Before I begin actually covering this run of the LSH (get used to the acronym because the title is completely too long to keep typing out) I need to talk a little bit about my history with it because that's going to impact my reading of this version. Over the years, I've read quite a bit of LSH stuff. I have some of the LSH DC Archive books for the really old stuff. I have the complete L.E.G.I.O.N. aka Five Years Later run, which features adult versions of the LSH. I also have the run for the "SW6" LSH. Then I have the Reboot run after Zero Hour. (If you're not a follower of LSH this is probably where you're really confused. This stuff isn't really important, and I'm hopefully going to double back to examine each run in its own entry so don't worry all that much about it at the moment. This is basically just to establish my cred with the comic.) I also have quite a bit of the Post-Infinite Crisis run although I'm missing chunks of that and anything newer. I started reading about these characters in the SW6 spin-off of Legionnaires when it came out way back in 1993. I've been collecting on-going runs and back tracking for others ever since.
To sum up, I've been around a while and read a wide berth of stories and versions of these characters. I care about them enough to keep enduring DC's never ending quest to create something that makes sense? I'm not exactly sure what DC is doing. To be quite honest, they don't need to go through these endless permutations. The LSH is removed enough from the normal DC continuity that as long as you keep their own history straight and avoid senseless time travel (I'm looking at Brainy and XS here) then there's not much you can screw up. Sometimes I think that LSH is one of DC's throw away titles. They assume that either no one is reading or no one cares so they just toss people at it and tell them to have fun and do whatever they want. I'm up for new and exciting versions when they're done right, but I feel like you also need to be respectful of the crapton of history you're inheriting before you just destroy it all on a whim.
Despite a lot of praise that people I know have heaped on the Threeboot run, I wasn't that impressed. I think that a lot of this stems from the fact that I went into it carrying so much LSH baggage of my own. Like I said, I'm all for alternate realities, new versions, etc. If anything I prefer when things are drastically different than the base reality. For example I am in love with Marvel's Age of Apocalypse event, but I was disappointed with how closely their Ultimate universe mirrored the default 616 universe in some ways. (More on all of that to come later.) So I am not anti-reboot or alternate reality or anything like that. Sometimes you end up creatively painting yourself into a corner, especially if you're not paying attention to the history, or everything's just so jumbled that you need a clean slate. It happens. I'm down. Just do it right. Threeboot did some things really right, and it handled others completely wrong.
( LSH Threeboot *possible spoilers* )
To sum up, I've been around a while and read a wide berth of stories and versions of these characters. I care about them enough to keep enduring DC's never ending quest to create something that makes sense? I'm not exactly sure what DC is doing. To be quite honest, they don't need to go through these endless permutations. The LSH is removed enough from the normal DC continuity that as long as you keep their own history straight and avoid senseless time travel (I'm looking at Brainy and XS here) then there's not much you can screw up. Sometimes I think that LSH is one of DC's throw away titles. They assume that either no one is reading or no one cares so they just toss people at it and tell them to have fun and do whatever they want. I'm up for new and exciting versions when they're done right, but I feel like you also need to be respectful of the crapton of history you're inheriting before you just destroy it all on a whim.
Despite a lot of praise that people I know have heaped on the Threeboot run, I wasn't that impressed. I think that a lot of this stems from the fact that I went into it carrying so much LSH baggage of my own. Like I said, I'm all for alternate realities, new versions, etc. If anything I prefer when things are drastically different than the base reality. For example I am in love with Marvel's Age of Apocalypse event, but I was disappointed with how closely their Ultimate universe mirrored the default 616 universe in some ways. (More on all of that to come later.) So I am not anti-reboot or alternate reality or anything like that. Sometimes you end up creatively painting yourself into a corner, especially if you're not paying attention to the history, or everything's just so jumbled that you need a clean slate. It happens. I'm down. Just do it right. Threeboot did some things really right, and it handled others completely wrong.
( LSH Threeboot *possible spoilers* )