Preview now up at CBR:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=7667&disp=table

very Kirby artwork. Nothing like 5YL.

For me some of the best Giffen art in quarter of a century.

Agreed, this looks fantastic. Two inkers are listed, so I hope it's consistent throughout.

Giffen's pencils are SOOOO much better there than the last time I saw them (in Legacies a few months ago). Huge relief!

The colours are fabbo too!

Can't wait!

This looks amazing. I can't wait to pick it up.

"And she devastates the Legion so completely, one Legionnaire will never be the same!"

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">I noticed it was set on Orando. Ironic as it was Sensor Girl who helped the first Emerald Empress die. Boy, is she gonna be pissed.</span></span>

So, has this version of Orando been returned to our dimension, ala the 5YG version?

<wonders if Kent believes it's coming out NOW?!? >

I hope the new Emerald Empress doesn't force Vi and Ayla to touch each other in naughty places...

WOW!!!!

Very excited to see where this story goes! And wondering if more than just Vi and Ayla will show up unless they're one of the Legionnaires who will "never be the same."

This was some prologue!
The artwork looks amazing and the colours seemed to just jump off the pages. Wow!

I am excited and very impressed by this preview and I cannot wait to pick this up today (or maybe make that tomorrow as the snow storm in southern Ontario this morning is really bad!)

Over on the DC boards, in a thread about the Annual where someone speculated how cool it would be to have him back as the regular Legion artist, Keith Giffen posted this;

Weird, to me it looks exactly like the 5YL pencils with brighter/happier inking/coloring. Love the preview though.

Story was ok, art was horrible. I've never liked Giffen's art. I hope he doesn't come back on a regular basis. And yes, I know I'm the only one who doesn't like his art.

So...I guess this means that:

1. Magnetic Kid is really dead.
2. Shrinking Violet and Lighting Lass are lovers. Does this mean that Lighting Lass is bi-sexual?
3. Shrinking Violet will become the next Emerald Empress.
4. Garridian Ranzz really was/is Validus.
5. Shadow Lass divorced Mon-El and really has become a disgraced slut and is now shacking up with Earth Man.

We already knew #1 and the second half of #5 to be true in this version of the LSH. Is there something in the story that supports the others, or are you just speculating because the original Empress is dead and has been replaced? I won't get a chance to pick this up for a few days and welcome any spoilers.

Not a bad story... not a classic either... felt like a sequel to an Emerald Empress story 22 years in the making... like with any sequel, there's bound to be dissenting opinions...

BTW, has the range of Gates' powers ever been specified?

Gates was in it and was in character and useful. I am VERY pleased.

The art was a bit of a mixed bag. Some pages were great and others were plain ol' scratchy Giffen, but given he had eye problems midway through and two different inkers, I'll give it a pass.

If the Giffen from the first part of the story comes back, I'm all for it.

What a great story! The artwork was really superb, if Kirbyesque. I loved the use of the Legion members chosen and the creative use of their powers, especially Violet. The story was tight and crisp, and I prefer the one off format over the multi-issue soap operas of the regular book. I'm sorry about the ending, but I hope that is not permanent.

Why did Vi and Ayla's clothes keep changing? That was an annoying and unnecessary distraction. They were captured in uniform, woke up in some sort of jammies, and later were back in uniform again. What was the point? And how did Violet's jammies shrink with her? This is the Legion, dammit, and I want to see costumes!

The artwork was variable as Dave said. Some pages looked great. Others, ick. In one panel, Projecta's head looks like a pumpkin that's about to explode. And that costume of hers has GOT TO GO!

A lot of the story felt like retread. Damaged young woman seduced by the eye. Orando conquered. Jeckie returning to rebuild. Ayla waking up in a cell on a bed of straw on Orando. Emerald Violet.

Gates is becoming too much of a deus ex machina. I want his powers more limited. The Legion needs to have a spaceship to travel between planets, imho. Just having Gates pop them wherever they need to go is too easy.

Loved it.

Remember back when people saw the cover and thought that the Empress was a giant or that something else was funny because she was drawn in an odd perspective?

Nope, it's just Giffen's art and a lot of people's faces looked that way this issue. It's a lot like 5YL art with different inking.

And how did Violet's jammies shrink with her?

The same way she can eat food and shrink without her stomach bursting.

It's certainly a treat to have a new Legion annual. Overall, I'm satisfied but with a few nits to pick.

The cover was gorgeous. Lots of detail.

I'm a Giffen fan from way back. I've always been more supportive of his quirkiness, experimentation, and changing styles than most fans. This issue is another style shift for him. I enjoyed it, but suspect it will have some vocal critics.

The new Emerald Empress could have used a bit more development. She was a used and crazy girl, but her time with the eye was short lived. Perhaps, we'll see more of her in the future. Should the eye come back to her at some point, we will hopefully be given more details about her past.

While it's been used before, the repeated use of the word "eye" in place of "I" is pretty irritating. This was first done in the reboot Emerald Vi story line, right? Eye would have preferred if it hadn't been revisited.

I'm pleased that we received further confirmation that Ayla and Salu are a couple. It felt a bit forced for that confirmation to come in the form of pet nicknames like "sweetie" and "love".

Gates power range seemed pretty out of whack. Didn't he once have a limitation of being able to teleport within in his field of vision? Now he's a planet hopping machine. That's a pretty major upgrade.

Overall, a nice selection of Legionnaires was featured. It was a good mix and not just the usual suspects.

I have mixed feelings about Projectra returning to a leadership role on Orando. It does leave the team a bit short handed, but at least we won't have endure seeing her in that hideous costume month after month.

There was a hint of a cliffhanger in the ending. If it is what it implies, we've seen it before, right? A red herring perhaps?

