Moved to new site

With the (temporary?) end of the Legion, this seemed a good time to move to my own Legion site.

Over there you'll find a post on what I would do with the Legion, plus weekly posts on what was going on with the Legion 50 years ago, 40 years ago, 25 years ago, and 10 years ago.

In addition, there's a whole lot of information about the Legion, with more being added every day.

Come on over and take a look.

Week of 21 August 2013

Just one Legion sighting this week:

Legion of Super-Heroes 23, the last issue and the last Legion appearance for a while.

This is a wrap-up issue. Dirk and Thom and confirmed dead and memorialized on Shanghalla. Tinya is missing and Brainy can't contact her.

Mon-El is still critical and unconscious in a medical chamber. Shady says she's going to take him home -- I presume she means to Daxam, with the best medical care anywhere.

Gigi Cusimano comes to drop a bombshell: The U.P. Council has voted to disband the Legion. This has been coming a long time -- the Legion's been having trouble with the Council since Legion of Three Worlds, and the recent mess has left them crying out for a scapegoat.

There are four poignant epilogues. The first shows Nura being welcomed back to Naltor, with a hint that It's All Been A Dream. (Jacques has also hinted this in the past few issues.)

The second epilogue has Luornu and Chuck pledging eternal love, and supposedly retcons the entire New52 Legion into the New52 version of Earth-2. Which I suppose leaves the Morrison version of the Legion in New52 Earth-1, or whatever they're calling the place now. It's really hard to care, especially as it's all going to be different in another ten years anyway.

The third epilogue shows Jeckie and the newly-regenerated Val arriving at Orando.

The final epilogue shows Rokk, Garth, and Imra on Winath with Garridan and Graym playing in the background, and ends with Imra proclaiming that the Legion's story never ends, while Mr. Levitz signs off with the obligatory Long Live the Legion.

---

I've been pondering the place of the Legion in DC Comics, their fate this time around (as well as the fates of other versions), and the fact that the Legion just can't seem to find a mass audience in today's comics world.

I wonder if it's not inevitable. I can't say I understand what today's comics readers are looking for, other than blood, guts, and boobs. What seems to succeed violent, sadistic, misogynistic, simplistic, and childish.

I don't think the Legion can be any of those things.

I've heard that the Legion's large cast is a deterrent (but somehow large casts in the X-Men and the Avengers aren't a drawback). I don't think there's a way to do the Legion without a large cast.

I've heard that the Legion's convoluted history is a deterrent (but somehow the convoluted histories of Batman, the X-Men, and the Green Lanterns aren't). I don't think the Legion can avoid having a history -- even if it starts over again from square one, in a year or two there'll be a history that will inevitably be part of current stories.

I've heard that the future, science-fictional setting of the Legion is a deterrent. I don't think the Legion can work without its future setting.

I've heard that the Legion isn't "edgy" enough -- which I think is code for sadism and violence. Well, the Legion's tried dark-and-gritty, and there was plenty of sadism and violence in the Giffbaum years. I just don't think the Legion is, fundamentally, compatible with sadism and violence (or "edginess" if you prefer).

It's odd, Batman and Superman and Spiderman and all the rest die and beat each other to bloody pulps all the time...maybe the difference is that they come back -- whereas the Legion (the first  comic to have a character die permanently) has always treated death and violence as consequential and, in many cases, irreversible.

In so many ways, I just can't see the Legion finding a successful place in today's comics environment.

So what's the answer?

There are a certain number of Legion readers who will buy the book no matter what. I don't know what that number is -- ten thousand, eight thousand, five thousand? It's not enough to sustain a print book.

But what about a web comic? How much do an artist and writer get paid per issue? If five thousand readers would each pay, say, $3 a month for a digital version (I know I would), that's $15,000 a month or $180,000 a year -- do artists and writers get $90,000 a year per book? Somehow, I don't think so. (Even if you assume DC and Comixology take their cuts, throw in an Annual and a special issue or two, and you could still be talking $50,000 a year each for artist and writer. Not chicken feed.)

If DC thought there was a demand, they could package six months or a year's worth as print collections and sell them -- the same 5,000 loyal fans would probably buy them, and any other sales would be additional gravy.

Just an idea.

---

Everyone seems to be pitching DC their take on a revival of the Legion. I, of course, have one, and I'll present it in an entry over on my Legion website.

For now, hokey as it sounds: Long Live the Legion!

Week of 24 July 2013

I did not see any Legion content in comics this week.

