The Legion Of Super Heroes: Classic Or Dud?

I'll take this opportunity to go on record to say that I am NOT a fan of several of the Legionnaire designs. Karate Kid in particular, as he is clearly wearing a (stereo)typical Chinese queue hair style. Please someone tell DC that "karate" is Japanese, not Chinese. If Val is now Chinese, shouldn't he be called Kung Fu Kid?

have we learned nothing from the jackie chan karate kid ffs

Pretty brutal takedown of issue #3 on that blog: http://legionofsuperbloggers.blogspot.com/2020/01/lsh-v8-3.html

tldr; art looked nice though

I've basically come around to the opinion that, aside from his anomalous Avengers work, BMB should basically only write solo books. He is generally good-to-very good when he does that, and he is generally mediocre-to-awful when he writes teams of characters. BMB on LOSH seems...I don't want to say 'nightmarish' but somewhere in that ballpark.

I really dig this old Kevin Nowlan cover; something about the (atypical) way Jo & PG are drawn:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jer7jyt4-4A/XngBcLsCmuI/AAAAAAAAO0c/GYvlWwdJN9k4tBPgJomeG1wWzBk1yv1egCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Tales_344.jpg

That’s great! So much perspective

It's so uncharacteristically loose for Nowlan, one wonders if he was hanging out with / otherwise influenced by Kyle Baker at the time

I think the face on Ultra Boy reminds me a bit of Chaykin with the big square jaw.

https://comicvine1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/scale_medium/1/11307/308927-182584-reuben-flagg.jpg

Ultra Boy face is v Chaykin, good call

FYI, assuming the industry doesn't completely collapse before then, there's a Five Years Later omnibus coming out in a few months.

Wow, they're finally collecting it? It took so long, I thought it would never happen (I mean, why now?)

Dunno, their LOSH collections have been frustratingly all over the place (the five b&w Showcase volumes almost but don't quite abut the two recent Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes HCs, then a couple years of uncollected material followed by four now-OOP early-'80s trades, etc.).

I just want the entire Levitz-Giffen run

^me too. I have these four:

https://i.imgur.com/Ly7N9mm_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

I also have a few random early-‘80s issues. But most of my single issues are 5YL era, and then a little ways past that (until I gave up).

I’ve never read any Legion tbh. I tried with 5YL a few times but realised it wasn’t going to make sense/mean anything without reading some of the early stuff. Is Darkness Saga a good place to start? (I don’t have patience for the silver age stuff.) I have a version that starts with issue 284

(The one in the photo above actually)

Great Darkness is pretty complex (each issue is dense AF, with multiple interwoven plotlines etc.), but is indeed peak Levitz/Giffen.

Other than a couple issues, most of those 80s Legion is pretty cheap in back issues.

imo Five Years Later is a better place to start than Great Darkness Saga - the latter assumes more knowledge of DC and LSH history and characters - but you're definitely better off starting from #284 than the original GDS collection that kicks in at #290 or so

I disagree with the idea that 5YL is a good entry point into the Legion (and having recently revisited it, I don’t think it’s aged very well); but any entry is better than none, I suppose.

Being the stupid completist that I am, I still haven't made my way through the Showcase phone books yet. I'm guessing the actual literal entry point, while possessing a certain mid-century charm, isn't the ideal entry point.

^^I picked up a copy of the first Showcase volume at a sidewalk sale (my first impromptu/cash purchase in many a pandemic moon). These early Superboy & Supergirl stories, by Otto Binder or Jerry Siegel, are – excuse me – the dumbest fucking stories I’ve ever read.

Looking at some old Legion comics today, I found this cover.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/6/64/Superboy_and_the_Legion_of_Super-Heroes_Vol_1_222.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/360/height/450?cb=20090102193121

haaaaaa.

Does anyone know more about this Australian publisher that reprinted DC (and other) content, but apparently couldn’t use the titles? (Seems like it may be up sic’s alley.)

http://legionofsuperbloggers.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-legion-in-australia.html

was hoping to see MURRAY THE CAT when clicking through but idk anything about their strategies

my guess would be that they generally kept changing titles in order to keep newsagents interested, and in the case of Super-Heroes Album that they thought "Legion" was too fancy a name for sun-addled shirtless sprogs in the seventies to find appealing

These early Superboy & Supergirl stories, by Otto Binder or Jerry Siegel, are – excuse me – the dumbest fucking stories I’ve ever read.

I’m now reading this volume with my kid, and it’s kind of fun… turns out he has the ability to recognize & laugh at the absurdity of these old strips (I’ve never seen him enjoy something “ironically” before). I’m also getting kind of a nerdy thrill at introducing him to the LSH.

https://i.imgur.com/Qt7FUx5_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

Superboy still not giving Lana a tumble

:D

never seen him enjoy something “ironically” before). I’m also getting kind of a nerdy thrill

:D :D

Reading these Legion first appearances, you wouldn’t know it was the beginning of a beloved, decades-long storyline.

Interesting that the only Legionnaire whose real name & backstory have been revealed so far is Thom Kallor (Star Boy) – even the main three are just stock characters in these early issues.

(Though when Supergirl first encounters them, they tell her they’re the “children” of the Legionnaires that Superboy met… I assume this was never mentioned again.)

By the way – my understanding is that the BendisBoot is dunzo? R.I.P. to the Legion once again.

Still making our way thru the early Superboy/Supergirl stories in this Showcase volume… the plotting and dialogue are just so bad (good art, tho). And Otto Binder wrote some of those great sci-fi stories in the ‘50s… IDGI.

The Legionnaires are also such scrubs here. Like real screw-ups. If it weren’t for Pocket Universe Superboy, they’d be up the creek.

Apparently Bendis says they’re coming back, whoopee

Keith Giffen R.I.P.

His final Facebook post:

https://mlpnk72yciwc.i.optimole.com/cqhiHLc.IIZS~2ef73/w:auto/h:auto/q:75/https://bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IMG_4104.jpeg

... wow

Levitz tribute:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:lmieio72lgit7a5ts43iiyks/bafkreiez22fkucpu56ttzqavdv3gwszhbbhknoximr2wyephyngcvpnoxu@jpeg

That’s so lovely and bittersweet. Lol at “many thankfully never saw print”

Rest In Peace.

Aw, damn.

I've always been interested in these kids. I have Slurpee cups of them from 1973... Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5... in my cupboard (probably not safe to drink from). I've read some of the
DC Archive Editions compilations. Don't know where to go from here. Were they worth reading beyond the 1960s?

no, that’s why all 147 of the previous posts are about the ‘60s stuff

Or to save you looking, consensus is that the Levitz + often Giffen run is the next spot to skip to. Here’s a bloggary* of the first issue of that.

*weblog summary.

Never been a big Legion fan myself, but I know a fair few hardcore Legionistas who def rep for some of the pre-Levitz 70s stuff, particularly the issues drawn by James Sherman, Mike Grell and a young Dave Cockrum (making these Legion issues something of a trial run for New X-Men).