posted
The obvious thing here is the message boards, of course, but especially for me.
As some of you know, I like the LSH but it isn't a top favorite. In 2001, during one of my on-again comic book phases, I started looking around the old DC Message Boards. Although I wasn't that interested in LSH, the LSH board looked like it was having a good time and I started posting. Thus began eight years of deconstructing a comic book I just kinda like.
Registered: Jul 2003
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Mostly good, but with a little ill mixed in.
Essentially, it reawakened an interest in something both fun and amazing that I'd pretty much consigned to the past. Not necessarily because I'd wanted to, but because I just had no outlet for it. That's the good.
However, I've also had to relive decisions made by the book's various creative teams that had annoyed/upset/incensed me the first time around. That's the bad.
Registered: Dec 2006
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A few years ago, I came across a little message board called Legion World.
It was a strange and wonderful place where I could share in my love of the many incarnations of the Legion. I loved the Legion, but some of the people here LOVED the Legion.
There was no stone unturned and I was even able to have a forum to showcase my Legion stories (the funny thing about them is that the universe that my stories take place in, was set in the Levitz era right around or before the Crisis, sound familiar?)
I have met, and continiue to meet some of the best people here and I have the power of the internet to thank for that.
-------------------- Touch the magic...
From: Morganfield, KY | Registered: Jul 2003
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I have greater interest in the LSH because of the message board discussions and have a lot more leisure time consumed by the Legion than in the pre-internet days.
The internet also, ironically, led me to the paper APA Klordny, which provides me with an outlet (or excuse) to write long essays about Legion topics, too long for message boards.
One negative thing about the internet and LSH for me is the availability of preview pages and, to a lesser extent, spoilers. I used to think these were great, but now I try to avoid the preview pages because, by the time I get the comic, it feels kind of old.
This applies to any comic, although I still check out preview pages for new series, to see if I might be interested in buying them.
posted
The Legion has always been my favorite DC property prior to the internet, but my 10 year long involvement in online Legion fandom through the LMB and Legion World has only made it more so. (I, in fact, only originally visited the DC Legion MB in 2000, seeking it out because it was my favorite).
In a general sense, it changed the way I read Legion stories (both new ones and old ones) in that I actually slow down and take in every aspect that I can. I notice backgrounds, I notice costumes and I notice walk-on characters that are never seen again. Even though I read the issues, I would have never given Sinde, Iresa, and a multitude of 100+ walk-on characters a second thought. This is a huge bonus for me, as it provides layer upon layer of new things to notice and theoretical connections that can be made. It also make my own involvement with the franchise more “intimate” as I whole-heartedly believe some of the great LW insights into Legion history.
In a more specific sense, the internet allowed me to fill in my collection through several different ways: (A) Awesome Legion Worlders sending me duplicates of back issues (thanks Vee & Scooter!); (B) Faraway Lad letting me win the first appearance of Ultra Boy on ebay when he realized we were bidding against each other (is there any more of a gentleman on LW?) and (C) picking up like 30 issues with Pov at a comic book store one day. I felt good returning the favor years later to another Legion Worlder.
I also helped lead the charge on the old DCMB’s to convince Dan and Andy Monstress needed to die and I actually think we helped point them in that direction. That sounds kind of cool, if not bloodthirsty.
While I have my favorites I’ve had since I was a kid (Cos, Wildfire, Jo, Tinya, Val), 10 years of internet interaction has helped really make some other Legionnaires equal favorites: Saturn Girl in particular, but also Luornu and Tenzil. Then there are the characters who I’ve grown to really love based on random things: Plant Lad because of his awesome graemlin and his role in Matter-Eater Lad: the Series and Dr. Mayavale because of the awesome poster who uses that Alt ID.
In the one negative instance of the internet affecting my Legion enjoyment, I had the Tinya = Imra surprise ruined for me in Legion Lost on the DCMB’s because a jerk poster posted the spoiler in the thread topic. That still annoys me to this day.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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For me, the internet has simply allowed me to meet other Legion fans. Before coming to Legion World, meeting another Legion fan was like meeting a long-lost relative: it happened rarely and you usually never saw them again. Coming here, I met a huge group of people just as obsessed (or even more so) and can interact with them whenever I want. Like Cobie, I've learned to look at aspects of the Legion that I never had before. I've interacted with creators on a personal level, something I never thought possible. And I went to the San Diego con for the first time with a bunch of people that I'd never met face-to-face, but felt totally at home with.
From: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: Nov 2003
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It's taken a life long love of the Legion to the next level. It gave me a group of friends that I share the same interests with. Having met and talked to several people from here over the years, I feel it has given me an extended worldwide family.