The Legion History Board Game was great. It really provided a lot of detail regarding what is and isn't included in the continuity for this current version of the team. That's appreciated. It was a fun and clever way to present the information.

I'm new to Giffen's work. Having had my own (thirty) five year gap I'm in frantic catch up mode, grabbing TPBs, archives etc (still no news on the GDS dammit). I have to say I'm leaning towards BouncingBear on this. To me the art looks rather dated. I'm not saying it's bad- and I'll certainly get myself a copy- but I'm not blown away. Maybe I need to see more of his work to appreciate it.

I think the use of eye for I was first used in the dot LEGION series.

I had to look up the word weregild:

"Weregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld, weregeld, etc.) was a value placed on every human being and every piece of property in the Salic Code (Salic Law). If property was stolen, or someone was injured or killed, the guilty person would have to pay weregild to the victim's family or to the owner of the property."

So I guess Projectra found herself guilty for what happened to the girl, Falyce. So what happened to her face? And why was it no longer scarred after she lost the power of the Eye? It would be interesting if Projectra's sensory powers could restore the girl's lost vision.

I loved the art from 5yl, except for the blacked out faces.

I'm excited about the pages I've seen so far.

And, from what I saw, the girl isn't crazy, he was going to kill her and he's the power for that region. There was no one to go to for justice, so he deserved his fate.
Afterwords?
I suspect she went crazy.
sigh

I'm glad the Eye healed her.
Sarya's face was destroyed on the same side just before she died, so that was a nice point.

This Eye looked like it was there for a very long time.
Perhaps it's the second Eye, the one that showed up for Cera.
I hope so, cause I want Cera back.

I'd love for Giffen to do some arcs for the Legion, but I want Cinar, too.
And Lightle and . . .

Regarding Gates' powers, we've never seen them used to travel great distances like across the hemisphere or even to another planet until Geoff Johns' Legion of Three Worlds. This was also around the time Gates magically went from having a claw to two fingers and a claw thumb if I'm not mistaken.

Gates' reference to needing to see to teleport (from LSH v4 #85) said more that he preferred to see where he was teleporting. It's likely not an actual limitation but a guideline he chose to live by. Much like a "Nightcrawler" mentality, he probably didn't want to teleport into a wall. I'd like to think his true power potential lies somewhere in the middle: he could travel as far as he could fathom a portal to go, but light years away seems pretty hard to grasp. A visual would certainly help his focus, adding credence to Gates' previous preference to see where he's teleporting. Though perhaps paired with Dawnstar and linked to her mind by Saturn Girl or Tellus, Gates could "see" faraway places more easily and open a portal to another planet in dire emergencies.

Something else else about his powers in this annual that did work with previous continuity, though, is the limitation of only being able to take a small number of people through a portal at a time. He had stressed this before in an issue of Titans/Legion: Universe Ablaze and in general had only been pictured as being able to transport a few people at a time.

Did anyone notice that Gates' homeworld was returned to its original spelling of Vyrga in the issue? Nice to see and I always imagined the misspelling was just an oversight somewhere rather than intentional.

No BB, you aren't the only one. I have never been a Giffen fan artwise. If I had to pick, I'd go with his first run on the Legion back during GDS as the style of his I prefer...but again, not a fan overall!!! His writing on 5YG was pretty good though.

Well, aren't stars in his field of vision? Teleport to the star--you can see it even if it's light years away, now you're close enough to see the planet, teleport to the planet.

This annual would have been a lot better without that stupid board game.

See the Legion continuity list for a list of all the things wrong with it (and I bet I missed something).

What is 'Salic Law'?

And when the Eye in .LEGION left she remained her slim self, so I think that if the Eye heals you of something, like her face, it's healed.
I don't know about her eye.
In the story where Sarya lost her eye in the fight, the Eye didn't heal her eye, it replaced it with itself.

And I don't know about the board game yet, but it's obviously set up as Paul's way of telling the readers the way things are going to be.

I find it extremely irritating that Paul Levitz is riding roughshod over the world created by Geoff Johns.

Prior to Levitz coming back, the Empress was back as part of the Fatal Five/LSV. Johns also had Validus around and clearly Shady and Mon-El were never married. Night Girl and Chameleon Girl were full Legion members.

Levitz has also included the Death of Superboy/Conspiracy on the 'Board Game' which makes no sense whatsoever in the post Infinite Crisis universe.

So because Levitz wants to recreate the world of the 80s Legion, he has just ignored everything Johns had scripted. Leaving us with a continuity mess.

Oh, please. Johns left a continuity mess by ignoring everything that Levitz scripted before Levitz left a continuity mess by ignoring things that Johns scripted.

Aside from "Legion History, The Board Game", which I'm choosing to ignore for the moment, I liked this first Legion annual!

I have to admit I was a bit nervous at first hearing that Giffen would be handling the art. After seeing the cover posted a few months ago I starting finding other more recent work that Keith had worked on and I didn't mind his new stuff from what I saw.
It is a very Kirby-esque as everyone has said and this is ok in small increments and special occasions (ie: this Annual). So far so good.
I do not however wish to see Keith take over as regular Legion artist full-time. This is no disrespect to Keith whatsoever but I have become accustomed to the look and "feel" of the Cinar/Portela team, that's all. To me those two have a style that suits today's comics, imho only.

As for the story itself I think it was well written but I think that while this new Empress was great in her own unique insane way, she was merely a plot device for a potential Violet-becomes-the-new-EE that it seems the creators are planning here.
I honestly hope that this is not the case. It is not something altogether new as far as concepts go and I really didn't enjoy the whole thing the first time around with LeViathan story arc in Reboot.

Other items:

Colorists Hi-Fi were finally the first ones to get Dream Girl's hair colour correct for the most part (I still prefer her as a full platinum blonde but highlights are better that nothing, plus this is how Levitz and Giffen portrayed Nura since around the Great Darkness Saga).

