Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! "Done-in 1" stories: Hooray or Blase'?

Remember back when a full LSH story could be told in 1 issue? When 5-part events like EARTHWAR, GREAT DARKNESS and the LSV WAR were a rarity to be excited about, not the norm?

Does The Legion need more done-in-one issue stories, stories that could focus on smaller, less-seen characters, like in the days gone by?

Of course, one benefit of years gone by is that the LSH frequently had a bigger page count than other books, but even those giant-sizers would frequently contain 2-3 "done-in-1" stories.

I'm not sure I can even RECALL the last "Done-in-1" LSH story... maybe the DnA/Giffen issue...?

I would certainly like to see more of a balance between done-in-one stories and multi-part epics. The editors just don't want too many done-in-one stories because they're afraid that readers won't come back if there aren't constant cliffhangers. Done-in-one stories also don't make for suitable TPBs.

I definitely miss the self-contained stories. In between WaK and S&M there were five or six issues and I remember reading people saying that they couldn't possibly 'do anything' with such a 'short' run, and thinking that was crazytalk, since all of the best stories have been done in four (Universo Project) or five issues (Great Darkness Saga, LSV war on Orando), IMO.

And even then, there's always room for a done-in-one classic like Who is Donna Troy. I'd love for their to be at least two 'done in one' issues per year, each devoted to one particular character. (The upcoming issue with Jo on Rimbor could be something to that effect. Tied into the overall storyline, but also focussing strongly on the backstory of one specific Legionnaire, sort of like how issue 3 of the WaK threeboot focussed on Dream Girl and her homeworld.)

Some of my favorite done-in-1 LSH tales:

5YL LSH # 49, starring Matter-Eater Lad

The LEGIONNAIRES issue that featured the "golden age" Legion.

The SUBS special

The Legionnaires annual that features the team in a Camelot-in-space setting (it was like an ELSEWORLDS thing)

LSH ANNUAL # 1 (Giffen art, versus Computo)

Thora and the revolting girl Legionnaires

Mission: Diabolical

LSH # 300

Oh, hell, there's like 100 of 'em, like just about the whole Cockrum/Grell era...

I thought Waid's original plan of doing the Legion with self-contained stories and thirty pages a month was utterly brilliant.

Too bad he didn't stick to that formula for more than, like, three issues.

Several of those were extra-length though, yes? Kind of cheating, huh?

There have also been plenty of groovy "done-in-1/2" and "done-in-1/3" stories.

Yeah, the back-up stories in the old Action and Superboy issues were some of my favorites. Many of them had more characterization in 12 pages than a half dozen multi-threaded issues of later times.

I personally like a mix of story-lenghts. Do a 'done-in-one', a mini-epic three parter, another done in one, a two-issue action-packed banger and then an epic 5-6 parter. Its still pretty easy to connect it all to a trade that way. Hell, all you really need is a suplot running through three different storyarcs (no matter what they're size) to tie it all together thematically and there's your trade.

Just like we need a mix of villains, situations and themes, we need a mix of story-lengths, story-telling methods and other techniques. Its the only way to keep it fresh.

My favorite 'done in one' of all time for the Legion? "The Mutiny of the Legionnaires" (I've mentioned that about oh, 100 times )