Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Question about the reboot

i'm going to be very honest right now, i had never picked up a legion comic until it crossed over with teen titans (witch i was only reading because i love impulse/kid flash2)

threeboot come along i loved it and to me it still derived where teen titans at one point just stopped being a book i was enjoying... so once i learned that the legion was something that has been around for half a century, i did what any one would do i started to look for back issues...

i take what i can get for the first legion.(showcase and beat up old comics for 25 cents) and i love every second of them...

but i'm having real and i mean real trouble with the reboot when i picked up random issues and they really never made me go, "oh man i need to find this next issues." i stumbled accross a hole bunch in order and well..ive come close to hating them and very glad i didnt get into the legion untill a few years ago

so here is my Question, should i just give up on the reboot? or can any one here change my mind about by suggesting some good story lines if there is any ?

Try the DnA (Abnett and Lanning) era of the reboot. Legion Lost, Legion Worlds, The Legion. I think it's one of the best eras the Legion has ever had, much better than what preceded it.

The conventional wisdom is that the first year or so of the reboot is pretty good, but that it drops in quality significantly after about a year and half, until DnA take over as the creative team. Then most agree that DnA eventually drop off in quality as well, though exactly when that occurs is open for debate.

The Beginning of Tomorrow tpb and the Legion Lost maxi-series are pretty good samples of what would generally be considered to be "good" reboot storlyines.

I concur with EDE.

Early Reboot tended to be good up until Legion #80 (somehere around Legionniares #37 or 38, as I recall).

Legion Lost, Legion Worlds and The Legion 1-14 were almost indisputedly excelent; there are mixed opinions on both the lead-up to Lost (Legionnaires #78-81 and LSH #122-125) and The Legion 15-34.

I have to offer a dissenting opinion on Abnett & Lannings' run. I did not like Legion Lost at all. The Legion had some good build up, but then had rushed disappointing endings.

See... I'd actually put the decline of DnA a little sooner than Kent. I despised the whole Ra's al-Ghul storyline. So it's more like The Legion #5 or so that it starts to drop for me.

To be completely honest, I think Legion Lost is often overrated. It's okay, but everytime I read it it just seems kind of... sparse. Legion Worlds was really my favorite thing by DnA, but most people seemed to really like Legion Lost, so I thought it would be the best recommendation.

The Ras al-Ghul thing felt too much like they were trying to recapture the success of the Great Darkness saga. Some 20th century villain dredged up from the past, but, unlike Darkseid, one that isn't a credible threat to the Legion at all.

The man learned how to whistle in such a tune that it makes Durlans fall over? Exponential lamitude. Is there also a particular farting sound I can make by pumping my underarm that incapacitates Daxamites? 'Cause that would be no less lame.

And then they had a big disaster on Earth and killed a few billion people. 'Cause that hasn't been done to death in the last years... Yeesh.

yeah i have some of the ra's al ghul story line...sigh... thanks so much for the tips every one

I like Legion Lost, and recommend reading the four issue "Legion of the Damned" stroyline that preceeded it before picking up the entire 12 issues of Lost. If you like the feel and direction of of "Damned" you will want to see what happens next. If you don't like the feel of it, you will probably be disappointed in Lost. There are two issues between Damed and Lost that you will want to get if you decide you like what you are reading.

Either way, Legion Worlds is a good read with a variety of artists. Each issue pretty much stands on its own. You can pick up a single issue and decide what you think before investing in the whole series.

I'll probably be damned for saying this, but I liked Dark Circle Rising. I detested the dark tones of the Blight, Legion Lost and the beginnings of The Legion.

I do agree with everyone else regarding that the beginnings of the Reboot was probably one of the best - the annoying Cosmic Boy storyline, the beginnings of the Espionage Squad (now that was a fun issue), the White Triangle storyline (that was sad), etc. up to Emerald Vi. Then it went downhill and not even the Mordru storyline nor the computo/Team 30 storyline could save it.

One thing though - if you are a Flash fan, have a read through the Impulse issues where XS was when she was stuck in the 20th Century... and the huge Mark Waid Savitar arc around Flash #100 is another arc with XS (although she plays a small part and gives her Legion flight ring to Jesse Quick) that I enjoyed.

I agree about Lost.

Probably the best Reboot issues are the first year. I'd reccomend those, (issues per what's listed above).

DnA's Legion stories are good too IMO, but if you didn't like their Ra's Al Ghul story, I'm not sure if you'd like much of the rest...

Gotta agree with all that. I'd say Legionnaires Annual 2 is a good single issue to begin with: if it makes you wanna go read everything that came before, good. That's one of the best single issues ever, in my opinion.

If it doesn't, then I doubt that you'll want to bother with any of the issues that came before Legion of the Damned.

Yes.



At least that's my personal opinion, though I have to confess that after years of what felt to me embarassing kiddie stories, Abnett und Lanning brought back some fun to the Legion. So you might have fun reading their run. As for the time before DnA, I can only remember one single storyline ("White Triangle") that was memorable enough that I can actually ... ehm... remember it. I can totally second your feeling that you were underwhelmed with the issues you have read because if you just ramdomly pick some, there's a big probability that you pick some cheesy, uninteresting stories with cheesy, uninteresting characters. Most were.

