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

[Zero Hunter]

I felt bad for Jim Shooter having to come in after so long away only to be stuck trying to clean up the mess Waid left him with the Threeboot. I thought he did a good job with what he was given, and really liked the first part of his last run. It did fall apart at the end but that was totally on DC and not him since they cut the legs right out from under him by not telling him they were doing the retroboot. Waid was more interested in making a point about society than he was in telling good stories, and the book suffered for it.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

And Spider-Man, tucked away to the right of Sun Boy's thigh!

(I vaguely recall that there's a Legion group picture, perhaps at one of the weddings?, where the artist snuck Martian Manhunter into the crowd.)

It was the wedding of Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel from Superboy 200, 1974. Drawn by Dave Cockrum.
The wedding took place at Nix Olympica on Mars.

Nix Olympica is a real volcano on Mars. It is now known as "Olympus Mons."

The Mariner 9 spacecraft arrived in orbit around Mars in 1971 during a global dust-storm. The first objects to become visible as the dust began to settle, the tops of the Tharsis volcanoes, demonstrated that the altitude of these features greatly exceeded that of any mountain found on Earth, as astronomers expected. Observations of the planet from Mariner 9 confirmed that Nix Olympica was a volcano. Ultimately, astronomers adopted the name Olympus Mons for the albedo feature known as Nix Olympica.

[Scott Taylor]

Anyone remember this Royal Legion wedding?

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Anyone remember this Legion wedding?

Of course!



But unfortunately, the happiness didn't last as K-Kid was killed by Nemesis Kid a year later.

[Scott Taylor]

Do you know, is that story collected anywhere?

[Comic-Reader Lad]

And here's Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl's wedding just for the hell of it. Notice Paul Levitz and Mike Grell in attendance in the foreground.

[Zero Hunter]

Do you know, is that story collected anywhere?

I think it was included in the Legion of Superheroes: The Curse collection, but I am not 100% sure.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Do you know, is that story collected anywhere?

If you mean Legion of Super-Heroes Annual 2 with Karate Kid & Queen Projectra's wedding, then yes, Zero Hunter was correct.


If you want the entire Levitz-Giffen initial Legion collaboration, it can basically be found in 3 trade paperbacks:

(1) Great Darkness Saga - reprints LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 1980 series #284-296 and ANNUAL #1.

(2) The Curse - reprints LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 1980 series #297-313 and LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ANNUAL #2-3.

(3) An Eye for An Eye - reprints LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 1984 series #1-6.

That's it! Pretty easy!


Giffen then comes back for a 2nd go-round with Levitz on LSH 1984 series 51-63 that I don't think have yet been collected.

Following Legion 313, the title was changed to Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes and had a year's worth of new stories in issues 314-325. Levitz still was the writer, but Terry Shoemaker was on art. After that, Tales (and Tales LSH Annual) became reprints of the new LSH Baxter Paper series that began in 1984.


Following "An Eye for An Eye," Levitz continues without Giffen (which was fine because Giffen's art had deteriorated as of Legion 307) in the trade paperback "The More Things Change."

However, both "Eye" and "Change" are out of print. They can be found at Amazon and ebay, but buy quick because prices continue to increase.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

BRONZE AGE LEGION BY DAVE COCKRUM primarily from the "Lore of the Legion" pages in Superboy 202 & 205. The Supergirl pic looks like a fan repurposed the Saturn Girl one -- maybe took the cape from Duo Damsel.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

BRONZE AGE LEGION BY GEORGE PEREZ. I believe this is from History of the DC Universe. I think a fan took it and transformed it into the Silver Age version below it.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Like the few above, this could be used as a wallpaper. Seems to be the Retroboot Legion.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Couple of nice Legion pics by Francis Manapul. The Legion has been blessed with so many great artists over the decades.

[Panic]

[Sutekh]

I love these big group pictures! 'Ooh, my favorite Element Lad costume! Ooh, my favorite Shrinking Violet costume! Oof, Star Boy, a V-neck? What were you thinking? And where's your beard?'

And then there are those few characters in the Silver and Bronze ages who are just wearing the same costume. Mon-El, Sun Boy, etc. seemed to find a good look the first time, and never bothered to change with the seasons.

[kcekada]

Here's the full spread of George Perez's Legion costumes from Best of DC Digest 24, 1982. Notice how Cosmic Boy's costume was miscolored flesh color instead of pink -- likely because Cos was showing lots of skin in his previous mankini outfit. Fortunately, this got straightened out when Keith Giffen used the costume during his run.

Actually, the pink costume is there -- it's a subtle difference in the image above, but you can see a different hue is used for the face than is used for the uniform.

With the threeboot, Waid and Manapul both had some good costume designs. Manapul changed some than he shouldn't have -- especially Lightning Lad and Light Lass. I did prefer Manapul's version of Brainiac 5 and Karate KId.

I did not care for any of Gary Frank's retro designs.