Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! 3rd Best Team

The folks at 411MANIA.COM.com take a look at the ten best comic book teams of 2003, including the Legion, which they rank #3 behind Teen Titans (#2) and the JSA (#1).

The writers make a couple of curious mistakes, like referring to Live Wire as a "new addition" and calling Violet "Leviathin II". Guess they have a lot of catching up to do. But their hearts are in the right place.

Here's a link to the entire article .

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#3: (Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Apparition, Triad, Chameleon, Invisible Kid, XS, Braniac 5, Leviathin II, Zoe, Gates, Star Boy, Superboy, Ultra Boy, M'Onel, Ferro, Sensor, Umbra, Kid Quantum, Karate Kid, Wildfire, Shikari, Gear, Timber Wolf & Dreamer)

The Legion has always been one of the most frustrating titles for new readers. The sheer size of the cast and the intense history of the book always feels like such a turn off. Under Abnett and Lanning (DnA), Legion has continued to grow and evolve. With stories like Foundations and Dream Crime, Legion is just about as good as it has ever been.

Never has the writing team of DnA seemed overwhelmed by the amount of characters charged to them, they simply expand the universe in which they are telling their stories (or heck, create a second one) and make the stories that much more epic so that a team of nearly thirty members doesn't feel like overkill. If you're looking for old school super hero adventure stories that hearken back to the Silver Age without being cheesy, tales with that hint of fun, humor and fantasy, The Legion is your book.

As always, the book's greatest strength lies in the adolescent fantasy that these really are just a bunch of teenagers having the time of their lives doing the coolest job in the galaxy from their awesome clubhouse with no adult supervision (unless you count R.J. Brande, and, c'mon, he's a kid at heart).

Just like if you stuck two dozen teenagers in a space station, gave them all super powers and costumes and waited to see what happens, not all the members of the Legion get along and some get along a bit too well. Though the Apparition-Ultra Boy-Timber Wolf-Saturn Girl “love” square seemed to alternate between getting too much page space or too little in the eyes of the readers, nobody can deny it was a fun little yarn that took a realistic look at some of the perils at marrying young when your hormones are still racing and also gave readers a chance to meet T-Wolf as a kick-ass new character. The unexpected Cosmic Boy-Kid Quantum relationship worked if only because the spontaneous nature made it feel more real; don't you remember when you were 18 (if you have been yet) and fell in love with a girl you've known for years but suddenly started to se in a new light.

The solid friendships between Braniac 5 & Invisible Kid as well as Karate Kid & Ferro served as a nice reminder that it's not all angst and drama aboard Legion World. Sensor's harsh reaction to her physical transformation at the hands of Ra's al Ghul and an unexpected semi-bond with Shikari of all people made the much-hated “Snake” a far more interesting character. And of course two curve balls by the names of Superboy and Live Wire served to shake things to their very "Foundations' as the year drew to a close; maybe the book already had enough going on that it didn't need these new additions, but that's not the Legion way: there's always room for more.

Oh, and we can't forget about the ahem star-crossed lovers, Star Boy and Dreamer…
The Legion: It's like watching "The Real World'…in the future…in space…with super powers.

By Mike Maillaro,411 reviewer & Ben Morse, writer of The Watchtower, co-Editor-In-Chief of 411Comics.

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Thanks for posting this Trom! I never remember to look at 411's site.

I can't believe the Legion beat out the JLA and X-Men. I also can't believe the JSA ranked so high but I've just started trying to get into reading the title with the current Black Reign storyline.

My pleasure. It's gratifying to see the Legion getting good press. It'll always be numero uno in my book.

I would have rated Waid & Wieringo's F4 higher.

FKATJL was a shock to me. I mean yes it was a great mini and a good team but it should be as high on the list as it is. I probably would have switched FF and FKATJL.

That was a nice review of the Legion - I would think it would make someone want to read the book.

"Adolescent fantasy"? Works for jaded adults too!

Hey sweet, I'm reading eight of the top ten!

Anyway, good press can't help but benefit the Legion. I think that maybe DC should try to really start trying to atract new readers to the Legion though. Maybe they could try that 25 cent issue trick that marvel uses now and again?

It's good to see the Legion getting some positive exposure, especially since it's the ONLY title I read. I sure hope it gets more people to try reading.

I wonder if Dc will have the sense to promote this. Probably not, though.

Nice to see Legion getting a review like this. It's certainly got me thinking about picking up a new title or two, so maybe it'll work for other people, too.

I'd have to agree that right now, JSA is better. Black Reign is the best thing going in comics right now. I'm not 100% on this yet, but the JSA run from #1 to the present may rank among my favorites of all time. The art has always been great, the characters are iconic, and the writing (with a few hiccups) has been great.

That being said, I couldn't be more surprised (or happy) that the Legion scored so high. I think the last year has not been the strongest of DnA's run--I would have scored them lower, but at least our kids are getting good publicity. Can't hurt the numbers.

I'm a little torn about FFour. I've been reading it since the relaunch, and I know that it's good right now. But one of the things that makes me love the FF is the family element, and that family has freakin' FALLEN APART. Plus, as a father, Franklin's issues are heartbreaking (yes, I know he's a fictional character).

You know, Losers is the only book I don't read out of these! What a great list! I don't know if I agree with the order, but the nine books I do read are all superb right now! There's always room for improvement in a lot of these books, but this article was upbeat and enjoyable and reminded me why I still read them all!

The JSA, Legion, Titans, Outsiders, FKATJL, Superman/Batman all in the top ten, yet no Justice League? DC needs to step up and listen...

And I strongly, strongly urge anyone not buying Superman/Batman, JSA, FKATJL, Negation and The Titans to pick them up! All great comics! The Outsiders and FF are good too (a step below these, but a step above the rest of the industry!).

I agree.

The current JLA titles does not belong in the Top Ten list. Maybe when Morrison or Waid was writing, but now?