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Post by hondobrode on Feb 8, 2020 23:11:49 GMT -5
Big LSH fan and I was dying for the return of the Legion and finally snapped up # 1 and was hugely disappointed at the time.
I don't think I bought # 2 that's how much I hated it, but then I was doing some trading with a guy and he had the first 10 issues and hated them and was willing to dump them for next to nothing; I figured what the hell and made em part of the trade.
Laid up at home with a knee injury, I fondly remember reading them and then getting the entire run into the 50's, and loving them ! Big things were happening and I was near destitute when Zero Hour occurred. I really couldn't believe DC was doing this but then later grew to love the Archie Legion as well.
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Post by String on Feb 9, 2020 18:54:44 GMT -5
So finished reading Superboy #197-199 and wow, they were fun! Bates supplies some short story plots with some good action, some nice twists, and I like his characterizations so far. Cockrum's art is simply amazing, love it. The letters column seems to agree with high reader praise in response to these latest issues. Though I love how quite a few readers were elated to see the LSH's return and wanted to know when the team would receive their own mag again. To which the editor(s) kept replying, "THIS is their mag now!!"
#197 and #199 were basically two part story featuring the first appearance of Tyr whom I recognized from his time with the LSV. He was cold and ruthless here and frankly, I didn't know his gun hand was that dangerous. #198 featured the Fatal Five in an attempt to alter history permanently to ensure that the Legion would never be founded. Empress and Persuader traveled back in time to Smallville to enact their plan. My only nitpick was that little to no mention was ever made of where the Five acquired such a powerful time-altering device. They just had it....and used it. Still, it was a fun story. It's the little touches that Cockrum adds that makes these issues so fun as well. For example, the Five's plot started at the Smallville local fair. It's nice to know Jan took the time to sample some local fare at the fair while facing temporal elimination:  #199 also featured a nice solo story with Bouncing Boy where he becomes the initial prey of Orion, son of the greatest hunter in the galaxy (who I also recognized from his eventual time with the LSV in the Baxter series). Orion wanted to start his revenge against the Legion by hunting down and killing it's (supposedly) easiest prey, Chuck. However, Chuck proved that he's no pushover in a clever way. However, Clark seems to treat Lana bad sometimes in his rush to help the Legion and keep his secret id. In receiving a call for assistance from the Legion, Clark has to ditch Lana who's asked why, out of all the boys in school, Clark has never tried to kiss her. His solution was a little harsh to me:  Yikes! |
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Post by Farrar on Feb 9, 2020 20:11:39 GMT -5
...#199 also featured a nice solo story with Bouncing Boy where he becomes the initial prey of Orion, son of the greatest hunter in the galaxy (who I also recognized from his eventual time with the LSV in the Baxter series). Orion wanted to start his revenge against the Legion by hunting down and killing it's (supposedly) easiest prey, Chuck. However, Chuck proved that he's no pushover in a clever way... Orion (the father) appeared in one of the earliest Legion stories I ever read, back in Adventure #358. Readers noted the similarity to Richard Connell's famous short story "The Most Dangerous Game" (like anyone could miss that cover blurb  ), to which Mort Weisinger responded that he and his writers often "updated many famous classics in literature."  As an aside, I was reminded of Orion and Adventure #358 a few days ago, when I posted the Matt Baker-Al Feldstein Crown Comics #5 cover for this week's Cover Contest. The guy on the Crown cover, with his headband and pecs, plus the jungle locale, made me think of Invisible Kid as he appeared in the Adventure #358 story (I-Kid was the Legionnaire who managed to defeat Orion).   |
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 10, 2020 8:47:01 GMT -5
String, I think those Carey Bates stories are fun! He's an underrated Legion writer. Many of my first Legion back issues purchased way back when we Carey Bates stories.
and yeah, Clark is all sorts of messed up the way he treats his friends sometimes.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 12, 2020 9:17:39 GMT -5
I'm up to #18 on the 5 Years Later Legion and it's really growing on me! I still hate the art, but the writing has gotten a lot better. I started enjoying it more around #8. It's still darker than I'd like a Legion of Super-Heroes comic to be, but there are some interesting ideas, and I actually look forward to reading the next issue now to find out what''s going to happen.
