"I Really Liked Mark Waid's Flash"
I know I have.
It has come to mean, in comic criticism, that you are about to knock a work by Mark Waid, but want to demonstrate that it is not anything personal, and you HAVE liked his work in the past.
So, I thought it would be nice to demonstate my displeasure with Waid's Legion of Superheroes (particularly the latest issue, as I have found it emblematic of the run so far) by going over again what I liked so much about Mark Waid's Flash, to see what I think is missing in his Legion of Superheroes.
Here's what I have come up with...
It was fun.
Remember when Mark Waid was known as "the funny guy"?
No, seriously, it actually happened.
No, really, you have to believe me.
Really, there WAS a time when he was known for his humor!
REALLY!
Why won't you believe me?!?!
The weird thing is that I am sure he is just as funny NOW as he was THEN, but it just is not reflected in his work (except for perhaps that Spider-Man story in Fantastic Four).
It WAS reflected in his Flash.
The Flash was not Ambush Bug, but it often had lighthearted jokes in it (and Waid's work on the spin-off Impulse, was hilarious).
Now, a joke in a Waid comic book (like the goat joke in Legion) is a cause for a celebration.
He is not a super serious guy, so why is his work so super serious?
Legion of Superheroes...this is not a happy book.
The characters were likable.
Leion of Superheroes is filled with characters.
I just cannot see very many LIKABLE characters in the book.
Waid's Flash?
Filled with them.
Wally, Linda, Jay Garrick, Bart, Johnny Quick, Max Mercury...these characters were fun to read.
How is it fun to watch superheroes act like assholes in Legion of Superheroes?
It is almost like Waid is saying, "Hey, I know a way to make this revamp different, how about everyone is an asshole! THAT'S never been done before!!!"
It was about a superhero.
A superhero comic about a superhero.
Novel concept, eh?
Legion of Superheroes, with superheroes IN THE TITLE, really is not about superheroes. It is about politics.
In Legion, these are characters that the fans dig, and instead of giving us issues like most of #7 all the time, he has decided on giving us stuff like #8, this angry, loathsome issue, where EVERYone in the issue is a jerk in one way or another.
If you want to do this sort of book, go right ahead.
But no with people with names like Cosmic Boy and Ultra Boy and Saturn Girl.
They are superheroes.
Try letting them be superheroes.
Flash was a superhero, and Waid HAD him be a superhero.
It worked out well, I thought.
Flash was an optimistic book.
About two years into his run on Flash, Waid introduced a storyline where the Flash is in trouble after a woman is injured during a superhero battle. The idea of the story was to play off the optimistic nature of the Flash by seeing how he can handle something so cynical.
Well, in Legion of Superheroes, I do not know how the characters could HANDLE an optimistic event!
They would probably yell at it.
It would be like that Simpsons scene..."I bring you...peace" "He brings us peace. Break his legs!!"
Okay, so so far what I have is that what I like about Waid's writing is when he writes likable, fun, optimistic superhero stories.
Is that really too much to expect from a book called Legion of Superheroes?