Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Brian Bendis & Ryan Sook relaunch the LSH

From the Bendis interview, I'm more excited ... hopefully optimistic even

Eh, trying to remain hopeful. They look about as different as Kitson's redesigns, just taken in another direction. Shady looks best, to my eye, although I also like that Cosmic Boy seems to have gotten even more Asian in appearance than the last time he trended that direction. Brainy evokes Jor-El, somehow, the classic 'comic book scientist.' Maybe it's the tunic?

Not really a fan of the looks for Garth or Imra, but it's the far future, and the Legion's 'classic' looks include stuff like bell bottoms or pixie shoes, so I'll take it.

Given that the orange-antennaed form has already been retconned into being a form that Durlans take off-world to make other humanoids more comfortable around them (rather than their 'normal' green tentacle-mass in purple tatters look), I'm not really caring about the tweaks to Cham's look, only intrigued by the possibility that it will carry over to Yera as well.

It might bring me out of Limbo lol

I’m willing to give it a chance, at least.

I'm speculating that Naomi is the character who will be moving to Legion.

ETA: or maybe the female character from his Dial H for Hero, whose name escapes me right now.

Continuing to think through the possibilities, based on Bendis saying it’s a female character he currently writes, whose move to Legion won’t disrupt the current DCU. Could it be Amethyst or Jinny Hex? Both have connections to the future. And he has said this initial Younf Justice lineup isn’t going to stay static.

I'm slightly excited. Bendis says there will be 34 lead characters. Now, I guess not all will be Legionnaires. But he seems open to the idea of having a massive team. And the chances are high that some members, at least, will not be from the usual "debuted in Adventure Era and have been there in pretty much every reboot" crowd. Which I welcome. Some promising latter-day Legionnaires should get their due!

True that. Thirty-four is a huge number!

There are slightly more than that, but I'd discount those whose membership is sketchy (like Infectious Lass, called a Legionnaire once, but apparently forgotten ever since), or who are dead at the moment (Rond Vidar, Myg) or even more recently dead (Star Boy, Sun Boy, both perhaps due for a retcon?), or retired from the team for various reasons (Matter-Eater Lad, Bouncing Boy, Blok, White Witch).

Of those that remain, that I can recall;

The classics (in order of me thinking of them...);

Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5, Phantom Girl, Duplicate 'Girl', Shadow Lass, Mon-El, Ultra Boy, Colossal Boy, Chameleon Boy, Chameleon Girl, Night Girl, Element Lad, Tyroc, Invisible Kid 2, Star Boy, Dream Girl, Sun Boy, Wildfire, Dawnstar

Baxter 38 'new class - Sensor (Projectra), Polar Boy, Tellus
New, new class - Glorith, Comet Queen, Dragonwing, Chemical Kid, Harmonia Li

That's still not even 34, but leaves room for non-Legionnaire characters of significance like RJ Brande and Shvaugn Erin and Gigi Cusimano and stuff.

Granted, I'm keen on more of people we haven't seen as much of over the years, like Tyroc or Tellus (and would like for Harmonia Li, like the deaths of Sun Boy and Star Boy, or even Myg and Rond Vidar, to be conveniently forgotten and never mentioned again), but obviously the Founders + Brainy are going to be center-stage, at least to start.

Hopefully he can write for 34 characters without anyone getting the short end of the stick. I would rather have a smaller cast used well than a large cast that gets neglected. Paul was great at keeping everyone involved in the narrative with subplots, somtjat even if they weren’t part of the main story they were playing a part. Not everyone is good at that.

Is Bendis' Legion of Super-Heroes a Reboot?

Sure sounds like it.

Cover of Superman #15 has the three founders plus Wildfire and someone who looks to be either Ultra Boy or Colossal Boy.

Solicitation list then as being from the 32nd century???

The Legion will actually debut August 14 in Superman #14

And if this IS indeed a Reboot, there's no reason why characters from other continuities (Reboot, 5YL, Threeboot) cannot appear. Kinetix, XS, Gates, Kid Quantum II, Gear, Monstress, Dragonmage, Computo, Gazelle...

for that matter,even if it is set in the Retroboot continuity, there again is no reason why these characters cannot be introduced!

So what will this one be called--the Bendisboot?

I wonder who will be the Legionnaire to have a nervous breakdown, kill a couple of teammates and then wipe a species out of existence...

Ah, nothing like sitting down at the end of the week in my bell bottoms and pixie shoes to catch up on some posts...



>betrayed gasp!<

I'll finally get to do a review on a current Legion issue!

Assuming that Millennium doesn't tank and they delay the actual ongoing, that is. Gods forbid they ever launch a bloody book without endless teaser appearances and an Event comic.

This must be the first book I've read that sums shows parts of DC history leading up to pivotal Legion related events since...gosh...last month when there were some big revelations in Electric Warriors #6. Really, there are things in that book that could lead right into the classic Adventure tales of the '60s, with minor tweaking.

Tying the future of the DCU together was also done in The history of the DC was another book that did this. Howard Chaykin's Twilight also pulled together a lot of DC's sci-fi characters into a coherent whole.

