things are not looking good to them.... check it out - new preview -
Legion Lost #1 -

four pages only...but thats ominous enough for both Legionnaires.

http://sciencefiction.com/2011/09/09/exclusive-dc-comics-new-52-preview-legion-lost-1/

Edit: Please don't post spoilers in the subject line.

Man, I love the art in this book...!

Also love how WILDFIRE is being treated. He's always straddled the line between "leader" and "bossy" so the "I-told-you-so" attitude is right in line - as is the protectiveness he feels for Dawny.

The art does look pretty good. the fact that one of the 2 Legionnaires that appears to be sick is NOT one of the 2 we have been led believe 'dies' by the second issue is interesting. May just change my mind and check the issue out after all.

Again with the ludicrous concept that time is flowing simultaneously in the present and the future, and that a time traveller can 'take too long' in the future and 'not get to the past in time' to stop something.

Oy!

It's friggin' time travel! Superboy can spend *years* in the 30th century, and be home before Ma Kent realizes he's left! (Indeed, if he's not careful, he might come back *before* he left!)

Still, yes, the art is neat.

I always wished they would explain that time travel thing. It could be as simple as the time bubbles being extremely hard to program so they keep it at exactly 1000 years to reduce deadly dangerous mishaps.

I too like the art in this book (from what little taste we got from this brief preview).
Very clever of them to pick an artist that will surely appeal to a younger crowd, while keeping us hard-to-impress veterans happy too.

What I think I'm really going to enjoy is having Yera's character fleshed out a bit more with this series. I want her to really hit that "main character" status instead of the background supporter that she has been all this time.

I also cannot tell you how happy I am to have Gates, Quislet and Tellus get their fair share of the limelight (FINALLY!!!) in this new book.
I hope they don't go and do something rash like kill off any of these Legionnaires!

As for the rest, I have always liked T-Wolf so having him be the "Wolverine" type character (which he's destined to become) in this mix is ok by me.
Dawny and Wildfire were never my all-time favourites, but they never bothered me either! The extra space this book will allow, apart from the regular series, is sure to make ALL these Legionnaires really hit their mark.

Total agreement with this. I'm stoked to learn more about Yera, Gates, Tellus and Tyroc.

Also not the biggest fan of the Timber-Wolf-as-Wolverine characterization, but he's was once a favorite, when his primary power was super-acrobatics / super-agility. I love dynamic characters who are all over the place, like Spider-Man and Nightcrawler.

Thought you guys would want to see this too:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=383868

Thanks for posting the link, Paul. The text pieces have my interest much more than the preview pages. Fascinating stuff.

This looks pretty good so far! Looking forward to getting my hands on it!

Nice!
I have to say I like Tyroc's jacket thingy that's he's got on now. It makes his new hideous costume a bit more tolerable to me.

Ok I'll stop now about the costume!

The text pages certainly add a lot to the story. You know immediately what's going on, why the Legionnaires are there. I'd like to see them do these text pages more often.

It really looks like a good story with very dynamic art.

*squeal of delight!*

Hmm, it sounds intriguing.

I skipped "Flashpoint," so I don't know what the Flashpoint Breakwall is. Does that mean the Legion is still from old DCU, and they know they're crossing into an alternate timeline to the DCnU?

Maybe that has to do with why they cannot get back...a one way ticket.

Is the pathogen specific to humans?
That would seem to be Alastor's goal.

So, it should follow that Yera, Tellus and Gates are immune and Wildfire would be anyway. Dawny's DNA might be different enough, too, given the new Starhaven history established in dotREBELS this last run. Wolf's might be enough as well, since he's from Zoon.

Tyroc might be immune too, depending on how long Marzal was in insolation - 20 thousand years might be enough.
I don't know how long it might take their genetics to become divergent.

And how did Alastor get to the past?
Did he steal a time bubble before Titan blew up or did the Institute make new ones immediately after they moved to Naltor (IIRC.)
He seemed surprised to be where he was, confused.

Is this contagion going to show up in the rest of the DCU 52?

Preview looks great but wouldn't Dawnstar be the Legionnaire least likely to ralph in the bushes because of time travel sickness... I mean her power revolves around super speed maneuvering in outer space after all... unless she has caught the pathogen... and I'm fine with that

I think Dawny's queasiness here, much like in the issue last volume where Gates teleported them to Naltor, could be from having her surroundings changed instantly and her pathfinding senses overwhelmed for a moment as they adjust.

