Has anybody read the new Brian Michael Bendis-penned Legion of Superheroes stories? Are they worth checking out? I love The Legion as a property, but they get restarted and rebooted so often that it is hard to get invested in the characters, Will this latest iteration stick, or will another writer come along and revamp the team once again?
I have not tried out the Bendis Legion. I'm a Bronze Age Legion fan. So far, my favorite version is the Legionnaires - I think they were all clones or something? DC was running Legionnaires and Legion of Super-Heroes at the same time...? It was the '90's...
ReplyDeleteI read it. It’s not bad, but it is typical Bendis in that the story takes a long time to play out. May be better to read as a trade to get a solid chunk at once.
ReplyDeleteIt’s quite different. Jon Kent is the Superboy. Many characters are completely different. Some are successors of 20th century folks (Dr. Fate) and some are variants (Gold Lantern). It’s interesting.
I want a subscription to this book. This is CLASS!
ReplyDeleteHard to say with DC. Years ago, Batman told Superman that he has met 3 different Legions. Can't tell you how surprised I was to read that sentence. This time, Saturn Girl seemed to have traveled back to the present. Having had changes happen around her, she winds up in an asylum for some time, and dissolves before meeting Superman.
We saw that before...after Flashpoint. Yet after years, Earth one is coming back now (still). Hell, they rebooted then killed off the ' new' Superman and replaced him with a Superman from another Earth/ Timeline. Then they kept this version but changed his past to make it seem he had always been on this Earth. And you want to know if this Legion version will stick? Don't think even Dr Manhattan could tell you that.
I like the fourboot Legion so far, with reservations. Bendis and Sook definitely have a strong vision for what they want this Legion to be like, which is something that hasn’t been true since Waid and Kitson. But the stories have been pretty rudimentary so far. It might actually be good if another writer took over who knew how to *use* what Bendis and Sook have created.
ReplyDeleteThe Legion of Super-Heroes GOES Back to the Future
ReplyDeleteI only know the original (fondly remembered) Legion, plus (just now read) the Geoff Johns version, which was pretty good because it wasn't that different.
ReplyDeleteAgain you've come up up with a truly delightful story concept... what happens next?
A cover idea. I know you've used at least one Classics Illustrated image. One I'd love to see here is the great cover by Lou Cameron for The Time Machine. That baby would give the Delorean a run for its money.
Another thought. How about the Delorean meets the Batmobile? Maybe even a Car Team?
Ross, this is one of your best covers yet, in both concept and execution.
ReplyDeleteI'm not even going to try to pretend to know what's going on with the Legion or anything else in DC's comics universe. They've had so many reboots, they could open their own Army surplus store.
MANY alterations to legendary characters. A very inclusive book for this generation; if you think about it, it probably gives a great representation of what a galactic-spanning society would be like.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about some of the characterizations, but I was raised on the original Legion, and totally immersed in the Giffen run (Darkness!!!!)
Pick up the trtade.
I haven't read any LSH stories since the Mike Grell era. As he was the only DC staffer with _any_ decent sticking power! Then, or since.
ReplyDeleteI took a look at the new version characters and was disheartened. I am rather concerned as to what DC allowed to happen to my beloved characters. I haven't had the courage to read an issue of the latest revamp yet, but I hope it won't be too bad. The Legion of Super-Heroes was my favorite series. I wasn't very happy with the Three-Boot version, and this looks even more modified. I'm worried that the writers are going to try be all "politically correct" rather than have the characters have any familiarity to what they were originally like.
ReplyDeleteOrdinaryguy2
Your fears will probably turn out to be justified. :-(
ReplyDeleteI also haven't checked out the Bendis version, but I will when it's available in graphic novel format. His stories are often so decompressed that I need a bunch of issues to find the plot.
ReplyDeleteI love the Mike Grell era so much, that I'm hard to please. Basically, I want Shadow Lass (not Umbra, are whatever nonsense J Crew catalog color name they've assigned her), Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy in swimwear costumes because they just looked cool.
If the Jetsons were (as in "Harvey Birdman...") driving a (DeLorean) (land) car they might be thought as an doppelganger family that has to worry about volcanic ash, birds, space junk, and other above-ground obstacles, that are named the CARsons!
ReplyDeleteWith a patriarch named Johnny? ;-D
ReplyDeleteOn a somewhat more serious note: could the Flash have called in the LSH because he _did_ prove unable to prevent the Punisher from "commandeering" the Cosmic Treadmill (in STF #3033)?
