Bottle City of Kandor

Not really Legion-related, but anyway....

Here's our Bottle City of Kandor. We've had it forever, and finally today I added the little battery-powered lights that we bought at Ikea maybe ten years ago.


And here's the city without its bottle:


I know that the Animated Legion visited Kandor; and in ACTION recently Brainiac had cities from worlds like Tharr and Winath -- can anyone else think of any Legion/Kandor connections that I'm not remembering?
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Week of 28 January 2009

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

FINAL CRISIS #7 (3/09)
"New Heaven, New Earth"
ROLL CALL (Retro/Lightning Saga Legion): Starman/Star Boy

So Final Crisis is finally over. Good. Now maybe someone will explain to me what happened....

Besides a few cameos of Thom, there is a Miracle Machine that Superman builds from odd bits of string and bailing wire, based on a quick glimpse of the one he saw a thousand years in the future. Guess it's a good thing he has x-ray vision, total recall, and infinite manual dexterity.

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JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #23 (3/09)
"Between a Rock and a Hard Place Part One: The Power of Shazam"
ROLL CALL (Rretro/Lightning Saga Legion): Starman/Star Boy

Thom's story is dispatched in one panel and an editorial note: "For more on Starman's 'secret mission,' see Final Crisis: Legon of Three Worlds." I'd love to.

Just as an aside, let's give a cheer for the return of editorial notes to the DC Universe. (I guess they came back as a result of Final Crisis. Maybe that's what Final Crisis was all about.) Long time ago, comics were filled with the editorial voice. In narrative boxes, the editorial voice oriented readers in time and space ("Later that day, in Metorpolis") or gave us footnotes ("As seen in the memorable Adventure #247"). Nowadays, those text rectangles are usually the voices of characters...but here, the editorial footnote reappears. Welcome back, editorial footnote!

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #50 (3/09)
"Hack the Infinity Net: Enemy Manifest Conclusion"
ROLL CALL (Teenage Revolution Legion): Atom Girl, Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Gazelle, Invisible Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Star Boy, Ultra Boy, Wildfire

This is the last issue of this incarnation of the Legion, and what a pity. The whole storyline has obviously been rushed to conclusion, and suffers from it. Ah, well, can't be helped, I suppose.

I hope we get to see more of the Teenage Revolution Legion. There's a lot there to like, and more than a few loose ends. What will become of Projectra? Are Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl back together? And what will the President think of that? Why is Invisible Kid suddenly twelve years old? Will we ever see Dream Boy again? Who and/or what is M'Rissey?

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: So Dreamy and the others are back, as clones. Doesn't Brainy know the problem with Legion clones: that after a little while they explode?

Is it me, or do the enemy and their cities visually recall the Seerons from way, way back?

So besides conversation, what were Atom Girl, Gazelle, and Saturn Girl on this mission for? Did any of them use their powers?

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SUPERMAN #684 (3/09)
"The Mind of Rudy Jones"
ROLL CALL (Gods-Know-What Legion): Mon-El

The Parasite, newly removed from the Phantom Zone, attacks Mon-El and absorbs some of his power...including, apparently, his ability to use contractions in speech. Mon does get in a good zinger: when Supes says "I'll talk to you soon," Mon replies, "Do not worry. It is not like I am going anywhere." Snap!

Let's see, it's been...what?...fifteen years Mon-El's been in the Phantom Zone waiting for Supes to get around to curing him. Fifteen years down, only a thousand more to go. Sheesh, Kal-El can build a Miracle Machine from scratch and save the Multiverse with it...but when it comes to getting an old friend out of the Phantom Zone, it's "I'll talk to you soon."

I would not be blame Mon-El if he decides to spend most of the next century floating invisibly behind Superman, holding up his fingers as rabbit ears behind the Man of Steel's head.

There, I said it.

Mon-El will be on the cover of ACTION #874 in two weeks, for "part one of a two-part story that takes Superman back to the Phantom Zone!"

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Get-a-Life Boy's Legion Stuff Part 3

Here's the rest of my Legion stuff.


ABOVE: My office wall is a big Legion display. It's kinda tight in there, so I can't really get far enough away for a good panorama. The Legion Wall is dominated by the big, long, 1980's-era "everybody who was ever in a Legion comic" poster. That poster was reprinted in one edition of the Great Darkness Saga trade paperback. The rest of the wall is taken up by trading cards and posters.


