Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Len Wein's DCU: Legacies

Of the three comics I bought yesterday -- LSH v.6 #1, Avengers v.4 #1, and DCU: Legacies #1 -- it was DCU: Legacies that I enjoyed the most by a wide margin.

In my opinion, this is the best book of its kind since the first 25 issues of JSA, published almost a decade ago.

Refreshingly, Wein refuses to over-romaticize or sentimentalize the era in which the Golden Age stories took place. It's a gritty and funky and dangerous time.

Andy Kubert does the best art of his career in the main feature, helped immeasureably by inking from his living legend father, Joe. This has got be the best, most dynamic rendition of the Sandman I've ever seen. J.G. Jones does a nice job on the back-up, also written by Wein.

We need more comics like this, so please support this mini-series.

I enjoyed it very much also ... fun story told with beautiful artwork ...

I'm glad to hear you both enjoyed this book.

I'm on the fence with this series. I *want* to get it because I love this type of project but I find the $3.99 price a turn-off. Are there extra pages to make that price worthwhile?

I can't wait to finally get this!

Yes. The main feature is 22 pages, and the back-up is 8 pages.

And please don't take this the wrong way, Blacula, but with the present-day DCU continuing to wallow in gore, gimmicks, and continuity porn, I strongly feel that there must be no fence-sitting with this book. If it does well, and if we don't support the present-day trash, we're sending a clear message to the powers that be -- we want good stories well told.

I'm looking forward to grabbing this on Sunday.

According to Wein on Newsarama, the backup story for #5 is the space characters - Adam Strange, Space Ranger, and Captain Comet being namechecked - as drawn by Walt Simonson. Color me stoked.

I not only don't take it the wrong way Fanfic Lass - I completely agree with you!

I am also well past the point of fed-up with DC's current gore and gimmicks direction in most of its books and crave well-told stories from that company that don't rely on those tactics like a junkie craves heroin.

Which is why I've been singing the praises of The Brave and the Bold to everyone who will listen and bumping the thread for it here on Legion World as much as I can. A thread I notice you've been conspicuously absent from...

Are you not reading that book? It is without a doubt the best written book at DC right now and tells each of its done-in-one tales without a hint of gore or gimmicks. And it deserves a lot higher sales than it's getting! If you like Legacies and want to read more 'good stories well told' I'm sure you will like that one. I hope you check it out.

As for Legacies - I did buy it and I enjoyed it very much. So thanks to the recommenders in this thread.

The art was SPECTACULAR! I don't know who these Kubert guys are but I think they might have a future in this industry. And the other artists all brought their A-game too.

The story was a breath of fresh air too. This is the type of comics I want to read. Having the Crimson Avenger as the first hero we meet was a great touch (he being DC's first masked hero and all) and the Kuberts rocked their socks off on that little sequence. I now want to read more Crimson Avenger tales whereas before I'd only ever thought of him as the guy who had that great death scene in his 'Whatever Happened To...' story in DC Comics Presents.

I really enjoyed the back-up tale too. The mystery they're talking about must be an actual old Dr Fate adventure right? I'd love to read it if so. I love these kind of 'what was going on behind the scenes' kind of tales.

Definitely looking forward to seeing where Wein takes the story (and its young narrator) in the months ahead.

Outdoor Miner, that bit of news you reported has been a great start to my morning. Thanks.

Blacula, I'm glad you've decided to support Legacies, and I think you'll be happy to know that I constantly check my library systems' online catalogue for the arrival of the first JMS B&B trade. If I like it, and it seems more likely every day that I will, I'll start supporting B&B.

I swear, the current trend toward $4 comic books is really damaging the hobby for me. I am trying to buy as few $4 books as possible.

However, I loved Len Wein's recent JLA arc and am VERY pleased that this so-called old-school writer is back in the spotlight.

I did not actually purchase LEGACIES # 1 last Weds, (LSH was the only $4 comic I afforded myself the luxury to buy that day) but I verified it was indeed in my pull-bag for future purchase.

The praise for it here makes it easier for me to plunk that money down next week.

Glad to be of help, Lash.

I completely sympathize. It's not a good sign for the industry.

I'll give DC some credit for trying to provide extra content along with the extra charge. Marvel does that occasionally as well, but they've also shown they can get away with higher prices for books without the extra pages or stuffed with reprints. Not a good sign.

Great book. Two good stories with great artwork. The Kubert family is a dynasty, like that of the Romitas. J.G. Jones was great on the backup, and Scott Kolins rocked the opening. Wonder if he'll keep doing all the lead in art?

Nice "kid on the street" narration for the main story. The second story was good as someone doubts the abilities of the masked men.

Looking forwad to the reast of this series.

