Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes What would need to happen in order to reinstate the preboot Legion?

I know that TPTB could not figure out a way to reconcile all the previous history with the then continuity, but come on, it had to be possible. If Legion history was re-written without Superboy, Supergirl or Superman, would it still work? What else was wrong?

I realize this is a complicated question, but I'd like to see if we can work through it.

Nope, not a trick question at all, Sketch Lad - it would just mean that Power Girl would have been the inspiration, because on one of her many time-trips to the future, she met someone and then gave birth to a girl called Laurel Gand. What if M'onel had been the father?

What would need to happen?

I would need to need to win the lottery several, several times in order to buy Warner Brothers. Then, I would lock Waid, Johns, Giffen, and whoever else I needed to in a room and we'd figure something out. And we'd need Perez, Pacheco, J Scott Campbell, and Stu Immomen to draw it because it'd be coming out weekly.

Another what would need to happen:
H*** would have to freeze over!

The major challenges to re-instating the preboot Legion are:

a) Deciding whether you want the Legion to conform to the rest of current DCU continuity;

b) Deciding which version of the preboot Legion you want to use as your baseline continuity (pre-Crisis with Superboy from the Legion's past; post-Crisis Legion with Pocket Universe Superboy; Glorithverse with Valor taking Superboy's place;

c) Deciding at what point in Legion history you want to pick up telling new stories (e.g. after the Magic Wars; after End of an Era).

Making these decisions is the difficult part. Once you've done so, I don't think it's that difficult to come up with a coherent history of the Legion.

If DC's ULTIMATE line AKA the "All-Star" line is a success, it might be safe to say we will be getting the preboot Legion back sooner or later.

You can't go home again. It can never be exactly what it was, even if you somehow got the same creative teams working on it. No matter what point in Legion history you pick, the majority of Legion fans will be upset.

I suppose I'm wanting my cake and to eat it, too. I want everything that ever happened to be validated, but I want to sweep under the rug the things that create problems. I want the richness and fullness of preboot Legion history with an uncomplicated and uncontradicted timeline. Hah!

I would love to have a Legion where nobody died or were re-introduced as handyman or cook or even TV-vid reporter....

The Tom Peyer/McCraw/Stern Legion managed to combine just about everybody who originated around the time of the Shooter Renaissance Period with some interesting newcomers like Kinetix, XS and Gates...that was the version that i liked after Zero Hour made the team take a nosedive into Nowheresville.

Altho i never read the version that had Shikari in it, it would have been worth the cost of getting the back issues.

Gosh, even setting a new book in an Elseworlds type continuity and having folk like Kevin Maguire or Terry Austin drawing it, would be a dream come true for those who wished Superboy, Supergirl or even Insect Queen back from the grave.

I feel soooo nostalgic right now...*Sigh*

"The major challenges to re-instating the preboot Legion are:

a) Deciding whether you want the Legion to conform to the rest of current DCU continuity;"

NO. DC keeps changing whatever the "current" timeline is, and what's needed for this is for it to exist in its own inviolate timeline. I pick... EARTH-1.

"b) Deciding which version of the preboot Legion you want to use as your baseline continuity (pre-Crisis with Superboy from the Legion's past; post-Crisis Legion with Pocket Universe Superboy; Glorithverse with Valor taking Superboy's place;"

EARTH-1. Before ANY changes were made as a result of the CRISIS.

"c) Deciding at what point in Legion history you want to pick up telling new stories (e.g. after the Magic Wars; after End of an Era)."

I've thought about this for quite a long time now. I originally envisioned picking up right after LSH #63, the end of the Magic Wars... but then I realized, if I was ever gonna go back to EARTH-1, I'd want it to be the "real" EARTH-1. So, NO changes made as a result of the CRISIS... This does not necessarily narrow it down as to exactly WHEN a new series of stories could begin, however. Look at Steve Englehart's DARK DETECTIVE. Clearly, EARTH-1. No question. But when exactly? He's not saying. And it's probably best that way. I figure, "sometime after the LAST Earth-1 story we saw". For the LEGION, that could be ANYTIME-- a day, a month, a year, 10 years after the CRISIS-- but in the universe we last saw pre-Crisis, NOT the ever-jumbled "New DCU" we've seen from 1986-up.

"Making these decisions is the difficult part. Once you've done so, I don't think it's that difficult to come up with a coherent history of the Legion."

ABSOLUTELY. Personally, if I were involved, I wouldn't actually care to be a writer, or an artist. Just the EDITOR-- whose interest would be in maintaining the legacy, AND bringing together the right talent to do NEW stories set in that universe.


As for the rest of DC-- whatever the current universe is-- no problem! That's what travel between dimensions was invented for. (See every JLA-JSA crossover up until 1986.)

And of course, none of this need interefere in any way whatsoever with whatever the-- ahem-- "current" Legion is. Just like it needn't have interfered a year ago, either...

PS...

I don't like to think of it as the "Preboot" Legion. It's the REAL Legion! And it still exists... it's just, nobody's written any new stories about it since that CRISIS thing...

Ferro Man, i am voting for you as the next editor.

Giffen IMO just knows how to make things work for the Legion no matter what reboot it is.

Jim Lee has expressed interest doing the original Legion. Imagining Jim Lee picking up after Magic Wars or earlier (say Karate Kid's death) would ROCK!!!

Funny that you mention Steve Englehart - he was another of my "wish list" of writers whom i would have liked to see do a Legion story.

His Avenger period during the 70's was so far out that i wonder if he was doing drugs when he thought out the Mantis/Green Swordsman/Talking Tree business?

Maybe Jim Lee would do an All-Stars Legion? Picking up after End of an Era.. he'd have the Adult Legionnaires and the SW6'ers to play with...

I'm inclined to agree with you, though personally I'd love to see everything written about the preboot Legion after COIE officially declared null and void, just to repudiate the Pocket-Universe Superboy idea, the Valor and Laurel Gand retcons, and all the other continuity alterations, particulary in the TMK era, that messed with the Legion's previously known history.

It's been hinted that the LSH will appear in issue #6 of Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman (the Superboy issue). I suspect that story and other out-of-continuity stories are the only places the originals will be allowed to live again.

After The Magic Wars can be a good begins in the old continuty.
But maybe can bring back Andrew, Lyle, Condo, Val, Kal-El and Kara in a time burble from another reality, and we have the perfect Legion.

I've got a basic idea worked out of how to accomplish what I think you want. Be warned that it requires not just one but two "Pocket Universes", however!

Hey I never was against the Pocket Universe!!! I'm all ready for it Eryk!

An awesome story that must tie in all three versions of the Legion must be created.

I'm afraid that this story MUST be told! Fire away, EDE!

If I were to go back to a point in Legion continuity to begin new tales, I think I'd go with the TMK Legion up until the introduction of SW6. I'd rather see the older heroes live up to their legacy to win Earth's freedom back and then continue on with stories that bring in younger members like those unique to the Zero Hour Legion like Kinetix and Gates and XS. Tweak it a tad, call it All-Star Legion and have done with it.

I guess I should fess up... I think what I really want is for Legion continuity to begin after the end of the Magic Wars! I want them to get back into their regular, famous costumes and get out there and kick nass!

I *liked* TMK, but things did get way way complicated at that point.

I agree with the end of the Magic Wars...very much. As if nothing happened. And yeah some subtle continuity changes being explained via hypertime. It would sell like crazy.