Okay I'll buy that

Is anyone else having trouble getting the preview pages to open? I can see the main page, but clicking on the individual pages does nothing. And I've tried in IE and Firefox, as well as with and without my firewall enabled.

It drives me nuts that DC gives these random websites "exclusive" previews and then I can't open them. Put them on the DC Comics website also.

I noticed the same thing but if u click on this link and scroll down to near the bottom you will see full sized pages posted

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=383868

I thought her throwing up was a sign that she was infected with that pathogen.

It looks like Gates was teleporting to safety willingly; does that mean he'll be captured and thought dead?

Poor Gates. That's like his running gag.

Better that than puking, though

DC just announced the issue is sold out in advance of release and a second printing is on the way.

Here's fun idea: what if it turns out she puked because of morning sickness? That'd be dramatic enough, but then there'd be the additional drama of who the father is!

Good news!

Has anyone been over to the DC boards recently?

Apparently, "Legion of Super-Heroes" and "Legion Lost" are sub-categories of "Young Justice".

I have about as much interest in Young Justice as in Old Justice .

I think you're reading too much into it. The organized the boards by categories. It don't mean "Young Justice" in terms of the team, but is the category for most of the titles with young heroes. Blue Beetle, Teen Titans, Hawk & Dove and Static Shock are there. (Superboy is with the Superman-related comics and Nightwing is with Batman-related ones.) It seems like a pretty logical way of organizing things to me.

The Legionnaires are at least in their early to mid 20's by now; the early members may even be a bit older. But with Hawk and Dove there too, I agree it's a fair categorization.

Great idea! Although I'd nominate a non-legionnaire as the father....

Do you have someone in mind?

Would love to see how Wildfire reacts, and how Dawnstar deals with HIS reaction.

Actually, I favour Jhodan from Kol. At some point, she went back and resumed their relationship. And I'd like to assume that she didn't know (or wasn't certain) she was pregnant, because why would she volunteer for a dangerous mission?

Well, if your interpretation is correct, then what can be 'read into it' is that the Legion has once again been removed from the 'Superman Family'. Good news for some of us, bad for others.

Disappointing first issue. Spoilers ho!

Gates is one of my favourite characters, and not only does he get short shrift and hardly any dialogue, he gets obliterated by the end of the issue (and not even an explosion that leaves no body, with T-Wolf and Dawnstar confirming their "organics" were spread all over the place. Delightful.)

It thought the action was choppy and the dialogue a little awkward. If I hadn't read the earlier text on-line, there would be little characterisation for the villain at all. I'm all for leaving some reveals until later in the story, but I think too much was left up in the air or as a mystery when it really didn't need to be.

I *did* like how Tyroc and Wildfire were handled, especially their interactions with each other, and it wasn't as bad as some of the other books this week. I just expected more.

Yes, the first time a gal doesn't realize what's happening.
Jhodan would be the one I'd prefer, too.
But then, why has she been with Drake?

That better not be right about Gates.

To add to the drama, maybe Dawnstar could have done that after she took her "Grand Tour of the Galaxy", and also after Wildfire took on the more humanoid look to try to be with her.

Jhodan sounds like a great choice to be the father!

Got it... read it... liked it. Reminded me of DNA era of storytelling. Dialogue was handled well I thought. Not happy with the overuse of T Wolf's tracking by scent abilities as it makes Dawnstar's tracking ability somewhat redundant and she needs all the power distinction she can get. Although I did like how it allowed for the panel where they look at each other and quietly acknowledge the same thing re: Gates and Yera's fate. Which is open-ended enough that they could still be alive... hope so.

I don't know if this was the writer's idea or if an edict was passed down, but who ever was responsible for the idea should be fired. Seriously. If you can not think of anything better to do with 2 of the lead characters in the FIRST issue of a series other than killing them off (or even faking their deaths), then you do not belong in the industry. The person is just a hack trying for 'shock value' over actual content. DC can take this series and stick it! I will not be buying anymore issues, nor will I buy the primary Legion series, the mini-series or the cross-over special. I am through with this unimaginative, boring, c**p that they want me to think of as THE Legion.

