Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business A word of thanks, appreciation and a question - REBOOT LEGION

(NOTE - this is an appreciation for the content on this forum, so if this needs to move to a more appropriate location, mods please let me know - this is my first post on this board since February of 2009 so don't remember all the board nuances)

TL;DR - I'm a reader from the Reboot Legion who is dissatisfied with where the Legion ended up the last 10 years and is really appreciating Invisible Braniac's and DrakeB3004's work. Follow on question is where to find other good Reboot fic on the web.

I came into the Legion as a recommendation of a colleague of mine around '94 or so just before the Zero Hour event, as I was a big DC fan at the time (mainly Batman) and love futuristic Sci-Fi, so jumping into the Legion seemed to make sense, and starting out with the #0 issues of Legionnaires and LSH was a no brainer. Next thing I know I realize there is this rich tapestry of a history that went back over 30 years full of amazing tales and relationships between a TON of characters. But I was getting on board with a NEW Legion and was being introduced to re-introduced classic characters as well as new characters to everyone. The care with which the creators (Waid, Peyer, McCraw & Carlson) paced out the story and made sure every character had some kind of a voice or role in the action stood out to me, and characters almost always got a chance to get a spotlight in an issue every six months (or so it seemed). This book helped me really get through some challenging times in my life in the 90s, as it was always a place I could go to for some kind of escape, and interacting with the community on USENET was almost always fun. During this time period was the Emerald Violet story, and by this time, Vi had become a very fond character to me as I related to her, myself being a huge introvert with functional extroversion capabilities. So her story through Emerald Vi and her eventual redemption and growth was very inspiring to me and was one of several touchpoints in my life that I used to fundamentally change my circumstances, so I became attached to her character, her close friendship with Zoe, and the rest of the team.

So eventually, the Peyer/McCraw team moves on, replaced by DnA. I was reading irregularly at this point due to at first a demanding new job that kept me busy and in my car quite a bit, then by starting a family, so I was reading the books as I could. I really enjoyed the deeper sci-fi direction of the book, but my main problem was the way DnA would focus on certain characters more; they didn't really give as many characters a voice, although you may see them in action in the background. Then the Legion monthly starts up. Again some cool stuff, but Zoe the Terrorform? Ugh. I get that they dropped the ball with her character a couple times, but I felt that she was a terrific supporting character for the book and had great interactions (when not a vegetable) with the team, but I felt like instead of developing her just turned her into a plot device/character for whom they didn't need to write dialog, so was extremely underwhelmed with this plot and character choice. Also, characterization - I don't think they connected into the way that Zoe had been portrayed prior, and they effectively ignored the relationship with her best friend.

Threeboot comes along, which I enjoyed (up until Shooter), then the Lightning Saga, which I really enjoyed, until the Legion of 3 Worlds. Geoff Johns and team not only essentially invalidate and erase the Legion team that I loved (never to be seen again), but also killed off Kinetix in such an ignominous way - "Lame Lass"? C'mon Johns, who pissed in your Wheaties? So I left that book with an extremely bad taste in my mouth to the point of me basically skipping the retroboot.

Which leads me to today. There's yet another new Legion, completely different from anything that I've connected with before (and I'm trying to give this one a chance). With COVID vaccinations finally rolling out, I've had more time to get back into comics, and Legion, specifically (during dark times, it helps me), but was crestfallen with the realization of the fact that I'll likely never see the group and characters I connected with 25 years ago ever again. With the way the last year's been with stress and long hours, I went into a kind of mourning - kind of like dealing with all stages of grief at the same time.

Then I read IB's super creative story about the Legion pulling Zoe out of limbo and recreating Earth 247 really lifted my spirits and snapped me out of my funk. We have Zoe, Vi and all the rest back where they belong and having new, fun adventures, with spot on characterizations.

Then I read Drake's comic with the retroboot pulling in the reboot characters - I'm in heaven. Great stuff that gave me hope that these characters still live on in our hearts and minds, regardless of the dunderheads at DC and WB.

So a huge toast to IB and Drake for keeping the flame alive for a universe and characters from that universe that the rest of DC could care less about (I mean hell, Zoe never even got a memorial, since her entire universe was editorially wiped out). You guys helped an old comics fan get out of the funk of 2020, and I haven't even been able to get a vaccine yet! Major props and cheers, my brothers. Your creations had an absolute positive affect on me, and I am hugely grateful.

This also leads to another question - Are there other places on the internet where decent fic from the Reboot era can be found? I seem to remember a bunch of it being around 15 years ago or so (I specifically remember a story where Ferro was trying to get the courage to ask VI out which has seemed to have disappeared from the internet), but I haven't been able to find much. I'm not sure if its just my ineptitude with the Google machine that is giving me problems, or the fact that its all disappered n the last 20 years or so. If folks can point me in the right direction around that, I'd appreciate it!