I agree with the others that the reboot started out pretty good, but when it fell part it did it totaly. I would say the the tipping point when was they split the team in half and sending one half into the modern day DCU. I think the first 2 years of the reboot are pretty good actully. You had the White Trianlge Saga and the Fatal Five/President Chu story line.

Here is what I would recomend:
Legion of Super Heroes: 0, 62-84 Annuals 6 and 7
Legionnaries: 0, 19-42 Annuals 2 and 3
Impulse 9

I definitely would *not* write them off -- especially now that there's evidence of a comeback. I predict before 2008 is over people will be scrambling to find the DnA run (and maybe earlier issues) for backstory.

Agreed Tromium

I just re-read The Legion Teen Titans crossover special and there is no reason not to expect the return of the reboot Legion sooner than later.

It shall be expected sooner because I decree it!
...also am I the only one who actually HATED Jeff Moys art?
Just saying

Actually, I did not HATE Moys art, but I did not care for it neither. Not my kind of style. Too Manga / cartoony. Same goes for Moder by the way.

I don't remember anything good about the first two years - first there was Tangleweb (ugh), then I seem to have erased everything out of my head. I remember White Triangle, I remember thinking "Oh now it might be up to some good finally", but I also remember the feeling that I was wrong...

I guess it's time to reread the run without all the bad feelings and give some new (or the old one again) evaluation for the Reboot...

The Progenitor is behind the latest crisis.

Bra Hwa Hwa

regarding Moy's artwork: look at his early stuff (L* 0 and 19) as compared to when he finished up on the series. sure it's not my favorite, but he grew as an artist by leaps and bounds. it may be too "manga-esq" or cartoony but at the same time, that style was very popular and fresh in the 90s.

i think moy's style and the direction the Reboot went fit together very well (Archie Legion! HOORAY), and hey, a lot of people around here dislike both and that's fine, but the art and thematic elements of the reboot went well together, you can't deny it.

personally, i think the White Triangle stories (the Legionnaires Year One Annual especially), Fatal Five, the LotDamned, Lost, Worlds and the first series of The Legion are stories that i loved to read. I was not a fan of the Team 20 idea; I could have cared less about Final Night and I read the Legion b/c i don't have to know about what's going on in Suicide Squad or Justice League Texas Quarterly to understand what these kids are doing.

mainly, look for stories that star legionnaires that don't appear outside of the Reboot: Kinetix (i hated her at first, then absolutely loved her as she grew and got over her obsession with the Eye, then they screwed her up with evolving, but at least she evolved!), Gates (nuff said), Kid Quantum 2, and yes, Monstress. You can't find these guys anywhere else, so they're special to this Era.

I've been reading the Major Spoiler site's Hero History--just read Gates last night. I liked Gates a lot, but when the Hero History started creating the reboot context for the character, I started to get a bit ill. I have to say that while I don't want them murdered by Shadow Demons or anything, I would be really upset with a reboot return. I just don't feel they've got a place in the great scheme of things now. We've got a relatively clean continuity current Legion for new fans, we seem to be moving towards a "new" old Legion with characterizations and a history that many of us Levitz/Giffen fans will at least be moderately satisfied with--why bring back perhaps the weakest Legion era? Don't hate me, but who is clamoring for a return of Spark, Koko, Kinetix, Monstress, evil Element Lad, superjerks Lightning Lad and Sun Boy, and Princess Snake? Put it to bed, let those who are interested in it find the copies in the 50 cent bin, and move on.

I liked the first few years of the reboot. I even enjoyed most of the Team 20 stuff, though it went on too long. I didn't enjoy the Team 30 stuff as much, but it had it's moments. Things completely went off the rails with the "Anomaly" mess that started after LSH #100 thought. After that it never recovered and in my mind got worse with DnA.

I seriously considered dropping the DnA run, but hung on in the hopes it would get better (it didn't). There was too much of the same in DnA (how many times was Earth trashed?), and they tended to only write their favourites. If you're going to write Legion, you need to do the whole team service. Did Gates even have a speaking role after issue #5 of the Legion?

Yeah, the Reboot was kind of a sign of the time in the 90s. Like WWWWTR-Lad correctly stated, Manga was hip back then, Teen books for Kids had a rennaissance (Superboy, Impulse, you name them) after so much "Dark and Gritty", so that was the Legion we got - you liked it or (like me) hated it.

The Reboot kiddie approach wore out its welcome (like all the 90 DC revolutions like Kyle Rayner, Impulse, Azrael, Connor Hawke) and the new millenium demanded a new approach -> the Reboot changed into the DnA run which made the book hot for some time, but when Ras Al Ghul, Superboy and even Darkseid turned up in the book out of desperation instead of story reasons, the time was up and the Threeboot came along...

... which did not tell agood story, but was much more up to par for the new millenium than the dated Reboot was.

While nostalgia makes many oldtime fans hot for the Action Legion, I don't know if there are that many true Reboot fans out there. Enough to boost sales should the Archie Legion reappear? I doubt it.

My guess is that they actually will appear in Final Crisis / DC Universe, but only to make things more "hot and spicy" for the event. Should there be a actual merging of realities in the end, I guess most "hybrid" Legionnaires will look likle a mixture between classic and Threeboot Legion. Maybe they will keep Gates - but it's not very likely... you must not forget that they just "canceled" the Reboot Legion some years ago, they must have had SOME reason (though i never heard one emntioned here...)

This echoes my thooughts.