Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! What's your Legion-reading roadmap?

I had been buying comics since the early 70s. (The first one I can remember buying was a Marvel Team Up Featuring the Thing and Doc Savage.) I had picked up a few Legion comics, but they didn't really click with me until DC reprinted their early stories in the Adventure Comics Digests in the 1980s.

So my Legion is the early Legion. Beyond that, it's Levitz's run through the Great Darkness Saga ... though I admit my love of the Legion took a big hit when they wiped out the Superboy connection as he was my favorite character.

Back in the mid 1970's my mom bought me my first comic that wasn't Walt Disney. my older brother and I were able to pick out one comic each from drug store stand. I picked Superboy starring tne Legion of Super-Heroes issue #212 "Last fight for a Legionnaire!" and the back story "Deathstroke at Dawn!"

I was in complete awe of the art by Mike Grell, the whole futuristic 30th Century concept and Superboy to boot. I wondered just how many Legionnaires there were and what their powers must be. I wondered how Ferro Lad could have died and thought it was so awesome that they had dedicated a statue to him in their plaza. I read this story over and over until I had it memorized.

Here and there over the coarse of the next several years my collection of Legion comics grew. I collected the current comic at that time along with the small digests they put out which featured their Adventure comics days. Eventually a friend gave me a torn up issue which featured how Ferro lad died. By the time I reached college I had a modest stack of Legion comics maybe 8-10 inches high.

But when I went to college, everything changed. My older brother had by now moved on to Marvel comics, as he had this idea that DC comics were trash compared to Marvel. Me...I stuck with Legion and Legion only. Then one day my brother called me and said..

"I'm going to sell all of your DC comics, so I can buy some more Marvel ones. You don't mind do you?"

Since the comics were all at his place I didn't feel like I got much of a choice and so he sold all of my Legion comics along with the other DC comics we owned just so he could buy every Marvel title that came out that month.

At that point I gave up on comics. To try and recollect them seemed impossible. Over the next two decads I spent time at a comics and game store looking at the latest issue of Legion and seeing how much it had changed. It was so different I felt like I barely recognized it and always being short on money, I just didn't have it in me to spend $2-3 on a single comic book.

Several years later I was in a hobby store that had several used copies. Amongst them was the very same issue I started out with #212. I bought it for .50 cents. After that I started buying the hardcover archive books along with the then current comic. Within 7 years I had literally every Legion comic there was.

Now I have every series and mini-series of Legion, each one of them 100% complete. I now sport several action figures and am designing a role playing game based on my favorite comic, The Legion of Super-Heroes.

A childhood dream came true!

Brothers! They can be so insensitive and short-sighted. You should have offered him more Marvels in exchange for his birthright.

On the other hand, it sounds like losing your original collection gave you a deeper appreciation for what's important in the Legion to you. It's amazing that when we lose something, it sometimes returns to us stronger than ever.

Several years ago, I found a replacement copy for my very first Legion comic, LSH v. 1 # 1. The original copy, which I bought at a grocery store in 1972, was in tatters. Even though the replacement copy was in pristine condition, it was hard to throw the original way. However, it deserved a decent burial.

In the last issue of APA-LSH, a couple of people mentioned falling in love with the Legion at age 12. That struck me since, although I had read some of the Adventure issues at a younger age, it was around 12 that the LSH became my absolute favourite. (It's probably the only favourite I've stuck with that long, apart from chocolate chip cookies.)

Scanning quickly through this thread, there are a number of people who also cite age 12 as their Legion introduction or turning point. I figure it might be something about the Legion teens being just that much older to be cool role models. Or maybe at 12 you start to become fascinated with the future?

In children's literature, there's a belief that children like to "read up"; that is, they prefer protagonists who are a year or two older than themselves. So it's no surprise that 12-year-olds would find the teen Legionnaires appealing.

At 12, though, I'd already been a Legion addict for three years.

I thought I'd revive this zombie thread with my personal roadmap.

The first Legion comic I ever read was the final issue of the Earthwar saga, which came out when I was 7 (ish). That cover with all of the amazing super-heroes I'd never seen before caught my young imagination. I was also a big Superman fan, so Superboy didn't hurt things.

