The Legion Of Super Heroes: Classic Or Dud?

Would read Legion of Soup

irl tee hee

They must have heard us talkin’; because sometime after the above images were released, Lightning Lad was changed from asshole-hairdo white guy to black guy:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5jpGBAsJ2CU/XXMYqLKy70I/AAAAAAAAMC4/DMNv7bkMWMUBntiOkmNbwTsNOjC-XPMdACEwYBhgL/s1600/LSH_Mill%2B%25282%2529%2B%2528525x800%2529.jpg

Compare also this artwork to the cover art I posted above (Garth’s head is at the 2 o’clock position within the ring, in both images).

Looks like the guy two heads over to Jon’s left (is it Bouncing Boy?) may have also changed from black to white(?) Or they swapped in a diff. character altogether

(is it Bouncing Boy?)

Fat Tyroc or gtfo

Garth’s costume also looks a lot like the one worn by the current incarnation of Black Lightning — especially the TV version of the character. Wonder if some link will be drawn there, or if it’s just, uh, a coincidence?

Cosmic Boy's not japanese anymore, right?

I suppose Garth's suit has always been very similar to Black Lightning's. Heavy on blue, white and lightninigs.

Best case scenario here is it turns out as good as his X-Men, which were...enjoyable, I guess.

Cosmic Boy's not japanese anymore, right?

asian, sorry...

I read a review of the team’s first few teaser appearances, which commented that the degree of CB’s apparent Asian-ness varied depending on the artist.

Has there ever been any LOSH incarnation that was totally worthless, abject, boring, etc?

I can't remember anything similar to a "Chuck Austen" era for the Legion.

The New 52–era "Legion Lost" run was awful

you can tell the Adventure run is desperately spotty stuff by random writers who Weisinger hadn't terrorised away, when you compare to how consistent & psychologically curious the Siegel stories are

the Action run is v nothingy, and tbh most of the 70s apart from Levitz' shaky first sesh is hackwork. even Shooter's return was unnecessary, having lost what naive spark made the teenage Jim useful at writing teenage power fantasies.

Tom McCraw run worthless for sure.

Haven't read since then apart from the occasional Levitz/Giffen reunion and skimming early Waid issues in the shop.

Mmm the McCraw run wasn't mindblowing stuff, for sure, but I do remember it fondly. It was the first Legion reeboot, so watching the new continuity unfold and just seeing how they had tinkered with the past (Invisible Kid is alive again! Projectra is a giant snake! The Ferro Lad death is now a big crossover!) was intriguing and fun.

Shooter Mark 2 was unnecessary indeed, but I do have a soft spot for his "not that weird but not quite straight forward either" style of writing, and the art of Manapul made it passable.

I had totally forgotten about that new-52 series, though. Seeing Fabian Nicieza in his wikipedia entry waving that issue really sends shiver down my spine.

Shooter mk 1 was 60s, mk 2 was 70s, 21st century was mk 3

Picked up issue #1 of this. Tons of fragmentary, jokey Bendis dialogue; a storyline that hinges on an artifact from the present-day DCU; and a major plot twist that, surprisingly, hearkens back to the “5YL” era (I won’t spoil it). Guess the issue was fine as an introduction; hard to really evaluate it beyond those bullet-points.

Well, these guys found a lot more to say about the issue than I did... Really good write-up (full of spoilers, fyi).

One other thing I’ll mention is that I feel like the artwork in the first few pages may be an homage to Stuart Immonen’s Legion work (especially since the style sort of changes later); but I’m not versed enough to say that for sure.

I'll take this opportunity to go on record to say that I am NOT a fan of several of the Legionnaire designs. Karate Kid in particular, as he is clearly wearing a (stereo)typical Chinese queue hair style. Please someone tell DC that "karate" is Japanese, not Chinese. If Val is now Chinese, shouldn't he be called Kung Fu Kid?

have we learned nothing from the jackie chan karate kid ffs

Pretty brutal takedown of issue #3 on that blog: http://legionofsuperbloggers.blogspot.com/2020/01/lsh-v8-3.html

tldr; art looked nice though

I've basically come around to the opinion that, aside from his anomalous Avengers work, BMB should basically only write solo books. He is generally good-to-very good when he does that, and he is generally mediocre-to-awful when he writes teams of characters. BMB on LOSH seems...I don't want to say 'nightmarish' but somewhere in that ballpark.

