Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Brian Bendis & Ryan Sook relaunch the LSH

My first thought was Lois Lane too. Which would be so good, but also so not possible - it would make her new monthly title a very different spin than what most expected. Sigh.

Naomi would also be cool - but she doesn't look like the character appearing in Millennium previews. Bendis seems to have a bigger vision for Naomi and I could see him deciding to build her like he has with other characters in his runs at Marvel.

I think it's probably Jinny Hex. The hair color and the guns fit. Also, Jonah Hex had his whole HEX phase in the future and the use of Jinny could be an homage to that. Also, he indicated that this character would play with grey moral areas - or shifting moral areas - which makes sense for her character.

I thought for a second it could also be Scarlet but I can't believe he would give up ownership of the character to the DCU (or that DC would want a character they'd have to pay every time they use her).
I'm not familiar enough with his Superman run to see if any of that cast would fit the bill

So happy that despite misgivings for some, the tone of this board is mostly hopeful. My LSH FB group is tearing itself apart right now.

I suspect/hope that the newly immortal female character moving to the Legion is Amethyst. She makes the most sense:

1. She already has a connection to the Legion via Gemworld;
2. Bendis says it's a character he's writing at the moment and isn't she in his 'Young Justice'?;
3. I think she has red hair now like this character seems to;
4. Being a sort of other-dimensional character she could be very easily removed from the DCU without too many repercussions.

Other thoughts:

1. These are some terrible costumes. The only ones I like are Brainiac 5's (love that headpiece thing and his short-haired, youthful look) and Shadow Lass' (although this one is at the very lower end of her always great costumes). Saturn Girl's would be greatly improved by a circular half cape on the shoulder like what Captain Marvel and Power Girl used to wear. That would give the circular planet effect a more three-dimensional quality. The unnecessary lines all over everyone are so ugly though. I really do not understand the thought process that goes into adding them. And if that unknown character is Gim, Brin or Jo then that will easily be the worst costume that any of them have ever worn.

2. I'm not normally a fan of race/gender/species-bending characters but I'm OK with this change to Rokk. Dark-haired characters like he, Salu and a few others have always seemed one colorist's shade away from the comic-book depiction of 'Asian' anyway.

3. That said, I don't think it's a good look that as soon as he becomes 'Asian' Rokk gets demoted to secondary/tertiary focus out of the original 3. An 'Asian' leader of DC's biggest and best super-team would be a great message for the POC (especially Asian)-starved DCU and Garth and Imra already have their own love affair storyline, let Rokk keep his leadership one.

4. Thirty-four members sounds very exciting!

Apparently somewhere in all the press or solicitations, it refers to the Legion as coming from the 32nd century. Bendis has verified on Twitter that this is not a mistake. Speculate away! I’ve seen everything from “children of the LSH from the first Supergirl story” to “the future team that recruited Cos in the three boot” to “Bendis made an arbitrary change to feed his own ego and putting it in a different year ruins the Legion foreverrarrgh.”

I actually like the new costumes! They are different and sort of look like what a superhero might wear 1000 years from now. The haircuts are also complimentary to each other, and this evokes a kind of "style" that everyone in that era would sport since it's in fashion at the moment. Loving what I see so far.

The true test of my loyalty will be the story. It has to be the BEST part of this new iteration of the Legion. Period. Nuff said.

It could be that in writing the fistory* of this team, he just had to insert an extra hundred years to get everything he wanted to in there. Maybe it was move the Legion to the 32nd or leave out Tommy Tomorrow or something.



*future history, in hip LW slang.

Millennium seems to be a massive project to unite all the various space titles DC has put out in the past 80 years. They are placing Kamandi in this timeline, and even if they update it to be more realistic (maybe a pandemic instead of nuclear explosions since people know more about radiation now), the Earth will need time to recover.

The thing about trying to tie so many DC properties together into a coherent timeline is that it unravels the first time someone comes up with a cracking story about Space Rangers pet, Cryll. Omac and Kamandi are also candidates for this sort of thing.



I’m happy to see that go from Legion Lore. A group of people forced to wear a symbol to reveal their heritage has terrible real world connotations. Having a design on the shoulder, and hopefully removing any trace of everyone from there wearing the same outfits will do nicely.



