Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Interesting cover for Superman: Secret Origin

Johns could sure do worse for inspiration as well. That cartoon really had some genius tucked away behind the silly pictures.

I disagree somewhat on this. Smallville as a whole has been a favorite of mine--possibly I'm clinging to some faint hope of my Superboy hero from my youth. It has certainly had its ups and downs, and WAAAAAYYY too much Clark pining over Lana, and there were near whole seasons where I just wanted to go "GET OVER HER ALREADY!" But as a whole, I think that Clark onSmallville has certainly made his share of mistakes, that resulted, for instance, in Lana's death, which he then manages to undo, a la Lois in Superman : The Movie. This ultimately costs him a chance at saving Jonathan's life. He argued with Jonathan over playing football, wanting to fit in like other kids, to get the girl partially; he did rebel, albeit as a result of Red K; he gets caught sneaking a girl out of his room; there are other instances. My point is, this character is not perfect, and while he could be MUCH better (and actually is, IMO, this season), I wouldn't call him cardboard.

These I have to agree with. As everyone knows, no era was perfect. There were kids having premarital sex in the 40's and 50's. Heck, my great-great grandparents got married 3 months before they had their first baby-in 1888! But what most wanted to see was the Happy Days style of life, and that's what we got in the Superboy comics. Honestly, I miss those, but I'm probably one of the few that does. I agree that Superboy needed a life, and the Legion provided that. I mean, super-powered girls had crushes on him! Who wouldn't like that? Everybody wants to belong, and with them, he did.
Sorry for the marathon post.

I loved the superboy comic of the early 80s It's in part what got me into the legion in the first place. I loved that smallville. Though they did need some color in it ROFL. SInce they never said where Smallville was exactly it could have been relatively isolated from intergration. And as are some small towns today relatively isolated from major social changes (Sexual revolution) till sometime later on.

Superboy living in a small town in Kansas. One black haired adopted kid in town who just happens to move to Metropolis on the same day Superboy/man does. And no-one puts two and two together.

Only slightly less unbelievable than no-one noticing Superman/boy's costume under white shirts.

I love the white shirt point. Was there ever a "tailor to the super heroes" character at either Marvel or DC? If not, it would be a great story! Imagine a talented young Jewish tailor in New York City at the time of the Golden Age, who gets rediscovered as an old man by Superman--Wildcat or Hawkman gives Superman his business card. You'd want a good tailor not just for the superhero costume, but as much or more for the secret identity, as SA Lad indicates.

I do believe you misinterpreted me.

I held out Smallville as an example of what the Superboy comic should have been. The comic is what I was calling cardboard - not the TV show (while I haven't seen all of it, I've loved all of it except the Lana-as-reincarnated-witch bit).

That the Clark of TV could make mistakes is exactly what I mean - the comic-book Superboy essentially never could.

I have to agree with some of you, I never liked Superboy stories, that always seemed to be simply Superman stories in Smallville (Lana is trying to figure out his ID, Lois is trying to figure out his ID, Clark as a teen is seen as weak, Clark as an adult is seen as weak, etc.)

But I LOVE the Superboy in two instances (and only two). I LOVE Superboy in the Legion. I like the idea that he inspires the Legion, not to be a hero as an adult (like Superman would) but rather that as a TEENAGER they can be great heroes. To me that original inspiration story is stronger than the Legion trains him to be a hero, because I think it is cool that they see him as a GREAT hero while he is their peer.

But I also admit that having him operate out of Smallville and then appear in Metropolis and all that is buckum, so as continuity has become more important to fans, the original version simply isn't viable so we have to go with the cartoon solution as the marriage between two ideas (Superman comes out of the blue to Metropolis, no one knows of a Superboy and the Legion and Superboy should be linked).

The other idea I like about Superboy is when he confronts the Phantom Zone criminals (and even Dev-Em). For someone who finds out he is an alien and then discovers the only living remnants of his home culture (besides his dog) are all mass murders and one punk. I mean, that's like discovering you're German (and assuming Germany no longer exists) and then meeting a group of Nazis. The worse part of your homeland's is all that survives (or is alive). I always thought that was awesome for a teenager who (I think) just recently discovered he was from an alien culture and then meeting the worse part of that culture when he is still yearning for knowledge about where he's from. I think SUPERBOY would feel those emotions much more keenly than an adult SUPERMAN ever could.

