Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Stories that have ended your interest in Legion characters

We have a thread in the Gy'mll's forum entitled Comics That Have Ended Your Interest in Characters:

http://www.legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=822794&page=1

The criteria is that certain stories have made readers dislike characters to the point where they'd never want to read anything else with them.

Now, to apply the same criteria to the Legion gets complicated because of the multiple versions of characters, but I thought it would be worth a try anyway.

I'll start off with one of my Legion pet peeves, the Preboot Luornu.

So she's got this sad, somewhat creepy obsession with Superboy which seems to abate after she discovers true love with Chuck during the Cockrum/Grell era. Suddenly, during the shitty final stretch of the Baxter era, she becomes part of the Conspiracy to avenge Superboy by attacking and trying to destroy the Time Trapper.

If Preboot Luornu had had any brains, she would have realized that it was a suicide mission for her. Imra had her super-telepathy, Brainy had his smarts, and Mon-El was the team's Big Gun, so all of them going off to kill the Trapper made sense. But Luornu? I just found that incredibly, unforgivably stupid of her. I mean, she has a happy marriage to one of the sweetest guys in the universe, and she throws it all away for revenge? Nope, I'm not buying it (I also don't buy that Chuck wouldn't have at least tried to stop her, but that's another discussion.)

So ever since reading that, I haven't been able to feel anything but contempt for Preboot Luornu, no matter how well she comes off in other stories.

The 5YL Sun Boy made me dislike the character for a lot of reasons, which sucked because he was one of my favorite Legionnaires until Giffen got his hands on him. I wasn't interested in the brief appearance he made in the reboot and threeboot version after that.



I did like him in the Retroboot again though, so thank you Geoff Johns and Paul Levitz.

Fanfie,
You make some really good points about Luornu; I had never thought about the lack of logic in her running off for revenge against the Time Trapper. I've always read it, though, that she did so out of loyalty to Superboy and what he meant to the team, not out of her unrequited crush. (I could be wrong, though; I haven't read "Conspiracy" in a long time.) But you're right that it makes no sense for to not to take Chuck into consideration.

I do think that she gave up her obsession with Superboy before she found love with Chuck, not after. The beginnings of their relationship were planted in Adventure 380, 11 issues after the "tunnel" scene in Adv. 369, when she realizes her feelings for Superboy are hopeless.

As for a story that turned me off of a Legion character, does the Threeboot turning me off the entire Legion count?

LOL

Abso-freaking-lutely! Cheers.

Re Luornu
Either in the death of Superboy issue or the one after, she says that she loved him, in front of everyone.

I think that this is supposed to show that, although she loves Chuck, she never stopped loving Superboy. She was just realistic enough to realise how pointless it was and move on with her life.

Her lack of powers just makes her part in the conspiracy all the braver. I thought Levitz would have given her more to do, but it took a lot of guts (enough for two at least) to get involved at all.


Re Sun Boy
Like a lot of adventure characters, he was a bit of a jerk. It just seems to have stuck with him more than the others. Possibly due to his leadership tantrum. I still remember him bouncing Polar Boy out of the Legion on the flimsiest of pretexts.


I'm failing to come up with a story that's ended interest in any character... Rokk as a sulky Polestar was poor; Earth Man was always a poor choice for the Legion; Mon El getting a lantern ring was dull... but not ended my interest.

After the Legends of the Legion I had no interest in reboot Umbra. We had already done the "Xenophobic then reformed" route with Andromeda before she was shuffled off, so having Tasmia revisit that with an amped up amount of spite and hatred just made me not care about the character or any sort of redemption she might eventually get.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree. I believe her actions were foolhardy at best, idiotic at worst.

No problem. I'm not sure we're disagreeing really. Or rather, I'm not totally disagreeing with your point of view.

It was incredibly insensitive of her to get involved in something like that without Chuck. I'm not sure where it started, but Chuck seemed to end up with an acceptance that he may not be first choice in Luornu's heart (or one part of it) but that he's fine with that. Whereas we all know Chuck is much better than that. I wonder if that came form this story, or whether it was way back when they got together.

I think this led to Luronu's split personalities having affairs and Chuck having to accept that too.

A lot of character development is in fits and starts. There's no doubt that the Superboy crush was the big hook, as Levitz thought of likely conspiracy candidates. Her feelings towards the husband she loved were a bit steam rollered to make that work.

There's also her relationship with the academy students. Tellus came to her, because he thought he could trust a teacher. Only to find that this wasn't the case.

No one fared well against the trapper really in the end. Luronu did get Brainy's forcefield belt when he left, but handed it back. In 5yg I think she had force field powers suddenly in a poor moment.

But while Mon El can go up against monster villains, becoming two targets is still pretty brave in my book.

I'm not really sure Luornu was really any more foolhardy than anyone else in that scenario. I mean... it's not like Mon-El's invulnerability stopped him from being fatally injured in the encounter as well. From what I understood, they all took it to be basically a suicide mission (and, as I recall, it would've been without the unexpected intervention of Rond). I think there's pretty good reason to question the whole conspiracy storyline, but Lu's role in it doesn't strike me as that much different than any of the other conspirators.

