Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Recent Legion-verse sightings in DCU proper

No from the 1989 volume. That would Terra Mosaic right? Where the SW6 Batch were introduced?

oh yeah, wrong year

The latest issue of Batman/Superman: World's Finest (#24) has a bunch of new/nameless superheroes in the background of a splash page at the end. One of them is a Shazam character.

Link

I'm pretty sure that isn't supposed to be Thunder from the Reboot, but I choose to believe it is anyway. Very similar look.

Close enough!

Nicole Maines did a promo interview with AIPT Comics for her upcoming graphic novel Bad Dream. A preview page is seen below:

https://aiptcomics.com/2024/02/20/nicole-maines-dreamer-dc-comics-qa/#jp-carousel-541268

In this book (which may or may not be canon?) Naltor has its own 21st century superteam called the Seers who "protect the planet Naltor from the dangers of foreseen futures", and which has released a promotional comic book for the team in what I presume is a Naltorian language. Their clothing is all based on Dream Girl's "chrome leotard" so maybe Dreamy's iconic outfit is retroactively cultural?

Observation: the title at the top of the comic book almost certainly says THE SEERS in that wacky circular font. I wonder if the entire Naltorian script has been invented? Maybe more of it will appear in the book.

Green Lantern War Journal #6 - more Durlan lore.

As I mentioned previously, the Green Lantern Corps is currently run by the UP (in the present time period) and the President is a Four boot style Durlan (pink with bat ears). A youngish jerk Varron from a high-ranked family was made a Green Lantern, attacked John Stewart and was then killed and zombified by the current big bad. In #6 John is fighting the big bad and her horde and Varron and John decides he has had enough and squishes Varron to pieces. Varron, reforming from bones etc, says:

"You know we Durlans have the power to change our shape, yes? Among our yellow-skinned lowlanders, it is a common enough trick. but such games are beneath a High Durlan. For a High Durlan, to imitate a lesser thing is to disrespect one's station. Imagine one such as I taking the shape of a Thanagarian ... a Coluan ... or even a Terran such as you. This was your Father's form, yes? I wonder if your Mother will remember it?"

At which point John forms a giant laser cannon and disintegrates Varron. We'll see if his body survived.

The interesting part is the suggestion that the "yellow-skinned lowlander Durlans" might be more like the previous Cham we are familiar with, while there is a High Durlan class that looks down on the others and, from the examples we have seen, is extremely arrogant. Maybe the forms we have seen (red and yellow) are reflective of a class/tribal difference. Interesting idea that opens the path for Durlans to appear in the forms we were more familiar with. Of course being shapeshifters they could always just do it but this gives a bit of lore suggesting the reasoning. After all we have seen the yellow Durlan shape not just in Legion but also in other space titles including in the Green Lantern corps.

I believe it was Levitz who established the idea that different Durlan tribes had different forms that they used when interacting with other species (thus explaining why the Chameleon Men from the early Supergirl/LSH story had a different form from standard Durlans), with three tentacles form being their "real: appearance. Not sure how I feel about the idea of "High Durlans".

It means the bewildering idea to visually redesign an already long-established alien species with a very different look finally has an explanation. An explanation after the fact, but one that can work. If anything helps the original/retroboot Legion fit back in I'm all for it, even if it is a small step like this.

Now, I don't see how they're going to fix the whole "30+ undisguised time-travelers publicly crashed the founding of the United Planets and -- in plain view of cameras and representatives from every major society in the universe -- comically announced who they are and exactly when they are from while making as much of a spectacle as possible, creating a contradiction in continuity that should have burned their future's timeline to a husk and yeeted its charred corpse outside of the 52 Earths before even a single issue of their reboot dropped, a time paradox so instantly obvious and cluelessly presented that readers were overcome with a combination of contempt and embarrassment as they read it, and of which not a single character has ever pointed out..."

...but every bit helps.

At least in the Reboot era, we never really saw different Durlan tribes. It seems like the familiar Chameleon form we all know, was just a form taken by Cham to become more humanoid, and seemingly put the offworlders at ease.