Looks like Cos has decided to join the pack of sleeveless Legion males. It even appears that he ripped off the sleeves himself and is holding on to them in those two panels! LOL

I'm not happy with Jeckie staying on Orando but I think this might have lots to do with her upcoming search for Karate Kid (yeah!).

I need more than an implied or inferred status on Vi and Ayla's true relationship ... are we to just throw away the last year and a half of storytelling which clearly shows Brin and Ayla back together again? Maybe Ayla is being coached on the art of dumping boyfriends from Shadow Lass?

And did anyone else catch what the Empress said about "the meanness in your soul" to Sun Boy? WTF???
Oh well, she is insane and she did refer to him as Earth Man after all!

I thought Vi and Ayla's relationship was made more clear here than what was shown of Ayla and Brin previously. That relationship was inferred to be intact by many readers on slimmer evidence than what is present in this issue. I think it could just be assumed that Ayla and Brin are friends again.

As for the Fatal 5 appearing in the Legion of 3 Worlds, it's possible that they are from a different time period. In Superboy #199, they were shown using "time bridgers" and a "time sorter" so they do have time travel capabilities.

Also, this could be a different Emerald Eye, as we have seen that there is more than one out there.

I would like to see some connection between the eye and the Luck Lords.

I believe Chameleon Girl participated in the election, so I don't think leaving out her and Lydda really is ignoring history, rather than just not using some members much.

As for the Empress, Levitz did say he was ignoring some of Legion of Three Worlds.

I don't think the Validus situation is finished, and there's no reason Darkseid couldn't use someone else to make another Validus, anyway.

And Shady and Mon-El being divorced is from that board game, which is full of problems. (The Legion was inspired by Superboy? Yera impersonated Violet after the Great Darkness? What?)

Nope, you are not alone. After his first Legion run, Giffen went way down hill. It's almost like he makes a mockery out of the characters by drawing them so ugly. He didn't even get the costumes right. I hope he never draws another Legion issue again...EVER!!

Loved it. I'm with Jerry...I've been a Giffen fan forever and like his experimentation/changes, etc.

The colors looked great as well.

I don't have anything to nitpick. I was honestly excited throughout the story for various reasons. Hard to get a 35 year old giddy to turn the page.

Geoff ran roughshod over Levitz continuity by the way. I hated the Legion villains in Legion of Three Worlds...all old school sixties versions. ugh. (i'm a geoff fan, fyi)

I would like to see the girl that became Emerald Empress get trained by Jeckie to become the new Sensor Girl. Jeckie can become Princess Projectra again.

I love it when you agree with me on something!

And I love it when I agree with YOU!

Maybe Projectra showed Gates an illusion of Orando, which allowed him to port there . . . ?

I thought the backgrounds and supporting characters were drawn well and even the male legionnaires but this current style does not make for attractive female legionnaires. The heads are too square. The panel that introduces Jeckie's first head shot is downright scary. (I'm assuming this is the Jack O' Lantern look that Jim was referring to). The women's hair is too lank in all cases as well.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. Nice to see Vi get inside the EE for the first time. Have always wondered why this hasn't happened before. I thought she was going to lose an eye herself (like those unfortunates in the pit) and thus give a nod to the 5YL one-eyed Vi. I think that would have been a more interesting "changed forever" moment than the possibility of Emerald Vi being resurrected.

I caugth two possible nods to past continuities: 1) The reference to Dirk's "meaness of spirit" could allude to the childhood traumas-induced character flaws that were revealed during the five year gap; and 2) The green glow around Salu's eye which could indicate a secret connection to the Emerald Eye, ala the Emerald Legion of the Reboot Legion.

As for the Giffen art, yes it was somewhat "Kirbyesque," but with a great deal of 5-Year Gap style, too, I think. I'd be okay with it on an ongoing basis, so long as it was cleaned up a bit; after all, we know from the GDS that Keith is capable of doing almost photorealistic drawings when he puts the effort in. (Having said this, though, I think that Cinar is doing a fantastic job at the moment.)

I personally loved Giffen's latest evolution of his art style and wouldn't mind seeing him swing by for every annual. I've always adored his ability to draw panels as if the reader was an actual bystander, with just as many shots of Legionnaires' heads turned away or "around the corner" as close-ups of our heroes.

I actually quite liked the Legion History board game from an entertainment standpoint. Magnetic Kid died for your <strike>sins</strike> plot advancement!

As far as it stating that Yera's impersonation happened after the Great Darkness Saga, I interpreted it more as saying that Yera was found out after it, which is true. The images Ahern paid homage to for that event were all from the reveal issue, #305. But the long-stretching subplot was just given one square on the game, which gives the misconception that it happened at one time after GFS. I imagine it's not an intentional retcon on the side of anyone in DC, just an event that was left too succinct in its description to cover all the bases for everyone. In truth I thought it even acknowledged the fact the decepticon had been going on for awhile by having the player jump back a space to the Great Darkness Saga to "warn Colossal Boy." Obviously two spaces would have been more appropriate and chronologically correct, but I see the game board as a piece of fun and not a history bible that fans new and old alike should race to for references.

Heh. Decepticon. That could be my new favorite word. Sounds like a Brainy device.

"Quick, Brainy, activate the Decepticon, so we can see if Dynamo Boy is lying to us!"

Don't let Kid Prime hear you say that!

The memories that the Eye had inclued Sarya's death and revenge for it, so I guess the Eye that we see is hers.
sigh

I might have missed something, but I don't get the possibility that the Eye will seduce Salu.
In the reboot, Vi was a lot younger and she didn't realize that the Eye can only produce evil results, rather like a catspaw.

The retroboot Vi knows exactly how bad the consequences are.

