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

247 for $50?!?! And I was happy getting 2-SIXTY-7 in Fi+ for 3 times that! WOW!!

Great thread! It's like "secret confessions of Legion fans".

I started with S/LSH with either Superboy #220 or the Limited Collector's Edition of the "Mordru in Smallvile" saga.

And funny, even though they weren't "jump-on" stories, I managed to figure out the back-story soon enough.

(Plus in #220, there was that great back-up story with Cham, Brainy and Nura. That was a classic. "Cool up, lady" indeed!)

After that, I followed the Legion until TMK #42, with the exception of the ONE LSH, post-boot tp.

(P.S. LL, Don't kill KOKO. He's a pre-crisis/post-boot anomaly and can't help it!)

It'll probably surprise people to know I got into the Legion pretty late in the game.

My first encounter with the Legion was 1983. I was a Marvel guy, and I had a friend who was into DC. He didn't regularly read the Legion, but he liked to buy big anniversary issues, and he had # 300. I also recall encountering the Secrets of the Legion miniseries and I read every entry in the original Who's Who...I love encyclopedia-comics. So I had a basic familiarity with the cast of the Legion.

Fast forward to 1990. Marvel began to suck about three years earlier, and I had spent a year and a half pretty much comic book-free in Israel. I came back and what caught my eye but the loose-leaf Who's Who. I loved the format, I loved the art. And the Legion entries were fascinating...the Legionnaires had seemingly moved on from super-hero life, Phantom Girl was amnesiac in the twentieth century, Mon-El was now called Valor...

To satisafy my curiosity, I picked up Legion (Beirbaum/Giffen series) # 13, titled "State of the Universe" on the cover. This only slaked my curiosity further, until I bought up the whole series. Then, to provide background for myself on some of the unfamiliar faces, I bought back-issues of Who's Who in the Legion and the ICG Legion Indexes. Eventually I noticed that a) everything that had changed was interconnected, confusing but understandable if one had the right resource, and b) the Beirbaums had thrown in a lot of off-handed easter eggs that I still wasn't getting. So I began work on version 1 of the Legion.HLP file, and I became obsessive about obtaining reference material.

The result is the Legion trivia whiz you are familiar with today.

That's amazing Chaim. I've been around a lot longer, since 1975, but don't have half the knowledge you do for their past.

How is the recovery of your files going for the update? Any luck?

I'm still thinking of trying to create something similar but for use on Palm handhelds. That'll make my Tungsten a true Omnicom.

My first issues were Legionnaires 1-7, in the SW6 era. I picked the whole bunch up for what would be only about a dollar (horrible exchange rate factored in ) Then I would get a few other back issues from time to time, but never with any regularity. Then I chanced on Legionnaires 47-50 and LSH 91, and I totally fell in love with the Legion! I filled up my collection with other back issues, and I also read my aunt's collection of Legion issues ranging from the Adventure era to the second Levitz run and the TMK era, and much of the early reboot too. Unfortunately, all those characters were just too much for a young new Legion fan, so I started to explore the Internet looking for info, and I definitely got more than I bargained for. Now I know a lot more about the Legion than anyone living here probably does, thanks in a large part to these message boards and CM Keller's Help file And with the advent of Legion Lost, which I totally loved, I became totally and completely hooked, and now I'm a regular at the shop where I get the latest issue of the Legion every month. The Legion is definitely a large part of what makes life worth living!

Is your aunt still a fan? Maybe she should join us here at Legion World!

