Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities The First

Is anyone reading Crossgen's The First?

I've started the "Magnificent Tension" collection 3 times and I'm finding it really difficult to get into. All the characters look the same (ie blonde with huge boobs.)

Am I missing something? Does anyone here have any words of encouragement for me to try it again?

Sorry, no words of encouragement here. I think I lasted two, maybe three, issues before I dropped it. It was so repetitive, way too dense, and I didn't like the art. If you're not a Crossgen completist, I'd say don't worry about it. A couple of them pop up here and there in other titles, but I really didn't miss not reading it.

Sadly CK, I really don't have much encouragement. Out of all the Crossgen's, this was one of the few that I enjoyed very little. Not only is the art repetitive in that everyone looks the same, but the storylines seemed to drag on and on with nothing happening every issue. By the end of the run, the entire First were in some kind of huge fight that lasted five to six issues, yet seemed like it could have taken place in five minutes in 'real' time.

So, not only is the art tiring, but the storylines are weak too. No characters move forward or change and nothing important ever happens. None of the subplots ever pan out and the finale of the last issue was a major dissapointment. I hope I'm not too over the top in my criticism, but I own this whole run, and I'm left wondering why I bothered afer the initial seven or eight issues.

However, I do reccomend Sojourn, Meridian, the Path, the first 25 issues of Scion, Ruse and especially Negation!

I have to echo the sentiments here. The First just didn't click with me. For all of the above reasons. And I'll add Way of the Rat to Cobalt's list. Sojourn and Ruse are great (although Ruse has already ended) and Negation is the best.

Is Negation somehow tied into Route 666? I quite like 666, the art's nice and some stand-alone stories are really great (like the one with the Amish) but overall it seems to be taking ages to go anywhere.

Is Negation easy to get into? Or would I require a 12 issue run or something?

I found Negation easy to get into from issue #1. Route 666 is okay but I kinda stopped reading after the circus storyline. I have the other issues, up to 14, just haven't read them.

I haven't really gotten into Route 666 or Way of the Rat yet, but now that most of the Crossgen books I collected have ended I think I'm going to give them a try. There's only so many books that can be added to the budget!

Crux was good to...sometimes. Mostly, it was drawn out and boring (especially under Waid), but Dixon was able to make it interesting for a little while, although both the beginning and end of his run were boring in that nothing ever happened or panned out.

Negation is the total opposite of First and Crux. Things are interesting, fast and something is always happening. The characters have depth and are unique, each one has something you like about them (and most have something you don't). By far the best of Crossgen's books, definately give it a try. If you can start from #1, that'd be great, you'll be hooked by issue three!