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

In Starship Troopers NO amount of money could buy the vote, rather the point was that some form of civil service was required. The vote had to be earned by each individual by proving they were willing to invest in the system and put the well being of the group above their own.

It's one of the best books I'd ever read as a teenager and I still think it's one of the best young-adult books ever written.

-but that's totally beside the topic ain't it?-

A veteran run Federal Democracy in the Legion, eh? Cool idea,it makes me wonder if Mark Waid could follow up and expand on the work of Robert Heinlein. Now that's a challenge.

u do realize that a whole bunch of us are guilty of these ... um -- erratic? unexpected -- comparisons of things Legion?

This is the first time in a long time that I read a Legion comic and felt like I had actually read something. There was a lot going on, and a lot more promised.

Then, 14 pages of LW comments. This is great! I'll have to go back and read the book again with all these observations in mind.

One thing regarding the colours - there seemed to be a lot of red - but only in the Legion scenes. The SPs, the city - all greys, almost monochrome. I thought the red for heroes thing might carry into the first pages - but there was Robin Hood, in green...

I was also looking for Invisible Kid in the battle on Lallor, some evidence of an armored person getting punched by "nobody". Couldn't see anything.

Are there two Legion symbols? There's the golden one on the flight rings, some of the flags and some of the shirts. Theena has a tattoo on her arm of a black "L", which isn't a complete circle - and a similar black symbol is on another flag. And who got the merchandising contract?

One thing I'm looking forward to, in terms of further explanation, is the role of the SPs versus the United Planets. The UP has approved the Legion, but the SPs are battling them? I wonder from whom do the SPs take their orders.

eh?
Check out the page where Chameleon turns into a big scaly monster thingie, a gun get's yanked out of a soldier's hand and then gets his faceplate smashed by the visible half of IK. I don't see any evidence of him in the big double page spread of the battle though.

Gawd I miss numbered pages.

Cramer, I also wondered about the SP/UP thing. Looks like they aren't the best of friends. SP I am guessing works for Earthgov only instead of the entire UN? These may be reasons why UP sanctions the Legion...cause there aren't SPs on all the planets.

Jorge aka SP fan!!!

Yeah, like once everyone hit their early 20s and all in the Levitz-Giffen Legion. Why were they still called "Ultra Boy", etc.? I mean, sure it was all about copyright protection, but still...

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I feel bad for DnA cause they got bumped off at their peak.

No they didn't. They were on the decline and fading fast. When I read their early Legion work (Damned, Lost, Worlds and the first 15 issues of The Legion) and compare it with the last half of the series, the difference in the quality is staggering. The stories went from being tightly plotted, characterization-rich and action-packed to meandering, dangling subplots within "epics" with extremely weak finishes and empty action scenes. THIS IS NOT JUST MY OPINION. IT IS HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE FACT.



They had so much potential but never really ran with the ball they set up themselves. What was the point of Cub? Sure, I know they had a resolution in mind (eventually), but why drag it out through so many months with little real development? What about M'onel as a messiah? Or revisiting Dyrk Magz, the Sci-Cop? Dreamer's dreams of a dead Star Boy? Any of these threads would've been better than Garth inexplicably returning in the body of Element Lad (IMO, the biggest sign that the DnA era was struggling) as part of an attempt to limply sorta rehash the Great Darkness Saga.

Plain and simp, I was almost glad to get a totally clean break from the reboot Legion at this point.

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DnA's Legion seemed more like celebrities while this Legion reminds of N'Sync doing public service commercials "Even nerds can be cool kids!".

I don't know. This crew seems pretty celebrity-like, too. Maybe more so, compared to the very officially-sanctioned Legion of the reboot era.

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I loved Sun Boy though strangely I agreed with the more conservative Cosmic Boy.

EAT IT, GRANDPA!!!! Actually, I did, too, totally. But then, I'm over thirty.

And the difference between the two is?

I skipped over alot of posts so I don't know if anyone else has made this connection, but in the last 2 pages where Star Boy explains how all the fans camped around the HQ formed a human shield to prevent their HQ from being bulldozed. That sounds like an analogy of when the Legion got kicked out Adventure Comics, faded away after their Action Comics run and revived in Superboy after a letter writing campaign by Legion fans.

Bring Back Page Numbers!

Exactly. I'm all about the coming of age stories though. I love the when the kids grow up a bit. Robin becoming Nightwing, Speedy becomes Arsenal, etc. I was so hoping for Jo to become Ultra Man! With this said I am not saying middle aged heroes ala v4. Just young twenties coming of age stories.

Heh. I didn't like Damned at all. Lost was better but still didn't do much, same with Worlds...better but still not to my liking. The series? I loved the whole run!! But that is just a highly factual opinion of mine.


