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Post by David on Sept 16, 2015 18:56:32 GMT -5
Can't wait to hear what everybody thinks of this issue.
There is something especially nostalgic about this issue posting. Here's some DC2 trivia: the very first issue to post on the site was an unsolicited bonus issue written by Scott Kruger called simply Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes Special. Ten years later we have the original writer back to finish his work with the team.
Enjoy!
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Post by Lantern Lad on Sept 17, 2015 10:41:51 GMT -5
You know... when it's all posted in one post like that, it seems so much shorter than the original document led me to believe... good grief!
Issue #2 is about the same length... issue #3 will be MUCH longer.
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Post by David on Sept 17, 2015 18:45:24 GMT -5
Great fan fiction doesn't have to be great literature, wholly original or edgy. Great fan fiction doesn't have to possess the perfect turns of phrases or be free of typos. Great fan fiction just has to make you remember what you love about the source materiel, and to take you back to that moment of joy and discovery as you first flipped through a four-color floppy. Whatever Happened to the Legion of Super-Heroes #1 is great fan fiction. From the first moment, you sense the connection Scott Kruger has with this material, and he takes you on a journey to show you what he loves about the Legion of Super-Heroes, and you are there with him. By the time I was done with this issue, I was once again that kid on the corduroy couch in his Superman-footy pajamas, reading the Levitz- and Grell-era LSH. That cover is a cool, 80s retro-Sci-Fi image that would have fit in with a cover of Levitz's second (and career-defining) run. But one question: why is Buck Rogers firing on Jo and Blok?  I can never really decide who my favorite Legionnaires are, but Cosmic Boy is usually high on the list. It was great to see Scott pick up the threads of his dangling cliffhanger from so long ago, and to feature Rokk front and center. Two Legionnaires who are not usually on the list are Colossal Boy and Ultra-Boy--- but after this issue, they are now! Gim Allon really comes across as the Everyman stand-in for the reader, reacting the same way we would to the mysteries of the investigation at the Time Institute, while Jo Nah is a stand-out character on the order of such lovable scoundrels usually portrayed by Harrison Ford or Nathan Fillion. The central mystery promises to be cataclysmic, given the villain involved. True confession time: no DC baddie (not Darkseid, not the Anti-Monitor) ever creeps me out as much as this particular villain. There's just something about this character that makes my skin crawl. And Scott evokes that exact tone of unsettling scariness, too. I mean, check this out: *shivers* This issue is a fun and easy read, and reminds me what we can do with fan fiction when we aren't over-thinking it. Thanks for writing it, Scott, and I can't wait to read the next issue.* * That's a lie. As the editor for this mini, I've actually already read the next issue. And it's just as good as this one. What I'm really looking forward to is the third issue--- I have no idea how Scott is going to finish this off, but I can't wait to see it! |
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Post by HoM on Nov 3, 2015 4:57:01 GMT -5
My rule for sanity for the site right now is to only read people's work that read my own, just so I wasn't going to go mad at people avoiding my work for whatever reason. I know sometimes I write books and concepts that people don't care about (but GUYS how could you not care about the Green Lantern Corps?! GAWD) but I thought this was a safe rule generaly. After a nice chat with Scott yesterday (after I accidentally sent him a message intended for David-- oops) I said I'd give Whatever Happened to the Legion of Super Heroes #1 a shot, and so here I am, doing the ol' read-a-bit-feedback-a-bit. Apologies if I get rambly, but I was reading a scene, writing feedback, then continuing, so I think I went on a bit in places.
Now, here's me setting up my Legion shop before I dive into the issue. I'm not a BIG Legion reader. I remember picking up Legionnaires 3 from this amazing book shop in Wales when I was a kid, and that just... trippy as balls. Time Trapper was the villain, so I think that sets me up well for this title today. To be fair, my Legion was written by DnA in the early-to-mid 2000s, and I remember loving the relaunch they did, especially around the "Foundations" arc, the big revamp of The Great Darkness Saga, all that. Reading Action Comics when Geoff Johns came onboard meant I had to learn about the "classic" Legion, which started some confusion for me, and then Waid's run started, and it was about there being three valid Legions (except not) all spread across different realities. I didn't pick up any of the nu52 titles, because what I saw looked AWFUL.
