Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! why 3 boot will sleep with fishes

Hello all. Here is my grand theory of why the 3boot will go the way of Joe Pesci in Goodfellas. Remember that great scene where he thinks he going to become a made guy, he didn't see it coming until the last second. So shall the 3boot.


My theory is that the 50th celebration will involve the bringing back of some form of the original guys. the only other option I see, is that they do some kind of clip show book. but that seems kinda lame. no, I think the 50th will be cause for major,major changes in the LSH status quo. So in the best tradition of Batman and Elongated man here are my deductive reasons. and Tromium please don't hit me.

1) The lighting saga showed that the current LSH book has not had any contact with Superman. This Legion doesn't currently possess time travel. The lighting Saga legion is the one Superman remembers from his youth. In an upcoming Action arc Superman will interact with this group some more. Geoff's comments made it rather clear that the lighting group is Superman's legion.

2) So far, the 3boot Legion has interacted with the current DCU in 3 ways: Supergirl, Batman, and Booster. I didn't read Brave & the Bold, however, in 52, time was broken. Booster and Supergirl arrived in the future when time was in flux. that says to me, there's some type of alternate timeline happening.

3) in the lighting saga, we know that Ultra-Humanite, Despero, and Per Dagaton were time traveling. the last time they were seen was in metropolis in the future. the same metropolis of the Lighting Legion. again, time tampering that has probably resulted in a divergent timeline.

4) DC has been listening to the fans. first, lots of people expressed disapproval that the Super family wasn't involved with the Legion. So you got Supergirl. it hasn't really helped. now you have Johns developing plot lines about a Legion that Superman knew while he was growing up. lots and lots of fans, at first anyway, when nuts over the appearance of those guys. lastly, they have brought back Shooter. with apologizes to Bendis, but that news has cracked the Internet in half. The current book has low sales, and DC seems to be trying to bring back the stuff that many of you all know and love about the LSH.

5) Next year is the 50th anniversary. if my research is correct, next April is the anniversary month. Johns' action arc will be over in March of next year. one month before the anniversary. End the arc and then start a new book the following month. sounds like good marketing to me.

6) when it come to the LSH Superman is important. Johns has established that Superman has a relationship with the LSH and it's not the 3boot. why continue to publish a book that has not had a relationship with your flagship character? the only way I can see to resolve that is to establish the 3boot as an alternate false timeline, and that the LSH that supes knows as the real LSH with a timeline perverted by the 3 bad guys in Lighting Saga.

7) Geoff Johns brought back Hal Jordan, heck he brought back most of the Lanterns that Jordan was supposed to have killed! So why not have him bring back the classic LSH and then hand the reigns to Shooter.

okay, this is a bit more rambling than I wanted it to be, and I didn't read the Brave & the Bold arc. but come on folks, they are all but telling us that the 3boot is not real.

as for Shooter, lets face it. most fans will forgive and/or enjoy the fact that has played along with DC's deception in order to bring back a form of the original LSH.

if you do decide to punch me Tromium, please not in the face!

you make a strong case. Shooter being on Threeboot, then, is either a red herring, a mechanism to either blur the Legions into one, or a lead-in (along with Action) to the Legion of Three Worlds/Final Crisis.

I for one remain optimistic, regardless of what happens.

I promise not to punch you -- least of all when you're expecting it! Anyway, it was Luca Brasi who slept with the fishes in Francis Coppola's "The Godfather", not Tommy DeVito/Joe Pesci in Martin Scorses's "Goodfellas". Movie mafiosi continuity is almost as important as Legion continuity!

It goes without saying I disagree with your pessimistic outlook, but I see that one of your basic points may be valid, now that I've read what Didio had to say about the Multiverse in Baltimore, i.e., each earth has alternate dimensions, timelines and microverses, plus his statements verifying the 3boot Legion is of New Earth, and the LS Legion is *not* of New Earth One. So, yes, it's possible the 3boot and LS Legions are both futures of New Earth (the Great Disaster being a third possible future, apparently). One possibility among several.

But after that we part ways. Go ahead and speculate about a conpiracy to destroy the 3boots to your heart's content, but I choose to believe Shooter is telling the truth about his committment to these characters ... most of the time:

Shooter said the run will start with an epic 16-issue story -- pointing out that of course there will be smaller stories within the larger story. "The two main villains are Geoff Johns and Brad Meltzer .. :

You'll have to stick around until April 2009 to see if you're right, I guess.

I'm torn, I *want* to see 'my' old Legion team, and yet, I also like some of the new stuff.

Star Boy is the worst quandary for me, since I like both versions of Thom. He's kind of pathetic, as portrayed in the threeboot, portrayed as either a klutz, or some sort of simpleton, or perhaps both, but I like the outfit and the look.

I love the new Dreamy, but I loved the old one as well, and the new one is DEAD, so that's a vote for the old one.

