Superman Secret Origin #2 (OF 6)

Does anyone think this mini would be great to do a Superman reboot? I know the origin is done to death. But if we could see the Legion in a reboot then I would just die of happiness.

I am having a hard time getting excited about something involving the Legion of Superheroes.  I just know I'm going to have to read a very large number of small boxes describing who they are just so I can forget by the next page.

@stuclach Well, you can also just pretend they are the Shi'Ar Imperial Guard. ;-)

Looking forward to this and a new take on the Legion and Superboy. 

@TNC: You're talking about a movie, right?

This is just good. Very much looking foward to this issue.

I just took a closer look at that cover and I have decided that I don't want Gary Frank to illustrate the front of my pants on the cover of my autobiography (he had agreed to do it, but I'm backing out).  Eunuchs?

@PraxJarvin - Are the Shi'Ar Imperial Guard from X-men?  I seem to remember them from the cartoon.  They also annoyed me.

@Win: Yes, sorry I was referring to that.

Or just a Legion film in general would be bad ass.

As a brand new comic reader (2-3 months), I've been really enjoying this. Other comics introduce way too many charactes for me and i get confused easily.

@mansuper - Unfortunately, you may need to brace yourself for this issue.  The legion is pretty large and can be a bit overwhelming.  Just keep in mind that Brainiac 5 is the only one with anything interesting to contribute.  Do not be embarassed to consult this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_superheroes I certainly had to when I first encounted the Legion.  You should also feel free to ask questions here if anything is unclear.  We are all willing to help you.  @PraxJarvin specifically knows his stuff and we seldom seem to run into a question he can't answer.

I can't ever read a Superboy/Legion story without remembering the re-imagining that Alan Moore did with that theme during his run on Supreme. So, that's how I am able to enjoy Legion, even though I have almost zero familiarity with the characters.

It's interesting that so many people get confused with the Legion members now a days. Obviously its for the wealth of members on the team, but I never had a problem with it. In fact, a new reader into this universe is probably a good idea. One of my first books back into comics was 'Superman and the Legion of Superheroes' by Johns. No problem at all to follow who was who.

In my case, I don't think it is an issue of keeping track of who is who, so much as it is that many of them seem entirely superfluous.  Do we really need 700 members?  I'm hoping this just introduces the core members for @mansuper's sake and for the sake of the story.

@stuclach In general, unless he goes to the future, you won't see more than the four of them on the cover in the issue. Generally the whole team never went back in time. I kind of hope it's a retelling of the first story, that could use a "modern" dusting up. As for the Shi'Ar Imperail Guard, they were on the cartoon. They're essentially rip offs of Superboy and the Legion, I mean that litterally. John Byrne based them off the characters. Gladiator is Superboy, Mentor is a Brainiac 5, etc. Some of them (the colossal boy analogue) even look visually the same between costumes and faces.

It's an origin story people. Johns isn't going to drop a Legion bomb in the middle of the book and expect you to roll with it. Everything will be introduced new-reader-friendly.

I'm not being silly and i don't mean to soound rude....

BUT! i really, really don't care about the Legion. I mean, i think they're actually really stupid and annoying

is their involvement really that important to Superman's origin?  I just get the feeling this is going to drag the story down.

BUT! I could be wrong and this could be fantastic

@edward If you have Superboy back as part of the Superman origin, the Legion *have* to be involved. It's practically the only thing that makes the whole Superboy business enjoyable.

@skeets I believe I said as much. 

stupid and annoying

@stuclach- I agree about groaning whenever I see The Legion involved, in fear of those boxes explaining every little detail about the characters (BECAUSE NO ONE KNOWS THEM). They gotta be the 3rd most annoying panels in comics, after anything Bizarro says or Etrigan the Demon says in rhyme.

Hows this for an idea for the most annoying comic of all time? The Legion/Bizarro/Demon 24 issue maxi Secret Origin.

