Sunday, December 30, 2007

Week of 26 December 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #18 (12/26/07)
"Safe House"

No LSH content in this issue.

----------

ACTION #860 (2/08)
"Lightning and Shadows (Superman and the LSH Part 3)"
ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5, Colossal Boy, Dawnstar, Lightning Lass, Night Girl, Polar Boy, Shadow Lass, Superman, Timber Wolf, Wildfire (Lightning Saga Legion)
Justice League of Earth: Earth-Man, Golden Boy, Radiation Roy, Spider-Girl, Storm Boy, Tusker

Superman and the Legionnaires rescue Polar Boy, and then head off to Colu to find Brainy.

This version of the Legion captures a lot of the spirit and character of the original LSH. Some details may be different (especially if Karate Kid and Una from Countdown are members), but overall it's like meeting up with old friends after many years. As a die-hard fan of the old Legion, I am really enjoying the journey.

I hope that DC will find some way to integrate this version of the Legion into the new DC Universe, because I'd love to read more of their adventures. But I can't imagine how they would be able to pull it off without eliminating the Teenage Revolution Legion. (Although nobody seems to have problems with the simultaneous existence of the animated Legion in LSH/31st Century.)

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Nice to see the Shadow Lass/Night Girl team in action again. They were always such a natural pair, yet they seldom worked together.

The contrast between the Subs and the Justice League is made explicit by Polar Boy: both were groups of Legion rejects, but the Subs rose to the occasion, while the JL sank. (Although it seems that Golden Boy is not too happy; I suspect he will come over to our side before the end.)

No, that's not Kinetix on page 24: it's Ayla, apparently lit by the yellow of her lightning. It took me a moment, though.

Polar Boy loses an arm and acquires a prosthetic, echoing Lightning Lad's tragedy...and giving him the classic "cold fish" handshake.

Colossal Boy's wife, Yera, has died. ALthough with Durlans, I guess you can never be sure....

----------

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #37 (2/08)
"Evil Adventus Part 1: Conflict"
ROLL CALL: Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl, Star Boy, Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl

Note: This issue was available with two different covers which fit together to make a big picture of a bunch of Legionnaires.
ROLL CALL (Left-side cover): Atom Girl, Brainiac 5, Colossal Boy, Element Lad(?), Invisible Kid, Light Lass,Star Boy, Sun Boy, Triplicate Girl 1&2, Timber Wolf
ROLL CALL (Right-side cover): Chameleon, Karate Kid, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Triplicate Girl 3, Ultra Boy

This story, the first part of Jim Shooter's long-anticipated return to the Legion, picks up in continuity soon after the last issue. Lightning Lad struggles with the demands of Leadership, Projectra loses her station, and the team on Triton runs into some trouble.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Cosmic Boy (who is away in the future) is conspicuously absent from the cover. I guess he wasn't there when the picture was taken.

Triplicate Girl's multiple selves no longer wear different colors; they are now clothed identically. I suppose this is more consistent with the way her powers work, but it was a really cool effect.

A glow surrounds the Legion teams in space and on Triton -- a nice visual interpretation of the flight rings' environmental field.

Timber Wolf is back to a more-human appearance.

Seven "pre-approved candidates" are arriving at Legion HQ. Looks like it's Legion Tryouts time again....

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Week of 19 December 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #19 (12/19/07)
"Season's Beatings"

No Legion appearances in this issue.

----------

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: AN EYE FOR AN EYE (Trade Paperback)

Reprints LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1 - 6 (8/1984 - 1/1985)

----------

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #9 (2/02)
"Bad Ideas"
ROLL CALL: Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Sun Boy, Superman/Superboy, Triplicate Girl

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Bouncing Boy's attraction to Triplicate Girl is obvious, but it's a little less clear how much the Trips reciprocate.

Brainiac 5 learns for sure that he is the descendant of the original Brainiac. He says, "There are deletions in my genetic memory, but I had suspicions. The artifact confirmed the Brainiacs' terrible family secret..." (I'm guessing that the "terrible secret" is not so much the existence of Brainiac, but the fact that he was "perhaps Superman's greatest foe.")

Sun Boy sings a number of sun-related songs. This may be the first incarnation of Sun Boy to spontaneously burst into song.

----------

SUPERMAN #671 (2/08)
"A Fall of Moondust: Insect Queen Part 1"

This story is of peripheral interest to Legion readers. In the classic Legion, a teenaged Lana Lang became "Insect Queen" when she received a mysterious ring from an insect-like alien. As Insect Queen she became an honorary Legionnaire, and participated in several Legion adventures.

This time around, insect-like aliens are involved, and Lana Lang...except it's the adult Lana Lang, and the Insect Queen seems to be her clone. And there is no Legion connection (yet). We'll see as the story develops in subsequent issues.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Week of 12 December 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #20 (12/12/07)
"Loneliest Number"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

As the OMACs and Brother Eye attack, Val and Luornu struggle to open the mysterious box. You don't suppose there's a Miracle Machine inside, do you?

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: It becomes clear that Lurornu is still Triplicate Girl...her other two selves are in the future.

She also entertains the possibility (hypothetically) that she's had romantic feelings for Val for a long time...but also hints that her other two selves might not feel the same way. This raises interesting questions about Luornu and her past crush on Superboy, followed by her love for Chuck...could each Luornu have feelings for a different fellow Legionnaire? (Note that in the current continuity, Luornu has dated several of the boys simultaneously.)

----------

GREEN LANTERN #25 (1/08)
"Birth of the Black Lantern"
ROLL CALL: Starman (cameo)

Starman (Thom Kallor), along with most of the rest of the JSA, appears in at least one big fight scene.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Week of 5 December 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #21 (12/5/07)
"Down and Out...and Beyond"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

The virus that Karate Kid carries is identified as "morticoccus." Buddy Blank leads Val and Luornu to a chamber containing a mysterious box, which Val must open.

