Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion Of Super Heroes #1

Set, it's been 25 years since you've been happy with the LSH?

Nah, there've been quite a few stories I've liked, or even loved, like Superboy's Legion, but they weren't necessarily 'real' in that I'll probably never see those specific characters again (Lyle and Brainy as cloned brothers, for instance, or Ayla and Garth as young aristocrats, or a Legion that includes Karate Kid, Ferro Lad and Kinetix and Dawnstar in it's eventual line-up, at the same time).

Since not too long after Crisis snatched Superboy away, the team has gone through a bewildering series of retcons, time tweaks, pocket universe, reboots, threeboots, etc. leaving everything fragmented.

I'm a big fan of Shikari (more so than 'classic' Dawnstar) and Kid Quantum 2, and Theena and Gazelle and Turtle and all sorts of other characters that have been rendered part of some alternate continuity that may or may not exist.

There are fans of characters and teams from each of these continuities, which makes it more and more difficult to write a Legion book that appeals to anyone who has ever read a Legion book before, because, to someone, they are getting it wrong.

Current 'classic' Brainy, for instance, is acting like Vril Dox or Threeboot Brainy. That's great, for fans of Vril Dox or Threeboot Brainy, but annoying to fans of the original Brainiac 5, who was only that messed-up when he was being mind-jobbed by Pulsar Stargrave.

How many odd little details seem 'off?' I can't even blame Paul Levitz for not remembering that Imra *isn't* an orphan and that the kids can't be visiting Garth's folks, because Garth's folks are *dead,* because we've seen, in the last couple decades, three or four distinct histories for Garth and Imra. No wonder the guy gets confused from time to time, he's got thirty-ish characters running around, with an average of three different histories *each.*

[Granted, as someone who has written and edited professionally, however briefly, I would expect them to have a chart or 'story bible' somewhere, at least as good as the ones we have here on Legion World, but my expectations are apparently unreasonable, and, for expecting DC to use the same sort of basic serial writing standards that *soap opera writers* use, I'm 'impossible to please'...]

That's exactly how I felt after reading the new first issue. I'm not exactly a new reader: I've been a Legion fan since 1972, and I'm familiar with most of the tropes of DC's history. But that was part of the problem: LSH # 1 felt too familiar, as if DC had polled its most ardent readers to find out what they liked/remembered most about past Legion and DCU stories and decided to tailor the story specifically to that audience.

Which is fine if all you want to do is regurgitate what your audience already wants or expects.

But what happens when that audience gets a little bored with eating the same old warmed-over oatmeal? Do you bank on them wanting to pay increasingly more for the same experience, or do you try to expand your horizons a little and maybe draw in new readers?

DC must be doing something right. The comments on this thread suggest that many readers liked the first issue. Of course, many of those comments revolve around debates about Saturn Girl's TK, the new costumes, and whether or not the characterization of certain characters is consistent with past portrayals.

So, maybe that's the answer: Put in enough superficial or inconsistent changes, and the faithful will continue to flock to it, to see where you are going. And, as long as the faithful can be strung along, who needs to bother with new (and potentially discriminating) readers?

[snip]

He Who Wander:

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...So, maybe that's the answer: Put in enough superficial or inconsistent changes, and the faithful will continue to flock to it, to see where you are going. And, as long as the faithful can be strung along, who needs to bother with new (and potentially discriminating) readers?

Seems a little early to me to call the changes "superficial." I can think of several off the top of my head that could have interesting long-term influence on the characters.

Anyway, I've said before that I don't think content matters from a marketing perspective. Savvy marketers can get people to buy pretty much anything, but The Big Two's idea of marketing seems to be pretty much where it was twenty years ago-- and still getting smaller and smaller.

By "superficial," I was referring to costume changes, which, let's face it, are almost always superficial.

There are rare instances when a character has changed his or her appearance as a sign of how he or she has changed on the inside. (Storm's mohawk comes to mind; although it was a horrible, trendy change, it was meant to reflect some transformation of the character.) For the most part--and certainly in the Legion's case--costume changes are merely window dressing.

I agree with you about the marketing, though.

Interestingly, I do think costume changes in the Legion have traditionally been used to signal signifcant changes in the team itself.

The Silver Age designs were mostly conceived on the model of "futuristic clothing".

The transition to the 70s outfits marks an intentional focus on youth and the "super-teens of the future" aspect.

The transition to the 80s costumes marks the fact that the Legion had started to grow up.

I suppose the quesiton is wehther the current set of costume changes has any deeper rationale.

The common threads of bare arms, piping, boobholes, etc. could be indicative of a team that is starting to become more unified, due to their recent ostracism by earth, having had, for a while, only each other to depend upon.

More 'us against them' / 'thin blue line' mentality, although not to the point of having uniforms or anything...

In Lightning Saga, there was a lot of suggestion that the Legion had 'come together' more than previously, with Brin and Ayla back together, Thom and Nura maybe together again (hard to say), Val and Jeckie possibly back together again (and Val back from the dead) and some new members in Chameleon Girl and Night Girl.

Legion of Three Worlds mixed that up with Myg's rant about how the Legion was all bickering and in-fighting, and Rokk's blowup at Garth over who had sacrificed more to run things.

Now it's all falling apart again, with Mon and Shady being the first casualty, and Imra and Garth off having solo adventures, split up in fact, if not 'officially.'

Perhaps without all of the Earth standing against them, forcing them to work together, the old core team are simply not friends any more, and the costume coordination is a 'false flag' sort of thing, making it superficially look like they are a team or a family, when, underneath, the Legion is coming apart at the seams...

True. I do think there's a difference, however, between costume "updates" that go with the times and costume changes that reflect transformation of character. The first type of change is almost always external driven: it's meant to make the characters more appealing to a changing target audience.

The second type of change is internal driven: it comes from a change in the character him- or herself. I prefer this type of change as it indicates, as you suggest, that something deeper is going on.

I re-read LSH # 1 the other day, and Saturn Girl's costume change seems to be the second type of change (at least I hope it is): the shorter hair, for example, certainly makes her appear more mature. The other Legionnaires not so much.