Vote your reaction to "The Beginning of the End!"

*stares blankly* You're not allowing for much in the way of gray areas, Mister!

My *real* vote is YAY, WITH RESERVATIONS

And on a totally non-related note, I love how easy it is to access the LSH graemlins now!

Straight up or down!

No wishy-washy!

A good way to get to the true heart of the matter. This will be interesting to watch progress!

YAY! except for you know what.

Yay, for an interesting story, with new and strange aliens and a revamped Fatal Five.

Yay!!! Times 100!

My only reservation is the fact that the primary creative force left after two issues. For the other thing, Ummm... I would never say I liked what happened to that legionnaire, and if what we saw was truly it, then that's the most ignominious result I have seen for a legionnaire of such status, ever... And yet, like the rest of the issue, it kicked me in the pants and exhilarated me, that creeping horror of 'no, this can't be happening', realizing everyone is in danger, that nobody is safe...

Yay! Yum! Ooh la la!

A definite YAY! from me too.

Whilst the events will not be to everybody's taste more happened in this one issue than in almost all the issues since Levitz return combined.

Had to go with "nay" to the point of dropping. "The scene" said to me that it won't be taken seriously. They won't be able to keep "ambush bug" out of it and that would destroy the story for me. At the price of books now-a-days, not worth the gamble that the story telling might turn around, even if the story itself shows promise.

Had to be NAY. Best issue of the series without doubt; dark, edgy, atmospheric. Art maintained the mood perfectly. So why the $#%& do you have to paint a dirty great handlebar moustache on the Mona Lisa? Still hoping for some sleight of hand by the end of the arc (and will change my vote immediately in that case)

Blocks, I've read a ton of Giffen stuff, and I am seriously not getting any sort of Ambush Bug type vibe from this issue. In fact, it was the most humorLESS issue of anything Giffen's been involved with that I have seen for a long time. Are you really seeing an Ambush Bug vibe or is it more of a case that you found the scene so poorly done it was laughable?

I voted YAY also. I'm not too crazy about one aspect of the issue but other than that it's the best LSH issue I've read since the last Levitz Giffen Annual.

'Or'

Head be gone? Sock puppet people? That's about as buggy (or roger rabbit comes to mind also) as it gets in my book. Just my take on it. Yeah, I'm getting AB vibe.

I was curious because I do know of one other LSH fan who also found the scene funny.

I myself think any humor found in this issue was completely unintentional, but that may not be the case.

Nay. Completely ignoring the 'shocking event,' the issue just didn't seem to make any sense.

Phantom Girl, Sun Boy, Polar Boy and Invisible Jacques are in a cruiser, doing something, going somewhere, and craziness ensues, and it's apparently part of a plot by Tharok, but since we have no idea where they were headed or what they were doing or how Tharok got them to go there, it's utterly meaningless.

Ultra Boy, Glorith and Chameleon Boy are on Rimbor, also for no apparent reason, but it's also part of Tharok's big trap, I guess, maybe? Glorith, whose *one consistent power* has been to create shields, which Brainy has been studying for what seems like *years,* suddenly doesn't have the power to create shields anymore, because, go screw yourself pesky reader, that's why!

Combine it with the kind of blocky art (why does Invisible Jacques have a bunch of white burritos coming out of his forehead?), and I'm not impressed even *without* the shocking bit that I don't much care for.

I can't blame Levitz or Giffen for the short number of pages they had to work with, but there was no story here at all. Somebody died *off-panel because there wasn't enough room to even show it* and six other Legionnaires had glorified cameos, wandering around and not really doing much other than reacting to what was going on around them, like tourists visiting their own title.

Meh. For all the illusion of 'action!' and 'drama!' nothing much happened, and the only part of any real dramatic heft happened off-panel.

It's like going to a racetrack and seeing a glimpse of some cars driving round and round and then being ushered out and told that 'somebody won, and somebody else crashed, wasn't that exciting?'

I did something I NEVER do, flipped through it at the CBS.

Couldn't pull the trigger. Didn't like the rubber faces and couldn't convince myself I'd like the story given the previews.

My CBS guy did what he NEVER does, tried to talk me into it. He said it was GREAT!!! He's almost never wrong.

I'd bet even money he put it back in my bin.

Big Nay from me for two reasons.

1) the Griffen art. Blech! I love the earlier crisp clean Giffen. Do not like the blotchy Giffen.

2)

Nay. reeeeeeaaaaalllllly tired of "someone's gotta die for impact" storylines. Even ones that might not be what we think.