my Legion road map started in the late 70's. i was about 6 or 7my grandmother and her sister had just returned from their weekly venture to a few garage sales in hartsdale or scarsdale n.y. and to my suprise the came back with 4 paper grocery bags full of comics and among them were a lot of the Grell era SB/LSH comics. the one's that spring to mind were:
~the Legion's fight against the Legion of Super-Rejects.
~the issue featuring the ghost of Ferro lad & Invisible Kid.
~the issue were Superboy saves Ultra boy & Lana Lang from being exocuted by a Legion firing squad.
~the 1st apperance of Grimbor.
from then i knew i liked this book but was not hooked yet.
then later on i was trading comics with a friend and i traded a Marshall & Austin era detective comics for the Legion of Super-Heroes comic that was a reprint of the Computo saga. that was my intro to the adventure comics era team.
then i knew that i was hooked. now when i was little it was a hassle to get my grandparents to take me to the store (as far as i knew back then there were no such places as comic book shops.):sad: so i would have to beg and plead with them to take me to the local news stand so my next few LSH issues were spotty. but the one's that come to mind were:
~ the issue where B-5 was cured of his "insanity"
~the issue featuring the Psyco-pirate.
~the issue titled "will the last one leaving the planet please turn of off the lights."
and a few others which i can't remember right now but it wasn't untill the issue when Superboy finally left the Legion for good and the title changed to the Legion of Super Heroes that i was able to collect every issue on a regular basis, and since then i havent stopped.
the GDS and the Levitz/giffen pre baxter issues made me love the legion so much more. then came the baxter series, the LSH/LSV war the death of K.K., the founders leaving group the addition of non-humaniod members, Polarboy moving up to the "big leagues" the who is Sensor girl mystery. the Universo project, the death of Superboy and on through to the series finalie with the Magic wars. i still think the baxter series is great reading.
now the 5yr gap /TMK era group was a little,.. no a lot different because it seemed to me that they took the Shooter era "Adult Legion ers" idea and took a hard left turn with it and kept on running
IMO it had some good points but it wasn't a fan favorite. so i won't go on.
now the re-boot era Legion so far i've loved what's been put out by the various creative teams except for the Dark Circle Rising story arch, that still leaves my scratching my head.
which brings me to today
so from a little child of the 70's through my teen years of the 80's to young adulthood of the 90's through today the Legion is the one title that my fanatisism for has never wavered.
unlike other long running titles over last 20 or so years if i didn't like the direction the book was going or the creative team i'd drop the book
so you see my Legion-reading road map is long and winding indeed but i've enjoyed every turn ,bend and curve along the way.

*** OH MAN and i forgot about the Adventure Comics mini digest that DC put out during the late 80's that was how i got further exposure to the adventure and action comic era stories from the 60's. stupid..,stupid,....stupid, i'm sooooooo stuuuupid!!!!

I like this thread also

My Legion experience:

-I notice that Keith Giffen, my favorite comic book writer is writing the Legion (TMK). My Dad tells me it's excellent, but I'm a bit too young for it right then (at age 10).

-Years later, I pick up one of the earliest issues of the reboot (on the Prison Planet with goggles), and like it so much, that I go back and read all the reboot issues since Zero Hour.

-Then, I remember that the Legionnaires were once older, since I remember the Giffen series, and seeing them in Crisis and Zero Hour.

-Luckily, my Dad's collection was almost complete even then. I began with the Adventure stories and decided to read them strait through until Zero Hour. I started with Adventure #300.

-Through the Adventure era, although there were holes early on. By Shooter we had every issue, and I really got into it then. The fact that it was confusing (knowing the reboot) only made it even more interesting and fun.

-Flash forward: we own NONE of the Superboy and the Legion issues. Suddenly, I come back in at the Legion #304. What the hell happened? Blok? Dawnstar? Wildfire?

-Read the Levitz issues, loved them. Bought the Great Darkness TPB. Loved it. By now, Legion had become my favorite comic. Before finishing the Levitz run, I got my Dad to buy almost all of the Superboy and the Legion run, and then went back and reread those. We were missing some of the later Baxter run (I never read Magic Wars until a few months ago), but that was alright.

-We had the entire TMK run, and having just read close to every Legion story in the last month, I read that whole run in a few days, and was BLOWN away by it.

-Then, just for kicks, I decided to reread the entire run the next summer in chronological order. Anything that didn't make sense did then. Afterwards, it was almost sad knowing that I had connected all the dots and made sense out of those stories.

-I then got the Archives #1 and #2 to read the stories that I never had and will take me awhile to get.

-And now it's been up to me to complete the collection with...gasp!...my own money! (And Pov's generosity a few months back ).

Great thread Teeds!

So Cobie, what are you still missing. It seems like you've mentioned just about everything.

I'm missing all the Legion appearances before Adventure #300 with the exceptions of #293 and the first appearance of Ultra Boy (Superboy #89). Besides those, I think I'm missing three issues of Superboy and the Legion, and a few more of the Adventure era (two or three from #301-310, and then one more before Shooter).

