Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion Rebirth Speculation

I've got to second Dave's opinion. When I've heard DiDio speak at conventions, he's so enthusiastic about comics and he really seems to understand the enchantment so many of us feel with this medium.

What happens between enthusiasm and finished product, I don't know. He's tried a number of ambitious projects - 52, the weeklies - which started out strong. He certainly has different tastes from my own; I haven't much liked the stories he's written. I'd suspect anything coming out of DC and Marvel is more a product of committee thinking than the direction of one man - and it may be impossible to translate the enthusiasm into reality.

...I don't think I want a new Legion book at all. I'm too scared.

I'm scared, too, Sarky, but I try to be philosophical about it. If they don't get it right this time, there's always next time.

(That said, if they get it wrong, there might not be a next time.)



(No, because, when the Legion was at its rock bottom in the early 70s, along came Dave Cockrum like the proverbial cavalry. So...I'm not giving up hope.)

It's been almost a month-and-a-half now since DC's last Legion tease. With plenty of time to ruminate, I find that while I'm still clinging on to hope by the skin of my teeth, I can't shake this discouraging feeling that the next Legion writer won't be Tom King after all, much less my top choice, Hope Larson, but rather...Dan Jurgens.

Jurgens has been one of DC's top company men since a couple years after the current administration took over. No matter how many times he screws up (Nu52 JLI, anyone?), he gets yet another chance. And lately, he's been contributing heavily to the Superman franchise's commercially successful do-over, writing the Lois & Clark mini-series and the current Action Comics ongoing. So he's definitely in a favorable position to get a pet project of his moving. And Jurgens is definitely a Legion fan, having penciled the last few issues of new material for Tales of the LSH back in the 80s, a bunch of spot drawings for the Who's Who in the LSH entries, and Gail Simone's Postboot Legion arc.

But Jurgens also wrote and penciled Titans/Legion: Universe Ablaze. I haven't read it, but I've never heard a kind word about it. Which brings me to my next point. I have never liked Jurgens as a writer, going all the way back to his first involvement with the Superman franchise, as the writer/penciler of the Supes flagship book, and his rather creepy eagerness to take credit as "The Man Who Killed Superman." As I said before on the first page of this thread, I think a lot of his ideas are good, but I almost never like the way he executes them.

So if he does write the Legion, well...I'd give the first arc a fair chance, but my expectations would be quite low. In addition, I'd have a problem with the Legion being entrusted to yet another Middle-Aged Fanboy Writer. As I've been insisting lately, I believe if the Legion is ever going to expand its hardcore fanbase beyond a few thousand people, far too many of whom are over age 35, then having a MAFW is not going to get that done.

That said, I also want the Legion to firmly re-establish itself as a saleable property, so, yeah, even if Jurgens does get the gig, I'll support it...for a while, at least. I mean, hell, I supported the effin' Threeboot from issue 7 through issue 41!! And Jurgens couldn't possibly do any worse than the Threeboot writers...could he?

Saturn Girl has a cameo in Tom King's Batman #9 today (read into that what you will). She was one of the Jane Does in Arkham. When Batman walks by her cell, she breathes on the glass and draws a Legion logo.

I interpret that as a good sign. Thanks.

Wait. A story for reintroducing the Legion of Super-Heroes starting off with a Legionnaire travelling back to the past for reasons unknown and being put inside a mental hospital because their statements are vague and confusing and have gotten them labelled as mentally ill...

That was exactly how Geoff Johns started off his arc to bring the Legion back, starting with Thom in JSA suddenly being schizophrenic and living in an Opal City mental hospital.

I'm really late on this, but in that Batman issue with Saturn Girl, it leans on the fourth wall quite a bit. The speech bubble closest to the Legion symbol says "who's taking on THAT burden?" And we all know how Tom King loves to be meta and fuck with people. Plus, the thing where Gotham Girl calls her power Ultra-Vision.

I'm fairly sure by this point taht Tom King's the new Legion writer, unless he's trolling... which he might be, but he hasn't done it before.

I hope you're right, FB.

I haven't read any of the comics you cited, so I appreciate your sharing those possible hints.

Also, ever since my last post in this thread, I've been thinking that if King were the writer, and Jurgens the penciler (he's been known in the past to do pencil art for writers better than himself) would be ideal, because my feelings about Jurgens as a pencil artist are almost 180 degrees from my feelings about him as a writer (now, if Brett Breeding would come back to ink at least one issue, maybe an Annual, that would make it all just perfect IMO.)

Speaking of Jurgens, he had Clark name check Saturn Girl in Action recently when speaking with Lois ("It doesn't take Saturn Girl to figure out what you're thinking...").

One day these issues will be really tough to get, like the issues where you can't see the Next Big Thing, but he/she appears in silhouette at the end of the story.

Or not...

LOL

Oh, was that a joke?

Spoiler:

She dies in the next issue.

??? She's not even in the next issue. Are we still talking about the "Batman" series?

She becomes The Next Big Thing first, in a crazy Bat-family/Legion crossover that sees Sun Boy try to hit on Batgirl!



Which explains why The Next Big Thing often appears in silhouette...

CBR speculates on the Legion Rebirth. A surprisingly lengthy article that ultimately suggests taking the generational route:

http://www.cbr.com/how-should-dc-rebirth-legion-of-super-heroes/

I am wondering about what you guys think about the CBR legacy suggestion mentioned by Dave Hackett above. My first thought was "Ugh...," but it's starting to sound like a good idea the more it sits with me (which, granted has only been an hour, haha). A legacy approach would be a good way to keep favorite old-timers around, while introducing next generation legionnaires who can have fresh stories told about them, unsullied by the continuity issues that seem to turn off so many people *(but not me). I haven't really thought this through, these are just initial thoughts.

At any rate, keeping fingers crossed for Tom King as the new writer. DC signed him to a big exclusive, certainly they want to use him on more than one Batman book?

I haven't read it, but I've thought the legacy route was the best way to go for a long time.

I'm so sporadic with my upkeep of Legion developments, it sounds like a new idea to me! I'm likin' it.

I've liked this idea for a long time, too. Specifically, I think the "next generation" should be Devlin O'Ryan, Celeste McCauley and Kono (plus some new characters), with Polar Boy in the role of hands-on mentor, and the well-known Legionnaires as occasional guests, mostly telling stories about the old days.

It's got to be the way forward: the next generation of heroes with a few old timers as advisers and ongoing mysteries around why the rest aren't there.

If I wasn't working on a longstanding fic already I would love to write it myself.

I just want Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl to still be married with two kids, and for Vi and Ayla to still be together. Or at least let. Them. KISS. IT HAS BEEN 30 YEARS.

The way I see it, the problem with a complete reboot is that you end up either rehashing stories that have already been told, perhaps with a twist to keep them interesting (see the Reboot Legion) or you end up with something so different than the original stories that it's hard to justify calling it the Legion (see the Threeboot). However, if you just try to pick up again from an arbitrary point in the Legion's past (ala the Retroboot), you've got the problem that "you can't go home again", andso it doesn't feel quite right to try to integrate that past version into current DC continuity, plus you've ditched cool concepts that were introduced after that arbitrary point.

So instead you start with a Legion that's been around for quite awhile but doesn't make the claim to literally be any past version of the Legion, but can draw upon bits and pieces of all versions as needed. You just need decent editors to make sure the backstory, as introduced, ends up being consistent.

I think a brand new start is the best approach. Think how successful Guardians of the Galaxy is despite being very different and loosely connected to the original series. They could come up with new ideas or pull some other space related characters (like Captain Comet or those knights that are in the Whos Whos) and weave them into the Legion stories.