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Kurt Busiek@kurtbusiek.bsky.social |
8668 followers 395 following 10231 posts
'round and 'round and 'round we go through seventeen lights in a row
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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I liked what I read of RAVERS, but never read all of it. It never occurred to me to think of it as like the Legion, but I guess I can see facets of that.
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Extremely on Summer Break
@extremelyuncanny.com
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282. Free Agents #1 by Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza, and Stephen Mooney. A pretty solid sci-fi superhero comic reminiscent of Top Cow or Wildstorm. I dug it.
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Fabian Nicieza
@fabiannicieza.bsky.social
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ON SALE THIS WEEK! FREE AGENTS #1 from IMAGE COMICS! $3.99 / 40 pages KURT BUSIEK. ME. STEPHEN MOONEY. TRIONA FARRELL. COMICRAFT's TYLER SMITH. ALL WE'RE MISSING IS YOU! Variant covers by KEVIN MAGUIRE, ERIK LARSEN and PETE WOODS!
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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I thought it was odd, but I don’t have any problem with it.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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Was he the Martian Manhunter at one point? I don’t see a need to change him. So Durlan trapped in human form, I think he was.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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I think there are ways around that, too. But these days, almost every book is in that condition…
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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If someone wants to make a story about it, that’s fine. But the readers can see they’re not.
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Kurt Busiek
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I don’t think they have to feel goofy or intimidating. I think there are ways to make them cool. Would they work? I hope I get to find out someday.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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What about him?
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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Yeah!
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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Sure. Those kids know there's a whole planet out there of people who have those powers, too. And maybe they were adopted, see? And they secretly can do mango-stuff, but just haven't figured out how, but maybe someday, if they keep trying...!
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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That "heroes of many lands" aspect hits differently than the JLA hits. Not lesser -- differently.
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Kurt Busiek
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Not everyone, because they're not isolated cultures. People on Earth know Rokk is a sports star and they can get magno-ball on their entertainment module. People on Braal know about Imsk. And so on. To some, they're "foreigners," but the Legion is partly there to break down those barriers.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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Not after you smack it around in the hot sun for three full periods of play...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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...good at hockey. They're inspirational heroes, but many of them are also heroes who can do what "we" do really well, for various values of "we." That gives them a sense of "superhero" that's not the same as ours, and that makes it a distinctive thing that I think should matter to the book.
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Kurt Busiek
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...Silver Age Hawk-police, and so fort and so on. So people of the United Planets, when they see the Legion, they see superheroes. But the idea of superheroes has different connotations in a culture where some of the superpowers are seen in a context where they're kinda like being really, really...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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...or Imskians. But they do likely see the JLA as "our princess Wonder Woman" and a bunch of Men's World outsiders who do the kind of thing she does when they're not being destructive and male all over the place. Green Lanterns, as a group, aren't a culture of common folk, nor are...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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...just be the Flash, he'd be Illinois's favorite superhero. They'd have a different kind of rooting interest. For the JLA, there's at least one character like that. Wonder Woman, to the Amazons, is "the best of us." But their culture is so distanced that they don't really stand in for Braalians...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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...JLA was like the JLA we have now, but everyone in Illinois had superspeed and Barry was the best at it, and everyone in California had a power ring (of wildly-varied strength) and everyone in Connecticut could shrink, and so on, we'd think of "superhero" differently, too. The Flash wouldn't...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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To expand a little on something, when I say "I don't think they [the Legion] get seen as superheroes the way the JLA do," I don't mean they don't get seen as superheroes. It's in the name, even. But I think there's a different quality to what "superhero" signifies in the Legion's era. If the...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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Have a good sleep! And yeah, Magnetic Kid had to train. So did Cos, though he trained for magno-ball (no, Autocorrect! Down!). Pelé had to train to, to be as good as he was, and millions of kids train because they want to be like him.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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I would never say there isn't more to it, and haven't been saying that. But it's there, and it shouldn't be lost sight of.
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Kurt Busiek
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I'm pointing out things that they have that are interesting and special, and you seem to think I'm saying it's all they have. Of course they're superheroes, too. If nothing else, it's in the name. But to a Braalian, Cos is like Batman -- the best there is at what Braalians can do.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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I would say yeah, both. They're inspired by Superboy, after all.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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I never said they don't have unique heroes. I said a lot of them have that kind of aspect. And I think it's one of the cool things about the Legion, that they have that.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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Mango-ball! That's a sport! For Brazilians!
