Monday, June 30, 2008

June 2008 Retrospective

The Legion debuted in a comic cover-dated April 1958 (ADVENTURE 247). However, comics cover-dated June usually appear in stores during April. Sometimes DC celebrates the Legion’s anniversary in comics cover-dated April, sometimes in comics cover-dated June.

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45 Years Ago:

ADVENTURE #309 (6/1963)
“The Legion of Super-Monsters”
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Brainiac 5, Bouncing Boy, Cosmic Boy, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Invisible Kid, Mon-El, Matter-Eater Lad, Sun Boy, Superboy, Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet, Triplicate Girl, Ultra Boy

ADVENTURE #309 (6/1963)
“The Fake Superboy from Krypton”
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Brainiac 5

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40 Years Ago:

ADVENTURE 369 (6/1968)
“Mordru the Merciless”
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Cosmic Boy, Mon-El, Mordru, Sun Boy, Superboy, Saturn Girl, Supergirl, Shadow Lass, Duo Damsel

SUPERBOY #147 (6/1968)
“Origin of the Legion”
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Lightning Lad, Light Lass, Mon-El, Phantom Girl, R.J. Brande, Sun Boy, Superboy, Saturn Girl, Supergirl, Shrinking Violet, Duo Damsel, Ultra Boy

This 80-page giant also reprinted the following stories:
“The Boy With Ultra-Powers” from SUPERBOY #98
“The Legion of Super-Traitors” from ADVENTURE #293
“Supergirl’s Three Super-Girl Friends” from ACTION #276
“The Secret of the Seventh Super-Hero” from ADVENTURE #290
“The Legion of Super-Villains” from SUPERMAN #147

SUPERBOY #148 (6/1968)
“Superboy’s Greatest Gamble”
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Polar Boy

JIMMY OLSEN #111 (6/1968)
“Elastic Lad’s Wrestling Match”
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Elastic Lad

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

It wasn’t until the Legion’s tenth anniversary that the group’s origin story was told, in the SUPERBOY 80-page giant. SUPERBOY #147 was obviously issued to coincide with the anniversary, although nothing was made of it at the time.

Although the Jimmy Olsen story was a reprint from JIMMY OLSEN 54, the story had four additional pages.

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35 Years Ago:

SUPERBOY #195 (6/1973)
“The One-Shot Hero”
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Bouncing Boy, Chemical King, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Shrinking Violet, Wildfire (as ERG-1)

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: This introduced Drake Burroughs (ERG-1/Wildfire), gave his origin, and featured his “death.”

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30 Years Ago:

SUPERBOY & THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #240 (6/1978)
“The Man Who Manacled the Legion”
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Cosmic Boy, Colossal Boy, Phantom Girl, Sun Boy, Superboy, Timber Wolf, Grimbor

KARATE KID #14 (6/1978)
“Diamondeth is Forever”
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Karate Kid

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25 Years Ago:

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES [1980] #300 (6/1983)
“The Future is Forever”
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Chemical King, Color Kid, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Duo Damsel, Element Lad, Fire Lad, Invisible Kid II, Karate Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Night Girl, Phantom Girl, Polar Boy, Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet (Yera), Star Boy, Stone Boy, Sun Boy, Superboy, Supergirl, Timber Wolf, Tyroc, Ultra Boy, Wildfire, Circadia Senius, Insect Queen, Pete Ross, R.J. Brande, Rond Vidar, Cosmic King, Emerald Empress, Fatal 5, Lightning Lord, Mano, Mordru, Persuader, Saturn Queen, Tharok, Validus, more

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

A grand celebration of the Legion’s 25th anniversary. As part of the framing story, the Legionnaires gather for an unspecified ceremony celebrating the Legion.

