|
Post by Pharozonk on Jul 2, 2015 20:12:30 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jul 2, 2015 19:01:13 GMT -5
Background InformationIn 1985, DC published the epic maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths in an attempt to both catch up in sales to Marvel Comics and gain back a larger portion of the market while also boiling down their 50+ year continuity to make it more manageable for new readers. Whether or not they succeeded and if throwing out so much continuity and history was a prudent move can be debated back and forth, but the event ultimately dealt a major blow to one of DC's top selling books at the time, the Legion of Super-heroes. At the time, Paul Levitz was in the middle of his now legendary run on book. Levitz, along with his contemporaries Marv Wolfman and Chris Claremont, was a master of juggling multiple plot threads in each issue while also driving forward the franchise forward, actually allowing characters to grow. Members left the team. Members died. Some married and retired from being superheroes. New members joined and began to replace the old guard. It was a book that understood the need for characters to not remain static and to actually grow up with the reader. In contrast to the modern comics paradigm of reboots and relaunches to radically shift characters in new directions, Levitz understood that character growth must come organically through the events they faced and the relationships they had. Like the New Teen Titans and Uncanny X-Men, the Legion grew in popularity due to its ability to push the characters into the next stage of their lives while remaining true to the continuity that came before it. Unfortunately, the good times were not meant to last forever. The events of Crisis were a huge thorn in the Legion’s side, creating a double-edged sword situation. On one hand, the Legion, for the most part, was immune to much of radical retooling that other franchises, such as Superman and Hawkman, felt in the post-Crisis era as their existence was 1000 years removed from the “present” DCU and their status as a top selling book gave the book freedom from sales driven changes (i.e. the Byrne revamp of Superman). On the other hand, however, it was that same lack of change that quickly made the Legion a problem franchise. John Byrne’s reboot of Superman completely removed Superboy from Kal-El’s career as a superhero, retconning Superman as only putting on his cape once he was an adult. However, how could the Legion be inspired by Superboy if he now never existed in the DCU? As you may have seen in shaxper’s reviews of the post-Crisis Superman books, things got messy fast. Levitz was forced to salvage the situation as best as he could and write a way out of the paradox he now found himself in. This led to the convoluted "Pocket Universe" saga that ultimately revealed that the Superboy and the Smallville the Legion knew were simply constructs of the Time Trapper all along and that any interaction they had with Superboy was never with the real thing. Needless to say, it was clear that Levitz's mojo took a heavy blow with this turn. Following the death of the Pocket Universe Superboy to remove the last vestiges of pre-Crisis ties to the Legion, Levitz's run quickly sank. Sales began to go down and DC editors scrambled to find a replacement to take the franchise in a new direction while Levitz himself was promoted to VP of DC. Levitz's last arc on the series, The Magic Wars, saw the United Planets besieged by ancient arcane forces in a battle of magic vs science. Though the Legionnaires ultimately defeated the Archmage and the universe was saved, it was clear that the Legion's future was a much darker place than it had ever been before, setting the franchise up for the dystopian future that would soon follow in the TMK era.
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jul 2, 2015 18:44:45 GMT -5
I never really understood what SW6 meant either, but I'm not sure that has anything to do with 5YL. Batch SW6 was the team of (later revealed through a retcon) time displaced duplicates of the Adventure Comics-era Legionnaires created by the Time Trapper to stabilize the timeline of the DCU. I hope that will make more sense as I go deeper into the series.
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jul 2, 2015 18:32:28 GMT -5
I have:
Amazing Spider-man #405 X-Factor #114
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jul 2, 2015 18:31:00 GMT -5
Could this be my most ambitious project ever? Few properties have been scrutinized by fans over the years as much as the Legion of Super-heroes. With it's combination of science fiction, epic space opera antics, and adolescent soap opera drama, the team, which preceded even the Justice League and Teen Titans, has become one of the most intricate and continuity dense comic properties of all time. While this has spawned a very hardcore fanbase, it is these same continuity dense traits that have often scared new readers from dipping their toes into the series. With that in mind, I'm going to tackle what many Legion fans consider to be the most polarizing era in the team's history: the 5YL period. Fresh off the success of Watchmen and after legendary writer Paul Levitz ended his near 9 year run on the series, Levitz's frequent co-plotter and DC superstar at the time Keith Giffen would be handed the reigns to the team and usher in a radical departure from what fans knew before. Joined by Interlac APA members and longtime Legion fans Tom and Mary Bierbaum, Giffen would fundamentally turn the franchise on its head. The safety wheels were off. Nobody was safe and the future as Legion fans knew it was gone. This was an "adult Legion", in every sense of the word. Did it succeed though? That's what I, and hopefully you, will find out.
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jul 2, 2015 11:19:21 GMT -5
I think all of the Nolan movies, including The Dark Knight, are boring.
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jul 2, 2015 9:09:22 GMT -5
Now if only we could get kids to read those comics!
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jul 2, 2015 7:53:23 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jul 1, 2015 18:50:55 GMT -5
Anyone here hand over cash to his father-in-law? I think my grandparents did.
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jul 1, 2015 8:27:50 GMT -5
I have...
Green Lantern #193 Infinity Inc #19
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jun 30, 2015 19:26:20 GMT -5
I think the Clone Saga started out with a lot of promise, but quickly spun out of control around the time DeMatteis left the Spidey books.
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jun 30, 2015 16:01:35 GMT -5
Does this mean we're trading Abrams lens flares for more Fast and the Furious homages?
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jun 29, 2015 11:51:00 GMT -5
The "pocket universe Superboy" issues of LOSH, Superman, and Action Comics are harder to get a good price then the issues before and after. I think it's the most expensive issue of Baxter series of LOSH. I find that LoSH #50 of the Baxter series (the Legion battles the Time Trapper) is a lot pricier than the pocket universe issues. I have yet to find #50 in a comic shop.
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jun 26, 2015 10:31:02 GMT -5
I loved the GotG movie and I don't like even like the characters! Cei-U! What does THAT tell you? I liked it because it was a giant "f**k you" to the overly serious grim superhero movies that DC keeps putting out
|
|
|
Post by Pharozonk on Jun 25, 2015 17:39:40 GMT -5
Alex Toth's artwork is like a beautiful marriage of Kirby and Cooke.
|
|