Am the first to spot it?

http://www.popcultureshock.com/reviews.php?id=3993

Cool! With a Dave Gibbons backup story! I love Dave's work, this is gonna be awesome.
but...
Could somebody get the images for us here? For some reason PopCultureShock won't work for me (I think it's my firewall)
-thanks and stuff-

Natch! My firewall must me preventing me from downloading, too.

PCS has been having major issues the last couple of days, as have a lot of comic news sites. I'll try and grab the images and post them.

Tried to revisit the site but I'm timing out. Perhaps its because of the traffic the site is getting with DC's "Countdown to Infinite Crisis" and "New Avengers" previews.

It's a great preview though and it seems like the Legion is becoming more and more a bunch of outlaws than a positive movement.

Darn! I hope you guys can see it soon! It's pretty interesting. We get confirmation that

* * * SPOILER * * *

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* * * SPOILER * * *

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not all adults hate the Legion (much to Dirk's chagrin )I'll be really intersted to see what everyone thinks!

Hey LL, if you can get the legion, do you think you can grab Countdown too?

Thanks!

got it going...i'll see if this works...

shoot! couldn't get it to go...perhaps you can try this link:

LSH#4, page 1

Here we go:

darn was trying to add spoilers to my second post in this thread...ended up adding a new post. I'm reeeally embarrassed. Sorry bout that.

Agreed! Dave's recent covers for JSA (Mr. TerrificS, Atom and Atom Smasher) have been lovely. I'm excited to see what he does with WaK's Legion.

At least Shadow Lass looks bluer than blue...

Oh and thanks to whoever added spoilers to the thread title, in my excitement at finding the preview I forgot! Agggh! I would edit this into a previous reply but everytime I try to edit I end up making a new post. Gosh I'm an idiot! *runs weeping into the night*

This is the first time we have seen the new incarnation of the LSH drawn by anyone other than Barry Kitson! It's always cool when you see another artist's interpretation for the first time!

That's okay Drura. I edited the title of the thread to add a spoiler tag since I posted the pages.

Kewl beans .

*is as excited as a Bismollian in a rivet factory**

#4's coming out month's end, right??? i so cannot wait!!!!

RTVU2, I've posted the Countdown preview here .

Magnificent work Scottie! Thankyewlots'n'lots! This preview looks great, I like seeing other's interpret the new stuff too...too bad there's not a page of the Gibbons work to look at.

Could we be seeing a reworking of "The Outlaw Legion" or "Legion on the Run"? I wonder if we'll they'll be seeing Nardo pretty soon?

...and I want a cookie too!!

I added the spoiler to your post and then deleted the second post

I tried to resist, but I was weak and I looked at the preview. Igee, I don't think this shows the Legion as outlaws; rather, I think it shows that the SPs are fascists.

It is way cool seeing a Legionnaire's parents ACTING like parents (i.e., making their son self-conscious and uncomfortable!) Dirk's parents are clearly aging hippies, living vicariously through their son's "rebellion."

It makes Dirk's character even more interesting. Someone who might naturally be heroic and non-conformist is inwardly conflicted because it's what his parents WANT him to be! Triplicate Girl was right: Dirk is acting loyal -- to his parent's vision of him -- rather than genuinely FEELING loyal to the Legion. So, Dirk's personal story arc will be whether he develops true loyalty to the Legion or resigns/goes to the dark side to annoy his parents. I LOVE THIS!

Thanks Cru!

I really hope we see more adults who sympathise with the Legion. One of the few misgivings about the new Legion that I had (along with many others) was that it seemed too black and white, too simplistic. It's good to see it confirmed that there are indeed shades of grey.

Dirk's embarrassment was absolutely priceless!

I'm such a relative newcomer to all things LSH that I feel a bit unqualified to even speculate, but...

