The Legion of Super-Heroes by Nate Stockman

In the latest batch of commissions I got from Nate Stockman, we went with a variety of characters. But of course we had to do at least one big one, and since Nate and I both love the Legion, well it was obvious what we'd settle on. So then we had to decide on which version of the Legion, and how many members. I already own Legion pieces by Nate featuring the Silver Age Legion, the post-Zero Hour Legion, the Subs, and lots of individual Legionnaires. Ultimately we went with a more recent version of the team, letting Nate take a crack at a lot of the newer costumes members. I sent Nate a list of Legionnaires from the past couple of years, and told him he didn't have to draw all of them, but of course he did anyway! And this thing is insanely awesome!

First off, I love the positive energy in this. I've always though that the Legion worked best when the book was full of hope. Sure, you can do dark stories occasionally, but the Legion is the team where goofy powers can shine and they still have rules against killing. I also really dig the big fist coming at you from Cosmic Boy, something that should make Erik Larsen proud. And Nate knows and understands these characters, placing most of the couples together and even former Subs together. He also knows that a few of them never seem to smile, so he put serious looks on their faces. All of the Legionnaires look fantastic here, but my favorites would have to be the way that Nate depicted Comet Queen, Gates, Polar Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Tellus and Blok. The details are amazing on each character as well, like the dragons on Dragonwing's jacket and the texture on Blok's costume. And the futuristic city behind the team also looks incredible. This is the Legion I wish that we would have gotten with the New 52 relaunch. Paul Levitz added some cool new characters to the team, and there was a lot of potential there, but that run was a mess. Someone at DC give the book to Nate and me! We'll rock it and this could be our quadruple gatefold cover to #1!

If you like this piece, then by all means go buy some of Nate's comics and/or commission him yourself.