Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Adventure Comics 4/507 Preview/Discussion (Spoilers)

Adv. #4 is the first of the series I've read, but I'm delighted to have the retroboot Legion back. I hope they take over Adventure and banish the other 2 versions to oblivion ASAP.

I know they're not going to be identical to the original Legion, but they're the closest we're ever going to get and I'm okay with that.

we just have to take the continuity glitches as ripples from Superboy punching the wall of time. it frustrates me too, but what're ya gonna do. Johns is overloaded with work and nobody else at DC aside from Levitz is a as big Legion geeks as we are.

i'm enjoying seeing the legion backups but i agree that it's time to tell an actual story. i'm pretty sure the three/four/five back up plotlines will be connected somehow, but until we start seeing a connection, it's not much of a pull for newer readers. haven't we already forgotten about Lightning Lord's claim of having a twin?
RJ Brande's will? Missing Legionnaires?

i like the artist just fine. (i really hate Dawnstar's peek-a-boo cleavage. it's really demeaning. but Gary Frank designed it not this guy.) his work is sleek and attractive and he captures characters emotions very well. however, i thought Blok's transformation was not very well depicted. why was everyone chasing after him as if he needed to be hospitalized, when he looked pretty much the same. when the Witch transformed him, i could only guess that he is now flesh instead of rock but he doesn't look that different at all. also, i don't recall his rock physiology as any reason why he and Mysa couldn't be "together". if the Thing and Alicia Masters could do it all these years, i don't see why these enlightened 31st century beings can't.

Oh, I'm definitely not a fan of any Legion book being cancelled to be replaced by an eight page backup that may or may not appear in another book, depending upon what the solicits that don't mention the Legion at all mean.

I was not the biggest fan of the threeboot, but at least they didn't *pretend* to be the 'classic' Legion, and then make all sorts of arbitrary changes. Waid didn't lie to me. He made it very clear that this was not my Legion, right from the first issue, but a new twist on an old theme, and, just as I did with Superboy's Legion, I was willing to give him a chance.

Johns/Meltzer didn't do this. They went right out and stated that this was the 'real Legion,' and then continually put the lie to these declarations by making the changes I mentioned above (which, in the case of Red Tornado / Wildfire, you even agree was uncalled for). More annoyingly, they seemed *irritated* that they have to keep explaining to us that this is the original team, while going out of their way to write characters out of character and change things. I could care less about the emotional spectrum Rainbow Lantern storyline, so it impresses me not even a little bit that Johns changed Rainbow Girl's powers to fit his current 20th century storyline and shuffled Color Kid off into whatever oblivion has claimed Magnetic Kid and Graym Ranzz.

On the other hand, I'm thankful that the changes to Rainbow Lass to suit the 20th century Spectrum Lantern storyline weren't as egregious as the changes made to Laurel Kent to fit the 20th century Manhunter storyline...

Wow!
For some reason, I didn't catch that at all!

So, he's only flesh while Mysa has the Black Witch powers?
Why did she become the White Witch to do the spell, then?
It took all of the BW power?
Thanks for the insight!

As to the problems with this boot?
Just one, really, for me.

I don't have any of the Baxter run although I read them, sometime in the last 20 years.
I need 'someone in charge' to write an informative introduction setting the stage for this Legion.

The other boots weren't picking up somewhere in a boot that we're supposed to be familiar with.

There are enough changes in this retroboot to make referencing important.

Something else else simple to set the scenes for those of us who remember things, both clearly and not so clearly.
It would also be helpful for new readers, I think.

I didn't catch the flesh thing either - just that he looked a whole lot smoother. Could that affect his powers?

As others have pointed out, my main problem with the retroboot is its current status. Some nice character tales, but a vague and slowly-moving story, like having a few pieces of a 1000 piece puzzle.

Continuity glitches don't overly vex me. Some of them are for the better, although some just seem like whims of the writer. I certainly haven't seen anything annoying enough to make me drop the series.

