Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Lesser Known TMK retcons...

We all know about some of the controversial, big changes TMK made in Legion history/continuity. This topic is about some of the smaller and more subtle ones.

Two that stand out from v4 #1:

Zaryan as a Khund: Zaryan, who was originally a space-pirate who tried to invade the Earth using robots and a "some assembly required" space-ship, suddenly becomes the leader of the "First Khund Invasion" of Earth.

The Legion saves the Eyth system: Though actually a mistake on the part of Tom and Mary, this was made canon in the first v4 annual when it was revealed that rather than being destroyed as in the original story, it had been shifted into the "Bgztl Buffer Zone".

These smaller retcons are the ones that made TMK so fun for me. Most of the time, they were pretty cool IMO.

One of them is that Tinya and Thom had a brief relationship before she ditched him for Jo (although I can't remember where this is shown). Although the Adventure era had one issue (and only a handful of panels) showing Tinya's seduction of Thom, TMK quickly retconned it into something more. This might even explain the snotty attitude Tinya (and Tasmia) had to Thom during Levitz's run, and one more reason Thom was so pessimistic all the time.

There are others as well IIRC. Anyone remember them?

The Tinya-Thom thing is actually a gossip-column interpretation of the events of the "Girl's Revolt" story, just as the "secret marriage" between Tinya and Jo is a reference the "The Weddings that Wrecked the Legion".

While not on the level of the Sean and Garth retcons, I hated what they did to Dev-Em, making him the "Mad Daxamite". I'm not 100% sure, but they didn't just make him crazy, I believe they retconned out all his previous appearances!

I believe they were also the first to use the codename Triad instead of Triplicate Girl. This was done, not in the Legionnaies series, but all the way back in issue # 8 or 9, Laurel Gand's origin issue.

The assasination attempt on R.J. Brande which prompted the formation of the Legion was reduced from 3 assailants down to 1. The idea was given in an interview or letter column that the event had been built up in peoples minds to a larger than life scenario, this despite the fact that we'd seen the 3 would-be killers paroled in an early V3 story.

Squire Burroughs as Drake's brother -- that came out of nowhere and only served to tease Wildfire fans (like me!) for no reason (he was in one inconsequential scene and somehow made it to the cover? Gee, I wonder why...).

A few more:

Post-Valor, Glorith was behind Brainiac 5's mental breakdown, and I think it could be reasonable inferred that the Time Trapper did the same pre-Valor.

The Tornado Twins, previously only referred to as Barry Allen's descendents now became his and Iris' own children, unless that had been revealed in Who's Who or something like that.

As of Action Comics 384 Lar Gand was not the dominant psyche in his own body, having been submerged by that of his distant relative Eltro Gand. I particularly despised this one almost as much as Proty/Garth and Pro-Fem, since Lar's moody and introspective personality were part of what made him an interesting character to my mind. I realize they were motivated by their need to recast him as a faux-Superboy but I think it could have been done without such a step. I think "Valor's" 20th century heroic career might have been enough of a difference from "Mon-El's" solitary life as a non-powered space explorer to have accounted for their different 30th century experiences. I don't take issue with the Valor retcon as a whole, driven to it by circumstances as they were, just that part of it.

My favorite of the minor TMK retcons was making Molock the Merciless, from way back in Adventure # 320, the brother of the late Starfinger I.

A probably inadvertent retcon that was well worth it was that the Batcave, which had apparently been discovered (see Adventure Comics # 341), was actually just being unearthed in the TMK era (meaning that the one used in that earlier issue was probably a historical reproduction). The "Titan Presidents" thing was hilarious.

I actually think it's funnier if one considers that Tenzil knows full well that what he's uncovering is the Batcave, having been there in Adv. #341, and he's just playing the "Titan Presidents of Bismoll" nonsense for all it's worth.

I find it hard to believe that Tom and Mary, given their impeccable knowledge of the Adventure era, would have forgotten that the Legion had visited the Batcave.

I'm pretty certain this predates TMK, being the result of the revelation that Barry had live in the 30th century for awhile.

It was ceretainly a logical outcome since Barry and Iris didn't have kids in the 20th C, and lived happily ever after for a few months in 30.

don't forget undoing Luornu's second death, making presumed-dead-body-two a Glorith henchperson.