I had planned to go crazy on Ebay, but then thought better of it. I think I should get a reliable source of income before that . Adventure #247 will be my crowning achievement I think (although now I suddenly crave Superman #141 also).

1977: I read DC Super-Stars #17. 1st appearance of the Huntress (the REAL Huntress, Earth-2 Batman's daughter), A Grell Green Arrow origin, and a Legion origin. LOVE Huntress, and follow her into Bat-books and JSA; LIKE GA, start following GL/GA; lukewarm on Legion. go figure. even today, I'm not wild about that one.

1978: Read S/LSH #236. LOVE it. part of the fun is trying to follow all these characters. Art (Sherman) is pretty damn cool, too. Unfortunately, mom has a lot of say over what comics 10-year-old me can read, and she vetoes Legion. Meanwhile Hal Jordan and JSA are my favorites at this point.

1979: Winning a little ground on Legion. Allowed to pick up a few in the late #240s, and early #250s. Unfortunately, there not as good as #236 was. The Conway era has begun. When Superboy leaves, mom says 'that's it.' I don't argue; its not the Legion I was enchanted with.

1980/81: What a difference a year makes! I have more say over what I buy, and the Secrets mini makes a good excuse to rejoin Legion. Janes, not wild about. Ditko, loved his Starman, Odd Man and Creeper. Blok? I remember when he was a villain. Ulta Boy dead? not dead? dead again? I think I'll stick around.

1981: Make friends with Mike, the only other Legion fan I knew back then. Read his collection, which includes stories I hadn't read before: the Infinite Man, the Composite Legionaire, and that machine that zaps Superboy's memory. Around this same time, DC digests begin, and I get a taste of Silver. At the time, me, a defensive DC fan among serious, cool, macho Marvel zombies, I was ashamed at how corny they seemed, compared to X-Men and Daredevil. Luckily, I love em now, corny or not.

1982-84: Love Legion, love Levitz/Giffen, but Wolfman/Perez Titans are my faves. As a teen, getting to comic shops in Albany (45 minutes away) becomes more and more feasable, so baxter and indies become possible. Not driving yet, but go with friends once a month or more to Dr Who club meetings, and we hit the comics stores afterward.

1985-1987: Titans who? Marv burns out with Crisis. Levitz still has it, although I initially hold a grudge against non-Giffen artists (sorry Steve! I've gotten over it, though). Legion becomes my favorite DC superhero book (Alan Moore's Swamp Thing rules my DC roost at this time, however), although my interests are starting to veer towards Indies: Mage, Elfquest, Jon Sable, American Flagg, Ms Tree and others. Love Sensor Girl arc, Conspiracy, but Starfinger and the early #40s tax my enthusiasm. By now, I'm knee-deep in comics insiderism, helping a friend out with a mail-order subscription service, religiously reading Comics Journal and CBG, hob-nobbing with pros at the Albany cons, and go to San Diego for the 1st time (86).

1988-89: Post-conspiracy, Legion is lagging. I drop the book for a few months, onlt to rejoin with Magic Wars. L.E.G.I.O.N. 89 ads make me gag - I sense corrosion of the arteries of Legion lore - by Giffen? how could he? ...and he's taking over the new LSH book too? I'm out of here.

1990: Well, a little peak or three won't hurt (#15-17). It's interesting, but not MY Legion (not back then, anyway).

1991: Great Darkness sequel? let's look at #24... still not my Legion. Lobo? BAH! A second, younger Legion? Clones? give me a break! By this time, Sandman's my favorite.

1991/2: Moving a lot, time to downsize the collection. Keep 110-ish best LSH, ditch 70-80 or so.

1994: 'End of an era' part one (or conclusion, if you read covers). Interesting. don't know why I only picked up this one, though. I gather the young clones are still around... who's Glorith? why's Mordru young? Is that furry guy Brin? Why does elder Violet look like a cruise ship crew member, and has she filed suit against her hairdresser yet?

1994: LSH #0: A beautiful relauch. I guess it hadda be done. Immonen's art is stunning. Maybe I'll follow this... no, in subsequent issues, this Moy guy's art is too cartoony, and the story's lagging.