... I don't know about Dirk. I think Triplicate Girl was right on the money about a desire to be admired. He didn't seem to be motivated by the need to rebel against his parents initially, when he was talking to her. I also don't get the sense that he's in any way devoted to the core ideal/dream behind the Legion at all, nor does he seem like the type who would be. It would be easy for me to write him off as vain, spoiled and overly impressed with himself... but actually, he reminds me a lot of someone who's calculating and presenting an idealized 'image' of himself to the world. He seems to be too socially adept to *seem* insecure.. but who knows? No one's really 100% sure of themselves at 17-19.

Heh. Yeah, his parents came across as 'aging hippies' to me too. I've read that the youth of today are increasingly conservative in rebellion against their hippie parents. Everything old is new again.

And it's pretty cool to me that Waid, being in his 40s, is managing to write teenage characters that ring (more or less) true to me, someone from a different generation.

Definitely enjoying this series as well. If this title is given space to work and develop, I see no reason why it won't be a great success.

Lots of information in those panels. Looks like a really exciting story as things heat up!

Plus....
50-year-old hippies!

There was a "Mom bakes cookies for the Legion" scene in a past story - was it Star Boy's mother? Maybe the recipe is at the end....

There seems to be no shortage of crinimals for the Legion to fight - and the sci-cops always look like they're geared for serious battle. So why is the Legion seen as the big anomaly? There appear to be other things out there posing threats on a regular basis.

I SOOOOOO want a full-gear SciPol action figure!

I'm just wondering if there's the 31st cen. equivalent of hash in those cookies...

Nice art - would really like to get that page with Shadow Lass on it so prominently.
Okay, so I'm greedy. It's probably my best quality.

People on Xanthu can't eat sugar? Wow, I'm glad I don't live there.

Seriously, I love all the little stuff like that to show the differences between all the various cultures.

Why yes it was:

Nice preview.

The one thing I don't get is that scene where Dirk says to Tasmia "I'm waiting for them to crack out the baby vids. Of you."

What does that mean? How would Dirk's parents have baby vids of Tasmia? Unless she's his adopted sister now or something? That would be a very interesting development if so.

Good to see Shadow Lass' skin looking a bit bluer but I really want Sun Boy's hair to go back to being red too. I made my boyfriend read the first couple of issues of this series last night and he kept getting Element Lad and Sun Boy confused. Why give two characters with exactly the same costume colour scheme the same colour hair as well - especially since one of them has already been established as having a very different hair colour? I'm sure my boo isn't the only new reader out there getting them mixed up too. Let's make it easy for them - red hair for Sun Boy please Barry!

I think Sun Boy is just referring to the fact that his mom seems to know more about his friends than he does. Kinda that whole "hey, who's mom ARE you, anyways?" I almost think Dirk might be a little jealous that his parents are giving his friends the "parent treatment"...

Ohhhhh OK. That makes sense. Thanks PC.

"Youthres 101.72" must be some sort of anti-cookie law that makes it an act of sedition to eat a home-baked cookie. No wonder Brainy wants to take over the U.P.!

Dirk's laid-back rebel parents seem polar opposites of the cold and selfish people depicted by TMK. If he's tempted to cut or sell out, he won't have the excuse of being a neglected and unloved child this time.

Kirk's pencils don't look as good as they last time he drew the Legion.

Parents visiting with cookies...I hate with passion. Infact looks very early Zero Hour reboot (which I also hated).

Sun Boy has both parents alive and his dad isn't a prick...good job. Nice to see Dirk have a happier childhood than before.

Science Police blasting in? Now we're talking! Blast those retro losers until their cool!!!

Science Police are my heroes!*cookies...blah*

The art does look a bit rushed to me too.

Doublechinner, good call on the outlaw-fascist perspective. I didn't quite see it that way.

Makes me wonder though. Previously, it seemed like the SPs were doing their best to tolerate the Legion. But now it appears that they're actually being pro-active in quelling the kids. Things is, I do recall in Star Boy's speech to Invisible Kid that this kind of quashing happened before. I wonder what happened that drives the SPs to break the uneasy truce.

More preview pages. This time of the back-up story with Gibbons art. See link for new article here . I'll try and get the preview pages added to this thread.