Week of 17 July 2013

One Legion comic this week: Legion of Super-Heroes 22 (2013/09).

Well, now the Legion is acting like the Legion!

Ayla pulls herself together and blasts the Persuader (which Garth doesn't seem to be able to do). Imra shows what she's made of, with a great line: "I've faced Darkseid. You don't scare me."

Jacques and Brek return from the weird dimension, only to find out that the fifth member of the Fatal Five is the Promethean Giant that Tharok's been controlling. Okay, that was cool. And it recalls Tharok's mental control of Validus in the original Fatal Five.

Jeckie appears along with Val, who has mysteriously come back to life. This keeps happening; if I choose to believe that Jeckie's love is strong enough to bring him back from the dead, who's gonna tell me I'm wrong?

Anyway, Jeckie releases the Giant from Tharok's control -- another nice echo of the original Fatal Five, when it was Jeckie who released Validus from Tharok's control.

It falls to Brek (following Imra's suggestion) who finally defeats Tharok, by freezing him to absolute zero, "the temperature at which there's no energy for electrons to move." (Which makes comic-book sense, but is absolutely lousy science -- at absolute zero, matter becomes superconductive, which means electrons travel with zero resistance. Well, zero resistance would have rendered Tharok inoperative anyway, so I'll let it slide.)

Back on Earth, Luornu mourns another dead body ("Like a chunk of my soul has been ripped out") -- at least she has plenty more to spare. And a tearful Brainy confesses to the assembled Legionnaires that it's all his fault.

I can't help but hope that Levitz brought Karate Kid back to piss off Giffen (even though his return has been in the works since the Legion Academy in Adventure.)

It's nice to see the Legion coming back, although it's hard to see why they couldn't pull together like this earlier. 

One more issue to go.

So how long do y'all think it will be before the Legion (in some form) is back? Put me down for around 9 months.

Week of 10 July 2013

One Legion comic this week: Smallville Season Eleven #15 (2013/09).

Now this is a Legion that works. And this is a Superman who's noble and compassionate, a Superman you believe could inspire heroes for a thousand years.

And the Legion! Great costumes, characterization spot on, these are heroes who see a problem and jump into action, doing what they can. A Legion that uses teamwork to accomplish the impossible.

I'm ready to see the Legion spinoff from this title...all-digital, if necessary. There are so many stories to be told, so much to find out. They've got Kara (Supergirl) for the Superman connection; they've got ten seasons of tv continuity to draw on for new stories. I'm ready.

Oh, there's also new Young Avengers and the long-awaited sixth issue of America's Got Powers, both comics filled with cute boys.

Week of 19 June 2013

One Legion comic this week: Legion of Super-Heroes 21 (2013/08).

The remaining Legionnaires gather on Earth for a showdown with the Fatal Five Three. Element Lad resists the temptation to turn the oxygen in the villains' bodies into chlorine; Shrinking Violet resists the temptation to shrink inside the Eye and shatter it like she did before; Harmonia doesn't release the power of the winds, water, and rock against them; Lightning Lass doesn't short out Tharok's circutry; Cosmic Boy doesn't toss them around by the iron in their hemoglobin; and Dream Girl flat out refuses to use her power at all.

Instead, the Legionnaires bravely fall down continuously and scowl at the Fatal Five Three.

At the end of the issue, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad show up...and somehow, it's a hopeful moment.

I have no doubt about Imra's ability to save the day. After all, she's the strongest telepath in the universe -- nothing with a mind can resist her. (As Universo once said to her, in fear, "The two most powerful beings in the universe -- you just looked at them, and they fell over.")

What really annoys me about this whole arc is how passive and whiny the Legionnaires have been. Yes, they've had bad things happen, and they're excused for being a bit demoralized...but honestly: Tinya fleeing to another dimension with the intention of never coming back? Dream Girl refusing to look into the future? Cosmic Boy doing nothing of consequence?

This isn't the Legion that defeated Mordru, Darkseid, the Leigon of Super-Villains, and the Time Trapper.

There's one last loose end, one that might be a red herring or a clue to the last issue. On page two, the following exchange takes place between Cos and Brainy:

Cos: Don't overthink it, yell for help.

Brainy: Obviously. The wuestion is from who...and where?

Cos: See if you can reach--

Brainy: As I said -- obviously...but maybe there's another possibility too -- before the quarks fade out again...

Who are they talking about? Garth and Imra, I suppose, are either "obviously" or "another possibility" -- but who's the other one?