The cover has the date mistakenly printed as "Oct. 5, 2007."

----------

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #11 (2/08)
"The Second Coming"
ROLL CALL: Starman

In discussing the possibility of opening a wormhole into a parallel Earth, Starman says that he would need "a map of the multiverse." He then turns to the reader and says, "Anyone have one?" Well, yes, kinds...the text page in last week's DC releases had a guide to the first 26 universes of the multiverse.

Except for "back of the book" features like lettercolumns and profiles of reader-submitted costumes, I can only recall one other time when a Legionnaire spoke directly to the reader. In one of the Devil's Dozen stories (ADVENTURE 350/351), Chameleon Boy changes into a spider, then turns to the reader and makes a jape at Spider-Man.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Week of 28 November 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #22 (11/28/07)
"Miracle Mile"

Once again, no Legion content -- unless you count a few Dominator corpses on the first two pages.


----------

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #18 (1/08)
"Hammer to Fall"

There's no actual Legion content here, but this issue features the Daxamite Green Lantern Sodam Yat. Flashbacks show his life on Daxam, where everyone wears big Mon-El-type gold buttons and matching belt buckles.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: The Daxamites call their red sun "Valor" -- which, of course, was Mon-El's superhero name at one point.

----------

SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #36 (1/08)
"The Quest for Cosmic Boy: Epilogue"
ROLL CALL: Atom Girl (cameo)), Brainiac 5, Chameleon (cameo), Cosmic Boy (cameo), Dream Girl, Evolvo-Lad, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl (cameo), Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass (cameo), Supergirl, Star Boy, Sun Boy (cameo), Timber Wolf (cameo), Ultra Boy (cameo), Wildfire (cameo)

Supergirl returns to the 21t century, Brainiac 5's nefarious scheme is revealed, and Lightning Lad takes over as Leader.

The art is still awful, but next month we'll have a new artist...and the return of Jim Shooter. Hooray!

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: The cover pictures Cosmic Boy, Dream Girl, and Ultra Boy in action. Cosmic Boy and Ultra Boy appear in this issue only in cameos, and Dream Girl exclusively inhabits Brainiac 5's dreams.

Before sending Supergirl back to the 21st century, Evolvo Lad wipes her memories of the Legion.

----------

SUPERMAN ANNUAL #13 (2008)
"The Fall"

There is no actual Legion content, but on page 4 the Legion is mentioned. The Phantom Stranger, talking to Superman, says, "All futures are merely possibilities, to one standing in the past. They branch out -- utopian futures, disasters, futures of all shapes and kind. You have seen some of these futures. Your time with the Legion of Super-Heroes, for one. What future will actually come? That depends on what choices we make."

How this philosophy fits in with the restored multiverse, and what it means for the Legion, we can only guess. Does each Earth have its own sheaf of possible futures? There are several versions of the Legion in existence at the moment -- do they come from the future of different Earths, or are they different possible futures from a particular Earth?

This week's "DC Nation" text page (appearing in various comics) identifies 26 of the 52 Earths. Some of them can be identified with alternate versions of the Legion...and others can be ruled out.

Earth-2, home of the original Justice Society -- possibly also home of the "Glorithverse" Legion of LSH #6 - 61, the one with Laurel Gand, Lightning Boy, Reflecto, and Valor.

Earth-3, the Crime Syndicate's world, would seem to be the home of the "Legion of Super-Traitors" from SUPERBOY #117 (12/64) -- except in SUPERBOY #117, Superboy was a member of the Legion. Was there a Superboy on Earth 3? Did he live in Smallvile (with only three Ls)? Maybe he was the teenage version of the Crime Syndicate's Ultraman?

If not, is Earth-3 perhaps home of the evil Legion of Mordru and Glorith from LEGIONNAIRES #18 (9/94)?

Earth-13 is listed as "World of dark and arcane heroes." Could this be the Mordruverse from LSH #5 (3/90)? Or the home of the evil Legion of Mordru and Glorith?

Earth-22, the Kingdom Come universe. A Legion was pictured in one panel of KINGDOM COME -- that Legion was consistent with the Legionnaires/SW6 Legion from LSH #24 - 61 and LEGIONNAIRES #1 - 18 (1992-94). This Legion included Catspaw, Computo, and Dragonmage. In original continuity, the SW6 Legionnaires were "chronal dopplegangers" created by the Time Trapper...but might the Time Trapper have lifted them from Earth-22 instead?

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Monday, November 26, 2007

Week of 21 November 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #23 (11/21/07)
"The Bottled Imp"

No LSH content in this issue. There are some Dominators getting blown up, if that sort of thing excites you.

----------

ACTION #859 (1/08)
"Illegal Aliens: Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes Part 2"
ROLL CALL: Blok (cameo), Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Invisible Kid II (cameo), Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl (cameo), Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet (cameo), Superman, Ultra Boy (cameo), Wildfire (Lightning Saga Legion)
Justice League of Earth: Earth-Man (formerly Absorbancy Boy), Golden Boy, Radiation Roy, Spider-Girl, Storm Boy, Tusker

Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, and Saturn Girl descend into the ruined Batcave, but are soon surprised and taken prisoner by the Justice League of Earth. Meanwhile, Superman learns that the Justice League is a group of rejected Legion applicants, led by Earth-Man (formerly Absorbancy Boy). The JLE has turned the legend of Superman around, saying that he was an Earth native who fought to defend Earth from aliens. The populace of Earth has turned against the Legion and aliens in general.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: The basic situation, Earth turned against the Legion, occurred in ADVENTURE #359/360 (8-9/1967) "The Outlawed Legion/The Legion Chain Gang."