I didn't mind the two of them not being in their Legion uniforms when they woke up, but then, I like when they act normal.

Liked the beginning of their relationship, even though it's starting a lot sooner then it did before.

The game was fashioned after Candyland, I think, among other, more recent game boards.
Shady divorcing Mon rings even less true than Shady dumping her boyfriend Mon.


I was sort of disappointed in the art, for most of the reasons already stated.
Giffen is still using his time saving no faces, etc. kind of stuff.
Liked parts of the art for some of the reasons already stated, as well.
Loved the costumes and backgrounds and colors.

I'd like to keep Cinar, though, and Jimenez.

Already I have have the annual.
The history is well enough, in spite of some faults.
Since it is that Jeckie don't have any news of Orando in the whole year?
Does not she have any friend or allied in her planet?
But the art....It is of the things more horrible, ugly, frightful that I have seen in a Legion Comic.
Thanks to Heaven that still we have Cinnar and Phill Jimenez.I wait for a lot of time...
Definitively Mr Giffen already it cannot draw girls.
At least, still I have the hope that the eye revives Sarya, to the best style Hammer's Dracula.

In the last panel, Vi has an emerald green flare around her left eye, and a green "badge" on her chest, peeking out from her uniform neckline. The caption at the bottom says, "the end?"

Why not?

Unless the eyes have a group mind/memory . . .

It goes without saying that we love the Legion artwork of Yiliray Cinar and Phil Jimenez, but I must say that the Keith Giffin tribute to Jack King Kirby, which was LoSH Annual #1, totally blew me away. Pg.18 splash panel of the Empress on the throne was a total Kirby homage. The magnificant cover owed much to Ingres' Napoleon Enthroned, but was complete Kirby worship.

BTW does anybody think that Mekt's twin might be the next Validus?

Haha. See, this is the problem with being a Transformers fan AND a Legion fan. I've never been able to spell deception right on the first go my whole life.

As for the last panel of Vi, I assumed the object on her chest was a medi-device that simply was glowing green. The effect on here Eye, though, opens a lot of possibilities. Is she possessed by the Emerald Eye now? That would be probably too much of a re-hashing of the reboot. Perhaps now she simply has that 'insight' into the Emerald Eye and its history or could track it herself? Or maybe the former Empress now has some connection to Vi? Her final words of "I see you, lady" to Jeckie could have meant their her original version was restored or she was now somehow linked to Violet's sight.

I'd forgotten all about Mekt's twin. I wish they'd get back to that.

With Mekt looking likely to return in the LSV storyline, I'm sure there will be a follow-up, even if a mention that it was a wild goose chase to get under Garth's skin..

I'm snowed in here in Oklahoma! I can't get to my local comic shop! Can you feel my pain??! I'm so ready to read this!

Did the wind come sweeping down the plain and bury you in a snowdrift?

Finally got the Annual.

Also picked up the Nextwave trade.

The Nextwave art was not at all to my taste, but it suited the totally irreverant storyline. The Annual art? Also not to my taste, and not particularly well-suited to the Legion, IMO.

I was distracted by the art the first read. I'll have to read it again and see if I like the story, at least.

Loved the story... despised the art...

Personally, I'd probably love that idea if it happened.

Ahhh, well, I'd hate it if that's what happens.
So, it probably will.
sigh
I enjoyed the reboot Emerald Vi, but only because it made sense.
The current Vi just doesn't seem to be that unsure of herself or that needy or that gullible.

Yes, it was. And in that series, it was intentionally annoying and played for laughs.

Well, hmmm....

I'm no fan of Giffen's art style. I didn't care for it much during 5YL, although it had a suitability for that dystopian backdrop, as I suppose it does for this dirty medieval setting.

Ayla and Vi look like wide-bottomed linebackers. And I haven't figured out the reason for the strange outfits they wore through most of the story. They're nothing like anything the other females of Orando are wearing.

The story was a letdown from DC's solicit: "She possesses entire planets! And she devastates the Legion so completely, one Legionnaire will never be the same!" Quite an overwrought, if not incorrect, description of what actually happens in this story.

I do like how Levitz takes time to create and explore exotic landscapes like the one inside the Eye in this story and Tellus' recent glimpse inside Dawnstar's tracking framework.

Overall, it didn't live up to my hopes.

Liked the story, loved the art, hated the colors!!
The neon green used throughout made my eyes bleed!!
The artwork on the full page explosion done in that color was indiscernable to me.(but I suppose most other fans were happy about that LOL)
The happy pastels used for Orando didn't match the narration at all.
All the characters kept complaining about the mold & the fungus & all the wretched, rotting, decaying, stinky & smelly ruins- yet every thing was colored in pinks & sky blues & seafoam greens!! Even the greys & browns were from the lighter side of the spectrum!!
And to top it off, Nura's hair is STILL miscolored!!! Grrr!!
I thought the board game was cute but I swear, while I was reading it, I kept thinking about how poor Ken Arromdee was gonna pitch a fit when he saw it!!

I enjoyed story and art a lot, but agree with Rhino that the COLORS were working against the story. Everything was WAY too neon and bright in places it would have been better to go darker. But that's a small nitpick. My bigger nitpick would be Jeckie's status at the end.

Of all the storylines and plot points that the 10+ years of the Reboot gave us... Emerald Vi is probably dead last on my list of ones I'd like to see brought back! RUN, GIM! RUN!

---

I found this Annual to be just OK. I liked it well enough, but something about the story just left me a little bored.