ABOVE: Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad/Live Wire, Triad, Superboy, and the three-part "Great Darkness" card set.


ABOVE: Chameleon, Leviathan, Andromeda, Brainiac 5, Supoerboy, Ultra Boy/Emerald Dragon


ABOVE: Ultra Boy/Emerald Dragon, Shrinking Violet, Pulse, Inferno, Valor, Ferro, Computo


ABOVE: Dragonmage, XS, Kinetix, Glorith, and Vril Dox


ABOVE: This was another "everybody" poster, from the Earth-Zero Legion.


ABOVE: This poster came out when the Earth-Zero Legion met the Fatal Five.


ABOVE: This is a signed-and-numbered print by Chris Sprouse. Renfield got this for me as a present. It's cool.


ABOVE: DC put out these Legion membership cards as promotional items for the Earth-Zero Legion. There is a blank one in Part 1 of this series. This is the one I carry in my wallet. (Well, my alias is Get-a-Life Boy.)

NOT PICTURED: My Legion flight ring. It's gold-colored metal, and it comes in a box with a notice that this ring will not make you fly. Yeah, not with the inhibitor circuit that they installed. It's easy enough to defeat that circuit, though....

My Flight Ring served as my Vermont civil union ring in 2000. Thomas used a Star Wars ring.


ABOVE: And here's what started it all: the comics. The notebook is an index. Bagged and boarded, my Legion comics go into seven long comic boxes (I started a new box this year.)

How many boxes do your Legion comics take up?


ABOVE: First box thru 1974, second box 1975-1986.


ABOVE: Third box, 1986-1992, Fourth box 1992-1997.


ABOVE: Fifth box, 1997-2003, Sixth box 2003-2008, Seventh box 2009+

So how do you have your comics organized?

What cool Legion stuff do you have?

And what is on your wish-list for Legion goodies? Personally, I'd like to see many more action figures -- especially a complete Fatal Five. And some Legion cruisers would be nice. And, of course, there's that large-size anatomically-correct Mon-El figure, complete with Bob Cobb disguise including hairbrushes and sample case, and shared-bedroom-with-Kal playset....

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Get-a-Life Boy's Legion Stuff Part 2

Here's Part Two of my tour of Legion stuff.


ABOVE: These are my action figures. Some are purchased, others are custom-made. I made the customs myself, starting with various other action figures and using sculpey, paint, cardboard, and assorted fabric scraps. They light up when the Legion needs me to come to the future. Closer views below.


ABOVE: Back row (left to right): Phantom Girl (custom), Ultra Boy (purchased), Timber Wolf (purchased).
Middle row (left to right): Lightning Lass (custom), Blok (custom), Invisible Kid (Jacques) (custom), Invisible Kid (Lyle) (purchased), White Witch (custom), Sun Boy (purchased), Duo Damsel (custom), Superboy (purchased).
Front Row (left to right): XS (custom), Tellus (custom), Krypto (purchased).


ABOVE: Back Row (left ot right): Phantom Girl (custom), Ultra Boy (purchased), Timber Wolf (purchased), Mon-El (purchased), Shadow Lass (custom).
Middle row (left to right): White Witch (custom), Invisible Kid (Lyle) (purchased), Sun Boy (purchased), Superboy (purchased), Lightning Lad (purchased), Saturn Girl (purchased).
Front row (left to right): Tellus (custom), Krypto (purchased), Shrinking Violet (custom).


ABOVE: Back row (left to right): Ultra Boy (purchased), Timber Wolf (purchased), Mon-El (purchased), Shadow Lass (custom), Ferro Lad (purchased), Sensor Girl (custom), Karate Kid (custom), Princess Projectra (custom).
Middle row (left to right): Superboy (purchased), Lightning Lad (purchased), Saturn Girl (purchased), Cosmic Boy (purchased), Chameleon Boy (purchased), Supergirl (purchased).
Front row (left to right): Krypto (purchased), Shrinking Violet (custom), Proty II (custom), Streaky.