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20 Years Ago:

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES [1984] #47 (6/1988)
“Conspiracy Theory”
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Duo Damsel, Invisible Kid II, Lamprey, Lightning Lass, Magnetic Kid, Mon-El, Nightwind, Phantom Girl, Polar Boy, Quislet, Sensor Girl, Shadow Kid, Shadow Lass, Shrinking Violet, Shvaughn Erin, Starfinger II, Sun Boy, Timber Wolf, Tellus, Ultra Boy, White Witch, Wildfire, Year

INVASION #1 (6/1988)
“Alien Alliance”
ROLL CALL (L.E.G.I.O.N.): Garryn Bek, Vril Dox

WANDERERS #1 (6/1988)
“From Graves of Nothing…”
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Bouncing Boy, Element Lad, Karate Kid, Mon-El, Sun Boy, Ultra Boy, Dartalon, Elvar, Re-Animage, Ornithax, Psyche, Quantum Queen

WHO’S WHO IN THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1 (6/1988)
Reference

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS:

On the Legion’s 30th anniversary, the group briefly became the stillpoint around which the whole DC Universe revolved. The big summer crossover series, INVASION, was firmly based in the Legion mythos. Set in the 20th Century, INVASION involved many of planets and alien races that first appeared in tales of the Legion: Coluans, Daxamites,
Dominators, Khunds, Talokians, etc. It also featured some ancestors of actual Legionnaires, Vril Dox among them. INVASION was also the launchpad for L.E.G.I.O.N.

At the same time, the Wanderers were spun off into their own title, and DC launched the 7-part WHO’S WHO IN THE LSH. It was a great time to be a Legion fan.

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15 Years Ago:

L.E.G.I.O.N.’93 #53 (6/1993)
“Shadows of the Past”
ROLL CALL: Lady Quark, Lydea Mallor, Lyrissa Mallor, Phase, Strata, Telepath

L.E.G.I.O.N.’93 #54 (6/1993)
“Passages”
ROLL CALL: Garryn Bek, Lady Quark, Lydea Mallor, Phase, Strata, Vril Dox

LEGIONNAIRES #3 (6/1993)
“The Beast Below”
ROLL CALL (SW6 Legion): Andromeda, Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Dragonmage, Gossamer, Invisible Kid, Inferno, Leviathan, Live Wire, Shrinking Violet, Saturn Girl, Cera Kesh/Emerald Empress II, Mordecai, Persuader
ROLL CALL (5-Year-Gap Legion): Chameleon Boy

LEGION OF SUPER_HEROES [1989] #44 (6/1993)
“Projectra Returns”
ROLL CALL (5-Year-Gap Legion): Ayla (Lightning Lass), Blood Claw, Brainiac 5, Celeste Rockfish, Devlin O'Ryan, Drura (Infectious Lass), Firefist, Flederweb, Garth (Lightning Lad), Jacques (Invisible Kid II), Jo (Ultra Boy), Kent Shakespeare, Kono, Laurel Gand, Lydda (Night Girl), Martian Manhunter, Mordru, Nura (White Witch), Rokk (Cosmic Boy), Princess Projectra, Roxxas, Sussa (Spider Girl), Tenzil (Matter-Eater Lad), Veilmist

VALOR #8 (6/1993)
“Red Alert”
ROLL CALL: Valor

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10 Years Ago:

LEGIONNAIRES #61 (6/1998)
"If I Could Turn Back Time..."
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dream Girl, Duo Damsel, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Shrinking Violet, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Superboy, Supergirl, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, Wildfire
ROLL CALL (Earth-Zero Legion): Cosmic Boy (cameo), Ferro, Gates, Inferno (cameo), Kid Quantum, Kinetix, Lori Morning, Monstress, Rond Vidar, Saturn Girl (cameo), Spark (cameo), Triad (cameo), Ultra Boy (cameo), XS

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES [1989] #105
"Time Won't Let Me"
ROLL CALL: Multiple versions of just about every Legionnaire from every continuity

GREEN LANTERN [1990] #99
"Futureshock Part 2"
ROLL CALL (Earth-Zero Legion): Apparition, Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Ferro, Invisible Kid, LeVIathan, Live Wire, Saturn Girl, Spark, Star Boy, Ultra Boy, XS


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5 Years Ago:

THE LEGION #19 (6/2003)
"Dreamcrime: Part One"
ROLL CALL (Earth-Zero Legion): Apparition, Brainiac 5.1, Chameleon Boy, Dr. Gym'll, Dreamer, Kid Quantum, LeVIathan, Saturn Girl, Sensor, Shikari, Star Boy

SUPERMAN & BATMAN: GENERATIONS III #4 (6/2003)
"Century 23: Return of the Warrior"
ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5, Saturn Girl


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