“L” Is For …
… Legion of Super-Heroes! (1980)
I’ve tried to join the Legion several times, but always pranged off the side. The continuity is just so dense, it is like a comics hobby all by its lonesome.
But I keep trying. I come back to the Legion, every couple years, and try to get onboard with the 1980s incarnation, where I sense greatness … but where I also sense I won’t get anywhere unless I make reading it my full-time job!
If DC had a subscription service like Marvel Unlimited, you can bet I’d be all over the Legion. Instead, I’ve been reading them (very slowly) from the beginning, via some hardback collections of their first appearance in Adventure Comics. But those Silver Age stories are hard going, friend.
Get me a membership card for the Legion’s rocketship club house — at least tell a poor guy where to start! Or suggest other “L” books I should be reading, in the comments section below!
Honorable Mention:
- Love and Rockets (1982)
Check out the complete Longbox Graveyard Comics A-To-Z HERE!
Posted on February 13, 2018, in Comics A-To-Z and tagged Legion of Super-Heroes. Bookmark the permalink. 17 Comments.
dangvozden
Paul O'Connor
Kris (not Chris)
markginocchio
miloapama
Dean Compton
Moya
ryanmcswain
Longbox Graveyard 
Years ago, my brother-in-law bought a stack of old Silver Age DC comics from a college roommate. He gave them to my husband as a Christmas present. The stack included about 10 issues of Adventures Comics by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan. He has been a life long legion fan ever since.
The stack included the 1st appearance of the Fatal Five and the Sun Eater. But, it didn’t include the 2nd issue. Since that may be the single most famous Legion issue ever, getting that 2nd half cost more than the whole stack of comics did.
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I’m guessing something terrible happened in that second issue? (I’m a total day tripper when it comes to Legion).
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I won’t say who but the Legion of Super Heroes was one of the first series to kill off a regular character in an active story. (Sorry Bucky, dying in a Flashback doesn’t count). Anyway this death was central to the series because unlike most hero deaths it stuck. Since the Legion is not in the last DC reboot (but threatens to return) no way to know if that character will get “better” like Bucky eventually did. FYI: This event wasn’t in a book titled “Legion of Super Heroes” but in Adventure Comics. Which isn’t a surprise since they had Superboy as a regular member and that’s where he lived.
If you want a starting point go with the Silver Age stories in Adventure Comics, including a long run by a very young Jim Shooter. Lacking an online reprint service your options are somewhat limited – there is a Silver Age Ominbus out (and another on the way) so that may be your best option at the moment. Rumor has it DC is considering an online option ala Marvel Unlimited so hopefully this improves soon.
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Just PROMISE me that didn’t kill Arm Fall-Off Boy.
Those bastards.
It WAS Arm Fall-Off Boy, wasn’t it? I KNOW THAT IT WAS!
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LOSH is my overwhelming winner today! I was a huge Legion fan back in the day. Over the decades I have sometimes picked up some of the newer Legion series. You can’t beat the nostalgia of the issues of your youth, but I have to say I have enjoyed a lot of the newer stuff too! Keith Giffen had a terrific run and I have some of those collections, such as “The Curse”. I also liked Paul Levitz’ more recent series.
Mike Grell and Dave Cockrum being favorites of mine really made this book a slam-dunk in the 70s. Later on when we were “treated” to Jack Abel not so much…
It was also hard-core back then to have character die such a Triplicate Girl (1/3 of her at least), Ferro Lad, Invisible Kid, etc. THAT WAS NUTS. You just didn’t see deaths in comics back then so much.
I have a spotty set of “Archive Editions” that I’ve been meaning to complete. Maybe now’s the time? Paul, this A-Z series is getting expensive 🙂
DISTANT runners up for me include: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Little Archie, Lucifer, and Logan’s Run (not a good comic)
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I recall that Logan’s Run has George Perez on pencils, right? And didn’t one of the issues have that backup story where Thanos gets into a brawl over a flower?
(I do feel like I missed a lot with Legion — it is a club I never completely joined)
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Good recollection. Comicbookdb says that George Perez inked the vast majority of the run of Logan’s Run (pun!). You’d think that would make me like it, since he was favorite artist. Maybe I need to revisit those issues.
I did really like the movie though! Kinda scary about everyone dying in that creepy flying ceremony, for me at that age.
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In those post-Star Trek, pre-Star Wars days, films like Logan’s Run were a big damn deal. I saw it at the Cinerama Dome with my dad when it came out and the sound mixing freaked me out. I remember looking around for someone talking behind me during “There is no Sanctuary!” — first time sound did that to me in a film.
I also went through my brief SF con phase when the girls still dressed as runners. Good times.
I just loved that the comic hinted at worlds beyond what was seen on film. There was a promise to continue the book beyond the film adaptation and then … poof, it was gone. Malibu Comics later adopted both the original books in the 1980s but despite my professional association with that company I don’t think I ever read them.
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L is all about the Legion of Super-Heroes, my all-time favorite DC comic, and definitely in my top 5 overall, and probably top 3. Of course, a good chunk of their run was actually under the title “Superboy and…” not to mention the Adventure stuff, but I’ll still rank it #1 here easily, based just on the stretch that really was officially called LOSH.
Of course, there’s not much else to see here. However, there is “Luke Cage, Power Man” which was pretty good. I’ve got a couple of issues of Logan’s Run, plus one issue of Legends and a couple of issues of Laff-a-lypmpics.
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It also took me a while to get into the Legion due to those aforementioned continuity issues (the one-two punch of Crisis and Man of Steel really did a number on the LSH for a couple of decades) but eventually I became a huge fan.
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The LOSH was hit by the Crisis, and other subsequent DC reboots harder than most other DC properties. While all of the Legion versions have something good to offer, “my” Legion runs from the late 60’s through Magic Wars.
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That’s pretty much the span of LSH history that I enjoy the most, as well.
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This is my blog post entitled How I Learned To Love The Legion…
https://benjaminherman.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/how-i-learned-to-love-the-legion/
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Excellent, thanks!
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Every day I like Crisis less. Feels like the Pandora’s Box of comicdom, unleashing the modern curse of reboots upon us all.
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I couldn’t agree more.
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We’re you a fan of the post-Crisis Legion, or did you just come to the classic run decades after?
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