At this point I was still just grabbing whatever cool cover caught my eye, so I bought a few random issues though the next couple of years, including the digest of silver age Legion stories. The first time I followed a run of issues was the Reflecto storyline. After that, I bought occasional issues throughout the second Levitz run. I always liked the concept, but was never a true Legion fan.

After having drifted away from DC and Marvel into indie books during my high school years, I came back to DC HARD in early '90 during my freshman year of college. I believe there were only 3-4 issues of v4 out at that point, and I wound up getting into it in a major way, which was finally the key that opoened the door of Legion history for me. I started buying Archives and back issues, and became a major LSH fan. Over the decades since then there have been long stretches where I would come and go from the series, but I have always considered myself a fan, even when it's only a hypothetical fandom. And I always keep an eye on what's happening with the team, even when I wish I could look away.

I am from a very rural area of Ky and It started around 1974 with a cousin my age who had stacks of early 70's DC and Warren Magazines which he got from another older cousin, he seen that I liked the Superboy Comics and let he me pick one to keep and I chose SLSH #197 Timber Wolf and Cockrum made a huge impression on me at 7 years old.

After that unfortunately I had no regular access or idea where to get new comics.

The 2nd time I got Legion comics was when my Mom stopped at a Flea Market while visiting my Grandparents two counties over and I picked up 2 Grell issues SLSH #216 and #219.

3rd time Legion Tabloid C-55 Garth and Imra's Wedding at a Grocery Store that did not carry regular comics.

4th the Tempo Books black & white digest with the Neal Adams cover at a drug store.

5th and final time SLSH #251 2nd part of the Omega story by Jim Starlin after moving to Illinois, which was given to me by another cousin who collected who also told me where and when to buy comics in the big city and I've hardly missed an issue since LSH #260 when I started buying off the Spinner Rack.

You bought That Damn Tabloid at a grocery store! My mind boggles.

Yep, they had a couple of them mixed in with the other magazines. I remember pleading with my sister to loan me another dollar so that I would have enough money to buy it and her saying $2.00 was to much for a comic book.

Hey, gang, sorry to off topic, but how does one start a thread these days? My only option seems to be to reply waiting existing threads.

Well, first you need to be in the main forum.

Then you should see a "New Thread" button above the existing threads (but below the sub-fora links).

(The "Long Live the Legion" forum is an archive of older threads, and doesn't permit new threads).

Ah, thanks. To quote our mutual, much-missed pal, "FABOO!"

I thought I'd move from the "Introduce yourself" thread to this one to discuss my Legion-reading roadmap.

Over the past few weeks I've burned through the beginning of the second Paul Levitz run on v2 all the way through the first year of the Baxter series. I was afraid Levitz would drop the ball once Giffen left the series but so far he hasn't missed a beat. Like when Perez left New Teen Titans... Wolfman continued producing decent enough stories but the spark just wasn't there without Perez. I'm glad that doesn't seem to be the case with Levitz, or at least as far as I've been seeing.

I also checked out the first few issues of the current LOSH series by Bendis and thought they were OK, but this being Bendis I think I'll probably just wait for the first collection to come out as I have little patience for his glacial pace.

One thing I'll say however is that Ryan Sook is such an AMAZING artist... I don't think he gets nowhere near the recognition he deserves, probably because he hasn't had a long, career-defining run on an ongoing series perhaps but rather shorter runs and miniseries. But every single page, design, expression is a joy to behold and I hope he's on the Legion for the long run. I'd also be remiss if I didn't rave about Jordie Bellaire's colouring as well, she's definitely another great artist and her colouring compliment Sook's pencils perfectly.

Thanks for sharing, UXM / Alex! Great that you're enjoying the reading marathon.

I agree, Sook's art is quite nice. I love his facial expressions. I am guilty myself of focusing so much on the story and plotting and dialogue, that I fail to appreciate Sook's amazing art.

Sook's art gives a lot/most/all (tick as per your preference) of the excitement the book has. Had it been a more so-so artist, I'd be grudgingly picking it up (out of sheer Legion support). But I've not minded buying it.

I'm continuing on with Levitz's LOSH v3 and I now got to the "Pocket Universe" story.

