Friday, November 16, 2018

Brian Michael Bendis on Legion?


Okay, this might be a stretch.

On November 8th, I had the luck of driving just a few miles from my place of work to MIT. And there, I was able to take in the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program 2018 Julius Schwartz Memorial Lecture. Past lecturers have been Neil Gaiman and J. Michael Straczynski.

This year it was Brian Michael Bendis.

The lecture was open to the public and held in a big auditorium style class room on campus. It looked like about 100 people were in attendance.


Fellow comic professional Marjorie Liu led the discussion, interviewing Bendis and talking a lot about his history, his process, and his favorite moments.

It was really fascinating to hear Bendis talk about his childhood reading comics, his desire to be an artist, and his ultimate conversion to writer.

So why am I posting here?

At one point, Bendis talked about how the X-Men fandom was like a religion and the fans were passionate and vocal. Later, Bendis talked about how much fun he was having playing in the DC Universe. One of the properties he mentioned was the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Well, the last 30 minutes were a Q&A session. And I got up.

I asked him if he could talk more about the Legion and any plans there were for the team. (I also warned him that Legion fans were probably on par with X-Men fans in regards to their zeal.)

He first flat-out said that he thought the Legion was great (he might have said 'cool'). But then he said in a way that sounded almost like an obfuscation, something like this (and I am paraphrasing).

"If someone were trying to do the research on the Legion and its history to bring back a book starring them, I would say that it is one of the hardest jobs they would ever undertake."

Now maybe I am transferring hopes, but the tone in which he said that made it sound like HE was the person who was trying to wrangle some sense out of the LSH mythos. Maybe I am just hoping.

I also said that if he needed any help with the Legion, I was available.

You can hear the whole thing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjPGu_5UBf0
It includes the question session. Maybe I am stretching things by thinking Bendis is on the book. But someone saying it is a hard job means someone is doing it.

So what do people think of Bendis being on a Legion book? And would people accept a Legion book in the 'Wonder Comics' imprint? Would you mind a quatro-boot, making the team a young heroes team again?


I have to say Bendis was just awesome and approachable. When the lecture was over, both he and Liu stuck around to meet the fans and sign stuff. I got 4 books signed including my variant Action Comics #1000, now signed by 9 of the creators involved.

I feel very lucky that I was able to attend, ask a question, and meet Bendis.

4 comments:

  1. How about their own imprint? I'd like to see a reintroduction where they start with limited series about different characters or small subgroups, building up to a team book. The problem is, enough people would have to buy those books.
    Note: I guess what I described could be put into a single series like a countdown or buildup.

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  2. I've said all I could say about what I think DC should do with the Legion right now.

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  3. Bendis on the Legion? No thank you.With all the members the group has,the book would be nothing but talk.

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  4. As long as he can keep the individual voices of the members intact (and not turn everyone into a generic smart-assy, quipping know-it-all {see: "New Avengers"}), juggle the huge cast with some skill, and not turn Polar Boy gay for no reason, then it'll be interesting to see what he brings to the table.

    He was fantastic on 'Ultimate Spider-Man', and 'House of M' and 'Secret Invasion' were both mostly decent.

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