GOODS -

* Giffen's art was interesting/sufficient at times, but it was very much depending on the inker (and I'd much rather have Portela on this book full time than him again - the occasional back-up or Annual would be fine though).
* The new EE's costume was great.
* I liked that the prologue was set a year ago - which means this new EE could have been the one shown in Legion of 3 Worlds (albeit wearing the old EE's outfit for some kinky reason) and thus prevents all the continuity nit-pickers in the world from crying themselves to sleep over this issue.
* I like that Ayla and Salu are so clearly a couple now. More diversity in the Legion is good! (And this doesn't negate anything Geoff Johns did with Ayla and Brin in Lo3W IMO since their interactions there could so easily be those of friends/former lovers.)
* Nice to see Gates get such a major role.
* Really liked the quick panel showing Dawnstar too busy to join the mission. That was such an Adventure-era thing to do!
* Vi's plan to shrink into the Eye and then blow it up from the inside was clever and yet so obvious I'm surprised it's never been done before.
* I was glad to see Jeckie quit the Legion and decide to stay on Orando at the end there. I'd much rather have her on the team - but I'd much MORE rather never having to see that fugly costume and outdated and unnecessary codename again.
* Unlike, rhino - I really liked the colours this issue. I agree that they didn't really match the story but colours any murkier/grimmer would have made Giffen's pencils a bit of an eyesore IMO.

BADS -

* The story didn't have enough meat to it. Page 6 to page 38 was all set over the course of a few hours and nearly all of that was taken up with one long, not-that-interesting fight scene (Legion fans seem to love their 'blast' powered characters but they make for boring fight visuals IMO).
* Falyce was completely unmemorable. Oh, for a Cera Kesh!
* EYE hate the way EYE speaks! Something else else else from the Reboot that would have been better left forgotten!
* I agree with Jim re: dis-liking Salu and Ayla's boring jammies. Lock them up with their costumes on next time please, Mr. or Mrs. Super-Villain!
* Gates is suddenly way too powerful. I liked him better when he was limited to short-range teleports. He's going to be as deus ex-machina as those annoying Kwai from the DnA era of the Reboot soon if Paul keeps him at this strength.
* Dirk and Jeckie (especially)'s costumes still suck. Changing Dirk's classic costume strikes me as done for no other reason than for Cinar (or whoever it was) to leave their mark on this team. It may not be as hideous as others (like Jeckie or Tyroc's) but it certainly isn't an improvement on the old one either.
* Nura's hair-colour. A slight improvement but still not there yet. Keep trying please Hi-Fi.
* "Bitch". I don't know. Paul's used language like that a few times now. I'm no prude but it just seems out of place in this book. This isn't 100 Bullets. I don't need gritty realism here, thanks Paul. The scene would have worked just as well without it IMO.
* More background for the Eye. I preferred it when it was unknowable and mysterious. I'm not keen on all these Green Lantern and what-not connections.

---

The Board Game and Interlac A-Z were fab though. Probably my favourite parts of the book. I almost cannot believe that some fans could get up in arms about how something that is SO obviously just meant as a bit of light-hearted fun might not mesh 100% with the established Legion history - but then I remembered that this is Legion fandom I'm talking about, and complaints about the most miniscule continuity variations are as constant as Brainiac 5's panel-hogging.

I thought they were a hoot though and that's good enough for me. Plus - the advert for the LSV issue has me salivating for that book too! 38 pages of Portela art on some of my favourite villains?!? Yes! Hope Ron-Karr makes an appearance too!

Not sure when I will read this, given the blizzard, but for the continuity-minded...please move your hand away from the universal obliterator. Levitz made clear in his first ish that the Legion's continuity is in flux and always will be. Johns and Levitz have different objectives. Johns wanted to reintroduce the Legion he liked the best, with pretty straight-ahead, "classic" takes on most of the characters, which is a way of saying that he wasn't too interested in delving into most of the characters' complex back stories. Even his use of Yera may have been motivated solely by the Legion in the 21C plot and his need for a shapeshifter in the 31C. AND he wanted to emphasize the Legion connection to SuperMAN, because he was writing SuperMAN at the time and the legal status of SuperBOY was all over the place. And who knows what he REALLY had in mind, because he wrote very few stories post FC:LO3W.

Levitz clearly wants to reunite the characters as he wrote them and continue all the things he liked about his last stint on the series--he's said as much, that it's a high school reunion. He has his own take on the characters which is very important to him, so Saturn Girl is unambiguously a mother again, which means the Garridan/Validus thing is back in the mix. The death of Cosmic Boy's mother and it's impact on Pol Krinn happened, so we have the consequences of that back, too. He killed off the Emerald Empress in a memorable series of stories, so that's back. He began the thread of Vi and Ayla as a couple, so we have that. He gave Shadow Lass an...exotic marriage to Mon-El, so we have the fallout from that. All of this makes sense to me. And he has changed his mind on some things, like Tyroc and Quislet, and he's kept Gates. He's going to tell the stories he wants to tell, and choose continuity that works for that, and ignore continuity that doesn't, as every comics writer does. And finally, I think he REALLY enjoys baiting continuity-obsessed Legion fans, perhaps a little more than he should.

Wow!
I really agree with you, doublechinner!
That doesn't happen very often, unfortunately.

Blacula - I always assumed that the Eye had magic type forcefields set up to repell any invasion into it's interior so, I was very surprised when Vi got in AND the inside didn't make a bit of sense to me.
sigh

It's so funny that fans can be so different when it comes to the same book.

Emerald Vi was a fun arc for me, and I really enjoyed the Eye having a voice.

But, I certainly agree that Falyce was no replacement for Cera.

I'm not a big canon follower, but I DO think that the game should have been edited to not ADD to the continuity confusion, i.e., no big glitches.

And I was glad to see Ayla and Salu out of uniform since I dislike both of their costumes.
I don't like ANY of the current costumes, though.

I <3 coming here and seeing the different perspectives and opinions that people have.
Good stuff, Maynard!

Maybe the Eye wanted to let Vi in?

