His best known contribution was being partially responsible for bringing in real comic book artists--some among the comic industry's greatest talents--to provide updated art for Aurora's reissued superhero kits originally released in the 1960s, renamed the Comic Scenes series. The logical idea behind it was to use artists with work that was the most known and/or face of that period for a re-released character to illustrate the new box art and packed-in comic. So, in addition to Cockrum naturally illustrating the Superboy kit's box & comic, the other boxes were updated by the pens of John Romita (Spider-Man and Captain America), Neal Adams (Tarzan), Herb Trimpe (the Hulk), Dick Giordano (Batman and Robin), Curt Swan (Superman) and Gil Kane (The Lone Ranger and Tonto). Cockrum was on a creative roll at this period of his career, having finished his game-changing run on Superboy featuring The Legion of Super Heroes, and moving on to his Marvel work. Between it all, he was a major player in the licensing / development of four, major entertainment brands (DC, Marvel, Universal and Toho), at a time when most comic artists were not diversifying themselves with as much high profile work beyond comics (with the notable exception of Adams).

Good info, tarkintino !  I've never even seen or heard of those superhero models. Sure beats model cars for me. 

I'm not aware of Thanagar appearing in a Legion story until 2007, but I could be mistaken.  In the original Legion, the Green Lantern Corps was banned from earth, though it was eventually revealed (in the late 80's) that Rond Vidar was a Green Lantern.  As a result, the Green Lantern Corps played little, it any role in the stories of the original Legion.  I do know that there was a Durlan Green Lantern Corps member showed in LSH #295 (1983) plus at some point before that there was a story explaining why the Green Lanterns were banned from earth.  Even after the reboots, the Green Lanterns played very little role in the Legion universe, for some reason. Maybe they didn't want to have the state of the Green Lantern Corps in the future revealed, as it might interfere with a story somone wants to tell with the present day Green Lanterns?

Well, over the past year or so I’ve read pretty much every Legion of Super-Heroes comic, so here are some rankings and thoughts.



Ranking the Legion Eras


There are different way to divide the Legion into eras, but this is the way I’ve chosen to do it.


1. Original/Classic Legion (1959-1989). I suppose you could break this up into smaller eras, but this felt like one continuous Legion to me. This is definitely my favorite Legion group. Aside from being the Legion I grew up with, I really think it’s the best, with the good blend of sci-fi and superheroics, and the optimistic future. The very earliest Legion stories are, to be honest, not that great. However, things pick up when Edmond Hamilton takes over as writer, then get even better when teenage Jim Shooter takes over. The Adventure and Action runs were solid, and I really enjoyed it when it went to the pages of Superboy. Lots of nostalgia, but also lots of good stories and even better art! From Cockrum to Grell to Jim Sherman and Michael Netzer, then Jimmy Janes, then Keith Giffen (before his insane stylistic changes) it was just an incredible run. But perhaps the best was yet to come, in terms on consistently good writing and art with the Baxter series.


2. Retroboot/Lightning Saga/Post-Infinite Crisis Legion (2007-2011). This basically boils down to Paul Levitz’s third run on the Legion, though there’s some stuff before Levitz took over (mostly Geoff Johns but also Brad Meltzer and a few other writers). This is basically supposed to be a continuation of the Original Legion, but I am counting it as a separate Legion for the purposes of this. I really enjoyed it when Levitz took over, both the Adventure issues and the new Legion title. The are is also good throughout this run. It does more or less feel like a continuation of the Baxter series to me, with the obvious fact that some things will be different in a comic made in 2010 versus one made in 1985, as the industry itself has changed in that time.


