Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! The Politics of the New Legion

I'm interested on what people think of it.

Part of my problem with naysayers to the title is they keep wanting to just say the 'kids' are just rebelling against authority because that's what kids do. Except, the irony is that they're rebelling against authority because it's an oppressive totalitarian and incompetent regime. The Science Police Monitor everything, human contact is barely tolerated, and militant members of the "Old Guard" are willing to kill innocent children to maintain the status quo like on Lallor.

Clearly, plenty of adults want to see the U.P. reformed since Cosmic Boy has plenty of friends 'upstairs.' We've also seen folk like Sun Boy's parents.

Also, Praetor Lemnos who wants to destroy civilization has declared he's openly supportive of the Legion in public (and has even helped their movement) while privately has been fostering massively extremist terrorist movements.

It's a remarkably nuanced book that people are dismissing becuase they think it's about rebels against authority who are kids instead of rebels who just happen to be kids. I totally disagree with Mott's summary of it.

I do agree that it's not only the Legionnaires and the youth who are rebelling. Not only are some adults supportive of them, but we've seen high-ranking officials try meeting face to face in issue 5.

Personally, I support the Legion's efforts.

I think, though, that some people might be upset because the majority of adults are content with the way things are now, and the "rebels" are the minority. In our point of view, the UP is a horrible regime. Yet the SPs and most adults think it's perfectly fine, and if you look at it from their point of view the Legionnaires are just rebelling for the sake of it. Let's remember that Lallor isn't a UP world yet, and the gene-tracking system the SPs use was created for the safety of the children. I guess that some people would be uset because the UP, while being somewhat unreasonable, hasn't been shown to be totally incompetent or atrocious as of yet, and therefore they don't see the need for such a major rebellion as of now.

Part of the problem I think is many fans don't quite know what the Legion is fighting for either I think. There's some subtext that the Legion is for a more liberal sexual climate and so forth but we can only tell that by seeing the comparisons.

I guess part of the main issue is most Legion fans are adults and feel left out!

;-)

I think part of the problem is that some people (for whatever reason) want the LSH to be the 70's & 80's LSH and not the 2005 LSH. But no matter how vocal they try to be about it, they need to realize that it will never be that format again.

I think we've got a pretty good comic book storyline going so far and a lot of different subplots, along with excellent character interaction. I'm glad to see links like the ones you provided earlier, Charles. It shows that people who have never bothered to pick up the title before are starting to read it and liking what they see.

The first impression of this Legion was intentionlly jarring. The text intro, "eat it grandpa" the raised fist salute. I think Waid was trying to irritate us, but readers who kept reading should become more sympathetic as the whole picture unfolds(UP negotiating with genocidal maniacs etc).

Just like society today is generally more sympathetic to the message of drug smoking long haired hippies than their 1967 contemporaries because we have the benefit of seeing the whole story of 60s society, rather than the more limited view of a person living in those times.

That doesn't mean that all the Legionnaires are there for good reasons. Charles is right, the thing is layered and nuanced unlike any mainstream comic I've read. I am really enjoying seeing the world unfold.

Ish! A few disagreements here.

The underagers vs. adults thing IMO just seemed a forced way to explain why the Legion are teens. Not just teens but teens being a central theme to the Legion. And please no "will when they were adults it went downhill". No. They were adults during the Levitz Legion. by adult I mean 18. I like them college age. It doesn't matter. I just think the underagers thing is way too forced. I didn't have such a problem with the DnA teens now did I? (and they were cooler teens atleast)

it's not clear that many adults approve of the Legion. The hippie parents? the upstairs UP people? All I ask is for a cool SP officer. Someone cool over the age 20???

As for wanting the Legion of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, etc? Well the Legion fans have suffered much haven't they? Just compare the Legion sales standings in those days compared to now? I was hoping much like the current Teen Titans resemble their most popular era (Wolfman/Perez) the Legion would resemble something most of us like. I don't let myself get fooled that the Legion is a low selling title. Look at JSA. The Legion (of the past) was always superior (in sales and popularity). The Legion needs that broad appeal again. I don't think this current Legion (or the reboot) Legion has that broad appeal.

Politics? A title infamous for having a reputation of being confusing and continuity heavy...with many reboots...needs politics? Ok I like politics and the West Wing...and liked the old Legion politics...and this one as well. But the broad appeal of eat it grandpa? eh.

I am not as much as a naysayer as before. It's growing on me because I love the Legion, these characters, and the creators are doing a good job. But I'm already dreaming of the day Geoff Johns bring his magic wand of making everyone happy and writes this title.

Waid is writing a tight ship but needs to throw us naysayers more bones in the politics department.

Sorry about the rant above.

The good part about the politics is it has a ton of depth. And it doesn't seem things are going to change over night aka a story arc...especially at this pace.

Personally, I'm enjoying the threeboot very much.

But I do think Jorg makes an excellent point, in that I can see little broad appeal in 'Eat it Grandpa'. And so far there hasn't been a great deal shown to show the 30th century as a totalitarian society--if that's the case, Waid needs to present some stronger evidence.

Similarily, we keep hearing that the Legion 'is an idea, a change in belief, etc.', but I don't really think we've seen any of that. Certainly not any sexual liberation. I'm not saying it's not there, but we just need to see it (and I don't really think it's been shown subtly *or* overtly either). The Legionnaires are on the verge of looking like spoiled, angst-ridden teenagers, unless we learn more about what it is they really believe in.

I do, however, think that Waid will expand on this before the first twelve issues are over, and this point may become moot.