So does this mean you are no longer Legion?

Was not expecting too much from this issue as the premise did not really appeal to me and it largely featured Legionnaires that I do not like or do not care for one way or another (except for Brin) but on the whole was pleasantly surprised.

I thought the story set up their situation quite well and the art was excellent (Yera, for one, has never looked so good and Gates reminded me of a Skeksis (sp?) from the Dark Crystal). It was not perfect certainly with the villain a bit of a cypher still (I have not read the text pages yet) and the 'death' quite unnecessary and unlikely to stick but the good far outweighed the bad and I will certainly be around for the next issue (then again it is the Legion so it could have been 22 pages of Tyroc on the toilet and I still would have been around for the next issue)

I liked it, but wow, it was really grim. Stranded, two dead Legionaires, etc. I can't wait until next issue!

I liked it well enough, but I was hoping for a bit more. Most of what happened of significance (Time Bubble destroyed, the team getting stranded, two members "dying") I could see coming before the book was even released. I thought the art was fun, which is a little funky in retrospect as the book did get pretty serious and will continue to be so it looks like. It wasn't bad, I suppose I'm just impatient for more answers. It's a bit too convenient how the flight rings are totally inoperable and I'm sure we'll learn why that is in upcoming issues.

As for the deaths, <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">it looked like Chameleon Girl got cut in half by Gates' teleport disc ... or am I seeing things? Ouch. They've definitely been shown to have 'sharp' edges like when he severed Ra's hand. Still, when that happens to a Durlan I'm not necessarily scared. Even if Brin and Dawny really did smell and sense her remains everywhere, a larger part of her could probably reform or pull itself together eventually. Likewise, I'm hoping Gates and his malfunctioning powers simply teleported him and Yera somewhere far away and they'll be back soon enough.

Call me jaded, but until I see the bodies I'm not really buying the deaths. Especially in a comic book.</span></span>

The first issue had both its good moments and its bad ones, I thought. Overall though, I thought it was a prett good opener and even if I wasn't a mega-Legion fan, I'd be back for #2.

The obvious bad first: if these are really 'deaths' and they stick that will be a travesty. But like others have said, I'm not buying it. Still too open-ended for my tastes. I did think, however, Dawny & Brin confirming it was a gruesome yet sad moment that worked.

Less obvious was that some of the pacing and dialogue were choppy but it might be that Niceiza and Woods are getting used to one another. I think both creators are tremendously talented based on what I've seen from them before, so hopefully they start clicking soon--I think we'll be in for a treat.

Beyond that bad, however, there was quite a lot of good! Fabian took the time to make sure Tyroc, Dawny, Brin, Tellus and Wildfire each had their own distinct voice. More important than that, they all were shown as competent, and caring in their own way. (Yera and Gates also to a lesser extent).

What I really liked was the science-aspect of it all, and Fabian's way of explaining how the 31st century tools and tricks were all malfuntioning causing all kinds of problems. The flight rings, transuits, time bubble--each time one of them had a problem, there was a consequence, such as Dawny's powers causing her to be overwhelmed by Earth's pollution because the transuit wasn't filtering it out. That was some sharp thinking on Fabian's part.

This wasn't a perfect issue but it was more positive than negative for me. I'd say I enjoyed it more than Justice League #1, though not by too much.

I liked it. I'm not a fan of Legion time travel stories; or at least the constant trips to the 20th...21st century. (Remember the 90's T-wolf series) This was a ominous fast paced story of stranded Legionaries. And while that may not be the most original plot, it's the details that make this a fun read. The reasons for Dawnstar's illness and unique interpretation of her powers..Tyroc uses some creativity himself.. I liked him being able to "quiet" someone...nice touch. And yes Yera has never looked better...I hope we see more of her.

The new uniform designs work for the most part. I can't stand Wildfire's new look but perhaps this is a new containment suit made from Imortus (or whatever his name was from the recent LSV arc) and is indestructible?? I have no idea why Tyroc needs goggles but it's a cool visual.

My only gripe is its set in the 21st century..I mean couldn't they just have been stranded on some world with ice crystals that shorted out the rings or something?

