Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! So...how would YOU relaunch/reboot the Legion?

"The first ten issues begin with the formation of the squad and their travels to learn more about the workings of the FP. They meet other interesting characters like Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad. "


The "first TEN ISSUES?" Who are you, BENDIS?


Hmm...how WOULD I relaunch the LSH? I'm pretty pleased with its current status quo, really. DnA's Legion, in concept, has been the perfect balance of modern and classic sensibilities. The only things missing are the one true Projectra and Colossal Boy. Other old-school faces like Dawnstar or Sun Boy could be easily added in.

Reboot is trickier. I certainly wouldn't want to go back to preboot, but I don't want to do another Zero Hour, either. The strong temptation is to simply screw continuity and run with it, like Marvel did with Heroes Return in the late 90s. But I hate doing that.

My reboot would NOT be a full reboot. Instead, I think I'd mine a Crisis from a few pivotal storylines from the PMS and DnA runs to set up an ultimate Legion, with Gim Allon snatched from death, Element Lad restored from his Progenitor-ness, Live Wire restored to his own form and the people of Orando freed from Mordru's ancient transformation curse. LeViathan becomes a shrinking Violet once more, losing the green streak (it being a vestige of the Emerald Eye's power that actually enables Gim's "resurrection") and dear Zoe is restored to her delightfully dizzy true self.

In short, I'd make everything better without invalidating the old stories completely.

Whether relaunched or rebooted, my LSH would face galactic threats only once every couple of years instead of quarterly. My LSH would let new readers know the names of each member who appears and what their powers are. My LSH would still be based in Legion World, with missions all over the UP. My LSH would be teens for a long time, but my LSH would not be bedding each other. My LSH would have nifty updates of classic costumes -- no more Legion stripe (as much as I loved it, its time is done) -- with sleeker versions of the L-belt. My LSH would reintroduce the Subs as the non-sanctioned, "street" version of the LSH. My LSH would have a non-jerkfaced Kon-El Superboy. My LSH would have a little more time travel interaction with the 21st century.

And oh YES -- Legion Try-Outs on the regular! Hold contests for readers' characters to be featured, and if the creative team likes 'em well enough, maybe they get to join the Legion Academy! Or the Subs!

The legion has lots of potential right now....I'm not sure that I'd go as far as rebooting.

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Relaunch - Current group
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One of the biggest priorities would be to tie up some of those loose ends lying about and get the slate clean without taking the "just drop it" approach.

My next priority would be to make a list of long-term plot goals for the title. Something else else important for them to work towards in a smooth logical manner. Universe crushing events just wouldn't appear out of thin air...they'd be built up to. Not necessarily blatantly built up to (ie Robotica), but built up to nonetheless.

Like other folks, I would focus on smaller groups (or the occassional individual highlight story) with smaller scale, but not any less dangerous situations. Characterization would be just as integral as plot. With so many personalities to deal with, the playground is limitless.

Reprecussions would be more pronounced than they are currently. JUST AN EXAMPLE: It wouldn't be much of a stretch of the imagination if some people felt outraged towards Brainy after the Robotica arc. After all, COMPUTO was his creation, and it lead to the rape of Xanthu (amongst other worlds). Despite Xanthu being devastated because of one of Brainy's "inventions gone bad", Star Boy and Kid Q (and XS who had to deal with it too) have seemed to turn a blind eye to that. Hell, the entire UP and/or general public seems to have. Do they not know the connection between Brainy and Computo (and hence Robotica)? If so, wouldn't that be an interesting story to throw between the earth crushing events? How do the other members feel about a cover up? Do they almost slip up when questioned? Is there any resentment towards the leadership because such a coverup would go against the Legion spirit? Is there fierce debate within the walls of Legion World over it?

Also, I'd make room to draw on those little gems that have paved the way for this group. One of the magical things of the Legion I grew up on was it's rich history, and how it would draw new stories out of the old. This version of the Legion has been around long enough to have plenty to draw from.

Finally, there'd be some fresh faces in the roster. Some "old" faces (bring back some more of the originals) and some new faces. The universe is a big and dangerous place...there's always a need for more heroes to cover such ground.

I agree with Cobalt Kid and Director Lad for the record.

Jorge

here are some of my ideas for a new series:

1. return to calling it the Legion of Super Heroes

2. have more individual costumes, no more stripe and L* belt !!! we have the FLIGHT RING for the LSH icon

3. have the legionnaires fighting COSTUMED villains, a return to super heroics !!!

4. have more infighting / dating between the team, they are in their 20's afterall, a team that size, couldn't aways get on with each other !!! and, as someone said earlier, "sex them up a little" !!!

5. covers by JIM LEE

that's it for now ....

Matthew.

My friend in Wales, Robin Day, said to me, “The characters I grew up with STILL EXIST—DC’s just not doing stories about them anymore.” Quite a revelatory way of looking at things, isn’t it? This means—EARTH-1 still exists!!! So—WHY NOT an EARTH-1 LEGION comic???

I’d call it THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. I’d use the logo from the 60’s. And it would start with #64. THAT’S RIGHT. I’d pick up EXACTLY where Paul Levitz left off at the end of “The Magic Wars”. Sales on the Archives & DC Direct action figures seem to be out-distancing the current book, so why NOT aim a separate title at that audience? I’d have self-contained stories, whether they’d be single issues of multi-parters. There’d be NO never-ending soap-opera style “to be continued” crap, instead we’d go back to having “continuity” that builds slowly and naturally as time goes on. Many say The Legion should be about “young” heroes. EASY! We do what Steve Lightle did in his last issue and bring in a “next generation” of new heroes—perhaps many of them based on the ones in the aborted (and UTTERLY ill-conceived) LEGIONNAIRES comic. There would be no loss of history—The Archives will see ot that! Artists would rotate, each doing a complete story (however many issues a story takes). My list of artists to hire would include Dave Cockrum, Mike Grell, Jim Sherman, Jimmy Janes, Steve Lightle, Stuart Immonen, Chris Sprouse—and anyone else I could recruit who I felt suited the series. (I’d just LOVE to see Steve Rude do his version of The Legion!)

You see, from TMK’s LSH #4-on, EVERY issue has been an ELSEWORLDS!!! ALL of them!!!!! The entirety of the “Post-Crisis” / “New DC Universe” has been one collosal ELSEWORLDS. ALL of it. So, to my way of thinking, NOTHING that happened after Levitz left ever need to have happened. It’s SO easy to “write off” 4 misguided issues!
If they could have the JLA and the Earth-2 JSA back in the 70’s, WHY NOT have the Earth-1 Legion right now?