More with Geoff Johns and Adventure Comics
Thought I'd post this one while it's still timely. Geoff Johns spoke to Newsarama about Legion of 3 Worlds and Adventure Comics. An excerpt:
NRAMA: Are you writing the co-features in Adventure Comics?
GJ: Yeah, I'll be writing or co-writing. The Starman one I'm doing myself, but the next one focuses on Lightning Lad, which I’ve co-written with a “new” writer named Mike Shoemaker, who worked on Saturday Night Live and works on The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon. He’s a massive Legion of Super-Heroes fan and there’s really a focus on character here with the shorter format, rather than spectacle. You’ll also see stories focused on Sun Boy and Polar Boy, Wildfire and Dawnstar and plenty more that have been in the spotlight in Legion of 3 Worlds.
NRAMA: Brainiac also brought back Bart Allen in this comic, and you're using him in Flash: Rebirth. What role does Bart Allen play in the DCU now that he's back as Kid Flash?
GJ: Well, you'll see that in Flash: Rebirth and beyond that. Kid Flash and Superboy both play pretty big roles in the DCU coming up. They're both in Blackest Night. They're going to be front and center in the DCU over the next year. As will the Legion.
NRAMA: Beyond Adventure Comics?
GJ: There are plans for the Legion beyond Adventure Comics too. You should be reading James Robinson’s Superman.
Well, on the one hand, it's new Legion, but on the other, we're now back to the early 70's with the Legion as a backup strip (within Action Comics or Superboy). Everything in cycles...
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6 comments:
The Legion as back-up stories just breaks my heart :(
Johns' comment about reading James Robinson's Superman title refers to both Mon-El - currently filling Superman's role as Metropolis' superpowered defender - and Tellus, who showed up in the Jimmy Olsen special in the last year. Tellus was imprisoned in the Cadmus Project HQ, but told the Guardian he would be rescued by the Science Police when the time was right. The Guardian's special super-response unit has since been renamed the Metropolis Science Police...
--I really expected Polar Boy's L3W team to go back to the modern era to rescue Tellus.
mycoma
It sounds like Johns is thinking of the short period when the Legion was a backup feature in Action Comics. With fewer pages, they did some really nice character-oriented stories. "The Forbidden Fruit" (Timber Wolf's drug addiction) and "The Hapless Hero" (Matter-Eater Lad's terrible family situation) were great, and a number of the others were above average.
This might not be a bad idea at all. These kind of small, character-oriented stories can be very accessible for new readers, and might provide the springboard that will again lead to the Legion pushing Superboy out and claiming Adventure Comics as their own.
As you say, Mike, everything moves in waves.
I'm still hoping that this is a way of giving the Legion a higher profile in a Superman-related book so that way DC can launch a proper Legion book next year. Wishful thinking, I'm sure.
It's better to have a back-up Legion than none at all. Or a Threeboot-caliber muddle.
Still, the highlight of this comment for me: Wildfire and Dawnstar both make it through Legion of 3 Worlds. *whew*
The backup format is a great way to get a new generation of fans interested in the "classic" Legion characters. The problem with the threeboot in my opinion was that a new spin on old characters was offered up without any of the groundwork needed to keep it going past one or two big arcs. Switch writers, momentum starts to die, and then no one's vested.
The best stretches of LSH series (classic and ZH reboot) IMO have been character-focused. This is a great step in the right direction for long-term success of a storied franchise in need of rebuilding.
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