[Legion Fan Club] Reader Y2 M12 Who is the Dark Man? for our April selection!

[Don-El]

[Legion Fan Club] and all who thrill to the sci fi glory of the Legion of Super-heroes throughout the decades, welcome to this month’s curated selection of Legion Goodness; choose to read what you will and enjoy!

The 40 year Itinerary this time around: THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (1980-) #269-271 , SUPERBOY (1993-) #21 (whaaa???) The Legion (2001-) #7 / LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (2019-) #9 …. and, strictly for extra credit if you choose: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (1989-) #7,

Not a Legion Fan Club member yet? Crave a nifty gold ring for your icon? To join and get in on other discussions and our archives, click here: DC Community 5

Legion Clubhouse: Legion Fan Club!

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Poll: Vote for the selection this time around that you are the most excited to read (or maybe to read again):

• Bronze Age Legion THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (1980-)
• The Copper Age LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (1989-)
• The Modern Age SUPERBOY (1993-)
• The Modern Age The Legion (2001-)
• Post Doomsday Clock LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (2019-)

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First, let’s stop by the Bronze Age Legion circa late 1980- early 1981!

The Dark Man Story Writer: Gerry Conway

THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (1980-) #269 (November 1980) DC UNIVERSE INFINITE “ Who Shall Name the Dark Man?” Colossal Boy’s mother is nominated for president while members of the Fatal Five attack Mon-El and Shadow Lass.

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THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (1980-) #270 (December 1980) DC UNIVERSE INFINITE “ Who is the Dark Man?” Timber Wolf investigates missing Legionnaires and faces off against Dark Man.

THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (1980-) #271 (January 1981) DC UNIVERSE INFINITE “ What is the Dark Man?” The conclusion of the Dark Man Saga!! Please don’t lose your mind with this one, aiiieeeeee!!!

Next stop for our Legion Time Bubble: The Modern Age / “Movie” Age of comics:

The Future Tense Crossover of 1995 begins here!!!

SUPERBOY (1993-) #21 September 12th, 1995 DC UNIVERSE INFINITE WRITTEN BY: Karl Kesel PENCILS: Tom Grummett The intergalactic superhero team from the future, the Legion of Super-Heroes, have traveled back in time to find their friend Valor, and only Superboy can help them!

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The Legion (2001-) #7 (April 2002) DC UNIVERSE INFINITE Wizard Magazine’s Book of the Month !!! “Terra In Cognita Part 2: Fear of Change” The Legion learns of the evolutionary Terrorforming process intended for Earth by President McCauley, a.k.a. Ra’s Al Ghul ???!!!?? But it may be too late, since it’s already begun! Andy Lanning, Dan Abnett writers, pencils by Olivier Coipel

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The post Doomsday Clock new Age of Legion Excellence:

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (2019-) #9 (September 2020) DC UNIVERSE INFINITE Part 2 of a special two-part comics storytelling event! Over the course of two spectacular issues, 44 artists dive in!

(Monster Boy!)

And, strictly for extra credit this time around, The Dark / Copper Age featuring Keith Giffen as “Greek tragedy style” somber writer / artist with writing assists from husband / wife fan team of Mary and Tom Bierbaum (and Al Gordon inks – inks are like an additional character for this era lol).

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (1989-) #7 DC UNIVERSE INFINITE While Rokk Krinn negotiates with Mordru, his teammates face Vykros, a mysterious being with strange powers.

As always, please post your favorite panels / covers or quotes from these 4 eras of Legion!

Next month, we’ll plan to start Year 3 of the [Legion Fan Club] !!

[Don-El]

Very interesting

[kevin_oyer.50320]

The Future Tense Storyline really captured my attention when it came out. A few months before it there was a two-story arc in Superboy (#18 & #19) that told how Valor met Superboy and How he came to be stranded in the Stasis Zone. Meanwhile In Legionnaires Annual #2, Valor is first seen vaguely in a Stargate as it opened and then he’d be seen again in the clubhouse pleading to be released

Naturally, This meant using Brainiac 5’s newly developed Time Platform and losing XS in the transit (Waid stole her for the Flash comics for a while). Brainiac 5 had secretly made one trip to the past to test his time platform which landed him right in the midst of a party for the Grand Opening Of Guy Gardner’s Warrior’s Club (Guy Gardner Warrior #29). Brainy returned from that trip with a Beer in a stylin’ mug.

It was fun to see the Legion more connected to the DC Universe than it had been for quite some time.

[JimboFett]

Thanks, Kevin - when I recently re-read the issue with Brainy testing the time platform, I couldn’t remember where he got the W mug from.

[Don-El]

Thanks for sharing that Kevin. There’s other undercurrents as you read this Future Tense story that reflect Legion issues we haven’t covered yet here like the Valor religious belief connection.

I’ve enjoyed seeing Legion, after a five-year drought, suddenly appear in current day DC continuity like in Doomsday Clock but also in the Bendis Superman run.

[JimboFett]

You’re killing me with these selections, Don-El!

