Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Re-Reads (Now Reading: Swamp Thing: 1971 through 1985)

This is the topic to talk about comics you've read before and are either re-reading or want to re-read whenever you get the chance! (Not the place to discuss the LSH Archives and other LSH-related projects on that forum.)

I've always got a few re-read projects on my mind, and there's one that I've completed and another that's currently in-progress.

The completed one was very easy, as it was only two issues: Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? I suspect many people here have read it some point. This was the classic tale Alan Moore wrote and Curt Swan drew that artfully closed the book on the Pre-Crisis Superman.

I remembered this one extremely fondly, but I found that the story didn't quite live up to my remembrance of it. It's not that it was now a bad comic, but it doesn't really compare favorably to Moore's best works. Hell, his take on the Silver Age Superman mythos on Supreme was so much more memorable and a wonder to behold. I know, of course, that he had a lot more pages to work with on Supreme. But I also think that the additional years away from the era benefited Moore with more time for him to reflect on the era and to remember more of what made it so great.

I think the biggest thing that made this particular story work not as well for me was the realization that it was so violent. Many of the characters were killed off with brutality and almost as an afterthought. Knowing Moore, I'm sure much of this was done symbolically to pass the baton to the darker era comics were transitioning to. I would have preferred he'd not done so, though, and just kept everything in the spirit of the era he was ending. I think Luthor and Jimmy particularly got short shrift. Luthor was primarily Brainiac's thrall, and Jimmy played second fiddle to Lana, who got a much bigger moment.

There was one scene that remains absolutely spectacular--the appearance of the Legion with Supergirl. Moore hit ALL the right notes there, ending with the great scene of Superman breaking down after they left. Kara's death was such a raw nerve for him (and the readers in proxy), and seeing her younger and unaware of her tragic future was so heartbreaking. The subtle nod toward Invisible Kid's fate was awesome as well. I'd rate this as one of the best Superman and Legion scenes I've ever read!

Lots of other nice touches like the LSV appearing, the way Clark's identity was exposed and the happily ever after, among others. It was still a very worthwhile re-read for me, but just not as awesomely spectacular as I'd remembered it. That's a big risk any time you decide to re-read something you loved...that the reality may not live up to the memory, in this case not quite.

The current re-read is the 12-issue maxiseries Avengers Forever. I'm five issues in. I'll refrain from saying much at this point, but it's pretty enjoyable so far. I've been eyeing this for a re-read for so long because I've missed old-style Avengers comics so much. I knew this was a compact way of experiencing some of that again.



So what have you re-read/are you re-reading/want to re-read soon? Tell us some of the whys and experiences involved! And feel free to discuss the stories and series that other people bring up!

Here are some of the others that are on my re-read radar:

-Y: The Last Man

-Daredevil: Man Without Fear (mini by Miller & Romita, Jr.)

-DnA's Legion run

-the last year of Ennis & Dillon's Hellblazer run (I read most of it last year but stopped after I realized I was somehow missing an issue--I've since obtained it)

-Kree/Skull War

-Thomas/Adams X-Men run

-all of Astro City to date


...and probably many more I'm forgetting!

I've reread this one (and the [original] Nail by Alan Davis) several times, and probably will again soon.

So I guess it holds up on multiple reads? I've only read the Golden Age once. I liked it but wasn't overly impressed. I suppose you could say I didn't see why there was all of that acclaim? My reading of it was many years after it came out. Maybe that has something to do with it?

Crisis on Infinite Earths, for me. Say what you will about the continuity problems, but as a stand-alone story it rocks. Only complaint is the scenes thrown in that lead to stories in other books, which have little impact on the main narrative - but then most crossovers have that.

Big plus point is, it includes the first appearances of Doctor Light (Kimiyo) and Kole, two of my all-time favorite comic book characters ever!

I'm with you on this one, Lardy. Golden Age was a solid story which explored how many of our "top" heroes would have dealt with being in a world which had less need of them, but... I don't know. There's just something that keeps it as a good, and not great, story for me. Maybe it's that the original thesis wasn't explored that completely - the old heroes moved on and gave way to a new generation. So the individual heroes had to change, but society as a whole just went through a cycle.

Cooke's the New Frontier, on the other hand...

I actually re read the Golden Age at least a couple times before I really got into! I really enjoy the atmosphere created around the characters and their mid life lives. I think the original thesis was that these people were past their prime, and what to do when being a super hero ends. none of them were meant to come back to fight in tights ... yet they had to for one more time until a new generation sparked.

(Lardy I am surprised you didn't take to it)

the New Frontier on the other hand I didn't find that interesting ... except for the agro Wonder Woman .. the first couple issues were compelling but then it turned into a short hand for an alien invasion.


One other thing is, I kind of wish I could come to SAGA as I did Y the Last Man (which i've read twice) after it is finished and read the whole thing straight through. same with Morning Glories.

I will have to remember to do so!

I also reread Superboy's Legion and Legion of the Damned.



I'm not that into CoiE really ... I was at the time ... but reading it all together ... I'm not sure ... I think it suffers from the long time scale.

it goes from "AHHHHHHH" in issue #1 to "AHHHHHHHHHH" in issue 9,10, etc.



I liked to reread the old Avenger's Master of Evil story lien where they take over the mansion, an understated horror.

Like I tried to get across, I didn't come anywhere CLOSE to hating it, but I definitely didn't see it as an instant classic. I might, however, consider a future re-read of my TP at some point.



Gawd, I lived New Frontier!!! If DC had restarted with this blueprint, rather than the crappy New 52, I would've loved it--if they's done it right, that is. BIG if!




