Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion of Super-Heroes #6 (2020) - Preview and Spoilers

It was almost comical when Ultra Boy (I believe it was?) said in this issue that Gold Lantern has a really awesome backstory that they're just not going to tell you now! It was really like Bendis himself was speaking.

Like that throwaway line from Triplicate Girl about Mon-El's connection to Superboy! It's like, really important, and we get Mon-El and Superboy in the same panel a couple issues later, but nothing's gonna come out of it!

Relieved I'm not alone in thinking "blah". I sadly share most of the criticisms voiced above.

Don't get the ocean thing, but maybe it will make Earth a planet again, or something. Why did the bad guys want the trident - to hold the oceans ransom so the pieces of Earth would pay up to have them restored? Is there even any marine life or is it just a big swimming pool?

So far, I've really enjoyed the dialogue and the art, but don't feel any particular warmth for these characters yet. Despite having powers similar to their prior versions' counterparts, they somehow seem far more distant from those other versions. Maybe that's the result of the visuals. Classic version, reboot, WaK, Superboy's Legion, even the animated show all struck me as the same characters, just from different dimensions/Earths.

The special name fonts for each Legionnaire are different; they look good but is this part of the story, setting up characters for solo series or a marketing technique?

Monster Boy not controlling what he turns into is a lot like Dial H. Maybe he swallowed the dial as a baby.

Dial M for Monster - A Cal McDonald mystery.

Hmmm... I was really hoping that this issue would tie it all together... Instead I'm just more confused.

I don't understand the disconnect between the advance copy and the actual issue.

The issue itself -

I loved some of the combat moments. I had to pay attention to the Legionnaires to keep track - which made sense to me considering how many Legionnaires are present.

The sudden shift in the UP President might have an explanation - but I'm not sure I care for the character at all (which might be the point).

The return of the oceans would obviously also bring back gravity and land mass. Right? That's just how magic works - Aquaman displays this level of power in every issue of his comic. (Does the sarcasm come through?)

I'm enjoying the new series and I think its good that we have so many unanswered questions are are seeking more information. Did I miss where/how the trident was stolen back from th Legion?? I also thought I had missed a page after Mon-el grabbed the trident and the oceans came pouring out. Maybe we'll see that later?? Who stole it? Is there a spy on the team?

It would be helpful if perhaps they used a similar format as the 5 year later stories, where there was a text page each issue that gave you subtle or select background information on the world and certain characters. I mean, as long as the whole thing wasn't in Interlac

The Threeboot was unspectacular, but the Brainy-Dream Girl dialogue and the goat scene in issue # 2 alone make the first 6 issues of that run worthwhile.

Yeah, there was some really good stuff in those first six issue or so of the threeboot.

Bendis is truly a writing *god.*

He's got people fondly remembering *the threeboot!*

Hold on, I gotta go catch this flying pig.

Hopefully in ten years we won't be saying, "Man, this current Legion sucks. I miss the good old days of Bendis!"

I'm struggling to think of how things could get worse. Maybe do away with unique costumes and code names entirely. All we get are 35 identical-looking members, and we have to guess who has been rebooted. It takes 35 issues to do so, because they keep showing up in crowd scenes using their powers in the background, but their dialogue never explains anything, it's all "we got this!"

I think it could be a lot worse. It could be better because everything can. I've not read a lot of Bendis in the past. But from what I have read, the level of his writing and plotting is stronger than nearly all of the last DC Relaunch I read. I might not agree with or like the decisions, but there's a certain level of craft in there. And it's better than most. I think this opening plot threw in everyone to give a certain energy to proceedings. Flitting glimpses and quick hints, were not only to give the feeling of things happening at pace, but to show most Legion fans that their favourite was in there somewhere. I think there were articles hinting that missions ahead would be testing the team and I'm happy enough to see what happens.

I'd agree that the panels per page and Bendis' writing mean that stories will fit into TPBs at the expense of single issues. Maybe not even the one TPB at this rate. Buying the single issues at the moment, is like an expensive series of peeks into a story. The dialogue really could do with the editor having a word. But then, I could have said that about the Bendis' work on the Avengers and Powers. Both had the same dialogue across loads of characters and they could all complete each others sentences.