I like Ayla's costume, but I hate Vi's. The inside of the Eye made no sense to me either. I'd think it would be all about energy, not flowers.

Good point, Jorge. I hadn't thought of that. It could've sensed it was losing its current host and saw an opportunity to seduce a new one.

Write U Mais Bee, Think Eye.

Back when Timber Wolf beat up the entire Fatal Five in the reboot, I think, he said the eye wasn't really made of matter, but more coherent energy or something. (Which would explain why Element Lad hasn't turned it into water or something.)

Mordru only knows if that has any bearing on *this* continuity...

This Emerald Eye is beginning to seem like a knock off of Adam Warlock's soul gem, with it's own little world inside of it. That would create the possibility that Sarya's spirit might still be trapped within that world, and she could be reborn someday. Alternately, perhaps the 'world' inside the Eye has something to do with the Guardians and their ancient campaign to remove chaos and magic from the universe, with the world inside the eye being where some of the stuff the Guardians were attempting to purge from the universe was hidden away...

(The Emerald Eye, last resting place of Gemworld!)

The soul of Amethyst is supposed to be in Gemworld, sustaining and ordering it.
Or she was.

Mysa is supposed to be on Gemworld, which became Zerox.
Originally according to TMK and perhaps before during the Magic Wars.

Did it say so in the arc?


jim - you like ayla's costume because it's so similar to her Silver Age one, i think, anyway.
Tell me if I'm wrong.
lol

You're wrong.

I like it because:

It's not overly busy like Saturn Girl's

It doesn't have a boob window like Dawnstar's

It's not composed of spiked heels and dental floss doubling as butt floss like Shadow Lass's

It doesn't have clashing colors like Violet's

It's not downright hideous like Sensor Girl's

It doesn't look matronly like Duplicate Damsel's

It doesn't look like 1977 like Phantom Girl's

It doesn't make her look like a dominatrix like Night Girl's

It's just simple and basic and functional, with her traditional colors.

Really enjoyed this Annual! Loved the art! Solid story with lots of little nuggets.

Found it hilarious someone could really think the Board Game altered continuity.

Yay Ayla & Vi together!

Yay Gates!

heh. Only Legion fans would be so worked up over something fun like a board game!

it's one of their numerous charms!

Hey! Don't scoff at board games! Didn't you know you can become possessed by the devil by a ouija board? Then there's that whole Jumanji thing . . .

the orange crotch/thong is functional?
1. it's a good thing they're coloring her hair yellow nowadays
2. you've obviously never had to wear one in everyday life
3. the 'traditional colors' (and style) are Silver Age.
sigh

But, whatever you say.

^ I don't think Jim's post warranted that tone at all Candlelight.

Why does it matter to you what costumes he does or doesn't like anyway?

For what it's worth - I haven't seen Ayla's orange pants/things depicted as a 'thong' at all yet. Which issue has the offending images?

And if they're not being done as so, then how are Ayla's pants any different to Dawnstar or Wonder Woman or any of a dozen other female characters who wear bathing suit type trunks?

I'm sorry my tone was bad.
I've always thought that one of the problems with the net is that we CAN'T hear each other's tones or see each other's body language, the two of which make up over 70% of our communication.
sigh

I don't really care what jim thinks about costumes, I'm just trying to see what he'll say next.
I enjoy his comments and like teasing him a little.

I guess I'll have to ignore all comments and just talk to myself since I really don't want to offend anyone.
Even third parties.

I like Violet's new costume the way she was drawn in the Superman/Batman #75 book a few months back ... same colours but with the black leggings/leotards underneath. The mini skirt on its own looks a bit dated to me.

I agree. It is very hard to use humour or sarcasm online or in text messages. I know I've created problems in the past when something I've written hasn't been taken as intended. These days, when I'm ribbing on someone, I always try to use one of those winky or smiley face things (XS or Grinn here at Legion World) to prevent any misunderstandings.

OK. If Jim's cool with it, no harm done then. I was just trying to keep the tone of the boards civil and, looking at your post from the outside, it seemed a little harsh. I was also confused about where your criticism of Ayla's costume is coming from too, and was genuinely wondering if I'd missed some sleazy portrayals of Ayla somewhere.

I'm sure that won't be necessary.

I don't know if Jim is okay with being teased.
We've just clashed in the past.

I thought, hoped, that we'd gotten past that and could just interact.
But, maybe not.

The costume that Ayla wears doesn't bother me except that I dislike ALL of the mixed eraness of the current outfits.
I also seriously dislike the skimpy stuff.
I was too brutely honest with it but my ire wasn't directed at jim, but at the costume.

At least, that's what I intended.
I'll make sure to use XS or grin when I'm teasing.
I didn't realize what their purpose was, I'm afraid.

I thought we HAD gotten past our old clashes, but I did think your retort was pretty rude. I actually thought you'd agree with me on the ugly/sexist female costumes that I commented on. I guess you just like to argue.

And Ayla has ALWAYS worn navy and white with a yellow emblem, silver age or not, except for that ugly blue and white one she wore when she first regained her lightning powers.

THANK YOU, BLACULA!!!

I pretty much dislike or even hate all of the new uniforms except Wildfire's. Some are too 'busy' (Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Sensor Girl). Not a fan of the 'boob window' (Sensor Girl, Dawnstar). Hate thongs and 'butt floss' (Shadow Lass, Lightning lass). Annoyed when they try a little too hard to be reminiscent of a former look and yet be 'fresh and new' (Sun Boy, Shrinking Violet, Lightning Lass, Sensor Girl and *worst offender* Brainiac 5). And some are just plain ugly (Sensor Girl, Tyroc, Earth Man). However, costumes change periodically for the Legion, so hopefully some one will read the various boards and take note of the comments and just maybe the next set of costumes will be better.