Legionnaires found the ancient Batcave in ADVENTURE #341 (2/1966) "The Weirdo Legionnaire"

The Legion's costumes are pretty impressive: they recall the classic costumes, but have a more modern look. Cosmic Boy's outfit recalls that of Cosmic King from the LSV. Most of the Legionnaires have belts displaying the Legion emblem, but Ultra Boy, Phantom Girl, and Invisible Kid have different belts.

The alien detention center in the last panel is an updated version of the original Legion clubhouse.

----------

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #8 (1/08)
"Three's a Crowd"
ROLL CALL: Bouncing Boy, Lightning Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Phantom Girl, Superman, Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl

The Trips go on dates with Bouncing Boy and Superman...but Starfinger shows up to cause trouble.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: In classic Legion continuity, Chuck and Luornu became a romantic couple and eventually married. Prior to that, Luornu carried the torch for Superboy.

In classic continuity, a previous incarnation of Starfinger kidnapped Luornu on the day of her wedding to Chuck.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Week of 14 November 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #24 (11/14/07)
"Prime Example"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

Karate Kid's "immune system is crashing" and he seems near death, but the Atmoic Kights come to the rescue.

Really, Val and Luornu haven't done much for the last few issues except follow various people around and engage in the obligatory fights that occur in the DC Universe whenever heroes from different titles meet. Honestly, it seems that they were included in COUNTDOWN just in order to sell more comics to die-hard Legion fans. (I suppose I could be charitable and say that they're there in order to show that the Legion is part of the great events taking place in the DC Universe...but I prefer the cynical version.)

----------

SUPERMAN #670 (1/08)
"The Stand (The Third Kryptonian: Finale)"
ROLL CALL: Dawnstar, Lightning Lad, Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Wildfire (statues only) (cameo)

In a fight with Amalak in the Fortress of Solitude, several Legion statues are toppled in the background (page 37, center panel). It's not a Legion appearance as such, but fanatical completists (you know who you are) will want to know about it.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Friday, November 09, 2007

Week of 7 Novembert 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comic.)

COUNTDOWN #25 (11/7/07
"Bedlam Below"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

Fourteen pages of Karate Kid, Una, and Firestorm fighting the Atomic Knights and exploring a bunker beneath Bludhaven. (No word on whether the bunker is known as Command-D.) Val is in bad shape, sweating and coughing up blood as the virus progresses.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Week of 31 October 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

ACTION #858 (12/07)
"Superman & the Legion of Super-Heroes Chapter 1: Alien World"
ROLL CALL: Bouncing Boy (cameo), Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy (cameo), Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl (cameo), Element Lad (cameo), Ferro Lad (cameo), Invisible Kid (cameo), Karate Kid (cameo), Light Lass (cameo), Lightning Lad, Matter-Eater Lad (cameo), Mon-El (cameo), Phantom Girl (cameo), Princess Projectra (cameo), Saturn Girl, Sensor Girl (cameo), Shadow Lass (cameo), Shrinking Violet (cameo), Star Boy/Starmn (cameo), Sun Boy (cameo), Superman, Timber Wolf (cameo), Triplicate Girl (cameo), Ultra Boy (cameo), Wildfire (All presumably Lightning Saga Legion)

Superman doesn't seem to remember the Legion until Brainiac 5, acting by remote control, restores his memory. (During the Lightning Saga, Superman seemed to have memories of the Legion...and he has Legion statues in his Fortress. So what's up with his sudden amnesia?)

Brainy brings Superman to the year 3008, where the Science Police attack him in Legion Headquarters, injuring him. Colossal Boy, Wildfire, and Dawnstar rescue him (Dawny has apparently gained the power to grow enormous boobs). In the last panel, we find out that Earth's sun is now red.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: A seven-page flashback very tenderly tells the story of how poor, lonely Clark Kent was visited by Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, and Saturn Girl, who whisked him away to the future to join the Legion. It's a really sweet retelling of the familiar myth, and shows how much the Legionnaires' friendships meant to young Kal-El. (Notice that the Legionnaires call him "Kel-El" or "Kal," not "Clark.")

The double-page center spread of the Legion is nice, if a little inaccurate (by the time Timber Wolf was a member, Luornu was Duo Damsel; Ferro Lad and Shadow Lass were never contemporaries, and Light Lass is missing her insignia)...but I read it as an idealized composite memory of Superman's

Gim, Dawny, and Drake have great new costumes -- but Drake's is easily the best. Parts of his containment suit seem to be transparent, so you can see his energy swirling within.

The Legion team who came to Headquarters were not expecting Superman -- apparently they were on some other mission. When he breaks in, Colossal Boy takes a packet from his belt and says, "I've got the rings." Flight rings, probably...but where were they taking them?

Curiouser and curiouser....

----------

COUNTDOWN #26 (10/31/07)
"Halfway to Hell"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

Firestorm joins Val and Luornu, and helps Val uncover "the secrets beneath the cratered city of Bludhaven...bringing him closer to his ultimate fate." Which, apparently, is the "inciting event" of the Great Disaster.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Val has been involved with the Great Disaster before: at least, he once visited Kamandi (in KAMANDI #58 in July 1978).

----------

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #10 (12/07)
"What a Wonderful World"
ROLL CALL: Star Boy/Starman

The Superman of Earth 22 (Kingdom Come) shows up at Justice Society headquarters, and Star Boy/Starman babbles on about his sojourn in that continuity. This is obviously a Star Boy/Starman, probably the Lightning Saga one, but I'll be damned if I can figure out exactly where he came from or where he belongs.

----------

SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #35 (12/07)
"E.R.G.onomics Part 2 of 2"
ROLL CALL: Atom Girl, Brainiac 5, Evolvo-Lad, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Supergirl, Timber Wolf, Wildfire

Great Krypton, the art in this book is awful.

For some reason, Colossal Boy and Light Lass are on the cover, even though they don't appear in this issue.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: The relationship between Drake and his brother Randall is a new (and interesting) twist on the character.