ABOVE: Back row (left to right): Mon-El (purchased), Shadow Lass (custom), Ferro Lad (purchased), Sensor Girl (custom), Karate Kid (custom), Princess Projectra (custom), Kent Shakespeare (custom).
Middle Row (left to right): Lightning Lad (purchased), Saturn Girl (purchased), Cosmic Boy (purchased), Chameleon Boy (purchased), Supergirl (purchased), Brainiac 5 (purchased)/
Front row (left to right): Proty II (custom), Streaky (purchased)


ABOVE: Back row (left to right): Kent Shakespeare (custom), Star Boy (purchased), Dream Girl (custom), Star Boy/Starman (custom).
Middle row (left to right): Element Lad (custom), Colossal Boy (purchased), Wildfire (custom).
Front row : Dawnstar (custom).

The Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Cosmic Boy figures came with flight belts. In addition, Saturn Girl had her own stand; Lightning Lad came with interchangeable robot and real arms and a plastic flight ring; and Cosmic Boy came with two steel balls (there are magnets in his hands) and a plastic flight ring.


ABOVE: Three more purchased figures with a Legion connection: Superboy (Kon-El) (who actually was a Legionnaire); The Martian Manhunter (who was a Legion wedding guest and worked with the Five-Year-Gap Legion); and Impulse (Bart Allen), who met the Legion and is cousin to XS.

Next entry: a few other bits of stuff.


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Get-a-Life Boy's Legion Stuff Part 1

Today we got off work early for snow, so I took some time to arrange my Legion stuff and take pictures for this blog. (Thomas helped a lot.) By "stuff" I mean "things that aren't comics." This isn't everything, but it's the stuff I have all in one place.


ABOVE: A long shot of most of my stuff. Close-ups follow.


ABOVE: Books. There's the 12 volumes of Legion Archives, a bunch of comic collections, two copies of The Legion Companion and, between them, the Mayfair Games modules and sourcebooks. Teenagers From the Future should be there too, but it's still downstairs.


ABOVE: These metal figures were among the first Legion realia. They would look a lot better if they were painted, but that requires a level of patience and hand-eye co-ordination that I lack. From left to right, they are: Blok, Sensor Girl, Wildfire, Dawnstar, Element Lad, Lightning Lord, the Emerald Empress, Tyr, the Persuader, and Mordru. Interesting lineup....


ABOVE: The Legion PVC figures came in their own clubhouse-shaped box. I like how the Colossal Boy figure is bigger than the others. To their left is Mordru and the Composite Superman, along with two plastic flight rings and a Legion membership card.


ABOVE: These pocket figures came in two-packs with the included backgrounds. There's also a Saturn Girl figure, but she is using her telepathy to prevent you from seeing her.


ABOVE: Heroclix. There's the boxed set above, and below are (left to right) Wildfire, Shadow Lass, Kid Quantum, M'Onel, Saturn Girl, Triad, Cosmic Boy, Live Wire, Shauvghn Erin, Brainiac 5 & Koko, Supergirl, Mono, Mordru, Persuader, and Emerald Empress. The boxed set is unusual because the figures are based on the animated LSH, but they are more realistic sculpts.


ABOVE: McDonald's toys based on the animated LSH. These are PVC figures in little book-like containers, each with a trading card. Top row, left to right: Brainiac 5, Lightning Lad, Validus, Tharok; Bottom row, left to right: Bouncing Boy, Timberwolf, Young Superman, Mano.

Apparently, it is impossible to get a complete set of Fatal Five figures in the same format.


ABOVE: Thomas made these Legion mice out of sculpey and paint as a present for me. Isn't he great?

Next entry: My action figures.

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Week of 21 January 2009

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

I did not see any Legion appearances in the DC Universe this week.

However, here's one that long-time Legion fans might want to take a look at:

SUPERMAN/BATMAN ANNUAL #3 (3/09)
"Compound Fracture"

In this "Re-Imagined Tale From Yesteryear," the new Composite Superman appears.

THEN...
The first Composite Superman appeared 44 years ago in WORLD'S FINEST #142 (6/1964). In that story, a down-on-his-luck janitor at the Superman Museum named Joe Meach had an unfortunate accident. He was standing next to the Legion statuettes when lightning struck them and him. Naturally, from this accident he gained the powers of all the Legionnaires. (It made sense at the time.) Meach used Chameleon Boy's shape-changing ability to transform himself into a half-Superman, half-Batman green-skinned freak (the green skin apparently came from Brainiac 5).