I'm on the fence regarding the first issue - not feeling much in the way of either positive or negative vibes. Frenzied is the word that comes to mind to describe the issue. That seems to be the effect that Nicieza is going for. The team is lost. They don't yet have their bearings. Neither does the reader. Is this going to develop into an interesting story? We'll have to wait until the dust settles to tell.

I'm just as torn on the art. Some panels were very nice. Others were pretty horrendous. It didn't seem to flow well, and to be honest, Woods has done much better work.

On the plus side - I really liked the cover logo. Pretty sharp.

There are several of the Number Ones, such as Batwing, Legion Lost, Mister Terrific, and Static Shock, that are ending with horrific things happening to the main character(s). It's gut-punch writing that may or may not draw readers back for more.

That sums it up.

say.....I am not familiar with Fabian's writing style and his work at Marvel....have he ever brought anyone back alive after killing the character? Just wondering about his death tracks...unlike Keith Giffen's tracks on killing Karate Kid off each time he had the chance.

The only one I can think of right now was Atlas, in his Thunderbolts run, but Atlas had a 'get out of death free' card, in that the other ionic-energy powered hero (Wonder Man) had been killed once or twice before and turned up alive again when his energy reformed.

In other works, like the late, lamented Psi-Force (my second favorite New Universe title, after D.P.7), dead seemed to mean dead.

Sam Guthrie 'External' probably doesn't count (he was stabbed and believed dead for, like, a second and the whole External thing was retconned away with Extreme! predjudice anyway...).

It almost seems like all of the DCnU writers got a mandate to make it look like they were killing someone in the first issue. Static, Mr. Terrific, Batwing, Legion Lost, etc.

Awkward coincidence if it wasn't a mandate, for so many writers to accidentally crowd around the same well at the same time...

'Stay tuned for November, when everyone in the DCnU discovers a shocking traitor in their midst, totally by coincidence...'

My vote is for lazy writing.

Umm, <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> How much, weight wise, would one need to be able to sniff/whatever Dawny does, atoms in the air from specific individuals?
A cut off and vaporized claw or an ear?

Yera must have taken a Gim pill for stupidity wanting to hold on to someone not only about to explode but one who's being teleported into space.
</span></span>

random thoughts:
- I liked the urgency that was established right away and built up to the horrific ending with the (apparent) death of two legionnaires.
- I did NOT like how little we knew of the antagonist and his motives. (I know there was that stuff on the internet, but without it the story makes almost no sense)
- Speaking of jumping right into the action, did the opening scene of the Time Bubble crash remind anyone else of a tv show .... it was called .. oh, yeah - LOST
- I liked how Fabian handled team dynamics and characterization in "Thunderbolts" and I also like what he did here so far.
- Seriously, *what the hell* is WILDFIRE doing just lifting his faceplate up and having a face? I thought the "containment" suit was needed to "contain" him. I'm sure most people don't care, but this is the "Wonder Woman's pants" issue for me personally...
- LOVE the art!

So I just got it today, and there was some interesting stuff.

Tyroc being in such a take charge role is totally cool. Given the Legionnaires present, Wildfire would be the natural in that role, or, perhaps, based on seniority, Timber Wolf, but putting Tyroc there is just cool.

Not loving the *idea* of Tellus with legs and being a big humanoid, but it doesn't look bad on him. Since that's the route they are going with him anyway, I wouldn't mind reading that it's either A) natural to Hyrkraians to rapidly self-evolve to new situations or B) something Tellus has been doing (taking injections of 'Pro-Legs' or something) to accomodate to his current situation, and will 'undo' if he ever returns to his homeworld.

On pages 19-20, I think, I kinda love Dawny's features. She's been generally depicted as mostly caucasian in the past, but she has a hint of a Mayan/Indian look that's welcome.

Dawnstar looks great with those features, and the bangs. So she's not preggers, it's our stinky atmosphere. Or something worse. I thought the scene where she flies up and says "We are too late" was amazing: is that how she really sees things all the time, or when she's using her tracking power? Does she read energy fields?

If Yera's just a blob of protoplasm, maybe she doesn't have internal organs per se and can be cut in half with no problem. She certainly seems to be almost liquid when they crash land - and a nice touch that Tellus helps her reform until she regains control.

Wildfire opening his helmet and not blasting out energy - either he's gained some kind of control, or there's a transparent shield between his opaque mask and the energy. But to what purpose?

