quote:Originally posted by Blue Beetle: I cant wait for this, when exactly is it comic to stores.
You're going to hate the answer as much as we do (probably). #1 is listed as being in the shops on Dec. 29th and then #2 is listed for Jan. 26th. That's at least an eternity away and possibly longer. >sigh<
From: Smallville Sector : Greater Metropolis | Registered: Jun 2004
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I still haven't made it to the store to pick up the TT/Legion book with the preview. So, I really appreciate the opportunity to read the preview and judget it for myself. Having read this I have a much clearer understanding of where Waid and Kitson are going, and generally approve enthusiastically.
I am delighted by the sociocultural underpinnings of the book so prominently on display in the preview. Waid's 31st century appears to be an entertaining exaggeration from current American society, where children are more regimented, programmed and protected than ever before. Waid's 31st century is an absurd extension of the present day, where kids are hustled from play dates to music lessons to soccer games to test preparation to homework, and so on. There is no down time, no time to goof off, no time to chart your own course in life.
Demographers are finding that, as a result, people now in their 20s are more likely to be conformist and group-oriented along a number of dimensions, rather than individualistic and success-oriented as their parents and grandparents were. (To be fair, demographers also find that young adults are MUCH better at multi-tasking, balancing work and personal lives, and get their information increasingly from non-traditional media.)
Waid's vision also reflects the over-protectiveness of today's parents. As the father of a 2-year old, I KNOW what I am talking about. Car seats, stair gates, cabinet locks, toilet locks, stove knob locks, oven locks, tub spout guards, bicycle helmets, water filters, blood-lead screening -- the list goes on and on of ways we make kids safer that were almost unheard of 20 years ago. The overwhelming marketing message of today's baby-industrial complex is "Safety 1st -- 2nd and 3rd, and then more Safety!" Until you register for baby shower gifts, you have NO idea how dangerous the world is, man! The result is that children are MUCH safer (accidental injury and death among children have plummeted). However, because we have become so much more successful at protecting our children, it is that much harder to accept that we cannot protect them from everything. 9/11 and its aftermath have reinforced that cognitive dissonance by introducing a whole new category of threats we hadn't taken seriously before -- How can I keep my family safe from weaponized inhaled anthrax?!?!?
What does all this have to do with a Legion comic? Well, it makes clear how Waid is explaining the reason for the Legion. Why, in a technological utopia, would a bunch of super-powered kids think that they can or should save the world? Waid's answer is that they are doing it to give personal meaning and individuality to a safe but overly-regimented existence. Also, The answer to the question of "Why the Legion" has to be grounded in some sort of generational conflict. Otherwise, the Legion would have a normally distributed age range from 18 to 85. Waid's giving the Legionnaires a compelling new reason to put on the flight ring, and grounding that reason in the foibles and phobias of contemporary society.
One interesting implication of Waid's approach is that the Legion could very legitimately be viewed as terrorists by mainstream society. This is the connection, I believe, that Gail Simone alluded to between "For No Better Reason" and the new book. Gail's terrorists were so desperate to point out society's dependence on technology they were willing to destroy the society in order to "save" it. How far will the Waid/Kitson Legionnaires go to offer young people a non-conformist, unregimented purpose in life? Will they have a code of ethics -- a Constitution, perhaps? -- to prevent them from crossing the line? Is the Legion about being free to be who you are, or forcing everyone else to be free, whether they want to be or not? I hope Waid and Kitson confront questions like this in the series. I also hope Waid and Kitson deal with the "why are they super-powered?" question. I suspect the answer is that, in the 31st century, almost everyone COULD be super-powered, but most people choose NOT to be, because it is just too dangerous and embarrassing.
I have no idea whether this new approach, grounded in an allegory of our own society, will make the book a hit or a flop. I HOPE young people read it and find some resonance with their own lives. As a boomer parent, the approach sure resonates with me! Most importantly, the previews conclusively contradict, for me, the conclusion by some posters that this is just another Archie-world reboot, no better or worse than the Zero Hour Legion. This is most interesting, complex and thoughtful background that the Legion has had since the TMK era. And, I suspect that, in contrast to TMK, the new era is going to be more reliably fun and less frequently dystopian and depressing. The few preview pages we have seen already make the new Legion more interesting than the Zero Hour reboot EVER was, even at it's best. If Waid and Kitson have put as much effort into the individual characters as they have into the world they inhabit, this is going to be an AWESOME book.
Oh, in conclusion, I can't forget to mention that Barry's art just absolutely rocks!
-------------------- ...but you don't have a moment where you're sitting there staring at a table full of twenty-five characters with little name signs that say, "Hi, my superpower is confusing you!"
From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I've opened up the brain spiggot and the crap just keeps poring out!
Another implication of the Legion's new sociocultural milieu (aren't we fancy!) is the impact that a character like Mon-El could have on that society. One of the best aspects of the Zero Hour reboot, and one of the greatest unfulfilled disappointments, was M'Onel's status as a messianic figure in galactic history. While DnA gave us hints of the personal impact of messiah status on Lar and his relatioship with Triad, they never took the opportunity to really tell that story.
The Waid/Kitson 31st century treats the heroes of the past as mythical, the way we view Achilles and Odysseus. So, imagine the uproar of a the arrival in that world of a flesh-and-blood, all-too-real super-hero from the ancient past. Imagine the impact on the Legion, and on the society they are rebelling against.
Another fascinating implication of the Legion's new world is, what happens if the Legion really meets the mythical heroes of the past -- Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman. Again, DnA played around with this, but I think the impact on WnK Legion is MUCH greater. These kids have turned their backs on the values and mores of galactic society in hopes of recapturing the heroic ideal of a bygone time. How will the "reality" of the 21st century heroes match up with the ideal the Legionnaires have created for themselves? This could be a real dynamite story, and a landmark event in the development of this Legion (in contrast to the 1st reboot's team 21 arc, which seemed to have an "elites annoyed to be trapped with the barbarians" vibe about it -- Spark always complaining about us primitives eating meat).
Sorry for the long posts. As you can tell, I am really excited that this Legion could really realize its potential.
-------------------- ...but you don't have a moment where you're sitting there staring at a table full of twenty-five characters with little name signs that say, "Hi, my superpower is confusing you!"
From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Jul 2004
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