Anyways, the rest of the Superboy stories I could throw out and never think about again, they were just Superman stories but with a different supporting cast. But the Legion and the Phantom Zone criminals are really made special by Superboy and really make Superboy special.

Thanks for the answer, but I don't get it. What's the point of putting 2 Supermen in the Legion at once? Isn't it confusing enough with all the reboot versions? What do they call them? Superman 1 and Superman 2?

I found this on Wikipedia, it may or may not be what your looking for. but it does explain a bit about the cartoon version of Imperiax and the 41st century Superman. I know they injected some humor into the cartoon by having both Superman characters answer in unison to the name "Superman". Each was given a distictive personality as well. Personally, I didn't care for the 41st century Superman at all, and until recently I thought Imperiax was a character made up for the cartoon. Turns out he is actually a DC villain. They drew them differently as well so telling the the characters apart was easy. They really were two different people from head to toe, the only thing they had in common was the Superman DNA. Even the powers had differences. Anyway, here's what the Wikipedia said:

Imperiex appears in the Legion of Super Heroes animated series, voiced by Phil Morris. [2] The character was deemed to be a big enough threat to be used as the primary villain for the entire second season, but enough of a blank slate that his "real" DC Universe history could be modified for the TV version. [3] In the show, Imperiex was originally an alien (presumably from the planet Apokolips) raised in a gladiator lifestyle; over time his body was modified by the technology created by a scientist named Abel that allowed a perfect union of organic tissue and cybernetics. In the 41st century, Imperiex has wiped out nearly all resistance that stands in his way, with a only a clone of Superman named Kell-El left to oppose him. Unable to stop Imperiex and his army, Kell-El travels back to the 31st century to recruit the Legion of Superheroes to help stop Imperiex. Although Brainiac 5 comes up with a plan that appears to stop him by taking advantage of his weakpoint, Imperiex is able to take the device Kell-El used to travel through time to escape to the Legion's timeline. After escaping to the 31st century, Imperiex secretly frees the Fatal Five and the Legion of Super-Villains from prison, recruiting Validus. He hacks into Computo, downloading information about the Legion's arsenal at the time as well as acquiring some data that he offers to the Dominion. Outside of Validus, the Dominion, and his Destructo-Bots, Imperiex works with and recruits villains such as Mekt Ranzz, Ron-Karr, and Grimbor the Chainsman to aid him, although he was perplexed by those villains who left him. In "Unnatural Alliances," the cybernetic villain Terra-Man was targeting a younger Abel which Imperiex wouldn't allow. In the final fight with Terra Man, Superman X and Imperiex worked together to destroy Terra Man. In "Message in a Bottle," Imperiex and his armies invade the Fortress of Solitude so he can steal "The Messenger" from the shrunken city of Kandor. Brainiac 5 was forced to tap into his ancestor's knowledge and used it to turn the sun yellow, the Kandorians managed to fight back and caused Imperiex's army to retreat. However, Imperiex intended Brainiac 5 to do that in order for him to become a ideal member of his campaign. Unfortunately, Imperiex ends up being impaled and killed by Brainiac 1.0 (in Brainiac 5's body), who thanked him for his part.

As opposed to his comic-book incarnation, this Imperiex instead relies on physical, direct combat. He is stronger than Superman, and is virtually indestructible. The only time that he is vulnerable is when he uses a cannon mounted in his chest, which is also his most powerful weapon. In addition, he wields a pair of powerful swords that can fire out waves of energy. He is also exceptionally intelligent and cunning.

I largely agree, and love the Nazi angle.

By the 70s, Superboy had machines and things to actualyl help him recall life on Krypton. It would be a lot more powerful and tragic if he had to rely solely on what the villains are willing to share (and opens the door to neat maniuplation stories).

