DC'S LEGENDS is flat out fun

I was not an instant fan of LEGENDS OF TOMORROW when it started, but by the end of season one, I was on board. An ensemble cast of super heroes doing a kind of QUANTUM LEAP thing, with more than a little bit of the 1987 JUSTICE LEAGUE Bwahahaha team comedy sensibilities.

In other words: just my kind of show!

Confession time: I've just now gotten around to watching the back end of the new season, so I am several weeks behind. But episode 11 made me stop and want to write this post.

In season two, the show cemented itself for me, when they ended up meeting George Lucas in the early 1970s and a madcap adventure ensued. Also, Civil War Zombies.!

The cast has rotated a bit, losing the Hawkman and Hawkwoman characters from early one, and (thankfully) losing Rip Hunter for the most part (the character is great, but the actor not so much). Then in the incredible 4 part crossover of CW shows this year, they lost Martin Stein, and soon after Jackson, thus ending Firestorm. It was a gripping and emotional loss that carried significant weight. And it was incredibly well done. It helps when you have someone like Victor Garber in the role of Stein.

Newest cast member, Zari (The Mighty Isis, though they are never going to use THAT name) played by Tala Ashe is a great addition who just earned her stripes in season three episode 11 "Here I Go Again." It is a straight up GROUNDHOG DAY send up, though Ray Palmer references the Star Trek Next Gen episode, "Cause and Effect."

Zari is trapped in a time loop, and goes from being a pain in the ass new member to actually caring deeply for the team, and she employees Nate (Steel) first, then Ray (The Atom) as she has an hour each time she reboots to save the ship from exploding. Along the way she learns deep secrets, fears, and desires of her team mates.

The team return from a Disco era mission that we don't see, but hear enough to figure out that Napoleon Bonaparte somehow escaped his time and ended up making an 8 track tape, including a song called "Waterloo." (It's that kind of humor.) Zari has been secretly planning to use the time ship to manipulate her own past, and her tinkering would seem to have set off a series of events that cause the ship to explode, after which she returns to an hour prior to the explosion and repeats.

No spoilers, but towards the end, Zari gives an emotional plea to them all, addressing each of them individually with sincerity and love.

Mind you, this episode was incredibly funny as well as exciting.

At first I bristled a little with Nate and Ray became the Beetle and Booster stand ins for the show, with Mick as Guy Gardner essentially. I had wanted to see those characters show up in the rotating ensemble from the jump, and was hoping it would come to pass. But clearly, the writers are going for that vibe without those characters. And, at this point, introducing the Blue and Gold. would be redundant to the show.

Still, I'm OK with this team, and the way they are evolving.

LEGENDS is, hands down my favorite of the CW shows. It is most boundlessly fun. It doesn't really get the credit I think it deserves among those shows, and maybe that's why it can get away with being so random and fun. Time travel means that they can bounce around, screw things up, and fix them, without worrying about the larger CW DC U. That must be liberating to the staff behind the show.

Constantine is going to be a regular in season 4, which was recently announced. I'm OK with that, though his appearance in episode 10 of season 3 was the least favorite of mine thus far this year.

Overall, the show has as much heart as it does a sense of humor. And the blend makes for some of the most enjoyable super hero TV you're likely to see anywhere.

Check it out, if you're not already!

The CW hits the jackpot with Crisis on Earth X

I've seen it everywhere online, including from good friends (my old pal Donald messaged me one episode in to proclaim his love for it) that the CW crossover event, CRISIS ON EARTH X was a fun, comic book romp.

Mark Waid (comic writer/creator) took to Twitter to declare that it was perhaps his favorite comic book to film ever.

And I am happy to see such outpouring of love. This 4 part crossover was nothing short of pure joy to watch, start to finish. It was a comic book crossover come to life. No wonder they used the old JLA/JSA crossover concept to sell the event in the months leading up:

I used to love those regular team ups from across the multi-verse to tackle ultimate evil that only a collection of super teams could accomplish.

The CW likes doing these team ups each year, starting several years back with Arrow and The Flash, then continuing with The Flash and Supergirl, then last year with a (mostly) 4 show crossover with Legends of Tomorrow joining the fun. However, last year's INVASION felt a little smallish for such a big event. (Kind of like how empty that airport looked in CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR in comparison to how it should have, and wanted to look and feel).