3. Reboot/Archie/Earth-247 Legion (1994-1999). I love this Legion!! I came very, very close to ranking this #2 ahead of the Retroboot Legion. This reboot brought back the optimism, innocence, and youthful enthusiasm of the Original Legion. While keeping many of the classic Leginnaires, they also introduced several new Legionnaires, all of whom I liked, especially Gates and Monstress. I especially enjoyed the run on Legionnaires written by Roger Stern and tom McCraw, penciled by Jeffrey Moy, and primarily inked by W.C. Carani. Inf fact, if I was only rating that run, I believe I would have had this Legion ranked #2. However, I didn’t like the companion title, Legion of Super-Heroes quite as much. I especially hated the long story arc where they were stuck in the 20th century for 15 months! Sorry, thanks, but no thanks. That is way too long for me. The Legion of Super-Heroes should take place in the future (c.1,000 years) not the past! I think they did it so that they could tie the Legion into a bunch of 20th century titles (which they did) in an effort to force Legion fans to buy ever DC title out there to keep up. I didn’t play that game. This plague has continued since then. The second Legion Lost title was entirely in the 20th century, with of course tie-ins to other titles, and even in the 30/31st century Legion stories, some writers have brough too many 20th century characters into it. Whew, that was a log rant that didn’t even entirely have to do with this Legion era. Sorry.


4. Threeboot/Earth-Prime/Waid Legion (2005-2009). I guess the third time’s the charm. I didn’t exactly love this Legion the first two times I read it, but I guess something clicked when I read it the third time around for this project. I still think there are big flaws here – I think Waid overplays the generation gap and Timothy Leary (“Never trust anyone over 30”) angle too much, this future is too dystopian for me (the Legion should have an optimistic future) and I hated the whole Colossal Boy/Micro Lad thing. It wasn’t funny the first time, Mark. However, Waid did also have some interesting ideas, and the art was very good. Unfortunately, when Waid left, the stuff by Tony Bedard, then Jim Shooter, was not very good, and the art also went downhill at that point, as Barry Kitson also left. Much as I love Shooter’s first two runs on the Legion, this third time through wasn’t very good.


5. New 52 Legion (2011-2013) You could count this as the same Legion as the Retroboot Legion, but I chose to consider it a separate Legion. I’m not sure anyone is really sure if this is the same Legion as the Retroboot or not. Anyway, I came very, VERY close to ranking this #4 ahead of the Threeboot Legion, but the second Legion Lost (2011-2013) is part of this era, and I really disliked that series. The Levitz series was still good, though he blew things up a bit at the end (with a little help from Giffen, of course) and that also figured into this ranking. Still, if I was only counting the Levitz Legion of Super-Heroes series from 2011-2013 and ignoring the Legion Lost series, this Legion would definitely rank #4, ahead of the Threeboot Legion.


6. SW6 Legion (1993-1994) This is part of the same continuity as the 5 Years Later Legion, but I chose to count it as a separate Legion era for the purposes of this exercise. This was definitely a step in the right direction from the dreary 5 Years Later Legion, but could have been better.


7. DnA Legion (1999-2005) I know this is usually considered with the Reboot Legion, but I am counting it as a separate Legion, because when Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (dnA) took over, it felt like a different Legion. It was as if they had done a soft reboot to the Reboot/Archie Legion that I had loved so much. I know Legion Lost is very well regarded by Legion fans, but I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the art, and I didn’t like them changing sweet, innocent Jan into a cold blooded killer. They never really explained how he could have lived billions of years, either. The last few issues of this run were written by Keith Champagne, then Gail Simone, which didn’t help things a whole lot.


8. Legion 4/Bendis Legion (2019-Present). I have yet to read anything by Bendis I really like. He seems to fall in love with his dialogue at the expense of the plot. While I prefer character driven stories over plot driven stories Bendis still doesn’t do it for me. I also have the fact that he’s destroyed the earth AGAIN! How many Legion futures is the earth going to get destroyed in? He’s made a bunch of innovations and changes from the more “traditional” Legion, some of which I like, and some I don’t. He’s tried to add more diversity to the Legion, which is good (and one long weak spot of the Legion), but how about some more truly alien looking species? By the by, that LOSH:Millennium series was awful.


