October 8, 2004

Waid on the Legion

by Greg

Mark Waid talks about the new Legion of Super-Heroes book, including several preview pages by Barry Kitson.

The preview: Eh. Kitson looks a bit stiff, what's up with CB's hair, and the dialog is a bit too shortened in places for clarity. But it's awful tempting to go "Long Live the Legion!" when you see the bright shiny Legionnaires whooping up on a bright shiny robot in a bright shiny future.

Posted by Greg at October 8, 2004 11:44 AM | TrackBack

Comments
#1 ::: Jason Fliegel ::: October 8, 2004 12:45 PM ::: link

I'll be giving it a try, but I'm not sure I liked the stuffed-shirt-everything-by-the-book-adult-world vs. those-pesky-kids vibe that came across in the preview pages.

#2 ::: Rick ::: October 8, 2004 1:39 PM ::: link

According to various reviews, the Teen Titans/LSH special had a new Legion short in it.

(Me, I'll flip through the trade in 6 months...)

#3 ::: Tom Bondurant ::: October 8, 2004 3:29 PM ::: link

I'll be giving it a try, but I'm not sure I liked the stuffed-shirt-everything-by-the-book-adult-world vs. those-pesky-kids vibe that came across in the preview pages.

I got more of a Merry Prankster/"HAIR" feel from it, but that's just me. Potato, potahto.

#4 ::: Ralf Haring ::: October 8, 2004 5:19 PM ::: link

What all will Waid be writing? He's doing Fantastic Four now, and he has Legion of Super-Heroes and Hunter/Killer as well. Does he have any more than these three ongoing series?

#5 ::: Matt Rossi ::: October 8, 2004 9:07 PM ::: link

I really don't quite get what's up with Colossal Boy's hair... he looks almost like a neandertal... but I do like Ultra Boy's throwing the head down at the SP, for some reason.

#6 ::: Dan Coyle ::: October 8, 2004 10:25 PM ::: link

Isn't this like the fourth time Waid's taking on his "number one dream job"? How many of those does he have, anyway?

#7 ::: Pete ::: October 8, 2004 10:36 PM ::: link

In the future, everyone will have really blocky faces.

#8 ::: David Van Domelen ::: October 8, 2004 10:48 PM ::: link

Yeah, Kitson's in the same camp as Mike Gustovich on that. If you actually measure out the proportions, they're essentially correct for human faces. But because of the flatter coloring in comics (even today), you need to draw the eyes-nose-mouth triangle a bit overlarge to make things look correct.

#9 ::: Tom Bondurant ::: October 8, 2004 11:00 PM ::: link

By my count this is Waid's third try with the Legion. Previously, he was editor for about 15 minutes on the TMK "5 Years Later" relaunch and he co-wrote (with Tom Peyer and/or Tom McCraw?) the first few post-Zero Hour issues. I want to say this is his first completely solo Legion-writing gig, but even then I don't know what Barry Kitson's contributions will be.

#10 ::: Shaner ::: November 14, 2004 10:04 PM ::: link


The preview has me more optimistic than the other revamps. The retro-homage-to-the-80's looks of the costumes and the return of he lad/lass/boy/girl code-names has me filling up with much the joy. The only problem they might have (that the other revamps have had) is trying to get all the Legion-lore from the last 35 years into the first 20 issues. They need to kick back, tell the stories and let it happen.

#11 ::: ryan hipp ::: November 16, 2004 2:48 PM ::: link

"...is trying to get all the Legion-lore from the last 35 years into the first 20 issues...."

I agree. Its always fun when you see something happening in the modern incarnation that homages the classics (i.e. Ferro taking on the Sun-Eater, Computo almost killing one of the Triads, Livewire losing an arm, etc...) But i'd rather just let things happen as they may.

I'm REALLY hoping they do it right this time. that's the purpose of these relaunches. If they do the right thing, they wont give me any excuse to stop reading at 8 issues and i'm hoping they capture that magic that keeps me reading it for years to come.

p.s. i love the return to the classic names!!!

#12 ::: Shaner ::: November 19, 2004 6:31 PM ::: link

Well i agree with the whole thought-process about mainstreaming the Legion to go along with the 20th century revamps. It's long overdue. From what i can find online they're tweaking characters so you know they're going to play with the mythology too. Joy! Bliss!

I'm still waiting for revamps of Crystal Kid, Lamprey, and the Wanderers.

Here's hoping.