This is really the big worry answered by the previews. They’ve not been shy of sticking to a design that worked for the character.







Hope so



Yeah, but technical sciencey things like… well counting… were never one of DC’s strong points. They did seem to get mixed up.



I guess we’ll see how long it lasts . Fourboot/Neoboot rather than a writer’s name would seem more appropriate.



Crumbs! I had each of those down for a different Legionnaire this time.



Imra: Right Jinny. Here’s your flight ring. Just in time to capture those crooks over there while I take you through some basics.
>Bang! Bang! Bang!<
Imra: … um… like our code against killing…
I like the idea of a nod to Hex though.

Why? I’d be interested to hear what people find to be the problem with what we’ve seen so far.


I hadn’t picked up on the ethnicity change and repercussions in Rokk’s role. But I did pick up on Rokk not being the one in the lead. This probably means I’ve read too many Legion comics Perhaps it’s just that without that quiet, determined leadership quality there’s not quite as much to Rokk as there should be. That getting picked as optimal leader (out of 3 people delivered form a kid’s toy ) was a big moment for him.


I like the first one, and have some Bits to post at some point about that. It could just be that the events in Millennium show the old Legion era in a bit of a mess, and it’s picking up from that which leads them to recruit Superboy.

There was also the old story about them being kids in their ‘40s, so there’s always that.

I see Emily and EDE’s have come up with solutions on this too…



Very much this. I just want a decent story.

Honestly, there’s not much to the upset people. Just blind hatred of Bendis, mixed with the same costume/haircut discussions we’ve had here. Lots of complaints about too much dialog, frequently from the same people who complain about comics today being too quick a read. And cracks about who’s going to go nuts and murder half the team, or complaints about aging Jon, as if that was in some way going to keep Legion from being a good comic, that kind of thing.

It’s a shame those people haven’t read any of the Wonder Comics line, because those are some great books, and very unlike typical Bendis work.

Thanks for giving some detail BFOB.

I've not read much of Bendis beyond Powers and a few scattered Avengers things. Early Powers work was a step up in writing from most of the books around at the time. I think there might have been some scheduling issues, that meant the momentum faded a bit. Having a really good artist obviously helped a lot (Retro Girl for the Legion!)

I've read a few Avengers issues. While things like Disassembled had a visceral punch, I can understand and agree with any Avengers fans were upset by what happened. I was reminded very much of Ellis wiping out Stormwatch because he really wanted to tell stories about his pet characters without having to go to the pesky bothers of launching a book on its own merits and building up a fanbase that way. Not that it wasn't a good read, but... I seem to recall lots of talking heads from Bendis' Avengers and I couldn't tell you a single thing that they got up to. I quite liked Dark Avengers issues I read. I'm not sure if he was the writer on them though.

I had a quick glance at Naomi in the shop last week. It was just the one issue and a quick skim (issue #3 I think). But it was fine. It was all building up to a cliffhanger at the end. But the relationship changes because of that cliffhanger, snippets of character history (a red herring reveal) and DCU connections were all solid.

On the killing half the team thing, I think at least one previous writer has joked about doing just that. Another writer split them into groups and punted them across the galaxy so as not to deal with them all at once. Levitz was looking to $*!$ with the characters (using his own expletive). Bendis has hinted that it's going to build up to a GDS sort of level. So, there will be things going on that are going to impact a lot of the cast. And not in a good way.

How old in Jon? If he's older than Superbaby then it will be fine, without having to age him at all. Why this should be an issue as he waves off Elastic Lad into the future though is a mystery.

Jon was 10 when Bendis took over, And he did a story that left him trapped in the crime syndicate universe for 6-7 years while only a few weeks passed in DCU time. Many people are understandably upset that this effectively kills the Super Sons, or at least changes the dynamic betweenJon and Damien hugely. But it in no way reflects on his ability to write a good Legion. Now of course, many suspect that he was aged specifically to make him Legion age so he can join.

I’m enjoying the Superman books, although with caveats. But Naomi, Young Justice, Wonder Twins and Dial H for Hero have all been fantastic stuff.