When I read that, my frist thought was that Cos was going to say "Superman." But flashpoint barrier, time travel doesn't work, yadda yadda yadda.

So who else is there? XS? The Legions of the other Two Worlds? The Subs? Computo? Mordru? The Infinite Man? Ronn Kar? 

I guess we'll see next issue.

Week of 26 June 2013

I did not see any Legion content in comics this week.

There's more news of justice Leave 3000. Apparently there will be no Legion connection. And it's being written by Keith Giffen, who in my opinion is every bit as good a writer as he is an artist...which is to say, not at all to my taste. I can't see any compelling reason to pick up this book.

While I'm at it, I think I'll drop World's Finest...I've been waiting a long time now for something to happen, and it hasn't.

That will leave Smallville Season Eleven as the only DC comic I'm buying. I have over six thousand comics in my collection, and I'd guess at least five thousand of those are DC titles...but there's really nothing at DC any more to keep me even mildly interested -- except, of course, Smallville Season Eleven. (Which I imagine they will cancel soon.)

For the last, oh, forty years I've been buying each new Legion comic (except for the Giffbaum years when I quit in disgust, and a few short hiatuses between titles) -- it's going to feel odd to go to the comic store month after month and spend money with no Legion to show for it...no DC comics....

Unless...the Legion starts appearing as a backup feature in Smallville Season Eleven...then starts to push Clark out of the comic...until the name changes to Smallville: Legion of Super-Heroes. 

Week of 12 June 2013

One Legion comic this week: Smallville Season Eleven 14.

I've been late to this party: it turns out that Smallville Season Eleven started life as a digital comic published weekly at Comixology.com. Each issue of the print version collects three "issues" of the digital version.

Instead of trying to keep up with the digital comic, I 'll continue to list the print version only here (I'll cross-reference to the digital comic when possible). If DC cancels the print comic but continues the digital one, and if they continue to feature Legion content...well, I'll put on my flight ring and fly across that bridge when we come to it.

This story continues the arc from last issue. For the first time we get to see more Legionnaires from this alternate universe, including some old familiar faces -- I've tried to identify them all, but with some of them we only see the backs of their heads. Anyway, I made my best guesses.

The existence of this digital comic raises an interesting question -- when if the next incarnation of the Legion crashes and burns, is it possible that DC would consider doing a digital-only Legion comic? What do y'all think?

Week of 5 June 2013

I did not see any Legion content in comics this week. I also did not see any Legion content in books, video, or other media. I did have a dream that featured Brainiac 5, my old high school, and a speech contest. Brainy lost the contest because he gave his speech in Coluan; I think the winner was a purple camel but things are a little fuzzy...probably lingering effects of too much time travel.

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Week of 29 May 2013

I did not see any Legion content this week.

There's a Smallville Season 11 special that has an interesting take on the Martian Manhunter's origin, plus a throwaway sight gag for Lost fans. That's about all I found interesting.

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Week of 22 May 2013

I did not see any Legion content in DC Comics this week.

There was a new issue of Young Avengers, with lots of cute boys and some tender moments. Hulkling and Wiccan continue to be the cutest couple in all comicdom (although rumors are that Kevin Keller is going to have his first kiss in an upcoming issue.)

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Week of 15 May 2013

There's a new Legion comic, a couple new-ish trade paperbacks, and some stunning news. You can read my take on it all at my Legion site.

Week of 8 May 2013

One Legion comic today, and an unusual one: Smallville Season 11 #13.

If you haven't been following Smallville Season 11, it's a continuation of the TV show in comic format. As such, it's outside standard DC continuity (whatever that is).

I'm calling this as a distinct alternate Legion, albeit one that's an offshoot of the one in the Smallville TV show.

This is the first part of a three-parter, and it's got some interesting twists. Earth is in conflict with New Krypton, formerly the Kryptonian colony Argo. Earthgov, represented by Minister Kirt Niedrigh, views the Legion as collaborators with the Kryptonians. There are plenty of hints of the xenophobic "human supremicist" theme in this version.

Booster Gold is there, too, and has a Legion ring just like he's supposed to. Brainiac 5 is caucasian and looks like the actor who played him in the series. Clark and Garth are just plain cute. When the two of them meet once again, there's a definite sexual charge in the air. (Plus there's the fact that for much of the story, Garth is holding onto one of Clark's balls, and no, I'm not making that up.)

All told, it's a refreshing take on the Legion, and a fun little comic. I'm definitely looking forward to the next issue.