The haircuts in this new Legion also seem to have come from the same barber as Warcry in Electric Warriors. Perhaps it's a tribute. Chameleon Boy looks awfully like the Martian in Quantum Age/ Black Hammer. Too early for a company crossover? Quantum Legion has a nice (flight) ring to it.

Sure, they may all become smartbutts with endless panels of heads (surely Giffen is best suited to draw that in a 9 or even his old 16 panel format) finishing each others sentences with snarky remarks. But I have read a lot worse than a Bendis book before, so I'll give this every chance. I'm surprised that the characters look to be so identifiable. A nice nod to what has gone before, and a way of keeping old fans interested.

I noted that the Legion is coming together "Our Legion is coming together out of what they think is dire necessity. Things are starting to crumble, and they're crumbling fast, and it really feels like it's time for a new Age of Heroes for the first time in a millennium." That was the premise of the TMK run too. Also, if this is the first age of heroes in 1000 years, then the end of Electric Warriors seems leaves a few questions. Not in a bad way, but in a plot seed way. I'd be a little disappointed if the reason that series wasn't pushed was because it was going to be obsolete for this launch. That sort of thing always showed DC at it's organisational worst (see Final Crisis/ Death of the New Gods)

They also seem to be wanting to build up to another great darkness type of event. The GDS was quite early in Levitz's run. It cast a big shadow, but it didn't stop Levitz from writing plenty of other top comics. I guess this is the DC anything for an Event mentality kicking in.

This might be very good, I enjoyed Bendis on New Avengers and the X-Men. I am not surprised that it is being rebooted as the last Legion book of the Retroboot was published in 2015. That means there are people whose only reference to the Legion is from the TV shows or animated movies. A fresh start sounds good and people can always continue and/or follow their favorite versions in fanfic.

My money is on Rokk.

I’m going to try to be optimistic and open minded, but I still haven’t forgiven him for what he did to the Scarlet Witch. It took literal years to get her back on track.

Meh. Genocidal Rokk was a couple of 'boots ago!

Don't name the baby before it's even born.

In the 2019 edition of the DC Comics Ultimate Character Guide (available in hardback) there are entries for The Legion of Super-Heroes, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, and Mon-El.

All now completely out-of-date.

Heh.

Let's hope it lasts more than 23 issues?

-- WILDFIRE!!! I am super-pumped that we won't have to wait to see him back on the team like other iterations or runs of the Legion title. Not a huge fan of the redesign so far, but at least he has the visor.
-- I literally had Rokk's haircut in my twenties.
-- Great to see Garth front and center rather than Rokk. I always thought he was more suited to be the front-person.
-- No idea who that last person is ... I hope it's not Jo. Based on the other designs, they've been pretty recognizable. New character? I am looking forward to seeing brand new characters as well as returning faces.

My initial thought was Naomi, but the preview pages all seem to show a caucasian woman with reddish hair. I don't think the character "moves" to the Legion though - if she's immortal it seems we're just following her long life into the 31st century so it's the future of whomever that character is, not that she's time traveling. (that's my take anyway)

Agreed on the long life, nonetheless bendis’ wording “For those who are worried, it's a character that can leave the DC Universe and walk a thousand years, and not mess up your favorite comics” makes it sound like this character won’t be around in present day books.

I am excited, but not necessarily because I think I will enjoy it myself. I am excited because it has the potential to bring a lot of new fans into the "franchise".

Firstly there is the name draw of Bendis. Like him or hate him he is well known enough and being highlighted enough (shades of John Byrne and the 1986 Superman revamp) to garner attention.
Secondly the idea of a mini-series exploring DC's future and linking lots of characters is a draw card in itself.
Thirdly some of the new Legion characters (it sounds like a reboot to me) will be appearing in the pages of Superman before the launch of the new series as well.

So I am hopeful that this might invest some new life into the fanbase and that is worth the risk.

Other reactions to the art work: not sure, particularly like everyone else about Imra. She looks the most different. It took me a while to see the Saturn image in her costume. The hair styles will have to grow on me but then I am an old fogey. Also they look much better in action on the Superman #15 cover than in the character sketches, naturally I suppose. I also took a while to notice that there is a similarity to the costumes in legs and lower body, perhaps semi uniform like the Reboot was?

Oh and I love that first issue cover. It looked good straight away with the figure in the devastation but it took me a bit to see the whole thing as the Legion logo. Very nice.

The Superman #15 solicit is suggestive: "At last, it’s the return of the Legion of Super-Heroes! The greatest super heroes of the 32nd century have travelled back in time not just to meet the heroes who inspired them, but to make an offer…but to which hero? And why will that choice tear Superman’s life apart?" Since Jon Kent is also on the cover it sounds to me like it's a new take on the recruiting of Superboy to the team but perhaps with it being of a more permanent nature?


I was wondering who this could be as well. I like the Naomi idea although the skin tone is different. It appears from the images that she changes her appearance a bit over the centuries which makes sense. My first thought was that it would be Lois Lane but that would fit into him "messing up your favourite comics" so pretty sure not. Who else? The female villain acting as a reporter in Superman?
Anyone else with ideas?

I thought it might be Timber Wolf.

Ahhhh yes, now I can only see Timber Wolf looking at him.