Superman and Batman were able to defeat Meach, who conveniently lost all memory of the incident. Later, his powers were restored by a crazy alien named Xan (WORLD'S FINEST #168, 8/1967). Meach gave up his life saving Batman and SUperman,

Much later (WORLD'S FINEST #283, 9/1983) Xan escaped from prison and re-created Meach's powers in himself. For a while he took on the appearance & identity of the Composite Superman, then he went back to his original look and called himself Amalgamax (sounds like an insurance company). The Legion helped defeat Amalgamax.

NOW...

The new Composite Superman has nothing to do with the Legion. Instead, it is a Frankenstein's Monster-like creature that was an early experiment by Professor Ivo. Ivo made the creature using DNA scavenged from various crime scenes, DNA belonging to members of the Justice League. (One does not ordinarily imagine Batman being careless enough to leave bits of his DNA scattered about.) This time, the creature is a bizarre sewn-together mixture of Batman and Superman, with the abilities of several Justice League members. Its skin is green because...uh...it looks cooler that way? Or maybe because it's been buried for many years, so the green represents rot? (Ewwww...)

This time around, Batman and Superman taunt the poor critter until it literally tears itself in half.

There's a lot more about the history of the Composite Superman, including several other variants, in this Wikipedia article.

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Week of 14 January 2009

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

ACTION #873 (3/09)
"New Krypton Part Ten: Birth of a Nation"
ROLL CALL: Mon-El, Starman/Star Boy

At the beginning of this issue, there's a cameo of Starman/Star Boy being punched by a Kryptonian from Kandor. At the end of the issue, there's a cameo of Mon-El in the Phantom Zone not being punched by Bizarro.

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FINAL CRISIS #6 of 7 (1/09)
"How to Murder the Earth"
ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5, Starman/Star Boy, Superman

In the first three pages, set in the 31st century, Brainiac 5 takes Superman into the Legion arsenal and shows him the Miracle Machine...which is apparently the key to resolving the Final Crisis. There's a cameo of Starman/Star Boy in one panel of the double-page spread where Metron is holding a rubik's cube. Thom has been busy this week.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Brainy says that the Miracle Machine was created in 2960. If that was when the Controllers gave it to the Legion, that was 49 years ago in the Legion's timeline. That means the Legionnaires are at least in their 60s, if not older. We're back to the problem of aging in the 31st century and the protracted adolescence of the Legionnaires. (Granted, somewhere recently -- maybe in Countdown -- someone mentioned that 31st century medicine involves nanotech that repairs physical damage. Presumably, they also take care of aging.) Still, it's a bad idea to tie the Legion down to specific dates.

The Legion arsenal contains four time bubbles, the Concentrator, a lump of green kryptonite, and some other stuff I feel like I should recognize: some craft the look like escape pods, a floating gun, six odd-looking helmets on a table, and a floating spray can.

In classic Legion chronology, Matter-Eater Lad ate the Miracle Machine -- it drove him mad. Is this the same Miracle Machine (did Tenzil barf it up?), a different Miracle Machine, or a different timeline where Tenzil never ate it?

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SMALLVILLE: Episode 8.11 (1/15/09)
"Legion"
ROLL CALL: Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl

No need to say much about this. It was great. And I've never seen Garth looking so adorable before. :)

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Week of 7 January 2009

Once again there was no Legion content in the DC Universe this week.

However, I did pick up FUTURAMA COMICS #35, which came out sometime in 2008. (Apparently Bongo Comics doesn't believe in putting months on their comics, but from the ads it looks like it was probably January 2008.)

The point of this whole dreary story is that I turned the page to find the following:


To coin a phrase, BWAH-ha-ha!

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Week of 31 December 2008

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

JSA #22 (2/09)
"One World Under Gog Part VII: Thy Will Be Done"
ROLL CALL (Lightning Saga Legion): Star Boy/Starman
ROLL CALL (Earth-22/Kingdom Come Legion): Andromeda (?), Bouncing Boy (?), Brainiac 5, Catspaw, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dragonmage (?), Dream Girl, Element Lad, Ferro Lad, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Kid Quantum (or is that Star Boy?), Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Shrinking Violet, Star Boy (or is that Kid Quantum?), Sun Boy, Superboy, Supergirl, Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl (twice?), Ulttra Boy, XS

Gog is gone, the Kingdom Come Superman is back in Earth-22, and at least part of Thom's confused timeline is straightened out: he left Earth-22 at the moment of Kansas explosion, presumably arriving in the JSA's 21st century immediately thereafter.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: There's been a lot of talk about whether the Earth-22 Legion is one of the Legions of Three Worlds. Apparently, according to Kingdom Come annotations, the Legion portrayed in Kingdom Come are an idealized version, distinct from any others.