Tyroc, really the best revamped character of the Legion. He looks better, his powers are more interesting, he's rational and calm, a contrast to Timber Wolf and Wildfire.

I'd like to think that's the case and the loss is not as it appears.

wow. im so disappointed. i cant even imagine trying to read that as someone that didnt know the legion. but man 'shock value' (ugh) deaths. poor.

I just want to say that I thought Dawnstar looked great...retaining the look we've always seen but more futuristic. Also, I like the earrings.

The one big advantage of being in the 21st century now of course is how the Legion can run into regular DC heroes. Who do you all want this team to encounter?

- Superman or Supergirl are the natural ones. Especially to see where the LSH fits into their mythos now.
- Aside from the fact that I'm a huge fan, I've always wanted to see a LSH/ Green Lantern team-up. (the recent Levitz storyline doesn't count, in my mind)
- JLA of course. JLI might be more fun though.

Re: Yera

For a Durlan imposter she sure got far! On the topic of her seeming demise I recall during TMK that Reep was also gravely injured at one point but it turned out that he had moved is organs around to survive (or something like that IIRC...)

I rmember a story like that, too, I'm just not sure of the boot or timeperiod.

I agree with FC, too, Yera's shape WAS awfully fluid in the beginning.
I remember Odo, on 'Deep Space 9, who was a shape-shifter, was very fluid (protoplasmic) when not in some shape.

I am 100% sure Gates and Yera will be back, along with this Alastor person.

Okay... 99% sure.

Art: great! Story: Higgeldy-Piggeldy.

I enjoyed how everyone was portrayed. I've never liked Yera more, it was nice to see her concerned about Dawny.

Of course I'll be im for the long haul, but I sure do miss the days of the team having something amusing happen sometimes.

At least Comet Queen will be in LSH to offer some of that, I suppose.

I hereby demand the Infectious Lass vomiting graemlin be permanently changed into a Dawnstar vomiting graemlin!!!!

I am genuinely surprised that anybody really believes Gates and Yera are dead. This has a dramatic re-entry into the book a couple of issues down the track written all over it.

Things I liked:
- the characterisations. I think I am really going to enjoy seeing this team interact, and am enjoying the dynamics we have seen so far.
- the art. LUSH! Dawnstar looked amazing, that scene where she's using her power was visually stunning!
- the scene specifically with Brin and Dawny when they were looking for Gates and Yera...even though I have no doubt at all the death is a fake-out, that scene had great emotional resonance. Geoff Johns take note, this is how you portray a horrible death in comics without turning it into a gorefest.

Things I didn't like:
- very little! I would have liked to be led into the story with a little more info, I think there really is an assumption that everyone is going to have been chasing down all the online pre-release stuff which hurts it....on the other hand, it did make me actually feel that the Legion are overwhelmed and lost, which was the intention I guess.
- I did feel that it's a LITTLE bit too convenient that *all* of their future tech suddenly gives out simultaneously, except Wildfire's containment suit and Tellus's environmental gear. If there was some kind of weird EMP that accompanied the time bubble crashing or similar then yeah, but as it is it kind of seems like Fabian wants to quickly remove the advantage of their tech without really working it into the story too much.
- also, not really in love with Alastor yet, I am hoping he will get some more development when he inevitably returns though. It was nice to see that the Legion only treated him like a bad guy when he was actually being a bad guy...aside from that they seemed to respect that he is a bit hurt and lost and feel sorry for him. We haven't seen much in the way of Legionnaires just being nice people since pretty much forever.

Other notes:
While I much prefer Timber Wolf to be super-agile and a physical powerhouse rather than Wolverine-lite, I am going to be interested to see the dynamic that establishes between he and Dawny....they're both Academy recruits, they're both pretty much loners, and now they both have a very similar powerset which affects their perceptions of the world around them. Aside from one time in the Baxter days, I can't think of anytime these two have even interacted, but I can actually see a really decent friendship or more for Brin and Dawny coming out of this series.

Wildfire's containment suit - he's gone through about 1000 of them by now, so maybe Brainy has finally come up with one that can maintain a magnetic field while the majority of it is intact so he doesn't go KABOOM every time someone tears it slightly. I also actually like that he has facial features - I really liked back in the day when Quislet taught him to maintain corporeality without his suit, and I don't see why Drake wouldn't have been practicing along those lines since then...

