Legion of Super-Heroes Appreciation 2019 [Long Live the Legion!]

[B]THE PLACE TO APPRECIATE / DISCUSS / ANALYZE / AND SPECULATE ABOUT THE LEGION'S PAST -- AND ITS FUTURE![/B]

Since the previous thread has been locked, I figured I'll start the new version because the Legion is one of my favorite comics even though it hasn't been a hit series in a generation.

My first Legion comic was [B]Superboy 203[/B] (cover dated July-Aug 1974). This was a pivotal issue because it featured not only the first pencil art of Mike Grell, the Legion's main 1970s artist (taking the baton from Dave Cockrum whose art revived interest in the team), but also the death of Invisible Kid. I was pretty shocked as a kid when the character who was spotlighted in the story ended up dead less than 20 pages later!

I think that this thread will attract not only the Legion's legion of fans, but also people who are just curious about the team, want to get into them, but never could because of its long history.

To give us all the same starting point to discuss the team, I'm going to post the Legion History summary pages from the DC-Mayfair Legion Role-Playing Books from 1986. This covers the first "14 years" in-universe. For us, it covers Legion comics published from 1958 to 1986. This would basically be everything from Adventure Comics 247 (cover dated April 1958) to Legion of Super-Heroes (Baxter paper series) 21 (cover dated April 1986).

This means that, although Crisis on Infinite Earths has happened, the retcons resulting from the Crisis have yet to occur. In other words, by the time these History pages were published, Superboy had not yet been revealed to have been a pocket universe creation of the Time Trapper. So, these pages are basically the original pre-Crisis history plus the stories that immediately followed.

This Legion series ended with issue 63 in 1989 before being revamped with the 5-Years Later (5YL) direction, so the last 3 years of pre-5YL Legion aren't covered by the History pages, but it sure is most of it.

After these pages, I'll post the 5-Years Later History pages from a subsequent DC-Mayfair book.

Now, NO ONE can say that the Legion's history is too complicated or that they can't understand what's going on. Hopefully, these pages will inspire existing fans with happy memories and give the wannabe fans a fighting chance to get into one of the best series published by DC.

But first, let's begin with a grand Legion poster from the cover of Limited Collectors' Edition C-49 as drawn by Mike Grell at his finest.

In this Appreciation thread, it's ok to discuss the parts of Legion history that you DON'T like because the Legion has passed through so many hands during its 60-year history that in order to discuss it all, we have to acknowledge the bad with the good.

But do try to post your favorite:
- memories
- storylines
- characters
- covers/interior art
- creative teams, etc.

- Also, how did you get into the Legion to begin with?
- What was your first Legion comic?
- Who is your favorite Legion member?
- Are there any Legion members that you changed your mind about either going from liking to not liking or from not liking to liking?
- Which Legion costumes do you like the best/least?

Most of all, have FUN, and Long Live the Legion!

[img]https://i.imgur.com/fKyfZzY.jpg[/img]

OK, now here is the Legion's history for its first 14 in-universe years. It covers the first 28 years of real time from 1958-1986.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/sMI2OC1.jpg[/img]

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Here we can post the Legion history from 1986 to 1989 before the 5YL direction kicked off.

[B]Legion 21-26 [/B]told the story of Emerald Empress, a member of the Legion's arch-enemies The Fatal Five, forming her own Fatal Five with Persuader from the original team and with 3 new members: Flare, Caress, and Mentalla. This story ended with Sensor Girl being unmasked as Queen Projectra, a former Legion member.

[B]Legion 32-35 [/B]was the multipart "Universo Project" storyline. Their enemy Universo has used his hypnosis powers to take control of the Earth and the Legion -- except for Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, and Dream Girl -- the hardest Legionnaires to hypnotize. He strands the 4 on a distant planet, but they make their way back to Earth to defeat Universo and free the other Legionnaires.

[B]Legion 37-38 [/B]addressed the ramifications of Crisis on Infinite Earths where Superman never operated as a teenage Superboy. This was incorporated into the Legion comic by having the Legion find out that the Superboy they've known all along was just a creation of their foe the Time Trapper. Every time the Legion went back into the past to visit Superboy, they actually traveled to the Time Trapper's pocket universe and met a Superboy of his creation. Pocket-Superboy sacrifices his life to save the Legion from the Trapper. The Supergirl that first appeared in the John Byrne Superman reboot comics (known as "Matrix") later comes from this pocket universe.

[B]Legion 42-43 [/B]are the tie-in issues with the DC company event of 1988, Millennium. In this story, another Superman-related retcon is introduced as it is revealed that their friend Laurel Kent is actually a Manhunter robot.

Keith Giffen returns as Legion artist with [B]issue 54[/B], and with the final 4 issues, [B]60-63[/B], the series ends with the Magic Wars storyline in the August 1989 issue. The Five Years Later direction kicks off with a new Legion #1, cover dated November 1989.

If anyone has additions/corrections to this time in the Legion's history, I'll post them here.

Okay, now here's the Legion history that was created during the 5-Years Later storyline where Glorith rewrote history (and the Superman office made the Legion office retcon ANY Superboy -- pocket universe or not -- out of Legion history.

