Showing posts with label 1990s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1990s. Show all posts
Monday, November 12, 2012
Monday, October 29, 2012
Flashback
A promotional flier (and ad) by artist Hugo
for my shop back in the day!
I love the intricate whimsy;
such a great visual!
***
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Who's Who (5-Year-Gap era)
Starting with Sprouse giving a lovely review of
what had come before, the 1990's "Who's Who"
focused on the transformation of the team in
the new storyline, preceded by the "Five Year Gap."
Giffen's take on the gathered team (although
they were consistently fractured in the series itself.)
(Assists by Al Gordon and Tom McCraw.)
My fave, Luornu, had quite the role,
as ably co-written by Tom and Mary Beirbaum,
alongside Mr. Giffen. (They also produced the
gritty and engaging dialogue.)
Mekt (yes, another older, white-haired,
aristocratic, magnetism-wielding ex-villain!)
was given a great redemption, alongside the reveal
of his sexuality.
As with the post card set, these Who's Who
entries provided a lot more info on the characters'
behind-the-scenes doings both in the series and
in the interim since the last publication.
As such, they are indispensable as companions
for reading the series, which I heartily recommend!
Some bizarre additions dotted the landscape as
allegiances changed and characters matured...
and a lot of previously-written-off as
comic relief characters were given a chance to shine.
Other friends were taken to less-than-grand
logical extremes
in their character development.
Old code names found new usage...
mysterious transformations plagued others....
and new nerd-beefcake abounded!
(Anyone notice a certain SG1 resemblance?!?)
The next generation arrived
(as well as new races...)
...and old friends were put through the
wringer, only to find what they were truly made of.)
New roles provided a greater sense of
impact for some...
...and separation proved disastrous for others.
Old friendships turned into Body-Heat-level
'relationship-status-updates'...
...and interesting rewrites were done to preserve
history within the confines of editorial crucifixion.
Logical Spiritual awakenings continued, leading
to new paths,
including open-minded love...
and further fall-out from the Crisis was met
with Glorith's wicked time machinations and
manipulations.
Old fan faves stole the spotlight as reinvented
bad-asses, (once again saving the day...)
...and the Legion proved that even with a cast of
thousands, cool supporting cast is essential!
Anyone else think the 'Glory' character on Buffy
may have been based in part on ol' Glorith?
Full circle with Chris Sprouse's SW6 kids.
(By the way...anyone else notice the cool
swiping of the specifically Five Year Gap
that's occurred in other medium lately;
Desperate Housewives, Young Justice: Invasion,
Mad Men--well, they
did a 10 year jump; is that twice as cool?)
***
Friday, September 7, 2012
"Five Year Gap" post cards by Giffen/Gordon/McCraw
I was a devoted fan of the Five-Year-Gap
Legion, even if it did take a little time
to catch on.
The work that Tom, Mary, Keith, Al, and Tom
put into the book was phenomenal.
It was a hard sell; getting new fans to
attempt such a complex storyline with
such a huge cast, and getting longtime
comic book fans to withstand the dynamic
changes taking place, when we are wont to
have things stay the same!
With everything that was going on, there
were of course some things that didn't fly
with me; one was what was done to Dawnstar;
"Bounty...the quicker picker-upper." ugh.
Another was the lack of info within the pages
of the book from time to time.
This post card series had characters, bios,
costumes, and plot revelations that wouldn't be
seen for years, in some cases, and in other
cases, never, within the series!
And then there's the nefarious phallic Vi card below.
Oh, Keith! You rapscallion, you! (gag!)
Those matters aside, it was a fresh, brilliant,
and (despite protestations to the contrary)
a very spot-on continuation of 35 years of history.
Even after the SW6 batch was introduced
(presumably to answer the hate mail from fans
of the original team, and the loss of their innocence,)
I was loyal to the cause, choosing to believe the
young'ins to be the clones.
Only after Zero Hour did I stop reading Legion
for the first time in 20 years!
The '5YG" series stays strong in my mind
as the last stories of my beloved original
Legion of Super Heroes.
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