Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Superman #14/Supergirl #33/Superman #15/Superman #16

Supergirl comparison...recalled and new print.

Not sure why they had to blur the lower right corner. The art would probably look nice without text. I did notice black lightning lad and black light lass became darker, maybe so people can notice some of the members are brown. In other art, matter eater lad seems brown. All of the different skin colors will probably increase the chance of coloring errors.

Should we just go ahead and use this thread for discussion of Superman #15 as well?

SPOILERS AHEAD:





Anyway, though it's a somewhat more substantive appearance of the Legion, there's not a whole lot of new content.

Some points:

1. The Legion apparently arrived four minutes earlier than they intended, which creates awkwardness.
2. The Legionnaires are said to represent "one power per planet".
3. Everyone joins the U.P., including Khunds and Dominators.

So what does this mean for Garth and Ayla? :hmm:

Superman #15

SPOILERS

FROM

THE

30TH

NO

31ST

CENTURY

DC push Timberwolf as at the forefront, as their new Wolverine stand in. Lightning Lad is also prominent on the cover, and recent ethnicity switches cross my mind. Since he's a founder and was prominent in two ethnicities in promotional and interior art anyway, hopefully this wasn't part of a tick box exercise. As with Timberwolf, it is something that some thought goes into.

Gold Lantern might be black, which at least helps diversify things a bit further. The less tick-boxy the team is, the more I prefer it.

Having such a crowd means we don't get to see the Guardian meet with Gold Lantern? Or a meeting between Dox and Dox? It just shows that nearly everyone there is just filler. That applies to nearly all of the Legion.

Adam Strange comes across as oddly inexperienced. I put it down to him having to give Supes some news about his dad. I can't believe it never occurred to Adam to have a United Planets either, considering '50s sci-fi comics were full of such things and he's met L.E.G.I.O.N. often enough. I can't believe L.E.G.I.O.N. didn't already derail all this, or the Invasion races step in or the GLC or ...

But that would take away from the repetitive fawning over Jon and his idea. Still, it *was* important enough to get the Legion form the future. They aren't there for Jon's exploits as Superboy necessarily. I ownder what that says about his career to come.

Having both characters in a scene possess the same speech mannerism is odd ("is--is" from Adam and "that--that" from Supes.)

The plotting weaves well between Superman's present and the supporting flashbacks.

Bendis does indeed suggest that the Legion's arrival helped push the formation of the United Planets, which led to the formation of the Legion, who travelled back in time to help push the circumstances of their own creation...

In the next reboot (Nonaboot?) Imra, Rokk, Brainy, Garth and Brin (DC desperate to have a Wolverine still) travel back to Smallville in the '50s to haze Clark on a school day. But Brainy gets it wrong and they arrive on a weekend when the school is closed. They return to the future and wink out of existence, having failed to create the circumstances that would lead to their own formation.

Supes is pretty forward in speaking for the Earth. I'd love to hear his chat with the UN or the US President about him signing the planet up to the UP.

We had a two page splash last issue with the Legion telling us it was going to be called Unity Day. We have another splash page this issue as everyone, including Superman, struggles with a name for the occasion, leaving it for Superboy to call it the same name as the Legion already blabbed. This lack of freewill is possiblyy closer to the Watchmen series than DC's attempts through Doomsday Clock.

Having read comics from the '50s, '60s and '80s in the last week, the lack of a contained story in the issue is evident. It's the closing chapter in something designed for a trade. Quite often padding comes in the form of reducing panels per page. There are plenty of slash pages this issue. But they are all easily worth having.: The arrival of the Legion (again); Unity Day (Cheese Day); Krypton's destruction and the group going back home at the end. Imra is the one to introduce herself, and I wonder if that is linked to Doomsday Clock, or have they just given up with that thread (an annoying DC habit)

The Legion vanish into their Time Tunnel. Perhaps they are using it to visit other places in this time. Perhaps they have returned home (If it's the latter and they can pop out with pin pint precision later on, it wrecks the 4 minutes early thing this issue). Either way, Superboy doesn't get to join or even fail miserably in any membership tests. It looks as though we'll get a whole issue with Damian and perhaps even a whole other issue with Lois. Maybe then, he'll decide to go? Maybe the Titans will need an issue? Since the Legion issues have been solicited, there should be some compression here at least.

Legion characterisations:
They're happy to lightly criticise Brainy, who seems to be the one who brought them back in time.

Imra thinks she's the only one who could understand Superboy's hardships.

Wildfire fancies Supergirl. With Sun Boy being a rather literal interpretation (unless he can "Flame Off" which considering Timberine and The Terrific Four, I wouldn't put past DC) perhaps Drake is picking up Dirk's personality? Does that mean there's someone under the suit or is he overcompensating?

I peeked at Supergirl's issue in the shop, on the off chance there was a Legion reference. I didn't see one, and it's a shame she wasn't at least put in a possible, hint of a frame for a Legion call up of her own.