ReplyDeleteOoops! I meant "STF #3022!"
ReplyDeleteIn the immortal words of Senor Wences: "S'alright!"
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic. Today's LSH are made up of aliens from lots of different planets. Almost like the casts of the 1950's. All kinds of aliens from any planet anywhere.
ReplyDeleteWhen Bendis leaves in the future it's gonna be interesting to see what stories are done by his successors. With a new timeline, new relationships. New kinds of relationships. New imagination. New Time Trapper(s)?
If you don't have parallel worlds, multiple time lines seem to be the next best thing. Will we see a black hole of time? We saw a Zero Hour. Why not?
Because "Final Crisis" was supposed to live up to its name. That's why not. ;-)
ReplyDeleteSo? The video game franchise called "Final Fantasy" is increasingly misnamed. Why not a DC story arc?
ReplyDeleteit's a Crisis on all the crisis thru history. Or.. New people, new thinking and new rules. Reminds me... we got the House of Mystery and the House of Secrets....so, how about The House of Time. Different wings or rooms can connect to different eras. What time is it? Which room are you in? It's at a fractured point in time.
ReplyDeleteYou can now respond in a time-ly manner ...or mannor. ;)
@Anon 1:24: Nice comeback; btw, I was thinking of a future family named after the (non-flying) car (not the jet).
ReplyDeleteOhhhhhhhhhh!
ReplyDelete;-)
I had to give up comics in 2007, due chiefly to the expense--so I really don't know much of anything about the new Legion, except what I just read in this thread.
ReplyDeleteMy first encounter with the group was SUPERBOY #202 (original series), which, IIRC, also featured Mike Grell's first work on the Legion, although Dave Cockrum (RIP) drew the main Legion story in that issue. Mike's first solo work was next issue. He spoiled me; I think his Legion was visually the best ever, though Greg LaRocque also did a fine job in the 1980s.
That reminds me--what if, instead of Cockrum going over to Marvel to work on the merry mighty mutants, Chris Claremont had started writing the Legion instead? If CC could have made the Legion as popular as he made the X-Men in the real world, DC would not have dared to let Stimpy Byrne get rid of Kal-Els youthful adventures in the 30th Century, and the Legion might have never been rebooted, because why argue with success?
Oh, if you're wondering why I call John Byrne "Stimpy":
"DON'T TOUCH IT! IT'S THE HISTORY ERASER BUTTON, YOU FOOL!"
That's why the only time that cartoon series ever filled me with "happy-happy joy-joy" was when I heard the news it had been cancelled.
ReplyDeleteThe Legion in enjoyable animated had the Recent Superman animated. The good stuff.
ReplyDeleteSupergirl in JLU was very good. Young Clark in Smallville meeting them was so much better than the animated LSH version.
DC WANTS KIDS TO GET ON BOARD? Don't give them crap that they will totally reject.
Give it time. Our Legion will bleed thru some more. :)
@Tim Fisher: I wouldn't advise holding your breath till that happens.
ReplyDeleteBendis' "Legion" is practically unreadable. He has characters butchering sentences to make them seem more 'alien', the pages are littered with Interlac characters, very few of the characters have been introduced 'onscreen' & those that have all come off as whiny brats, and nothing has happened! If you MUST read it, wait until the trades and get it at your library if possible.
ReplyDeleteSo I was fishing in the timestream and landed something SPECIAL.
ReplyDelete(@Tim Fisher: I wouldn't advise holding your breath till that happens.)
IN DC CYBERNETIC SUMMER 80 PAGE GOIANT #1, there is an eight page story with SUPERBOY starring The LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. The original Legion! It starts on the Kent Family Farm. IT IS A SILVER AGE TALE.
"Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey" can happen faster than you might believe.
Oh yeah, as far as I know, it's NOT a reprint.
ReplyDeleteThen, it's probably a in-house pastiche (and a poor man's attempt, at that, I'm sure).
ReplyDeleteIf you're replying to "Fishing...", then no it wasn't. It was written and drawn by Dan Jurgens. Only a few characters but very faithful.
DeleteWho's Dan Jurgens?
ReplyDeleteSeriously?! He's Mike Grell's ex-protege! Responsible for NEW 52: FUTURE'S END (among other works).
ReplyDeleteMy comic store never bought any of issues of that.
ReplyDeleteCover of the month!
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