Atom Girl rides between telephones on a fiber-optic line, and credits the trick to her "twenty-first century namesake" -- the Atom. Not only a kewl bit, but it links Atom Girl to Ray Palmer's legacy...I think this is the first time there's been a parallel between Ray Palmer and Salu Digby.

Supergirl doesn't seem to distrust Brainy as much as the others do. In the old continuity, Supergirl and Brainiac 5 were an on-again, off-again couple.


----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Catch the Infection

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comic.)

DOCTOR 13: ARCHITECTURE & MORALITY (Trade Paperback, 2007)
(Collects TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #1-8)
ROLL CALL: Infectious Lass

Okay, I missed this entirely.

This is an out-of-continuity story that features nine characters who are being written out of the DC Universe: Doctor 13, his daughter Traci, Anthro, Andrew Bennett, Captain Fear, JEB Stuart's ghost, Genius Jones, a Nazi gorilla named Julius, and Infectious Lass. They fight back against the "architects" (presumably the DC head honchos) and manage to survive as "Team 13."

At least this explains (if "explains" is the word I'm groping for) why Infectious Lass was hovering in the timestream in BOOSTER GOLD #3 a few weeks back.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Missed This One

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comic.)

ACTION #846 (2/07)
"Last Son Part 3"
ROLL CALL: Mon-El

While touring Superman's Fortress of Solitude, General Zod and his companions pass a Phantom Zone viewer and get a glimpse of Mon-El as he "flies on the edge of sanity...seconds from death, forever trapped in that wretched void." This may have been the first sighting of the post-Infinite Crisis Mon-El.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Back in the 1960s, Mon-El frequently appeared in the Phantom Zone viewer in the pages of Action, Superman, and other Superman Family titles.


----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Week of 24 October 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #27 (10/24/07)
"Disasters Great & Otherwise"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

Karte Kid, Una, Buddy Blank, and Buddy's grandson arrive in Bludhaven, and Darkseid plays with his d/o/l/l/s/ action figures.




----------

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31st CENTURY #7 (12/07)
"No Boys Allowed"
ROLL CALL: Bouncing Boy, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Superman, Triplicate Girl

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: In the 31st century, the Amazons have settled on New Themyscira, formerly Jupiter's moon Io. They did a great job of terraforming.

Circe turns the boys into pigs: an echo of how she treated Odysseus' crew in The Odyssey.

In Superman #165 (11/1963), and adult Saturn Girl masqueraded as Circe. In ancient Greece, the real Circe turned a centaur bowman named Biron into Comet the Super-Horse, member of the Legion of Super-Pets. In the Giffbaum Legion, the director of the Earthgov police was named Circe, but whether she was supposed to be the same as the ancient Circe was never clear.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Week of 17 October 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comic.)

COUNTDOWN #28 (10/17/07)
"Now, Forager"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

Brother Eye (sounding a lot like the Emerald Empress at her most demented) sends Karate Kid and Una off to Bludhaven to get a sample of a virus strain very similar to the one infecting Karate Kid.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Blast From the Past

DC SAMPLER #2 1984
ROLL CALL: Blok, Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Mon-El, Sun Boy, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, Wildfire

I ran across this gem in the 25-cent bin. It's a promotional giveaway that features double-page spreads of various DC titles from 1984.

The two-page spread on the Legion is narrated by Dr. Gym'll, and goes like this:

"Once upon a time that hasn't happened yet, three courageous youths banded together to form THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. Over the years their little band grew and had many adventures, battling strange and wondrous foes and visiting incredible planets and dimensions. Some of their friends died, and so did some of their enemies...and along the way they became very famous. *HnfH*

"Our fables will take you from the modest two-hundred room flying headquarters of the Legionnaires of thirtieth-century Earth to the methane-rich worlds of the Gi'dispan, where humans can only survive in pressure bubbles. You may meet the twenty-two active Legionnaires...or more likely, their number may have changed by then. To ease your journey, the accompanying page has a short glossary of useful terms and names.

"The innumerable fans of the Legionnaires have published thousands of fanzines, besieged DC editors to keep them alive through their occasional creative lulls, and one of them even turned out to be the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. If you've never tried the Legion, why don't you discover their secret? And remind them to sign my credit voucher...it's been two days now!"


The accompanying text page gives the following "useful terms and names":

DARKSEID - legendary god of evil, driven from the 30th century by the Legionnaires...but his curse lingers on...

DURLA - ruined in the six-minute war, this world is now inhabited by a race of shape=shifting liens, one of whom joined the LSH as Chameleon Boy

EXILE - not even the readers of the LEION know what this means - yet!

FLIGHT RINGS - each Legionnaire wears a ring of ant-gravity metal, activated by his will power

INVISIBLE KID - once a Legionnaire, he was crushed to death - but then was found alive in another dimensional limbo, convinced he'd gone to hell

KHUNDS - a warrior race from another galaxy, invading Earth is one of their hobbies

LEADER - Legion readers elect the team's leader every year or so - it's not too late to cast your vote this sumer!

LEGION OF SUPER-VILLAINS - a veritable army of enemies, banded together to create a universe without the Legionnaires

POLYMER SCREEN - a transparent molecular screen around the Earth, protecting it from a variety of dangers

SCIENCE POLICE - the United Planets' combination police force and army, led on Earth by Chief Zendak

UNITED PLANETS - the federation which united most of the Milky Way Galaxy

WEBER'S WORLD - the movable artificial globe which houses the U.P. bureaucracy

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Week of 10 October 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #29 (10/10/07)
"Another Country Heard From"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

A single page of Karate Kid and Una facing Brother Eye and learning nothing.



----------
BOOSTER GOLD #3 (12/07)
"Hexed"
ROLL CALL: Infectious Lass (?)