Point well taken, EDE, but I still think it was stupid and insensitive of her to do this behind her husband's back. Need I add, her devoutly loving husband with a great personality?

As for Conspiracy itself, I think it's truly the point where Levitz's writing went into a tailspin. I don't blame Greg LaRocque at all for exiting halfway through (interestingly, it parallels Jim Sherman's departure from Earthwar.)

I agree about it being stupid and insensitive, but I'd say the same thing about Imra and Mon-El and their respective partners.

In fact, since pretty much the only one who was necessary for the plan was Brainy, it probably would've made the most sense had he actually gone by himself to face the Trapper.

Now that you mention it, they are as much at fault as her.

I guess the reason I single out Luornu is because, unlike Imra, she never saved the galaxy single-handedly, and, unlike Lar, she doesn't have centuries of heroic deeds behind her.

Also, I've always found there to be something off-center and creepy about Luornu. To give just one example, I remember when we were discussing the Devil's Dozen story in the Archives Re-Read, we all agreed that her even-tempered reaction to her "gift" struck a sour note.

I very much disliked her before Legion of the Damned. It wasn't until the end of Legion Lost (when she softened up a bit and actually apologized) that I liked her again.

I feel the same way as Ibby. DnA were better known for plot and action than for characterization, but I think they gave Tasmia a good character arc, culminating in the wonderful spotlight issue, The Legion #24.

So there was a time I would've been interested in seeing ol' Absorbancy Boy again.

After the whole Earth Man joins the Legion storyline... not so much.

These are the reasons why the Conspiracy storyline turned me off all four conspirators for a while. Imra and Brainy possibly the most, because of their holier-than-thou attitude while justifying their actions.

And Imra had two kids then to boot, so maybe that makes her a little bit more stupid and insensitive than Lu and Mon

I do agree that Lu's relative lack of power should have made her think a lot harder about actually going to face the Trapper. Imra and Mon weren't safe either, but their powers did make them more equipped in that battle.

Now that you mention it...yes, it does.



My sentiments exactly.

I bailed before that storyline gathered full steam, so I can't really comment, but it occurs to me that maybe Levitz, a fan of the Silver Age Avengers, thought he could do something similar to what the Avengers writers had done -- bring in a new member with a dubious past.

Foundations also turned me off Superboy/Kon-El, who seemed to have magically lost years of maturity in an instant. Maybe it was that pesky time travel.

DNA also turned me off Invisible Kid, who went from occasionally-snarky-but-nice to I'm-smarter-than-you-so-I-can-insult-you-as-I-please. I already found Lyle insufferable in the early Postboot, but came to like him when he became Legion leader. Then DNA made me dislike him all over again. His line to Brainy, "You must be smug... I mean pleased." was uncalled for, especially as Brainy had already become a lot nicer and more patient.

DNA also turned me off Cosmic Boy. While I agree that Superboy wasn't the most responsible or thoughtful guy around, Cos' approach could have been thought out better. He spent a lot of time yelling at Superboy without explaining things to him. Like the time Superboy went out dressed as Superman, causing riots. Can't really blame Supes - he didn't know how big a deal Superman had become, and Ferro was the one who gave him the costume.

That's a good point, Fanfie. I can see Levitz wanting to go that route. Although... if that were his intent, he should have thought harder. Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye never did anything quite as bad as what Earth-Man had done.

Exactly. And, actually, I would've been pretty much fine with almost any of the other JLEarthers joining, but Earth Man himself just seemed like it was a bad idea all around.

I have this theory about Paul's Earth-Man joining the Legion storyline. Back when he started writing the Legion again, he made a big deal about not picking up exactly where Johns & Co left off. He picked and chosed what elements he wanted from the Superman & Legion and Legion of 3 Worlds storylines. And I suspect he tossed out all of the extremely evil things that Earth-Man did in the Superman & the Legion storyline as not happening, but like a lot of his other subplots he never bothered explaining in-story what Earth-Man did or didn't do, elaborating on the characters motivations, the deal between him and Shady, etc.

I hate to say it but Dragonwing turned me off starting from her first appearance with the Legion. I didn't mind her as a Legion Academy student, but I never saw her as having any active Legionnaire potential. Quite frankly, I'm glad she just faded away during Levitz's Fatal Five storyline.

I'm sure Earth-Man would have been a lot more palatable if he had just been a Spider-Girl type villain, whose worst crimes were theft/robbery and fighting the Legion. As it is, his inclusion and relationship with Shady also acted as character assassination for Shady herself!

Yup, he murdered Legion allies and tortured and maimed others. Levitz had Brainy consider heroism across a life, with the suggestion that Earth- Man was a complete tool with a second of sacrifice at the end. The Legion as a concept was tarnished a bit by having him included.

Dirk: Hey Earth-Man! Could you ask Jeckie what time it is?
Earth Man: If I have to. Still, no hard feeling about the torture?
>snap<
Dirk: None at all. Do you want a hand with the corpse, your highness?