Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1 (SPOILERS)

re: character designs
echoing some other legionworlders - Gim & Jo are confusingly similar in face shots -- both have this protruding/dominant forehead thing going on -- maybe just pick 1 to accentuate and normalize the other?
LOVE the age difference in the legionnaires (ayla/lyle particularly emphasized this)
LOVE the panels where Element Lad uses his powers -- somehow it came across the strongest
it would also be cool if not ALL the legionnaires shared the same fashion sense/aesthetic ... some might not be so 'slick', some might actually be retro or animal-based clothing (rather than the future polymer chrome glossy sheathes)

re: panels & things
while i LOVE some of the character designs, i thought the panel work got a little too dense as the book progressed -- there was a definite movement inside the issue to progressively populate the backgrounds with MORE people, tech and places and while this could be a good thing, the coloring choice (mostly light monochromatic tones) encouraged a flattening effect in the flow-- the dynamic visuals become muted and that could turn some people away (I was definitely less interested by the end, an odd reaction considering the 'war' scenes present)

re: characters
Shadow Lass, Sun Boy, Light Lass, Cosmic Boy, Micro Lad all were strong and distinctive (even in surprisingly short screen-time) and i LOVE the mature Shadow Lass, and the tension between leader Cosmic Boy and field commander (i'm guessing on 'ranks') Sun Boy and its resolution
definitely looking forward to the other groups in the legion (the clique aspect has so far been subtle and organic)

re: legion rebooted a bust or a must?
it's a must for me
i can't wait to see what the future holds and i'm hoping it just gets better from here
definitely want to see more

"Afraid of the future"
Interesting that Waid used the same term Johns did in "Green Lantern: Rebirth". In that story, Hal Jordan is revealed to have been influenced by the Parallax entity. It took the Coast City tragedy to make Hal "afraid of the future". The result? His need for power which would give him control of the future.

It's interesting that "order" is equated with "control" which is taken to be motivated by a fear of the future itself. A society based on fear isn't a utopia. Is Waid commenting on our own society and the political weight that has been given to our own media fueled fears of the future? The intro certainly implies the themes of this title are meant to be part of humanity's struggle through the centuries.

I think there's definitely a lot more to what Waid has in mind than simply "sticking it to the man".

LL - I TOTALLY AGREE about the disappointing colors - especially during the fight on Lallor.
This should have been a chance for new readers to easily distinguish between Legionnaires as they use their powers. I wanted to see an Element Lad with colors that POP. He is in RED and YELLOW after all. That shot of Sun Boy and Shadow Lass side-by-side could have been a classic - if the coloring was more vibrant.

That said, I'm really enjoying what I've seen of the characterization so far. Not so thrilled with the whole youth movement thing. It seems like a rather large corner just waiting to be written into. Hopefully, the focus will be taken off of this in future issues.

Still, I'm thrilled to have the Legion back.

[jimgallagher]
{ Hello? Did I mention that Shadow Lass is GREY? Where's all the indignant harrumphing and foot stomping? }

Not from me! I'll take her any time! Ah, mon cherie ...

... Ah. You didn't say that Shadow Lass is "for Grey," I see. Never mind.

(I hope to pick this issue up later today. Even with her being bluish-grey-gunmetal or whatever.)

It took me a while to read the 6 pages you have all already writen on this issue!

I finally have mine and all i can say is WOW! I like it!

It's good to have the legion back. Nothing more, you have said it all.

My guess is that since he's a decendant of both a hero and villain of the 'heroic age', the rule would be waived.

Glad I'm not the only one.

Shady is blue. That's how I read it, and I'm sticking to that.

I'm fine w/ the transmatter thing. If the JLA has teleport tubes today, a millenia later they should be rather commonplace.

I disagree with you folks COMPLETELY on the coloring issues. I think Chris Blythe did a wonderful job with the whole issue, ESPECIALLY some of the members' logos which almost seem to come alive on the pages.

Keep in mind that when the members went to Lallor it appeared to be night time in the area they went to. The skys were black and there would not be that much light to begin with, aside from the burning fires from debris. War is often dark and not very pretty. The next frames deal with Cos (being in a dark room with the hologram images) and finally sunset atop the clubhouse. The coloring was done in the correct context.

GREAT JOB, CHRIS! (Barry, tell him I said that)

"Hyperpath" sounds more like telepath, but maybe doesn't work quite the same way. I'd guess that it's a form of communication that isn't necessarily mental but also isn't available to the average person. Maybe it's physical? Super-ventriloquism with a new name?

Well, having finally gotten my grubby little hands on my first issue, I am more than pleased.

Not that I didn't enjoy the Post-ZH Legion, but this one feels a lot better to me than that one did. Maybe it's because a lot of the time we were checking off major events that we expected to be told.

Art is outstanding. The Legion is a book that does not suffer bad artwork well. Some of the post-Grell artists didn't do the team justice.

Concept: So far it's off to a great start.

What more can I say other than "Long Live The...", oh, wait...I guess it's "Eat it, Grandpa!" now.

THE POSITIVE:
I've seen enough to be willing to buy a few more issues.