As always, check out my new Legion site, and email me if you want an account so you can leave comments and such.

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Week of 1 May 2013

I did not see any Legion content this week. The new issue of World's Finest has Power Girl and the Huntress fighting Desaad, who at times bears a striking resemblence to the Time Trapper...but I'm sure that's just the tattered purple robe and hood plus general menacing posture. In other words: No Legion stuff to see here. Move along. Move along. ----------

Week of 24 April 2013

I did not see any Legion content this week. There was, however, a new issue of Young Avengers, and damn Hukling and Wiccan are the sweetest couple anywhere in comics! ----------

Week of 17 April 2013

Sorry, folks, I forgot to post here. If you haven't had a chance yet, check out my new Legion site at http://donsakers.com/lsh/ I can see a time in the not-too-distant future when I'll move posts over there instead of here. ---------- New Legion comic today, hooray! This one mainly concentrates on the new Emerald Empress, who is a finalist for the Otto Award for Worst-Hairstyle-on-a-Villain-of-Villainess. (The Otto Award is a 31st century award that I just made up, named in honor of Otto Binder, the Legion's creator.) We're still in the Fatal-Five-Stomps-on-the-Legion, things-are-getting-worse portion of the narrative. Mon-El is banged up so bad that everyone fears he might be dead (gee, that's never happened before in a Levitz/Giffen collaboration). Next issue we're promised that things are going to get even worse as Validus steps into the fray. I hope this doesn't turn into one issue of pounding on the Legion for each of the Fatal Five, followed by Brainy's hidden plan delivering everyone from danger in the last issue. Actually, if Levitz is true to form -- and if he can resist the Giffen influence -- I'd look for the Legion's salvation to come from either one or more inactive members (think Luornu & Chuck and Garth & Imra showing up in Earthwar), or one of the "weaker" members (think Dream Girl from the Great Darkness). If I had to guess, I'd look toward Mysa and the Sorcerer's World. ----------

Week of 10 April 2013

No new LSH content in comics this week, sigh. ----------

Week of 3 April 2013

I did not see any new Legion content this week. Sigh. ----------

Week of 27 March 2013

I did not see any Legion content in comics this week.

I have been pondering the Legion's popularity. In this post over on Legion Abstract, Matthew worries that the Legion is going to be cancelled, and wonders if "...the audience for the Legion of Super-Heroes may have permanently shrunk to the point where these characters just can't support their own title anymore."

I've also been cataloging the Legion's appearances from their first cancellations, the run in Action Comics and Superboy, which has got me thinking about Superboy.

They kept trying to ditch Superboy. He resigned, then came back. He resigned again, then came back again. He finally left permanently...and came back again. Eventually, he died.

The Earth-247 Legion eventually gained Superboy (Connor this time) as a member. There was Superboy's Legion. With the Earth-Prime Legion, Supergirl took the place of Superboy. The renaissance of the current Legion started with adventures involving Superman.

Why? What is it about Superboy?

I'd like to suggest that casual readers need to have some familiar element as a point of entry to the Legion. Liam and LaDonna Legion-fan, who've read the Legion for years, are happy to buy anything that says Legion on it -- but when Cameron and Cecy Comic-reader pick up a Legion comic, they see nothing that looks familiar to them. So they put it down, thinking "I'll never be able to follow this."

If Matthew is right and there aren't enough Liams and LaDonnas out there to support the title, we need to give the Camerons and Cecys something.

So despite my reluctance to see the Legion tied too strongly to the DC present day, I will state the following as a Law of the Legion: The Legion needs a Superboy.

It doesn't have to be "Superboy" as such. It can be Supergirl, Superman, someone with the S-shield and the cape. A familiar symbol.

And now I have an ingenious way to give the Legion a "Superboy" while still retaining some distance from the current DC universe and allowing the writers maximum creative space. Picture this:

A "Superboy" joins the Legion. He's clearly not Kal-El/Clark Kent. Might as well make a whole "Who is Sensor Girl?" storyline out of "Who is Superboy?"

Turns out, he is...(wait for it)...the son of Superman.

"But wait," I hear you cry, "Superman doesn't have a son, except maybe Chris Kent who might not even exist any more. There's no way DC is going to introduce Superman's son into current continuity just to make Legion fans happy."

You're right. Superman doesn't have a son now. But he will, at some indeterminate point in the future. (We know Superman will have descendants.) We never need to see that part of it. We never need to establish a timeline, or a continuity, or even tell who his mother is. We don't even need to know if the kid is an only child or one of many. All we need is for "Superman's Son" to be involved with the Legion in the 31st century.

