Legion of Super-Heroes #42 - DC

I have to say . . my favorite version of the Legion was in the 80's when Keith Giffen came on board. Sure the stories from the Superboy series were pretty good also. Lots of nostalgia there, when I read them. But . . Keith Giffen seemed to actually take the group into the future. They are in the 31st century, after all. Up till then, the Legion . . while being a fantastic cast of characters . . were basically just a group book that happened to be set in the future. And really, except for some obvious sci-fi ideas . . flying cars, flight rings, etc . . things didn't really seem a whole lot different than the present, other than the year. But with the Keith Giffen series all of that changed. The stories actually seemed like they were in the distant future. Things were less and less like our everyday life and there were more futuristic themes and ideas. To me, that made the series more believable. Seeing as how the series is set 1000 years in the future, who are we to say what technology will or won't work. Really, the imagination is the limit. Like I said, I love the characters in the Legion. They've been thoroughly developed over the years. But, I don't thing that the technology and surroundings have been equally developed. At least not until Keith's tenure. Anyways, my point it, it seems like Jim Shooter, on this series, is also paying attention to that aspect of the story. I also like the attention that he's giving the United Planets governmental structure. We've always just kind of taken the relationship between them and the Legion for granted. But here we're finding out that it's actually very tenuous at best. Also this UP seems a lot more controlling. Not that I necessarily like a controlling government, but . . it seems more realistic. What I'm trying to say, overall is . . while Keith's version, to me, is the best, Jim's take on the Legion with this run . . is quickly becoming my second favorite. So far, for the short run that he's been on board . . . I think the book has gotten better with every issue. I also have to say that I really like the look that Francis Manapul is giving these characters. We seem to have a very good creative team here, and I really like the direction that we seem to be going. Long live the Legion!!