Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Legion panel @ Baltimore con

I think it's a smart move by WaK. After all, we didn't get a preboot origin story until 1967. And this time I'd much prefer to see the LSH formed without the grandfatherly assistance of R.J. "Money Bags" Brande. Imho, the impetus to form should come from the three founders themselves, and stem from from their admiration of ancient super-heroes. It would be more in keeping with the "indie rock" label, too.

If Projectra returns in all her regal glory, all is good for me.(Sun Boy and Gim Too!)
About Bouncing Boy, I remember in the L.E.G.I.O.N. series a rejected character from a world of bouncing men. Maybe could be a new Chuck's origin.
Other idea of mine is, if the writers has to kill a legionnaire, don't kill a loves one.
Re-imagined characters like Reflecto,Kid Quantum,
Galaxy or Monstress, all for died in action.

And please! Bring back the real Emerald Empress : Sarya Of Venegar.

Johanna Draper Carlson's report is posted HERE at The Pulse.

Nothing really new to me, except the statement "there will be a broader range of ages" and the fact they're hoping for 50-60 thousand new readers!

I like the idea of an age range but I hope its not too broad. A 25 year-old Rokk next to a 15 year-old Val (for example) would just be too weird for me. I'm hoping the age spread is no more than 5 years.

Other stuff in the report that jumped out at me -

They didn't want a bunch of white guys this time, either. Using the example of Star Boy as a hard-luck guy, Waid said that he was the same guy at the core, even if he looked different.

I guess that confirms it. Thom will indeed be black this time around. I'm cool with this. The Legion definitely needs more diversity and if we're sticking with classic characters then the only way to do it, I guess, is to play around with some of their races. I wonder who else they might have done this with? My guesses - Vi, Lyle, Tinya.

Colossal Boy may be the furthest from the previous version. He's from a race of giants, and his power is that he can shrink to six feet high, so he joins as Micro Lad.

I don't care what they do to his origin as long as his name is Gim Allon!

Every issue, he wants to build a sense of soap opera and leave the reader wondering what happens next.

Like the sound of this! At last - excitement *AND* characterisation. When was the last time a Legion story had either of those?

Looking forward to this series more and more!

Brainy the science advisor is probably older. Maybe the founders are a bit older too and have sort of a parental relationship with the junior members. That would be a nice touch, especially if Brande is no longer in the picture.

Really? I have to admit that I've always liked Ayla better with the lightning than the gravity powers. I'm hoping she still had the one power and lost it so that, potentially, she could be Lightning Lass at some point.

With (at least) 30 pages of story, they have plenty of room for character and action. They're both such experienced storytellers, that it must feel like a luxury to stretch across 8 more pages.

The firm commitment to go quickly to a $10 trade on the first arc (also reported on the panel) is good news. Hopefully there's enough vibrancy, excitement, magic and sexiness in the new Legion to attract a bunch of new readers to the mix (even if it's 20,000 readers who only pick up the trades).

About racial/sexual/species/age diversity...
The creators have been pretty vehement that this will be a full-range diverse Legion. Great. Diversity is one of my minimum requirements when I buy a comic. BUT, isn't making Thom/Star Boy a Black man similar to making Projectra a snake? In another thread, I wondered about retconning some of the Legionnaires as gay, and some people wondered why there couldn't be new characters who were gay, instead of altering the ones we already knew.

I don't have any particular problem with it, as long as it's done well. After all, there's probably been at least a half-dozen versions of Thom in the Legion already! But if Thom's Black, let him be in all ways, not just through a colorist. (And I don't mean rapping or a hokey Luke Cage "Sweet Christmas!" or a disco Tyroc screaming "Down with Whitey, Bluesey and Greeny in the UP!") The DC Post-Crisis Affirmative Action characters bugged me (Wildcat, Dr. Midnite, Dr. Light, the New Guardians). They seemed like a quick dash of paint (or whatever coloring process was being used) on the DCU as an attempt to appeal to a pop culture with an increasingly 'urban' taste.

And that would be very uncool in the Legion.

(Yes, I'm starting to look forward to the series too.)

So Mark Waid is retconning his own stuff from KINGDOM COME? I guess this Star Boy won't be the Danny Blaine Starman.

Well, in fairness, KC is hardly canon, thanks to the Miracle Machine known as hypertime.

"Ultimate" Legion, eh? Back to the superhero club basics? Yeah, I'm psyched. But I was that already. As disappointed as I was with DnA's whole last year on Legion, I'm ready for a change. And getting back Legionnaires who were lost the last time around (Gim, Jeckie, Jan, etc.) is more than worth the price.

235Andy: The new Thom should be "black in all ways?" But what would that MEAN in the early 30th century? The lot of us blacks has changed a great deal in only 300 years, let alone a full millenium. I doubt we'd have the same issues.

Is it the same as Projectra-cum-Sneckie? Naw. That was an incredibly RADICAL change, one that was a cruel bait-and-switch and the ONLY one to be so completely and unrecognizably changed.