On Durla, Cham and all other Durlans took a more "squid-like" tentacled form with the hoods - we only really saw their tentacle arms.

That was also the form taken by both the secular leader and the spiritual leader of Durla.

... so did this Blue Beetle "Giffen tribute" issue come out yet? I wouldn't know because I finally gave up and canceled my comic shop subscription box a few months ago. I mainly collected because of the Legion, and there almost isn't any more Legion... other titles i like (e.g. Spiderman) are unrecognizable. Possibly part of it is also that I am just getting too old

ANYWAY - i ORIGINALLY came on here to whine that given how long it has been since any follow-up to the Bendis legion run, I feel like Bendis might be holding the Legion "hostage" in the sense that the current version is his, but he's not doing anything with it, so then meanwhile no one else can either.

BUT reading the last few pages of posts HERE, it sounds like perhaps it has been announced that Bendis is giving up on his Legion run(???), and that we almost had a Geoff Johns version which was nixed with him moving to Image?

SO, I guess we are stuck hoping someone else takes over? With no clue who, or with what version?

I think at this point, I could NOT stomach another reboot(!), and I suspect i am not the only one. The Bendis version wasn't bad if it had been executed well, I'd rather see that continue than another reboot...
but preferably, I'd hope to get the "classic core" version back... y'know, the one that Levitz most recently worked on - except that it was completely $%$@$#-ed up by someone right as it ended. Don't want to speak ill of the dead, but .... augh.

But then, I suppose there's always a way to retcon anything these days, with something like "The ham sandwich used SPICY BROWN mustard, not yellow" being a sufficient enough explanation for any almost any continuity shift in the current paradigm.
Or even better - "just ignore it". WHAT last 3 issues of the latest Levitz run? I have no idea what you're talking about....

I'd of course be interested to hear what others think about the preferred FORM of a Legion continuation, if ever we get one...

EHF, I am definitely in the "enough with the reboots, bring back the Levitz Retroboot, just do it better this time, with different creators" camp.

And, yes, a certain someone's efforts to give the Levitz Retroboot an energy boost met with my profound distaste, as it did with yours.

Hey EHF!

I think you may have some links that aren't working, fyi, but would love to read them. That said, I totally get the gist of where you're coming from here.

So to get the Johns thing out of the way, that is still in motion as we have only recently seen the promoted "The Legionnaire" character from over a year ago only recently appear. But to your point, we have no idea where this leads or when, but regardless it will not be with Johns, as he apparently has too many hats to wear. But we honestly don't know WHAT he was doing, WHERE it is going, and IF there will be any future implications.

Now to Bendis. I went on a rant about this on the LSH Reddit sub recently, but I think you are right about the Bendis version holding the Legion "hostage". Its common knowledge at this point that when he came to DC, he made it a point to ask DiDio for the Legion. And as such did what he did with Sook. If you listen to people like Mark Waid, they tell that they made that Legion so "diverse" that no one is willing to wipe that off the map for fear of any backlash in today's age. (Let's not mention the fact that the Post-ZH Legionnaires ended up being the most diverse team to date and were wiped off the map BY WAID for a LESS DIVERSE TEAM). In fact, the Sook designs are more *ALIEN* than diverse, so the only "diversity" issues are that they race-swapped the Ranzzes, Rokk and Vi. (The issue there being that it appeared that the Garth switch happened in a back alley somewhere after the initial releases of the new team). But still, there is the perception, and I think there is some truth to what Waid says when no one wants to reset that book again, especially back to an earlier version. Of course, the main problem is that no one wants to be stuck with what Bendis did.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that Bendis did SUCH a Fing HORRIBLE job with the Legion that his rebooted characters are still basically blank slates and someone can come in and tell great stories. We just need a talented writer.

That said, I'm pissed, because prior to Bendis jumping into DC, there was apparently some motion on restarting the Legion, but using characters from various iterations to do it. And now Bendis f-ed everything so badly that it's in limbo.