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Post by String on Feb 14, 2020 18:28:19 GMT -5
From #54 of the Baxter series:  Whoa Chuck! This panel and other shots of him throughout here, he seems to have really let himself go. Big Boy Bouncing Boy! With his mustache, I can't decide if his face reminds me more of Howard Hughes or Clark Gable. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 14, 2020 18:45:35 GMT -5
From #54 of the Baxter series: Whoa Chuck! This panel and other shots of him throughout here, he seems to have really let himself go. Big Boy Bouncing Boy! With his mustache, I can't decide if his face reminds me more of Howard Hughes or Clark Gable. Yeah, he was never exactly svelte, but he looks pretty bad here. And the mustache isn't helping. It makes him look like a pervert or something. |
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Post by String on Feb 19, 2020 19:22:44 GMT -5
 From #58 of the Baxter series. Just wow, that's a great moment. I have really enjoyed this batch of issues from #50-58. Giffen's redesign of the Empress is striking. Her face-off against the Legion here and in previous issue was very good. But this moment probably sealed it for me as Sensor Girl being among my top favorite Legionnaires now. I've never read that much of Jeckie prior to this other than her taking revenge against Nemesis Kid for his actions against Val. Her new power set though seems limitless (how she handled the Eye of Erkon here, simple yet elegant) and her new outlook/attitude still offers mystery (as Jacques and Brin found out when watching this exchange with the Empress). Levitz did a great job in bringing her back and re-establishing her as something new and fresh. |
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Post by rberman on Feb 21, 2020 10:49:21 GMT -5
From #58 of the Baxter series. Just wow, that's a great moment. I have really enjoyed this batch of issues from #50-58. Giffen's redesign of the Empress is striking. Her face-off against the Legion here and in previous issue was very good. But this moment probably sealed it for me as Sensor Girl being among my top favorite Legionnaires now. I've never read that much of Jeckie prior to this other than her taking revenge against Nemesis Kid for his actions against Val. Her new power set though seems limitless (how she handled the Eye of Erkon here, simple yet elegant) and her new outlook/attitude still offers mystery (as Jacques and Brin found out when watching this exchange with the Empress). Levitz did a great job in bringing her back and re-establishing her as something new and fresh. That looks much better than I am used to late 80s Giffen looking. I thought it might be Colleen Doran with the pretty hair. Kudos to inker Al Gordon. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 22, 2020 13:29:10 GMT -5
From #58 of the Baxter series. Just wow, that's a great moment. I have really enjoyed this batch of issues from #50-58. Giffen's redesign of the Empress is striking. Her face-off against the Legion here and in previous issue was very good. But this moment probably sealed it for me as Sensor Girl being among my top favorite Legionnaires now. I've never read that much of Jeckie prior to this other than her taking revenge against Nemesis Kid for his actions against Val. Her new power set though seems limitless (how she handled the Eye of Erkon here, simple yet elegant) and her new outlook/attitude still offers mystery (as Jacques and Brin found out when watching this exchange with the Empress). Levitz did a great job in bringing her back and re-establishing her as something new and fresh. That looks much better than I am used to late 80s Giffen looking. I thought it might be Colleen Doran with the pretty hair. Kudos to inker Al Gordon. You're right. For whatever reason, that is a lot better than the Giffen art typical of that era. I though the Emerald Empress looked hideous. I mean, she looks like she weighs 300 lbs, and then Giffen giveseverybody the super-wide noses and super-thick lips. No thanks. I did just read a Legion issue from the 5YL series and I enjoyed it. It was a welcome break from all the Giffen ugliness.  |
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Post by String on Mar 3, 2020 13:47:24 GMT -5
I finished the Baxter series which overall, I would rate as being quite good. I liked the Magic Wars serial, the theme of science vs superstition (as it were) was different. A few missteps in it's depictions but I thought they did well in showing the resultant chaos of the technology failing. (Such a idea seems more accessible today with our growing reliance on tech/smartphones/apps and such. We all will be in the floating chairs before long pining for a lone robot to save us)
Though I thought it would've been Jeckie to sacrifice herself here instead of Pol. Given her reaction to inadvertently killing Sarya, it seemed more thematic for her to do so here in some form of repentance but I can see why Pol would commit such an act too. Brekk's reaction and attempts to stop him were moving too, showing that while his initial term as a leader may be a failure overall, he still has the heart of a hero.
