Going to the zoo and complaining that it smells like animal shit.

Eating 3 meals a day at Taco-Bell and complaining when you have diarrhea.

Driving 85mph all the time and then throwing a fit when you get a ticket.

Now matter how surprised and angry you think you are when these things happen, you really just seem retarded.

I did enjoy the first issue. Not a big fan of the Legion but I wanted to give it a try and I’ll stay on board for a bit. I think it’ll get better as it goes.

At the risk of sounding too psycho-analytical, what helped me the second go-round reading the book was approaching it more like a graphic novel or more of a novel than graphic. I mention this because I think my brain has certain, basic pre-conceptions when approaching a book and is wired to read comic books with “comic book pacing” that is usually implemented, if that makes any sense. For me, reading Pax Romana was a challenging by rewarding read of a rather high-end and intriguing concept.

I absolutely loved Nightly News so I was even more psyched for Pax Romana than Legion #37 but it didn’t blow me away quite as much as the first issue of Nightly News did. I like that Hickman is setting things up for a Hellboy-like series of mini-series so it’s ok if this first issue starts things off a little slowly. Good, not great, start to the series.

Isla De La Murta? Wasn’t there a Venture Brothers episode with the same title?

Close. The Venture Bros. episode was entitled “Dia de Los Dangerous!”

Will definitely be picking up FF: Isla De La Murta when it arrives though.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

It was indeed a big deal!

“In practice…it feels about average, maybe even a little underwhelming given Shooter’s slightly out-of-date scripting.”

Not to me. It felt great! the “teen speak” was a little annoying, but it was kept mostly to the annoying ski-boarders, which leads to me think it was a writing choice made for those characters, rather than something we are going to see happen throughout Shooter’s run on the book.

“And there’s plenty percolating in the background, maybe too much -”

Nonsense!
A good Legion comic should always always always have plenty going on in the background.

“Regular readers might be cool with the huge ensemble cast and all the comings and goings,”
This regular fan most certainly was!

” but as a casual fan I found it a bit much and wished the story had a bit more focus on a single group of Legionnaires.”

Perhaps you would have enjoyed the last six months worth of story, then. Each issue focussed on three Legionnaires, tops. Yawn.
I love what Shooter did!
While Waid told some interesting stories (don’t get me wrong, I quite enjoyed Waid’s take on the team), all of his subplots and character arcs were directly related to whatever story was playing out at the moment. Shooter seems to be telling a main story, but also is comfortable letting character bits and smaller stories play out in the background. And, that is the perfect way to tell a Legion story, in my mind. It’s a tough act to pull off. Levitz could do it remarkably well… Abnett and Lanning were almost there. None of the other writers in the last ten to fifteen years have even come close to being able to pull that off.

“I’d say it’s worth a look for the Legion faithful, but don’t expect an instant classic.”

I think that this run will be pretty classic… not only because of the story, but also because of the fantastic art by Francis Manapul. He’s going to be one of those stars to watch, for sure!