A few comments. I agree that Cub and the Garth/Jan body switch were the major weaknesses of the series. I hated that.

BUT the "rehash" with Darkseid and Universo I loved. First off I'm a huge Batista fan! Secondly that latest series is the closest I've felt at "home" since Levitz left. With reboots we will have rehash's but I thought it was overdue to have a Levitz era rehash (or two).

But with the Cub, Jarth, and a few other complicated messes (Wildfire) I thought the reboot was rather complicated. I was more upset cause I was enjoying the heck out the DnA stuff but that timeline was seriously flawed.

It seems like W & K are going to try to stray from those problem areas. But for all I know Powergirl is gonna show up with Krypto in the next arc or something.

Yeah but for me atleast these just don't seem that cool.

I'm so sorry. I'm still hanging tough at 29. What happens at 30? Do I collect all the hardcover archives and dress like Bouncing Boy? jk

Jorge

Hi Guys
Just wanted to say 'hi' and let you know how much fun it is reading all the comments and speculation!

Thanks YK! I was focussing on the double page spread.

Definitely, numbered pages help in a discussion.

As a long-time fan of the Legion from way back when they were in Adventure comics, I must say I am so grateful for this latest version of the Legion. I have stuck with the rebooted version waxing from mild interest to gritted tolerance in the hope of seeing the Legion I love again. While there are small changes, they are not as jarring nor disruptive.

Some thoughts about LOSH #1
1. If Invisible Kid is the first Earthling to join the Legion, why is the HQ situated there? I wonder if it is the influence of RJ Brande, if he is still tied to the origin of the Legion.

2. Why does Cos call the action of the Lallorian government an "armed adult rebellion"? This is not contradicted by the various senators.

3. Why is the Legion "endorsed by the United Planets" but not approved by the Science Police? I get the feeling that the UP may be encouraging the uprising of the teenagers in order to provide a threat so that non-UP planets like Lallor will join them.

4. Would the Legion give rise to the Heroes of Lallor? Would some of them, like Duplicate Boy or Life Lass be stationed there as a result of the rebellion with or without the sanction of the Lallorian government?

5. In the same vein as the speculation that the LSV may arise from a break-off from the Legion, it is also conceivable that the Wanderers may be a result of Legionnaires who have a wanderlust.

These are all speculations and I shall certainly look forward to seeing how the LOSH story unfolds.

Oh, while I am not offended by the call to "Eat It Grandpa", let us hope it is quickly replaced by the true call

Long Live The Legion!

Merlion Man, I like your ideas of teams within the team. From the Espionage Squad to a team of Wanderers all Legionnaires. Why not? We already have 75K members. Sounds like fun.

Jorge

I've sat rather quietly here reading through the various posts after making my inital remarks a few days ago. Unlike a lot of the members here, I'm not firmly entrenched in Legion history (future?) and knowledge, especially the past decade as I gave up on the title. I also don't get into the finer details of what could/might/hopefully be. I just want to read a good Legion comic again and enjoy characters I can recognize. So while I've been a fan of the Legion since the early 70's, I'll give you a blank stare if start asking me trivia about the team.

Overall, this new series is a very promising start (and I emphasize the word START) of a new series. People are so concerned about what "era" this should be called, or what happened to character "XYZ", etc. Why not just "ignore" what has happened before and enjoy what this new series represents? Not forget it, just essentially not be concerned by it. This is a new beginning with roots firmly planted in the past (future?) that respects what has come before.

Personally, I think the series we had the past decade somewhat disrespected the characters, the fans and the creators. I realize those creators wanted to do their own take on things with DC's blessings, but they also lost a lot of hardcore fans because of it. A tad harsh, but it's how I feel about it. This new start has brought a lot of us back.

As I said, I may not know or remember a lot of the "trivial" aspects of the Legion, but I am a huge fan. I love this team. And I'm definitely glad to actually WANT to buy this book.

After one reading, I reckon this is the best Legion tale I have read for a long time. I know the prelude might have been condensed to fewer pages, but I'm quite happy to enjoy the euphoria of the art on these pages.
The story is well developed, we are entering midstream, and I look forward to unravelling how we got to where we are in the tale, as well as seeing how it progresses.
The art is excellent throughout, and IMHO, is used more effectively than I can remember in a legion comic to evoke mood, from the beautiful future cityscapes to the carnage on lallor.

Although the Legion may be born of the generational differences, I expect many more threads to be developed . . . I'm 50 on my next birthday, so the "eatit" is getting a bit close to home!

I feel this is a book, and a series, I will return to again and again ... I am very encouraged for the future (pun intended!)