I think that's Infectious Lass floating in the timestream on page 7. Unless there's another white-faced, purple-haired girl with antennae running around the DC Universe.




----------
SUPERMAN #668 (12/07)
"The Hunt" (The Third Kryptonian Part One)

There's no real LSH content in this issue, but Superman does square off with some 21st century Dominators -- so fanatical completists might want to pick up a copy.


----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Friday, October 05, 2007

Week of 3 October 2007

COUNTDOWN #30 (10/3/07)
"Family Feud"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

Karate Kid and Una visit Brother Eye, who detects that Karate Kid is infected with "Omac viral infection" and it's terminal.






----------
SUPERGIRL #22 (12/07)
"Reunion Part 2 of 2"
ROLL CALL: Atom Girl, Brainiac Five, Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Karate Kid (Lightning Saga Legion), Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Supergirl, Timber Wolf, Triplicte Girl, Ultra Boy, Una (Lightning Saga Legion) (NOTE: All except the Lightning Saga Leginnaires are seen only in Supergirl's imagination.)

A rather misleading cover. All month, I was expecting to see both versions of Karate Kid in the same timeframe; instead, we saw the Teenage Revolution LSH only in Supergirl's imagination.

And this issue sheds absolutely no light on the whole Three Legions problem. Bah!


----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Week of 26 September 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #31 (9/26/07)
"New Frontiers"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

Una and Karate Kid meet Buddy Blank; Karate Kid asks him to take them to Brother Eye.

Wow, eight whole panels of Karate Kid and Una (plus a bonus panel with KK's elbow)! DC is certainly stringing this whole Karate Kid story arc out. I guess it sells comics....

----------
SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #34 (11/07)
"E.R.G.onomics Part 1 of 2"
ROLL CALL: Atom Girl, Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Supergirl, Timber Wolf, Wildfire

Ugly art continues as the team on Lallor fights Drake Burroughs aka E.R.G.-1 aka Wildfire, who is trying to kill the President of Lallor.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

In classic Legion continuity, E.R.G.-1 (Drake Burroughs) sacrificed himself by releasing all his energy during a tryout mission against a renegade harvesting machine on the agricultural world Manna-5. This time around, His energy was accidentally released during a tryout mission against a faminebot threatening all crops on Earth.

Supergirl appears only in a monitor image in one panel of this comic.

In the last panel, Timber Wolf has transformed to his more wolf-like state.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Week of 19 September 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #32 (9/12/07)
"Girls Gone Wild"

No LSH content in this issue, unless you want to count Supergirl.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

Back in the day, when all the heroines of the DC Universe gathered together for something like a bachelorette party or Superman's impending death, Saturn Girl (at least) would be invited. But were any of the Legion lasses at Black Canary's event? No! Oh, Oracle was there, you'd think she could have at least said something to Una...but no-o,

And no, there were no Legionnaires at the wedding, either. Guess Karate Kid and Una know where they stand, eh?

----------

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31st CENTURY #6 (11/07)
"Attack of the Green Lantern Corps"
ROLL CALL: Blok, Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Superman, Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl, Tyroc

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

In some previous LSH continuities, the Green Lantern Corps has had minimal interaction with the Legion, and Green Lanterns were forbidden from operating on Earth. Here, there is easy camaraderie between the GLC and the LSH, and evidence that the Legion has worked with at least some Green Lanterns before.

In particular, Cosmic Boy implies that Jordana Gardner has been offered Legion membership, and that the offer still stands.

"Teen Lantern" -- BWAH-ha-ha!

Yup, that's Tyroc. Nice to see him again.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

 Subscribe in a reader

Week of 12 September 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comic.)

COUNTDOWN #33 (9/12/07)
"Let's Make a Deal"

No LSH content in this issue.

In fact, there seem to be no LSH appearances anywhere in the DC Universe this week. Sigh.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

 Subscribe in a reader

Friday, September 07, 2007

Week of 5 September 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #34 (9/5/07)
"Searching for Answers"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (both Lightning Saga Legion)

Karate Kid is carrying a variant of the OMAC virus. Mr. Orr's mysterious master is revealed to be DeSaad, who is seen playing with his d/o/l/l/s/ action figures...including a really cool Karate Kid figure.

----------

SUPERGIRL #21 (11/07)
"Reunion Part 1"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (both Lightning Saga Legion), Supergirl

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

Supergirl starts off with no memory of Karate Kid or Triplicate Girl, but regains her memory of the Teenage Revolution Legion. The confusion is too much for her and she passes out. I know how she feels....

----------

SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: DOMINATOR WAR (Trade Paperback)
2007

Reprints SUPERGIRL & THE LSH #26-30, with a text prologue setting the stage for the Dominator War.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

 Subscribe in a reader

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Reflections on Legion Continuity

Legion continuity has always been a double-edged sword. The complexity of the Legion's vast cast of characters and detailed history is often cited as a barrier to new readers. Who wants to pick up a Legion comic, knowing that just to understand what's going on, you'll have to learn dozens of characters and huge amounts of backstory?

On the other hand, a vast cast and detailed history is the very essense of the LSH. It is, after all, the LEGION of Super-Heroes, not the Handful or Brigade (or Society or League) of Super-Heroes. There's no way around having more than two dozen active Legionnaires...and with that many characters, after a few dozen issues the history unavoidably gets large.

Continuity has been a problem throughout the almost fifty-year history of the LSH.

In the beginning, confusion reigned. Did the Legion operate in the current day, the 21st century, or the 30th century? Were they adults or teens? Did Supergirl meet the original Legionnaires, or their children? What powers, exactly, did Star Boy have? How could Supergirl and Superboy both be Legionnaires, even though Superboy didn't know that Supergirl existed or would exist?

