Oh No You Don't

Apparently I'm going to have articles about this every day. That seems to be what I'm doing.

This afternoon on Comic Book Resources, an interview with Keith Giffen appeared in which he discusses his new title, Justice League 3000. One of the things Giffen said was (emphasis mine):

"[...]At least now I know where the first year of "Justice League 3000" is going, and it's going to pay off in a lot of different ways where people will cut us a break and stop screaming about, "They're canceling the Legion for this?!" No. They cancelled the Legion because it wasn't selling. Now we're doing this book. I'm sure, somewhere down the line, the Legion will come back. Relax. Maybe more people should have bought the book. How about that? I know it's a radical idea, but it's something you might want to consider.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Legion! The Legion is like a siren singing to me all the time. I keep returning to that book over and over again like a mental patient. But I'll tell you one thing -- the book wasn't selling enough to continue. The end."

Oh, I've considered it, Mr. Giffen,* and you're right** in one sense: if the book had sold better, DC wouldn't have cancelled it. I think that's indisputable, and I've been keeping it in mind the whole time. But you, and more importantly the tall foreheads at DC, might want to consider this:

Maybe the book should have been better. Maybe it should have had a writer on it who had a vision for how to write in 2013 about a couple dozen young people carrying on Superman's legacy ten centuries in the future. Maybe the company who published the comic shouldn't have surrendered the title to the whines of a mewling cadre of hardcore nostalgists.

Don't blame people for not buying the book, Mr. Giffen. It wasn't that great. DC has screwed the pooch with the Legion ever since Dawnstar's arm appeared in the back of Justice Society #1, and this is where it's brought us. Don't pile it all on the readers, even if some of us are dumbasses; we aren't driving this train.

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* What's better for me to call him? Keith? Mr. Giffen? It sounds like I'm smarting off at him no matter which one I use. Which is no good. I have a lot of time for Keith Giffen, and even though he said something I take issue with, he's not really part of the problem here.

** Although it's silly to castigate Legion fans for complaining about the book being cancelled, by saying maybe-you-should-have-bought-it. The people who want the Legion back are probably the people who were buying it, and it doesn't really sit well with us to take that blame. What, should I have bought two copies of each issue? Ten?