Originally posted by Dain:
I understand what you are saying, but my question is: Is it even possible to have any Legion follow seamlessly from the original one today?
Well, even if you
couldn't, that still doesn't mean that a not-original version can be considered original.
I think you could do it, though. What's to stop you? It's just ink on paper; you just
do it and there you are.
There are pros and cons regarding the theoretical question whether the Lightning Saga/Action Legion can be considered a continuation of the original.
The pros are the origin of the Legion as revealed in Action, part of the characterization, the costumes (costumes are symbols for who and when a superhero is, it's not just esthetics), Superman's memories etc.
Strong evidence that this is "some form" of the original Legion, that is.
The cons are discrepancies in the old continuity in juxtaposition to this version of the Legion.
Some of them are important too, and it's just possible, as Nightcrawler said above, that it's just sloppy writing, but do they weigh as much as the pros? I don't think they do.
That's kind of like saying - and this is just an analogy - that 100 + 100 = 195, because 195 is most of the way to 200, and the 195 is more important than the 5.
The very basis of this Legion is similar to the original one in such a degree that I tend to believe it IS the original, or at least a "version" extremely close to the original (keeping in mind that time has passed).
It is close to the original, very much so. Nobody disputes that. Hey, I'd recommend it to someone who was a diehard fan of the original. But it's also different in many ways, including some very subtle ways, and in some obvious ways that people tend to look past.
One way it's different: one of the themes of this Legion is that they stand for unity and diversity in a world plagued by xenophobia. Red Tornado said so back in the Lightning Saga and it's obviously part of the storyline in
Action. But this was never one of the themes of the original Legion! It's an artifact of the reboot Legion, is what it is. Now,
by itself, that doesn't prevent this Legion from being the original Legion, but it's one more indication that we've got something different here. And when you pile all these different hints, all these different
kinds of hints, together, I think the result is conclusive.
Naturally, DC will have to do a lot of explaining about all the changes in this Legion's 31st century, and character changes and it remains to be seen whether us fans will find the explanation satisfactory and accept it or not.
Hah! They don't have to explain anything they don't want to explain, and in this case I think they'll find that things go much more smoothly for them if they don't. Whether we like it or not.
Personally, I'm prepared to see the bottle as "half full or almost full" instead of "half empty" because I *want* to like any Legion version there is. I can't always like it but I'm willing to see the good points first and foremost.
But do you see what you did there? You're implying that you would like this Legion if it was the original and not if it were not. Simplistically, you're equating original with good and non-original with bad. And not only do I not think that that's true, I don't think
you think it's true. After all, we just got through agreeing that what we want is a good Legion story about whatever version is available.
I miss the original Legion as much as anyone; that's not what this is about to me. If this isn't the original Legion I'm still going to give the story a fair shake. I just want to establish the facts about whether it is or it isn't. DC says it is but my best analysis is that they're talking through their hats, and I have to go with my best analysis.