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Post by tonebone on Aug 4, 2021 9:10:06 GMT -5
I never actually voted back in the day, but looking back Saturn Girl and Element Lad were probably my favorite leaders. Brainiac 5 is actually my favorite Legionnaire, but dbutler69 I was thinking similarly about some of his mental instability at times. The Brande reveal including relationship to Chameleon Boy was just crazy, I still remember my reaction as well!I still think the Brande/Chameleon Boy reveal was a terrible idea. Yeah, when I think of the term "unnecessary retcon", this is one of the earliest (and most unnecessary) Bronze Age examples I can think of. |
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Post by tonebone on Aug 4, 2021 9:12:29 GMT -5
Kind of a newer convert to the Legion. Always had a fondness for Color Kid while flipping through Who's Who In The DC Universe. He's one of those characters that can either be completely useless or decently powerful depending on who writes him Possibly Color Kid's most memorable moment was in the Legion of Substitute-Heroes Special when "he" became a "she" by accident:  "Not that there's anything wrong with that." - Jerry Seinfeld |
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Post by tonebone on Aug 4, 2021 9:13:54 GMT -5
A-HA! Found an instance of Star Trek tech in Legion! From issue #215, "The Hero Who Wouldn't Fight" "... plus, my nipples are chafing something awful in this costume." |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 4, 2021 13:02:51 GMT -5
Tough choice! Brainiac 5 is obviously the smartest, but has had periods of mental instability. I thought Saturn Girl was an excellent leader, and Cosmic Boy was very good, too. Chameleon Boy was always clever and a great leader of the Espionage Squad, until he had trouble handling the news that RJ Brande was his father (so did I!!) and led the team on a very ill-advised mission into Khundia, getting himself sent to Takron-Galtos. All in all, I guess I'd vote for Saturn Girl. Never voted. Always felt it was more a popularity contest among fans. Kind of wonder if Proty was ever a write in vote? Well, with the benefit of hindsight and the power of retcons, each time Element Lad was elected after his resurrection, we had Proty for a leader! |
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Post by String on Aug 4, 2021 13:32:00 GMT -5
A-HA! Found an instance of Star Trek tech in Legion! From issue #215, "The Hero Who Wouldn't Fight" I don't have an image, but the Legion cruiser (from the early 70's, I think) was clearly based on Star Trek. You mean this:  Obvious Trek influence but I don't mind, it looks cool. Although that is one nitpick I have about the DnA Legion run, where they eventually had Legion World and the teleportation/warp gate portals, this is about a super team in the future, in space, c'mon, they gotta fly starships! |
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Post by String on Aug 4, 2021 13:39:22 GMT -5
Never voted. Always felt it was more a popularity contest among fans. Kind of wonder if Proty was ever a write in vote? Yes, I think it was a popularity contest. I remember reading a letter during the second Levitz run (in the 80's) where a fan prosed getting rid of having the fans vote for leader (because let's face it, sometimes the results don't make sense - Wildfire and Polar Boy winning?!?!) and Levitz said that he enjoyed it, as he enjoyed the challenge of writing in whatever winner the fans came up with. One thing I do like about Levitz is that he was a genuine Legion fan. I never voted myself but I can certainly see where this would boil down to a popularity contest. Although Levitz's viewing of the results as possibly being a writing challenge is commendable. Plus, it's one heck of a way to give readers/fans a sense of involvement and actual direction of their favorite team. When I first read of the Legion (post-Great Darkness), Element Lad was the leader so I've always got a soft spot for Jan in that regard. Has Timber Wolf, Colossal Boy or Star Boy ever served as leader? I think any of those three may serve as interesting choices (or at least different from the usual suspects). |
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 4, 2021 15:45:30 GMT -5
Yes, I think it was a popularity contest. I remember reading a letter during the second Levitz run (in the 80's) where a fan prosed getting rid of having the fans vote for leader (because let's face it, sometimes the results don't make sense - Wildfire and Polar Boy winning?!?!) and Levitz said that he enjoyed it, as he enjoyed the challenge of writing in whatever winner the fans came up with. One thing I do like about Levitz is that he was a genuine Legion fan. I never voted myself but I can certainly see where this would boil down to a popularity contest. Although Levitz's viewing of the results as possibly being a writing challenge is commendable. Plus, it's one heck of a way to give readers/fans a sense of involvement and actual direction of their favorite team. When I first read of the Legion (post-Great Darkness), Element Lad was the leader so I've always got a soft spot for Jan in that regard. Has Timber Wolf, Colossal Boy or Star Boy ever served as leader? I think any of those three may serve as interesting choices (or at least different from the usual suspects). I don't remember Timber Wolf, Colossal Boy, or Star Boy ever serving as leader. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 4, 2021 15:48:50 GMT -5
I don't have an image, but the Legion cruiser (from the early 70's, I think) was clearly based on Star Trek. You mean this: Obvious Trek influence but I don't mind, it looks cool. Although that is one nitpick I have about the DnA Legion run, where they eventually had Legion World and the teleportation/warp gate portals, this is about a super team in the future, in space, c'mon, they gotta fly starships! Yup, that's the ship. I agree that it looks cool, and as a Star Trek lover, I didn't really mind, either. I know the DnA run was very popular, but it's one of my least favorite, to be honest. |
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Post by profh0011 on Aug 4, 2021 16:12:01 GMT -5