Presumably, there could be a distinct Legion on each of the 52 Earths (except Earth-2?) The three in L3W just happened to get together.

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #49 (2/09)
"One Evil: Enemy Manifest Part 4"
ROLL CALL (Teenage Revolution Legion): Atom Girl, Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Element Lad, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Sizzle, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy

Jeckie's powers continue to develop -- she now has the ability to manipulate illusions within people's minds. This gives her a level of mind control that approaches that of Saturn Girl (which is why the two of them are fighting on the cover). My guess is that Timber Wolf has been under Jeckie's influence for a while.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: With Garth & Imra broken up, President Kin'thea is putting the moves on Garth. Meanwhile, the whole Imra/Jo thing might have been in Imra's mind rather than in the physical world...but to Imra, there is little distinction between the two.

I am continually impressed by how the writers have stretched and redefined the powers of the various Legionnaires in this version of the LSH. I will be sorry to see this version go...although I am also happy to have the Classic Legion back.

Here's a thought: Everyone is panicking about the new Adventure Comics being an anthology series with a changing cast of characters ("oh no, it won't be a Legion comic after all!") -- wouldn't it be cool if Adventure becomes a Legion anthology, featuring a rotating cast of different Legions?

...Just a thought.

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Week of 24 December 2008

No Legion content this week. I am afraid there will be more weeks like this in the months ahead.

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Week of 17 December 2008

The only Legion content this week was Booster Gold's flight ring in BOOSTER GOLD #15 (2/09).

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Week of 10 December 2008

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

ACTION #872 (2/09)
"New Krypton Part Seven: Brainiac Lives"
ROLL CALL (Lightning Saga Legion): Tellus

Told you to watch the Superman Family titles.

Tellus is in one panel on the next-to-last page of the story.

In addition, Brainiac's store of miniaturized cities includes "all that's left of planets like Braal, Winath, and Tharr."

Also, when Alura mentions the Phantom Zone projector, Superman says, "I won't let my enemies interact with Zod or worse -- Mon-El or Chris." Too late...they're already interacting with Mon-El.


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Week of 3 December 2008

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

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #21 (1/09)
"One World Under Gog Part VI: Saints and Sinners"
ROLL CALL (Lightning Saga Legion): Starman/Star Boy

Thom participates in an assault on Gog, and as a result has his sanity unrestored: "Thom Kallor - No medicine from any century will ever cure your insanity." Thom responds, "Which way to the funeral? Please! The twins needed help! Then there was one!"

Next month the "One World Under Gog" story line concludes -- but I doubt it will be the conclusion of Thom's story.

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Late addition to Week of 26 November 2008

I've added SUPERMAN #682 to the entry for the week of 26 November 2008.

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Week of 26 November 2008

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

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA KINGDOM COME SPECIAL: THE KINGDOM #1 (1/09)
(No title)
ROLL CALL (Lightning Saga Legion): Starman/Star Boy

Thom takes leave from the JSA and gets a job as a gravedigger in Metropolis. He is on a secret mission, and he says, "If I don't succeed, there might not be a 31st century for me to get back to."

So what's up? The clear implication is that Thom is supposed to dig up someone's grave. But whose?

It's logicl to assume that all this has something to do with the lightning rod that Brainiac 5 still has in the future. The leading candidates seem to be Connor Kent, Bart Allen, and Barry Allen. Of the three, I'm guessing Barry. The Legion could resurrect him in the 31st century, then send him back in time so he appears right at the beginning of Final Crisis.

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #48 (1/09)
"The Edge of Doom: Enemy Manifest Part 3"
ROLL CALL (Teenage Revolution Legion): Atom Girl, Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Element Lad,Gazelle (applicant), Invisible Kid, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, M'Rissey, Night Girl (applicant), Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Sizzle (applicant), Star Boy, Sun Boy, Timber Wolf, Turtle (applicant), Ultra Boy

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: Sun Boy rejoins, and Gazelle is accepted for membership. The other three applicants become part of the newly-formed Legion Reserve.