From: Turn around... | Registered: Jul 2003
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Beyond the shared community aspect of message boards (I agree with the sentiments expressed above, so anything I'd say on that front might be redundant), my participation has also changed my buying habits regarding Legion comics.
In the days prior to joining online communities, I almost never bought a comic on the release day, unless by accident. Now, almost without fail, every Wednesday lunch hour I take a quick run over to the comic shop to pick up the latest issues. I really enjoy the initial burst of online discussion, and like to join in while the topics are still hot.
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
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There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
Having an abundance of sites online that allow me to read about Legion teams and eras I'm less familiar with (such as the Reboot team or the Workforce or whatever) has been wonderful.
Registered: Aug 2006
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It's made me more humble in my knowledge of Legion history. I always thought I knew more about the Legion than practically anyone because I had been such a consistent reader for so many years. Wrong. There are lots of people who have read Legion comics for as long and as consistently as me. And a lot of these people have better memories than me or more of an eye for detail. Sometimes, now, I feel like a novice.
[ April 07, 2010, 09:56 PM: Message edited by: Jerry ]
-------------------- No regrets, Coyote.
From: Missouri | Registered: Oct 2003
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I met very few Legion fans before the Internet. Honestly, I've known relatively few comics fans, and most I've known have been Marvel Zombies whose one and only DC character is Batman.
In real life, I'm very shy (something people who know me often don't even know), but I'm a lot more comfortable online, so I've been able to meet people who enjoy this wonderful franchise where I had more or less enjoyed the Legion alone for many years.
-------------------- The only character in all of literature who has been described as "badnass" while using the phrase "vile miscreant."
From: The Pyngwyn Colonies of Planet Hyustyn | Registered: Aug 2005
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Thanks to the Intenet (and, specifically, to LW), the Legion is still a significant part of my life even though I no longer follow the comics.
I grew up with the idea that growing up meant putting aside "childish things," such as comic books. When I stopped reading the Legion for the first time, in 1990, I continued reading comics but more "adult"-oriented ones from independent publishers. I thought I had (and had to) put aside the Legion for good.
These days, I've come to realize there is no value in following a comic that no longer satisfies me in spite of a lifelong connection to the characters. Thanks to the Internet, I can continue to enjoy that connection by exploring it in a new context.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
quote:Originally posted by Jerry: It's made me more humble in my knowledge of Legion history. I always thought I knew more about the Legion than practically anyone because I had been such a consistent reader for so many years. Wrong. There are lots of people who have read Legion comics for as long and as consistently as me. And a lot of these people have better memories than me or more of an eye for detail. Sometimes, now, I feel like a novice.
So true!
I was insufferably pleased with myself that I could name all of the Legionnaires real names, and their home worlds, and then I came here and there were people who not only knew that stuff, but knew stuff about characters I'd never even heard of (such as local celebrity, Sinde), and stories that I'd never even read.
I skipped so many years during college that I had no idea about the 'Proty-as-Garth' thing or the 'Bounty' thing where Dawnstar loses her wings or pretty much the entire 5 years later era and much of the Reboot! Stuff that's old hat to the posters here was totally new territory for me, and I still learn new stuff (such as when Nightcrawler pointed out that their already was an in-continuity reason for the Green Lanterns being excluded from UP territory, saving me from having to come up with a fanfic for that!).
And that's another thing that never would have happened without an Internet fan-community, is me writing Legion fanfic! So yay for that, 'cause I'm pretty happy with what I've written, and feel that it's helped stretch some atrophying writing muscles.
Registered: Aug 2006
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If not for the old scansdaily, I wouldn't be a Legion fan now.
Fandom certainly reads a lot of things in and places disproportionate importance on some things. So much of what I know about the Legion is gained from online fandom that it seriously colors how I see everything. For example, I'm able to see some characters as combinations of their different interpretations. This is a large part of why I find Ayla Ranzz interesting - and why, as you might remember, I have a crush on her, or at least feel moe. It's the combined Ayla I love, not exactly a version that ever appeared in any comic.
Fan discussion led me to appreciate Kinetix a lot more than I would have.
Fan analyses of Waid's threeboot pointed out to me what its implications were, and drew me to it in ways the source material itself couldn't.
And - though I suppose this is the inverse, how the Legion affected my involvement with the Internet - I'd run into TV Tropes before, but it was the Legion that motivated me to edit there. There were so many good examples in Legion history that had been ignored (naturally).
-------------------- Tom Strong, on nostalgia: "I suppose it's a ready substitute for genuine feeling." - Tom Strong #6, Alan Moore
From: Calgary, Alberta | Registered: May 2008
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![[Plant Lad]](graemlins/PlantLad.gif)
and his role in Matter-Eater Lad: the Series and Dr. Mayavale because of the awesome poster who uses that Alt ID.
