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There have been a few "casualties" since the launch of DC's "New 52". I'm not talking about characters, I'm talking about titles. I've read a number of them. In fact, I started some of them fully believing they would probably last around a year at best. I have already put together a short box for those titles. It's already full. Inside of it are Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, DC Universe Presents, Firestorm, Grifter, Hawk and Dove, Justice League International, Legion Lost, Mister Terrific, The Ravagers and Resurrection Man. Now I have to start a new box because another title has ended, and it's one that I thought that no matter what happened in the New 52, DC would not give up on it. That title is Legion of Super-Heroes.
I originally tried to get into collecting Legion comics for years. It started back when I was at college and came to know a number of people that loved the characters and the stories of the Legion. Interestingly, most of those people are now doing something for Collector Times. I've gotten issues of the various incarnations of the Legion between then and now. I've actually collected the full set of the last three runs. Unfortunately the Legion just couldn't seem to catch a break in today's world of comics. It's been very disheartening for me considering one of the original sets of characters I was exposed to as a child was the Legion.
When I was young and comics were still sold at convenience stores I picked up a few of the small digests that were put out at that time. My father would buy me one when the family was going on a long trip. I can't remember all of them, but I do remember I had a Superman digest, a Metal Men digest (one of the reasons I like them), and a Legion of Super-Heroes digest. That digest contained the origin of Ultra Boy (my favorite Legionnaire) and the stories that surrounded Dream Girl joining the team and Lightning Lass becoming Light Lass. I lost those digests long ago, but they did create in me a caring for the Legion even if I didn't end up reading their title when I finally started getting serious about reading comics in my youth.
I did read a few issues here and there though. I have the issue where the truth about Validus' origin at that time turned out to be that he was the son of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad. So, while I was not a regular reader I would look in on the Legion now and then. Then came my time at college, and when I fully committed to following the Legion with the "Threeboot" version. I then continued into the team's incarnation after the "Infinite Crisis". That worked out well because I largely felt I was again seeing the team I knew as a child. It helped that I was reading Justice League of America at the time. Then came the events of "Flashpoint".
I decided that I would still stick with the Legion and picked up both titles. I quickly came to believe that Legion Lost would not survive long. I actually had a theory they were only around to enhance the concept of what was referred to as the "Flashpoint wall", but that theory didn't hold and the wall concept has basically vanished along with the initial reason/warning Pandora gave the Flash at the end of the Flashpoint story. "Goodbye lost Legionnaires. I'll see you in other books." That's what I told myself. I figured in time they would find themselves back in the future. That doesn't look like it's going to happen. This time though, I'm really wondering why. I'm not as accepting as I have been in the past of the Legion's current title just ending. My mind is trying to solve this Legion problem.
One theory that I have as to why the Legion has had such a hard time keeping a title going is that the characters have become "stagnant". When I was a kid, the Legionnaires were young. They seemed to be in their late teens or early twenties in the stories I read in my digest. Then when I got older and saw beards and kids, I thought to myself that they were going to age as I did. After all, there was a time when young characters were allowed to age. It happened to the original Titans, and the Outsiders and members of Infinity Inc. (that survived the original Crisis). This "aging in a comic" is something that has kept me connected to Kyle Rayner. I identified with him when he first appeared, and I identify with him now.
I know there are people that will disagree with me (some that write for Collector Times perhaps), but the launch of the New 52 was a perfect opportunity to give the Legionnaires back some of their youth. What has happened in the current version of the Legion is that we have characters that are largely established fighting new incarnations of old foes. So, while those that they fight have been redone, they have not. This can make the current Legion a confusing read. They're not quite the "original" Legion, but they're mostly the original Legion. This can lead to a possible block for new readers as they might find themselves feeling they need to find back issues of a "new" series, and also lead to problems for new readers because they're trying to piece together what's changed so that they can figure out what stories are still valid from the past.
Writer Paul Levitz did the best that he could with the title after the launch of the New 52. Unfortunately, it just didn't keep the numbers up. Will Justice League 3000 succeed where the new Legion title failed? Possibly. However, I think one thing that title has on the recent Legion title is that it's being started from the ground up. Again, I think the Legion would have benefited greatly to a slight rollback of the Legionaries ages, but that's not what happened. For me, the largest disappointment was that I thought issue #23 of Legion of Super-Heroes would reveal exactly how the Legion was impacted by the changes of the reboot and that would be the reason for the title ending, but that wasn't the case. For me, that makes the ending of the title that much more sad. The title didn't end because the Legion's universe was destroyed by the creation of the New 52 universe, it ended because people just weren't reading the Legion title.
So, we've lost a Legion title again. I don't think it's going to be forever though. I firmly believe that the Legion will rise again. How and what it will be, I am not sure. The one thing I believe has to be done though is that when the Legion returns, there must be a commitment to establishing their current history before they return and that history must be given in a reasonable amount of time. Returning readers need to know that they are appreciated and how much history has been lost or changed. Completely new readers should get an idea of the legacy they've chosen to attempt to be a part of, and how to educate themselves on it (if necessary). While the relaunches and reboots over the years are frustrating for readers, it does give hope. It shows that while things may be problematic for the Legion as a team or the Legion's current title, there is one phrase that will always ring true for both that gives hope. That phrase? Long live the Legion.
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