Peace! (and hope to be interacting on the board more in general)
GL

Hi Gaseous Lad, thank you for your kind words! This shout out is just what I needed to start the day well I had similar feelings about the Legion that you do - I grew up with the Reboot era in my formative years, where they got me through some tough times. DnA, I also liked the more sci-fi elements and the scale, but hated the direction so many characters like Zoe went. XS and Gates were also criminally underused, Nura's vision of Star Boy's grave went nowhere, Tinya and Jo got into a really rough patch... and Legion of 3 Worlds, Zoe's death ruined the whole thing for me. I started my fic as a way of honoring the Reboot, and Legion of 3 Worlds really spurred me to not only finish what I started, but to restore the Reboot team to where they rightfully belong It's very fanfic-y, and I intended it to be that way - and I like it that way, if DC won't honor that Legion then I will. So thank you for sharing that it helped you through 2020, that the characterizations were spot on to what you remember about the team. I am absolutely thrilled to hear that.

DRAKE's story is another one that makes me happy = Drake's Zoe and XS are spot on too, in my opinion.

As for fic recommendations -

Right on these boards,

Omni has taken the Legion in a diff direction, what if they ended up in another reality (so same jumping point off as my fic): https://www.legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=115377#Post115377

Ivy has one focusing on a relationship between Lyle and Brainy https://www.legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=994770#Post994770

Harbinger took the Retroboot Legion, but has added several Reboot faves - new universal versions of Kinetix and Kid Quantum II, and the original XS and Gates who stayed over in that reality, among others (Gear, Monstress, Magno have all appeared in some form!) https://www.legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=995117#Post995117

razsolo did the same, Retroboot Legion but added some Reboot faves - a spot on version of Zoe! Magno also appears in sme form https://www.legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=124264&page=1


As for fic elsewhere, that uses the actual Reboot universe as a setting -

https://archiveofourown.org/works/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&work_search%5Bquery%5D=legion+of+super is a good site for that. Though I haven't read much fic, sadly, so I cannot recommend individual ones. but the good thing is, each entry comes with a brief description and tags, so it's easy to see at a glance if something is about the Reboot

Happy reading, and hope 2021 continues to take an upward trajectory for you!

Oh hey, thanks for the shout out IB.

Yep, 1000% agreed. I thought what DnA did with Nura was pretty original and kind of kick-ass, but leaving aside all these others was not ok. The Legion is as much about the relationships between all the characters as much as it is with the characterization, a challenge DnA and the current incarnation (and Johns for that matter), don't seem to understand. I totally get that it's difficult - I can barely write my way out of a paper bag - but when TPTB promote someone like Bendis as much as they did, I'd expect more. Decent Sci-fi, even decent superhero sci-fi. But its not a Legion story other than in name, IMO.

Will definitely be reading Ivy, Harbinger & teams works - looking forward to it, actually, as it will most likely be better than the current comic!


Thank you! The last month alone has been better than most of last year, so I'll take it. And thanks for that link as well. I did actually find that on a Google search but took this time to actually dig in on the content. It seems as if there's more Retroboot than reboot stuff (sorry no Kinetix stuff)- and a decent amount of Animated fic as well, which is a subject I hadn't really thought about, and reminded me that I need to get my hands on the series. I also have to remember to read the tags ahead of clicking on the story in some of those sites so I'm better prepared for some of that content!

I completely agree, the relationships and interactions between the characters are a large part of what makes a series work so well Wish we had gotten more of that with Bendis... and the end of DNA... yeah... and the highlight of the Legion for me, has always been the camaraderie. they are a huge superhero team that actually likes each other! what drew me to it in the first place...

Have fun reading and exploring glad to have you here!

and yes, some of those fics can be... er... not safe!

Yeah, its sad when that bugs bunny and scooby doo single issues from a couple years back was better than the whole year of legion we just had.

totally... I loved the Legion appearance in Scooby Doo a while back! Was pretty funny!

I thought the Scooby Doo was awesome, I still laugh when I think about poor Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel being sent alone to defeat Darkside.

Is this on Comixology, or was it a special print? Sounds like a good chuckle :-)

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Legion_of_Super-Heroes_(Scooby-Doo_Team-Up)
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Scooby-Doo!_Team-Up_Vol_1_33

Thank you, Ivy! :-)

And Shaggy and Scooby meeting Cham (scary), Jeckie (illusions are scary!) and Tenzil (he can eat anything?!) were hilarious!

Thanks for the shout out, IB!

Also, that Scooby-Doo team-up sounds fun, Ima check it out - thanks y'all!

my pleasure to recommend fellow authors

Another one - we had a tag-team/coop thread for a bit called 20th Century Legion, which started as us re-imagining characters for the 20th century setting. Then it slowly moved to Reboot, Cobalt Kid and myself crafting it into a longer intertwined story...

As the names suggest, Reboot is also a big Reboot fan so a lot of Reboot elements are paid homage here. And characters - Gates, Kinetix, XS, Kid Quantum II, Shikari and Monstress are among the Legionnaires who made the jump. I believe Gear has also appeared.

https://www.legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=123660&page=1