A sad note is that Jor-El's last moment on Krypton is not one of love with his partner. It's one of terror as he sees a villainous version of himself appear from the future.

Lightning Lad is asked to hold it together, reminding us of his tenuous grip of leadership in 'boots past.

The hyperbole of DC's Marketing continues to be hilarious. Soon it will be:-
"So good your eyeballs will refuse to read anything else!" - FawningSycophant.com
"Much better than Alan Moore's version where all our ideas originated!" - Owned By The Same Conglomerate Weekly.
"Better than this team's best thing, which we told you last offering was their best., And it will be their best thing, until their very next thing which we'll tell you is their best thing." - NotBitingTheHandThatFeeds.org


Overall, the issue improved as I sat here typing about it. It's the finale of something, which usually bumps things up a bit. I strongly doubt I'd be picking up an issue of the series without the Legion in it though. Rating - 3.75 and that's with points for the iconic moments in this 'boot.

I thought Wildfire whispering was a weird thing.

Also, "Oh Dear Lord!" seemed like a weird bit of dialogue coming from him.

Having not read much Bendis, I'm definitely picking up on what I've read from others about all of his characters sounding the same.

I only want to say that Ivan Reis is a much better artist than the overrated Sook. Tinya here (in Superman 15) doesn’t look like a teletubbie, or Jeckie a pink zombie. Even Ultra Boy is great!

One represents Winath and the other Korbal. Solved.

Maybe 2 different powers from the same planet are ok.

It sounds to me like he's saying each member is both from a distinct planet and also must have a distinct power. But it's not extremely clear.

Having distinct powers is probably important which is why we have light lass rather than lightning lass.

I don't know if the Legion's origin will be replayed in the upcoming LSH series. If not, then Superman #15 will be a touchstone for this new Legion. It's a delightful introduction to this Legion, while also being an epic historical event in the story of Superman and the whole galaxy.

#15 was better than #14 since they actually sounded like Legionnaires. In #14 they sounded far too formal and it felt weird.

And so... all the originals Legionnaires born in Earth, now are aliens or born in a a colony planet (Colossal Boy, Bouncing Boy, Sun Boy, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Wlldfire).
And maybe this time Ayla is not Garth sister, and Nura don't have a sister named Mysa. Bendis is a genius!

It does say represent, rather than born. That should give enough room for Mysa to represent Sorcerors World amd Nura Naltor if so desired and still have them be related.

Gim could represent Mars where his origin was and still have been born on Earth if need be.

I always though Rokk being born on Earth was a weird retconned tweak. I'd be rolling my eyes if it was being introduced here and I'm happy to see it hopefully gone.

That's what they did in the Reboot from memory, which also emphasised the one planet one representative rule along with the team representing the UP.


Actually they dealt with that in the most recent issue of Doomsday Clock #11, kind-of in a ham-fisted way.



Really great payoff for all our waiting. (Sarcasm) Thanks SO much Johns (although quite possibly it wasn't his choice but an editorial mandate?)

Reboot Karate Kid was from an Earth colony as well, as I recall.

My initial thought is that it really doesn't matter much whether, for instance, Bouncing Boy is from Earth or not.

Although the last couple of incarnations of the Emerald Empress which have tied her to Orando have rubbed me the wrong way, so...

This is an entirely new continuity.
There is no reason to assume that Light Lass and Lightning Lad are siblings, or that half the Legion was born on Earth.
All will be revealed.
Eventually.
I suppose.

All is often revealed on Winath

Maybe Lightning Lad is from Winath and Light Lass is from Amarta!

In The L.E.G.I.O.N. series issue 56 there was a character of a planet with all the people are like Bouncing Boy, planet Bummb'l.

I can only hope that we get a nice multicultural mix across *all* the worlds in the UP, including those with powers, avoiding any hint of the dreaded Marzal Syndrome. That was one plus with having a number of heroes from a single world.



That was well...poor seems like too nice a word really.

/

The Omega Colony for Karate Kid.

And yeah, it does not really matter for me if Chuck or Gim are from Earth. Most of the Earth-born Legionnaires had very little that "marked' them as coming from Earth. And look at the likes of Nightwind, Lamprey, Jed Rikane... all from Earth, I always thought their ancestors had migrated TO Earth generations ago.

There was a lot of world-building over the Legion's 6O-yr run. We visited many of the Legionnaire's homeworlds, with varied climates, cultures, and politics. Hamilton would sometimes throw out a half-dozen bizarre worlds in a single issue-- most never to be seen again.
I hope this Bendis-Sook Legion will last long enough for us to see details of the New Legion's universe-- and that the designs of their Homeworlds are at least as deeply thought-out as the character designs.

There have been periods of time and places where culture remains relatively the same. Ancient Egypt is the best example of this. On the other hand, a thousand years ago most of Western Europe was dominated by the Holy Roman Empire, and it does not exist anymore. It will be interesting to see how many of these planets stay in this federation for the full thousand years.