I really dig this old Kevin Nowlan cover; something about the (atypical) way Jo & PG are drawn:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jer7jyt4-4A/XngBcLsCmuI/AAAAAAAAO0c/GYvlWwdJN9k4tBPgJomeG1wWzBk1yv1egCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Tales_344.jpg

That’s great! So much perspective

It's so uncharacteristically loose for Nowlan, one wonders if he was hanging out with / otherwise influenced by Kyle Baker at the time

I think the face on Ultra Boy reminds me a bit of Chaykin with the big square jaw.

https://comicvine1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/scale_medium/1/11307/308927-182584-reuben-flagg.jpg

Ultra Boy face is v Chaykin, good call

FYI, assuming the industry doesn't completely collapse before then, there's a Five Years Later omnibus coming out in a few months.

Wow, they're finally collecting it? It took so long, I thought it would never happen (I mean, why now?)

Dunno, their LOSH collections have been frustratingly all over the place (the five b&w Showcase volumes almost but don't quite abut the two recent Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes HCs, then a couple years of uncollected material followed by four now-OOP early-'80s trades, etc.).

I just want the entire Levitz-Giffen run

^me too. I have these four:

https://i.imgur.com/Ly7N9mm_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

I also have a few random early-‘80s issues. But most of my single issues are 5YL era, and then a little ways past that (until I gave up).

I’ve never read any Legion tbh. I tried with 5YL a few times but realised it wasn’t going to make sense/mean anything without reading some of the early stuff. Is Darkness Saga a good place to start? (I don’t have patience for the silver age stuff.) I have a version that starts with issue 284

(The one in the photo above actually)

Great Darkness is pretty complex (each issue is dense AF, with multiple interwoven plotlines etc.), but is indeed peak Levitz/Giffen.

Other than a couple issues, most of those 80s Legion is pretty cheap in back issues.

imo Five Years Later is a better place to start than Great Darkness Saga - the latter assumes more knowledge of DC and LSH history and characters - but you're definitely better off starting from #284 than the original GDS collection that kicks in at #290 or so

I disagree with the idea that 5YL is a good entry point into the Legion (and having recently revisited it, I don’t think it’s aged very well); but any entry is better than none, I suppose.

Being the stupid completist that I am, I still haven't made my way through the Showcase phone books yet. I'm guessing the actual literal entry point, while possessing a certain mid-century charm, isn't the ideal entry point.

^^I picked up a copy of the first Showcase volume at a sidewalk sale (my first impromptu/cash purchase in many a pandemic moon). These early Superboy & Supergirl stories, by Otto Binder or Jerry Siegel, are – excuse me – the dumbest fucking stories I’ve ever read.

Looking at some old Legion comics today, I found this cover.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/6/64/Superboy_and_the_Legion_of_Super-Heroes_Vol_1_222.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/360/height/450?cb=20090102193121

haaaaaa.

Does anyone know more about this Australian publisher that reprinted DC (and other) content, but apparently couldn’t use the titles? (Seems like it may be up sic’s alley.)

http://legionofsuperbloggers.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-legion-in-australia.html

was hoping to see MURRAY THE CAT when clicking through but idk anything about their strategies

my guess would be that they generally kept changing titles in order to keep newsagents interested, and in the case of Super-Heroes Album that they thought "Legion" was too fancy a name for sun-addled shirtless sprogs in the seventies to find appealing

These early Superboy & Supergirl stories, by Otto Binder or Jerry Siegel, are – excuse me – the dumbest fucking stories I’ve ever read.

I’m now reading this volume with my kid, and it’s kind of fun… turns out he has the ability to recognize & laugh at the absurdity of these old strips (I’ve never seen him enjoy something “ironically” before). I’m also getting kind of a nerdy thrill at introducing him to the LSH.

https://i.imgur.com/Qt7FUx5_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

Superboy still not giving Lana a tumble

:D

never seen him enjoy something “ironically” before). I’m also getting kind of a nerdy thrill

:D :D

Reading these Legion first appearances, you wouldn’t know it was the beginning of a beloved, decades-long storyline.

Interesting that the only Legionnaire whose real name & backstory have been revealed so far is Thom Kallor (Star Boy) – even the main three are just stock characters in these early issues.

(Though when Supergirl first encounters them, they tell her they’re the “children” of the Legionnaires that Superboy met… I assume this was never mentioned again.)

By the way – my understanding is that the BendisBoot is dunzo? R.I.P. to the Legion once again.