1996: LSH #80: Hey! that's a cover... that's a story... that's a keeper! maybe it's time to keep an eye on the gang again. By this time, I'm working in a comic shop, and can follow without buying (will regret later). At this time, my favorite is Preacher.

1997/8: team 20/30? cammon! glad I'm not buying this (at the time).

1999: Legion who? no longer at the shop, I don't see it, don't follow it. I keep a strict diet of Vertigo and indies. serious stuff, no super-heroes, not since I dropped Supreme by Alan Moore.

2000: Yeah, I heard the series was ending. couple min-series will follow. whatever.

2003, spring: Time to downsize my collection again? Lemme re-read some of these... man, these were great! wonder what Legion's up to these days? "Timber Wolf joins," eh? wasn't he already in the reboot? dunno.... Great art! very Euro-cinimatic... another Kid Quantum ,like the one in Legionnaires 17, only female. is that Violet? she's big now! Garth's dead? Jan went bad? musta been in the first few issues. have to track these down. Looks good.

2003, summer: okay, have most of "The," missing 1,2,4... oh here's 2. getting there. Man, 3's a great issue... maybe I'll start filling in my old gaps, too... Levita era: old friends! how could I have ditched you? TMK: first dozen and half: what a departure... this is great stuff! loved figuring out what was going on. reunion in #10 is priceless. early Archies: not bad. there's some good stuff here... hope it doesn't tank the way I remember (20/30). I plan to fill in everything post-archives, then start on the volumes. no way I can afford Silver.

fall 2003: I can afford silver, at least old raggedy ones. pick up a few where I can find and afford, pick up Legion Worlds and a few LLs I can find, and most of DnA's pre-LL issues. I Archie my way into the #70s (still cant find 'Aires Annual #2 at this point!), start into Terra Mosaic, finish re-collecting most of 1982-1989 run. It's fun collecting several eras at once, putting the puzzle together from different perspectives.

winter 03/04: I discover ebay! yeah, I'm a late comer. so what. MIssing about 6 DnA, vow to complete before my one-year reLegioning anniversary (which I do... two mid-run LLs were the holdouts. track them down in NYC, the morning before marching in a parade). start focusing on big runs to fill gaps in the Archie and S/KLSH eras.

spring/summer 04: blow tax refund $ better spent elsewhere on lots of silver and bronze LSH. now missing just over 1/2 Adventure run, 3/4 of Action, 6 Superboys, 10 Karate Kids, and assorted crossovers and cameos. slowing down, bidding cautiously. Legion has definitely replaced Hellblazer has my longest single run (400 to 500 issues in a row vs. 200-ish) and most overall (620 at last count).

and you thought War and Peace was long!

I like this thread.

Remind me to respond some time.

Let's see, first issue (S/LSH #236ish) to now...well, I bought that issue, then I bought one involving Barley's Circus of Crime, then the one where Superboy supposedly left the team, and then LSH #283, at which point I got hooked into GDS and was a fan for life.

I wasn't all that thrilled with later issues of preboot v4, but still kept reading, even reading L*. Then came the reboot. I enjoyed it for awhile, but I can't say I ever felt like it was "my" Legion. I really liked Kinetix. I thought she was one of the highlights of the series. (It didn't hurt that I didn't have to deal with her as a rebooted character.) Finally, after a bunch of lackluster Team 20 stories, I gave up. I later came back when DnA were writing Legion and liked it better than I had in a long time. Not everything was great, but overall I enjoyed it.

Since I had never really loved the reboot Legion, I'm not all that sorry to see it go (with a few exceptions like Kinetix and XS - Shikari, too, but that might not matter). This new version seems like it might be a fresh take on the Legion - not rehashing old stories in a new way. Since it seems like this won't be an inferior repetition of previous stories, I think I'm more prone to enjoy it. Maybe it won't be spectacular, but I can at least hope for something new and different.

started reading the DC digests in Albertson's Sunday morning after church ... don't have a precise recollection of the stories except for the Jungle King & Legion of Super-Monsters (it was 1977: i was 5) but i never had enough money to buy one (at the time, if my brother and i wanted a comic, we had to agree on it because our mom would only buy 1 for the 2 of us)

the first legion comic that was mine was a plastic-wrapped 3 pack that they used to sell at k-mart as an 'impulse buy' at the register... i had spent the last week accomodating the (literally) dozens of family coming into our home from Viet Nam (where we're mostly from), translating for immigration, social services and groceries -- my mom (who was WAY more stressed than my 6 yr old butt could be) smiled at me and let me pick out a comic JUST FOR ME (i don't think she knew there were 3 in the pack -- i felt like catwoman or something) and there it was:
the explosive conclusion of OMEGA!
the deadly introduction of the League of Super-Assassins!
and the Subs to the rescue against the Super-Assassins!!!