9. 5 Years Later/Giffbaum/Glorithverse Legion (1989-1994) Ye gods, what a Legion! I hated the art, and the writing (in general) wasn’t a lot better. As one poster here mentioned, this run reads like fan fiction. And not good fan fiction, either. Another poster said that this run is best treated as an Elseworlds Legion, and I completely agree with that. In fact, I think DC agrees with it too, as they seem to have pretended it never happened. Way to pessimistic of a future for me (did I mention that they destroyed the earth) and the lack of superhero costumes was not to my liking. Giffen’s art also get lazy, as he’d have multiple panels, or pages, with no drawing, just black panels with dialogue. He also must have hated drawing faces, as he would often have faces in shadow, so that all we’d see was a black blob where the face should be. This run rebooted reality something like 3 times in the first 6 issues, with scant explanation. Things got so confusing that they finally added a “What Happened Before” feature in the letter column to help the poor readers figure out what the heck was going on. Even that they screwed up, as they wanted to start doing that with #2, but it didn’t start appearing until #6. This series was a bit confusing, especially early on, and it was too dark for me. Out of the thousands of sci-fi futures out there in fiction, almost al of them are pessimistic, if not dystopian. Star Trek and the Legion of Super-Heroes are about the only optimistic futures I can think of, so I don’t appreciate when fanboys (and fangirls) take them away! Also, I really didn’t need to see Shvaughn Erin retconned into a man. Now, having said all that bad stuff about the Legion, I will say something good about it – Tenzil Kem!! He was awesome! The issues he was in, I loved. If I made a Legion All-Star Roster, or a list of my favorite Legionnaires, I’d have to find a spot for the 5 Years Later Tenzil Kem!

If I were to include the Legion from the Legion of Super-Heroes animated series on here, I’d probably put them at #4, just ahead of the Threeboot/Waid Legion. It was an enjoyable show, especially the first season.

Not many supervillains, mostly invasions & politics; costumes not as good or distinctive of eye catching

If I had included the Legion from the animated series, they would have ranked #4, just behind the "Archie" Legion and just ahead of the Threeboot Legion.

Favorite Writers



1. Paul Levitz. This is an easy choice for me. His second Legion run (1982-1989) was one of my all-time favorite comic book runs. He added more characterization than the Legion had ever seen before, he added several new characters I enjoyed (yes, I love Quislet!) and he even added a credible supporting cast (mostly Science Police officers) which the Legion had never had before, aside from R.J. Brande. This second run had some great and epic story arcs, too, such as the Great Darkness Saga, the Universo Project, and the Legion of Super-Villains arc which kicked off the Baxter series. His first run (1977-1978, which included Earthwar) and third run (2010-2013) were also very good.


2. Jim Shooter. In giving Mr. Shooter this #2 ranking, I am basically ignoring his third run through the Legion (2008-2009) which I really disliked. However, his first run (1966-1970) was a game changer for the Legion, as he introduced a lot of great characters – Legionnaires and villains alike – and gave the Legion their first hint of characterization. His second run (1975-1977) was brief, but good.



3. Gerry Conway. I’m a bit surprised to see him here at #3, but when I looked over all the stories and my ratings, Conway fared very well. He wrote for the Legion from 1977-1981, with most of his stories coming in 1979-1980, and he wrote more stories in between Levitz’s first and second runs than anyone else. I started reading the Legion in 1977 (during Levitz’s Earthwar) so there may be a bit of nostalgia playing into Conway’s high ranking.



4. Roger Stern/Tom McCraw. I’m listing them together, since most of what got them on this list was as a team, mostly in the Legionnaires series. Stern scripted and co-plotted, and McCraw just co-plotted, so Stern gets more of the credit here, but I’m still listing them together. I really enjoyed their run. They brought optimism and fun back to the Legion.


5. Carey Bates. Another favorite from the early 70’s. Some of my favorites from him are “Betrayer from Beyond”, “The Silent Death” (both from Superboy #201), “Massacre by Remote Control” (Superboy #203), “The Legionnaires who Haunted Superboy (“Superboy #206), and “Lost: A Million Miles From Home” (Superboy #202). It helped his case that he had Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell for almost all of his run.