I'd be really interested to know what the initial fan reaction to Cockrum's costumes was. They're almost universally regarded as classics now, but how did they look to fans of the Adventure era? I can't say I'm a fan of the new looks either, but I don't know how much of that is my own bias toward the early '80s ere costumes and how much is the costumes actually not being good.

I was around when Cockrums costumes first appeared and a lot of fans hated them. The only one I really hated was Projectra's. IMHO, the colors clashed, it was too busy, and the neckline was too low (though Grell drew it MUCH lower). However, as Sensor Girl, she's reached new depths in clashing colors, business, and boobage.

Cham's red and purple costume clashed too, but it grew on me.

Good question. I don'tknow about anybody else, but I thought the Lighning Lad costume was a tremendous improvement over the brown/tan leggings and the cape. Then again, I also thought the Saturn Girl and Element Lad costumes made them look a bit slutty at the time. I grew to like them better as it went on. Still not feeling it for any of the current new looks except Wildfire.... and that is because it makes him look kind of slutty.

Are people seeing things that aren't there? Or am I missing something?

I've read all of the retroboot Legion's appearances and don't remember Ayla's costume being depicted as a thong anywhere. And I thought I'd have noticed that because I also hate thongs in comics.

Ayla's got one of the more 'demure' costumes on the team IMO (unless people have a problem with bare legs).

See, this is one of the problems with the Internet. One person posts a piece of misinformation based on personal bias or whatever, then someone else picks up on it and before you know it, it becomes "fact".

P.S. Blacula, if Phil Jiminez turns me down, will YOU marry me? I'll let you play with my Legion figurines.

^ You definitely know the way to a Legion fan's heart, Jim!

I would, but you'd probably start getting suspicious when, every time it rains, you'd find me with a broom sweeping up in front of those figurines.

Shouldn't that be NOT seeing things that ARE there? Because coverage is the thing in question.
Thong may be to strong a term... skimpy panty bikini bottom maybe? This is how her current look from the 'Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes' on has come across to me. Lots of buttcheak shown due to orange panty-thingy under the tunic-miniskirt-thingy. It does remind me a lot of her Adventure era Costume, only smaller panty in the curent version. Not saying it is bad for fans in general, only that I don't care for it.

Sorry, I know that I'm not part of your immediate conversation, but I'm not familiar with the Legion reference that you're (presumably) making. So which story/situation are you referencing?

Blacula is talking about the silver age story of the Composite Superman from World's Finest Comics. In it, the janitor at the Superman museum is sweeping the floor one night during a storm and lightning comes through the window and strikes the set of LSH figurines in front of him, which reflects the lightning back on him and gives him all of the Legion's powers, which he uses to transform himself into a villain who looks like half Batman/half Superman, but with green skin. He then sets out to conquer Superman, Batman, and Robin, naturally. There's a sequel to the story later on too. I'll be back in a sec with the issue numbers.

Here are the issue numbers and a picture of the scene I described.

World's Finest Comics issues No. 142 and 168

http://www.studiosanning.shawbiz.ca...finest/wf168/lightning_strikes_twice.jpg

Here's a link to a synopsis of the 1st story:

http://www.studiosanning.shawbiz.ca/superman_family/chronology/worlds_finest/wf142/index.htm


And here's a link to a synopsis of the 2nd story:

http://www.studiosanning.shawbiz.ca/superman_family/chronology/worlds_finest/wf168/index.htm

If you've never seen my figurines, click the link at the bottom of this post. You'll see that I didn't make my figurines with the arms extended as in WF comics. I modelled mine after the ones in Adv. Comics 326, 337, 350 and others, with the arms at the sides, standing at attention, so I'm afraid Blacula might be out of luck waiting for the lightning to be reflected back from mine.

I'm probably becoming delusional because of the extreme cold and extreme stress in my life today, but I'm coming around to a contrarian notion about the Legion -- that it is beloved by some (and ignored/disliked by most) precisely because it intentionally breaks the rules of the successful super-hero comic. When has the Legion ever really had GOOD costumes? Really, be honest. With the exception of some of Cockrum's designs, the Legion has almost always had costumes to turn away readers at the newsstand/comic shop. I mean, you have important male superheroes wearing costumes with pink and purple as the predominant colors, in the early 1960s. You had Saturn Girl switching from a matronly ice queen "Desk Set" outfit to an outfit that would be right at home in a porno, and then back again. You have superhero costumes without symbols or emblems, or emblems that are really kinda lame (Phantom Girl's "P" anyone?). We all loved Sun Boy's costume (and it stuck around so long, unchanged) because it was probably the only really GOOD superhero costume in the whole book! But this is why I LOVE the Legion, always have, always will. I love that Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5, and Element Lad were wearing colors that would have labeled them as pansies, villains, or both, and that it just didn't matter what, if anything, their costumes said about their sexual preferences. I love that so many of the costumes look like they were homemade by the kids' parents or friends on some poor, backwater planet where style was an unaffordable luxury. I love that as they hit young adulthood and wrapped up their awkward adolescence, so many of them decided to flaunt it when they got it with unselfconsciously sexy outfits. And I even kinda love today that Sensor Girl, the sovereign of an entire planet, can choose to wear the single most horrible costume in the history of comics and none of her closest friends in the galaxy have the guts to tell her. I've decided, for today at least, that the Legion should embrace awful costumes as a feature, not a bug. Because if they all had super-stylish togs, they wouldn't BE the Legion, they'd be some slick, stylish, soulless Marvel book.

There might be something to that. The deliberately 'goofy' names, often ending in Girl, Lass, Boy or Kid, might also have something of that as well. A deliberate middle-finger towards the concept of growing up or taking the concept so seriously as to abandon anything *fun* about it.

I've always preferred a mix of different costume styles, with less unified elements, simply because so many of the Legionnaires are from wildly different worlds.

