JSA: A model for what the current Legion ought to be? - 01/12/07 06:46 AM
We have... a team that's been around for 60+ years.
Characters that could be seen as somewhat hokey or old-fashioned.
Continuity that is beyond confusing... Silver-age revamps/reinventions of the most important characters... multiple worlds and timelines... Characters that overlap onto other characters, some that have actually combined, some that have actually split further...
A rogue's gallery that has more dust on it than back issues of Atari Force sitting in your local CBS's 25 cent bin.
Multiple revamps and #1 issues.
There's no reason at all why this should work. Yet it does. It more than works. It's one of the hottest things going in the industry.
The reason for this? It takes impossible continuity and out-of-date characters, and instead of throwing up their hands at the impossibility of adapting the endless morass of continuity, it spins lead into gold. Is there anything that can tickle a comics fan's heart more than this?
Obviously not.
It respects what has gone before, straightens out the mess, and moves forward. And you know, I think JSA has shown without a doubt that the greater the mess, the greater the payoff when it is fixed. I mean, just look at Hawkman.
I think, more than anything else, JSA shows that endless reboots of properties aren't the answer. Organic storytelling is. 3 reboots later, LSH is struggling along to make it, and the current writer of the book is obviously drowning under the weight of all the continuity he doesn't want to or can't (by editorial mandate) reference. We shouldn't judge Waid. He's obviously paralyzed by the weight of all the great stories and characters that have come before in previous boots and that he can't reference or do anything about. What needs to happen is this current book needs to be morphed into something that can tie the weight of Legion history into a concrete, coherent whole. All the versions of the Legion need to come together, once and for all. Somehow. I think JSA shows us it can be done. Wouldn't it be something if it came to pass.
Characters that could be seen as somewhat hokey or old-fashioned.
Continuity that is beyond confusing... Silver-age revamps/reinventions of the most important characters... multiple worlds and timelines... Characters that overlap onto other characters, some that have actually combined, some that have actually split further...
A rogue's gallery that has more dust on it than back issues of Atari Force sitting in your local CBS's 25 cent bin.
Multiple revamps and #1 issues.
There's no reason at all why this should work. Yet it does. It more than works. It's one of the hottest things going in the industry.
The reason for this? It takes impossible continuity and out-of-date characters, and instead of throwing up their hands at the impossibility of adapting the endless morass of continuity, it spins lead into gold. Is there anything that can tickle a comics fan's heart more than this?
Obviously not.
It respects what has gone before, straightens out the mess, and moves forward. And you know, I think JSA has shown without a doubt that the greater the mess, the greater the payoff when it is fixed. I mean, just look at Hawkman.
I think, more than anything else, JSA shows that endless reboots of properties aren't the answer. Organic storytelling is. 3 reboots later, LSH is struggling along to make it, and the current writer of the book is obviously drowning under the weight of all the continuity he doesn't want to or can't (by editorial mandate) reference. We shouldn't judge Waid. He's obviously paralyzed by the weight of all the great stories and characters that have come before in previous boots and that he can't reference or do anything about. What needs to happen is this current book needs to be morphed into something that can tie the weight of Legion history into a concrete, coherent whole. All the versions of the Legion need to come together, once and for all. Somehow. I think JSA shows us it can be done. Wouldn't it be something if it came to pass.