That was in 5YL - the Roxxas attack. Cham was shot in the head by Roxxas and certainly looked dead in Issue #10. He was critically injured but Brainy revealed he had advised Cham to rearrange his vital organs as a precaution (issue #11) and by the next issue, he's all okay. So Durlans have more than a few tricks up their purple sleeves.

That's a good point, raz. I hadn't picked up on that, but it bodes well for good characterization.

see i thought the deaths of gates and yera (real or not) were kind of cheap. gates was barely in the issue, for a newcomer to the book its a total who cares moment. for legion fans you feel it cause you know them. for someone else its just weeding away two characters for an 'anything can happen' button. anyway, im going to go back to airbrushing a gates tribute onto my car. first one ive ever seen that will go backwards in years. Gates 30xx - 2011 rest in pieces of raining organic matter.

I second this nice insight raz. It totally passed me by at first but you're right that it just 'felt' right.

Very few reviews for LLOST # 1 so far... telling?

Issue # 1 gets a thumbs-up.

I'm interested in reading more of this story, and I liked the art.

About the only thing I really disliked was Timber Wolf's portrayal as a Wolverine clone, in both powers and personality.

(That's assuming that Gates and Yera will be back fairly soon. If either or both of them is gone for an extended period, that would be something I would dislike even more!)

Oops, almost forgot:

I realize that FN isn't the one who started this, but he's now involved in perpetuating it, so he gets his share of the blame!

As I've said other places before, I like Brin 'wolfed' up.
NOT like Wolverine, though.
Wolverines are VERY different types of animals from wolves, even though their name means little wolf.

Wolves don't go in to rages, they're not loners, they don't have claws or dig dens and they don't act 'crazy'.

They ARE sharply intellectual and calculating, ruthlessly exacting and practical, deeply loyal and absolute team players.
They use their noses, eyes and ears.

But, they are not like monkeys or apes and they don't run off on their own.

Fabian needs to pick one set of skills and go with that, imo.
I like the wolf set and I like the chemistry possible between Brin and Dawnstar. The two of them should have been together since forever.

My other problem, since when are Dawny's tracking skills a result of super-heightened senses? I don't remember that being the case, and it doesn't explain why she tracks better across long distances in space, vs. on world, or why she's never used this kind of useful ability in the past.

A copy/paste of What PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY had to say (and it ain't very good, this was the first of the week 2 comics to get a bad review from them):


Legion Lost by Fabian Nicieza and Pete Woods.

Everyone has their limits. This book is where I first encountered mine. This is a horrible comic book, a totally impenetrable fight scene that is aimed solely at people who already like the Legion of Superheroes. The LSH is apparently a bunch of superhero teens from the future who here are trapped in the present. Or something. There is no beginning, middle or end to this book -- just a string of panels that pretend to tell a narrative. The book opens in the middle of a fight, with no set-up for new readers of who or what is happening. There is some exposition, but it’s ghastly dialogue such as “Luckily, between Chameleon Girl’s shapeshifting, Tellus’s telekineses and my harmonic manipulation--most of us can fly on our own.” You don’t say! Just the kind of thing someone would say in the middle of fighting for their life. This book would have been improved 300% by a simple “Who’s Who” page in the beginning. But then, the Legion has always been its own thing. If there is one bright spot it’s Pete Wood’s art, which leans ever so slightly to the cartoony and sets up the fight very clearly. This book seems to be aimed at hardcore Legion fans...everyone else is advised to stay well away. - HM

Unfortunately, I would agree with most of that article. Except the art. That was dreadful. Gates and Tellus were nearly unrecognizable and Durlans have never turned into 'puddles' or 'melted' accidently before. The artist (or writer) appearently couldn't be bothered to do even the most basic of research into the characters they are portraying. Bah. And as for being aimed at the hardcore fans of the Legion.... if that is the case, then it has failed miserablely for me. I HATED the issue, and I have stuck with them through everything including the threeboot up until now. Now, I am done.

One thing I find really interesting about wolves is that they are smarter and larger than dogs. If Timber Wolf is at a 'wolf' level and a regular human is at a 'dog's' level ... that would be interesting. There's some suepriority that could be explored there but Timber Wolf has always been depicted as 'less than human' when in actuality he might be like a vampyre in superiority to a normal human ... faster, stronger, smarter, maybe even coming off manipulative.