Chameleon seems really impressed by Sun Boy's new look.

For once, we seem to have gotten through Legion tryouts without anyone becoming a supervillain or swearing vendetta against the Legion. Unless you want to count Jeckie....

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SUEPRMAN #682 (1/09)
"New Krypton Part 6: Invasive Surgery"
ROLL CALL: Chameleon Boy [Control], Mon-El

You have to watch all the Superman Family titles pretty closely these days; Legionnaires and Legion references are popping up all over the place. This issue ends with Mon-El, still in the Phantom Zone, surrounded by Superman villains who have been sent there by the survivors of Kandor.

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Week of 17 November 2008

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

AMBUSH BUG YEAR NONE #4 (12/08)
"Whatever Happened to the Bug of Yesterday?"
ROLL CALL (Legion of Scrutinizers): Caustic Boy, Leering Lad, Sarcasm Girl

I knew it! I knew that if I kept buying issues of this crappy comic, sooner or later there would be some kind of lame Legion reference. And sure enough, here it is: a typically unfunny Keith Giffen joke.

The rest of the comic is unreadable. Sheesh. Only two more issues left...I wonder if there's going to be another Legion cameo, or can I stop wasting money now?

Things to do with the other 3 (non-Legion) issues of AMBUSH BUG YEAR NONE:

- Shred pages so the hamster can add to his nest
- Burn them to keep warm
- Wrap small presents in them
- Fold pages into colorful pirate hats
- Make papier mache Christmas tree decorations

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JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA KINGDOM COME SPECIAL: MAGOG #1 (1/09)
"The Secret Origin of Starman"
ROLL CALL (Lightning Saga Legion): Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Light Lass, Phantom Girl, Polar Boy, Starman/Star Boy, Superboy (hand & cape), Triplicate Girl, Wildfire
ROLL CALL (Earth-Zero Legion): Brainiac 5
ROLL CALL (Teenage Revolution Legion): Brainiac 5

A pretty important story: it fills in some of the missing pieces in the Lightning Saga Legion. (I'm tempted to start referring to this version as the Retro Legion, but we'll see.)

First, we see the three Brainiac 5's creating Star Boy's multiverse-map uniform, during the first Legion of Three Worlds adventure. Hey, this gives a way to roughly place that adventure in chronology. When did Thom start wearing this outfit? Sometime in the Levitz years, no? I shall have to go downstairs and search through the collection. It was definitely before the beard. And the Earth-Zero Brainy doesn't have white circles on his face, so this predates his upgrade to Brainiac 5.1.

Second, in the same scene, Brainy makes reference to "the lives of the Tornado Twins and Barry Allen's legacy" -- hinting that the first Legion of Three Worlds had something to do with Don and Dawn Allen.

Third, there's a flashback to (I'm guessing) a time shortly after the Lightning Saga. Brainy has a single lightning rod, and he makes reference to the coming Crisis of Tomorrow (i.e. L3W). Now here's the confusing part (okay, here's a confusing part): Only after the Lightning Saga did Thom leave on his mission to the 21st century. I had assumed that all the Legionnaires in Lightning Saga left the 31st century together.

So Dream Girl, Wildfire, and Dawnstar in this story have already been back to the Lightning Saga, while Thom has not yet been there. Thom is about to go back in time, spend a period in Kingdom Come, and then join up with the Justice Society to live through the Lightning Saga.

Brain hurts.

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: This is a fairly faithful retelling of key events in Thom's life. It leaves out his extra comet-inspired powers and the whole Sir Prize stuff, but that would have complicated things anyway. The implication is that he didn't rejoin the Legion until he got his new outfit, but I think that's another simplification; in classic continuity, he rejoined fairly soon after he left.

Okay, who's the caucasian crew-cut blond guy in the panel where Thomn joins the Legion? His nameplate indicates that he's Brainy, but his outfit is brown-not-purple, and his skin is white-not-green. Colorist's error? That seems unlikely, although it's possible. (But Brainy is colored correctly a few panels later, on the same page.) Could this possibly be an inside joke, based on the obscure history of ADVENTURE 247?

