Well... getting back on topic to what I was talking about four posts above, I'd like to start with the current books that I'm enjoying most, defining both the qualities I enjoy, and those that are the more loathesome characteristics of Modern comics storytelling.
The book that has surprised me most, and been the most consistent month-to-month is the new LEGION OF SUPERHEROES. Which just released its third issue, and all three issues have been very good.
I'll be honest, I didn't want to like this series, because I liked so much the Levitz-era LEGION (roughly from 1982-1990) and only slightly less, the Giffen/Bierbaum "Five Year Gap" storyline (vol 4 series, issues 1-60, from 1990-1994), up to which point Legion's longstanding continuity was maintained.
Then, with no continuity development, DC just "re-booted" the series, and completely blanked out the previous 35-year history of the series as I knew and loved it. And several additional re-boots beyond that over the last 10 years.
So I was very reluctant to support a series whose continuity has been so thoroughly butchered, and whose existing fanbase has been so thoroughly disregarded.
But...
The new series is
undeniably good. Waid and Kitson, while making some slight modifications, have produced a version of LEGION that picks up pretty close to the Levitz-era version.
It taps into what I find most appealing about the original LEGION: a near-utopian 30th century Earth where war and disease and crime are virtually non-existent, where the future is a bright one.
With the innovation that the world is almost
too safe, and the LEGION is formed to both work toward a better world, and to seek adventure in a world that, by their perception, is too homogenized and safe.
Each issue focuses mostly on one Legion member and their powers, establishing the characters.
Issue 1 focuses mostly on the Legion as a whole and its philosophy of thinking outside the box of established authority, pressing for positive change, and in doing so, inspiring a political movement among the new/young generation, galaxywide throughout the United Planets.
It also gives some interesting twists on well-known Legion characters, and new ways they use their powers, which are clever and interesting, especially the powers and personalities of Element lad, Sun Boy and Star Boy.
Issue 2 focuses mostly on Dream Girl's intuitive power to see the future, and it's interesting the way she loses her perception of time, because as she sees visions of the future, she often has trouble distinguishing what
has happened, from what is
about to happen.
And this is contrasted in a fun way with Braniac 5, who logically deducts what will happen, and is annoyed with the way Dream Girl intuitively sees things without logical deduction. Contrasting the way the two characters think.
Issue 3 explores the origin and personality of Triplicate Girl, and how the way she thinks relates to her power.
I don't want to give details beyond this, and potentially spoil the stories for those who haven't read them. But I highly recommend this series.
In a nutshell, what I like about the new LEGION is:
- the fun, the optimism, of a bright utopian future, with some minor social and cultural flaws in the 30th century.
- The symbolic aspect of the Legion as an inspiration for a movement throughout the galaxy, pushing for a better civilization.
- The consistency with aspects of previous continuity. Not identical, but recognizably close to the Levitz-and-prior continuity, with some clever and interesting twists, something absent from other re-boots over the last 10 years.
- Exploration of the characters in new ways. How new uses of their powers are expanded to be an extension of the way each character thinks precisely because of their powers.
Some aspects I
don't like about the new series:
- the dark, standing-in-the-shadows ominousness of Cosmic Boy and Braniac 5 in all the issues. The brooding suggestion of impending doom, without development, which is a stock-in-trade overused device for about 20 years now, in any number of Dark-Age titles.
When Walt Simonson used the device in THOR 337-350, back in 1983, it was actually something original.
And then in 1990, as so many others already had, Todd McFarlane ripped off this ominous/impending doom device yet one more time in SPIDERMAN, in what passed for McFarlane's abilities as a writer/artist.
And here's the same cliche story device being used yet one more time in the new LEGION series, 22 years later.
If it weren't such an overly used cliche, I might find Cosmic Boy and Braniac 5's standing-in-the-shadows ominousness halfway dramatic. I hated the way it was used to conclude issue 3, and made me feel like I got ripped off, and left with half a story, ending on a pointlessly ominous and incomplete note.
Unlike issues 1 and 2, where I felt I got a complete story each issue, with a beginning, a middle and an end, with a lot of clever twists in between. - The bad-attitude posturing poses on several characters, particularly Cosmic Boy and Collossal Boy. Another staple characteristic of Dark Age comics. I especially hate those bad-attitude smirks drawn on the faces of Cosmic Boy and Collossal Boy.
- I dislike how confrontational the characters are toward each other. Another overdone Dark Age trait. I can tolerate it in these early issues, because they're a new team and presumably have to get to know each other better. But I picture a better version of this being how it's done in JUSTICE LEAGUE/JLI/JLE and other series, where there's these amusing personality contrasts and playful bickering, without these oh-so-overdone dramatic confrontations.
But hopefully these are elements that will be fine-tuned as the series goes forward.
Overall, I'm impressed with the series, and look forward to reading it each month. Which is a rarity for me with the new books, finding a creative team that can deliver not just a good single-issue here and there, but consistently provide quality storytelling month after month.
You can see larger images of these covers and read several pages of these issues online at this link:
http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=49745880472&snumber=1 