Very interesting look at a future couple?

Those back-up pages look great!

And since you referenced SB's conversation with Lyle, I wonde what's going on in the plaza if the SP's are inside? As for what set them off, Lyle makes a really bad decision this issue, right?

And add my name to the list of those who loved that backup preview. I really like where this book is going.

Here are the pages for those who cannot get into The Pulse:

Very cool!There are those bright colors we've been complaining about.
I see why you got the idea that they might get paired up but I don't think it's really going to happen. Nice scene though, personal moments like that add a lot.

That last panel looks way too much like it was leading to a kiss to not lead to one. Can't wait to see the rest of it.

I love the vibrant colors but don't like the way Val is colored. He looks sunburned to me.

I think it's headed for a kiss on the check. Val's going to be smitten with Tinya and she's not going to reciprocate the fellings. Just my guess.

My impression was the S.P.s crashed into the Morgna home (not Legion HQ) while the kids were visiting Dirk's parents. That makes it even stranger. I suspect has something to do with the fact that Lyle's father is an S.P. officer who hates the Legion. We'll find out very soon.

Re. the backup story, I think lovelorn Val is flashing back to the only time Tinya ever touched him. Waid's Val is quite appealing (I never, ever liked KK before) and the new Tinya promises to be a much better character than the unpleasant shrew DnA depicted. Personally, I have a hard time picturing these two as a couple but I'm thrilled that PG/UB and KK/PP are no longer shackled by their previous relationships. I look forward to other unexpected romantic and friendship combinations.

Those wonderful colors just jump off the page, don't they? Kudos to Waid, Gibbons, et al.

Alright, another preview, and more fascinating twists on a familiar character -- this time, Phantom Girl! She's the only Bgztli(?) who can phase into Earth's dimension. While phasing, she's partly here, partly there. It takes a lot of effort to be fully "present" on Earth, probably too much effort to be "solid" here all the time. That's pretty wild. It gives an excuse for her to hit things (that's good!) but creates a permanent separation between her the rest of the Legionnaires. This really does make her a Phantom Girl, living in a realm inaccessible to all her colleagues. Her fellow Bgztlis think she's nuts, has imaginary playmates. How does she deal with all this? Is she MORE outgoing to compensate for her incorporeality? Do other Legionnaires forget she's there? And by the way, how does she talk if she's immaterial? (I've ALWAYS wondered about that. Does she make a vocal cords solid? Does the air come in from Bgztl and come out on Earth?) Does she wander through Legion HQ and metropolis, ignoring barriers of privacy and courtesy? Once again, Waid takes a familiar power and makes in more interesting.

I went back to look again, and since Dirk's first words are "We have to go now", I definitely missed the mark. All the Legion paraphenalia lead me to think they were in the HQ; puts Dirk's parents' feelings about the Legionnaires and Dirk in a whole new light for me...

And in a weird way, I like the idea that the Legion occasionally goes over and hangs out at someone's home. Dirk, Shady, Star Boy, Light Lass and Tinya - I'll throw out the obligatory "wonder if that says anything about the cliques" question. Shady certainly seems to be comfortable around and popular with everybody.

As far as the backup story, I do think the scene is leading to a real kiss, but this being the Legion the moon could explode in the next panel and ruin the mood.

Can't wait to get this issue in my hands.

Next week I'm going to be so grumpy because I went ahead and looked at these previews.

Main story: Sun Boy and Shadow Lass, now that's an interesting pairing. I'm very happy to see that Dirk's parents aren't the same as preboot. I wonder how and if the Legion as outlaws plot will be resolved by the end of the issue. Star Boy is just scrumptious.

Back-up: I wonder if Phantom Girl's remark about the villain not picking on her friends was instigated by whatever sent Element Lad to the ground. I'd certainly appreciate their friendship being something to count on. And, if she can break that fellow's tooth and take him down bare-fisted she's gotta have some form of heightened strength/invulnerability. I don't give a hoot about Karate Kid or his infatuations, but it will be interesting to see Projectra free of him.

