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Post by dbutler69 on May 17, 2022 14:45:22 GMT -5
Partly inspired by @jaska's favorite Legionnaire thread, I decided to see what the most popular version of the Legion is.
There are many different ways to divide the Legion into "versions". The way I chose might not be technically 100% correct in terms of continuity, but it's the way that made the most sense to me. So there.
Technically, 5 Years Later is (or rather, was, until DC decided, with the retroboot Legion, to basically pretend that 5YL never happened) is the same continuity as the original Legion, but as far as I'm concerned, it's a reboot. Also, the DnA Legion is the same continuity as the reboot Legion, but it was such a sharp and sudden departure from what came before it that it felt like a reboot to me, so I'm counting it separately. Also, the SW6 is the same continuity as SW6, of course, as the Sw6 Legion was discovered by the 5YL Legion, but I'm counting that as a separate Legion.
For me, it's a pretty easy call for the original Legion, but I love the "Archie Legion" as well, and the retroboot Legion was excellent, too.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2022 14:58:47 GMT -5
Original pre-Crisis for me! And pretty much all of it. I love the 60's Legion, and despite all the praise the Shooter period gets, I like all the campy stuff before just as much. 70's Legion...that's "my" Legion from childhood. Cockrum/Grell/Sherman/Staton, what a great run. My favorite costumes as well. (game show announcer voice) But wait...there's more! Levitz/Giffen/Mahlstedt? Totally epic! And then a nice little finale to the era with the Tales of the Legion final year stories and gorgeous looking Baxter issues with Lightle and LaRocque.
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Post by majestic on May 17, 2022 15:13:37 GMT -5
No contest. Original by a landslide.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 17, 2022 15:31:26 GMT -5
To be fair, I've only ever read any of the first two. And I was never a big Legion fan. So it kind of is a default.
That said, it seems like you can divide up that first thirty years at least a bit. I find the Legion to be pretty much unreadable at least until the Cockrum era. And while I like the art from Cockrum and Grell that writing was, at best, hit and miss and had the added detraction of having Superboy. So the actual answer, for me, would probably be in the neighborhood of 1980 to 1987ish.
But I also haven't read any of Five Years Later since they came out. So maybe it, if I re-read it. But maybe not.
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 17, 2022 16:23:57 GMT -5
Yeah, I agree with Slam; it seems like you could have at least divided the 1959-1987 period into the Superboy & the Legion and then 'solo' Legion eras.
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Post by badwolf on May 17, 2022 16:31:46 GMT -5
Abnett & Lanning's Legion is the only one I've ever been able to get into. I started picking it up in the middle of the "Legion of the Damned" arc that crossed over between the two Legion titles that were running at the time. I loved Olivier Coipel's art. And hey, they finally did away with the silly "boy/girl/etc." names (how old were they??) Followed them through Legion Lost and the new ongoing that followed, even when the artist changed. I was crushed when it ended and there was yet another reboot. Whyyy??? They had finally gotten it right! I bought one issue of Waid & Kitson's series and found it flat and lifeless. That was it for me. It was nice to see them acknowledged in Legion of 3 Worlds, though.
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Post by badwolf on May 17, 2022 17:38:13 GMT -5
What's the "Archie" Legion?
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Post by spoon on May 17, 2022 17:42:39 GMT -5
What's the "Archie" Legion? The Legion after the Zero Hour reboot, but before DnA. Art and tone reminds folks of Archie Comics.
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Post by badwolf on May 17, 2022 17:46:02 GMT -5
What's the "Archie" Legion? The Legion after the Zero Hour reboot, but before DnA. Art and tone reminds folks of Archie Comics. Was that the Bierbaum run? I remember trying to read that after DnA but I couldn't get through much of it. Felt very much for little kids.
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Post by spoon on May 17, 2022 18:00:42 GMT -5
I picked DnA Legion. For my first 18 years as a comics reader, I barely read any Legion. In 2003, while I really was reading new comics, I picked up an Abnett/Lanning/Batista issues of The Legion on a whim. That was my catalyst for starting to read new issues going forward, as well exploring various past eras.
Original Legion would probably be my second-choice. I've read the Baxter series (1984-1989) in its entirety and it's also an era I really like along with DnA. But the original Legion poll choice is such a broad collection of eras, some of which I like more than others, and some of which I've read very little of at all.
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Post by spoon on May 17, 2022 18:08:36 GMT -5
The Legion after the Zero Hour reboot, but before DnA. Art and tone reminds folks of Archie Comics. Was that the Bierbaum run? I remember trying to read that after DnA but I couldn't get through much of it. Felt very much for little kids. The Bierbaums worked with Giffen on 5YL. The initial writer on the Archie Legion was Mark Waid, so that's two different Legion takes (at least) from Waid.
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Post by Cei-U! on May 17, 2022 18:16:55 GMT -5
Since I've only ever read the original pre-Crisis version, it wins by default.
Cei-U! I summon the limited options!
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Post by commond on May 17, 2022 18:40:24 GMT -5
I went with the original version, but man, there are a bunch of Legion comics I have no idea about. Kind of daunting really.
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Post by speakerdad on May 17, 2022 22:50:09 GMT -5
Absolutely the original(s). Adventure (back issue find as a little kid) and Superboy/LSH (off the rack) are what got me into comics in the first place.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 18, 2022 0:12:04 GMT -5
Original; but more the 70s and The Great Darkness Saga (with issues on both sides of it). I like some of the 60s stories; but, the 70s material felt more lively, with more dynamic art and more of a Star Trek vibe to the sci-fi elements.
Read bits and pieces of the later stuff. 5 Years Later never really grabbed me, though I liked Chris Sprouse on the later Legionnaires. The Waid reboot was okay; but, I only read the beginning arc of it.
Give me bell-bottoms, man-corsets, Trek-like spaceships, sideburns and the Science Police with funky rounded helmets and big goggles!
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