Long Live the Legion

  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...

Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 6) #15 It's the penultimate issue of volume 6 and one of the shortest Legion series on record. Before we stumble to the finish line, let's recap a little bit. The Legion of Super-Villains are trying to destroy planets so this being called "The Blue Flame" can wreak havoc and end all goodness. There have been fights. Some good. Some bad. The Legion is now trying to get to Utopia, one of these good planets, so they can save it from destruction. Harmonia Li, who just showed that she has wind powers (and has been alive for a long time), wants to use Star Boy's suit (which is connected to the multiverse) to get there. "False Victory" is brought to you by writer Paul Levitz and artists Yildiray Cinar and Jonathan Glapion. We begin with a bunch of Legionnaires floating in space. Harmonia has started speaking like an Oan and Star Boy is blinding trusting that she knows what she's doing. Which leads to a simple question - why ar...

  Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 6) #14 Whenever people ask me why the Legion has struggled with gaining new readers, I think this version of the book might be the perfect encapsulation of the problems. We're on reboot number 4 here and the book doesn't even get to run a year and a half before DC shuts everything down and starts over... kinda... Instead of looking to the future, the Legion, once again, wallows around in its past. There's no breaking new ground. They're just calling back to yesterday. But only a certain yesterday. If it's the wrong yesterday, not the "real" Legion, then it's ignored or treated with contempt. So you're ready to piss off a whole group of Legion fans.  Finally, even when pretending to cater to the middle-aged fans who want their "real" Legion to come back, you've got to come up with numerous plot lines that will piss them off again and again. This is what killed 5YL. And Reboot. And Threeboot. And this on...