Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Lightning Saga Legion in Action!

i find the art to be mostly awesome. i agree with the bug-eye criticisms, but other than that... the storytelling is great, the anatomy is excellent and realistic. i hate some of the costumes, but i love Spider Girl's!!! even with the grey (???) hair. did they want her to not look like a Medusa clone?
it's interesting that the Lightning saga legionnaires all had Cockrum retro costumes but here in the sequel, editorial had Gary Frank give everyone new uniforms. maybe Waid got bitchy that everyone was pining for the "old" legion over his re-imagining.
i'm enjoying the story very much. Johns has really done his homework.
who'da thunk we'd ever see Absorbancy Boy again? i'd love to see some Infectious Lass action.
what does ANY of this have to do with what the Lightning Saga Legion was up to?
hopefully there will be a satisfying ending rather than yet more unresolved questions.

no not Infectious Lass as baddie! She is quite a cool character to be seen again, most preferably with Team 13!!!! I want to see her and Team 13 sometime soon! ah....loved that book! Got a new softcover book solely on Team 13 adventure.

sorry for being off from the point.

Back to the point: yeah I was surprised to see Ab Boy as Space Man - I recognized the name and I asked Absorbancy Boy!?!?! Did not say "Space Man" ehe.

I had a whole long post that got lost ( ) so I'm just going to give the basics -

* liking the art.

* loving the story.

* making love to the costumes. Seriously, I can't believe some people are criticising them. With the exception of too skinny Wildfire, Shrinking Violet and the colour of Invisible Kid's pants I can't find a thing wrong with any of them. Colossal Boy, Lightning Lad, Dawnstar and Blok look especially good and Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy aren't far behind. And God but don't the Kitson designs look even more boring in comparison to these ones.

Anyway, the story isn't perfect so far - it's been two issues of set-up IMO - but even if it were a 5 ou of 10 story that would still make it 100% more enjoyable than anything in that "other" Legion book every month.

Bring on the Final Crisis so that the Waid/Kitson debacle can take it's long overdue dirt nap and we can have a Legion that actually reads like the Legion again!

I thought there was an article a month or two with
Gary Frank where he said he asked if he could create new uniforms for everyone.

I wasn't around to see what others wrote at the time, but I was one of those people who never got to truly enjoy the Lightning Saga because I was too busy racking my brain trying to figure where it all went in continuity.

I've managed to accept I'll forever be clueless even when they tell me which point in time it is and have moved on to give it a proper shot.

I didn't expect to like this Action Comics arc but I'm eating it up so far. The use of the Legion rejects is brilliant.

I'm okay with the redesigns too, although from an editorial standpoint I see how it's a silly thing to do right after reintroducing or introducing these Legionnaires to audiences. I only know a few non-Legion readers but they've told me they're finding the redesigns to be sudden and even though it may be obvious with Dawny or Drake, they're still clarifying with me if that's so-and-so or so-and-so. They don't know how we can remember all this!

I'm looking forward to seeing how the Subs and other Legionnaires will factor in, and this is coming from someone who a few weeks ago was looking at solicits and wished they'd leave everything well enough alone.

For the most part, they are really just unnecessary redesigns. I think it would have been more practical to retain the costumes they used in the Lightning Saga. I do, however, understand an artist wanting to design new costumes.

I think he would have done better to tweak them, but he went to far with most -- especially the effeminate costumes he gave Ultra Boy, Lightning Lad and Invisible Kid.

They aren't all bad, but the ones that are overshadow the good ones. Many of these are just mediocre (Colossal Boy, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy) - again if you can't improve a design, then let it be. Change for changes sake never impressed me.

That bugged me - but then at the end of the Lightning Saga, Dawny referred to Superman as "Kal-L," not "Kal-el." My personal theory is that *this* Legion is from Earth-2's future, and that when they travelled back, they also travelled sideways. Oh well - waiting to be proved wrong, but loving every minute of it.

That would be thirty years of reading these characters .

On the costume subject, I quite like the new ones. For me, it was an indication that in the 31st century time has moved on from the Lightning Saga, maybe several years.

I guess it's 'to each his own' on this one.

Personally, I feel like the Cockrum/Grell costumes belong to a certain time and a place.

And since it's a new decade and a new team (I don't consider this story to be the further adventures of the pre-Crisis Legion - but they're enough like them that I can still get into them) I totally support all new costumes to give this version more of their own identity. Similar, but fresher.

I see nothing effeminate about any of them by the way. Is sleeveless code for effeminacy these days? I'm gonna have to be more careful about what I wear out from now on.

And I'll respectfully disagree that any of them are mediocre (except Wildfire - which funnily enough seems to be the only one that those not into these redesigns actually like).

If sleeveless is now code for effeminacy, than someone better warn Larry the Cable Guy.

I always thought Larry the Cable Guy was a bit light in the loafers.

Anyways, I don't mind the sleeveless look that much. On Ultra Boy though I don't care for it. Lightning Lad looks cool and does Jacques.

While I don't particularly like the redesigns (Wildfire looks half-naked to me), I think they were necessary for the theme of the story since it's about the fact that Superman's childhood friends have grown up and changed.

I'm really liking this version of the Legion. Gary Frank is the master of costume design as far as I'm concerned. And I really dig the costumes on the founders, Ultra Boy, Colossal Boy and Dawnstar (although I wonder when she got the boob-job -sheesh!)I've got to say I didn't care much for Phantom Girl, Violet and Invisible Kid's costumes but my criticisms about them would be minor. And I'm finding the story really intriguing. It's parallels to current issues of looming Fascism, xenophobia and rah rah "patriotism" (worldwide) seem well-handled. I really hope Universo isn't the ultimate culprit. That just makes things too convent and simplistic to say "Oh, everybody was hypnotized" These themes/issues are messy with no easy answers and they need to be explored.