For all the things I like about v4, currently in the rereads thread, the behind the scenes fights and indecision about direction killed any momentum the book had. The number of TPBs it would take to resolve the Dominators on Earth plot in v4, make Bendis look like a speed plotter.

I never noticed the issues people talked about in regards to Bendis' pacing and plotting before because I read the majority of his work in TPB form. I think I loved his Avengers run because I could see, for example, how Civil War led to Secret Invasion, which led to Dark Reign. I personally like Dark Reign the best, I think it is because villains are allowed to make mistakes in super-hero comics that heroes cannot.

To tie this most more directly back to Legion, I wonder if this version of Brande will be sort of like Praetor Lemnos in the Threeboot. Maybe she wants to destroy the UP in order to save it? To me it is clear she works for herself.

Emily, what did you think of Bendis's Siege event? Perhaps you could share in the All Avengers Thread? (Hint, hint.)

Legion-Relevant: Am I the only one who reads Praetor Lemnos's name and thinks, "Praline Lemons?"

I reread the first six issues yesterday and it does flow a lot more smoothly. I'd forgotten how much we've learned about a few characters and parts of this Legionverse (or galactic, as they call it). It's just so frustrating to want to know more. Some text pieces (not in Interlac!) would indeed help. The first page has been used as an info dump, but quite limited. Nevertheless, it strikes me as a good base on which to move forward. Issue #6 was my least favourite, although it did wrap up the Earth oceans problem and set the stage for a war with the U.P. started by Rimbor defecting. I'd still like to see the trident business explained - it only activated when Superboy or Mon-el held it. Tortor stole it, but the oceans seemed to stay in their portal or tesseract or whatever it was that contained them.

The moon appears to be missing, or maybe just not shown? How do Earth's oceans behave with no moon? Mr. Fix-it aka Brainiac 5 will probably make one.This is a good version of Brainy but I hope he doesn't become a panel hog to the exclusion of the many other Legionnaires to be developed.


She certainly is devious! I wonder if her vision of a peaceful U.P. is what she wants, or just a means to the end of holding power.


Well, now that you've put it in my head.....

Tee hee.

Late to the party but I finally read #6 and ... unsurprisingly I was disappointed like everyone else. I think I was more disappointed than some because I felt the recent couple of issues were finally starting to get somewhere. Some questions were being answered about why the Legion existed this time and what the core trio plus Brainy were like. Also I liked the possibility of tying the multiple crisis from the 20th/21st Century to the ongoing existence of the the 31st. It had the potential to be a grand overarching threat requiring a significant and ongoing effort by the Legion.

Then we get this, supposedly the culminating battle of the first few issues. Lots of dramatic drawing. I think we can all say Sook's art is spectacular and the Legion (mostly) look really good. The plot however as has been pointed out was very lacking.

My biggest disappointment is about Brainy. He is portrayed as the central protagonist in this issue, coordinating and tying all the others together, and yet he spends most of it saying "Don't do that!" or "That won't work!". Apart from getting everyone into position at the start he doesn't contribute a single positive thing. Finally, the one thing that seems to actually win the fight (somehow) and save the day is the one thing he is most adamant about the team NOT doing. For a 12th level intelligence this was not a good outing.

The whole team being active is good to see. Loads of members pictured in action is great, although as has been pointed out they don't actually seem to achieve much - or rather their actions are very dramatic and the results colourful but nothing makes a difference to the big bad (apart from a couple of failures) until Mon, acting like a hothead, goes directly against the advice of the "smartest" member and does something that at least 4 others I can think of could have done. Then we have the wonderful(?) outcome depicted at the end and the President is full of praise for their actions and their example, and the team seem pretty pleased with themselves too.

They didn't earn it and they don't deserve it. Not for this. Their actions in previous issues were much more deserving of praise than this.

Interestingly what I think was supposed to be a big emotional affirmation of the team was lost in the middle. Jon Kent (as everyone keeps calling him rather than his code-name but I suppose he is famous as that for "founding" the United Planets) says "Hey Brainy, Imra, I appreciate that you brought me here to teach you all how to be better super-heroes. Btu I have to tell you I think you're way better at this than you think you are." A good line and obviously meant to reflect how they all dive in and use their powers against the Horaz, but not only is it lost in the artwork and the midst of the battle but the continual uncoordinated "I've got your back" and the final accidental "win" really argue against it.

