Comments on: Answers

By: sellingyourselfshort

sellingyourselfshort — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:30:42 +0000

I actually like punisher war journal, although it seems lately that i’m the only one person that does. Howard Chaykin’s art is still horrible though

By: Rick Jones

Rick Jones — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:00:52 +0000

Having read, now, Legion of Three Worlds, I find that my problem seems to be that the main Legion, the one that seems to count, isn’t the one that has the monthly book, it’s Johns’ Legion from Action. Sure, I loved that Legion, when it was being published, but the current Legion is what is in continuity. That should be the one that counts. However, the story seems to be being told from the POV of Johns’ Legion.

*sigh*

My love for the Legion — in all its incarnations — is being sorely tested here.

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:19:58 +0000

I think John’s absolutely right (except for his underestimation of how the Baxter split killed DC’s two highest-selling titles at the time). If multiple reboots weren’t part of the problem before, they have become so now. Of course, that would have been a great argument not to reboot the Legion the last time, when Waid took over–now the franchise is saddled with his thinly-developed, poorly-conceived setting and it can’t tolerate another reboot to wipe the slate clean.

By: John Seavey

John Seavey — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:22:38 +0000

I actually do think that the multiple reboots was the problem; moving it to the Direct Market didn’t help, I’m sure, but let’s face it, the move happened right around the time when the newsstand market became an irrelevancy anyways, and it couldn’t have preceded the ghettoization of comics by more than a few years. No, what killed the Legion was the decision to retcon away its origin in order to appease John Byrne’s ego, then bring in a bunch of clones who were the old characters, then scrap the whole thing and start over, then relaunch it with a new issue number one to throw casual fans into even more confusion, then finally scrap the whole thing one more time and start it over completely yet again.

However, whether or not rebooting was the cause of the problem, it can’t be the solution. There’s an old saying. “When you’re in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.” If too many reboots has killed fan interest in a series, then the one thing that, by definition, will not fix it is another reboot. Even if it’s a reboot that undoes another reboot, even if it’s a reboot that brings back older elements of the series, the problem is not and has never been any specific element, it’s been the lack of consistency and stability to the series, and you can’t fix that by shaking things up some more.

By: motteditor

motteditor — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:27:53 +0000

@NickPiers, while I’m not as big a Legion fan as some around here, my personal take was the Abnett and Lanning Legion (they did the run you’re talking about) was incredibly dull. I’ve seen lots of compliments for it, but it bored the crap out of me. A far cry, IMO, from the stellar (no pun intended) work they’ve done on Nova and now Guardians of the Galaxy.

By: Tom Galloway

Tom Galloway — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:35:57 +0000

The other continuity problem was Karate Kid being alive and mention being made of Sensor Girl, an id Jeckie assumed due to Val’s death.

I actually asked Geoff at the San Diego 50th Anniversary Legion panel where the divergence took place, and “post-Crisis” was as specific as he got (but acknowledging by lack of response to my bit about v4 obviously not having happened that it was before the Five Year Gap).

By: Clayton

Clayton — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:23:16 +0000

Sellyourselfshort Says:
“Matt Fraction hasn’t written a bad comic yet.”

He’s young enough to have known the joys of the internet before he got published. I’m sure he’s got some sort of Human Torch/Hydro-Man/Lockjaw slashfic floating around under an assumed name.

By: Nick Piers

Nick Piers — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:48:49 +0000

To be honest, I’ve never captured an interest for Legion. I’ve tried several times and just don’t “get it”. I don’t really understand what the appeal behind the concept is. But it could also be that I started reading comics around the time of Zero Hour and seen the Legion get rebooted and rebooted and rebooted since then.

The only time I was remotely interested in Legion was when they had this epic story with some kind of plague across the universe, Legion being controlled or something. They won in the end, but then the creative team took a couple of them and sent them far away, thus Legion Lost. I seem to recall that creative team being on the book for quite a few years. I’d always heard lots of good things about it, but sadly, DC never got off their asses to reprint the run in trades.

By: Marc

Marc — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:53:16 +0000

“What killed the book more than anything was DC’s moving the title exclusively to the direct market in the mid-80s, along with New Teen Titans and a bunch of other successful titles that, in retrospect, they must have felt were making too much money.”

So true. (Though I doubt the multiple reboots helped.)

By: Baal

Baal — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:58:51 +0000

The main bad thing about a Geoff Johns Legion is that the man doesn’t understand the 31sy Century is a utopian future. I just read my only Final Crisis tie-in, Legion of 3 Worlds, and that was the only thing that I disliked about the issue. Okay, not so thrilled with chunky Brainiac or the gay characters in the Legion no longer being gay but that’s extras. The distopia is practically a main character.

By: supergp

supergp — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:37:18 +0000

All I know is, I have no interest in LoSH until it says “Writer: The Goddamn Christopher Bird”…

By: Lunchebox

Lunchebox — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:36:01 +0000

I don’t know if I should feel bad for saying this, but I actually LIKED the Legion that appeared in Action Comics.

I’m only starting to accept that Superman isn’t as terrible as I thought he was, after picking up the Eric Powell drawn Bizarro world arc. I decided to stay on after that.

I previously didn’t REALLY read anything with the Legion in it, and while I knew OF the Legion, I never followed any title with them.

But I liked them in Action Comics, especially the Legion of Substitutes.

By: Lister Sage

Lister Sage — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:56:26 +0000

“Also note the slow but steady sales decline on that title.”

I’m so happy to read those words.

Sellyourselfshort: Have you been reading Punisher: War Journal recently? Granted, it’s the art more then the story that I take issue with, but the story isn’t making me want to keep buying the title. And honestly, I have no idea why I keep buying it.

By: Joe X

Joe X — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:38:25 +0000

“Old is the new new.” What a fitting battle cry for Captain Yesterday.

By: tavella

tavella — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:21:35 +0000

They aren’t even going to appeal to all the old-school Legion fans who do still read comics. Baxter era Legion was one of my most beloved comics; I was never attached to the reboots. And I *still* think it’s an awful, awful idea to retroboot.

Your idea is in fact excellent. Never happen, because Johns gotta have his beloved silver age totally restored, but it would work so much better.