Honorable Mentions:

Edmond Hamilton: The Legion got a LOT better when he took over writing duties from Jerry Siegel and Otto Binder. He was a sci-fi writer in his own right.

Mark Waid: His Threeboot run was pretty good, and he also co-write some good comics with Ton McCraw.

E. Nelson Bridwell: He wrote about a dozen or so Legion stories in the late 60’s and early 70’s.

Roy Thomas: The rascally one might rank higher, but he only wrote something like 8 Legion stories, and several of those were as co-writer.



Favorite Legion Artists (or pencillers):

The Legion has been blessed with a lot of great artists, especially in the Bronze Age. Here’s my attempt to rank them.


1. Dave Cockrum. The gold standard for me. His great designs, his innovation, imagination and enthusiasm make him king. I loved most of his costume redesigns. Plus, he was the rare artist who actually wanted to draw the Legion! He loved it! That’s pretty rare, as the Legion must be about the toughest job in comics for an artist. What a shame that his tenure was cut short by some small minded editor who refused to return his original artwork for the Bouncing Boy-Duo Damsel wedding! I was surprised to see that he had only penciled 15 Legion issues. His influence was so big that it seemed like he did more issues. What a shame that he and Levitz never got to work together on the Legion!

2. Greg LaRocque. His work on the 1984 Baxter series was phenomenal.

3. Mike Grell. When Cockrum left, Iron Mike took over Not a bad exchange!

4. Steve Lightle Like LaRocque, he did some great work on the Baxter series.

5. Jimmy Janes Very underrated early 80’s Legion artist

6. Jim Sherman Very underrated late 70’s Legion artist

7. Curt Swan He introduced a lot of beloved Legion characters during his tenure.

8. Dan Jurgens He did some good Legion work about 1985, then came back nearly 10 years later to do some more Legion work.

9. Chris Batista

10. Barry Kitson He certainly helped me appreciate Waid’s Legion.

11. Jeffrey Moy I LOVED his “Archie Legion” artwork! He made the Legion look young again. Really good stuff.


Honorable Mentions: Pat Broderick and George Perez did some fantastic Legion work, but they didn’t do enough Legion issues to make the list. Jim Mooney is another one who did a really good job but didn’t work on the Legion enough to make my list

I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention Keith Giffen, who’s drawn more Legion issues than anybody (Jeffrey Moy is the only one who’s even close) and Giffen’s early work, from the early 80’s, is really great. However, his chance in art style (which started in 1983-84, before his first run was even done) really turns me off a LOT. And most of his Legion work is in this rather ugly (and, at times, lazy) style, so I really can’t place him in my top dozen Legion artists.

Favorite Inkers:

I have a really hard time ranking inkers, so I’ll just name some that I think did a very good job on the Legion.

Dave Cockrum inked himself on the Legion more often than not, and did a great job. Mike Grell also inked himself most of the time and did a great job.

Larry Mahlstedt did a fantastic job on both Steve Lightle’s and Greg LaRocque’s pencils, as well as on Giffen’s pencils (before Giffen started to lose it).

Those are the top the guys that pop into my head as far as Legion inkers. However, there are a bunch more who have done excellent jobs.

George Klein did good work on Curt Swan (and a bit on John Forte); Bob Wiacek did a solid job; Bruce Patterson did a very good job on a few different pencillers; Jim Mooney inked himself well; Mike DeCarlo did a good job on a few different pencillers; WC Carani did a great job on Jeffrey Moy’s pencils in the Legionnaires series; Phil Jimenez did a great job on the Titans/Legion series; John Forte inked himself well; Dave Hunt did a good, solid job with several different pencillers; some other guys who did very good work with the Legion are: Art Thibert, Mick Gray, Scott Koblish, Ray Kryssing, Jonathon Glapion, Wayne Faucher, and Marlo Alquiza.



Favorite Stories:

This is really tough! I’ll give it a try, though. I’m sure I’ve overlooked something (or several somethings) that I should have had on this list. I tried not to neglect the post-1989 Legion stories altogether, but there are so many great pre-1989 Legion stories that it wasn’t easy!
And yes, I realize that my list is heavy on the Baxter series.