Nice covers. Can I ask a stoopid question, what up with this Secret Origins business and will the LSH get one?

Honestly, not sure.

I know Geoff Johns said in an interview that he liked the old Secret Orgins stuff of DC and wanted to bring it back.

But I also think a lot of fans have been asking (at conventions and such) for a definative Superman orgin for the "New Earth" history, but DC kept saying they weren't in any hurry. So either they were waiting for the right pitch or Johns gets to do whatever he wants.

I'm more interested to know if it will be a simple orgin story or if it will be like GL: Secret Orgin and really be more about setting up a future story.

I don't know who Six from Battlestar Galactica is ~ Starbuck? or the one played by Lawless (Xena)?
At first I thought you ment 7 from Voyager!

I think she looks like an early version of Sam from SG 1.
But I tend to see all the versions of Imra as based on Amanda Tapping.
lol

About Byrne ~ I thought I read somewhere that DC wanted all of the Krypton types gone from Supes history becouse they watered down the concept.
Thus they were all erased.
(I agree about all the other stuff mentioned, too ~ the excess 'stuff' and the sliding thing.
)
I also remember about the original Superman needing to be depowered so there could be more types of villians with a chance to defeat him.

I also got the feeling that having Clark be genetically powerless as an infant ment that there was a possiblity that he could father a child with a human (Lois) without the pregnacy killing her, i.e. a kicking fetus.

Anyway, the new artist looks great, to me.
I just hope we see something of the other boots, a few surprised to a too old set of characters and stories.
I just crave something new.

Six from BSG is the blonde one sees on the DVD covers and many of the adds.
Not Starbuck (a differnet blonde) or Lawless.

Sorry I did that. That's one bad thing about boards-you can't hear any inflection and may misinterpret. Sorry! If any of you haven't watched this season, it's not bad!

Six is definitely NOT Saturn Girl in my book - she is much too old to be a "teenager from the future". Or at least she looks too old. I just don't like her face. I'm much more into Boomer

Somewhere I got a photo manipulation of Scarlet Johannson as Saturn Girl. Now THAT is a perfect fit in my eyes

For an adult 'Ironbutt' Imra, Lucy Lawless has a pretty awesome look in that show. I could totally see her making it work. (Then again, she might be an even better Emma Frost...)

(Tricia Halford is a man in a dress. How she got turned into a sex symbol, I have no idea. Why do they keep dressing her in open-fronted braless dresses that show off her saggy chesticles and protruding ribs? Ugh.)

Now the ep with the entire base-ship full of nekkid Boomers? That was like the Cylon Ship O' Paradise!

I've really enjoyed the last few seasons.
I know people want him to 'get over' Lana but I think that sometimes first (and often greatest) loves hang around for a very long time.

Storywise, the idea kind of keeps the Lois relationship in check, at least for awhile.
bleccccc

It also serves to keep him out of all the other women's clutches, so he can meet a Maxima but feel no real attraction.
A lost love might be blamed for Kal not becoming a 'swinger' like his pal Oliver Queen, too.

On another point brought up here, 'Smallville' has always used the movie version of Krypton and the Fortress.
The whole concept is so visually beautiful and alien, cold and quietly powerful, lifeless but not lightless.
The idea of memory crystals was even used for LSH at one time.
The covers show the contrast between the worlds and families just wonderfully, I think.

I rather love the whole concept.

You mean this man?
I really don't know the show, but that's a good looking man.

LOL... Arm, that was too rich! Here, here!!!!
Tricia Helfer never looked better. And she's a damn fine Canadian actress to boot.
Thanks for the pic!

Having seen her in person a couple times, I'd never mistake her for a man.

She'd never be my choice for Imra (from the pics I think the coming ep did a good job).

Lucy L as an older Imra is intriguing.

I saw her at a convention, as well. She's much better looking in person than she is on BSG, where's she's all sag and bones. I think it's the awful clothing they put her in, actually.

I'm going to split out the Smallville posts and put them in the Smallville thread where they belong by tomorrow...cause this one is getting confusing.