Have hours of fun memorizing and comparing the two versions of Legion history! Amaze your friends!

[img]https://i.imgur.com/0CiarHR.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/gwm0CZt.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/dBiGrmK.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/bSj6XhH.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/dRbOYRR.jpg[/img]

The first and only time I read about Legion of Superheroes was their guest appearance in Grant Morrison's Action Comics where they as teenagers snuck away to the past to see the legendary hero Superman and was disappointed by how normal he was, but befriended him anyway. Then later as adults they return to help him against the Anti Superman army.

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I found out later that the Legion befriending child Clark was a homage to silver age Superboy era where they met and became friends for the first time. Even taking him back to the future to be auditioned into a Legion member. Johns also did it in his Secret Origin. So that's cool.

[QUOTE=Restingvoice;4112665]The first and only time I read about Legion of Superheroes was their guest appearance in Grant Morrison's Action Comics where they as teenagers snuck away to the past to see the legendary hero Superman and was disappointed by how normal he was, but befriended him anyway. Then later as adults they return to help him against the Anti Superman army.

I found out later that the Legion befriending child Clark was a homage to silver age Superboy era where they met and became friends for the first time. Even taking him back to the future to be auditioned into a Legion member. Johns also did it in his Secret Origin. So that's cool.[/QUOTE]

Well, now that you have the Legion's full history laid out before you in the History Pages above, and there is an ongoing series of hardcovers that reprints the Legion adventures (both Silver Age in "Legion of Super-Heroes: The Silver Age" and Bronze Age in "Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes" vols. 1-2), are you interested in reading the classic Legion stories?

If not, would a new Legion series, potentially written by Brian Michael Bendis, be of any interest to you?

Bendis is one who I think could write the Legion effectively. Mainly because I have seen how well he handles Superman's voice. Basically the LoSH holds those same ideals as he does, or at least they are supposed to hold those ideals.

[QUOTE=Scott Taylor;4113782]Bendis is one who I think could write the Legion effectively. Mainly because I have seen how well he handles Superman's voice. Basically the LoSH holds those same ideals as he does, or at least they are supposed to hold those ideals.[/QUOTE]

I agree that Bendis would probably make a great writer for the Legion. I know he has his quirks when it comes to dialogue, but I think he can handle the Legion's large and complex world just fine.

Some say he doesn't write team books well, but I think the spirit of the Legion has remained consistent (even if the continuity hasn't), so that it should be pretty easy for any good writer to hook into. As long as he doesn't get self-indulgent and give us a radical departure just for the sake of making his mark, then it should be ok.

He seems to have more respect for the DC properties than he ever did for Marvels. His runs at Marvel were often characterized by breaking the toys, but his Superman seems to be very classic in a lot of ways, and he's using the supporting cast effectively and staying true to everyone.

I think a Bendis Legion would draw a lot of eyeballs to the comic that would otherwise pass it by.

In the Bendis-teaser thread, I put in my vote for Ivan Reis to draw Bendis's Legion. Reis's classic, yet dynamic superhero style would fit the series perfectly.

[QUOTE=Scott Taylor;4113782]Bendis is one who I think could write the Legion effectively. Mainly because I have seen how well he handles Superman's voice. Basically the LoSH holds those same ideals as he does, or at least they are supposed to hold those ideals.[/QUOTE]

Oh god no! For one he sucks at team books. For another he is awful at writing sci-fi and is just too grounded in the real world. Whenever he tries to write big sci-fi action it always turns out bad.

[QUOTE=Zero Hunter;4113840]Oh god no! For one he sucks at team books. For another he is awful at writing sci-fi and is just too grounded in the real world. Whenever he tries to write big sci-fi action it always turns out bad.[/QUOTE]

Granted. This is kind of how I feel about Morrison on Green Lantern so far.

But I'd still rather have Bendis than Geoff Johns, who is the other likely candidate

[QUOTE=Scott Taylor;4113857]Granted. This is kind of how I feel about Morrison on Green Lantern so far.

But I'd still rather have Bendis than Geoff Johns, who is the other likely candidate[/QUOTE]

I would take Johns in a heartbeat over Bendis since I at least know Johns actually likes the Legion. I have seen what Bendis does to character I like in other books, and I don't want that man anywhere near the Legion. First thing he would do is probably kill off half or more of the old team so he could replace them with new "socially progressive" versions of the characters.

[QUOTE=Zero Hunter;4113879]I would take Johns in a heartbeat over Bendis since I at least know Johns actually likes the Legion. I have seen what Bendis does to character I like in other books, and I don't want that man anywhere near the Legion. First thing he would do is probably kill off half or more of the old team so he could replace them with new "socially progressive" versions of the characters.[/QUOTE]

Yah I have to be honest that, even considering how much I love the Legion characters, I would be ok with a more socially progressive version with new characters. Heck, i'd be ok with anything Legion just about now as long as they all had the same core optimism they need to have.

I fear Bendis on the Legion. He ruins all the teams book that he wrote before. Let him stay on a solo book. A detective or martial art hero. He's good in that. But Super-heroes or Science-fiction ? no please.

We will loose the Legion for another decade if he write it.