The explanation requires a digression. When ADVENTURE 247 was originally published, there were a few panels that showed other Legionnaires besides the three founders. One of them was a caucasian guy in a brown shirt. In later reprintings of that story, this guy was recolored to have green skin and a purple shirt. Later fandom assumed him to be Brainy, and used that as a clue in deducing the order in which the Legionnaires joined...establishing, for one thing, that Supergirl joined before Superboy. Eventually, this order became an established part of Legion continuity.

So...is Geoff Johns just making a nod to the fans (ha, ha, I'll have the colorist make an "error" and portray Brainy as caucasian and brown-shirted")? Or is tis an even more elaborate retcon, meant to establish that there was a period when Briany actually was caucasian and wore a brown shirt?

That's a bit baroque and convoluted even for Get-a-Life Boy, but I kinda like the idea. Maybe Brainy was in the middle of some mission that required him to masquerade as a caucasian brown-shirt...a mission that covered the period when Superboy and Starboy joined the Legion?

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Week of 12 November 2008

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

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA KINGDOM COME SPECIAL: SUPERMAN #1 (1/09)
(No title)
ROLL CALL: Starman/Star Boy

Thom is there, on page 16, in a flashback to KINGDOM COME.

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LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31st CENTURY #20 (1/09)
"Metallo 3000"
ROLL CALL (Cover): Blok, Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dream Girl, Karate Kid, Lightning Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Nemesis Kid, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet, Star Boy, Sun Boy, Superman, Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl, Ultra Boy
ROLL CALL (Animated Legion): Bouncing Boy (cameo), Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy (cameo), Colossal Boy (cameo), Cosmic Boy (cameo), Dream Girl, Lightning Lad, Matter-Eater Lad (cameo), Phantom Girl (cameo), Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet (cameo), Sun Boy (cameo), Superman, Superman X (cameo), Timber Wolf, Triplicate Girl (cameo), Tyroc (cameo), Ultra Boy (cameo),
ROLL CALL (Classic Legion): Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Mon-El, Saturn Gril, Superboy

Last issue of a really fun comic. Brainy witnesses some alternate universes, including the cover of Adventure 247 and Mon-El floating in the Phantom Zone. And on the last page, we see that Brainiac 5 from the Classic Legion has been watching the events of this issue on a monitor. Apparently, in the Legion's timeline, the LSH animated television series was never cancelled (or perhaps was started up again on a different network?)

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: On the last page, in the Classic Legion sequence, Lightning Lad has his artificial arm, an he's also wearing a white-and-black version of his original costume. It's difficult to place this sequence in Legion history. By the emotional logic of the story, this ought to be the three founders setting out to recruit Superboy in the first place -- but Garth's robot arm is an anachronism. I'm willing to overlook that as a simple mistake, and give them credit for a nice tribute to the Legion.

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Week of 5 November 2008

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

ADVENTURE COMICS SPECIAL FEATURING THE GUARDIAN #1 (1/09)
"The Worst Night of His Life"
ROLL CALL: Tellus (Lightning Saga Legion?)

Some time ago, Jim Harper broke into a Cadmus facility in Salem, NH. There, he saw the Legionnaire Tellus floating in a stasis tank. Tellus telepathically told him not to worry, the Science Police would come.

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JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #20 (12/08)
"Earth Bound"
ROLL CALL: Starman/Star Boy (Lightning Saga Legion)

Thom explains how he can make black holes and open portals to other universes (if "explains" is the word I'm groping for here): "My ability to increase gravity and even manifest miniature black holes allows me to not only travel through time, but to other parallel worlds." Uh...right. And his uniform, which "was designed by three Brainiac 5's," is a map to the (new) multiverse.

Designed by three Brainiac 5's, eh? And when, exactly, did this happen? So far as we know, the three Brainys have only been together twice: once during the original "Legion of Three Worlds" untold adventure, and currently during the "Legion of Three Worlds" miniseries. But Thom's arrival in the 21st century predates the beginning of the current L3W series...doesn't it? So did the three Brainys design Thom's uniform during the untold adventure? Or did this version of Thom originate from during or after the current L3W series? Oh, man, time travel makes my head hurt!

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After 3 Worlds Part 2: Two Legions?

As I see it, there are three basic possibilities at the end of L3W: (1) All three Legions wind up in separate universes; (2) Some stay and some go away; or (3) All three Legions stay in the same universe.

