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Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes | 
 enlarge | Author: Geoff Johns
Creator: Gary Frank
Publisher: DC Comics
Category: Book
List Price: $24.99
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Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 21387
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 168
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 10.4 x 7 x 0.5
ISBN: 1401218199
Dewey Decimal Number: 741
EAN: 9781401218195
ASIN: 1401218199
Publication Date: July 22, 2008
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Nice to see MY Legion again. November 11, 2008
As a Legion fan from way back in the 1970s, this reminded me of the Legion from the Carey Bates/Mike Grell days. This also shows what the Legion always stood for - powers don't make the hero, courage and character do. Also a great revelation as to why some of the rejects were rejected.
 Superman in the 31st Century October 6, 2008
For all Legion of Super-Heroes Fans this is a must read, not only becaus it's a great story but it also allow Superman to re-establish his connection to the Legion. After Crisis on Infinite Earths way back in the mid 1980's the DC Universe was reorganized and the character of Superboy was lost in the process; this left the Legion on its own and there werre certainly good stories to be had but the only srories involving Superboy with the Legion were relegated to the Elseworls line which existed outside the continuity of the DC Universe. Even when reading an excelllent Legion story (and there are a lot out there) I always missed Superboy.
In Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes, which takes place after Infinite Crises, the second reorganization of the DC Universe, Superman is contacted by the Legion for the first time since the 80's. He is brought to the 31st century only to find that Earth's sun is now red and the United Planets are on the verge of war; all because 20th century history has been re-written to say that Superman was actually an Earthman and not an alien. This sets off a wave of xenphobia on Earth and serves as a great reason to bring Superman back to the future.
Having Superman back in the 31st century is great but since the sun is now red he has no powers and must rely on a flight ring just to fly and keep up with the Legionaires; however, when he does get his powers back at the end of the story it is a climax worth waiting for.
Not only are most of my favorite Legionaires present in this story but Johns has also included some members of the Substitute Legion fighting alongside the Legion and the Man of Steel.
Reading this story all the elements of the old Legion are there but with a bit of a twist that only Geoff Johns could have pulled off. This is a must fan of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes.
 Not sure who the target audience for this is September 8, 2008
From the late 50s to today the Legion of Super-Heroes was one of the DC most popular superhero teams. The concept is simple, teenagers a thousand years from now are inspired by Superman to form their own superhero team and then travel back in time to meet their idol.
Like many comics it has changed with the times, going from a Buck Rogers type future in the 50s to a Star Trek meets disco look in the 70s, to a grittier, dirtier look in the 90s. It has also moved backwards at times, in 1994 and again in 2004 writers tossed out everything that had gone before and 'rebooted' the team back to their innocent teenaged selves.
With this book Geoff Johns and Gary Frank relaunch the team yet again, combining elements from their 80s incarnation with a dystopian future to create yet another version. But this version is fairly unappealing. The book is crowded with new versions of old characters who have little chance to develop or do much than say a line or two. The villains are one-dimensional, the conflict trite (racism vs. tolerance) and everything is wrapped up neatly in the last few pages.
As a long-time Legion reader all this did was remind me of much better Legion stories over the years. I'm really not sure who the target for this book was. Long-time fans don't really yet another version of the Legion running around, and newer fans will be confused since this Legion has nothing to do with the team appearing in the Legion's own book.
The Stuff Heroes Are Made Of September 1, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
When I was a kid growing up, the Legion of Super-Heroes was one of my favorite comics ideas. They debuted in issues of SUPERBOY as a group of super teens from the 30th century. At first there was only Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, and Saturn Girl. But dozens of others joined over the years.
I wasn't the only comics fan taken with the idea of a club of teen superheroes. The demand for more adventures with the Legion flooded the offices of DC Comics. Pretty soon, when Superboy was published in Adventure Comics, the Legion of Super-Heroes ran as a back-up feature that eventually pushed the Boy of Steel out of his own comic.
