Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1 (SPOILERS)

I loved this issue - absolutely fantastic art and colouring, but we all knew that would happen. The thing I was waiting to see was how the story would carry - I've never ready any of Waids work before that I can remember and I'm very happy that his writing was very solid - some nice humour intersperced amongst the more serious story threads - the tragedy on Lallor was particularly shocking! Waid has established a few of the characters personalities, we've been shown a very different 31st Century and somehow I just know that it's only the tip of the iceberg! Now I can't wait for number 2.

And see, I saw it as very natural. It's obvious from the first part of the story that the Legion wants to show up the SP's at their own game. They want to show the "grandpas" that they can do things better. Thus they take out the macrobot before the SPs are even aware of the problem.

The 2nd part of the story is exactly the same thing. Tthe stakes are much, much higher. But at the core they are still all about doing things better than their elders.

What I like about this issue showing us both extremes is that in one solitary "done-in-one" issue, Waid has shown us what the LSH is all about and what we can expect in the future. That's a rare thing in today's decompression-crazed industry, and Waid should be commended for keeping the single-issue story alive.

I've heard it, too, but I have a different slant on things. You get as much out of something as you're willing to give. You and I are obviously the type of people who love having to figure things out. Other people want it all laid out and explained in depth. Figuring things out (in all aspects of life) is much more rewarding than the other way.

Woo-hoo! I guess this means that Legion World has made some sort of positive impression if "exclusive" info could end up here. Glad to hear it. Maybe the fact that there's so little negativism here makes the difference. (And by that I mean that when people don't like something, they can offer constructive criticism. It's not just ranting.)

I didn't see their taking action on Lallor to be smug so much as it was indicative of their philosophy that there are things worth fighting for. Truth be told I thought Sun Boy's and Cosmic Boy's courses of actions would have had the same result. It's not like they kidnapped Lallor's leader or set up a puppet government. What I guess migth be considered smug is how each of them were so confident in using their powers, and if we can go for long stretches where they aren't introspective adolescents, I'm all for it.

So, I wonder if Lallor is led by a power-hungry dictator who might want to genetically engineer his own set of heroes to counter the Legion's influence.

You know, I was going to edit that quote so it wouldn't repeat what everyone had just read but I liked it so much I couldn't bring myself to do it.

LW has had exclusive Barry Kitson artwork since the week after WWDallas! Isn't that fantastic? barry's been very generous with his time and his sketches and we've done our best to promote the new Legion (partially in return for Barry's kindness and partially just because we'd do it anyway)

I think Ferro Boy pinpointed one of our great strengths too, we have some posters that have mentioned things they don't like about the new book and they've been well stated and definiite rather than the web's eternal litany of "It sucks!" I'm proud of everybody here for their intelligent discourse and their thoughtful opinions.

As everyone can see Barry and Steve and (hopefully) Mark pay attention to the site and they'll probably be thinking about any criticism while they're working on the next pieces to be published. It's a win/win situation for creators and fans alike.

Pretty cool, huh?

As for Lallor, I'm hoping that our old favorites like Duplicate Boy and Gas Girl will show up really soon as a response to the atrocity and the Legion's appearance there. Home grown heroes are totally cool.
Maybe this time their group will even have a name like The Lallorian League of Justice or the Towering Titans or something...I dunno...but it would be cool.

Likes:
1) The artwork; Mr Kitson shows incredible range with those first 5 pages alone. I'm glad the Legion has a top-notch artist to start this run.
2) Having Colossal Boy, Sun Boy and Element Lad back and featured in the action makes it THE Legion again for me.
3) Seventy-Five Thousand Legionaires! I hope to see ALL Legionaires from past and present eventually from that crowd!
4) Saturn Girl, Brainiac, Mon-El taking a back seat (for now). Give some other Legion members the initial view time in #1!

Concerns:
The adults vs. kids angle did not appeal to me in the Lyle preview story and certainly did not in the Lallor depiction in #1. I will reserve my full opinions for a few more issues as I know the initial story will take some time to unfold, but you can color me old fashioned in that I prefer the black/white good guys vs. bad guys stories.

Waid/Kitson

One of the best characterized of the Legion (Starboy) is the one who makes me the most uncomfortable. You have the ONLY BLACK CHARACTER in the legion and, of course, he's the screw-up? He makes the mistake of not once, but twice, of missing a bomb. It really harkens to comics, movies and other media where the ONE black character is the one who is incompetent, angry, former criminial, unedecuated...etc.

Understand, I am not suggesting that he gets "Brigadoomed" into another dimension, killed or anything. I am not suggesting you simply have no characters of color. I just hope you have other characters of differing personalities and skills so that Starboy can just be "Starboy" as opposed to Waid's single representation of the black race. This should be considered for any other characters be they Asian, Native American, Latino... and... well.. I hope you get the picture.

Happy New Year,

Ty

Great analogy, Andy. It is exactly what was in my mind. It made me think of our Government and how we address attrocities in other Governments that have something we want. Do we give that same speech the UP was giving to Starboy? Do we even say anything if that group is made up of people we don't care about?

Good measure of complexity, Mark Waid.

Ty

But usually that character is offensive because they combine most or all of those qualities, e.g. the wise-cracking angry uneducated mannerless ghetto kid with a shady past. I don't think a black character who just happens to be angry, say, or uneducated, really falls into the same category. (Provided his character is otherwise well-rounded).

In any case, Star Boy doesn't seem to be incompetent, just serially unlucky. All the Legionnaires on his mission overlook the possibility of the Macrobot head being a bomb--he's just the guy who gets chewed out by Cos about it. And he can hardly be blamed for Colossal Boy leaving the head atop a natural gas pocket. Possibly he's at fault in the "fusionstrike case," but I think that's more than cancelled out by his insightful summary of the Legion at the end of the issue.