@edward- Blame Johns. I think he loves the Legion more than anyone on Earth.

ppfft, stupid friggin Legion! let 'em die, DC!

Then we can have Legion of Superheroes Rebirth, with a collection of 30 five-issue-minis written by Geoff Johns as his swan song to comics.

I'm looking foward to this book more than anything.

I generally love the Legion when Johns writes them. He handled them great on SMALLVILLE too.

I don't understand why everyone is so down on the Legion when they show up (IFanboys included, seems like at times). There are certainly no more Legionnaires than there are X-Men or Avengers or any larger team or universe (I haven't done a count, but I know it's definitely less than 198). You may not know them as well as a group you're more familiar with, but it's not required to know every characters name, address, and back story to enjoy a Legion story. They do have a rich history, but any writer worth their salt is going to tell you anything more you need to know than "Superman's buds from the future who save the universe on occasion." 

In fact, you can visibly see how much Johns learned from earlier Legion creators. In his JSA, Titans, Flash, etc., work you can truly see someone who read Paul Levitz's and Keith Giffen's  excellent Legion work (among others).

In any case, this book is going to rock. 

It would be funny if Johns just introduced the entire 700 members of the Legion in this book. Just a 'screw you' to the readers to try and remembe them all...

I think he's said that he's only keeping it to the 3 members, and from the cover Brainiac 5, but I'm not gonna complain about a good thing there.I may be confusing this with the JSA on Smallville talk I've heard from him, come to think of it.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the Legion stuff I've seen w/ Johns at the helm and I've not only had no knowledge of them previously, but no interest in them either. I even loved Legion of 3 Worlds, which was Legion x3 + an assload more characters. 

I have almost always found the Legion boring until Johns's work with them. 

"They're essentially rip offs of Superboy and the Legion, I mean that litterally. John Byrne based them off the characters. Gladiator is Superboy, Mentor is a Brainiac 5, etc. Some of them (the colossal boy analogue) even look visually the same between costumes and faces."

Almost correct, except it was Dave Cockrum, not John Byrne, who co-created the Guard. Cockrum was, of course, well known for his work on the LSH just a few years before the X-Men gig.

And, as far as I'm concerned, the more Legion the better. They could cancel half the DC line and replace 'em with Legion books and I'd buy them all. The little desciptive boxes don't bother me because I don't read them. I don't have to. <---Mark of a LSH nerd.

I've read all your post and this legion argument went right over my head. Hopefully this will be reader friendly and johns will waive his magic on it.Oh it went over my head cause I'm a comic n00b (about 9 months of reading.)

I'm fine with this issue containing the core Legionaries.  That could be cool and certainly hearkens back to the Superboy stories of old.

The reason I don't generally like Legion books is because all the introduction and exposition that typically accompany them can really hamper the story.  For example, the first issue of Legion of the 3 Worlds was overwhelmingly packed with exposition and introductions and had very, very little actual story.  It is one of the least enjoyable comic book reading experiences of my life.  Once Johns had that out of the way he told an interesting story.  I don't really have trouble keeping track of who's who, but Johns feels obligated (rightfully so) to introduce the characters and it slows things down. 

@southbymidwest - I'm not down on the Legion, per se, but rather they way they are often used.

@Stepho - Don't worry about it.  We are just a bunch of overzealous fans who like to argue/discuss (respectfully).  Don't let our biases hamper your enjoyment.  I hope you have fun with the issue. 

I love the Legion. I can't explain it, but I do.  

Child like wonder?

This was another great issue, and I like it how Johns is doing a bit of a twist on the origin. It's not a full Superman origin, but an origin of the entire mythos. It wasn't as special as the first issue, but definitelt a 5/5 preformance for Johns and Frank.

This was a solid issue.  I don't care to much for the Legion but the fact that I liked it this much in spite of that says a lot.  Can't wait for next issue!

Awesome issue. I loved it. Like I said, it's nice to see the Legion/Superboy origin spruced up a bit. And we took out the "find the invisible space eagle" element. ;-) 5/5 for me.