Same here, totally. Tinya and Jo are actually my favorite comics couple, but it is refreshing. While I'll be 'rooting' for them to get together, I really like how all the Legionnaires are no longer shackled by previous relationships too!

And the story looks like it'll be another great one! Already I get the 'feeling' when I see Waid and Kitson listed as co-creators that we're in a great era.

I really like the Gibbons art. Somehow it seems much livelier than the annual he did all those years ago, though I never really liked that story much anyway. I'm also glad to finally see the new Tinya get the spotlight.

Even though it looks like Tinya's touch is leading to a kiss, KK says that they touched "once" and since that last panel focuses on her hand on his face (her gloved one at that -- I thought Legionnaires were supposed to be less prudish? ), I'm going to guess that's as far as it went.

Regarding the colors - the bright colors don't work for me. I was never one of those with a problem with the current coloring anyway. I'm also always a bit bothered by that kind of "air-brushy" computer modeling. It's especially bad with the bad guy.

And now that we see Tinya is literally between two dimensions, does she lead a double life in Bgztl? Will she seem as flaky as Dream Girl, with half her mind occupied on something else (like how that Bgztl officer saw her)? And when she's phasing, she now has to make sure she's not going to hit something on Bgztl. Will she have to make sure she doesn't materialize half in a wall on Bgtzl when she's in the middle of a fight here in this dimension? And where does she shower? She'd have to make sure her bathroom provides equal privacy in both dimensions.

Looks like if she's present to any degree here, she's already intangible on Bgztl, so she shouldn't have to worry about smacking into stuff there. And if she needs privacy for showers and whatnot, I guess she can just relax and go back completely to Bgztl. From the "force of will" line I assume she's never on Earth unless actively trying.

Now, speaking of Earth...can Tinya go on space missions at all? Does every planet here have a habitable counterpart in her dimension, or does she risk emerging in a hostile environment if exhaustion/distraction/unconsciousness causes her to dephase?

That's an interesting point. She went with them to Lallor in the first issue. Maybe she never leaves Bgztl no matter where she is in the Legion's dimension.

Was I mistaken in thinking she is only visible on Bgztl when she's actually there or phasing. She can be solid on Earth, solid on Bgztl, or intangible in both. So any privacy issue is determined by her own choice.

Well, it seems they've turned Phantom Girl into Kitty Pryde with the naturally-phased-generat-effort-to-turn-solid condition. Gotta admit, Tinya did look funny while she was shown as being in Bgztl.

CAN'T WAIT FOR WEDNESDAY!

You are NOT. These previews hardly spoil ANYTHING. Remember, LSH is 30% more comic than every other monthly out there. You've still got a solid 22 pages of comic left to read next week. Chin UP, man.


Anyway, add me to the legion of fans who are really digging Waid's way-out take on Legionnaires, their powers and most importantly, their native cultures and how they all work together to make these characters more fascinating than they've been in 30 years. There really is something to be said for shaking readers (and writers) out of our comfort zone with a good solid reboot once in a long while.

A very long while.

And, of course, it's got to be done right. No giant snakes or editor-mandated retcons lousing things up.

All I can say is this. Barry won me over long ago with his awesome art and great attitude. The man is the best in the business.

As for Mr. Waid, well he started out this series good but his track record was spotty, so there was always some worry. But something he uses, has a character say, in this upcoming issue got me good. A simple turn of phrase proves, to me, this man loves the Legion, maybe as much as I do.

Four issues in and I'm almost, just almost, ready to say that Waid and Kitson have surpassed Levitz and Giffen in my eyes.

Now, just bring in the other character to whom that phrase means a lot too and don't screw up Garth and you'll have me fully hooked.

I'm about as hooked as I get. I'm interested to see how Waid is going to make good on the promise of his concept, which is brilliant. I think he's struck a pretty good balance of realism v. superhero stuff so far, though I personally wouldn't mind see more political reality. The idea of the Legion as the CSA is *great*, but I think he needs to work the angle a bit harder still. Characters are great so far, zero complaints in that area. And for the record, I *like* the subdued coloring.