I had a similar response to Star Boy. While I laughed out loud at his characterization - and found him and Shadow Lass to be the strongest in dialogue, expression and 'acting' ability - I had some concerns about the 'bumbling' black character. Checking the backgrounds and the visible cast of heroes, it was disheartening to find so few visibly asian, black, indian or latino people.

Oh, and happy new year & welcome aboard Legionworld, Ty.

I'd like to point out that Lyle is the only Legionnaire whose name has been used. We don't know if it's still Thom, Dirk and Harry...kidding... Tasmia.

Isn't that right?

Having had strong reservations to the relaunch, I have to admit I enjoyed the first issue, mainly because of the art. i'm not sure I'm comfortable with the new concept for the Legion yet.

While the issue was very good and I'll be back for the second issue, I'm not yet convinced this is the Legion of Super-Heroes I'm interested in. Characterization is good, the art is fantastic, but do I really want to read the adventures of a group of subversive anarchists (I mean, that's excactly what they are)?

I know it's been only one issue, but I have yet to see a direction for the group except "let's kick some a$$ because the adults don't want us to"... Let's see what comes next..

Jim, like you, I tend to be a Legion traditionalist but I have to say I kind of like Cham's new look. It makes sense that, as a shape-shifting Durlan, he is a blank slate when he is in non-imitative form. I like the fact that his antennae seem to only appear when he is scanning something new. (As opposed to the "tingling" sensation, as they used to be depicted). Both are kinda suggestive though aren't they?

Anyone else like the new Chameleon look?

I certainly do, I much prefer this look to his old one. This Cham's lack of facial expression and button eyes really underline the fact that he's an alien in a way that the antennae never did.

I like it. The retractable antennae show that he's active even when it would otherwise appear that he's standing around.

A quick observation on Star Boy - I think unlucky is a better description than screw up. He's way to self-confident to be a serial screw up. Other than reacting to the razzing (which seems to be part of the personalities of Sun Boy and Ultra Boy), he seems pretty comfortable with himself and wasn't defensive at all about the mistakes. You don't get to be that way by screwing up constantly.

I'm willing to give Waid the benefit of the doubt and assume he doesn't have a one line character summary to work from for all the characters. At least until the stories prove otherwise.

Starboy was always a bit of a hardluck character, anyways. He had uber powers, lost most of them, accidentally killed a guy, got booted from the legion, and probably a few other items that I forgot about.

Holy 12 pages of thread! Maybe I'll read it sometime...

My thoughts:

A+ It blew me away. Far exceeded my expectations.

I like each Legionnaire, at least it looks like, having a different personality. I like the conflict being set up already. Awesome.

Barry's art is phenominal [not even gonna bother trying to spell that]. The new costumes are great, and the Legionnaires are looking good!

I really, really liked seeing my fave Cos portrayed here. You can never have enough Cos!

So far Ayla comes off as really likeable and it's great seeing Gim again.

This was excellent...and could easily end up being the best comic book of 2005.

Got my copy yesterday.

I don't have a lot of comments to make right now, but I will say I really liked the book. This is a very promising start.

Finally. You read it at last, eh? You should have shared it with us in Dallas but nnnoooooo you wanted to enjoy the finished product and not be spoiled. -heh- hope like heck you liked it.

I sometimes wonder if I'd enjoy a book better if I don't read the spoilers about it but -what the heck- I read 'em anyway.

Actually, I just got so caught up with things in Dallas that I kinda......forgot to check out the preview copy.

I'm now glad I didn't, though. It was a better read this way.

My first post here, but a looooooooooooooong time Legion fan. Very long time.... I began buying the book when it was Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes as done by Cary Bates & Dave Cockrum. And up until Zero Hour really mucked things up, I was a devoted fan. After that I dropped it as the team was no longer recognizable to me. As it was, I stuck with it when the Bierbaums and Giffen really chucked things out the window, but it was a true struggle for me, but ZH really killed it for me.... I did look in on occasion to see what was happening, but it was still unrecognizable to me.

Now we come to this new book.....

Well, let's just say I'm baaaaaack!

THIS is the Legion I know and love and "grew up with". No, it's not exact, nor is it a Silver Age remix of the team. This is a true updating. Some may wish to call it a reboot, I call it "putting things right". Hard to believe Waid had a hand in the ZHing of the team when you read this... But he's redeemed himself.

As for Barry Kitson, I have always loved his work. You can see and feel the sheer energy he's putting forth in the book. It's obvious he's having a blast drawing this title.

One final thing I need to mention here: The "Eat it, Grandpa!" line already has me laughing everytime I see it. But not for the reasons some might suspect... You see, I'm a grandfather, even though I'm "only" 42. Granted, I wasn't until I married my wife nearly 9 years ago (second marriage for us both), but nonetheless I am.

Eat it, Grandpa indeed.... heh.

Welcome aboard Kevin! And thanks for jumping right in.

Regarding Stary Boy's bumbling black character. Again I haven't read it but I look foward to a young fun bumbling black character. Why?

So many black characters these days have what I've seen on other sites called the "Shaft" syndrome. usually bad ass, ex military, cool, with guns, and somehow knows everything. It's becoming quite a cliche. I have been hoping for younger characters like Star Boy kids (& people) can identify with.

JJ Thunder over in JSA, Statix, etc. I've gotten quite sick of every comic having their Shaft. Give me a young fresh black character any day.

(In other words I am happy Stary Boy doesn't have a shaved head with a goat, and is ex SP special agent)

Jorge