It's been a while since my last CoIE re-read. I want to say I re-read it around the time Infinite Crisis was released? I think I still loved it, iirc. Not sure if the same would be true if I re-read it today. Hard to say.



Roger Stern's run and that whole era of East Coast/West Coast Avengers is something I've thought about re-reading recently. Seems like there have been some callbacks here and there lately that have tweaked the germ of an inkling to give it another look. Who knows? Maybe it's in the cards.

That Sal Buscema art was masterful!


I bet I could go back to Powers and/or Preacher ... after a while but I just read them really so I will let them sit.

Same with Hellblazer ... the wounds are still raw ... but that trenchcoat storyline was too perfect!

I was going to say I should take a look at the Byrne era West Coast Avengers ... with the reboot of Vision and the old Human Torch and Mephisto stealing Wanda's babies and Wanda visiting crazy town.

It is probably better than I remember, also back then I could only get about 2 out of 3 or every other of the issues.

I enjoyed Avengers Forever quite a lot ... it recalled the time of Stern and Buscema for me ... I hadn't read an Avengers in ages but I picked it up at a Borders or Barnes and Noble book store on vacation while visiting Mr. Peebz family ... and I was really pleasantly surprised.

Songbird made a fan ... I will say no more ... my lips are sealed.

Preacher was my major re-read project last summer. I'm sure you remember me talking about that in the preacher thread. It didn't disappoint at all. The only thing that was different from expectations was that all the then-groundbreaking, then-taboo content seems kinda "ho-hum" by the standards we have in our adult content comics these days. B honestly, with that stuff being no longer as shocking, it only enhances the core of the story which is all about its fascinating central three characters--some of the best-written in comics history!

Ennis's Hellblazer run is a great proto-Preacher work. He revisits many of the themes in Preacher that he started on Hellblazer. Also, he and Dillon began to work out that great synergy there that paid such awesome dividends later. The big difference from Preacher is how rich Constantine's London world is under Ennis' pen. I'll probably finish that run soon-ish.

Byrne's run on Avengers West Coast (as it was renamed when he came aboard) was shaping up to be a classic, until it just ubruptly...ended...before he finished the 'Dark Scarlet Witch' arc. I'm sure it's been explained somewhere, somewhen as to the whys and wherefores of Byrne's exit, but I always felt we got a softer ending to that storyline as completed by Roy Thomas (iirc) than we would've gotten with Byrne. In any case Brian Bendis owes a lot to Byrne for the source material that spawned years of story for his New Avengers run.

Well, Stern co-plotted most of it with Busiek, so I'm sure that's no coincidence!



Songbird is a GREAT character! As I read this, I find myself regretting terribly that she and Genis didn't pan out as future Avengers as Busiek set them up to be. I think Genis is dead or something, and Melissa has been on-and-off associated with the T-Bolts in some manner or another. You guys will have to set me straight on those two.

I WILL say that the huge responsibility for Genis' ruination lies on the pen of Peter David. His Genis-gone-mad/evil arc was pretty much TERRIBLE! Genis should have blossomed into a premier character based on the great launch pad of Avengers Forever, but PAD just dragged him through the mud and made him as unlikeable as humanly possible. I'd name it as PAD's one glaring, abject failure off the top of my head.

I didn't read much of Genis' Captain Marvel series but what I did read seemed to read like a Moondragon and Phyla Vell comic with Genis being weirdly abstract and MIA and threatening.

and now we have Marvel Boy ... which I like about the same as Genis but a bit less.

Yeah, it was a shame Melissa got shipped of to the T Bolts when she basically just was starting to blossom as a hero instead of a villain.

I thought the interplay of characters on Avengers Forever was spectacular ... who thought a cast with [edit: temporarily censored for reasons to be revealed!], Goliath (Hank) and Yellow Jacket (Hank) and the Wasp would be such a killer interaction! It is because the story made them distinct by focusing on their different personalities. and it even worked with Captain America's situation during this time was interesting.

and Genis grew so much in Avengers Forever ... placing him at the jumping off point for being a great Avengers ... and then .. tanget!

Wikipedia says:

"Finally, in a fight with Zemo, Genis is defeated. Zemo traps Genis in a moment in time. He then uses a combination of Blackout's Darkforce powers and the moonstones to separate Genis into individual pieces, trapping them in separate, far-off parts of the Darkforce Dimension so that they cannot be reunited.[14]"

So he seems ... not only dead ... but difficult to resurrect for the next writer.

Tons I need to reread. Soon as I have time (bwahahahaha)

Chief omong them is Sandman Mystery Theater. Great book.

Others include Reread of Age of Apocalypse (the original event, which I loved,) Starman, and the continuing Ultraverse review/documentation project I have to get back to.

Avengers Forever is a great dense read.

Add the Earth X Trilogy to things I need to reread soon.

Now you have me itching to reread Kate Spencer's Manhunter! and the Jack Knight Starman series!

all at once would be great!

D'Oh! That's one of the ones I forgot to list! Such a great, great series! (Can you believe that a certain Desmonius hasn't ever read this, iirc?!? )

Plus, there's another great, but shorter lived, Vertigo series that Seagle also wrote--House of Secrets-that I'm itching to re-read. Such an overlooked gem!





I started that re-read a few years back when I purchased the first Omnibus. I loved the HELL out of re-reading that one but got sidetracked when I couldn't get the second Omnibus immediately. (At the time, I'd lost track as to the whereabouts of my individual issues.) Gotta get that one going again soon. Definitely, another I forgot to list earlier.

To quote the Minions "Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut?" He needs to get out there and find this asap. So many layers to the storytelling and Guy Davis art at its best.

Yeah, right?

I take it you never read House of Secrets, Dev?