Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes New R.E.B.E.L.S. Comic Discussion Thread.

i think it's totally new!

Overall I'm enjoying the book but one thing I don't really like is that all the characters are based on pre-existing Legionnaires. Not only does this mute any excitement and sense of wonder I might have towards their introduction, it pretty much hurts the Legionaires these characters are based on.

Overall the book has been an enjoyable read but the entire concept of Wildstar was pretty much a dud to me....wasn't exciting at all.


I really don't want to see the entire Legion cannon ripped off and placed in the 21st century...they've already hurt the Legion substantially by retconning all of Shooter's alien races into 21st century.

The Legion needs to have it's own unique villains and characters as it's extremely difficult for them to stand alone as it is much less when there is a 21st century version of them that has the advantage of being totally integrated with the main DCU.

I hope they don't intoduce one more character based on a Legionnaire...the Legionnaires are the originals, they should not be retconned into the imitations.

The medium was built and will only survive on imagination and creativity...why not just create new characters instead of making imitations of the old ones? This is the same problem that has plagued the reboot Legions IMO as well. Let the originals be the originals and when new characters are created make them new and unique, not imitations of the original Legion...

Totally agree with this. I don't mind the idea that *some* of the worlds have been established as existing in the 20th century, such as Durla (which is post-apocalyptic in the 30th), but having every Legion concept, including Starhaven, an *obvious* Earth colony, exist in the 20th century (when Earth doesn't yet have colonies!), is just a bit ludicrous.

I know it isn't hard coming up with new characters that might foreshadow stuff in the 30th, such as a person who was modified / possessed by Brainiac and ends up with a super-intelligence, *who isn't Coluan,* or a Thanagarian mutant or super-person with spacefaring abilities who kinda, sorta looks like Dawnstar if you squint just right.

I think that Vril wants his .LEGION back because of the power it brings him.
He's found his niche and he wants to keep it.

He's not evil like his father, but he could care less about anyone but himself, imo.
I know he's that way because of his egomania and control freak issues, but that doesn't make him any more palatable to me.
Or heroic.

I like that Wildstar is a hero at heart.
I like the character, that she was plain and hanicapped and outcast.

What I don't like about what Vril did is that he DIDN'T discuss what he wanted to do with her, first.
He didn't explain that she would be in a containment suit for the rest of her life, for one thing.

That she'd never touch anyone again.

She's not super smart, but he took all of her choices away from her.
Later, he said that she could save billions.
But he'd already taken away her chance for self- sacrifice.

For all he knew, her reaction might have been like some of the early RoboCop transplants shown in the movie.
I remember especially the one who pulled the top of his metal skull off because he couldn't bear to be a machine.

Addressing the LSH worlds and LSH characters, I've read a number of SciFi books about the Anasazi, where the author had them taken away from Earth by various aliens or gods.
I worked for me.

SG-1 is ALL about humans taken from earth as slaves to alien masters and surviving on the various planets
.
Enterprise found a colony of western cultured humans on a far away planet, too.

In fact, the concept of other worlds that are either human or are humanoid, is the theory behind the creation story in Next Generation/Star Trek.

I have absolutely no problem with DC employing it's own take on these ideas.

And I don't see how any of it detracts from LSH.

I read a lot of generational type series (and WATCH generational series) and I enjoy all of the human connections throughout history, whether fictional or historical.

I love that Rahab and Ruth have stories that connect them to David and that David is connected to Jesus.
I think it's called geneology.


I just don't get the view that the Legion has to be isolated from DC history.

It's certainly not natural for cultures, or people, to be totally disconnected from their roots!

Best thing about issue 3: Strata's back and Garv is alive! Yay!

WildStar's energy-wings looked pretty cool.

I'm not leaping with excitement about the book but it is maintaining my interest thus far.

Me, too!

Yah, I LOVE the femaleness of REBELS.
.LEGION was like that, too.

I'm not sure, but isn't STARRO a very old, Silver Age, villian?
It used to be in the Justice League stories, for one, I think.

At least, there was a giant seastar-from-outter-space kind of villian before, that had a lot of little ones that would attach to 'peoples' backs/necks and control them.

I'm still loving this book.

yes yes we've had "starro" but i don't think we've ever had "S.T.A.R.R.O.". .starro, if you will. but maybe that was just to play on the title of the book and it's really just a plain old starro hooked up to a cool looking lady??

you know, even though these characters are supposed to be inspired by LOSH people... i don't really see it that much. i mean, strata's an older character, bounder has similarities to bouncing boy but i'd never confuse the two. i mean, if he hadn't said "inspired by LOSH" i wouldn't have put much together. i mean, how many stupid powers are there? "strong-rock-thing" is block, is strata, is Marvel's Thing, is frigging Rock Bite from neverending story, is stone boy.

like as of this issue i was like "oh ,well that's the end of that inspiration bit". except for when that tiny emerald empress kid we saw shows up (maybe?). all of these characters seem like a bit of a stretch to get to their equivalents, i think they all have original aspects going for them. i don't see this as "retconning" or "ripping off" if the plot is "here are the legionnaires, use this!". it's not like bedard is pretending he invented the legionnaires, THAT would be ripping it off.

think of it as trying to give you some hook to grab onto with all the new characters. "well i know who dawnstar is, this will give me some help understanding who this new person is". and i appreciate that he's rooting them in the cosmic DCverse, i like it when one characters knows of planet A and in another book someone else knows about Planet A and when they GO to Planet A, they have consistent experiences.

