 The Legion of Super-Heroes Post-Reboot Chronology - by Greg Gildersleeve
This chronology © 2002 Greg Gildersleeve Still with me? Good. Before we begin, some explanations are in order. This chronology was inspired by and owes much of its organization to the Star Trek Chronology series written by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda and first published by Pocket Books in 1993. As with the Okudas’ detailed but concise work, certain ground rules must be established: I. Basic Assumptions. Following Legion tradition, this chronology assumes that the main setting for the Legion of Super-Heroes is approximately 1000 years in our future. (Note approximately. See Topical References, below.) It also assumes that the history of the Legion universe is internally consistent and that it follows along a defined and easily discernible passage of time. The creators of the Legion chronicles have generally not been concerned with holding true to these concepts, but, for this chronology to work, both must be in play. One advantage the Legion has always held over other super-hero titles is that it is not bound by the prevailing practice that stories must take place in the present. Therefore, it is easier to discern passage of time if one merely ignores topical references. Speaking of which ... II. Topical References. In constructing a comic book chronology, it is usually best to ignore topical references (exact dates, seasons, contemporary real-world events, and even fads and fashions) entirely. A story arc in Superman, for example, might be published over a twelve-month period while twelve months have obviously not passed for the characters in the story. For this reason, topical references reflect what is happening in the reader’s world, rather than the world of the characters. This is also true for the Legion: While just over eight years of “real time” have passed since the reboot, a much shorter span of time appears to have elapsed for the characters. However, while constructing this chronology, I found that some topical references fit in rather well. Very few Legion stories make reference to actual months and days, but I found that including most such dates didn’t change the chronology much. This didn’t work for yearly references (2994, 2998, 3002, etc.). Bottom line: If a topical reference fit the chronology, I left it in; if it didn’t, I excluded it. When a topical date has been ignored, I mention it in the italicized notes following the entry. III. The 30th and 31st Centuries. For the most part, it makes little difference if a given story takes place in 2994, 2995 or 2996. I’ve tried to adhere to the prevailing (and admittedly topical) notion in Legion stories that the turn of the millennium took place sometime around when several Legionnaires were lost in another universe (e.g., Legion Lost). One could easily make a case, however, for the stories occurring earlier or even later. IV. The 20th and 21st Centuries. Many Legion stories take place in the present day (as well as during other times past and future), thanks to time travel. At least three major characters (M’Onel, Ferro and Lori Morning) were born in the 20th century, and many Legionnaires were stranded there for several months. Because these stories intersect with the modern DC Universe, it is self-defeating to try to pinpoint exact dates for them, other than the topical dates already given. (Remember, they have to take place now, or as close to the “now” of the present DCU as possible.) Therefore, I’ve chosen to assume that, from the Legion’s perspective, when an event is said to occur in 1995, it really did occur in 1995. Admittedly, this puts certain Legion events out of synch with the rest of the DCU, but, hey, this is a Legion chronology, not a DCU chronology! V. Crossovers. When various Legionnaires have been stranded in the present, their adventures have crossed over with other DCU titles, including Superman and Flash, and events such as “Final Night” and “Underworld Unleashed.” Since I have neither the time nor the resources to track down these non-series appearances, most of them have been omitted from this chronology, save for the chapters published in the Legion titles. While this may result in incomplete descriptions of certain events, it also filters out extraneous and unwieldy connections to the DCU. Bottom line here is, you have to draw a line somewhere. VI. Relativistic Time. As with the Okudas’ assumption in Star Trek Chronology, I’m assuming that all references to the passage of time within Legion stories have been converted to earth standard time. If Saturn Girl says she did something five years ago, it’s taken to mean five earth years, not five Titan years (which could be much longer, since Saturn takes nearly thirty earth years to travel around the sun!). VII. Legionnaires’ Ages and Birthdates. Legionnaires #0 told us that the three founders – Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Live Wire – were 15, 15, and 14 when they formed the Legion. Few other stories mention the Legionnaires’ ages at all, so we have to rely on outside sources and conjecture for most others. One source is former Legion colorist and writer Tom McCraw, who, several years ago, posted his take on the Legionnaires’ ages in a widely circulated e-mail. While McCraw’s views are not official, they are nevertheless useful in conjecturing when some of the Legionnaires were born. For the most part, it makes little difference if, say, Star Boy was 15 or 17 when he joined the Legion. But if someone involved with telling Legion stories believes he was 16, why not use it? Note, however, that McCraw listed ages only for the Legionnaires in use at that time (and, even then, he refused to speculate on the ages of the two most “alien” members, Chameleon and Brainiac 5). For later members, unfortunately, no reliable evidence or contextual clues exist for determining their ages, so their births have been omitted from this chronology. This isn’t to say that these characters are unimportant, but that I didn’t feel comfortable picking an age between 13 and 18 for them. Birthdays: Most of the birthdays given for Legionnaires in this chronology were taken from the 1976 Super DC Calendar. (The exception is Andromeda, whose July 27 birthday came from Mayfair Games’ Legion Sourcebook series.) This is the sole instance in which I’ve included preboot information, since birthdays (combined with McCraw’s conjectural ages) help determine a conjectural birth order for the Legionnaires. Again, such dates have been converted to earth-standard, which gives Cosmic Boy a birth date of February 11, 2982, for example. Again, however, I’ve been forced to omit the births of Legionnaires for whom no reliable age has been established. For those whose ages are known but who had no preboot counterparts (e.g., XS, Kinetix), I’ve listed their births, sans month and day, in the appropriate year. VIII. Undatable Events. Certain other events also defy any attempt to include them in the chronology. There simply are not enough clues, for example, to determine when Ra’s al Ghul began impersonating Leland McCauley – before or after McCauley became president? Rather than relying overmuch on guesswork, I’ve chosen to omit such events from this chronology. Again, this does not mean that an omitted event is not important, but that not enough evidence exists for placing them within a reasonable time frame. IX. General Organization of the Chronology. Story titles are listed in bold and with quotation marks; the series title (or abbreviation) and issue number follows the description of the events within it. If an entry does not begin with a story title, it usually consists of background information. Italicized notations follow most entries, offering explanations and other details. Bold names. In order to ensure readability, the Legionnaires’ names are in bold when they appear for the first time in an entry. For consistency, the names of non-Legionnaires (even those who were Legionnaires in the preboot, such as Dirk Morgna and Dreamer) have not been emboldened, nor have the villain identities of certain Legionnaires (e.g., Emerald Violet, Progenitor). Abbreviations. The titles of the two former main Legion titles are abbreviated as LSH (for Legion of Super-Heroes) and L* (for Legionnaires; the asterisk comes from the “L plus starburst” symbol in use at that time). Most other series titles are spelled out. One final caveat: As mentioned, this chronology represents my interpretation of events and the order in which they occurred, but it is not set in stone (or even tromium). If there are any questions, concerns or alternate interpretations, please e-mail me at GregGildr@aol.com. As the Okudas said in their Star Trek Chronology, this effort is to be taken with a grain of salt – and a pluberry or two! – Greg Gildersleeve, October 2002 Continue to: III. THE 21st THROUGH 29th CENTURIES IV. THE 30th CENTURY: THE PRE-LEGION ERA |