That said, I want Ferro to be a brotha! But he better not get killed.

You know, I was thinking the same thing re: Black culture in the future. I guess I'm more afraid that we get Thom with the same personality as either Bear Thom (Levitz-Baxter era) or Wannabe-God Thom (DnA), but with a darker hue in the coloring. I'd like to see what being Black means in Waid/Kitson's future through a range of Black characters (not just 1). (And of course I wonder why they couldn't use Tyroc if they wanted a Black character.)

Of course, will this change Star Boy's famed romance with the sexy precog martial artist from Naltor? Eh, who cares?

Ferro, eh? That's a great idea. Turns Dunbar's poem "We Wear the Mask" into a whole other thing.
That's the kind of thing that would be interesting to explore! Some characters don't have firmly established racial or sexual identities and it adds levels when we discover them.

I hope Waid catches some of these nuances in his writing. (I have a friend back in New York who would just shake his head in pity right now, as he's LONG given up on Waid's track on diversity.)

Andrew and Douglas Nolan as black men? What a wonderful idea. Ferro has never really developed any depth as a character, especially considering he's been around longer than half the roster (being dead is a real hinderance to character growth). That's the kind of idea that immediately gives him some roots and motivations in the real world.
I like it a lot.

um...jim shooter created Ferro Lad to be the first Black legionnaire but the DC editors wouldn't allow it.

http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=002794

Just read this over at the Pulse. Is Levitz a cool cat or what? I guess I just see him a fan, writer, and business man all rolled up into one. Sometimes a title needs that business approach as well to help sell more comics. Loved all his answers! Especially the Pokemon answer about readers wanting to know everything about each character, etc.

"Society for Creative Anachronism of the 31st century" is probably the worst of it. ohwell I hope it works.

I like the comment Levitz made about editing the Legion. Darn it Levitz needs to return to writing!

Jorge

Thanks GN. I never knew that. That is so cool, too bad the concept didn't carry over when Cockrum revamped the X-Men and sort of took Ferro Lad with him.

So would that have made him the very first black superhero? He was pre- John Stewart and pre- Black Panther certainly but I don't know, it's not a field of comic knowledge I've ever investigated.

[235 - Andy S]
{ I'm sure there are some people here who have already thought long and hard on this. Greybeard? What would Dawny's "lass" name be? }

All I can contend is that she simply wouldn't have one. Her name is "Dawnstar" ("of Starhaven," if needed), and that's "our" family's story, and we're stickin' to it.

I wrote elsewhere in some detail about the many weaknesses in Waid's notion, for those who didn't see it. (Andy S agreed with it -- thanks for your note in that thread.)

I honestly haven't given this any thought over the years. Mostly from my never liking the idea of having names conform to a pattern. One that, fortunately, was broken for the (newer) Legionnaires by the '70s.

Such patterns can work when they guide alternatives, as with the center-stripe motif in the reboot outfits. Not nearly as well when they prescribe something with which to conform.

(... It's Greybird, by the way, though the mundane version of me does have a grey beard {g})

You know, this just made me think that I really don't like using their code names - either the Lad/Lass or the recent ones - except for Cham, Brainy, Vi... the "real" names seem easier, or more comfortable... I think Dawnstar was the only one who ever used her real name as her "code name". Well, the short-lived Dev-em also.

You forgot Shikari.

And Blok. I think. But who's splitting hairs.

I understand what Waid is getting at when he says this, but I don't think that either the SCA or "indie rock" are touchstones that resonate with a lot of people.

Another comparison might be with the original Star Trek. The future looked fairly bright, with things like famine and disease and racism largely defeated. But the Federation really needed a throwback like Jim Kirk to keep things moving forward. Or maybe I'm just reaching here.

I think that's a great example. Kirk was considered a troublemaker, too, but he had an enormous impact (and saved the universe on several occasions, I dare say.)

Sorry, man. Won't get it wrong again.

I think i'm just jealous cuz i don't grow facial hair.

I honestly think BLOK is gonna be come soon with the codename Stone Boy. I just hope it's really Blok! I loved Blok.

Jorge

Reboot? LIGHT LASS!?

Damn...

Wait! Don't cry. Maybe we'll get both Spark and Light Lass. If the founders are older and have families (like they did after the 5YG)) then it's possible that Vi and Ayla might have a little girl to raise. Ayla Ranzz Jr. maybe?

I know virtually nothing about the modern Titans but the way things read in the comic makes me wonder if some of the Titans will be sticking around the 30th Century. However-

1. Robin couldn't become a Legionnaire. (no super power)

2. Keep Brainiac away from Cyborg, we know what happens when Querl messes with ald computer technology...or to quote Lightning Lad from an old book, "If Computo pops out I'm going to fry Brainy's hide."

3. I'd really dig Starfire in the Legion.

4. The thought of Raven and Umbra working in combination frightens me.

5. Is there any chance thwe adult Titans wil get pulled into this? Where the heck are Dick, Roy, Donna and Wally?

We'll just have to Waid and See. har-har-har-har