Isn't it funny, fantasizing about 55-year-old comics soap-opera?  Nah, not funny at all. Of course, in the post- ZERO HOUR reboot, I noted Ayla got to be friends with Brainy... though they never became a couple. I was hoping they would, because at the time, that version of her reminded me of my best friend in art school. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 4, 2021 18:14:03 GMT -5
Nah, not funny at all. Of course, in the post- ZERO HOUR reboot, I noted Ayla got to be friends with Brainy... though they never became a couple. I was hoping they would, because at the time, that version of her reminded me of my best friend in art school. And you remind you of Brainy?  By the way, I loved the post-Zero Hour Legion. |
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Post by Farrar on Aug 9, 2021 17:16:29 GMT -5
Did anybody ever submit their fan vote(s) in the leader elections back in the day? If so, do you remember who you voted for? And/or if you were voting today, who would you pick (any era is fine)?  ^^^^ I take it this was in an actual comic--and in color, right? I have to admit during my time as a Legion reader I was not a fan of the reader election. When I started reading the Legion (in Adventure) Invisible Kid (Lyle Norg) was the leader. His tenure had begun in #348, likely because new Legion writer/science-nerd Jim Shooter felt an affinity with the science-based IKid. He'd previously been an underused character but once he became the team's leader, IKid appeared in a lot of the Adventure Legion stories I read. He was a good leader: calm (esp. as drawn by Swan-Klein), resourceful, and very smart. The notion of giving an underused character the spotlight changed when the tradition of voting for the Legion leader started. A reader suggested it in Adventure #364's letter column; Mort and co. loved the idea and asked readers to vote. And while it was undoubtedly another great way to engage fans, it was a popularity contest. A few issues later the readers' results were announced and Ultra Boy--always a popular, frequently-appearing character--was voted in as the new leader. In subsequent elections during that time we got other tried-and-true fan faves elected in: Mon-El, Karate Kid, and (now we're getting into when I'd stopped reading comics) Ultra Boy again. I get that fans wanted to see more of their favorite characters, but it meant the less universally-liked characters now had no chance to get some exposure (and perhaps gain a following). Anyway, after his stint as leader poor IKid became basically, er, invisible  , maybe popping up once or twice bu really rarely seen again...until he was killed off in Superboy #203  |
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Post by String on Aug 10, 2021 15:06:18 GMT -5
Just because whomever is the current team leader doesn't necessarily mean that they'd have more exposure. There's been quite a few times where the leader would be stuck manning the al'mighty Mission Monitoring Board (although I could simple be mis-remembering Jan's efforts).
Still, even if the fans voted for a 'more popular' character, I would think a skilled writer should still be able to work in those team members who may be under-exposed and hopefully strengthen their fan appeal. I mean, there has to be a reason why Polar Boy won during Levitz' late tenure. Other than perhaps some form of joke by fans, maybe Levtiz' handling of his character had something to do with it?
Maybe they could've enacted a rule where when one particular character wins an election, they're ineligible to run for the next election. Perhaps something akin to a term limit?
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Post by arfetto on Aug 10, 2021 15:15:35 GMT -5
I finished volume one of The Legion of Super-Heroes Archives. It was very enjoyable.
Ideas and concepts are thrown around at a parsec per panel, from "hate tapes"
 to microspies:  Really fun stuff. The biggest minor "problem" for me was just the concept of admitting only one new member each year into the club, because that would age the Legionnaires up too quickly compared to how many members they keep getting (which I guess may not be a huge problem since they can time travel or maybe the year that is passing is different from present day Earth years or something, but in these stories they always seem to interact with the Super characters at those character's ages - for example, when interacting with Supergirl they are young like her, but in the story where they interact with Superman they are aged up to be Cosmic Man, etc implying they won't stay young forever, etc., so if a year is supposed to pass between each new member joining, then seeing the young versions would sometimes not make sense...like "This is New Member Lad, he joined on our 15th membership induction, and yet I am somehow still Cosmic "Kid" instead of Cosmic Man" kind of thing). But luckily they seem to jettison the "once a year" idea later on in the collection (I think...it is not stated outright). It is explicitly mentioned in the first Sun Boy story that " each year, the Legion of Super Heroes admits only one new member", but by the tale revealing the origin of Bouncing Boy, Bouncing Boy is initially rejected during the membership drive but then accepted only a few days later (so he did not have to wait an entire year again). I know age continuity in superhero comics is often tricky, I am just looking at this from the perspective of how I would when I was a kid reading superhero comics for the first time.
I really liked the first Ultra Boy story and also all the Mon-El stuff. I am guessing later writers probably get a lot of mileage out of Mon-El's horrifying ordeal haha. 
To wrap it up, gotta love Matter-Eater Lad  |
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Post by Prince Hal on Aug 10, 2021 16:49:26 GMT -5
I can't unsee Matter-Eater Lad grabbing one last bite.
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 17, 2021 17:04:27 GMT -5
I realized that this is Klordny Week, so Happy Klordny Week, everyone! Let's go dance on some floating platforms to celebrate!  |
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, maybe popping up once or twice bu really rarely seen again...until he was killed off in Superboy #203 
