Polite Dissent

While many genres of music deal with love (and sometimes the lack of love), country music is unique in addressing the theme of after “happily ever after.” Common themes include marriages, divorces, children, bad jobs and adultery.

This perfectly describes the “Five Years After” Legion of Super-Heroes. That series is the country music of comic books. Marriages, both good and bad? Yes. Bad jobs? Yes. Children? Yes. Adultery? Probably (Who was that with Gim? Was it Yera in disguise or somebody else?)

To stretch a metaphor, what about the other Legion series? Can they be explained by musical genres as well?

The earliest Legion of Super-Hero appearances were like the pop music of the fifties and sixties: fun and with some memorable tunes, but most were forgotten as quickly as they were done.

As the Legion matured during the seventies, they moved more towards the rock of the era. Mostly sensible music, with occasional diversions into psychedelia and disco. This rock theme continues through their first series (when Superboy changed names) and their second series (the Baxter series). Towards the end of the Baxter series, Adult Alternative became the theme, with the Legion facing marriage and parenthood, yet still there was a hopeful outlook overall.

Then came the third Legion series, “Five Years After,” and country music. All this maturity and moroseness didn’t sit well with the audience, and a batch of younger legionnaires were introduced into continuity. Their adventures seemed to bring back the pop rock feeling of the earliest Legion appearances in Adventure.

The whole continuity was rebooted with Zero Hour with a retelling of the Legion’s history from the very beginning. This series started as light rock and then progressed to heavier rock, but it was like listening to an entire album of cover tunes. There was often a sensation of “been there, done that” particularly at the beginning of the run. By the end of the series, the stories had turned to grunge rock. Darker and more complex, but like grunge, it had the distinct tendency to become a parody of itself.

This “grunge-ness” continued through the follow-up series Legion Lost and Legion Worlds.

I can’t really pinpoint a particular musical genre on the recently canceled Legion series as it struggled throughout its brief run to find an identity and a theme. It’s probably best described as one of those radio stations that plays a little bit from every genre, so as not to offend anyone (but to bore many).

It’s too soon to pin a definite theme on the latest Legion of Super-Heroes incarnation, but with its reinvention of established characters I’m leaning toward college/alt rock with a dash of ’60s rebellion rock (don’t trust anyone over thirty).

I’m probably stretching on most of those, but I can say for sure that “Five Years After” = Country Music.