The best thing about this issue was finding out how krypto got to earth.

When the Legion lists those tragedies that'll happen to Superman, were any of them stories that haven't been told yet?

I gots no problem with the legion when written well, as they were here.  I still miss the Giffen years (the 5 years later era) as well as Legion Lost.

 Is Johns just doing this series to show us he's thought about/retconned things we've taken for granted? (Krypto to Earth, Heat Vision/Glasses)...maybe every issue will have a previously unforseen twist/angle.  I'm digging it, and it's better that anything going on across the street ('cept for maybe what's coming in Invincible Iron Man).

@slockhart:

The Earth/New Krypton War

The Super-Sun

The Death of Lex Luthor

@slockhart/conor: That tiny panel made me excited about Superman in 2010. Well maybe not an extension for New Krypton......But Super-Son? Death of Lex Luthor!?

Shame Geoff Johns has stated this is his last Superman story for awhile. Cause him doing those storylines would be great.

@Conor, TNC et. al. I assumed that Super-Sun was a reference to Solaris the Living Sun from DC One Million (and All-Star Superman). There's some fun story lines dropped there. And as we know, Johns really took to the show clips of forthcoming storylines thing. In JSA and GL.

I liked the way Mr. Johns used the Legion here.  He kept it simple, but still told the story thoroughly.

I'm not particularly fond of the way Mr. Johns is portraying Lex.  He is too evil.  He needs a little grey.

How many books is Krypto in right now?  He is becoming DC's Wolverine. 

@stuclach: He's the cuddly version of Wolverine :)

@Prax: Well maybe Solaris is coming back......although someone needs to fill me in on this. Cause I dont know who/what it is.

@TNC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_(comics)

@Prax: Solaris could certainly be a villain for new Superman stories in the future. I didn't read DC One Million so I don't know if the thing is alive or not. Considering how Superboy-Prime has a history with the thing; maybe we'll see an emergence with Adventure Comics.

@TNC The "Superman-Prime" mentioned in the wikipedia entry is not the same as Superboy-Prime. It was a handy way of referring to Kal-El (our Superman) in a story with multiple Supermen.

@Prax: Oh.....

See my history with Sups is not so great as you can tell.

Everyone seems to be loving this.  Is there anyone who is not as familiar with Superman lore that is enjoying this origin?  I haven't read Superman in years and I'm wondering if this is the best origin story/general story to pick up.  I'm not really familiar with the Legion either, but I'm guessing that's okay for this series.

LOVED this. Frank's art is SO strong, it's ridiculous. Add in this Johns guy (who is he?? he can write!) & you have a pretty unbeatable combo.

We didn't even have the annoying Legion explanation boxes! Woo! 

5/5 

@Legend: It would be difficult to find a better introduction to Superman than this book. That's what it is designed to be.

The interesting thing about the little hints dropped about Superman's future, the death of Lex Luthor specifically, is that something like that is an inevitability that we may never actually read since the two characters will forever remain at roughly their current age.

@captbastrd: While you're probably right that we'll never see the death of Lex story that Johns is referring to here, Lex has already died once before.

Wasn't too impressed with the 2nd book.  I'm not familiar with any legion stuff, but I think I can relate with many above.  There just seems to be some superfluous story items here.  It would probably help if I knew more about the Legion so I could relate.

You don't need to know anything about the Legion to understand what's going on.  What if Superman started his career as a teenager, and joined a club of super-teens from the future as an honorary member?  You don't need to relate to the Legion.  You're relating to Clark feeling like a misfit.  Now he's found a group of friends and a place where he fits in perfectly.  How much fun would that be?  But there's more to it than meets the eye!  That's all you need to understand.

I'll take your word for it.

I've been reading the Legion for over 25 years and though I agree they may be an acquired taste and/or a cult type thing, I love every thing about them. From the early corny Adventure comics days to the distopian Keith Giffen run.