Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion #1 (September) previews

I hate to say it but this issue was flawed. I liked the art alot and the plot with the away team was good, but the rest was a mess. Its almost like they should have pushed the away team plot to issue two and sort of caught everyone up on whats been going on so far. If you had not been reading Legion and Adventure you would have been very lost on alot of what was going on back at Legion HQ. There were just so many moments that had no real answers here, and when you are going with a 1st issue that is not always the best way to go.

It might have been better seeing the Lost team depart on their mission so that new readers might have some idea on who all these "dead' characters were they were talking about. Maybe show the away team getting briefed on the Dominator threat. Show a little of new kids coming in and what they had been through in Adventure. Maybe skip the scene about Earth Man altogether since without getting into his story it just felt out of place.

This did not read like Legion of Super Heroes #1. It read like Legion of Super Heroes #17, and that is not what they were shooting for with the 52 relaunch at all.

I agree with many of your points, Zero Kahn, but I also think that if it had gone totally the way you described it, Issue #1 would have been bogged down with too much boring setup and explanation. I'm glad there was some action with the Espionage Team mission, and we got to see the two rookie Legionnaires thrown into the fire, so to speak, right away.

The other tidbits about the Lost team, Earth Man, the GL ring, was of suitable mention and promoted enough interest for readers (IMO) not familiar to try Legion Lost #1 and/or pick up the LSH back issues.

I wish they had shortened the LSV storyline by at least one issue (wouldn't have hurt it a bit) and let #16 put some closure to that whole edition of LSH. Then issue #1 wouldn't need to refer to at least parts of that backstory (Earth Man, the GL ring, etc.) and could simply pick up with the new story.

One of the hallmarks of the classic Levitz runs was that after a long epic storyline such as GDS or Earthwar, Levitz would give us a "breather" issue that focused on character development and tied up a few loose ends (and often planted the seeds of the next epic storyline). It seems to me that Levitz is not being given the opportunity to do these kinds of stories and as a result the whole series seems rushed and cluttered.

I really wish they would just let him do the stories he wants to do at the pace he wants to do them (does anybody remember how he once said in a lettercol that he was probably the last writer that still enjoyed writing the occasional eight page story?), preferably with the artist/collaborator of his choice.

So, after a breather, random thoughts on LoSH #1;

Paul continues to send us to the Google, as he did with the 'lantern-bearer' Dyogene/Diogenes, this time with the world Panoptes , named after a giant with a hundred eyes.

Decent use of explicatory text, mentioning the 'stealth coating' on the drop pods (which, otherwise, the team wouldn't have needed, being able to fly to the surface under their own power). Mentioning the purpose of the 'watch worlds' is neat, and, as Levitz has been doing for some time now, adds to the setting / continuity in a logical fashion. He really seems to be putting some thought into the background, here.

I kinda wish the image distorters they were using kept their facial features unchanged and just changed their costumes to military uniforms. I'm surely *not* a new reader, but having both Cham and Jo change their faces within a page of being introduced didn't seem helpful.

Chemical Kid's obvious distaste at the notion of a romantic interlude with Dragonwing was amusing.

Starfleet? Meh.

Thought bubbles! Cham has thought bubbles! Woo!

Interesting little bit about compound eyes and printed documents not going well together. Again, Paul is clearly thinking through the implications of what he's showing here, by including details like these.

Brainy seems to be speaking for some of the fans, with his preference that Neidrigh be judged for the life he lived, and not merely for the circumstances of his death.

And yet, Mon-El, so terribly in-character, is willing to forgive and forget. This is the guy who was fatally poisoned by a mistrusting 'brother,' who then sentenced him to 1000 years in a prison dimension with a bunch of psychopaths after promising to cure him, *and still considers that guy his best friend.* Whether or not I would forgive Earth-Man doesn't matter, Mon-El demonstrates once again that if he had no powers at all, he'd still be a great man.

I may or may not like Mon-El's new costume, but the angles aren't doing it any favors here.

Jacques, Ayla, Shady and Glorith all show signs of grieving. I wonder who Jacques is missing? He's never had any significant connection with anyone other than Brainy and his sister, in this continuity, that I remember.

Cosmic Boy speaks for his group, as makes sense. Nice to see Ayla and Violet holding hands, and that their are they/aren't they relationship isn't being pushed back into the shadows.

Element Lad speaks for his group (of course Comet Queen can't go on-panel without contributing, but that's pretty much her nature). Polar Boy, prone to take charge when someone isn't *clearly* 'in charge', is keeping his mouth shut. That speaks well for the regard he has for Jan.

Dreamy, obviously, speaks for her contingent. Go Dreamy!

The text, once again, flashes past explication and gets stuff out of the way, including fan questions about whether or not the 'newbies' deserve to be Legionnaires so quickly. (And I love that Rokk is no-nonsense to say that right in front of Comet Queen and Glorith. No talking behind people's backs, or sitting around a table shuffling photos around and dishing backroom criticism from this guy!)

Oh Brainy, you can't say you'll be there in a half-hour, or in 30 minutes? 'I'll join you in 1/48 rotation.'

Brainy explicates how Mon-El's Daxamite abilities make him the most powerful Legionnaire, so that new readers can intuit Renegade being a Daxamite is bad news later in the book. Clever.