Long Live The Legion!

this issue rocked.

why? three things:

1) how many comics can you name where the important part of the "big fight scene" isn't the fight itself, but a conversation taking place during the fight? (Cos and Sun Boy)

2) the last few pages where Waid/Kitson use Star Boy and Lyle to give props to the legion of super-fans that have always helped to keep the legion alive through the years

oh, and let's not forget

3) "Eat it, grandpa." LOL!!

looking forward to this era of the legion (even though i really miss XS)

- Pat!

My first thought would be that if the superheroes they are emulating were all based on Earth, that's where they would want to be situated.

That does beg the question of whether or not there were superheroes on other worlds that the Legion might be aware of.

Where did it say he was the 1st Earthling to join?

I thought they just asked where he was from and commented that they didn't think Earthlings had natural powers.

The trouble is that once the more-or-less "real-time-aging" thing was established, they were sort of bound to take it to its logical end. Ergo, the 30-somethings of v4.

Different strokes, I guess. But while I hold Lost to be, in some ways, the pinnacle of DnA's run, the first arc of The Legion was definitely the most fun to read and just as expertly written. In my infallible, COMPLETELY OBJECTIVE opinion, of course.


I agree that The Legion had a very Levitzy feel to it. In fact, at its best DnA's take boasted the strengths of every Legion era from 1980 on.

Batista's work looked really good. Too bad that was about the exact point when the writing began to slip.


Hey, age 30+ is pretty cool. I still have my youthful looks but feel like a real adult, finally.

Only if you're hardcore enough and have the figure for it, respectively (neither applies to me, though I could pass for Retcon Death Boy -- ah -- I mean Kid Quantum I).


ah--? Isn't this thread supposed to be about the *current* LOSH? We return you to the actual topic in progress until Jorge or somebody replies to this post...

Why stop at three? (I know, I know)

4) Jesse Owens. How cool was that?
5) the word-balloon "glitch"
6) "You boys and your trophies..."
7) "It. Didn't. Look. Like. A. Bomb."
8) Invisible Kid's better powers. No more getting made by infra-red vision. And speaking of the Kid...
9) "Feels like home." So say me, too, Lyle.
10) Done in one story. A dying art in the age of decompression, but Waid's on his game.

I could go on. But let someone else play....

Did you notice that the kids from the Titans/Legion Special were in the last page around the girl with all the vidscreens?

Actually, the girl is on the last page, last case and the two other kids are on the previous page, looking at the screens

Well spotted Pariscub!

Just to add my two cents to all the great comments and observations...

First and foremost, thank you Barry and Mark (and Steve) for doing such a great job. You've really done an outstanding job at reimaging. Though very different than prior incarnations, this looks like it will be a fun ride and certainly "feels" right to this old time Legion fan.

Barry, your art is just stunning! Like others I wish the colors were brighter. The preview pages we saw looked so much nicer & sharper than the printed page. I have to say, that was one of the biggest disappointments in reading the actual issue.

Haven't seen anyone else comment on this but I didn't like the cover layout at all. Barry's gorgeous cover art got cropped down to almost nothing (besides Brainy, who plays no significant role in the story) and we're left with just empty white space. This was far from the eye catching cover that issue #1 should have sported in order to capture the interest of new readers. (Loved the logo and portraits though. I hope they continue to be used on a rotating basis ~ perhaps displaying the main participants in each issue)

Regarding the confrontation between Cos & Sunboy. I thought this was very well handled. I can certainly understand Dirk's postion (and he seemed to be portrayed true to form ~ rash, impulsive, gregarious, and a bit arrogant) It was appropriate for someone "on the ground" among all those massacred teens.

I very much empathized with Rokk and the position he found himself in. Logically, he was correct that a more defensive posture would be best. However, we are ruled by both mind and heart and in this instance, the heart carried the day. The juxtaposition of Rokk's anguished face with that of Theena and the other legionnaires viewing the horror of Lallor was mighty powerful. Bravo!

One thing I picked up on was that in each confrontation (macrobot & Lallor), the flashpoint is reached at the moment the word "child" or "children" is uttered by one of the adults in power. Seems to fit well into the overall theme of generational conflict.

All in all this was a terrific beginning to what promises to be a very enjoyable ride IMHO.

Finally, a very special thanks for that final scene. I also took that to be a tribute to long time Legion fans. I've been here since the early Adventure days, lived through the "Days of Wander" (no that's not a typo! ) and on through S/LSH and LSH etc. There were many dark days along the way when it looked like the end for the Legion. Were it any other book, it would have been dead and buried a long time ago. But the Legion has something that sets it apart from any other comic...it's die hard fans. Fans that just would not give up on Mon, Ayla, Lyle, Brainy, Cos, Garth, Jeckie, Jan...(yes, even the Shameless Hussy! ) and forced the powers that be, time and again, to bring back the Legion.

It brought a tear to my eye.


Vee

Cheers Barry! Glad to see it wasn't my imagination!