What Sells a Book?

I've been meaning to watch the Chris Claremont's X-Men documentary for a while.  There were essentially two comics books that started shaping my love of comics in 1982:  The X-Men* and Legion of Superheroes.  The LSH Facebook group I'm a part of asked today what was my first Legion comic.  It was LSH #293, right in the middle of the Great Darkness Saga. This time period of course was part of the Levitz/Giffen collaboration.  The Legion seemed to have a lot in common with the X-Men to me.  Female leaders, alien characters.  Unfortunately for me, LSH was not quite as available at my local drugstore, but X-Men was.  I have went back and collected and read most of the Levitz/Giffen stories though. 

There is one line in the documentary that really got me to thinking and it deals with when Claremont was removed from the title.  He said that Marvel thought that the characters were selling the books, not the writer.  I realized he summed up Marvel's take in a nutshell, and even DC to an extent.  Wolverine was appearing everywhere.  There were multiple X-books.  And yes, many of those characters are beloved, but we see sales figures now that all the X-books combined is is nowhere near the 400,000+ units Uncanny used to sell on a monthly basis.

Now before I go too far, I acknowledge that Claremont's statement is somewhat boastful but he did help to develop many of the X-Men even though he did not create them. And if you watch the documentary, you know his artists, his editors all helped to play a role in his success. 

But I wonder what, if any of this, applies to the Legion?

So let me dissect this a bit because it's two parts.  Unlike the X-Men who Claremont started with a blank slate, Levitz had many established characters to work with, some he had a hand in developing or creating.  So you might give this a resounding yes for the creators. There were plots and subplots that spun out.  Levitz also tried to focus on more characterization as well.  Dream Girl became a developed character.  We saw more of the interpersonal relationships populate the title, similar to what Claremont was doing with the X-Men.  

When Giffen took over the title with T&M, I still think the creators were driving the story.  The Legion was doing what Claremont wanted to do with the characters:  move them forward. Obviously this changed with the Reboot.  It's no surprise that the Reboot closely resembled the SW6 Legionnaires, even just for some type of continuity.  I feel though the Reboot is also where DC started following Marvel and decided that the characters will sell the book. Don't get me wrong, I like Roger Stern.  I have always enjoyed his Marvel work, just not his Legion work. I didn't the writing to be strong at all.

Of course our next course change was Abnett and Lanning.  I feel they tried get back to what they feel worked in the past, but it was an attempt to move forward at the same time.  Eventually this era would come to a close in preparation for Threeboot.  The Threeboot didn't work for me.  Just having new versions of the characters was not enough because the story itself did not appeal to me.  I feel Threeboot was another attempt to have the characters sell the book.

Which brings us back around to Levitz's last endeavor.  Something seemed different this time.  I don't think the characters were selling the titles and it did not appear that Levitz's writing was either.  There are obviously going to be some characters in the Legion, though I am loathe to admit, that need to be there:  Mon-El, Brainiac 5, the founders.  It's no surprise that when volume 6 came out and they had a reader election, Mon and Brainy were voted as leader and deputy . Despite attempts to bring back Steve Lightle on covers and even Giffen, readers were not having it. (I think this is where the X-men is these days.) Hopefully the publishers are realizing it's not enough to have the characters if the writing isn't there. 

And people will always say which version? which Legion?  I feel if a writer gets in there are starts developing these characters again, it shouldn't and won't matter.  The Legion is not so precious that it has to return to some status quo.  Characters have died over the years.  They should continue to die.  Some characters should move on to allow new characters to come in. Maybe some characters should be revisited to see if they can be improved.  It will be no small task to revive the Legion, moving forward into 2019 and 3019.

*If you were wondering, my first X-Men comic was Uncanny #157

A case of Harmonia

Once again, I delve into a slightly problematic character in the Legion of Superheroes.  This time, it's that volume 7 recruit: Harmonia.

What's old is new: Earthwar

This story was before I was old enough to read.  I didn't start reading comics until 1982.  Any older Legion stories I read was because they were collected in the DC Digests.  The Legion had very few multi-part epics by this point.  This one seems pretty significant though.  I believe it will be part of the next hardcover Superboy & LSH available next month.  I read it earlier this year from Comixology because I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.  Expect some brutal opinions.