To be up front, I didn't really read the DC2's Legion book back in the day. I vaguely remember some scant details, but I don't know if I'm simply misremembering! I think the best way to go into this and avoid tripping up over my own continuity feet is to assume I know nothing, but also that something WEIRD happened back in this Legions' day, something TIMESTERAM related, and that, as the Time Trapper succinctly states: Time as broken. This is not my Legion, this is not THEIR Legion, but it's the Legion none the less. Let's get to it!
The opening did a great job of establishing how screwed Cos is. He's putting in a last ditch effort, a hail mary play, and it's... pretty doomed, from the sounds of it. While the "previously on" explains the why, I'd have liked to have maybe seen a replay of the scene where Cosmic Boy (I nearly typed Magnets Lad then) got left behind, then dovetail into the new material. I'm coming into this completely new, and I'm terrified of tripping new readers up when it comes to some of my projects, so that's always on my mind. As Jim Shooter once said, every new issue is somebody's first! The oddness of him phasing into the timestream, and meeting the Time Trapper-- familiar but strange at the same time-- was great, and I love the cold open. "TIME IS BROKEN!" -- SMASH TO CREDITS-- and we get that nice cover-- I wish it was more team orientated, rather than being of, I assume, Ultra Boy's ship? Seeing the team one more time before we dive in would have been nice- and the adventure begins!
Quick thing-- I loved the use of a "FIVE YEARS LATER" jump, thought that was a nice nod toward Legion history. I like the sci-fi-police vibe from the second scene, the character work done there is great. I know who these guys are, I know their personalities, and I think Gim comes off well. Preoccupied, insightful, and playful when it matters. That and his general disdain for the origin story of Superboy and the Legion of Super Heroes (the first issue to hit the DC2, right?) was amusing. Somewhat related, but I got a Space Precinct vibe from the scene, a show from my childhood that refuses to fade from memory. Good work.
And then onto the chase scene! I feel like you're working your way down a 'check list of sci-fi cool' and so far so good. The pacing of the issue is enjoyable, you're not wasting any space, and every character utilised so far is being spotlighted well. Jo is brusque and headstrong, Blok is honourable. It's nice to be reintroduced to these guys and not have it be so heavy. We get it, we know who they are, you're leaning into that familiarity-- why else would people be reading a Legion book??-- and letting the gaps be filled in as you go. Great.
I like Gim as our Everyman, our point of view character. Instead of a character offering to explain things apropos of nothing, Gim actually needs to know, so we get to know, and I like it. The implications of time travel were great, things I've enjoyed working with during my time with the site. The idea that someone can go back and change something and we wouldn't be any wiser is scary, but I wish that someone had addressed the elephant I thought was in the room: If Doctor Circadia's people don't observe time as a linear line, couldn't they grab his cousin or someone else from that race and ask them what's going on? It might be that you need a doctorate in Quantum Theory to diagnose the problem, but I thought... oh, there's your solution!
And then we meet the Legion of Super Heroes! I wonder how far into the future these guys came from? I'm beginning to feel that the conclusion of this story might have continuity reset and the classic Legion be re-established, but the mystery is great-- who are the members of this future Legion? Are they from a bad future (their predilection toward killing suggests as much)? Are they themselves bad? Are they the Legion of Super Villains? So many questions! And Ultra Boy isn't Ultra Boy in this continuity? I wish I'd known, ha!
Oh, and then we find out-- agents of the Time Trapper! Mysteriously familiar! And we see that the stolen Time Sphere has been used to reach the end of the time stream! WHAT'S GOING ON!?
And then we find out that the Time Sphere went somewhere else "first"? So much is going on! Great to revisit the Green Lantern Vidar story, horrifying to think Mon-El would never join the team, and now we see Glorith on a roaring rampage of revenge... for her brother? I wonder who that is (I won't check). Glorith is terrifying, not really caring about the repercussions of her actions, but she sees what's going to happen thanks to absorbing the good doctor's powers, and next on her list is Element Lad's world? uh-oh.
All in all a great first issue. Here's looking forward to the second!
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