Is Levitz starting off where Johns leaves off, or is he picking up the storyline somewhere in the Baxter run?

I don't know, but I hope he builds on whats been happening AND places the retroboot somewhere in the timeline before Zero Hour.
(I hope I've got that straight.

And I DON'T want the reboot Legion forgotten ASAP.
I just can't agree.
I don't want to loose so many wonderful characters!
ugh

I don't think Blok was turned to flesh. I'm not sure what happened to him, exactly, but I think he's still rocky. Maybe what Mysa did was as straightforward as healing Mordru's damage to him.

I don't know.
I DO remember Set and I and some others posting about how it might be possible for Mysa and Blok to have children together and it involved lots of magic!

I finally went and got my copy of this issue. I was delighted to see Blok and Mysa and Dawny and Wildfire, though it was weird to see Dawny piloting a space craft instead of free flying. I suppose she'd make a great pilot.

It was very clear to me that Blok shed a crusty, rough exterior and came out all smooth but still rocky, not fleshy. Sort of like polished granite or something.

Lots to anticipate, but I get a feeling that that's what these short stories are meant to do for (to) us.

Yeah, I also got the impression that Mysa's magic healed Blok, and the result was the shedding of the old, pox-marked gravelly exterior to more of a polished granite/onyx stone one.

Turning Blok to flesh would be pretty much like clipping Dawnstar's wings or solidifying Wildfire.

My two cents on Adv#4 in general was that I am enjoying these backup stories more than I did the Waid run, even though there are fewer pages. The stories are more focused and I like the way a few Legionnaires are being featured at a time. Clayton Henry's art is terrific and getting better each issue. These short stories remind me of how the Legion built up momentum as a backup story in Superboy back in the early 70's and eventually went on to their own book and great things years later.

In particular, this story illustrated what interesting characters Blok and Mysa can actually be, and maybe part of the problem with the Legion the past three-four years is these two (and others) have basically been put on a shelf and missing from the team. I'd rather have more stories about these two (and Tellus and Tyroc and M-E Lad and Gazelle and Sizzle and Quislet!) than the relentless re-imaginings we've had in the Waid series of Triplicate Girl, Micro-Lad/Colossal Boy and Saturn Girl and Phantom Girl, among others.

My one complaint of #4 is that there were two full page spreads (both wonderfully illustrated), but in an 11 page story? That tells me we can afford to have a little more story detail or progression in that space. Again, remembering the Bates/Cockrum Superboy backups of the early 70's, you had a lot of story in each issue.

I am also enjoying these Legion back-up stories (just wish they were longer though) and AC#4 was another good read. Seeing my Legion, even in a brief touch-base kind of way is better than nothing at all.
I enjoy seeing the underused Legionnaires such as Blok and White/Black Witch get their fair share of space in a Legion comic. I am also a huge fan of the friendship between Wildfire and Dawnstar and it was nice to see them both again here. I want Paul Levitz to start his run by following up with what Brainy said at the end of Lo3W #5 and look into where the missing Legionnaires are. If we get Cham, Dream Girl, Element Lad, M-E Lad, Quislet, Sensor Girl, Tellus and Tyroc back image how powerful the new Levitz Legion would be. (Star Boy/Man, whatever, belongs in the future with the rest of the Legion, not in the past living in obscurity with the JSA.)

There is so much potential plot threads for Paul to work with that it almost seems like he has too much work to do when he returns to the book, doesn't it?
I think Mr. Levitz is going to do a bang up job and I, personally, am rooting for the guy.
Plus it means I will have a regular full-length Legion book to look forward to again each month.

Wonder if Paul will finally relieve some of the angst and tension between Wildfire and Dawny by sending them on a mission to Qward...

Ha! I'm glad it wasn't just me who didn't understand this story!!

I didn't guess that Blok was supposed to be turned to flesh. Is he? I guess it makes sense but art wise it didn't look that way at all.

He just looked shinier!

It would be handy if someone at DC could announce somewhere what the hell this was supposed to be about.