I resent this.

^^I really like the TWolf is to regular human as wolf is to dog analogy.

It strikes me that the basic idea of the origin of TWolf is that his scientist father* was trying to engineer his child to be the equal of the synthetic humanoids he was manufacturing. It seems strange from that origin you would get a character who would generally be depicted as of less than average intelligence.


*We've very rarely seen TWolf's mother mentioned as well, which leads me to theorize that he may actually be a kind of "super-clone" of his father.

i know one of you guys has said this before, but technically isn't wolverine a timber wolf rip-off? lol

I'm going to keep buying this series.

I did not like the art. It is too crowded. You don't have to fill every space with lines or objects.

I did not like the plot. It was choppy. It could have used some space too. Especially if you're hoping to get new readers used to new characters.

Plus, seven legionnaires to track a terrorist through time? A pretty silly decision for a legion leader (i.e. an editorial decision).

Anyway, the glimmer of bright spots were the characterizations and the sense of loss and isolation that did make it through. So, I'll keep watching.

Yes. Timber Wolf came first. Also 'Wolverine' was pitched as a character for a proposed LSH spin-off comic called 'The Outsiders' (as a villain I think). When the series wasn't picked up, the character of Wolverine was taken to Marvel Comics..... along with Nightcrawler. And the rest is history.

Not quite true. Wolverine wasn't one that Cockrum brought over (though he did design a "Wolverine" and its possible Roy Thomas unconsciously swiped it and gave it to Wein over in Hulk).

http://www.cosmicteams.com/legion/docs/theoutsiders.html

Some thoughts!

Fatal Fab has done this before: when he started on New Mutants / X-Force he killed off the enire Hellions to show his villain was a proper big bad villain. So neat characters like Catseye and Roulette were done away with for 'impact' on his debut storyline. I hope Gates and Yera aren't dead but it doesn't look good...

He also retconned Magma's origin (which was the only thing the bystander character had going for her) which really undermined her entire storylines without replacing it with anything better.

For a 'jumping on' point Legion Lost 1 doesn't hold much hope. There's no explanation about what the Legion is for new readers and the Alastor character is so badly defined new readers might think he's a long term antagonist they should know more about.

I'm usually a big fan of Pete Woods art but its murkier here because he's trying a new style. If it was 'prettier' it might go down better.

There's also huge confusion as to whether this is an ongoing on mini series. The original Legion Lost worked because no matter how we felt it was going it had to go somewhere. With this...who knows!

It wasn't Fabian who killed the Hellions, that was purely Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio over in X-Men.....by the time Fabian became associated with X-Force that event had already happened.

Magma was done while he was writing, and I think it was a huge disservice to her character, but I think the lack of judgement involved in that is not on par with the lack of judgement it would take to kill off two of your cast in the first issue permanently when the only way you can replace them is to use characters from the local time. Changing Magma ruined a bunch of potential for one character, but killing two of the LL crew at this stage would be damaging for the whole concept of the book, and I don't think he would be stupid enough to do that.

I think the hectic and confusing pacing was quite deliberate - we're not really supposed to know what's going on at this stage. Whether that works or not is another matter, but I don't think it's a product of technically bad writing.

Plus, We've already seen Alastor blow up once and not die...and this time he did it in the middle of being spatially teleported during an unstable journey through time. Literally anything could have happened to those three characters, death is very low on the list of options IMO..

Wow! Really? I remember reading the Hellions death in the shop but not buying it - so who wrote that issue?

Lash pointed out (in the Legion of Superheroes 1 thread) that CBR was testing New 52 comics on new comics readers.

Here's what they had to say about Legion Lost ... and it's not good.

"What in the heck happened in this comic? A group of heroes against a green hospitalized freak thing that was released? I literally don't know what just happened," new reader Aly told me. One of our returning readers who was giving DC another shot after being completely confused by "Batwing," this apparently was not the comic to win her over. Nor was it winning any points with Lee, another returning reader who felt he needed to give DC one more chance before giving up on the New 52.

"The entire issue was like that one part of each 'Star Trek' episode where they move the killer asteroid by expanding their shields with math or whatever," Lee complained.

