Long Live the Legion

Legion Lost (vol 2) #2 Here's your quick recap - a bunch of Legionnaires are trapped in the 21st Century. They went back through time to stop Alastor, a shape-shifting alien who wants to spread a contagion in the past and destroy the Earth. After facing off against Alastor, kind of (only Timber Wolf fights him and stops him), and failing completely at their task (the contagion is let loose), the Legionnaires decide to just head back to the future. While in their Time Bubble, Alastor explodes, destroying it and possibly killing Gates and Yera. Let's see where the creative team of writer Fabian Nicieza and artist Pete Woods takes us in a tale called: "The Dawn of the Hypersapiens." We're back in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, at a memorial for the 24 people who died when Alastor attacked last issue. There's tension in the air, and not just because Wildfire is flying a half mile above it, which you would think would draw the attention of the air force. Wildfire is ni...

Legion Secret Origins #1 Three... three Legion books a month... Ah-ah-ah-ah... Let's file this under "things that I can't believe DC approved." I mean, just before the New 52, Legion and Adventure Comics were losing readers at a rapid pace. So let's approve a third title, post-New 52, to... clean up the origin story? I'm not complaining. More Legion is almost always a good thing. I'm also very excited to see penciller Chris Batista back on a Legion book. He's joined by inked Marc Deering and writer Paul Levitz for a tale called "From the Wreckage." Continuing our flashback to the reboot Legion, Tom Feister is handling covers. You might remember him when he teamed with Tony Harris to provide the covers of the second half of The Legion. However, we have one credit on this book that leaves me scratching my head: editor Kwanza Johnson. Not because I have anything against Mr. Johnson's abilities. I just don't understand why three different...

  Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 7) #1 Full disclosure - I was going to write a bit about the insanity of the New 52, what with yet another reboot (kinda), with the inflated sales numbers (because all of them were returnable), how it really didn't last more than 5 years before DC threw it all out again, how they cancelled so many books, and how Marvel still managed to regain the sales lead after less than a year... but I figured this  paragraph covered it! Once again -  sales numbers: Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 6) May 2010 - 51,900 Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 7) Sept 2011 - 54,800 Legion Lost (volume 2) Sept 2011 - 51,300 These are total sales, not just the first month, so they're a little higher than what I've shown before. What can we glean from these numbers? First, that first issues, especially ones that are connected to big events, lead to sales. Second, that Legion fans will keep coming back, no matter how bad the previous series was. Third, that the event do...

  Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 6) #16 I remember, way back in the late 70s and early 80s, having numerous conversations with a fellow comic book fan over which body part was the hardest to draw. We finally agreed that hands flummoxed numerous big name comic artists. For example, if you look at his earliest work, John Byrne really struggled with making hands look realistic. Then, in the 90s, when I saw how many artists avoided drawing feet, I started to reconsider my decision. This cover confirms my original theory. Hands are tough. For a quick recap, all you need to know is that the Legion is battling the Legion of Super-Villains on a mysterious planet called Utopia. The LSV's leader, Saturn Queen, working with a new villain I'm calling the Blue Flame but has never been given an actual name in the comics, is focusing their energies on Earth-Man, to try to turn him back towards villainy. "Endings" is written by Paul Levitz with art by Daniel HDR & Marc Deering. W...