I think Mick Gray is one of the better inkers to work with Kitson in a while. I have seen inkers really degrade the style of his work. I like the basic design of his future (technology/architecture). Waid/Kitson have come up with a good reason for the more retro name and costume elements that are in the book.

I am optomistic that Shadow Lass will be one of the characters I will really love. The "Micro Lad" thing was both funny and smart.

Mark Waid was involved with the Zero hour reboot of the legion. In fact, I think he plotted the first year??? I had liked what he contributed then, so I am hopeful that his current variation will be worth reading too.

THINGS THAT CONCERN ME:

I would hope that previous characters are not totally ignored. Shikari, XS, Gates, Kid Quantum, Gear and Sensor were great steps away from the limitations of the first Legion incarnation.

As is typical with a majority of books the human background characters are not diverse. We should all be seeing Native Americians, Indians, Black people, Asians and... well...you should get the picture.

I also hope that Barry plays around more with his characters facial expressions and body language. I think it will just raise his beautiful work to yet another level that a surprising number of comic artists lack.

Mark Waid himself. He has had quite a few runs on titles I have really enjoyed (Flash/FF). But he can do things that really concern me. For example, how he decides to write about the Falcon in both of his Captain America titles (vol2 & Sentinel Of Liberty) show a disturbing limitation.

WRAP UP:
That's it. I have the 2nd issue reserved at my comic shop. I look forward to the book only getting better.

Ty

This one's hard to peg. Lyle was already with the Legion in the Titans/Legion special but had only just left his parents. That seems to indicate that LSH #1 takes place prior to the special. We just don't know how far off the special is from #1, but it doesn't seem like the time difference would be all that far apart. So, yeah, within a year sounds abour right.

Totally, man.

I have to point at that I never said anything bad about Chris nor do I think the poor coloring (it is in my book) is his fault. I fully blame DC and their not taking the measures improve the paper being used. It is one step up from newsprint. Hell, in some books it actually looks like one step down from newsprint.

Even the best colorists in the business can't overcome paperstock that absorbs too much of their color. I'd really love to see some of Chris' original work, before printing.

I noticed that, too, and was just as happy about it. Of course, it could also mean the Legion of Super-Assassins. Did any of them even show in the reboot?

I'm so sorry. My owner had plenty in stock. He also knew well enough not to forget a Legion book for me. It didn't hurt that every week I'd say things like "two more weeks", "seven days" or whatever. When I went in Wednesday, the first thing I said was "It's zero hour!" He knew exactly what I was talking about.

Very well observed. I had not thought of that.

The funny think here is that I never went through this. I jumped into the Legion feet first - with the Great Darkness Saga, no less. And that storyline featured everyone who'd even been associated with the Legion (or nearly so). Heck, I had no idea who Darkseid was or anything about the New Gods. I loved it just the same and enjoyed the time it took be to figure out who these people were, how they related to one another, and their real names (which I memorized). That was all part of the fun! I think this new book is looking the same in that respect. Sure, we might know names and powers, but we don't know who these people are or what they're like. I sure didn't know Beerm(?) or that other girl whose name I'm blanking on. But so what? I'll learn who they are eventually. Heck, I also don't know exactly why Cos is so annoyed at Star Boy, but I'm sure that's coming. The fun is not having a pre-packaged story but instead in learning the rules.

I definitely agree about Mon-El. As for Jo and Tinya...let's just say that the reboot wore out any interest I ever had in them as a couple. To be honest, I'd like to see mostly new pairings.

I understand where you are coming from, LL but a few others were griping about some of the scenes. Paper might be an issue to some but you have to look at the overall picture:

If you increase the quality of the paper stock, the issue price will go up and at this point comics are US $2.95. You don't want to price yourself out of competition. $3 bills can be quite a lot in the whole scheme of things for the average comic book buyer.

At this point, I'd rather see a new reader pick up an issue and start reading/liking it rather than not wanting to chance money on a higher priced comic. Get new readers hooked now. Maybe if volume increases to a good sustainable level, the paper issue could be looked at again in terms of cost feasibility.

Dryad was destroyed during the reboot but PebbleHeadBoy and his pals of the LSA didn´t show up.

I'm with you ferroboy.

I picked up my first Legion book when I was 7 (Superboy guest starring the LSH #200) and I found it exciting to learn about all these new and different people. It was great. The first thing I ever ordered was that tabloid reprint of the Mordru story reprint. Talk about good times!

Oooops!
I posted in the wrong topic.
Sorry!

Actually, I miss Zoe. I also think Gates had some potential. Don't really care whether or not I see the others above (or Monstress).

I think the point here is that it's really only a utopia on the surface. The teens of this era obviously don't think this "utopia" is all it's cracked up to be. They don't have a lot of choices and any hint of individuality is met with a genetic tracking device.

Because there are problems in the galaxy that the Legion has solved. They stop menaces that the UP and SP can't. It really does make a difference, even if it pisses them all off at the same time.

You sure about that? I think Cos has an awful lot of fans on Legion World - me included. I thought a poll on racdl also showed him as a favored character. (Admittedly, that poll was rather small and could easily have included people that also post here.)

Loser Lad's avatar has suddenly become very appropriate.