And how could you not love the idea of mad Nazis from a dark world getting punched and slain by super heroes?

Everything was perfect this time around. The humor was great, the action was choreographed to a cinematic scale, and the gravity of the situation was right out of the pages of classic comics.

Also, the emotional weight of several subplots threaded their way perfectly through the episodes without taking away from the overarching tale being told.

To have pulled this off on a TV budget is nothing short of miraculous. Of course, to save some money, they confined some actors and set pieces to the sidelines or to their own shows. The Atom, Steel, Black Canary, Mr Terrific, Wild Dog and others didn't get to come out and fully play for the whole crossover, but when they did arrive it made sense and they made it count.

In many ways I can't imagine how they could have done it any better. The bar has been raised, and the potential of them taking it even higher next season (and beyond) has me very excited.

Sure, it took me a few years to get used to the reality of the DC TV U, which is quite different from the comics or the movie worlds. But like the comics, once you embrace the TV U as its own thing, and stop looking for continuity that fits into the other worlds, it is a great ride. They have created quite a fun universe to play in, and they are holding true to it and building on it with interesting layers.

I have finally given up my discomfort with Oliver and Felicity, and stopped waiting for the Arrow and Canary to find their way together. I have finally realized that Booster and Beetle won't show up on Legends, because The Atom and Steel are essentially those personalities (with Rory as Guy Gardner). I have committed myself to not judging too harshly the unfolding Legion story on Supergirl, since they OBVIOUSLY are deviating wildly from what we have known and loved. But it is Earth 38 that Kara is on. So, we can all have our own versions secure in our hearts and let these also play out.

Plus, its all made up stuff anyway. Let it be what it is, and enjoy it as such.

Major kudos to William Katt (The Greatest American Hero) for a tiny role as the priest on the crossover, and it was a great little hint that has Legion fans going nuts to see what they think could be XS as a waitress at the wedding. (She is a 31st century relative of Barry Allen who is part of the reboot Legion). Clearly she has more to do, since they cast Jessica Parker Kennedy of Black Sails in the role, and it seems like there's something going on with her deliberate interaction with Barry.

Let me take some time to also commend the creative forces behind the shows for continuing to be pro-LGBT and to approach it without a heavy hand. The Sarah and Alex hook up and ripples from it were deftly done. As was the arrival of The Ray in a concentration camp for being gay on Earth X, and his relationship with a decidedly delightful turn on Captain Cold.

Everyone got to shine during the run of episodes, including Iris and Felicity teaming up as the non-hero girlfriends who have to fend off the baddies.

And who doesn't love the good guys turned evil from another world takes that Stephen Amell and Melissa Benoist got to deliver as dark Arrow and Ubergirl! Plus we get Tom Cavennagh back as Reverse Flash.

A major character death and the fallout from it in the final episode was heart-wrenching, and packed more of a punch than you might have expected as well.

All in all, this was simply the most fun time you could want to have with these super heroes. They were all at their finest and the fact that the actors clearly relished the material and brought their A games to it helped to make this a comic book fan's dream come true.

Now, if only the shows will still be airing in 2024, when they have hinted at:

Final seasons for The Flash and Supergirl, no doubt. Well, if they stick to continuity....

Are Hickman and Bendis the start of a Marvel Exodus to DC?

Big news erupted when Brian Michael Bendis announced the end of his nearly 20 year run at Marvel comics (making Dan Slott the new champion over at Marvel as far are longevity goes). This sent ripples across Geekdom, and Legion of Super Heroes fans have been going nuts wanting the news to be followed soon by an announcement that he is going to be picking up the long-absent LSH book in "Rebirth" or otherwise.

Of course, DC has teased a planned return of the Legion ever since Rebirth came along. Saturn Girl has turned up in Arkham Asylum, and we've all been waiting for a pay off ever since.

