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Post by rberman on Aug 8, 2018 22:24:24 GMT -5
My question is what is your favorite LSH comic book series or run, and why that appealed to you? Was it because of the writer's approach to that particular series and year(s) it was written? I read the Silver Age stuff in the late 70s, and it was charming in its Silver Agey way, but the "good stuff" for me begins when Paul Levitz took over as writer in Vol 2 #281 (November 1981). He juggled an insanely large cast adeptly, including an espionage arc, the famous "Great Darkness Saga," and a vicious multi-issue battle against the Legion of Super-Villains. Art by Keith Giffen and Steve Lightle was uniformly great. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Aug 9, 2018 13:06:43 GMT -5
I also collected LSH in the 1990s, starting with the first issue of Legionnaires and then getting both series when the continuity began flowing freely between LSH and Legionnaires. I think I read Legionnaires to about #60 and LSH from maybe #60 to #100? I'm not sure. I reread them a few years ago and they're a lot of fun.
I also really liked the New 52 LSH series but I've yet to reread those.
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 9, 2018 13:56:29 GMT -5
My favorite Legion is the Levitz Legion (especially form the beginning of Levtitz's tenure in the 1977 (about when I started collecting) through #49 of the Baxter series, before Giffen returned with that terrible art style and the title darkened dramatically), but really, I love the whole Bronze Age Legion as well. I loved the way Levitz handled the Legion, acting more adult yet with plenty of soap opera drama. He juggled the large cast very well, too. I'm reading Showcase Presents the Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 1, and I have to say, those early stories just aren't very good, at least not to me, though they do get better when Edmond Hamilton takes over in 1963. Of course, once Jim Shooter takes over, then the Silver Age Legion gets very good, though the Bronze Age is still my fave. I've enjoyed some of the post-Bronze Age stuff as well. The Archie Legion was fun, and while I didn't love the 5 Years Later Legion, (especially the art) it did have some good points. The 21st century versions of the Legion have had their good points too, but for me, from around Superboy 197 through #49 of the Baxter series (so 1973 through 1986) is the Legion that I love the most.
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Post by brutalis on Aug 9, 2018 17:09:28 GMT -5
I also collected LSH in the 1990s, starting with the first issue of Legionnaires and then getting both series when the continuity began flowing freely between LSH and Legionnaires. I think I read Legionnaires to about #60 and LSH from maybe #60 to #100? I'm not sure. I reread them a few years ago and they're a lot of fun. I also really liked the New 52 LSH series but I've yet to reread those. I really enjoyed this dual run in the 90's and was having fun buying them fresh off the racks each month. I have to dig them out for some reading. New 52 LSH were all quite good but they were were never really given time to catch on with readers or LSH fans and I felt they were stopped short just as they were beginning to hit their stride. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Aug 9, 2018 19:08:37 GMT -5
I also collected LSH in the 1990s, starting with the first issue of Legionnaires and then getting both series when the continuity began flowing freely between LSH and Legionnaires. I think I read Legionnaires to about #60 and LSH from maybe #60 to #100? I'm not sure. I reread them a few years ago and they're a lot of fun. I also really liked the New 52 LSH series but I've yet to reread those. I really enjoyed this dual run in the 90's and was having fun buying them fresh off the racks each month. I have to dig them out for some reading. New 52 LSH were all quite good but they were were never really given time to catch on with readers or LSH fans and I felt they were stopped short just as they were beginning to hit their stride. I'll have to dig out those New 52 LSH comics and read them again. I think there were only about 20 issues. (And there was a series called Legion Lost (is that right?) in the New 52, but I didn't read that.) |
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Post by rberman on Aug 9, 2018 19:45:24 GMT -5
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 10, 2018 8:52:13 GMT -5
Another fun LSH run that may not get brought up so much is "Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century," which is a kid-oriented Legion that nevertheless fits in so many of the characters and ideas. Fatal Five, Khunds, lots of Legionnaires, Substitute squad, etc.    I've never read that, but it looks like it was based on the animated series, which I enjoyed - especially the first season. |
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Post by Farrar on Aug 10, 2018 11:26:33 GMT -5
... The only LSH I've read was the one from about 12 years ago and that extended run of 2 years starting from Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes where it was the beginning of the "One Year Later" storyarc. I actually bought several of the collected trades of this run a few years ago; they were on sale at a local Borders (remember Borders?  ) and I couldn't resist. I hadn't read any LSH comics for decades and I was (pleasantly) surprised to see that Ultra Boy, still had basically the same classic costume he'd had from the '60s. Yes, I'm an old curmudgeon  ETA: Just noticed, this is my 2000th CCF post! Yay me |
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Post by MDG on Aug 10, 2018 14:16:59 GMT -5
Another fun LSH run that may not get brought up so much is "Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century," which is a kid-oriented Legion that nevertheless fits in so many of the characters and ideas. Fatal Five, Khunds, lots of Legionnaires, Substitute squad, etc. I like this art a lot--apparently by Chynna Clugston-Flores who I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of. |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Aug 11, 2018 19:14:34 GMT -5
I have one Legion comic that Chynna drew... were there others?
Side-note: Blue Monday is one of my all time favorite comics. Think magical realist girl-centric Britanophile Archie with dirty jokes.