A case of Kem

I don't want to make it seem like I pick exclusively on the female Legionnaires.  They have usually been most of the unrepresented characters in Legion Lore.  You know, 4 males/1 female per team?  It's time to address one of the biggest WTF characters in comic-dom:  Matter-Eater Lad

From point A to point B

I get it.  Legion of Super-Heroes is supposed to be about... super-heroes.  Unfortunately, it's set 1000 years into the future, which means it will have to border on science fiction.  There has always been elements of sci-fi in Legion stories (advanced science, alien races, space travel) but they were never really thought out much.

I've somewhat touched upon this in my transuit and Dawnstar posts.  It's never made sense for Legionnaires to be flying around through space, especially Daxamite/Kryptonians because of this whole speed of light thing.  There have been references how the Legion lore was influenced by Star Trek, especially in the design of some of their cruisers and technology.

Many older fans are familiar with this image.  The parallels to Star Trek are pretty obvious here as it notes Impulse engines, Warp Engines, Transporter Room - all design elements from Star Trek, though I don't really think we ever saw Transporters used much as these ships were capable of landing. It is interesting to note how the Legionnaires have to man the Engineering section.  All things considered, perhaps there were some missed opportunities here.  It was always stated that Sun Boy was one of their best pilots.  What if they needed civilian support staff?  Wildfire was an astro-engineer so perhaps he should have been admitted based on his knowledge of engineering, not what powers he actually had as ERG-1.  

Warp travel aside, we also had hyperdrive technology.  It appears hyperdrive tech is used in the 21st century DCU though but there was one in-panel reference in the 70s to hyperdrive.  In the Dawnstar initiation story, we have Dawnstar following thieves through a space warp.  Now, was that more like a wormhole, something that occurs naturally, or was it caused by the ships?

In the Fatal Five story, we also see Ferro Lad used a jump ship. I would assume that would be based on folding space tech.  This is also noted to be experimental tech.

One of the most used tech used has been Stargates.  They factored prominently during the Reboot and was part of a significant storyline.  Stargates themselves are generally regarded as a type of wormhole travel, although, they could be part of a larger part of some type of tunnel system. Geoff Johns did have the Legion using Stargates in his Superman and LSH story.  

We have also seen transmat used briefly in the Threeboot as a method of instantaneous transport without a ship, but it was noted to be very expensive.

Wikipedia has a very nice reference of different FTL travel methods in TV and other fiction.  Hyperspace   If you do go to the Wikipedia page, it has a see-also to Boom Tube. Boom Tubes currently will allow for point A to point B travel, without necessarily going to Apokolips.  Cyborg has this tech but potentially, it could be incorporated into other tech and make its way to the 31st century.  

The inconsistencies of travel

So this has been one of my biggest pet peeves.  Superman writers have been much more cognizant of his ability to travel near the speed of limit by noting that he can only travel from the Sun to the Earth, in that it takes about 8 minutes. Legion writers, not so much.  We have Legionnaires traveling too distant worlds not using a ship.  A trip to Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our sun, would take 4.22 light years.  YEARS. There really is no way for the "power squad" or whatever you would like to call them to travel to distant worlds without a ship.  And just consider, throwing relativity out the window for a second, that if they could travel several times the speed of light, that they wouldn't be exhausted from their trip?  Even Superman would need to recharge.  Meanwhile, the Legion has SuperBOY,  who hasn't developed the stores of energy that adult Kal has, doing this.  So when it is written that Dawnstar is faster than a Legion cruiser, she potentially could be, until that cruiser engages its hyperdrive.  It makes me question who ever decided that Dawnstar, Wildfire and others should fly along side Legion cruisers.  It's a fun visual, but really isn't well thought-out. Even Stargates require a ship to use to power them up so a cruiser would have to accompany the "power squad." 

And furthermore with Ultra Boy, he should never be able to travel at the same speed as Daxamites and Kryptonians as he relies on a transuit to protect him through space.  If those things can stand the stresses of traveling at the speed of light, makes one wonder why they don't build stuff out of transuit material.  Well, I guess they did with Earth's polymer screen.