Now, here's a little bit of insider info that may make the Bendis dreams fade:

I have been assisting with an upcoming book from Two Morrows Publishing about Mike Grell. As such, the book focuses on his many years and works (Legion included). As a part of the book, I interviewed a few of Grell's collaborators, including Dan Jurgens. Jurgens was super nice, and when I asked him what he might like to see Grell come back and do at DC, he was particularly fanboying out on the notion of Grell doing Legion again. Jurgens then said that DC had plans for the Legion that were in the works already, and such a throwback series would not really be in the offing.

I take that to mean that DC already has someone on Legion and at work. At least I hope. If there's no work being done yet, and Bendis is the guy to write it, we're still a LONG time away from seeing it on shelves. And I personally think the sooner the better.

Which brings me to that Jim Lee Tweet that came out a few months back that hinted that he was courting Jonathon Hickman to come to DC from Marvel too. This was before the Bendis talk, but Hickman's name has come back up after the Bendis announcement.

Legion fans went ape over the idea of  a Hickman Legion, and if those parts have been in motion for a while, that means we're closer to a Legion return, which I am all for.

So I'm team Hickman on this.

I loved Bendis's work at Marvel, which was saying something since Marvel has been consistently a mess for the past 8 or so years. His recent Iron Man was the only worthy book they had going (outside of the Star Wars line).

DC has not been all that great either, but they have pulled out of the downward spiral that was New 52, Convergence, and DC You (Eww). New 52 was to be a fresh start. It didn't have much shelf life though. A short flirtation of old dudes pretending to be hip and up with the cool kids gave us DC You (Eww) which was a smoldering pile of dung.

Then Rebirth. And all is finally right with the DC U.

Quietly  Marvel relaunched a ton of titles around that time too. Uncanny Avengers was OK, and I picked up several series, which I quickly lost interest in. In his time there Hickman took passes at the Fantastic Four, as well as Avengers and spear-headed the latest Secret Wars.

Marvel is now trying to course correct again, and are having little success. They seem too busy making movies to focus on the source material. DC is making movies too, but for whatever reason, they are having a harder time getting off the launch pad. However, in the publishing end, they are hitting it out of the part (finally.)

So, it only makes sense that as Marvel's publishing ship is listing, the top talent over there are getting a little woozy and looking to jump ship and swim for safe shores. I can't blame them really. DC Comics is where its at these days for creators. Marvel is trying to figure out what they want to be it seems, and are throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks. Classic numbering is following DC doing the same on their big titles, hoping to suddenly cash in on "legacy" fans as opposed to trying to constantly attract new kids with shiny issues one.

When the likes of Bendis and Hickman leave Marvel does it start a major exodus of others? (Of course John Romita Jr jumped to DC a while back and that created some major fandom ripples).

Is this on the level of Jim Shooter going to Marvel? Carmine Infantino going to Marvel? John Byrne going to DC?

I feel like this has similar potential of being another industry "scandal" of talent jumping.

Who is next?

Will anyone from DC be lured to Marvel? Can you imagine Geoff Johns suddenly forsaking DC for Marvel?

What could Marvel do to fix their creative problems? Are they speed dialing Byrne or Chris Claremont? Frank Miller returns to Daredevil? Mike Grell gets his bucket list title and does Captain America? Howard Chaykin taking on the depravity of Tony Stark in Iron Man?

Of course, those suggestions are backward looking, while DC is firmly pointed forward. Rebirth would indicate new life, while Marvel's "Legacy" approach seems to be about looking backward, which would allow for such moves.

Maybe they should hire me to help them sort this stuff out. I'd put John Byrne back on Fantastic Four, give Grell Cap, and have Frank Miller return to Daredevil in a heartbeat.

Nuff said.

And I would buy all those books. Something I can't say about Marvel, nor have been able to say for about 5 years.

Perhaps it is long past time for shake ups and shifts between the "Big Two."

And honestly, short of Dan Jurgens actually getting Mike Grell to draw a Legion re-launch in disco Legion attire, I couldn't be more excited to hear the Legion getting shoved to the front of the speculation line as high-calibre names are bandied about.

Just get to it already!

Welcome Hickman and Bendis. DC is going to be a great home for you both. The Legion awaits, Justice Society awaits, and both could be well-served by two such writers taking the reigns.