I liked the old 'occasionally unstable, but basically a good guy' Brainiac 5 a lot better than the sarcastic jerkwad of the threeboot. (Here's a hint, Brainstein, manipulation of lesser intellects is *child's play,* if you *don't* treat them like crap! It takes merely human levels of intellect to jerk people around, you should be more like TAO, of the WildCATs, not some grouchy wannabe who couldn't manipulate his way out of a paper bag.)

Lightning Lad as ADD Lad doesn't work for me. Saturn Girl as the mindless go-along who has no opinions of her own also falls down. Cosmic Jerk definitely fails the test. All three of the founders come off as total headcases in the threeboot. I will not shed a tear to see decisive and inspiring and brave Garth, who also happens to be a skilled pilot, back, and this addled yes-man to Cosmic Boy retired. Although I like the new costume with the lightning stuff. And Imra's hair.

Hmm. Between Star Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl, it's beginning to look like a whole lot of the Waid/Kitson stuff I actually liked was the Kitson stuff and not the Waid stuff.

Kinda sad that the best thing I can say about the threeboot is that Barry Kitson did some neat stuff with their costumes and appearances...

thanks Tromium. I did cross up my movie references there. I should have said 3boot gets taken to the basement.

I see you still by stand Shooter. okay, you are more familiar with him. but, I think we will find out before April. they will probably make some of sort of solicit, or convention news a month or two before.

1) If my count is correct, Bedard & Calero's run will end with the December issue. Which means that Jim Shooter will have 4 issues to build up to the 50th Anniversary sheebang in April 2008.

2) Dennis has said that he and Bedard have been asked to clean up some things and move the story in certain directions by the new creative team, which we now know are Jim & Francis.

3) At the same time Geoff Johns will be wrapping up his arc in Action of the Lightning Saga Legion in March, an arc that has been called "Three Legions Saga".

4) Karate Kid, we're told, plays a pivotal role in "52" and the Final Crisis.

5) Also by my count, Week 1 of "52" (what should be the big conclusion to 52 and Final Crisis) is due on shelves on.....wait for it...April 23rd, 2008!

6) April 23, 2008 is also the day in which the latest issue of the Legion book should hit the stands...what should be the 50th Anniversary issue.

I would argue that the signs all point to a major event revolving around the Legion just in time for the 50th. An event that should have dramatic DCU wide implications.

Ladies and gentlemen, sentinents of all shapes and sizes...fasten your seatbelts! We're in for a wild ride! Anyone's guess is valid and possible, but the only guarantee is that things will be very different on April 23, 2008!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Adventure #247 bore the cover date April 1958, but was on the stands a couple of months earlier.

Assuming the book stays on schedule, the April 2008 issue of LSH (the true 50th anniversary issue) would be issue #39, coming out February, 2008. No?

You are correct but all I've seen mentioned recently seems to indicate that April is what is being considered the Anniversary.

I aint' celebrating no fake anniversary!

A couple double issue months or delays, whatever's necessary can get all the stars to align.

While I can certainly understand your sentiment, I would argue that if TPTB at DC are willing to make the 50th a huge event, I'll be happy to celebrate it whether it's on time or just a little bit late. After all, in comicbookdom, you must admit, the standard practice is better late than never...just look at DC's All Star line...and Wonder Woman...and....!

They could add an unnumbered, 2-issue Legion wedding special that pushes issue #39 to April!

Yeah, that's the ticket. Triplicate Girl and Element Lad get hitched.

Wait .. NOOOoooooooooo

Well, hold on: as far as I know, the arc is called 'Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes'. I think the 'Legion of 3 Worlds' story, or whatever it is, is something different. The Lightning Saga teased us with its existence but I haven't heard yet that that's what we're getting in Action, and in fact I think it's not.

I could really, really (really) get behind a drive to the threeboot's demise. But, all I'm going to hope for is ongoing publication of alternate versions. Nothing Mr. Shooter's said has ruled that out, has it?

Matthew is right. Johns talked about the Action arc here (scroll down past the Bizarro stuff):
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=11725

It's about the adult Superman going to the future to help the adult LS Legion against some super-villains from the Legion's past, with focus on his relationhsip with the three founders. The "Legion of Three Worlds" happened years before -- before the first Crisis.

Someone at a panel asked about the possibility of a "Legion of Three Worlds" story and got a "maybe" answer. That's all I remember reading about it.

Besides Karate Kid and Una continuing in Countdown, Starman in JSA and a Brainy appearance in Booster Gold, I don't recall anything mentioned about the Lightning Saga Legion after the Action arc, only that certain hanging plotlines -- the biggest being which Flash is in the lightning rod -- will be addressed in 2008. I suspect the LS Legion and their "Flash" will have an important role to play in Final Crisis.

A third ongoing series while Shooter is writing the 3boots? I don't know, anything's possible, but probably not until DC can guage the success of his run and is convinced the market will support another (potentially competing) book.

Dang... I thought this was the support thread for re-imagining the Devil Fish.