I should add for people that haven’t read his DC stuff that while Superman in particular is recognizably Bendis, he has made a real effort to bring DC to his voice at the same time as he brings his voice to DC.

Brain-Fall-Out Boy explained things well. There are a lot of people upset about how Bendis treated Jon, but I have thought about it and it is minor compared to things Legionnaires has been subjected to before and after they became members. Princess Projectra and Element Lad have both had their home planets destroyed (albeit in various versions). Mon-El was trapped in the Phantom Zone for 1000 years and he is somehow a functional being. Timber Wolf and Wildfire both have terrifying origins on a physical and psychological level.

The way Jon is hand-waving his years of absence in the comics seems like this just a plot device for Bendis to get him old enough to be in Legion.

I would've just set the Legionnaires at 10-ish!

I can get that if you absolutely hate a certain writer's work, you wouldn't be very enthusiastic about him taking over the LSH. And, I don't know. I'm jaded enough to be somewhat skeptical about any relaunch. But there are things about this that look promising, and other things not so much. But, a big relaunch after five years of no Legion book be published? I figure it's worth at least checking out.

Ah, that does seem to have kicked Super Sons in the teeth a bit. It would seem to suggest he was aged to fit in with the Legion too. That doesn't sound good as I remember the dreadful Bart Allen ageing and the dreadful way they waved it all away.

Had the idea been to fit him in with the start of the Legion, then it wouldn't have been that much of a stretch. They were all early teens. If he's joining years later when Wildfire gets there (assuming that this chronology has Wildfire not joining at the start) then it's a wider gap.

What Bendis' involvement with the Wonder Books? I quite liked an issue of Dial H, but I don't think he was writing it.

I think he is full writer on a couple. Definitely Naomi. I think he is co-writer on the others, but I’d have to look them up to be sure. He is definitely the “curator” of the line, as seems to be the new buzzword for such things.

I wouldn't read too much into the arrangement on the cover. It's the founding three and they are all bunched together. Garth is a bit in front but that fits with a brashness to his character that has often been portrayed. It doesn't mean he is the leader. Cos or Imra could equally well be the leader and be happy to let Garth be in front.


Absolutely. I also want it to be good enough to get rave reviews and draw in new fans. We need the new blood. Get them interested and some will dive back into the past and discover the rich history of the team. Even if they don't, even if this is the only version of the Legion they know, if this one is inspirational I will be happy.

I hadn't thought of Jon being aged specifically to fit in with the Legion before but it makes a bit of sense if Bendis had the Legion in mind all along. Still it doesn't feel that sudden. Jon has been back and aged for 6 issues now (which with the biweekly schedule is only 3 months, feels longer) and although it initially felt a bit frustrating (something which the characters of his parents very much acknowledged) it has also fitted with he story and the character's development.

A move to the 31st/32nd century would also fit. Have to catch up on the weird Young Justice thing with Connor. I haven't really got my head around the whole Titans/Teen Titans/Young Justice thing yet.

I suspect that, for impact in this first appearance, the front & center spot went to the Legionnaire with the most recognizable new costume. Lightning Lad is clearly Lightning Lad. We'd be wondering who the new Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl were.

The obvious choice to go all Scarlet Witch would be the White Witch, but that might be a little too obvious.

And Brainy's already been there, done that. Rokk-as-Time-Trapper, too. We've done the rampaging Daxamites thing to death, since the Great Darkness Saga, Ol-Vir and lately Res-Vir and the 'super-dominators,' so, hopefully not Mon-El!

Dreamy would make a freaky villain, having somehow foreseen that her teammates have to die for the future to survive...

There is already speculation that Jon Kent may be an impostor from Earth-3, in which case I welcome the Legion of Super-Lords.

Ugh. The last thing we need is another evil Superboy.

To be completely fair, I don’t know that I’ve actually read much of Bendis’s work besides Disassembled. I was not a fan of the Avengers books that came out after that, but a lot of that had more to do with Marvel trying to blend all of their lines together into an unrecognizable mess than who as actually writing them.

And we all know covers lie anyway

But I agree with Legion Tracker, the cover is not necessarily indicative of the leadership dynamics within the team.