posted
The Shadow Lass thread where there are several good comments about the v4 Umbra got me to thinking that now that we have a bit of distance from the last incarnation of the Legion I think people are starting to lighten up on the negatives about the team.
So...what did you really like about the DnA Legion? Starting with a shocking and very dark story about The Blight we saw the Legion get beaten down and and mind controlled and that story led to the total destruction of the Legion we knew and led on into Legion Lost, Legion Worlds and a relaunch of The Legion.
Characters changed a bit, the UP changed, Legion World was created and Lightning Lad was killed and resurrected (as usual). What happened in here that really lit up the Legion for you during that 3 or 4 years of our favorite futuristic teenagers?
Was it Brainiac 5's spikey hair? MO'nel's buff pecs and heroic attitude? The Oversight Watch? A Batman villian a thousand years from now?
We've hashed over the things we didn't like about DnA for a long long time now so now let's share the things we DID like. _______________________
In a way I sort of liked the lack of depth to their run on the Legion. There was a more ordinary comic bookish approach to the team and there was action action ACTION all the time. It was a different sort of Legion for me, more cliffhangers than usual and a bit more in the way of bloody handed battles and property damage just for the hell of it. Something of a "What If the Legion were a Marvel Book" than most people go for when they write the LSH. There was a lot of energy in that first couple of years. Yeah, they were kind of shallow in the long run but there was quite a bit of really interesting work there for a while.
From: Smallville Sector : Greater Metropolis | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
The redefinition of Thom as a gravity-wielding hero with fine and powerful control, from a vague "i make things heavy" guy with erratic Daxamite powers.
And Dream Girl as a Khund-trained sleepless precog warrior!
posted
DnA got me reading the Legion again after PMS had driven me away and there were a lot of things I liked about their take on the team.
* I really liked Legion of the Damned. It was such a different type of Legion story and I think their portrayal of the few desperate surviving Legionnaires facing insurmountable odds was a very good one. It felt more like a War comic than a Legion comic and I think that was appropriate. (I also loved Coipel from his very first panel so that helped.)
* I was amazed at how much they made me like Brainiac 5, a character I've never cared for before or since. Dropping that stupid .1 was a good start.
* Dropping Thunder from the team was a good move IMO.
* I liked the way they foreshadowed the coming of Robotica years later with their very first Legion story.
* I *LOVED* Legion Lost! IMO this is one of the best Legion stories ever! I loved every twist and turn and surprise and also really liked their take on all them members here - a surprise to me as pretty much all of them were my least faves. My complete love for DnA after this story made their rapid decline, and so soon after, all the harder to bear.
[ July 02, 2005, 04:11 AM: Message edited by: Blacula ]
From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
In my opinion, Legion Lost is the second best legion story ever (after GDS 'natch) so DnA get major props for that.
I also liked:
- Olivier Coipel's art. He was just about the first A-grade artist to tackle the legion in maybe ten years
- Their note-perfect characterization of Brainy
- Wildfire's new suit
- Nura as kundish warrior
- Thom's power upgrade
- Luornu as mature, capable leader-ish figure
- Venge and Oversight Watch showed promise as interesting new villains
-Ra's as future president
- That kewl issue where the legion fought the Justice League
I was also very intrigued by the idea of an Saturn Girl/Ultra Boy relationship before it all turned to crap
I really didn't have any problem with DnA's legion until Coipel left. For the most part it was a fun, exciting, intelligent ride.
Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yeah, thir Nura was one of the best versions yet. Her upgrade was very interesting and showed some serious potential. I loved it when they got to the XS - Star Boy tean up on Xanthu and made a point of saying that XS had grown into her Flash powers. I had really high hopes that she'd become a major player as a Flash level speedster instead of just being super-fast.
From: Smallville Sector : Greater Metropolis | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
My list:
--Legion Lost was a good story, though I don't think it holds up quite as well in retrospect.
--They made Monstress a compelling character.
--The Kwai and the Progeny were both interesting alien species.
--They fixed Dreamer, and fixed (or at least ignored the problems with) Wildfire.
--At least four of the Legion Worlds issues (#1, #3, #4, #5) were fantastic.
--Interesting new minor villains (Nadir, the Oversight Watch, the gang the Oversight Watch fought)
--Robotica.
--Making the Legion Academy an important part of the Legion universe again.
--The general idea of the Credo story was good, even if the execution was poor.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Up until Foundations (which started out great, imo, but didn't deliver at the end), I liked *almost everything*. It was a universe turned upside down.There was danger and surprise at every turn. Anything could happen, and did. It also had an epic sweep and mythological resonance (especially LOST) that had been been missing from the Legion for many years prior. Special kudos to the artists: Olivier Coipel, Chris Batista and Steve Lightle for his guest turns.