I was not planning to get this. I made a conscious decision not to buy it. Jerry, you need to start saving some money, I kept telling myself. What can I say? The artwork pulled me in. I put down my four bucks and enjoyed the first issue. Then I noticed that the Sea Devils are going to be in issue #3. I guess I'm in for the full ten issues.

Cool. The JMS B&B will make a great Trade but, unlike a lot of other comics out there at the moment, I think they're actually better read as floppies. They're such perfect little morsels of done-in-one stories that they represent the best hope that the industry can survive in its current form IMO.

Yay Jerry! Welcome aboard!

Blacula, you've convinced me to Byrne-steal the current B&B floppy the next time I go to the comic shop (and, of course, if I like it enough, I'll buy it.) I'll share my thoughts in the B&B thread.

Well, the next issue is the Legion of Super-Heroes/Doom Patrol issue so good choice since you're a Legion fan (I think).

But bear in mind that, unlike the other JMS issues, this one is kinda-sorta a part 1 to the following issue which is the Legion of Substitute-Heroes/Inferior Five. They don't strictly lead into one another but I've heard that they are meant to be (or are best to be) read in tandem.

If you're going to Byrne-steal (I'm not even sure what that means - is it like downloading?) some done-in-one issues I recommend the Batman/Dial H-for-Hero, Batman/Brother Power the Geek, Green Lantern/Dr Fate, Wonder Woman/Zatanna/Batgirl or the Flash/Blackhawks (which was nominated for an Eisner) ones.

Looking forward to seeing your thoughts in the B&B thread.

P.S. I just recently learned that Scoop Scanlon and his photographer Rusty James, who show up in the back-up tale in Legacies #1, are real DC comics characters who first appeared in Action Comics #1. I had no idea!

Thanks for the recommendations, Blacula.

"Byrne-steal" is a tongue-in-cheek term, named after John Byrne's dislike of people reading comics in the store without buying them, which quickly gained popularity and eventually entered the comics-geek lexicon.

Oh really? Gosh - then I've Byrne-stolen dozens of books. Some of the comic book shops I used to frequent in London (particularly Forbidden Planet) had no problem with people reading the comics in the shop. IMO it's a great way of keeping up with what's happening to your favourite characters in books that you would otherwise never waste a cent on - like all the Titans books.

I always made sure to spend money there on the good books though - like Brave and Bold.

I was certainly going to get DCU Legacies when I next went to the CBS, which would be a few weeks but I have to say this thread has pumped me up for it. I may be making a side trip to the CBS after work tomorrow to get LSH #1 (and try likely to no success to get the Lee cover), and I'll grab this too.

Didn't know Scoop Scanlon was in this--awesome!

Scoop's in the backup story - looking into the truth behind Dr. Fate and the Spectre.

Having gotten my books for the week, I'd say that Legacies was the best of the bunch, even beating out the new Legion book.

Just got it and read it and I've got to agree with all the praise this has been getting, as its definitely one of the better comic books I've read in awhile! I'm very much looking forward to all the future issues!

Great, great story in quintessential Len Wein fashion at the beginning and the Kubert art was simply fantastic. Andy Kubert's art is better than *anything* he's done before with his father's inks and overall influence felt in every panel. The Crimson Avenger looked incredible, the Sandman incredibly menacing the Atom looked more like his Golden Age self than he has in 60 years. I'd recommend this story to anyone. The two boys are classic Wein characters and work incredibly well.

The back-up story had great art by J.G. Jones, who among other things draws a stunning Inza Nelson. The Scoop Scanlon doubts towards the magical heroes are a Golden Age staple, with multitudes of protagonists who existed solely to expose "magic" as hoaxes (lasting well into the 1950's with Dr. Thirteen and later the Silver Age with Mark Merlin).

Fantastic story and I can't wait for more. I like that story stands on its own but the entirety of the series maintains a sense of epic and grandeur. Modern day comics could take a note on this.

I like FL's first post here and agree that comic book fans need to put their money where their mouths are and buy this series.

Read it, loved it.

Kolins' art has made a MAJOR leap in quality... I liked it before but now he's like a different artist. The Kuberts ruled.

Good stuff.

Kolins has never been afraid to experiment with his style and methods, and it's great to see it paying off.

The second issue is not as good as the first, but I still think it's better than anything else DC is publishing right now.

The best scenes are the ones with our point-of-view character Paul, especially his encounter with some street-level heroes who Wein seems to enjoy writing.

Kubert & Kubert's style was perfect for the gritty first issue, but it doesn't really work for the bright colored JSA stuff that takes up a good portion of this issue.

Ah, well, this issue is their last, and up next -- Jose Luis Garcia Lopez!

The 7SOV backup was very disappointing, and downright offensive in its portrayal of Wing. Hopefully this was just a hiccup.