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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So I think it should be in there. Some writers have brought it up more than others, but I think it's a big part of the reason the UP lets young mostly-unsupervised people insert themselves into crisis situations. Without them, the UP might not feel so united.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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That's culturally different from the way people in the current-day DCU see the Flash. Other Legion members don't necessarily have that, but enough of the Legion do that they're a symbol of interplanetary cooperation and unity, which is something the Legion has that the Avengers don't.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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...he makes them feel like Dominicans feel about Dominican players in MLB, but moreso, because the Legion is way cooler than the MLB. But to them he's a Braalian (no, Autocorrect, not a Brazilian) who's good at doing what Braalians do. Kids at home can imagine maybe being him someday.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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I think their public perception really should be as a multicultural group that's banded together to do wonderful things, but one of the greatest things they do is show the UP member planets that working together is better than isolation and war. Bral is proud of Cos because he's one of them...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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Well, Cos was a mango-ball star. So sure, he's really good at that thing Braalians do. But they have enough Braalians who are good at it to have a whole league of teams. He may be the best. But he's the best of a large group. Unlike, say, the Flash.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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...have wanted to do it under those terms, who knows?
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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I kind of think if they'd told Keith, "This sounds great! You can have 12 issues, and we'll collect it up like WATCHMEN. And if it sells well you can do more! But it's a tale of the Legion's possible future, not the regular Legion book," I think it'd have worked better. But maybe Keith wouldn't...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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...shrinking is something lots of UP citizens can do. [Not that it comes up in stories much, but I think that's a problem in the stories more than in the world.]
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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..do. In UP culture, they're a group of young people from across the culture, some with "powers," some with just abilities, and they're idealistic and helpful. But Shrinking Violet doesn't have a weird unique-to-her superpower. She does that thing Imskians do. She's a famous Imskian, but...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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...and there are millions of others who have those abilities as well. Not all of them, certainly. But Cosmic Boy's not a super-being; he's just really good at using his inborn abilities. Duo Damsel's actually disabled, for a Carggite. I don't think they get seen as superheroes the way the JLA...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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Yeah, they're still a club. They have to be. They have a clubhouse. They have club rules. They can quit if they want to. They're not soldiers, not employees, not a peacekeeping force. Many (most?) of them don't even have superpowers. They have abilities common to their particular species...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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Sure. They even self-identify as superheroes. So they're up to help in a crisis. But because it's what they want to do. If they start to seem like hard-bitten paramilitary, something went wrong somewhere.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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...child soldiers? The answer should be they're not -- the Legion is a club, and they do this kind of thing because they want to help, not because they're some weird-ass child military. They may deal with the authorities a lot, but they're not a part of a command structure. They're self-motivated.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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Sure. But the SP connection works best as a connection. Not as their raison d'être. When the Legion is all grim and mission-oriented, it doesn't feel like the Legion any more, and I start wondering why the UP doesn't just send a squad of adult Braalians in to kick ass. Why are they dependent on...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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...is operating under a major disadvantage. Which may be why they're not doing a Legion series at present.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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I don't think DC's really able to support niche titles at present. I think if they want an ongoing Legion series, they need to find a way to make it appealing to enough of an audience to keep it around. Maybe not if they want to do a mini-series, but setting out to do an ongoing niche series...
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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I think the Legion's much more appealing as an idealistic group of young heroes who hang out because they like to, and like to socialize, than it is when it feels like the paramilitary arm of the Science Police. It's one of the things that makes it feel like the Legion. They play D&D together!
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Kurt Busiek
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The idea that the Legion had a long history appealed to me, too, but I never felt I needed to read the older stories. I read them as I came across them, but aside from trying to find the Cockrum issues I didn't actively seek them out. But the new stories told me what I needed to know.
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Kurt Busiek
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I think if it's appealing to new readers, the perception that it isn't is illusory. But also, I didn't see that perception all that much, so it may have been thought of that way in some areas and not others. But if the sales were going up, it was winning new readers.
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Kurt Busiek
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If it wasn't selling every time that was the take, is that because (a) it's a bad take, (b) it wasn't done well, (c) it's something that's good to have but maybe not as the foreground spotlight? Series rarely thrive on one thing only, and will always thrive when you foreground that thing.
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Kurt Busiek
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...was to my mind a pretty approachable book.
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Kurt Busiek
@kurtbusiek.bsky.social
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...isn't written to be accessible to casual fans, it's on a downslope. It may be still high on that slope, but if you're not welcoming new readers you're not going to be replacing old readers who fall away or die or whatever. But Legion in the 80s -- at least the pre-Crisis part of the 80s...
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Kurt Busiek
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And I think at its height of sales, it was obviously appealing to new readers or the sales wouldn't have grown to that height. I didn't need to know years of history when I started, and new readers in the 80s didn't either, not if the book's written in a welcoming way. I think any time a book...
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Kurt Busiek
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I think it did a lot more beyond it, but I think the idea that it "outgrew" it is one of the things that helped it slowly fade out. It might not have been what dedicated fans were reading it for, but it's still part of the series' DNA and could well have been appealing to less-dedicated readers.
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