After the Legion started regular appearances in Adventure Comics, continuity became tighter, with story elements continuing across many issues (Mon-El's Phantom Zone imprisonment, Lightning Lad's death, the Time Trapper's Iron Curtain of Time, etc.) By early 1963, most mainstream Legion stories were set against a well-defined background, with events of previous tales accepted as canon.

Through the Silver Age, this continuity continued. It was common for footnotes to be included when characters referred to past events, so that (for example) if Duo Damsel made reference to "When my third body was killed," a helpful note would say "(Way back in Adventure 340)" or something similar.)

Long-time readers delighted in the ever-continuing soap-opera nature of the Legion, and revelled in the awareness of history. There was genuine character development, romances flourished, and to many of us the Legionnaires became more than comic book heroes...they became friends.

The late 1970s saw enormous changes in the Legion, as the characters finally matured and started on the path to adulthood. (One story, considered all but non-canonical by later fans, even attempted to explain why characters in their 20s and 30s were still referred to as "Boy," "Girl," "Lad," etc.) In this period, too, the creative teams deliberately began to use elements of the Legion's 20-year history in stories, delighting long-time fans and sending newcomers scurrying to the back-issue bins at comic shops. Continuity became more important, as the Legion's background became even more complex and more believable.

This version of the Legion had its finest days at the end of the Silver Age, in the period of 1984-1989. Writer Paul Levitz and his creative team were at the height of their abilities; the characters were mature and depth-filled, the finely-detailed background became deeper and more complex with every issue. In this period, DC celebrated the Legion's 30th anniversary, and for a brief moment the team became the stillpoint around which the DC Universe rotated.

But the Silver Age Legion's finest days were also its last gasp. In the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the DC Universe went through big changes, and these changes caused huge problems with Legion history. By far the biggest changes came from John Byrne's re-invention of Superman (who never had a career as Superboy) and DC's insistence that Supergirl had never existed.

Yet if Superboy and Supergirl never existed, then the Legion we knew might just as well not exist. Levitz and his crew went through many contortions trying to preserve the Legion's history, going so far as to invent a parallel "pocket universe" to which Superboy (and presumably Supergirl) belonged, killing off Superboy in the process.

In the end, it all came to naught. A new creative team (Keith Giffen and the Bierbaums, known collectively as the Giffbaums) took over the Legion and rebooted the universe. This new version of the LSH (the "Giffbaum" or "Glorithverse" Legion) tried to straddle official DC continuity and a version of Legion continuity, and rewriting the history of existing characters (so that Supergirl, for example, was replaced by a Daxamite named Laurel Gand, and Mon-El became Valor to fill the role of Superboy).

It would have been one thing if the Giffbaums had made only minor changes to the Legion's history, and then had explained precisely what those changes were. However, having discovered that they had the power to alter history, the Giffbaums used it to enshrine all their pet theories from their fanzine stories into Legion continuity, retroactively inventing new early characters like Kid Quantum and decreeing that Lightning Lad's body had been reanimated with the consciousness of Proty I, for example.

Giffen's art was murky and obscure, the Bierbaums' storytelling techniques were confusing...and to make matters worse, they had chosen to set their new series five years after the conclusion of the old one. Many important and catastrophic events had taken place during this famous "five year gap," but most of those events were not adequately explained to the readers. The result was enormous confusion, and gave a bad name to the whole idea of "Legion continuity."

It got worse. The Giffbaums introduced an entire duplicate Legion, teenage versions of the current team. One set, it seemed, were clones...but was it the current Legionnaires, or the newcomers? The creative team themselves, it seemed, didn't even know...or they had changed their minds so often, that the result was the same.

In 1994 (LSH #53), a new creative team cleared up all the confusion that the Giffbaum years had left, and showed the way back to the Legion we had known and loved all these years. But now, when the Legion seemed ready to rise from the ashes of its last destruction, DC decided to kill it in its prime. Comics had become a new world, and creators got enormous cred from re-imagining old characters and concepts. Prior continuity was a Bad Thing. It was the age of the Relaunch, and the Legion was no exception.

Zero Hour came and went, leaving in its wake a brand-new DC Universe. First there was Earth-Two, then Earth-One, and now Earth-Zero. And for the first time, there was a brand-new version of the Legion, one that started over from the very beginning. In this new Earth-Zero Legion, continuity was a blank slate. And while it was kinda fun seeing how elements of the past re-emerged in this new world, many longtime readers found it hard to care about these new characters.

Longtime readers knew a Lightning Lad who had gone back in time to recruit Superboy, died and been reanimated, lost an arm and worn a robot prosthesis for years, found his brother and lost his parents, served as Legion Leader, went mad and recovered, wooed and married Saturn Girl, retired, become a father, then returned to Legion service as a sort of elder statesman -- not some wet-behind-the-ears brat called Live Wire.

Still, the Earth-Zero Legion had its own charms, and some of us old-timers warmed to the characters. Readers had a whole new continuity to experience, and for a time it seemed that the Legion continued in spirit.

To be sure, there were complications. The need to reinvent was always present. The Legion was Blighted, then Lost, then reinvented again as returnees from another universe. And finally, Reboot Fever could no longer be denied.

So the Earth-Zero Legion vanished, and everything started over again with yet another new continuity: the (current) Teenage Revolution Legion. Again, the Legion was a blank slate. Mark Waid and his team rang changes on elements from previous versions of the Legion, tweaking powers, personalities, histories. There was obvious respect for what had gone before, but at the same time there was the feeling that everything was fresh and new. Once again, Legion fans sat down to learn a new continuity.

Now (late 2007) Legion continuity is again under stress. In addition to the Teenage Revolution Legion, we are seeing another version, the Lightning Saga Legion. This new LSH bears some resemblence to the Silver Age Legion, but it's clear that there are differences in continuity.

