Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes The First Legion Retcon...

From ACTION COMICS #267 "The Three Super-Heroes!":

From ACTION COMICS #334 "The Three Super-Heroes!":

From Superboy #98:

From Superboy #147:

That's so cool! I knew about how the original Supergirl/Legion story made the then-common time travel mistake of thinking that since time had advanced in the present (Superboy's time to Superman/Supergirl's time) then the time in the future also had to advance leading to the children of the originals bit, and how that backstory was quickly dropped, but I hadn't realised that it was changed in the first reprint 6 years later.

I also hadn't realised that they rewrote that line from Jo that he was restricted to just his visions powers.

Phew, good thing they didn't restrict him to only discover Superboy's secret identity only using his ultra-invulnerability...

(I mean, gosh, 'we are going to handicap you, by requiring you to only use the one power you have that would actually be useful at this?')

It's such a bizarre bit.

I mean... if you think there's a need to explain why he doesn't use any other powers here, then it seems like you would want to explain why he only uses vision powers for his first several appearances, which this doesn't do at all.

But yeah, it becomes the most bizarrely nonsensical condition on an initiation test ever. Maybe they used the Planetary Chance Machine to decide which powers he could use, and he lucked out?


Oh, and I know it's been talked about plenty of time before, but Marla really does seem like an aging super-hero here.

Honestly, I can see the bottom blurb in the yellow box has been rewritten (and the pages recoloured!), but I can't actually read the earlier page as-posted here.

I mean, it's up against some pretty stiff competition...

I found it a bit hard to read too. Here is the original text and the changed version:

Original Blurb:
... and what is their purpose in helping her hide the secret of her real identity? The answer is even more fantastic than she could possibly guess, and leads her 1,000 years into the future, to a stunning surprise finish in the amaze-a-second adventure of ... The Three Super-Heroes!

Reprint Blurb:
... and what is their purpose in helping her hide the secret of her real identity? Right! They're Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad, of the Legion of Super-Heroes! And this is the fantastic tale of their first trip from the 30th-Century to see the Mighty Maid of Steel! The reason is told in this account of ... The Three Super-Heroes!

Original panels:
Supergirl "You're the Cosmic Boy ... Saturn Girl ... and Lightning Lad he knew!"
Lightning Lad "Not the ones he knew, although we have the same names ..."
Saturn Girl "We are the children of the three young super-heroes who befriended Superboy! We are carrying on the Legion's traditions ..."

Reprint panels:
Supergirl "You're the Cosmic Boy ... Saturn Girl ... and Lightning Lad he knew!"
Lightning Lad "You're hitting on all cylinders, Supergirl!"
Saturn Girl "We've admired Superboy ... and you! That's why we made this trip!"

As you can see the original was working from the idea that since Supergirl was a generation later than Superboy, so the Legionnaires from the future had to be as well. The next time Supergirl meets them this is just dropped and this reprint takes it out all together. Hence Korbal's title "The First Legion Retcon..."

I had a look back through those early stories and was sur[prised how long it goes on that Ultra Boy is only using his Penetra-Vision or Flash Vision. It's not until his starring role in Adventures #316, 2 years later that we get the explanation of his being able to use his Ultra energy as multiple different powers, just one a at time. We get a hint of it in #314 when he, Superboy and Mon-El are mind controlled but he still doesn't do anything except fly.

Yeah, one wonders what might have happened if they hadn't forgotten that they already had a third Legionnaire with established Kryptonian-class powers in the form of Star Boy when they needed someone for that Alaktor story.

While looking into these old stories I stumbled across another old retcon I never knew about, and one that was created just to make sense of a teasing cover.

Adventure Comics #371 is mostly the first half of the Colossal Boy/Traitor story, but the cover instead shows Superboy climbing onto a spaceship as he tells a tearful Legion that he is leaving them to join a different team. This premise is apparently fulfilled in the second story in the volume - kind-of - although the Legion only appears in 2 panels where they turn up via Time Bubble to call on Superboy to help them with an urgent mission, only to have him say he can't help as he is off to join another team.

The reason it feels so disjointed is because it is. The original story comes from Superboy #101 and never included the Legion at all. The two panels were apparently added here in this reprint just to work with the cover teaser. Even the title of the story was changed from "The Valhalla of Super-Companions" to "When Superboy walked out on the Legion". It is in this form that it is then reprinted in LSH Archives vol 8.

Sorry if this was common knowledge but it was new to me. I only stumbled across it when tracing the chronological appearances of Ultra Boy via Mike's Amazing World of Comics.

Yeah, as I recall many of the Super-Companions get recolored from one version of the story to the next.

Yeah, I fiigured there was a thread about it somewhere.

Has it really been 20 years?

Weepin' Jeepers!

From SUPERMAN ANNUAL #6:

Oh, that's fun! Do they leave the bit about Cosmic Boy gaining his powers by drinking serums in?

ahh the Nine Planets ice cream

Actually, I think Korbal posted the wrong version of that panel.

Took me a bit to spot the differences. I had to look at my copies to compare, but then it was obvious.

For anyone else who might be struggling:
- Lightning Boy is re-lettered to Lightning Lad
- the costumes are recoloured to more closely resemble their usual outfits, although without any changes in design
- Imra is changed from Ginger to Blonde (although strangely so is Garth!)

They still kept all the text of Imra getting her powers from training on Saturn, Rokk gaining his magnetic eyes from a serum, and Garth having hands of opposite charges.
Note also that this reprint does not have the skin recolouring of other members that some reprints do.
(It also is missing the last page where Superboy tricks them back.)

From SUPERMAN ANNUAL #8:

In this reprint of only the second appearance of the Legion, the changes are mostly what you can see on the splash page:

- Rokk and Imra's costumes are recoloured to their usual patterns. (Both were pretty close and just needed recolouring. Garth was already his usual self.)
- Imra's hair is changed from brunette to blonde

Garth's superhero title was already Lightning Lad in this story. Interestingly the Mayor calls him Lightning Boy and this is kept in the reprint.

The only other changes are textual:
- where the original splash page had a text box saying "The Adventures of Superman when he was a a boy" this is replaced with "An untold story of the Legion of Super-Heroes" (a bit strange since it was told just over four years previous)
- a note is added "The Legionnaires used to fly with jets before they acquired anti-gravity belts. - Editor" (makes sense to add - helpful)
- the cause of the disaster on the Superboy Planet is changed from "Days later, one of the amazing Superboy trophies explodes ... launching an atomic reaction" to "But days later, an unexpected quake on Superboy Planet occurs, launching an atomic reaction" (Exactly how a quake causing an atomic reaction makes more sense than one of the trophies exploding I don't get but oh well.)

From Superboy #101 "The Valhalla of Super-Companions":

From Adventure Comics #371 "When Superboy walked out on the Legion":

Yeah that was the one I talked about above, though I had missed the retooling of the script in the other panels. Thanks for posting it. Really shoehorning the Legion into a Superboy story, probably all so they could do that dramatic cover.

I wonder what the big emergency was and how the Legion fared?