My personal preference is to bring back the Post-ZH reboot Legion. As I mentioned above, it was the most diverse Legion to date (it was the first to have a black female leader, FFS!) AND they never got a proper farewell. Just a BS transition to the Threeboot (which had good parts but I had major issues with) and their cannon-fodder appearance in Lo3W.

For the Legion iteration that lasted the second longest of all of them, I'd say they deserve a) another shot and b) at least a decent way to say goodbye.

*end rant*

It was Didio AND Bendis holding the Legion hostage.

Apparently there were multiple attempts to get a new Legion going, but Didio kept shooting the pitches down. I'm not sure who the creators were, though.

And this is why I will never respect either of these two men. Aside from both being horrible at their jobs.

...GRAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!! I am so TIRED of this! Year after year and it's the same crap every time! EVERY. TIME.

Thanks for the full disclosure, GL and Sarky.

Jeez Louise, what a mess!

I'm at a loss for words right now.

...Sigh... Thanks, everyone..

Well, at least we have a more focused name to blame... .Didio(!)

And at least it sounds like almost all of us are sick of reboots. Not surprising to see the classic Levitz and post-ZH as the two popular choices from whence to continue (would anyone REALLY want to resurrect the Waid threeboot? It wasn't bad, but just never got much traction and very little historical impact. Same wtih the 5YL Legion. I myself am partial to the classic because of its historical impact, but I realize that is likely age-dependent)

I think for how long it has been and how little attention it got, I doubt there'd be any "diversity"-related complaints if they nixed the Bendis version (I do like the concept of most humans being mixed race by 1000 years in the future, but not worth fussing on). in fact, maybe they are just waiting until no one remembers or cares that it was abandoned.

IF so, I would say it has been long enough!!!

Dark horse version to resurrect - the two-season cartoon!! (I loved it.)
While i would say that is "very much probably not", it also provides a template for how they might semi-reboot (augh), but at least in the most palatable way i could SORT OF stomach - an amalgam of the "classic elements", with limited explanations otherwise.

Sort of like they almost did in the recent "Legion of super-heroes" home video... except hopefully without the "fan torture" twist ("oh, you're excited to see one of your favorite Legionnaires starring? well BOOM . he's evil!!" which isn't very different from ..."it's my last few issues... BOOM, 3 of them are dead with no fanfare, i bet you cared about at least one of them"...)

which brings us back to : ... Sigh...

100% agree!

I also would not mind a Legion that combines Legionnaires from different iterations. Or the Post-ZH Reboot Legion coming back, with Kinetix crawling her way out ans reforming from being absorbed by Mysa/Mordru, and XS/Gates returning to the fold, and maybe a few others as well!

The Bendis Legion was such a blank slate, that I have no emotional connection to it. would not mind it coming back, but definitely with better writers and characterization

5YL Legion - is bogged down by the weight of too much history IMO.

Threeboot wasn't bad, but I have little emotional connection to it as well. it's also not set in a version of the future that I like... I like my future bright and shiny (so, same comment applies for 5YL)

Speaking of FYL Legion, did anyone see this week's Blue Beetle yet?

Just pointing out that TOS ran from 1957 to 1989, a total of thirty-two years, and created at least thumbnail sketches for each of the Legionnaire's homeworlds and personalities.
(e.g.: Trom was a radioactive wasteland, Winath was an agricultural planet, Ultra Boy was a 'jock', Shrinking Violet was 'shy')
Since 1989 - a total of thirty-five years- we have seen revisions, reboots, and reimaginations, and none of them have had the same character development and world-building in-story as TOS.
Bendis is only the worst offender in this regard.

Not yet - anything interesting?


Yeah the Threeboot had really good stories and moments, but at the end of the day, the characters, despite having the powers of the classic characters, just weren't the same. But the more I think about it, the more we need a combination of the classic + new PostZH characters. I mean, the fact that XS was not used AT ALL in this last version - when the Flash TV show was at its peak - was just idiotic. But since the reboot lasted a decade, there were characters with significant impact there, so combining both of the popular teams allows a reader to pick up an issue and be able to go back to anything from the past and see some of those adventures with the same characters. (Jekie/Jeka would be an interesting dilemma to solve). It may be the comic that Drake posted in the Bits sub that is influencing me here, but to me it just makes a whole lot of sense. But no more reboots! I don't care what Mark Waid says about complex histories! Now its worse!