mind-blowing stuff

consistency wavered as my finances did and i grew up ... an issue here and there (in 1 the legion's in the circus, in another they battle organus, in another chains bind the earth, and another they're in 1950s Bgztl -- i was fascinated)... my bro got into Legion at the Great Darkness Saga, and we moved to Cali, with a 7-11 that had a decent comics spinner on the corner

by the time LSH 300 rolled in, full of alternate futures and actual panel-time for a host of barely seen legionnaires, i was caught

been hooked ever since -- probably have duplicates of the entire Levitz/2nd series, as well as most of TMK (I think) between the boxes of comics i've got in my bro's place in New York, the stuff i've got here in LA, and stuff at my ex's spot in bangkok

levitz was the person who put comic-writing on the map for me, the organic ways he spun stories into each other, the subplots that bobbed up and down before getting their resolution -- it was a very welcome option to Claremont's meandering X and the agonizing angst in every issue of Wolfman's Titans (will Dick quit? will Donna choose to be a housewife? when will Joey come out -- oh, he's straight -- uh huh)

i was ready for ennis, ellis, morrison and moore because of levitz's legion

i didn't like TMK at all when it came out, but it's grown on me - the density of the pages, the maturity in the stories, the complexity of the UP Galaxy, the redemption of Lady Memory, Spider Girl and Ron-Karr -- these things have stayed with me ... but i also have a better understanding, as a writer, about the weights they threw on the stories that didn't always work -- and the way they did it didn't give a way back, twisting and torquing people, places and events straight into the bin

dropped Legion around 1995, when i finished college, moved to New York with $110 in my pocket, and was completely over Archie legion anyway

a year or so later, i had a decent job and began hunting for all the back issues i always wished i had -- especially hunting for stories where i had either the end or the beginning ... i was a madman suddenly wealthy by the glimpses of Legion past filling up -- there was a year or so of reading tons of back issues filled with Legion Subs (even when they got their butt handed to them, like with the Khunds or Daxamites), Legion Academy (Laurel Kent, Shadow Kid, Comet Queen, Nightwind, Lamprey, Jed -- these were somehow my peers growing up -- even if they mostly just corraled lost animals), Duo Damsel & Bouncing Boy (fighting Grimbor alongside the Legion, holding off the djinn invasion, faltering in the face of her own death in Computo's Annual return), Karate Kid & Timberwolf (2 of the sexiest of Legion buds as far as i was concerned and Val was physically the closest to me), Chemical King & Tyroc (enjoying understanding the mystery they left in their absence -- Condo's death, Tyroc's stereotypically angry entrance to the Legion with his fabu disco gear -- 2 powers completely before their respective times which led to horrendously bland depictions on-panel in a world where men ran past time into a rainbow tunnel??? ahh, i never did get that)

Coipel's stark force and motion, his brilliantly different vision of the future, brought me back to the legion, and i stayed through the end of DnA (but my attention was flagging anyway)

legionworld has gotten me all excited about the Waid/Kitson start

now, i pick up a new legion archive every few months .. sometimes i come across a story that's vaguely familiar ... and i remember those precious little digests

and smile

Eryk, respond to this thread! NOW, mister!

1989, Senior in High School, remembered a Legion feature in a Superman tabloid from the late 70's, bought v4#12--smack dab in the middle of the TMK glory years. No Superboy? Crisis? Who the hell is Lar? Reep? WTF? If the poster with everyone's real name hadn't been in that issue, I might have given up. Two year later, found most of the Giffen/Levitz run, including annuals, in the .50 cent bin at the Great Escape. Now I was REALLY hooked. All the stuff that TMK alluded to, all the background, began to come into focus. I read a good 20-30 comics, including the Great Darkness saga, Cos's parents dying, LSH 300, even Omen and the Prophet in one sitting....while tripping. Ah, misspent youth. I still get a little bit of the heebie jeebies when I read the issues with Wildfire, Jacques, and the original Invisible Kid in the alternate reality. Creepy. Anyhoo, over the last 15 (!) years or so I've assembled a nearly complete run of the Legion, from a full set of Archives to today. The only holes left are between the last Archive collection and v2 259, when the title changed over, including Earthwar. I just can't bring myself to pursue it too avidly, since once I have the complete run, it'll be over! Next Legion project: Reread the entire reboot. Maybe I'll find some more good in it now that it's over.