Of course, now, I can't help but get a cynical Abrams feeling between the last page of #63 (the Legion will always fight to bring back the light!) and #1 of 5YL (it only got worse). Shades of Star Wars RoTJ and TFA indeed.
As for 5YL, I've read #1-4 so far and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Yes, it is darker and bleaker and probably appeared even more so back in '89/'90 but after the last decade of social/political/economic upheaval, it also seems more familiar. Harsh government over-regulation, economic collapse, limited resources and climate change, war, conspiracies of possible influence by foreign powers, heroes few and far between, hell, it almost seems prescient now.
The slow burn approach to their world-building here is a great hook, doling out just enough information and glimpses to draw you into wondering and caring about what occurred during this gap and it's emotional fallout. Far from being a distraction, I'm also enjoying the nine panel grid layout. I had forgotten, Giffen actually does wide panel, half-page and even full page spreads here but his splitting them into the grid layout somehow enhances the quality of his work for me. I still maintain that such an approach helps bolster creativity and art. How do you determine the angle of every panel shot? What key visual information do you need to convey the most in every page?
So far, this isn't your average comic that you read in 5 minutes and put aside. I spent about 25-35 minutes reading each issue, there's that much information to parse and art to enjoy. Most impressive.
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Post by String on Mar 8, 2020 14:58:06 GMT -5
In reading up of other fan reviews of 5YL, I've come across mention of a sequence from the Bronze Age where Rokk slapped Ayla? I take it not in a gentle way but rather a full-on face SLAP. Anyone know what issue this scene may come from?
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Post by Farrar on Mar 8, 2020 17:14:11 GMT -5
In reading up of other fan reviews of 5YL, I've come across mention of a sequence from the Bronze Age where Rokk slapped Ayla? I take it not in a gentle way but rather a full-on face SLAP. Anyone know what issue this scene may come from? From the second story in 1976's Superboy #215 (I first read it in the Legion Archives vol. 12): once a year Cosmic Boy is forbidden to use his powers (as decreed by his home planet). Written by Jim Shooter btw  |
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Post by rberman on Mar 8, 2020 20:49:36 GMT -5
Not the best way to be remembered before going on a suicide mission. Wearing a corset made him irritable.
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Post by String on Mar 9, 2020 20:12:41 GMT -5
Whoa, yeahhhh, that's a tad disturbing even with some context.
Some fan resentment I read over this incident relates to how Cham feels Rokk is the heart and soul of the team which is why he sought Rokk out first 5YL to regroup them. However the 'heart and soul of the team' has never been taken to task apparently for this action against a female (much less Garth's sister).
This may also factor into some fan opinions that females in 5YL are treated in a stereotypical fashion and/or not given proper space for their stories to fill out. Tasmia joins a convent over Lar's death, Lydda is now a happy pregnant wife, Mysa appears to be in a highly abusive relationship with Mordru (in two timelines no less!)
This would seem to fall into the same category as a reflection of the social times (in the same vein as the yellow Chinese descendants on the moon who kidnapped Garth and Imra on their wedding day). Still, it isn't Rokk's finest hour...
....and when did the Legion get transporters?!
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), to which Mort Weisinger responded that he and his writers often "updated many famous classics in literature." 