The Legion 7 was impactful for me because of this image:

DnA kind of lost me here, to be honest, as I didn’t like Kinetix to be changed in such a fundamental way. It was cool that she got an upcharge, but at the cost of a fun personality. And this scene also cemented the DnA approach of the action being the star of the show over the character relationships to me (I could be incorrect here, but the interpersonal relationships really narrowed down during this run to only focusing on a few) as I always felt that Vi seeing her best friend totally altered like this would be more of a big deal.

On a lighter note, it was great to see this Superboy issue! I ignored it earlier in my re-read, but I pulled it to read because why not? I forgot how fun this title was around this time. Loved seeing Tom Grummett’s art and all the crazy characters from the title like Roxy and Knockout again. And Interlac!

Can’t wait to read the rest!

[JimboFett]

I just noticed that the volume 2 Omnibus was just released for the Bendis run, so I just snagged that and will finally get to the conclusion of the latest version.

[Don-El]

At first I wasn’t even sure what DnA was lol…

I fully agree that the collaboration of Abnett and Lanning is usually more about mind blowing plot lines than it is with character development and intriguing conversations. Personally my favorite run from them was over Marvel as part of the Annihilation epic that Keith Giffen initiated.

I’m thinking we need a poll for this one as well I’ll post in a few minutes.

[JimboFett]

LOL sorry for the old timer shorthand!

I haven’t read anything else from them since Legion (I don’t think), but everyone else I’ve heard has similar feedback - big world crushing action event stories. Which is totally fine - and I think it was a totally valid decision for the direction to take after what had come before.

That being said, the Zoe & Violet friendship got as much panel time as the rest of the “usual” relationships (Jo/Tinya, Imra/Garth), so I was disappointed to not see this addressed at all in their series. But yeah, its all about what the writing team wants to focus on.

[kevin_oyer.50320]

@Don-El

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (2019-) #9 (September 2020)

Ahhhh!!! Ahhhhh!!! the Super Moby Dick of Space! And Bendis teases the readers with the reply “I don’t get the reference!” Of course the reference is to Adventure Comics #332 (May 1965)

The OG Lightning Lad would lose an arm to that fellow. I was glad that they didn’t color him as a Space Pickle, like they did in the 60’s

[JimboFett]

Oh, THAT’s how Garth lost his arm, eh?

Very Buck-Rogers looking.

[JimboFett]

I’m not impressed, TBH

I can do this in the cloud cheaper.

[kevin_oyer.50320]

Yeah and keep that remark in mind … … … Very Buck-Rogers looking.

Because when you ever hear people rave about Dave Cockrum’s art (circa early 70’s) — Cockrum moved the art in Legion from the Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon style to the more (THEN) modern StarTrek art styles - gave the Legionnaires better costumes, and let them gro their hair beyond the length of 1960’s Military Style haircuts!

[kevin_oyer.50320]

I wonder if the Android “Bishop” in Aliens (1979) had anything to do with androids appearing in the LSH 5 Years Later series?

[JimboFett]

Yes, I notice the style change to the saucer front section to the cruisers to the later “Flathead screwdriver” models and the larger variety of UP and Khund craft.

Definitely glad to get the better costumes, too!

[JimboFett]

I wonder. I think its a good question. Androids have been a concept for a long time (look at the original Westworld and Star Trek), so the timing with TMK is an interesting discussion.

[Don-El]

Let me put it this way, when you’re a comic book hack writer and you got to grind out a story a month for several comics, you’re going to grab any inspiration you can and that also includes stealing movie ideas and TV theme ideas when nobody’s looking.

Thoughts @MisfitCMJ ?

About two years ago this came up for some other Legion storyline with @Jay_Kay or @Meisaj I believe. We were trying to figure out if Legion had taken a storyline from some other movie or TV show with some other storyline that eludes me now.

[JimboFett]

Oh no doubt. What is the saying? There’s only about ten stories in the world? Something like that? Regardless, a lot of the plots are the same, the details always come down to the characters action and the dialog. Are the things the characters say and do true to the characters we’re tuning in for or is there some other unique twist? If that is done well, the story will probably be well received.

And in comics, I always viewed it as a homage more than anything else. And being a sci-fi nerd, I love seeing the designs and their inspirations across all the Legion eras.

[MisfitCMJ]

I don’t think it was all that specific to Alien. Very seldom does anyone pick their favorite android when they add an android to a story. The 5 years later story line is 11 years later, too. But one of the many androids that led to using androids? Sure Bishop could be part of the “research,” consciously or unconsciously.

And the debate over whether Braniac is an android or a robot came before Alien in 1978. And Braniac (and various Computos’-- are a big part of the Legion backstory.

[JimboFett]

Reading through the LSH 7 - I forgot how much I enjoyed the 9 panel per page layout of the books that skewed older (like Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, for example). I appreciated the amount of story that could be fit into the pagers.

As well as seeing a kick butt Laurel, of course!

Also @Don-El, did you change the poll?