Further, there are hints that yet another reboot is coming to the DC Universe. For the Legion's 50th anniversary in 2008, we may see yet another new LSH.

For fifty years, then, continuity has been important to the Legion. We've been through three (major) distinct continuities, with some variations...but there has always BEEN continuity. Readers have always been able to follow characters as they develop, grow, quarrel, fall in love, even die.

The disturbing thing, this time around, is that the bigwigs at DC seem to be unaware of the importance of continuity. We hear them giving hints about the new Legion, saying things like "We're asking ourselves, what are the things everyone remembers?" So we get Karate Kid and Sensor Girl together -- even though we know that grief at Karate Kid's death was the major impetus that turned Princess Projectra into Sensor Girl.

I am afraid that we will soon have a Legion thrown together piecemeal, instead of one that develops organically and continuously. A Legion with no backstory, no history. A Legion whose past will be malleable, changing at the whims of what a particular creative team remembers best from previous versions.

Instead, I say preserve multiple Legion continuities. Give each of the 52 Earths a different Legion, and tell stories of each continuity as the creative teams desire. I've always wanted to see a Legion Quarterly that would tell stories of different Legions -- why not now?

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Week of 29 August 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comic.)

COUNTDOWN #35 (8/29/07)
"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una

Una shows her stuff, and the mysterious Mr. Orr is revealed to be an agent of Checkmate.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Friday, August 24, 2007

Week of 22 August 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #36 (8/22/07)
"Magical Mystery Tour"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (Lightning Saga Legion)

Karate Kid and Una show up at the compound of the mysterious Mr. Orr, and are attacked by a creature named Equus. The episode ends on a cliffhanger that suggests we'll soon see if Una has any super-powers left.

----------
SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #33 (10/07)
"Lord of Lightning: The Quest for Cosmic Boy Part 2"
ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid, Mekt Ranzz, Sun Boy, Star Boy, Tenzil Kem, Timber Wolf, Wanderers, Wildfire

God, the art in this issue is awful. Sometimes it's hard ti distinguish one character from another. And even when the lights are on and there's lightning blazing everywhere, there are still all these dark shadows everywhere.

At least Cosmic Boy is cleared of all charges.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Tenzil displays his Matter-Eater Lad powers.



----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Week of 15 August 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

BOOSTER GOLD #1 (10/07)
"52 Pickup Chapter One: Secret Origins"
ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5 (cameo), Cosmic Boy (cameo), Lightning Lad (cameo), Saturn Girl (cameo)

Booster Gold, under the supervision of Rip Hunter, sets out on a mission to repair time anomalies across the multiverse. Meanwhile, something called "the Great Disaster" seems to be on the way.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

Among the scribblings on a greenboard in Rip Hunter's lab are "Superman & the Legion of Super-Heroes" and "Thom Kallor = Traveler?"

Since Booster Gold has Brainiac 5's force shield belt and a Legion flight ring, some Legion completists maintain that an LSH collection should include all appearances of Booster Gold. Even Get-a-Life Boy doesn't go that far.

----------
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #6 (10/07)
"The Lords of Luck Chapter Six: The Girl Who Knew Too Much"
ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Star Boy, Triplicate Girl, Ultra Boy (all Teenage Revolution version)

The Luck Lords are defeated by the Challengers of the Unknown. Along the way, Supergirl reads the entire Book of Destiny; overwhelmed, she mutters, "...New Gods...Great Disaster...Eartthfall..."

----------
COUNTDOWN #37 (8/15/07)
"Forbidden Fruit"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una (both Lightnnig Saga Legion)

Karate Kid has a virus that is either of alien origin, or from the future. (Since Karate Kid is from the future, and has been on plenty of alien planets, all I can say is: Duh.)

Yup, the Great Disaster is definitely on its way.

Unless...maybe "the Great Disaster" refers to DC's current treatment of Legion continuity?

----------
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #5 (10/07)
"Lightning Strikes"
ROLL CALL: Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Superman, Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl

BITS Of leGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: A text page lists "lesser-known Legionnaires...some you've met, some you'll see soon, and some just may remain a legend." These lesser-known Legionnaires are: Blok, Calamity King, Chameleon Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Ferro Lad, Fire Lad, Invisible Kid, Monstress, Polar Boy, Princess Projectra, Quislet, Reflecto, Shadow Lass, and Sun Boy.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Week of 8 August 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comic.)

COUNTDOWN #38 (8/8/07)
"All Hell"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una

Karate Kid and Una watch as Oracle uses her powers of technobabble to deal with a mysterious computer thingy. Then, Karate Kid tells Oracle that he needs her help because he's dying.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: So Karate Kid is dying. A-gain [rolls eyes]. Okay, here's a thought: this version of Karate Kid died on Orando long ago. So now he's one of the anomalies that the Monitors are so concerned about.

In this issue of Countdown we are told that these anomalies are causing damage to the "source walls" that keep the 52 universes apart. "If the source walls collapse, even we cannot accurately predict what will happen. We might be left with chaos. Planets might crash into each other across the vibrational planes until they are all destroyed."

Maybe that's happening in the 31t century: three versions of the Legion are coming together: the classic (Silver Age) Legion, the Earth-Zero Legion, and the current Teenage Revolution Legion. The anomalies (i.e.this Karate Kid, alive when he shouldn't be) are the first ones up against the wall.

And why does this Karate Kid exist at all? Maybe in the wake of Infinite Crisis, the Cosmic Balance required that there be three of every Legionnaire...so dead Legionnaires were brought back to life as anomalies, to balance their counterparts in the other two universes? Should we expect to see a resurrected classic Ferro Lad or Lyle Norg? (Hmmm...just how discriminating is the Cosmic Balance? Take Lyle...he was replaced by Jacques, so maybe that balances the Invisible Kid equation. (But Val was replaced by Myg...?) And what about Ferro Lad: his Earth-Zero counterpart was from the 20th century, and I don't think we've seen a Ferro Lad in the current continuity.