I would love for it to be flat-out canon that Carggites consider colors that we would never wear together, like purple and orange, to be complementary, and consider colors that we consider to 'match,' to be garish and hideous, or that everyone on Talokk VIII wears capes and bikinis, to allow their body to remain cool in the desert heat, and yet shield them from the sun as necessary. Random stuff like this, instead of a perverse wish to 'unify' the costumes (by giving everyone piping or cutting off their sleeves or giving all the girls boob-windows or even just having them all wear tights with jackets) seems more appropriate to represent that the team is made up of teens and twenty-somethings from a dozen different worlds, each with their own culture, heritage, history and sense of aesthetic style. Titanians can be all prim and proper, wearing clothing that looks like uniforms (and the pink bikini phase could be explained as Imra 'acting out'). Rimborians of certain regions might use a similar color scheme, or even share certain clothing elements, similar to how Ultra Boy and Marla Latham used to wear the same outfit.

IMO, the best way to emulate this sort of multi-cultural non-fashion-clone-Legion would be to pick costumes from different eras and artists for each Legionnaire, rather than have each new artist 're-invent the wheel.' One might stick to a classic Cockrum design, another might dress as they were introduced by Lightle, one might go for the later Giffen 'tights and jacket' look, etc.

Salic Law was used in the Germanic kingdoms to determine inheritance. Property was passed down from the father to the eldest son, or to the next closest male relative. Women could not inherit under Salic Law, which is why it was used in the French kingdom to justify Philip VI inheriting the land.

The best example is when Queen Victoria came to the throne, she inherited The United Kingdoms of Great Britain under England's Semi-Salic Laws.However, she could not inherit the Kingdom of Hanover. That went to one of her uncles.

Salic Law figures prominently in Shakespeare's Henry V -- France tries to argue that Henry can't claim the kingdom because of Salic Law barring inheritance through "the female." In the play, the arch-bishop of Canterbury does an excellent historic analysis of how both the monarchy of France and the rules of "Salic Land" had all inherited there titles through the maternal line.

Will Vi start calling Ayla "Eyela"??

pedantic comment: Victoria's kindom was the United Kingdom (singular) of Great Britain and Ireland. Before 1801 it was just the Kingdom of Great Britain.

As I recall, Cockrum's designs came on the heels of tryouts of some truly hideous costume designs sent in by readers. I think it was clear to the editors that fans wanted new costumes, but that they would have to be professionally designed. Fan reaction to the Cockrum designs was nearly universally positive (if the letters pages are any indication).

Incidentally, one reader-created design did continue to get used for many years after it was introduced. Any guesses as to whose it was?

Saturn Girl's and Duo Damsel's costumes were both designed by fans. I think Light Lass's was too, but DD's and LL's were modified by Dave Cockrum.

I remember as a seven year old how a certain back-up Legion tale featured all these nondescript heroes together with varied super powers. I had never seen a brown & green costume before on a hero, or one with green and yellow and red cowboy gloves?

The fact that their costumes were subdued and unusual and these characters were mysterious and unknown was the initial draw for me. I've been hooked since...

Oh no. I hope this doesn't restart the "how is Ayla's name pronounced" debate again!

Actually, Garth's rant at Mekt did make it seem that Ayla and Brin were together. While a Vi/Ayla pairing may be in vogue, still feel twinges of disappointment that, due to Vi's mental impairment when she fell for Duplicate Boy way back when, a true Gim/Vi romantic relationship has never been allowed to flourish...

I recall that one of the first Legion fans that I met at local cons here in Minneapolis said that he didn't like the new LSH uniforms (around the time of Superboy & the LSH #197-200.

Naturally, the editors at DC printed mostly favorable letters regarding the new costumes, but I remember reading a lot of fans' complaints about them in the Legion Outpost. K. (Kim) Haven Metzger who designed Saturn Girl's new costume wrote an article for one issue that begged for forgiveness for starting the trend. Here are a couple of snippets from his article:

" . . . the changes seemed so unnecessary. The old uniforms, I felt, were more in tune with the Legionnaires' personalities. . . . Colossal Boy's magnificent, colorful outfit fell to muscle-accentuating clothing. . . . ever since those new uniforms were introduced, it just doesn't seem like the Legion I knew. And I live with the knowledge that I am responsible."

Ironic that the costume that was MOST out of tune with its wearer's personality (IMHO) was his own creation! I think he may be claiming too much credit for starting the trend, but it's clear that he, among others, didn't like the sweeping costume changes.

Yes!

Finally read this. Loved it for the most part. Seemed kinda anti-climactic in the end, but that's not to say that it was bad...just not 100% what I had hoped for.

I like Giffen's art, so I liked it here as well. The inks on some of it were pretty strange though.

Sorry to see Jeckie leave...but I think she'll be back in her search for Val again before too long.

Ayla and Salu together again...>like<

Dirk gettinga chance to actually do something was nice. Gates as well, although I agree that his powers need to be a bit more defined.

The alphabetwas great with some phenom pieces of art.

The board game was hilarious. Reading through it you could tell it was being played for fun.

I finally got my issue, and I actually enjoyed it. The story was well done, and the Giffen art was appropriately abstract for the abstract world of Orando. My favorite page, actually, was the first full-page scene of Metropolis. Whether you like Giffen art or not, that page illustrated why his vision of 31st century architecture is still the standard 25 years later.

The coloring was great, IMO, especially the bright greens of the Empress. It was nice to have a comic book with vibrant colors, contrast to the standard dark and gloomy where the ink comes off on your fingers.

My one criticism would be that Gates came off looking like a California Raisin guy, but otherwise, a very enjoyable annual.

finally got mine too, most enjoyable read since Superman and the Legion of Super Heroes of Action Comics.


(Gates did look a little off though)