More development of new characters Chemical Kid and Dragonwing, which is probably needed. I'd be tickled pink if the Legion was all the classic roster, but that way lies Geoff Johns and nostalgia-palooza. Chemical Kid's outfit was fine under Jiminez, but it just looks clunky here, and Dragonwing's outfit also benefitted from some combination of Phil's linework and the more vibrant coloring of the Adventure showing than it does here. I love what Phil did with them, but, as I remarked at the time, I think he made them too busy to last under other artists. (We're talking an industry that can't keep track of whether or not Tellus has *feet,* so, really, expecting them to keep up with Dragonwing's busy, busy costume and hairstyle is perhaps a bit much.)

The more I see of Ultra Boy's new duds, the less I like them. Unlike Mon-El, whose original look I consider 'classic' and like the way it is, I was never a huge fan of Jo's look, and, really, this isn't an improvement. Too much red, I think.

I really liked this issue overall but I agree with others concerning the newbies. It just doesn't make sense that the entire Academy senior class were deemed unworthy and then the weeks old freshmen are all Legion material. Mon-el mentions that their numbers are still down so perhaps we will be seeing some of the Academy grads who were given SP duty?

I wonder if it wasn't so much that the older class (Nightwind etc.) were unready so much as they were already assigned to other posts. It would be nice if that were at least part of the in-story explanation (oh, the SPs wouldn't let us recall Lamprey and the others because they're doing their tour of duty, even if the Legion numbers are down!)

That would at least make it a bit less painful for the senior four.

^^^I like this idea....it would be much easier to accept the newbies as recruits if we find out that the Legion wanted Jed and the others first but the SP already nabbed them up.

It's still not perfect, after all didn't Gim leave his SP post to become a Legionnaire? But it makes a hell of a lot more sense than just randomly choosing who they did...

(also doesn't explain why they wouldn't have just asked Chuck, Lu, Lydda and Tenzil to come back or recruit some of the Subs, but one problem at a time I guess)

It would also widen the door for them to actually join the team, at least.

You have a good point about Chuck and the others. Garth, Imra, and Jeckie are also on leaves, and the first two at least could easily come back. Ah well... One problem at a time.

Given that one of the last bits of dialog we got from Jed was his bitter disappointment in not making it into the Legion, but rather being sent to 'rot' at a SP Post.... I doubt this idea could be implemented believablely now.

You have a good point. It just seems weird that the Legion wouldn't at least reconsider the senior four after losing an additional 8 Legionnaires (9, including the resigned Gim). I'd like to see that addressed in-story, at least.

You know it looks like Paul was setting up Gim for a leave of absence with all his obvious screw ups of late so I'm going to stick to my theory that there is a reason for the academy seniors being sent off to the far reaches of space. (we'll see more of them, later) And it does make senses to add all the youngsters since this title is falling under the young justice (or whatever...) category.

I'm pretty cynical, and feel that Paul hadn't specifically intended for Gim to look like a schmuck in the last run of LoSH, but, once it was brought to his attention, decided to run with it.

in that case hopefully he runs with the idea of bringing back Jed, Lampry, Nightwind and Crystal Kid

Damn it. Where's that <span style="font-size: 18px;"><blink>LIKE</span></blink> button?

A.M. follow-up to FC's comment:

Seriously. Fans aren't idiots. Give us a good hook and we'll gladly jump aboard and do our homework on backgrounds later on. Honestly, I was able to do this with the LSH about ten billion years before there was even an internets to help me along.

Frankly, I don't consider LSH any more complex and confusing that the history of Batman, the Flash, the GLs, or whomever. I skipped out on those books after cursory reads because they lacked enough variety to keep me interested. LSH had variety, and a level of self-containment that the other books lacked. So I stuck with it.

It's not that fans need everything spelled out for them right away in tiny, perfect little pieces. It's that DC never learned to market outside its traditional base so it could draw on a greater, more diverse group of readers. And likely it never will.

I agree. If someone is hooked, is fascinated by something, they will research everything they can about it.

But they have to want to, first. The books have to be compelling enough to be worth the effort.

And comic books now have much more competition than just other comic books.

Yes. The key word here is compelling.

Neil Gaiman's Sandman series was compelling.

James Robinson's Starman series was compelling.

The Thy Kingdom Come storyline in Justice Society of America was compelling.

On more than one occasion over the past 50+ years the Legion has been compelling.


I hope it becomes so again.

In my eyes, this new #1 has been the best Legion issue in over a year. I especially liked Francis Portelas art, here's an artist who has majorly improved and gives the book a nearly Jiminez feeling. Splendid!

The story was also much better than the whole last storyarc. The Legion has been struck by an (off panel) disaster and now has to deal with the consequenced. The roster has been turned upside down, which always gives a writer a lot of story potential to thrive on. There are new members that we already know, there are old member who quit, and finally, finally, we are again getting a clear idea which member is where and on which mission. I really was totally positively surprised how much I liked this issue. It obviously did not have a tough job following the total shipwreck that the last storyline was...

So here's hopes that Levitz can finally break free from all those editorial interventions and do a decent Legion again. Hooray!

[snip]

I enjoyed the set-up we got in this issue, though possibly not for exactly the same reasons other readers did. (But that's a whole separate "thing." It can wait.)

To be honest, I don't expect a current superhero story to "hit me hard" like it would have thirty-odd years ago. I'm a different person than I was then. And back then I had little to compare the reading experience to. Now I have a lot. Feeling somewhat jaded is inevitable, I guess.

But I'm willing to stick around for a spell and see where the story goes, anyway.