I wouldn't say no to a continuation of the 00s cartoon - it did a great job of treating the source material very respectfully! For the recent movie that came out - I think that reinforces my amalgamated version solution. The shot at the end that hat EVERYONE had me cheering for seeing characters I'd never thought I'd see again. And even the plot twist of that movie could be dealt with creatively.

Anyway, I'm ranting again. LOL. But yeah its head shaking that DC editors can't seem to figure this out. It also wonders if there was some kind of contract that stated the Sook designs needed to be used for a certain period of time, and they are wanting that to run out.

I personally would like two (or more) ongoing series.

1. The Legion - preferably fully formed or reformed and not spend tome building the team. Ideally for me this team would include members from the Original, reboot and retroboot teams. My comcept is basically retroboot team encounters the (remaining) "Wandering 247" team. this would allow the vast majority of members in some form or other. Since they were travelling the multiverse, they could pick up any spare characters. I would like to see Kono again and did like Spider-Girl's heroic turn although I would keep her as Wave. As for the Threeboot, I also feel like the future was off and didn't feel right. (I think it was the whole eat it Grandpa/youth rebellion aspect.) Oddly, I would love to see more of the side characters. Theena would have to join the team, but I would have liked to see more of the Wanderers. This encounter could be told in a series of flashbacks over numerous issues or an annual. The main point is hit the ground running and move forward.

2. An anthology series: This could have stories from all the different iterations (and even some new ones). It would allow us to see the Wandering by the Reboot Legion or more threeboot stuff whether legion or other characters. This would be mainly stories either set before the new Legion #1 (what would that be, 9 now?) or in alternate universes and unassociated with the current series. The point is that the two series should complement each other but not be required for each other. Any stories in the new continuity that don't work in the main series could be done as specials or miniseries (Kind of like Science Police. I didn't think that series was the best but I enjoyed the concept of the Ringers.)

That's what would be my ideal but I don't know how financially viable it would be.

I just got a chance to look through a Blue Beetle isssue and wow. Interesting, but understandable, Legion characters appear briefly.

Wall of text commence. Just some thoughts.

1. Respect the property’s past – even the corny bits – but tell NEW stories.

2. Pick a continuity as the foundation and fold in appropriate elements from the others. Treat the amalgam as though it’s always been that way. My preference would be the Adventure Comics continuity as the foundation with concepts and characters from the Reboot/Threeboot/Retroboot added – specifically having characters unique to a particular continuity, like Gates, be Legionnaires without in-story fanfare. I personally endorse keeping some of the diversity added later (Asian Cosmic Boy, black Star Boy) again treated as though it's always been that way.

3. Write a series bible to keep track of the seminal stories and personal events that are a part of the amalgam continuity’s history. DON’T obsess over making everything fit or explaining every discrepancy and contradiction. DON’T retell old stories. Use continuity for texture, character development, or as a NEW story generator.

4. Present 31st century Earth and the United Planets as a society that is peaceful, prosperous diverse and just for most people most of the time.

5. Have the membership be a mixture of young adults (mid-20s) and teens. Retain the maturity attained by the Adventure era Legionnaires during Levitz’s 1980s tenure and use the newer characters for the teen (and reader) POV.

6. Embrace the large cast – including non-super, non-familial supporting characters – and the expansive, exotic world(s) of the 31st century.

7. Engage the consultancy of a futurist to help advance 31st century technology beyond 1950s science fiction concepts.

8. Have Clark Kent be a member both in the past (as Superboy) and in the present (as Superman) – not only in BIG stories or crossover events but as a part-time member who occasionally spends a few days hanging with old friends and helping out.

9. Avoid stories in which the Legion travels to the past to “save” the future.

10. Have fun.