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Post by Prince Hal on Aug 12, 2018 10:52:54 GMT -5
Shameless plug for myself and a few other Legion fans, sabongero . In case you hadn't seen the discussion we had a couple of months ago here: classiccomics.org/thread/3785/comic-lovers-memories?page=17For the record, while the Silver Age Legion was a favorite of mine, I also enjoyed the Giffen-Levitz years, especially the Great Darkness Saga. |
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Post by rberman on Aug 12, 2018 14:09:45 GMT -5
Another fun LSH run that may not get brought up so much is "Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century," which is a kid-oriented Legion that nevertheless fits in so many of the characters and ideas. Fatal Five, Khunds, lots of Legionnaires, Substitute squad, etc. I like this art a lot--apparently by Chynna Clugston-Flores who I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of. This is a comic book version of the 2006 "Legion of Super Heroes" cartoon which ran for two seasons. It was intended to promote the film "Superman Returns," and Superboy is called "Superman" throughout. The Legion has grabbed Clark Kent when he was about to move to Metropolis, and he's in the future learning how to be Superman before returning to the past. An interesting variation on the usual Legion origin story. The comic book adapts episodes from the TV show but reworks them; the comics are more fun than the cartoon, actually. But both are faithful to the elements of Shooter/Grell/Levitz Legion, down to the monitor board symbols for each Legionnaire and the regular usage of Interlac to hide Easter Eggs for the attentive. For instance, one villainess is defeated and put in prison after losing all her hair, and her prison uniform reveals in Interlac that her last name is "Luthor." Here's an example from when Lightning Lad and his brother Mekt are among the competitors in a sporting event:  |
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Post by beccabear67 on Aug 12, 2018 16:18:00 GMT -5
As much as I liked Superboy and Supergirl I think I liked the Legion best when neither of them were involved. Ideally they would have had very little in the way of time travel back and forth because it really became worn out to me. So had I been in charge I would have had the Legion stand on it's own after say the first three or four stories with Superboy way back, and maybe never had Supergirl interact with them at all, or maybe just very very rarely for a special story. I guess they felt it couldn't sell enough without Superboy featured very prominently for the first dozen or more years, really up to Legion #259 (which used to be just Superboy from #1-196) outside of a brief reprint title in the early '70s. This Super bloggers blog has been a lot of fun for me as I used to have a sporadic lot of these comics starting with Superboy #193... legionofsuperbloggers.blogspot.com/2014/11/superboy-193.html |
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 13, 2018 14:31:40 GMT -5
As much as I liked Superboy and Supergirl I think I liked the Legion best when neither of them were involved. Ideally they would have had very little in the way of time travel back and forth because it really became worn out to me. So had I been in charge I would have had the Legion stand on it's own after say the first three or four stories with Superboy way back, and maybe never had Supergirl interact with them at all, or maybe just very very rarely for a special story. I guess they felt it couldn't sell enough without Superboy featured very prominently for the first dozen or more years, really up to Legion #259 (which used to be just Superboy from #1-196) outside of a brief reprint title in the early '70s. This Super bloggers blog has been a lot of fun for me as I used to have a sporadic lot of these comics starting with Superboy #193... legionofsuperbloggers.blogspot.com/2014/11/superboy-193.htmlI tend to agree, at least in that the Legion doesn't need Superboy and Supergirl, and I saw kinda happy with the title change with #259. However, yeah, I guess DC felt they needed that Superman Family hook to keep sales up. I think Superboy is fine as a reserve member who shows up every once in a while, but not needed as a regular member. |
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Post by rberman on Aug 13, 2018 14:42:02 GMT -5
As much as I liked Superboy and Supergirl I think I liked the Legion best when neither of them were involved. Ideally they would have had very little in the way of time travel back and forth because it really became worn out to me. So had I been in charge I would have had the Legion stand on it's own after say the first three or four stories with Superboy way back, and maybe never had Supergirl interact with them at all, or maybe just very very rarely for a special story. I guess they felt it couldn't sell enough without Superboy featured very prominently for the first dozen or more years, really up to Legion #259 (which used to be just Superboy from #1-196) outside of a brief reprint title in the early '70s. This Super bloggers blog has been a lot of fun for me as I used to have a sporadic lot of these comics starting with Superboy #193... legionofsuperbloggers.blogspot.com/2014/11/superboy-193.htmlI tend to agree, at least in that the Legion doesn't need Superboy and Supergirl, and I saw kinda happy with the title change with #259. However, yeah, I guess DC felt they needed that Superman Family hook to keep sales up. I think Superboy is fine as a reserve member who shows up every once in a while, but not needed as a regular member. The LSH with Superboy (or Mon-El) has the same problem as the JLA with Superman (or Shazam!), which is too vast a power disparity between its members, spoiling dramatic tension. It's the same problem as the X-Men with Xavier or Phoenix around, or the New Mutants with Magik. When you have a bunch of heroes with individual limited powers and then one person who's a whole toolbox of strong powers, problems ensue. |
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) and I couldn't resist. I hadn't read any LSH comics for decades and I was (pleasantly) surprised to see that Ultra Boy, still had basically the same classic costume he'd had from the '60s. Yes, I'm an old curmudgeon 