Also, having Brainy as the actual killer of Ayn (TMK ann #1) undoes #273, where Pulsar Stargrave was revealed as the culprit.

Kent:

Actually, all TMK Annual # 1 says is that Brainy framed Ultra Boy. It doesn't directly address the issue of An's murder, and Pulsar Stargrave could still very well have been the trigger-man.

Do recall that, pre-TMK, the Time Trapper was involved in Pulsar Stargrave's first appearance. So if that Time Trapper appearance is retconned post-TMK as being Glorith, then it could be that Glorith had alerted Stargrave to Brainy's altered mental state after she drove him nuts and Stargrave took advantage by killing An and using Brainy as his stooge.

(It must be true, my Legion Help file says so! )

I thought this was a funny bit of retcon-related lettercol chicanery from the Bierbaums:

The retcon in question was the insertion of the "real" Reflecto into continuity by the Bierbaums as a Rimborian hero who competed against Jo Nah for Legion membership. In response to a question regarding V4 Annual 1 featuring several panels depicting Reflecto, the Bierbaums responded by saying something along the lines of "they always felt he was probably a real hero" (just like they always felt Garth was really Proty, no doubt) but then added that the "real" Reflecto had already been established in Secret Origins # 42. The issue in question featured Phantom Girl's origin including her first meeting with Jo and includes a small cameo by the "real" Reflecto.

So I thought, well okay, the Bierbaums are off the hook for this particular bit of retconning. I knew that various hands wrote that series so I figured it could have been done by anyone. Then I pulled out the issue in question. Guess what? It was written by none other than the Bierbaums. So the precedent they referenced as substantiating the depiction of Reflecto in the annual was based on their own work. I don't care that they threw Reflecto into continuity and then killed him off-panel, but still it seems pretty lame to act like it wasn't their idea in the first place.

Anyway, I recommend that Secret Origins issue because it has some real nice art from Dave Cockrum even if he didn't get to reprise Tinya's bellbottoms.

Well, you know, precedent was also set by the mentioning of "Stig Ah Plaza" in v4 #1!

Seriously, though, that's a great story, matlock!

good point, Chaim. I'd forgotten that... it would be just like the Trapper to have a pseudo-Brainiac 1 waiting in the wings.

Something else else I liked about the Zaryan retcon: they name-dropped him during the v4 Khund War/Red Mist story as sort of a paragon of a disappearing Khund code of honor that General Kiritan still adhered to. Zaryan was also used in Laurel Gand's origin and in the same Secret Origins issue featuring Phantom Girl. Upon her arrival on Earth Tinya inadverdently got involved with a group who wanted to use her abilities to steal Earth's defense secrets for which Zaryan was offering something like a billion credits. Given the large amount of money involved it would seem to me that the Bierbaums had already decided on the retcon months in advance of V4 issue 1. I mean, would a pirate have that kind of bankroll?

This is a little off-topic but, as a fan of the TMK era, I was wondering if anyone knew what the Bierbaums got up to after the Legion?

Is that the Meglaro-Landro ring? Tinya's involvement with that is mentioned in v4 #2. Which is another cool tying in of an ancient part of Legion history.

Wasn't Nardo revealed to have some connection to the Dark Circle? I seem to recall something about him giving genetic samples of the prisoners in his Super-Stalag to them, which was part of the teasing about the possible origins of the "clone" Legion.

Of course, Nardo didn't capture all of the Legionnaires who had SW6 versions, so it wouldn't have worked, but it was interesting nonetheless.

That's the one.

I'm surprised Alkator never made a TMK appearance.

They didn't use Kranyak in the Sun Boy spotlight, either, did they? A shame, if not.

EDE, Nardo was indeed revealed as a Dark Circle agent, but you are correct - the documents mentioning this said he was not in fact the source of the SW6 genetic material. IIRC, it was evetually obtained from the Legion's own cell banks (for potential future cloning, though good cloning technology was not yet known to legitimate scientists, as per Superboy # 206) by Universo.

You know, it would have been really cool if the Dark Circle had shown up with an army of cloned Super-Stalag prisoners!