1. The Great Darkness Saga (Legion of Super-Heroes #290-294 [plus some build-up in backup stories prior to that]; 1982)

2. Earthwar (Legion of Super-Heroes #241-245; 1978) I first started collecting the Legion during Earthwar. It blew me away then, and is still impressive. I especially love the teamwork and cleverness used in the defeat of Mordru.

3. The Universo Project (Legion of Super-Heroes #32-35, plus #36 deals with the aftermath; 1987) The top three stories immediately jumped into my head when I tried to think about my favorite Legion stories. I love the way this story opens up, with Saturn Girl out of uniform in some sort of work camp, with a few fellow Legionnaires and some other heroes. Nobody else there thinks anything is amiss, but Saturn Girl suspects that all is not right…This story arc was perhaps Saturn Girl’s finest moment, and that’s really saying something!

4. Conspiracy Theory/Trial of Brainac Five (Legion of super-Heroes #46-51, 1988) This concerns the plot where a small number of Legionnaires plan to sneak off and kill the Time Trapper once and for all, violating the Legion code. without telling the others, plus the aftermath.

5. Brainy’s Lucky Day (Legion of Super-Heroes #30, 1987) Levitz has a lot of sub-plots going on in this one, including some foreshadowing of what will be the Universo Project. Lots of little character moments, which I love.More great art by Greg LaRocque.

6. Different Paths (Legion of Super-Heroes #55; 1989) Another issues with a bunch of sub-plots going and plenty of characterization. Poor Polar Boy. So overmatched as Legion leader. Be careful what you wish for, bub!

7. The Fatal Five/The Doomed Legionnaire (Adventure Comics #352-353;1967) One of the great things Shooter did was have multi-part stories. Very rare for DC at the time.

8. The Outlawed Legionnaires/The Legion Chain Gang (Adventure Comics #359-360; 1967) Another great two-parter by Shooter & Swan

9. Mordru the Merciless/The Devil’s Jury (Adventure Comics #369-370; 1968) Yet anther great Shooter two-parter. I love how he makes Mordru and established and very dangerous Legion foe, even though this is his first appearance! It’s a bit like what Lee & Kirby did with Baron Zemo in the Avengers. The dramatic buildup of Mordru as a threat before we even see him also reminds me of the Juggernaut’s excellent debut in the X-Men.

10. Legion of Super-Villains (Legion of Super-Heroes #1-6; 1984) The epic story to kick off the Baxter series, in which a new Legion of Super-villains gathers. I’d assumed that Lightning Lord would be the leader, but it was actually Nemesis Kid. Nemesis Kid goes on to kill Karate Kid, before being killed by Projectra in retaliation.

11. Omega (Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes #250-251, sort of a sequel to #239; 1979) Paul Levitz works with Jim Starlin on this one! Starlin used a pseudonym, though. Anyway, this is the one where Brainy goes crazy and creates the unstoppable Omega, and Matter-Eater Lad saves the universe by eating the Miracle Machine! The story was originally written and laid out about the time of Superboy & the Legion #240 and was originally intended for a Legion of Super-Heroes Spectacular in the DC Special Series, which never happened, so they used it here. The reworking the story underwent caused Jim Starlin to request his name be taken off the credits, hence the pseudonym. It continues a hanging plot from #239, where Ultra Boy is framed for murder. That in itself led to a cool story where Ultra Boy lost his memory and hooked up with some space pirates.

12. Meanwhile (Legion of Super-Heroes #316; 1984) No big epic here. A smuggler traps Cosmic Boy and three Substitute Heroes aboard a starship. I just like little stories like this which focus on a few characters and let us get to know them, plus there was a nice use of teamwork in this issue, which I always appreciate.

13. Betrayer From Beyond/The Silent Death (Superboy #201; 1974) Both the lead story and the backup story were fantastic here, possibly Cary Bates’s best Legion work, plus pencils and inks by the incomparable Dave Cockrum. The lead story has three Legion applicants, one of whom is actually there to steal the Miracle Machine. More important, it’s the triumphant return of Wildfire! The backup story has Dream Girl receive a premonition that a Legionnaire will die.