The Legion flight rings were totally cool and gave everyone the power of flight. That way each Legionnaire could have his or her own unique power in addition to the ability to fly. Some of the powers were inevitable: Invisible Kid (yeah, you know this one), Ultra Boy (kind of like Superboy only limited to using one power at a time), Chameleon Boy (shape-shifter), Colossal Boy (yep, he grows), Shrinking Violet (yep, she shrinks), and others. Karate Kid came about because Kato was on the Green Hornet and martial arts claimed a lot of attention.
Of course, there was always Matter-Eater Lad, who had the super ability to eat anything. Now there's a power to write home about!
Anyway, comics fans were consumed with interest in this teen organization. However, as comics turned bleaker, so too did the Legion. We got some really dark stories there for a while. Where the Legion flourished while a colorful, space-crossing, force for good, they tended to languish as teens of retribution and confusion.
The Legion just wasn't meant for all that negativity. In my opinion. The Legion is supposed to be about being heroic, larger than life (not just Colossal Boy), and fighting the good fight. Being dark really limited their strengths. Kind of like when the Metal Men went on the run and disguised themselves as humans. Or when the X-Men split up.
The Legion came back under Mark Waid in a new incarnation, but just didn't click as well as I'd hoped it would. I liked the issues, but the old vitality just wasn't the same. The comics just weren't as fun. Even though they weren't dark, they were a tad too serious, too incestuous in scope.
Geoff Johns is currently writing Action Comics, and he came up with a great story for an arc that became this graphic novel. What if, in the 31st century, the legend of Superman became the thing that suddenly divided the United Planets and nearly resulted in an intergalactic war?
Not only that, but Johns finds a way to put the future earth under a red sun, taking Superman's powers away and reducing him just to the flight ring's ability to fly. Would he still be Superman?
I was blown away by the concepts, but having watched Johns handle so many characters with aplomb in the past, I knew I was in good hands. The story starts with a simple conceit: that the worlds are polarizing, and Earth has become xenophobic to the degree that they rewrote Superman's history. According to the new popular legend, Clark Kent was just an earth man given mighty powers by the planet to become her protector.
Superman, who had once been the influence that first brought the Legion together, was now the reason the United Planets treaties were on the verge of total failure. Now there's a story.
But Johns doesn't stop with merely an excellent story. While he's busy turning the Superman mythos on their head, he reaches back into the past and brings forward everything that was great about the Legion. All the interplay, the character backgrounds, the loyalty, everything that made the Legion like no other comic book around, is here again in these pages. Including the Legion of Substitute Heroes. This just wouldn't have been the perfect story without them.
Not only that, but Johns again takes a stand to remind us what Superman is all about and what makes that character so unique. I loved the book. Loved the story and loved the homage to so much of the wonder I grew up with all those years ago.
Gary Frank's art took a little getting used to at first, but he won me over within a few pages. It just looked different than anything I was used to in the Legion, too realistic, then he pulled me into that futuristic world in a way that I hadn't been there before.
If you haven't read comics in a long time, Geoff Johns and SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES are the strongest reasons I know to come back to believing teens can fly.
johns, you've done it again August 27, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
i'm not the biggest superman fan, but in geoff johns i trust. he's doing an incredible job on this book. here we have another solid superman story. i almost feel bad writing a positive review that lowers the overall score, especially on a book i really enjoyed, but it's a four star book. which is pretty darn good. i've never really cared much for gary frank's art, but he's really elevated his game here. this is the best work of his career, and it's spectacular. it's crisp and dynamic, his facial expressions are great, he draws great kids, turned in some nice legionnaire redesigns (which are "futuristically" tacky in all the right ways), and he even threw zoidberg in there in the last chapter. and superman looks a whole lot like christopher reeve, which is a good thing by me. i bought this on a whim, more or less, but i'll have a hard time passing up on future installments of the series if these guys can keep this up.
the only concrete criticism i have at the moment --aside from the price tag and flimsy paper quality, but those are (somehow) dc hardcover standards-- is how *every* character is re-introduced with a profile caption in *every* chapter. these captions were probably helpful in the single monthly issues, as readers had a whole month in-between chapters to forget what happened previously. but here they just get in the way. i'd hate to think the readership's ADD could be so bad as to forget who the story's main characters are in the time it takes to turn a page. completely unnecessary when someone's got the whole story right there in their hands.
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