It's a bit early for me to pick at story structure and presentation, so I'll hold on for a few months.

Though I’ve commented elsewhere that I think Waid is writing believable kids, I’m reconsidering slightly after having read some of his comments in the interview at sequentialtart.com. I’ll wait on that one a bit too. So far.. not bad.

I think the series has a good shot at the success he predicted. The only thing that concerns me now is whether DC is promoting the title enough/properly/etc. But assuming Waid and Kitson stay on and there's no massive screwups, the only thing DC could do at this point is deprive the title of a potential audience. At 40,000 readers (from the sales figures) maybe that isn't really a problem.

The core faithful is on board. I'm sure most of the superhero fans would like it, and even non-fans like myself. It's a good solid book, so it's got a shot at the entire comic-buying audience. Though, should that be all DC shoots for? There's a problem in getting comic books to people who don't already read comics. But my instincts are that the Buffy and Harry Potter crowds would like this book a lot, given the chance.

Hi Guys
As usual I won't give much away about the issue until you've all had a chance to read it - but I will admit I missed not getting to draw it!
I hope I won't have to skip another issue for a very long time - despite enjoying seeing other people's take on my designs! (I think Dave, Leonard, Mick and Drew did great work BTW!)

I think we're getting the coloring sorted -many of the hiccups have been getting used to unexpected paper changes and technical stuff that I think is under control now (fingers-crossed).

As far as the audience goes DC (and the team) are delighted with results so far - since people actually saw the book orders have been increasing issue on issue (a very rare occurance) which suggests word-of-mouth has been very good!! And we haven't had any 'Identity Crisis' tie-ins

Some one asked about SP design sheets - Have I ever posted those here? If not, I'll see what I can do!

Thanks again for all the support!

Barry, you haven't posted the SP design sheets yet, not that I've found anywhere. If you can share them, when you get the time, I'm sure we'd all love to see them.

Barry pls post the SPs design sheets. The SPs are m y heroes of this series.

I liked Leonard Kirk's art MORE than what Barry Kitson has been doing.

I recall the very 1st issue of JSA he did (before he "got good" in most fans views), I thought he'd be a PERFECT fit for the LSH.

That said, both his art and Dave Gibbons' (who I've loved since his run on DOCTOR WHO!!!) both really "fit" with the current look Kitson is giving the book. I think any given series should have its own unique and consistent "look", and fill-in artists should be appropriate in being able to maintain whatever that "look" is.

So, seven years later...

I just figured out that the whole "people from Xanthu can't eat sugar" thing is a reference to Xanthan gum.

Ah! but perhaps they can eat xylitol, which may have been developed on Xanthu although Terran encylopedias will say otherwise.

OMG! I have NO recollection of writing this and EVEN LESS of forcing my boyfriend at the time (of probably less than 3 months at that point) to read the first few issues of the WaK Legion!

No wonder we broke up shortly afterward! Haha Another reason for me to hate that terrible era.

Every response I can think of to the let's-use-comics-to-break-up-a-relationship story just sounds worse than the one before.

Maybe we should talk politics or something else relaxing, instead.

^ Have you had comics break up a relationship before cleome? This sounds like it could be a topic for its own thread. Haha "Have comics ever ruined your love life?"

I mainly keep my interest in comics hidden from my partners for the most part. They usually know I might read them - but not that I have thousands and thousands of them or that I sometimes obsess over trivial minutiae like characters' hair colours on online message boards or anything. Haha

That boyfriend knew and seemed to be kinda into the idea though. He even bought me the Superman: Birthright TPB for my Birthday which I thought was really sweet, and really lucky too since I have a LOT of Superman comics and he just happened to get me one I'd never read before.

Awww, what a sweet boyfriend, Blacula. Blaze does the same for me, although I can't really do the same for him since he's not really a big fan of anything in particular. He's more of a generalist