Let's consider the third possibility: three Legions (or, at least, their surviving members) all in one universe. What to do?

Everyone could just band together into one (bigger) Legion. I don't see this as likely, for two reasons. First, it would be an awful lot of characters (I know, I know, when has that ever been a problem with the Legion?). Secpnd, and more important, it would result in a mixed team of adults and teens -- and I just don't see that happening.

IMHO, it would be better to establish two teams: an Adult Legion and a teenage Legion. DC has done this before, with two separate titles: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and LEGIONNAIRES. This time around, I could see them putting the adult group in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES v. 6, and resurrecting ADVENTURE COMICS for the teen Legion.

So who would be in the teen group?

I assume that DC would want to minimize duplication of members (i.e. you don't want to have two or three Brainiac 5's running around). So let's see if we can build a team around teen characters who have no living counterpart in the classic (Lightning Saga) Legion.

From the Earth-Zero Legion, we have:

- Andromeda
- Ferro
- Gates
- Gear
- Kid Quantum
- Kinetix
- Shikari
- XS

From the Teenage Revolution ("Threeboot") Legion, there's one candidate:

- Dream Boy

So far, it's a pretty bare team, but there are some more possible members:

- Spark (Earth-Zero): her counterpart, Light Lass, has different powers
- LeVIathan (Salu Digby) (Earth-Zero): her counterpart, Shrinking Violet, has different powers
- Star Boy (Teenage Revolution): his counterpart is now Starman...plus, being black, he's visually distinct from the adult Thom
- Thunder (Earth Zero): Last seen departing for the far future, she could come back

- Princess Projectra (Teenage Revolution): Adult counterpart is Sensor Girl, who has a different name and different powers
- Sensor (Earth-Zero): A different species, so visually distinct from Sensor Girl and Projectra

Now it's starting to look like a Legion. But wait, there's more. From either teen team, we can choose:

- an Invisible Kid (Lyle Norg): adult counterpart is Jacques Foccart, a whole different person
- a Karate Kid: adult counterpart, Val, has died several times already
- Triad (Earth-Zero) or Triplicate Girl (Teenage Revolution): we don't know the status of her adult counterpart, but she's most probably either Duo Damsel or Una

Depending on when the Lighning Saga Legion diverged from original continuity, the following may have never been Legionnaires:

- Magnetic Kid (Pol Krinn): If the Magic Wars never happened, Pol is still alive...hooray!
- Quislet: I don't care what anyone else says, I liked him
- Tellus: Gotta have a telepath in the group....

Finally, here are some names from out of left field, possibly as future teen members:

- Catspaw: appeared in LEGIONNAIRES but has not been seen in any of the current continuities
- Computo (Danielle Foccart): Jacques' little sister, might be too old
- Dragonmage: OK, in L3W #2 he was shown dead...but he could get better. Death isn't the handicap it used to be.
- Kent Shakespeare aka Impulse: No known counterpart in any current continuity
- Kono: had a counterpart in the Earth-Zero universe, but not yet in the classic/Lightning Saga universe
- Devlin O'Ryan: No known counterpart in any current continuity...plus, can call him "Reflecto"

There you have it: a teen Leigon with anywhere from 18 to 27 members, all in some way distinct from the adult Legionnaires.

One problem remains: what to do with all the duplicates, the multiple Brainiac 5's, Sautrn Girls, etc.? I see three possibilities: (1) They don't survive L3W; (2) They go away, into another dimension or the Phantom Zone or somewhere else; (3) Some die, others have their names and/or powers changed so they can fit into the teen Legion without confusion.

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Week of 29 October 2008

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

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #47 (12/08)
"Dream Wedding, Blind Love"
ROLL CALL: Atom Girl, Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Colossal Boy, Dream Girl, Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Princess Projectra, Saturn Girl

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS: The cream-colored guy with blond hair from Brainy's unconscious looks like a Bizarro Brainiac 5.

At the end of the issue, the blond guy has escaped form Brainy's dreams and is in the real world. This implies that the same might be possible for Dream Girl.

Brainy goes to see a spiritualist named Meander. Meander was the name of an ancient Greek river god, although it's hard to see how that applies. Of course, "meander" can also mean "to wander off course;" maybe the name is intended as a signal that this story is a bit of a diversion from the main plot?

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