from: Michael Ring  What is Alien Legion you might ask? Basically, it was a comic about a group of soldiers like the French Foreign Legion, only, out in space instead of here on Earth. Another way to put it would be this quote from the official Alien Legion website:FOOTSLOGGERS AND SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE, PRIESTS, POETS, KILLERS AND CADS. THE FORGOTTEN AND UNWANTED FROM THE SENTIENT RACES OF THREE GALAXIES ARE BROUGHT TOGETHER AND TRAINED TO BE THE MOST ELITE - AND EXPENDABLE - OF FIGHTING FORCES.In short, it was an excellent comic book Something you've probably guessed about me: I LOVE Alien Legion. Not "loved", but "love" as the book hasn't diminished in my mind through the years. I still love it dearly and every couple of years get excited when I hear some rumor about its resurgence. At one point I had heard a rumor that there was going to be an Alien Legion live-action show, and then another time I heard that there was going to be an animated show, but that too never happened. I bought the first issue of the first series at a local mall during some kind of comic book sale/show. I remember seeing the cover and just thinking "hey, this looks pretty sweet." Mind you, I was in middle-school and grew up playing Dungeons and Dragons, and more importantly, the TSR sci-fi game Star Frontiers. In short, alien soldiers zapping each other with lasers was appealing to me, after all, I am part of the Star Wars generation.  I don't remember much about when exactly I bought it, but I remember that I loved it so much that I read and reread those 48 pages of story over and over again over time.That wasn't the first issue of Alien Legion I had ever purchased. One day while buying comics at my local comic book shop I was picking through my usual selection of comics when I noticed a book with a guy holding a very nasty knife. I didn't know who the guy was, but he kind of looked like Robocop. Again, being a sci-fi geek that was enough for me. I picked up what turned out to be Alien Legion vol. 2, #5, a Jugger Grimrod-focused issue. I loved not only the action in the book but also the voice of the character as it was he who was the narrator of that particular issue. The book was full of humor, action, suspense, and was just plain out fun. I was hooked immediately.  I ran across the aforementioned first issue and noticed that the publication dates were far apart. After some investigation I found that the book was printed in two different volumes. I went about collecting the first four issues of the second volume, the precursors to that fifth issue, all before the sixth issue came out two months later (it was a bi-monthly book). Then, over the course of the next few years I slowly collected every single issue of volume one as well as the original graphic novel Alien Legion: A Grey Day To Die.A couple of years later the second volume came to a close and was followed by a series of mini-series, most of which I have, some I don't. But still, when it comes to comics the book is not far from my mind. So, being the geek that I am I emailed Carl Potts, who created Alien Legion and owns it; basically, I asked him if there really were new Alien Legion comics coming out. Below is his response: from: Carl PottsFRIGGING SWEET. Any news about potential new Alien Legion comics is enough to make me geek out and be happy for a long time. What Looks Good? Come later this year Alien Legion looks REALLY good. But enough about my obsession; let's check out the releases this week and see What Looks Good...  AUTHORITY #11 $2.99 (Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning / Simon Coleby)I have been enjoying this book from the beginning, and one of the things that is a draw is seeing the tortured relationship between Midnighter and Apollo. The world has almost effectively come to an end, the earth is scorched and the skies are black. None of that is good, most when you are solar-powered being the latter. Such is the fate of Apollo. It has been interesting to see this marriage function, as one fights for survival on the surface while the other must stay above the clouds to stay alive, their adopted daughter now prematurely aged and leading their group, the group that was supposed to save the world from itself. Now, the team is broken, disheartened, and it appears at best that the world is indifferent to its being saved. How does a team go on when its purpose is gone, when they've lost the only battle that mattered? Yeah, these are questions that have been asked since the first few issues of this book, but really, it's rich material to be mined for stories, and judging by the issues I've read there's still lots of answers we're waiting for. Good stuff!  BATMAN AND ROBIN #1 $2.99 (Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely)(Potential spoilers if you don't know who the new Batman is, so you've been warned) More and more often lately I think that I am sounding like a cranky old man. I say that because when I got to the end of Batman: Battle for the Cowl all that I could think was that "it makes sense that Dick Grayson becomes the new Batman" but I still didn't like it. I don't like that Bruce Wayne isn't Batman any more. Then again, there's a portion of me that realizes that sometime in the future, perhaps the near future, we'll see Bruce back in the saddle. It's really only a matter of time. Just look at Green Lantern: Hal Jordan died, became the Spectre, Kyle Raynor took over as the sole GL, but now, all these years later the GL Corps is back and Hal is once again the star of the Green Lantern book. The more things change the more they stay the same. Want more proof? Just look at characters like Superman, The Punisher, Colossus, Green Arrow, The Flash, etc., etc., all characters that were all dead at one point and eventually came back. Some of them were replaced for a while (like Ollie's son Connor becoming Green Arrow), but ultimately the status quo returned. So yeah, I know that Bruce Wayne will be back (he gave up the cowl before when his back was broken), I just don't know if it will be two, five, ten, or twenty years, but he will be back, of that I am sure. Making my peace with that maybe I'll now be able to enjoy this book. It's not like the creative team isn't impressive; we are talking about the guys that brought us JLA: Earth 2, Flex Mentallo, We3, All Star Superman, and New X-Men. Not a single one of those are books that I would call "bad." In fact, some of them were quite groundbreaking. Will lightning strike tw...err...again yet another time? I can't say for sure, but with their track record I wouldn't bet against this team, and I'll be darned if I am caught on the sidelines watching this one. What comics did you get geeked out about this week? Just stop by the WLG message boards (see link below) and share! See you next week! Peace! -Diaz |