"I feel like I was sort of thrown in the middle of something, like I was fighting to understand both the characters and the situation," agreed new reader Phil, an associate producer who cheerfully informed me at the start of the survey that he "read a Garfield collection once."

"I feel stupid now," Aly added after putting down the issue.

Notes on Legion of Superheroes 1 here .

The Hellions were killed in one of The first X-Men issues written by either Jim lee or Whilce portacio. I know portacio did the art for it. It was just prior to the exodus of artists from marvel to go form iMage comics (sorry about weird punctuation, writing on iPhone).

Claremont may have technically still been listed as a writer at that stage but marvel had been giving their artists more and more power over the books, and the Hellions were Claremont's babies so I can't imagine he'd have been happy about them being slaughtered by a nobody villain.

Fabian Nicieza did actually write the Hellions in an early new warriors issue, and even added a couple of new members to replace Thunderbird and Empath who had left by then..

I really think they should have just stuck with the little info blurbs that have been appearing in Legion for the last few years. The little ones that give the name/planet/power description. They way it was written here was like old school Claremont where every character is calling another by name and describing his or their powers for the reader. It just felt sloppy and stiff when the little boxes could have made it so much smoother.

That and with this supposed to being a fresh start with a new number one jumping into the plot with no real background or refferances to who and what was going on was a big mistake. I know what they are shooting for, but it just comes off as a bad descion when trying to get new readers rite out of the gate. I had the same problem with Legion of Super Heroes #1 in that it did not read like a first issue, but more like issue #17 of the last series.

I wonder if DC saw the Legion, the Bat books and the GL books as a sort of a hedge in case the very big risk of the new DCU blew up in their face.

I mean, there'd be a few places to retreat to, if they had to do so.

Also, Levitz's position as former man-in-charge might inhibit a bit of editorial truth-telling. If so, I'd say that currency's now spent. I think the book will still pick up some new readers, though. But not as many as were out there, evidently.

I also think the Legion's just a book that's not for everybody. Some people just aren't going to get it. Their loss, I say. Let them enjoy the simple stories they can get elsewhere.

I really hated the issue.
Thought the art was ok and I generally like what Nicieza writes, but this was forced, confusing.
TBH, I'm only hoping that the series will fail and that the characters will be folded back in Legion of Superheroes.

Puzzling, however, is this mention of Flashpoint in both Legion titles, with Wilfire talking about the Flashpoint Breakwall and Dreamy saying how time travel is screwed and they can't call Superman in LSH.

Wonder what that means about the new continuity?

I just had a thought...if nobody in-universe KNOWS that the Flash is responsible for Flashpoint, why are they CALLING it Flashpoint??

LOL

I just had a thought. Yera and Gates are still alive, but have merged into one.

*shudder*

Yergates?

Well, between the hints of a new Emerald Vi and the Team 20 split, it seems like the current Legion creative team are determined to recreate the worst stories of the Reboot, so a Jarth homage would just complete the trifecta.

Yeah, I wondered how they would know to call it "Flashpoint," too, for that same reason. Heh!

But seriously, what hints have been dropped of a new Emerald Vi other than that final panel in the most recent annual?

Yates?
Gera?
Chameleon Bug??

Pleeeease Fabian don't do this....I am a little scared now....while I can't see him just killing them, he loves needless convolutions. Jolt in Thunderbolts allegedly died only to come back brain-damaged in her normal form with an electrical undamaged form that went on to become a hero on a parallel Earth orbiting the other side of the sun from us. Namorita in New Warriors (who was already complicated just enough by being a clone of the then dead Namora instead of her daughter) turned blue due to unstable genetics...Moonstone in Thunderbolts was revealed to have been becoming heroic only because the rock that powered her was overriding her personality with that of a dead Kree heroine who was a member of a group called the Guardians of the Galaxy who don't actually have any relation to the Guardians of the Galaxy we'd already known from the 31st century and the moonstone was one of 7 or 8 gems and AHHH HEAD ASPLODEY

I do like Fabian's writing a lot but I really dislike his need to complicate things needlessly. :\

I probably should have said "hint<strike>s</strike>" - that's the one I was thinking of.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm getting paranoid in my old age that I've missed crucial Legion information.