...No, it still doesn't make any sense. And thinking too hard about it makes my head hurt.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Week of 1 August 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #39 (8/1/07)
"Do Not Pass Go"
ROLL CALL: Karate Kid, Una

Karate Kid and Una (both from the Lightning Saga Legion) pay a call on Oracle, who will apparently have some answers. I hope so.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: In this issue, Jimmy Olsen (as Mr. Adventure) displays Elastic Lad powers.

----------
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #8 (10/07)
"Bells & Whistles"
ROLL CALL: Dream Girl (cameo)

Dream Girl (of the Lightning Saga Legion) appears on page 1 in a one-panel flashback to the Lightning Saga.




----------


COMPOSITE SUPERMAN action figure
First Appearance Series 3
includes a mini-reproduction of World's Finest #142
ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5 (cameo), Mon-El (cameo), Saturn Girl (cameo), Sun Boy (cameo); Statuettes: Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Elastic Lad, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Mon-El, Phantom Lad, Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Supergirl, Triplicate Girl, Ultra Boy

Joe Meach, caretaker at the Superman Museum, was standing by the Legion Statuettes when they were struck by lightning. As a result, he gained the powers of all the Legionnaires. Using Chameleon Boy's power, he took on the form and identity of the Composite Superman (a half-Batman, half-Superman figure with Brainiac 5's green skin) and menaced Batman and Superman.

See, even in those days continuity was a mess.

The Composite Superman figure is a perfect accompaniment to your own Legion Statuettes.

(Later addition: Apparently this figure has been out for a long time. What can I say? I didn't see it until this week. Oops!)

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Friday, July 27, 2007

Week of 25 July 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

COUNTDOWN #40 (7/25/07)
"Small Wonders"

No LSH content in this issue, but it looks as if Karate Kid is going to be on the cover next week.

COUNTDOWN seems to be revisiting the Karate Kid storyline about every other issue, although whiny little Mary Marvel seems to be in every issue.

----------

SUPERGIRL & THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #32 (9/07)
"Lord of Lightning: The Quest for Cosmic Boy Part 1 of 2"
ROLL CALL: Atom Girl, Brainiac 5, Chameleon (cover only), Cosmic Boy, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Mekt Ranzz, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Supergirl, Tenzil Kem, Timber Wolf

Tenzil and the team on Winath run afoul of a hooded figure called the Lord of Lightning.

Hmmm...new art, from the "murky/shadowy/brooding/make-everyone-ugly" school. Mekt's now-you-see-it-now-you-don't stubble is interesting. And somebody sure likes to draw lightning, don't they? Perhaps the art will improve with time....

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: DC continues its fixation on linking the LSH and lightning in this issue. Perhaps there's a connection to the Lightning Saga?

The backstory of the Ranzz siblings remains substantially the same as in the classic Legion, with the addition of the connection to Validus the storm god.

In classic continuity, Validus (of the Fatal Five) was the child of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl, sent back in time and physically transformed by Darkseid. This time around, "Validus" is the name of a Winathian storm god; perhaps Validus of the Fatal Five took his name from that god.

The hooded figure on Winath is called "the Lord of Lightning." In classic continuity, Mekt Ranzz took the name Lightning Lord.

----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Week of 18 July 2007

(SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers. Don't read it before you've read the comics.)

This week...three comics with three different versions of the Legion. Personally, I'm waiting to see the other 49 versions....

BRAVE & THE BOLD #5 (9/07)
"The Batman of Tomorrow" (Lords of Luck Chapter 5)

ROLL CALL: Atom Girl, Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dream Boy, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Supergirl, Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl, Ultra Boy

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: The events of this story "occur before JLA/JSA: The Lightning Saga"...and involve a completely different version of the Legion. I sure hope somebody at DC is paying attention to Legion continuity.

Brainy is being particularly offensive to Batman; not very smart of him, is it?

Karate Kid's fight with Batman echoes Batman's fight with a different Karate Kid in The Lightning Saga.

Although Supergirl appears as a Legion member on the splash page, only her 21st-century self takes part in the story. Good thing, otherwise it would be even more confusing.

----------

COUNTDOWN #41 (7/18/07)
"Another Fine Mess"

ROLL CALL: Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Karate Kid, Sensor Girl, Una (aka Triplicate Girl/Duo Damsel), Wildfire

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: The events of this story take place at the end onf JLA/JSA: The Lightning Saga"...and involve the classic Legion (sorta). And the confusion only gets worse.

Val calls Luornu "Triplicate Girl" -- although in this version of the Legion, she has been Duo Damsel for quite a long time. She corrects him: "Actually, it's just the one -- it's Una now." (The last time she was down to one body, after an encounter with Glorith, we were calling her "Single Sis" -- and she gained the ability to project a force shield like Brainiac 5's belt. She got better.)

Now she's "Una" -- and, apparently, she has the power to split into one body. Huh? (No word on whether she has her force shield powers.) And she's staying behind in the 21st century with Karate Kid...and they have a very long journey ahead of them.

----------

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #4 (9/07)
"Higher Education"

ROLL CALL: Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, (Young) Superman, Triplicate Girl

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: We learn that the average Coluan has eighth-level intelligence, while Brainy has twelfth-level. As Lightning Lad says, "Even among his own kind, he's a weirdo." The Legion has always been a haven for kids who were "loners, outcasts, stiffs." It's nice to see this tradition continuing.

Catch Triplicate Girl's subtle transformation on page 13: first there are three Trips, each holding a book...then there is one Trip, with one book in her hand and two under her arm, and just the last traces of her other two bodies merging. Nice effect!


----------
Visit Get-a-Life Boy's LSH page at http://www.readersadvice.com/lsh/lsh.html