Yay, we were thrown into the action like the Legionnaires without any preamble, just Wham! Both on Rimbor and the Promethean Giant Village it appears to be an alien place, the Legionnaires try to keep it together in the face of monumental adversity. I even kind of approve of the death of Dirk (sorry Dirk fans) in that he had a heroic death trying to save his friends. Somehow it's more poignant than some grand gesture to save the Universe in my mind.

Normally I quite like Giffs art but it seems a bit big and sometimes static - all the pages are full of square and rectangular panels the same size as each other. This didn't add to the energy though, and this episode had a LOT of energy.

Good to see Jacques step up and tell Tinya that she had to pull herself together - he may fade into the background (quite literally, excuse the pun) but he has a hidden strength of character. Don't know why Brek mentioned Braal, surely he should have said Tharr - his own homeworld had legends of the Giants?

Glorith kicked some ass - at last. Not sure if she suits being so chubby in the face though as she's always been shown as quite skinny.

Tharok merging into that bit of machinery was a good look. I missed issue #0 so am not sure why he wasn't half an half machine like before, though not complaining.

This issue was a roller coaster ride, am definitely on board for next month.
Good to see

With Giffen, there is no middle ground, no grey or even gray area, you either love it or hate it.

Myself, I vote Yay! Off to a rousing though dark start, intrigued to see what's next.

The NAYS are catching up!

I gave it a qualified yay. Not a huge fan of Giffen's "new 20 years ago" art, but his Kirby homage stuff is a step up from his 5YL drek and I found it tolerable. I also hated the gratuitous death, though Dirk isn't a favourite of mine so I'm not totally up in arms (though I sympathise with those who are), but there was a lot of movement and I'm a sucker for the Fatal Five, so the good outweighed the bad, but it can still go either way.

I'm not happy about the ***** of ****, but I thought it was the best issue I've seen in a looooong time.

YAY!

I thought I did a post here. Oh well.

I went with Yay, though I probably would have said yay with or without you-know-what. It did a really great job of establishing a big and interesting threat for the Legion to have to deal with, which hasn't been done really since the start of the New 52, and the Promethian Giants were a really keen concept/new place for the Legion that I haven't seen before.

That said, you-know-what was one hell of a way to really kick me in the pants and tell me this is just foreplay. That's one of the things that I like about the Legion--that since it is in the distant future, and these characters aren't as much protected by corporate, you can do things that have a permenant impact.

So yeah, I'm going for yay. It's kinda exciting for me as a newer fan, because I feel like I'm going to be on the ground floor for something that could be as big and epic of a storyline going forward. I just hope that Giffen seemingly gone after three issues doesn't screw up what has potential to be a great story.

Yay from me.....the Legion has been so bland over the past couple of years that the big event didn't make me feel bad for the character so much as be glad that something's actually happening...

Also a yay for utilising some lesser-used characters! I can't remember the last time I saw Polar Boy on an actual mission, and this would be the first time Glorith has actually been assigned to a mission at all, right? Only took a year and a half... ;p

Interesting point about Glorith. She's been in most of the issues, but I don't think she has been sent on an actual mission until now; it just seems like she's been involved in everything.

I voted Yay, because it was the best issue I've of Legion since Pual came back (even better than the Emerald Empress annual with Keith).

I do have some reservations, though, regarding things that happened.

Why was PG so badly injured if she phased?
Why would someone with that ability wait unti they were injured that badly to use their powers?
What was with the hair on Jaques?! Looked 1,000 times better on the cover.

On the plus side, I liked the layouts and high energy level that Giffen brought. If only he could have done layouts for the guys like Cinar who were competent illustrators, but not great storytellers. This was the first time I ever found Glorith interesting. Also loved the very alien alients and the Kirby influence (though not as much on the Legionnaires whom were a bit too blocky).

Totally agree that Jacques hair looked better on the cover.

I simply can't vote in the vacuum of looking at it as a stand alone issue; in other words, I can only view this in light of knowing Giffen walked off after the next issue to never return for this run.

And with that in mind, I find the gratuitous death to be a great insult that won't be given the chance to be made right through some "it was worth it because the story payoff was amazing" type storytelling. So I have to vote NAY.

Decided not to vote as we may be surprised by how this whole thing is resolved. I'm just hoping that the things that happened in 17 will lead to better things!

Nay... unless..

I mean, did I miss an issue!?! Like an annual or a #0, between #16 and #17 Seriously... I MUST have missed an issue, because I was dropped in the middle of a plot with NO SET UP!!

If I did NOT miss an issue... which I don't think I did, but please correct me if I'm wrong... then BIG, BIG fragging NAY!

If you're going to kill off a Legionnaire, at least *explain* the events leading up to it!

F***!!