I am enjoying the series so far - I knew Tony Bedard would do a great job on this title. The art work is right up my alley as well; clean, with neat tech images and complete backgrounds. I look forward to the next issues.

My only gripe mirrors Superboy and Set. The new REBELS introduced so far seem to be composite Legionnaires: Tribulus = Validus or Lightning Lad/Colossal Boy, Wildstar = Dawnstar/Wildfire, Bounder = Bouncing Boy/Chameleon Boy, Strata = Blok/Ferro Lad. This template is called X-Men, where the membership is compressed to a handful of members with multiple powers, and is contrary to the Legion, which is numbers, numbers, numbers!

I hope the Omega Men stick around and serve as some other recruits: Tiggorr = Timber Wolf, the Tammeran = Sun Boy, the Biotech Guy = Gear, and the Energy Cloud (Odu?) = Quislet*

*My apologies, I am not as familiar with the Omega Men as I should be, and don't have the actual issues with me right now to have their names straight!

PS - Broot looks too much like Strata, but otherwise, awesome art! Another vote here for seeing Garv in the near future.

on wildstar's lack of consent: again, i felt like it was the "lack of time" issue. and, no i'm fully aware that he's a horrible man but considering his back story, i think it'd be out of character for him to ask or explain fully first. these past issues he's been very "hurry hurry" about everything. he even tell's strata to just come with him and that he'd explain on the way (which doesn't apparently work, he ends up having to explain the situation there).

he does comment that her pain "only lasts a millisecond" and "i changed her form a cripple to a goddess", which is SO...cute to me because he's very much that "missing the point" type of person. hahaha. another interesting point is that QUERL (!!!) thinks vril's out of a line a couple times in this. Vril's response that "you didn't ask me first!!". i think there's a conversation between a pot and a kettle we could mention.

and ANOTHER characterization point is that as upset as wildstar is, she is concerned/weirded out that vril's talking to himself. she seems to be pretty happy at the moment and also seems to have focused on helping more than anything, but eventually? yeah it'll probably cause a lot of turmoil and sadness for her.

it takes a LOT of violent threatening for him to spill, and part of these kinds of stories is waiting for the end to know everything that's going on. that plot structure is good when you have a character like Dox that's such a horrible bastard that it's like pulling teeth to get information out of him (which i much much MUCH prefer to the very annoying and frustrating 'mysterious character' that you see used a lot in his place).

the omega men have been around for a good long while (1981 or something). again, i wouldn't take the correlations to legion members too seriously. at all. i think you'll lose a lot by overthinking and trying to stuff them into neat little legion-related boxes. quite frankly, that Tamaranian is much more "a boy version of Starfire (from teen titans)" than "sunboy". i think they're already differentiated themselves quite well.

bedard's said the omega men will be a subplot for a while.

speaking of, i think i linked to one of these on another thread but... here are links to a bunch of interviews he's done that i only found because i'm psychotic.

on warning, there are some spoilers about what characters will/won't/might appear so read at your own risk, ok?

Bedard Interview on Ain\'t It Cool News

Bedard\'s Interview on CBR\'s Robot6

Bedard\'s Interview with The Pulse

Bedard CBR "Reflections" Interview

Thanks for posting those interview links, very very; they were very very interesting.

I'll try to make time to get to those, too.


sigh
I don't think that Bedard is writing him poorly or that Vril isn't interesting, because he is.

I just don't like how he does things, in general.
And I don't want the other Brainy's to be a repeat of him.

But, Bedard is portraying Vril totally in character, I think.
And the artists are just fantastic.
Mystery Lad commented on Vril's expressions being so wonderful, and they are.
What an amazing team!

Vril's always been to busy to explain things.
And when he does, it's kept to a minimum, partly because he doesn't think anyone can understand and partly because he's got such intricate plots going that everything would just take too long to tell.

I've followed Vril through all of .LEGION and .REBELS for lots of reasons, but never because I thought he was a hero.

I don't think of him as a villian, either.

He's just a complete butt head who's blind to his own egomania and how that hurts him and those around him.

You can count me in as someone who enjoys the nod to the traditional Legion of Super-Heroes characters by the replication of their powers, somewhat, in the current REBELS.