So I'm guessing this version of the Legion is a continuation of the one previous to the 5 year leap. I'd have to go back and re-read some of those issues to be sure. At least as far as the roster goes as we currently know it. Bloc is alive Dawnstar is still around etc.. So basically, Vendando Bay (?) never happened.

And I would also venture to guess that this may not be the same Legion as the one depicted in the Lightning saga, although I only read a couple of those issues. Mostly because of the appearance of Karate Kid who was killed well before the end of the "original" run.

Any guesses as to who the other Legionnaire in the internment camp will be? I'm going to guess Timber Wolf beacause he was mentioned maybe Chameleon Boy because he could be undercover or Element Lad - since there's no one on Trom to go to war.
Well, anyway, I absolutely can't wait for the next issue! Long Live the Legion!

Uranus Lad, I do think Cham will show up soon in disguise.

I have been a huge fan of the Legion for some 36 years and I have to say that I am really loving this story. This feels like the Legion to me. I love the art, the writing and the new uniforms. I can't wait for the next issue to come out. I'm also very excited to see which Legionnaires will appear next and see how Gary has designed them.

My guess is that it will be Polar Boy or Cham in disguise.

This is the same one from the Lightning Saga story. They mentioned in LS that the founders had risked their own lives to bring KK back from the dead. It was a story that happened off panel somewhere between the Crisis and the Lightning Saga story.

Interesting. So maybe some considerable time has passed respectively since the Legionnaires from the Lightning saga (at least the ones I saw were all wearing their old-style costumes) came to the "present" and the Legion we're seeing in Action? ...or maybe they were wearing their old costumes for super-nostalgia. Never liked the pointy yellow collar on KK. It was amazing it never poked anybody's eye out. Even more amazing is how he fit it under that skin-tight outfit he was disguised in in that issue of Justice League. Miraculous 30th century super-clothes I guess.

It was revealed somewhere that the display in the Fortress consisted of the Legionnaires in costumes Superman most associated with each member.

I'm guessing that the Legionnaires chose to wear those in case they did bump into Superman. I don't know -- that story had a lot of WTF? moments.

I liked most of his work for Squadron Supreme, but I just don't dig many of the Legion costumes -- for various reasons. I think Ultra Boy looks like a clown in that new get-up. And I don't like when an artist uses the same lame motif (sleeveless) over and over -- just like Kitson did the lame bare midriffs for just about all of the females.

I can understand showing the Legion in different costumes -- but as others have stated, it is a bit confusing to people who may have just been introduced to the Legion in the Lightning Saga.

To date, I think the cartoon has done the best job of updating classic costumes -- though some (certainly not all) of the new designs coming in the regular monthly are promising.

I do think it would be wise for DC to get everyone together and try to come up with one look for the Legion. Enough with every artist designing HIS version of the team.

Have you been to a health club or a college campus lately? Sleeveless shirts for guys and bare midriffs for the girls are very popular.

Check out www.underarmour.com to see current trending in clothing for athletes. And since Ultra Boy is one of the Legion jocks, it makes sense to me that he would go sleeveless here. I'm just curious to see what look Gary will give Sun Boy whenever he shows up.

the sleeveless look may be a nod to the enlarged red sun Earth now has.

Would you elaborate on this? What do you mean?


Re the costume changes: One of the charming things about the Legion was the more or less frequent change in uniforms. It was a way to make the 30th century look even more futuristic.
I wish they all had as individual costumes as possible and maybe it's time someone did a "Dave Cockrum" thing and changed some of the Legionnaires' look drastically by giving them new and wild designs. Jim Lee's designs of a few years ago had that quality. Futuristic fashion + wild designs + new esthetics.
I understand what Kcecada said about the bare midriffs (not that I object to it esthetically). It seems half the super-heroines and video game heroines today must conform to the midriff look. It's tiresome and boring.

I love most of the new costumes and they are quite
individual. There are some "sleeveless" ones but they are all very distinct and very pleasing to look at (well, except Shrinking Violet's costume).

*points out red stars are COLDER by definition than yellow stars, which are colder in turn than blue stars*

I had to wait a week longer (CBSes waaay out here are frequently a week behind), but I have to say, part 2 really delivered. I have not been this drawn into a multi-issue Legion story... at least since Robotica/Legion Lost/TMK (all of which I read, entirely or in parts, at roughly the same time).

While Bedard's ruin, in comparison, ended extremely well (more so than Waid; Bedard not only concluded his run but Waid's, in my opinion), it was a solid hit - while Johns knocked it out of the park.

I am liking Franks' work. It really suits the story. The costumes fit the feel; my only quibble is (as someone else remarked) Dawny's seeming enlargement (from 70s/80s, although consistent with Lightning Saga).

I can see Universo or someone like that behind it all, but I think it would be all the more chilling for this to have been an honestly home-grown effort (I do expect a master villain, though. I hope it's not Querl).

I did not see anyone comparing the usuping of the Superman imagery to contemporary politics. I suppose it's just as well not to open that kettle of fish.

These may be popular looks, but I highly doubt every guy is sleeveless and every girl is baring her belly.

I loved Kitson's design for Light Lass. Do I think every Legion in the female should wear the same top? No.

Just as I liked Phantom Girl in bell bottoms in the 70s, I certainly didn't want to see every female Legionnaire in the same.