as much as any previous incarnation and more than some.

For restoring the iconic codenames. They *do* make a difference.

For tearing away most of the retcons that have built up over the Legion like layers of mud since 1989.

For their courage in giving the Legionnaires emotionally realistic and complex teenaged personalities and behaviors while also keeping most of them true to character. Hopefully, these characterizations will stand and inform future writers.

For giving us back Mon-El.

For making me interested in Karate Kid, Colossal Boy and Invisible Kid for the first time ever.

For making me like Ayla for the first time ever.

For giving Mekt Ranzz his due and a future that doesn't require him to be a madman or a lobotomy patient.

For an awesomely and passionately flawed Brainiac 5.

For making Star Boy a babe magnet.

For making Triplicate Girl and Phantom Girl unique in terms of their super-powers.

For giving Saturn Girl a long rest -- hopefully long enough for all memories of the awful post-ZH persona to fade away forever. The mute bit is great, too.

For keeping the Garth-Imra romance in the background and resisting the temptation to make it a source of personal conflict again.

For retaining the founder triangle but depicting it as a psychological triangle (Super-Ego, Ego and Id) instead of source of romantic angst or personal contention.

For dumping the other tiresome old romances, but keeping the window open to rebuild them from scratch in the future.

For refusing to dumb down the Legion. This was the most densely written Legion in years, and mostly free of fan-wank revisionism.

For helping re-anchor the Legion to the Superman mythos and the present-day DCU.

For creating new Legion fans to provide a fresh perspective.

Above all, for reminding this old Silver Age fangirl what it was like to meet the Legionnaires for the very first time over 40 years ago, before they firmly settled into boy/girl scout mode. Mark knows and respects them and their rich, variegated history more deeply than any writer since Levitz. I appreciate what he's done.

To add to the above list:

While I don't care for the WaK Element Lad, neither his personality nor his costume, at least he's breathing, not mentally unstable, and there is a planet Trom to explore in the future ... hopefully.

Add to my list, the original Lyle Norg Invisible Kid again. I never cared for Jacques, so it's always a treat to see Lyle again.

Good picks everyone! I like it that Mark hasn't felt the need to explore in-depth every little nuance of every character and situation. We knew he was setting things up for the long-haul and I'm quite happy with how many ideas he's thrown out there. We now have subtlties, situations and backstories to mine for a decade to come.

We got new supporting characters, new drama and tons and tons of crazy things for the future writers to have all kinds of fun with. Mark only scratched the surface of SO many things. I know I'm looking forward to the NEXT writer's take and then the writer after that and so on.

Mark Waid seems to enjoy working with the "minor" characters so he spent a lot of time on some people we haven't seen shine in a long long time. Not to mention that he spent quite a bit of that on Legionnaires that were dead in the other incarnations. Having Lyle and Val back made me cheer for Mark.

I'm sure that in the future we'll see the return of other fan favorites and WnK left plenty of elbow room for the work to be exciting and for us to be surprised by their first/next appearences.

Thank you Mark and thank you Barry. You set the stage for the next age of Legion greatness and I (for one) am excited about their potential for the first time in a long time.

Nice artwork throughout (including most fill-ins).

First handful of issues were very good (excepting # 1, which I actually thought drug out too much) and were rife with promise.

Excellent snappy dialogue through the entire run.

Nice to see a human Projectra again.

Theena.

I've only read thru issue 12 or so (because I'm taking a break from comics in general), but...

Barry's art is among the best ever of the Legion artists, right up there with Swan, Cockrum, Grell, Giffen, Lightle, Larocque, Immonen, Coipel and, of course, Garcia Lopez.

The twist on Triplicate Girl was incredible, as was, to a lesser extent, the idea of Imra being mute. The Phantom Girl thing ROCKED!

I thought Lemnos in his early appearances was a brilliant take on making a villain scary in a new way.

Brainy and Nura...devastating and powerful.

The art has been great through out

The characters have been cleverly written - Invisible Kid as a sneaky little creep is classic, Brainiac as an egomaniac is spot on, Colossal Boy, Sun Boy, Dream Girl, Shadow Lass, Triplicate Girl - all classics!

Great idea that the Legion are leading a cultural change against a horribly sterile society- this has sadly been down played of late but we can hope it's going to be brought back to the fore soon.

I'm going to second Tromium's excellent list from above and add one comment of my own.

I deeply appreciate the way that Mark focussed as much or more on character as on plot in this book. One of the things that drove me nutty about the DnA run was the subservience of character to plot. During that run, the book was all plot all the time. None of the Legionnaires had any distinguishable personality beyond what the plot required to move forward. Mark changed that absolutely. The plot now responds to the characters' personalities, rather than the other way around. I was so glad to see that. It really made me feel like the Legion was really back, instead of the faceless drones we'd been forced to endure for the prior 10 years.

Thank you Mark and Barry for the best Legion series in 25 years. History will prove this even if the rest of the internet is currently unappreciative.

Waid & Kitson really made me enjoy the Legion again.

I have to say with Abnett & Lanning there was always something in each issue that made me go "That's not right".