LSH books are the only comics I read so it is a real pull for me when there is a connection like that. At least there aren't any actual Legionnaires in REBELS, unlike in the original LEGION where Phase (Phantom Girl) and RJ Brande were both members. In fact, I can remember enjoying Tinya's character so much more in LEGION than I ever did in the LSH stories

claude st. aubin is stepping in for the art on the next two issues (i'm assuming andy clarke was almost killed by both penciling and inking on the book and needs time).

check out some art from the next two issues here. but seriously, be careful because there are hella spoilers.

understood? ok:

robot 6 - claude st aubin art

DC\'s The Source - Claude St Aubin art

Not THEM again!
Ugh!

can I just be smug and point out I totally claled the Dawnstar/Wildfire hybrid that would be Wildstar?
I'm only doing this because I have NEVER guessed a plot point before and I'm quite excited lol
(let's face it, it was a bit of an obvious thing to do though.)
I liked her wings

I love stories with THEM! Next to Nazi's, they're probably my favorites to watch get their butts kicked. Just too smug.

Characterization of Vril is keeping me on and I like the art. Can't say I'm enthralled with the tight connection to Legion characters if that is to be all there is. Though I found imaginative how Vril came up with the plan, the original had a much better balance and created some terrific new characters while making great use of some lost characters. The lineage characters also worked well and became fan favorites.

Derivative characters just do not do it for me, take part A from this character and part B from that... I can see where someone might say, it sounds like a good idea, but then someone else (editor) should come along and mention that it lacks imagination.


I've had all three books in the house for three days and haven't finished reading them. Not a good sign.

Picked up issue three to read. One of the characters that I thought well done and with promise was Wildstar (derivative name aside). The cliff hanger on #2 was pure Dox, going to burn off those wings. Such a considerate guy.

Took exactly two pages into #3 for this series to "jump the shark" for me. I set it back down. Maybe someday I'll get back to reading it, but it won't be on a nice sunny day.

Can't recommend.

Read the first two issues. Am feeling very... eh about it. On the one hand, Dox is Dox and I like that because he's such an ass. But... I don't know how I feel about him using villains (or their ancestors or whatever)...

I'm intrigued by the idea of L.E.G.I.O.N. being comprised robots instead of living, breathing beings. It reminds me of the Manhunters, y'know? It just figures Vril would think he could outdo the Guardians. He's always trying to have his cake and eat it, too, that one.

I'm somewhat disappointed that Khund guy (gah, blanking on his name) hates Dox, though. I mean, everyone hates Dox (even Dox, I bet) but he was cool. And the way he shirked his heritage was really interesting.

I miss Telepath! And Stealth! I hope what he did and why are explained because I avoided a lot of the space-crossover stuff like the plague it was and requiring me to read it now to understand the series would definitely put a damper on things...

Thanks for reminding me -

Spoiler filled pages of #4 at the Source!

Also a look at the new Starro .

OMG! Claude St. Aubin's art is really, really good. And very compatible with Andy Clarke's, too. Based on the four pages of his work that I've seen on the link above, I'd welcome him back as a guest artist whenever he wants--or even as the regular artist if Mr. Clarke ever leaves the book.

So, I read #3, too. Am feeling a smidge less "eh" about it but not totally sold. Also, didn't Vril say he was going to get the Legion's enemies ancestors? 'Cause I sure haven't seen that happening as of yet. I mean, he's got that one monster thing but Wildstar is a Dawnstar/Wildfire composite and Strata's kinda like Blok, right? Or are there villains I'm forgetting?

On the plus side-- STRATA!! I <3 her. I remember when she turned pink and was like, "Hey, I didn't know I was a girl! Cool!" That was awesome.

Yeah,I loved that scene, too.

(Although, I remember it more like: "Congratulations, I'm a girl.")

Anyway, . . .
I loved Strata's lines in this issue!

Hate the shapeshifter (Durlan?)
I hope Tellus doesn't show up in REBELS if that's how she's going to treat telepaths!

Tribulus is obviously some sort of ancestor/thingy of Validus.
I don't think we've seen another villian type ancestor yet.
Well, maybe the Khund?

We've got an ampted-up Bouncing Boy, though!

This artist can draw the LSH, if he wants!
Gorgeous stuff.
It might be fun to have .LEGION/REBELS stories with a similar style of art to the Legion.
Talk about continuity!

Vril even said please!

It's interesting to compare R.E.B.E.L.S. with Lo3W.

Both have losts of 'guests' hogging lots of page space (Superman/Superboy/Bart/Yat & Supergirl/Omega Men)

Both have zillions of baddies and one villain controlling everything behind the scenes.

Clearly Johns and Bedard are using the same tactics to get readers to jump on (and hopefully stay). It will be interesting - in say 12 months time - to see who was most successful.