The future needs to be imaginative.  I think some writers have been more successful than others over the years. With fantastic technology, the challenge is finding a place for your characters who are supposed to be "super." How to get the Legion to move at the speed of Plot becomes more of a footnote but maybe figuring that out helps to figure out which characters should be in the next version and which characters need updated or need to be moved on out of the Legion.

Should have been a contender, issue 2

Since it is Pride month, it only feels right to discuss the first original Legion character that is openly gay.  No ret-cons, no slash fic, no coy references.  I am of course referring to Tel Vole, otherwise known as Gravity Kid.

A case of Dawnstar

I have always kinda liked Dawnstar even though she can be a pretty terrible character.  Her visual appeal is undeniable.  Winged characters have always been a go-to in comics.  Yes, her costumes are a bit objectifying.  Her personality is somewhat unlikable at times, being totally officious, but then her hot and cold with Wildfire.  She never developed many female friendships and seemed to be most antagonistic with Phantom Girl. Then again, Levitz was not that strong in writing female personalities.

Levitz obviously created her with the purpose of making her tracking abilities a plot device in stories; but she had no offensive abilities.  Her best attempts over the years were dodging and weaving her attackers into destroying themselves. Since many of the Legionnaires had high profiles, one would think that attackers would leave her alone since can't really stop them herself, but instead during a chase, they fire upon each other or go headlong into the sun while chasing her.

She was extremely fast even though were are never given any explanation as to how her wings work in outer space.  This also raises a huge issue with faster-than-light travel.  Unfortunately, details about this have been overlooked in most of the Legion's publication history.  We should never see Dawnstar flying outside a cruiser if that cruiser uses some type of hyperdrive. She somehow survives in space unaided, no transuit or anything.  As I mentioned in my transuit post, they obviously have to protect against radiation in space so much so she must be naturally protected against that.  Early on, she is noted as being extremely tough (you would have to be to survive the vacuum of space) but she has show to be susceptible to physical injuries.  She has also been shown to be immune to the intense heat of Tharr, but not Wildfire's loving touch when he had a more solid form.

At times, her tracking abilities have been inconsistently portrayed, first as not very accurate, and they couldn't work on the moon or on planets, but she could also track people to asteroids.  She also did some interesting things, like sense fluctuations that a world was not in the proper place or sense if there was life in an area.  But no, Levitz loved her tracking abilities especially and that seems to be where we saw Dawnstar used most.  I joke that when he didn't have Dawnstar for vol 7 because she was in Legion Lost vol 2, he had to create a tracking character (Mwindaji) to fill that void because loves his missing Legionnaire stories.

I feel like the identity of Bounty for 5YL was almost an attempt to snub at Levitz for not doing more with Dawnstar, or creating her with such a limited purpose.  And really, there is no reason to believe that Dawny couldn't use her tracking power to be a sniper shot.  Many historical Legion storeis have shown characters using weapons and it would help to give Dawnstar some type type of offensive measures.

In the JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time  animated, Dawnstar had some sort of light abilities, able to create light daggers but able to imbue herself with the energy that she flew into the Time Trapper, knocked him off balance and caused a huge explosion. It's a decidedly different take on her.

It's difficult sometimes to discuss Dawnstar without bringing up Shikari who seemed to be a bit better thought out than Dawnstar, with a retractable body armor, the ability to fight in close quarters, and not a tracking power, but almost a precognitive/ESP ability to see pathways.

It appeared that later writers, Johns and Nicienza, tried to expand Dawnstar's powers, maybe borrowing a bit from Shikari, but she seemed to be progressing more towards cosmic awareness.  This isn't a bad take on Dawnstar and would definitely explain how she was able to ascertain certain events in her early adventures.  The only concern with that is that those powers can overlap with Sensor Girl's to an extent or can just make her a McGuffin like Dream Girl.  It's a shame too that so many "classic" Legionnaires have sensory powers and not combat abilities.

So with Dawnstar, some things need to be finally quantified:  how invulnerable is she?  how fast is she/how does she go so fast?  Are her powers only limited to tracking or is she capable of more?  These are some pretty difficult questions to answer if she ever returns to print.