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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Week of 25 June 2008

I didn't see any comics with Legion content this week.

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Saturday, June 21, 2008

Week of 18 June 2008

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

DREAMWAR #3 (8/08)
"Mettle!"
ROLL CALL: Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl, Ultra Boy

Element Lad is killed, and Sun Boy's fate is unknown. Meanwhile, Triplicate Girl makes reference to "Chimera Lad," who seems to be in charge; at Chimera's order, DC heroes are killing people left and right, while suffering their own casualties.

Okay, it's issue 3 of a 6-issue series, and I still don't have a clue what's going on. Since this series was written by Keith Giffen, I am not at all surprsed.

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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Week of 11 June 2008

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

BOOSTER GOLD #10 (8/08)
"Blue & Gold Chapter 5: Mindgames"
ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5 (Classic Legion)

This is complicated. Time travel stories are like that. Trust me.

Rip Hunter and two friends appear in Brainiac 5's lab in (apparently) the "new" LSH Headquarters (from ADVENTURE 367). In an attempt to repair the time stream by reinstating Booster Gold's origin, they knock Brainy out and steal a time bubble and flight ring.

Booster Gold, as usual, wears a Legion flight ring throughout the story.

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #15 (8/08)
"In a Flash"
ROLL CALL: Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Lightning Lad (cover only), Phantom Girl (cover only), Saturn Girl (cover only), Timber Wolf (cover only), Tharok, Triplicate Girl

Chuck and Luornu, on a date in virtual reality, call in Brainiac 5 to assist Bart Allen in defeating Tharok.

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MISSED THIS ONE WHEN IT CAME OUT:
ACTION #851 ((8/07)
"Last Son Part Four"
ROLL CALL: Dev-Em, Mon-El

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: In the Phantom Zone, Mon-El explains his background to Superman, who has clearly forgotten him, Then, when Superman does remember and tries to bluff Mon-El ("Oh, yeah, I promised you that I'd find a cure for your lead poisoning, but...uh...every time I've tried I've failed...yeah, tried and failed, that's the ticket...sorry, it's been a busy twenty years, but we'll have you out of here before the next millennium...or maybe soon after..."), Mon is really, really nice about it. He even risks his life to save Supes from Dev-Em.

This time around, Dev-Em was a Kryptonian criminal sentenced to the Phantom Zone for "cimes of murder and perversion." From the looks of it, he was guilty of severe fashion crimes, as well. As of yet, he has no connection to the Legion. (In original continuity, Dev-Em was a Kryptonian juvenile delinquent who escaped the destruction of the planet and later appeared in Smallville to make Superboy's life miserable. He later traveled to the 30th century, reformed, and became a spy for the UP. He's one of the few people to have turned down Legion membership.

Later on, Dev-Em was retconned several times, and eventually became a renegade Daxamite who fought with Superman and was responsible for blowing up the moon. Guess Ol-Vir was busy that day.

It's possible that Dev-Em has had the most drastic series of retcons in Legion history.

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Saturday, June 07, 2008

Week of 4 June 2008

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

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #16 (7/08)
"One World Under Gog Part 1: He Came, and Salvation With Him"
ROLL CALL: Starman/Star Boy (Lightning Saga Legion) (cover only)

Starman/Star Boy appears on the cover of this issue (at least, most of him does), but not in the comic itself.

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: 1,050 Years of the Future TPB
June 2008

Contains the following stories and features:

  • Introduction by Paul Levitz (new)
  • "The Legion of Super-Heroes" reprinted from ADVENTURE 247 (with cover)
  • "The Stolen Super-Powers" reprinted from ADVENTURE 304
  • "The Super-Sacrifice of the Legionnaires" reprinted from ADVENTURE 312 (with cover)
  • Text page by Jim Shooter (new)
  • "The Adult Legion" reprinted from ADVENTURE 354 (with thumbnail cover)
  • "War of the Legions" reprinted from ADVENTURE 355 (with thumbnail cover)
  • Cover picture from LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION C-49
  • "The Legion's Home Base" reprinted from LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION C-49
  • "Last Fight for a Legionnaire" reprinted from SUPERBOY 212 (with cover)
  • Cover picture from ALL-NEW COLLECTOR'S EDITION C-55
  • "The Origins & Powers of the Legionnaires" reprinted from ALL-NEW COLLECTOR'S EDITION C-55
  • "The Future is Forever" reprinted from LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #300 (with cover)
  • "The Legion Constitution" adapted from WHO'S WHO IN THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 2-6
  • Pinup reprinted from HISTORY FO THE DC UNIVERSE PORTFOLIO
  • "Zero Hour and the Legion of Super-Heroes" by Mark Waid (new)
  • "Time and Chance" reprinted from LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 0 (with thumbnail cover)
  • Cover picture from LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 80
  • Pinup reprinted from LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES SECRET FILES 1
  • "Bedtime Story" reprinted from LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE 80-PAGE GIANT
  • Cover picture from THE LEGION 3
  • "Legion World" reprinted from THE LEGION 3
  • "Third Time's the Charm?" text page (new)
  • Cover of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 37


BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: If this collection can be said to have a theme, I think that theme is "Death and Change." (Okay, two themes.)

Death: There's the death of Lightning Lad and Proty, the deaths of several Legionnaires in "The Adult Legion," more deaths than I care to count in "The Future is Forever," Garth's (believed) death in "Legion World," and the one that dominates both "The Adult Legion" and "The Future is Forever," the death of Ferro Lad.

Change: Lightning lad dies and is reborn, the Legionnaires grow up, Matter-Eater Lad leaves to go into politics, whole possible futures come and go, the Legion is rebooted, they get their own world....

Paul Levitz put his finger on it in his introduction: "...the ingredient that made the series unique among comics of the time: the possibility of real, and even tragic, change in the status quo. Characters could die, be reborn, even crippled, love, marry or separate...storytelling tools that wouldn't be used widely in American comics until two decades later."

After fifty years, we know that the one constant in the Legion is change. And that's why I have hope that the Legion will still be around (in one form or another) in another fifty years. The Legion changes with changing times, so it is always able to adapt.

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