First of all, I must say I'm so glad I started reading these comics, they've been such a boon in these quarantined days and being a huge fan of team books, long narratives and generally well-written comics, it's all been quite a treat so far.

Furthermore, I think 80's Legion really runs circles around most comics being published today, and certainly most coming from Marvel and DC. Levitz used to cram so much story, twists, character development in a single issue, especially considering how 1/3 of it was exposition, a character narrating their origin/powers and general recaps and flashbacks! You really felt like you got your money's worth as opposed to pages and pages filled with nothing that we have in a lot of today's comics. If you can get over the cheesiness of some of the comics from the 80's, they make for an immensely satisfactory reading.

About the Time Trapper plot then, while I don't necessarily think it makes a whole lot of sense (where did pre-Crisis Supergirl come from exactly when it comes to her Legion stories then?), I must say the Superboy retcon and subsequent death make for really good drama. It must have been heartbreaking back then to see Superboy removed from the Legion's history, in a way that might have seemed final at the time (until it wasn't anymore, and until it was again!) especially considering the Legion effectively started as a Superboy team and spin-off.

In terms of art, I enjoy Keith Giffen in all shapes, forms and evolutions and Steve Lightle is always a delight. I'm not terribly fond of Greg Laroque though, he's competent but his art is serviceable at best, surely DC could have found someone a bit more high-profile for what was one of their best-selling titles at the time.

About LaRocque:

The more high-profile artists most likely turned down the Legion, because it's always been a hard book to draw on a monthly schedule. In addition, Giffen was...unpredictable...and Lightle was a perfectionist, so the book was ridiculously behind schedule.

LaRocque was fast and reliable, which was what they needed to get the book back on track.

I like him better than most Legion fans do. His art was sexy and sensual in a way I firmly believe Giffen's never, ever, ever was. I've gone on many times in this forum how much I dislike Giffen's makeovers for the female Legionnaires, especially Shadow Lass.

Giffen was good at drawing aliens and future tech. I don't think he could draw good-looking people if his life depended on it.

Lightle was the only one of those three who could do it ALL beautifully. We were lucky to have him on covers for the vast majority of the Baxter run.

Yes! LaRocque's Dream Girl practically leapt off the page to flirt with you (if you were of the right gender and orientation for it).

High-five, Chaim.

Uncanny X-Man:


She simply never existed at all, in that particular "boot." While Superboy was remembered (hence, Pocket Universe), she was forgotten (though it took Brainy a bit longer than most) once history was re-written.

Agreed completely about the story density. When I was about nine or ten I would read and re-read issues of the Levitz Legion (along with the handful of Silver Age Legion stories I owned) over and over again. I can't imagine doing that with most modern comics.

Yeah that's the thing, even after the Supeboy retcon, Kara kept popping up as a mention here and there, so it feels like the rewriting was a bit out of sync

I suspect that the Sensor Girl tease was planned before the individual titles' writers/editors were informed of the ramifications of Crisis on Infinite Earths. While most of the 30th century forgot Supergirl as soon as the Infinite Man was removed from the time beacon, aligning the 30th century with the rest of the new universe's history (LSH # 18), Levitz probably had no effective substitute for Supergirl that would so thoroughly vex Brainy's mind in the Sensor Girl mystery plot, so he left in a few references in the text, mostly for Brainy. By the time Sensor Girl was revealed as Projectra, Supergirl is never mentioned again.

Write it off in-continuity as Brainy's mind being able to retain information particularly well...especially if he's working out a problem.

As much as I think Kara and Brainy are cute, I absolutely love Projectra as Sensor Girl and she's emerged as one of my favourite characters in this run, so I don't regret that change of direction one bit!

Isn't there a Supergirl statue appearance as late as the "Ghosts in the Clubhouse" story? I may be misremembering.

Anyway, the ramifications of Crisis for the Legion (as well a number of other titles) were a mess. The Pocket Universe plugged the biggest hole, but left a lot of things unexplained. Mon-El and Dev-Em both began as Superboy supporting characters before becoming Legion characters, so their stories were affected. Other Superman Family members (Supergirl, Insect Queen, Pete Ross, Elastic Lad, the Super-Pets) were ignored/deleted from Legion history.