Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! new reader chimes in

Well here goes:


SETTING

I am enjoying this look at the 31st Century. This time is very different and yet very similar. Many of the personalities we have encountered are like you would encounter today. And yet the technology and social norms make it a very different world from what we know.

TEAM

The team itself is great. A huge cast of characters with different personalities and motivations for being on the team. I am looking forward to watching the team dynamics develop and change over time. So far, I am enjoying the fact that it doesn’t look like any one member could wipe out the rest of the group if they wanted to. That could change of course.

WRITING

The writing is really good. I am enjoying the pacing, the subtly and there so many plot points to be explored at some point. I find the pacing to be just right. The gradual set-up has allowed for: introduction of team members and some origins, plot threads galore are being planted all over the place (will Ultra Boy explode, what’s Brainy up to, etc). The other aspect I am enjoying is the subtle way in which the dark aspects of this future are being set up. This world is dark for the following reasons:
°Public service tracking- creepy and apparently mandatory
°Regular terrorist attacks- Phaxred wasn’t apparently the first terrorist attack
° The government censors news from the public-attacks on the Legion, and supposedly other terrorist attacks
° What happened to the bill of rights-legion membership outlawed, however briefly enforced
° Lack of personal interaction between people-clubs are considered new, Sun Boy’s parents having met in person considered strange, etc

Now the intro says something like the future is dull and we are fed up with it. Well no wonder they are. This future is not all it’s cooked up to be. This world seems like Puritans in the future. In fact, I wonder if this future society is the way it is due to a horrible war in the past, or maybe a pandemic of some sort. Future stories may tell all.

ART
The costumes and character designs look good. I am enjoying the look of this book.

This is the first time we haven't had Mon-el/Superboy on the team - although, in the various versions, they weren't always there right from the beginning. When they were included, they had some major weakness - Superboy couldn't be in the 30th century all the time (plus kryptonite), Lar was dependent on his serum (and/or had some mental weakness). Ultra Boy is probably the powerhouse this time, and he already has problems - undefined - besides being limited to the traditional one power at a time.

The idea that nobody is particularly all-powerful makes for more and better teamwork - which makes for more interesting "mission" scenes, in my opinion.

Of course, I'm wondering what Brainy's particular weakness will be...

The team itself is great. A huge cast of characters with different personalities and motivations for being on the team. I am looking forward to watching the team dynamics develop and change over time.

- Glad you're not intimidated by the size of the cast because it will probably get even larger. Think of it as a large, sprawling family epic and you'll understand why it's kept so many people reading for decades. And yes, the team dynamics do change regularly, for better or for worse, as do the relationships between the Legionnaires. Love and death, hope and despair, laughter and tears -- all the universal themes are to be found here. I do hope you enjoy soap opera.

So far, I am enjoying the fact that it doesn’t look like any one member could wipe out the rest of the group if they wanted to. That could change of course.

- Um, er <*cough*>. Let's pray the balance of power remains balanced for a long while. Once upon a time, there was once an odd boy from Trom ... No, I won't go there right now.

The writing is really good. I am enjoying the pacing, the subtly and there so many plot points to be explored at some point. I find the pacing to be just right.

- Personally, I find the pacing too slow, but I appreciate your perspective as a new reader. It's funny to think you are just now discovering the same characters I did as a child 40 years ago. I envy you the experience.

The other aspect I am enjoying is the subtle way in which the dark aspects of this future are being set up.

- Yes, as long as the darkmess doesn't get so thick it obscures the beacon of hope the Legion represents. This has happened in the past, and it's had a serious impact on the book's popularity. That said, the humor Waid has been injecting into the scripts goes a long way towards counteracting the gloom. I just wish there was a little more of it...humor, that is, not gloom.

This world seems like Puritans in the future. In fact, I wonder if this future society is the way it is due to a horrible war in the past, or maybe a pandemic of some sort.

- There's something uncomfortably realistic about the prospect of religious fundamentalists in space, except I don't think religious orthodoxy and intolerance is the problem here. The "utopia" the Legion inhabits seems like a spiritual void, in fact.

The costumes and character designs look good. I am enjoying the look of this book.

- For the most part, so am I, but I prefer a brighter and more colorful look. Sometimes, it seems as if we're peering at the Legion through a glass darkly.


Good to have you on board, wamu2. Hope you stay for the long run.

Big, blonde and busty women, of course!

Welcome wamu2, always glad to see new Legion fans!

Wamu,

Like you, I am most pleased (especially after peeking at the preview for #6) that each character has a distinctive presence, an interesting backstory and a compelling reason to be on the team.

Hello wamu .. like you I'm new to the legion. I am familiar with the pre-crisis version but quit comics before the reboot.

SETTING
I like it too, it's a bright future, but not perfect like the typical "Star Trek" future. That said, it's not a bleak hopeless dystopia. It's actually quite like modern society and its easy to imagine that we could go down a similar path.

I'd have to say that while not overtly political some readers will take Waid's vision as an allegorical critique of today's issues.


TEAM
I love them, such colourful personalities at the cusp of adulthood. Ready to conquer the world but not yet understanding the difficulty and responsibility in what they're trying to do. If they did, most of them might not risk it. Like most of us when we were 16-20 and starting college, our first job, first real love etc.

WRITING
I agree on you with pacing, it's good. The main story is moving slowly along but it's being revealed in character interaction with each other and the universe so its cool. I've said before the book reminds me DC:The New Frontier both in terms of the slow build up, the way the characters drive the larger story, and the slow erosion of the shiny veneer off an imperfect world.

To me, Waid's 31st century looks like the 1950s. Some people look fondly to the world painted by Rockwell, but I doubt racial minorities (that's me), my gay friends, or a woman looking for escape from an abusive marriage would say that. In reality Rockwell's paintings were a construction of his contemperary media, like the public service broadcasts in Waid's future.

At the same time, the 50s and Waid's future is pregnant with possibility, but only the young would be stupid enough to risk the prosperity at hand for an even better future right? So i expect the legion will get bigger and more diverse as the story moves along.

ART
Barry's been great I agree. There's been some critique of the colours but i think they fit. It's an oversaturated film look that actually kinda mimics early colour home movies and a lot of utopian scifi as well.


BONUS: COCKTAIL TRIVIA CANADIAN EDITION
In the 50s, the Catholic church so dominated quebec the provincial gov't would not allow divorce. So one had to petition the Canadian Federal Parliament to pass an act to allow your indivdual case.

hey Doublechinner. I have got 2 questions: do you like baseball? Cubs or White Sox?

Wamu,

My fondness for baseball doesn't go much beyond sun, green grass, blue sky, beer and brats. As such, I am completely ecumenical on the Cubs and White Sox. Also, I didn't grow up in Chicago, so I am not genetically imprinted with a preference. I am south-sider, so would like to love the Sox. Unfortunately, they have the inferior ball park, inferior radio announcers, and less colorful players. I cheer them on, not so much to win, but to develop a winning personality that I could fall for.

Back to the Legion,

Wamu and Tamper Lad, I really hope you continue to contribute your perspectives as new readers. I find it impossible to view the new Legion as entirely new, having read the book's predecessors for so long. Keep telling us what you think, and spread the word!

Im still put out by the concept that they are doing it cause they are bored!!!

That has got to be the weekest motivation in any book ever!!!!

Bah! Being well-off and bored is a classic super-hero motivation! Just ask the Green Hornet, among others!