The accusation of shallow characterization has some validity if you're a reader whose favorite characters were largely neglected for five years. Quite a few Legionnaires were pushed backstage to make way for the Chosen Ones, i.e., Saturn Girl, Brainy, Ultra Boy, Kid Quantum and a few others on whom the spotlights shone again and again. Yet few can deny the depth of L:LOST and L:WORLDS. There were even some fine character moments in THE LEGION, at least at the outset (think of Lyle and Imra in the Kwaiverse). Personally, I was satisfied with the characterizations, and particularly liked how the writers depicted Brainy, Umbra, Sensor and Dreamer. I loved Shikari to pieces. Though I couldn't abide DnA's Saturn Girl, the diner waitress/Kwaiverse dream issue is among my very favorite stories about her.
I'm a long-time Element Lad fan, so it might come as a surprise that I didn't suffer a stroke when he was transformed into a genocidal monster. Truth be told, the character who went by his name wasn't the Jan I'd known and cared out in the past (Stern & Peyer warped him long before DnA). Still, he was close enough to the "real" Jan that I was moved to tears by his tragedy. I wept for Montress, too, and for Garth, for whom LOST was a great coming-of-age story. It as a cathartic reading experience, and I return to it once or twice a year. It hasn't lost it's punch, imo. I *WAS* outraged to the point of apoplexy by the Jarth thing, but even that feeling subsided in time. At the very end I actually found it perversely funny. My way of coping, I guess. Go figure.
DnA frustrated with their dangling plotlines and overstayed their welcome, but all things considered, it was my kind of Legion. I sorely miss the action now, above all else. In contrast, WaK's so-called "character-driven" stories seem pretty sluggish to me, and the external threats they've created (Lemnos, Terror Firma) come across as mundane compared to cosmic-scale horrors like The Progenitor, Ra's Al Ghul and Robotica.
From: Reimagined Trom | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
No question in my mind that DnA and Coipel saved the Legion from cancellation. At the start, I found the Damned saga both shocking and compelling in what was happening to my Legion (I was mainly afraid that my favorite characters would be maimed and dragged through the mud a la Giffen and Beirbaums, but thankfully that was not the case). I still think the Blight are the scariest villians the Legion has ever faced, much the way the Dark Circle should be portrayed. The Lost and Legion Worlds stories were also extremely well done, visually and literally the best thing to happen to the Legion in some years. Somehow, DC editors must have gotten too involved or DnA just lost interest in the Legion because the stories for Dream Crime and Foundations were bland, even with the great Batista artwork. DnA fixed Monstress, Wildfire, and Universo, gave us the Progenitor, Robotica, The Blight and CREDO, plus an interesting look at Ra's al Ghul, reintroduced Superboy to the Legion, and gave us a new slant on some Legionnaire characters. All of this will be good enough to remain part of the Legion mythos, no matter how many reboots we suffer through.
-------------------- "My dance card was getting fuller than a contestant's at a Jandan shurg-off." - Exnihil, The Lost Klordny
From: Frederick, MD | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Aside from Cub, "Jarth" and Terrorformed Kinetix, I pretty much liked all the premises behind DnA's stories. They also brought me back after I had dropped both titles during PMS. The problem was their followthrough. But I did really like:
- The Blight to seriously darken things up, effectively blotting out the Archie-Legion. - they made WILDFIRE a Legionnaire, ignoring his new origin, gave him an interesting new kind of suit (thanks Coipel) and did a great job with his characterization. - Legion Lost - Ra's al Ghul as recurring threat - Legion World - DnA's take on most characters, including Brainy, Mon, Ultra Boy, Triad, Umbra, Invisible Kid, Dreamer, Star Boy, XS, Ferro, Karate Kid, Spark, Kid QII, Shikari and Gates. - They brought back Timberwolf - Dream Crime and Foundations started out good
[ July 02, 2005, 08:49 AM: Message edited by: DrakeB3004 ]
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I actually didn't care for the Blight story at all.
Legion World was a bit better but I didn't last over 4 issues.
Legion World on the other hand I did like a bit.
And the Legion series was amazing IMHO.
I agree with DrakeB3004. It was a departure from the Archie Legion. (thank god)
So what they retold the Darkseid and Universo stories? The Legion NEEDED that I thought. For all it's worth I thought the actual members were much cooler than the current version who remind me of the Archie Legion a bit.
(Cub and Jarth sucked big time though)
From: Tampa | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I also was impressed with the Shikari and the Kwai. Also liked that they ignored Wildfire's messed up origin.
From: Tampa | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
i skipped the archie legion, i bout 5yg to legion of the damned. i picke dit up because the art was good and i wanted to see the archie legion get slammed and grow up. i loved coipel's run. legion lost was great. this legion really grew on me.
more good things:
make dream girl kick butt again, khund training etc.
saturn girl being so manipulative.
kinetix being a cop.
umbra's personality.
From: Ninja Land | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Another thing was how they made Tinya thoroughly unlikeable (to me, anyways). I've adored, liked or been indifferent to various legionnaires - but Tinya was the first one, not cast as a bad guy/traitor, that I genuinely disliked. If she were real, I'd cross the street when I saw her. Whiney, snippy, judgemental, used Brin, a questionable mother - made worse by her being so pretty ... so that was an interesting characterization, all in all.
Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
I thought they made most of the Legionnaires (at least the ones they actually let speak) incredibly unlikeable. I didn't consider that a good thing, though...
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic | Subscribe To Topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