Why would Superman's son hang out with the Legion? Picture Superman raising this super-powered teenager. "Son, you need to learn how us use your powers, you need experience, you need a firm grounding in morality. I learned a lot of these things from my time with the Legion -- now I'm sending you to them for a training period."

A brand-new character who can legitimately be called Superboy (although if they want to make it Superlad or Superkid or even Superboi I won't complain.) A character who wears the S-shield and cape, and has a firm connection to the present-day Superman. A character from our near-future, hanging around in a time that's new to him -- a nice character for Cameron and Cecy Comic-reader to identify with.

Just as "Superboy's time" was a permanent 15 years before "Superman's time," the "new Superboy's time" could be a permanent 15 years after Superman's time. That provides a nice buffer against any craziness that DC imposes on the "present." We can further use the whole "this is only one possible future" dodge to make the Powers That Be feel better.

Who knows, "future Superboy" may even get his own title. Which the Legion could then invade, and finally turn it into Future Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes.

What about it, Mr. Levitz?

Week of 20 March 2013

Two Legion appearances this week.

Legion of Super-Heroes 18 (2013/05)

Wow, someone agreed that Keith Giffen's art is ugly, so they had Scott Kolins and Tom Derenick do a Keith Giffen impersonation. They tried their best to make everyone and everything look ugly, but couldn't quite pull it off. There are an awful lot of gritted teeth and scowls. Ah, well, at least they varied the grid of panels quite a bit.

All tech based on quarks (which seems to be just about everything modern) has stopped working, all across the United Planets. Brainy, of course, can get things working with pre-quark technology.

This is all the fault of the newly-upgraded Tharok, who seems to be everywhere. The result is a world in which technology fails, economies collapse, Legionnaires quarrel amongst themselves and abandon their teammates, and they call one another by first names rather than codenames. You can just see them ditching their costumes and going to utilitarian grey jackets with lots of pockets as the unvierse collapses and the Legion, wracked by tragedy, becomes irrelevant.

Oh, wait, been-there-done-that.

Seriously, what does Keith Giffen contribute to these collaborations? Deciding which Legionnaires to casually kill off? Coming up with new ways to justify technological and economic collapse? Creating smirking characters and angry mobs who suddenly turn against the Legion? Gritting his teeth and scowling a lot?

I still have faith in Paul Levitz. I'm hoping that the collaboration went this way: Giffen thought of some really terrible things to do the Legion, then Levitz figured out how to make it a coherent story (and tell it in less than 25 issues) that comes to a satisfactory ending.

Action Comics 18 (2013/05)

Okay, I have admitted that I'm too stupid to understand what Grant Morrison does. So take this with a grain of salt.

Superman's fighting with Mxyzptlk's son(?) through all of space and time (?). He get the upper hand by having everyone in the universe (?) say their names backwards, which somehow turns the bad guy into a big stone statue (?), which Superman then throws into the moon.

The Legionnaires, having traveled through time in order to save Superman, stand around in a hospital with the dying Myxyzptlk (?) until a guy arrives who is "a damaged edge" of the bad guy (?). They attempt to get him into their time bubble in order to...do something (?)...but right about then they all join the crowd saying their names backwards (except Imra's last name is back to Ardeen instead of Ranzz, so maybe she forgot she and Garth were married, or maybe they got divorced, or who know what) and that takes care of everything -- without the Legionnaires having to lift a finger -- so why were they part of this story to begin with?

There's also a group of weird guys who apparently have (or will have) their own comic, who decided to come aboard for the publicity, because they certainly don'thave anything to do with the story either.

At the end, presumably, Universo no longer takes over the United Planets in the 31st cenury...or maybe this whole alternate Legion ceases to exist...because we never get to see any resolution of that whole thing, not even an attempt to explain why this Legion looks so different from the one in Legion of Super-Heroes (Jeckie's a snake named Sensor, Shady's called Umbra, Chameleon Boy grows up to be just Chameleon, Gim is alive and called Colossal Boy rather than Leviathan, Chuck is Bouncing Boy...in general it's a has of classic Legion and the Legion of Earth-247.)

One would almost think that this whole story was penned by someone who's so convinced he's a Great Talent that he sees no reason to respect the creations of others, follow any kind of continuity, tell a coherent story, or make the slightest bit of sense.

Nah, that couldn't be. Everyone assures me that Emperor Morrison is wearing a magnificently beautiful suit of clothes.