"My" Legion will always be the Levitz-TMK Legion; cliques, arguments, lovers, saving the universe, living, dying, subplots, etc. That being said, I can't wait to see what Waid will do, left to his own devices.

Not to mention I'm looking forward to introducing my five year old to the Legion. Of course, everything's Justice League to him now, but maybe Unlimited will head to the future soon. Hey, if they can base a whole ep around freakin' Hawk and Dove, the Legion GOT to be on the list somehow.

He Who Wanders's roadmap is in installment form. Very retro-chic!

Legion Memories: Superboy 197
Legion Memories: Superboy 198-201
Legion Memories: Superboy 202
Legion Memories: Superboy 203
Legion Memories: Superboy 205
Legion Memories: Superboy 206

Maybe you can hunt down the ep(s) where Superman meets the Legion. That could give your kid a slight intro before showing off the comics.

About '93 or so I was staying with a friend in Manchester. While not of the best taste, he had shown me Marvel's New Warriors and I was interested in that. Then he instroduced me to the Legion. I'd only read X-Men and Batman so I wasn't too knowledgeable about anything else.

He was a huge fan of the Chris Sprouse Legionnaires series and it was entertaining. #1 to when Matter-Eater Lad was turned into a girl I read from 50p bins that we had scoured there.

A few years later, aspiring writer that I was I wanted to find science fiction comics. There were not many for proper space-fiction. I suddenly remember Legionnaires and picked up a couple of issues from the comic shop I was working at. There were not many on the shelf and I hadn't noticed it there before. Then I saw the "L" symbol and number like on Superman so I had to pick up Legion of Super-Heroes. It was very odd. Shrinking Violet had turned giant because of Colossal Boy's death & the Emeral Eye, half the Legion were in the present and I only knew a few of them.

Hunting down an #1 to begin with I decided against the Levitz #1 for reasons even I'm not sure with, but went for the Giffen #1. Loved it, bought as many as I could find and started spending wages on the Archive editions. I think I'm about 30 or so issues away from the lot now and have been getting the back issue guy to hunt down the guest appearances and such.

With Legion Lost I discovered my shop was getting preview copies and 'acquired them' as my manager didn't notice such things going missing. I made friends with some Legion-loving customers and even traded some of our back issues for the big Giffen poster that came in the old Great Darkness book and a couple of RPG books.

I'm not working there now so I'm mourning not getting a preview copy, but with this series I plan on indoctrinating my RPG group into LSH as they loved mad superheroism from the Incredibles and may go for this.

Charlie E/N

I am SO jealous! My preview copy of Universe Ablaze is one my most treasured items. I would LOVE to have a stack of those to read through.

I got into comics in the early 90s, after high school. The first Legion-related book of any kind that I read was L.E.G.I.O.N. Annual # 2, which astonished me. I started hunting down back issues, and some current issues, even though the monthly L-20 went through something of a creative valley right around that time. But I wasn't into LSH at all because this was during 5 Years Later, which I found very off-putting.

What I really got into was the back issues of LSH, even though there was so much to choose from and so much history to catch up on that it ended up becoming one of the more checkered parts of my collection: I have a handful of Bates/Cockrum issues, a handful of Bates/Grell issues, and quite a few from Levitz's second run, depending on the artists (one of my favorites is Vol. 3 # 45, with just about every Legion artist in history each drawing a few pages.) And, of course, all this time, I was also putting together a complete run of the first 51 issues of L-20.

Having unearthed my collection earlier this year after being away from comics for more than seven years, I've decided to make it a goal to eventually have all of Vol. 3.

And the WaK reboot, which I started reading with # 7, continues to grow on me. I'm looking forward to the TPB of the ones I missed.