I thought he was still supposed to be another variety of rock but that would just make Wildfire and Dawnstar's final scene a bit of an over reaction.

Hmmm.

http://bottlecityofkanga.blogspot.com/2009/11/adventure-comics-4-whu.html

Any other guesses?

Tiny Titans is fun. I hope someday they do a "Li'l Legion"!

S

Maybe Blok went through metamorphosis. He's Marble now.

I always thought, or rather since I saw Strata mature into a female in .LEGION, that loosing rock meant Dryads were becoming female.
But, especially with the new design for them in .REBELS, it must happen to the males, too.

In Blok's case, he remained a dark grey stone rather then Strata's female pink/purple quartz.

So his new look might be a natural progression and Mysa just removed the poison.

But why did she say that the only way that they could be 'together' was if she kept Mordru's magice, then?

They could always just hold each other, even without the magic, if he's still stone that's really ALL then could do.

I think the one who suggested that Blok is now more than stone might be on to something.

It was my impression that whatever Mordru inflicted on Blok, it is only cured, or kept in check, by the Black Witch's (i.e. Mordru's) magic. If the White Witch were to forsake the Black Witch magic, Blok would suffer and/or die.

That's certainly a good theory.

I didn't get that from the story, at all, since she was shown as the White Witch while she was casting the magic spell to heal him.
But that would apply to her changing him into flesh, as well, which I didn't get when I read the story, either.
sigh

It's a good thing I come here or I wouldn't know what was going on, at all.

A quick reply first and then I'm off to read the thread:


ANOTHER awesome LSh backup here. 2 winners in a row. Does this mean Blok's off the team, though? I'd really like to see a Johns/Shoemaker long-term stint, but Levitz is coming.

I thought the SUPERBOY PRIME stuff was quite amusing, and also loved the horror-movie ending. He deserves whatever Laurie has in store for him, the little $#!+.

Francis' art on the Clone-El tales continues to blow me away.

Ugh.

I'm not sure at what point Geoff will have finally had his fill of Prime, but after enjoying his role in Infinite Crisis and especially Sinestro Corps War, my interest in the character seriously began to wane during Legion of Three Worlds. Only a few months later, we get the totally unnecessary BN crossover starring him and hogging Adventure's lead feature.

It's not that it was completely offensive, in fact Prime ended up showing more humanity than we're accustomed to. It's just that a character like this is better in small doses. I get that Geoff likes to use Prime to poke fun at the more corrosive portion of fandom, I do. But how much does he really need to do it? Then, of course we get beaten over the head with it by Prime storming thru the DC offices and blaming them for all that's happened to him. It's just a little too much.

I was also confused by how Prime turned into a Red Lantern after accepting the black ring. I know Geoff knows all of this inside-out, but it seemed a little out of left field for me. I haven't gotten to BN # 6, but I've read spoilers about what happens to Wonder Woman after she got the black ring at the end of BN 5. I guess it relates to that somehow. I suppose someone who gets the black ring when not truly dead, can have different things happen to them. If that's true, I guess Geoff was foreshadowing BN 6 here.

It's always a pleasure to see Jerry Ordway doing interiors, and he came through in this two-parter, albeit with a subpar story attached to it. I really wish Jerry would do a monthly again sometime soon. That said, I'd have to agree with some online reviews I've read that Jerry's Black Lanterns don't quite capture that edgier detail that the other artists have perfected. They look less decayed and more like He-Man's Skeletor more than anything else. Otherwise, he's still a master storyteller.

Meanwhile, Geoff and Francis have done a terrific job on Kon-El's stories. It's a shame in a way that it's ending abrubtly, though I'm sure greater things await for them doing Flash and for Legion and Levitz returning as the main feature. Kon-El's stories have been simple but highly personal. And Krypto has really shone here more than he has anywhere else. Such a shame.

Also a shame that the Legion backups were really getting better as they each installment came out. They were some nice little character gems that I enjoyed a lot. I suppose it's a small price to lose those nice backups in favor of a return to feature status though. I can't wait!