All up what seems to have supposed to be a big climax was poorly plotted, poorly dialogued and left most of us going "uh..okay. So what?"

I am still hopeful for the title but this was ... not bad but not good ... and as I said before disappointing.

Completely agree, Stile. When I think about some of the Legion's greatest battles, ones which were fought through great teamwork and tactics and coordination... From the Reboot, the Chu sting and the Mordru battle; from the Preboot, the quartet that took on Universo; and even the take-down of Lemnos in the Threeboot (even though I'm not a very big fan of the Threeboot)...

You're right Ibby. My last post concentrated on my disappointment with Brainy but the whole team didn't really function as a team. They went where Brainy said (when they felt like it) and appeared to operate effectively as individuals (although we only see splashy graphics and no real effects) but apart from the way-too-often repeated "I got your back" they didn't work together. As individuals I guess they were heroic (fighting the bad guys rather than running away) but mostly their dialogue showed a bunch of youths getting a kick out of doing something heroic.

Nothing wrong with that I guess but compared to their major battles in the past and so many other stories that have emphasised their teamwork and how the "weaker" members were important BECAUSE of the teamwork, this was poor. And again they "won" completely by accident and by NOT working as a team.

Since #8 and #9 are something about them being on the run or wanted by the UP perhaps #7 will show how the UP decided they were as much a loose cannon as they were shown here. How that fits with the President's impassioned speech in this issue I have no idea.

Great point, stile. It's sad, and the members without flashier powers are just there - and I don't feel confident that the likes of Triplicate Girl, Matter-Eater Lad or Invisible Kid will get their heroic moments.

My thoughts exactly re UP President. She just ping-pongs here and there, everything is so abrupt. I can't get a peg on anyone's personality because nobody has any. Gah.

My immediate reaction is to agree. I am trying to think of what characterisation we have seen in these first few issues and what I can recall is quite limited. We have seen Ultra Boy's conflict with his father and he has been portrayed as being pretty serious but that's about it. Saturn Girl is ... um nice(?) and has apparently left her Titanian "collective mind" to experience the universe but we don't know if that has impacted her. Garth and Ayla have shown some characterisation which in some ways feels the reverse of previous showings. Usually Garth is the hothead but mostly he has been shown as indecisive so far - not completely but that is what sticks in my mind. Ayla has been fairly tough since Levitz days but not a hothead and her origin seems that way to me. Cos is perhaps a rules follower? Brainy is uber-smart (of course) but is not arrogant about it (yay!!), concerned for the future and very invested in the Legion. Everyone else is generally unformed teenager who seem to be in the team for the fun of it. I'm not putting them down there, they have shown courage and commitment but basically they are teens with little experience of the world enjoying being in an important position.

At least the Threeboot established quite strong personalities from the start, not all ones I really liked but they were there and by this stage we knew what a lot of the team were like. Bendis made his name on Ultimate Spider-man and apparently researched it by listening to high school teens and put that in his writing. This group really do feel young, I'll give him that, but they do feel very samey and by this time I would expect to get some characterisation. It's not the Legion of Spider-mans after all.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. maybe I need to go back and read the issues over again. Having them so spread out dims the memory. On the other hand the fact that I feel the need to do so also suggest the characterisation is weaker than it could be.

Besides the Big 3 and Brainy, Ayla is one of the most developed characters, IMO. But the last we saw her she rejected the Legion.

There's the stuff we learn about characters on the opening spotlight pages with the interlac text. So Computo seems interesting based on that. Maybe we'll learn more in the upcoming one-page-per-character issues, but I'm not really that optimistic.

I had forgotten about the opening spotlight pages. They do give us a bit of extra information (once they have been translated anyway) and I like them. However it feels a bit like relying on an issue of "Who's Who" to find out what someone is like instead of seeing their characterisation worked out in the comic story itself. Ideally we should see both.

Exactly. "Show, don't tell."