14. Starfinger II (Legion of Super-Heroes #39-41; 1987) Levitz may not have created a ton of great supervillains, but this new Starfinger was certainly one of them!

15. Massacre by Remote Control (Superboy #203; 1974) The death of Invisible Kid.

16. The Legionnaires Who Haunted Superboy (Superboy #206; 1975) In 20th Century Smallville, Superboy is visited by Invisible Kid and Ferro Lad, who have been miraculously brought back to life!

17. O! Call Back Yesterday! (Legion of Super-Heroes #280; 1981) In the aftermath of the “Reflecto” stuff, Superboy has Ultra Boy’s memories, and ultimately rejoins the Legion.

18. Old Friends, New Relatives And Other Corpses! (Legion of Super-Heroes #286; 1982) Dr. Regulus is back to cause more trouble!

19. Suspicion (Legion of Super-Heroes #24; 1986) The Legionnaires are driven to distraction wondering about Sensor Girl's true identity, even as the Emerald Empress and the Persuader seek to rebuild the Fatal Five.

20. The Lost Hero (Legion of Super-Heroes #28; 1986) Star Boy gets roped into staying on Xanthu as their resident superhero, as Atmos has gone missing. Unbeknownst to anybody at the time, this was buildup to the Universo Project.

21. Dead End (Legion of Super-Heroes #22; 1986) Universo unleashes the Restorer, a villain who wishes to restore Earth to its pre-technological state, and the Legion must find a way to stop him.

22. To Sleep a Thousand Years…And Wake To Find A Dream (Legion of Super-Heroes #42-43; 1988) Millennium crossover, with the Manhunters. While I thought this was very well done overall, I find it hard to believe that Laurel Kent could be a Manhunter and them not know it. How’d that kryptonite bullet work on her when she got shot in Annual #1? Despite that, I really dug this story.

23. Quislet’s story (Legion of Super-Heroes #44) Quislet gets taken back to his own dimension, where his “people” want to keep him, and Wildfire goes there to help him. Gives us some insight into one of my favorite Legionnaires, Quislet.

24. The Future is Forever! (Legion of Super-Heroes #300; 1983) The whole bloomin’ Legion shows up for an anniversary celebration. This issue finally broke future Legion stories free from having to follow the Adult Legion stories from the 60’s, and it was about time!

25. The Unkillables (Adventure Comics #361; 1967) The Legionnaires try to stop the Unkillables from sabotaging peace talks between the United Planets and the Dominators in the 10th dimension! A Jim Shooter-Jim Mooney collaboration.

26. The Fatal Five Who Twisted Time! (Superboy #198; 1973) The Fatal Five travel back in time to 20th Century Smallville to destroy Superboy, in order to fulfill a destiny of wiping out the Legion in the future.

27. Night Never Falls At Nullport (Legion of Super-Heroes #285; 1982) The Legion discover Khundish shenanigans when they go to Nullport to pick up a new cruiser. Paul Levitz & Pat Broderick.

28. The Edge Of Nowhere (Legion of Super-Heroes #298; 1983) The Legionnaires battle a super Khund while investigating a murder. Duplicate Boy and Colossal Boy have…words over Shrinking Violet.

29. Hostage on a Hostile Star (Legion of Super-Heroes #15; 1985) Several sub-plots going on here, but the main one involves Dr. Regulus holding some Legionnaires hostage, and challenging Sun Boy.

30. Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold (Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1; 1985) This is the one where some Legioannaires try to figure out who shot Laurel Kent. This issue would rank higher on this list, but I didn’t much care for the art in this one. Pencils by Giffen and Kesel, and inks by a whole bunch of guys.

31. The Startling Secret of Wildfire! (Legion of Super-Heroes #283; 1982) Wildfire tells some Legion recruits his real origin. This story humanized Wildfire and does a lot to explain why he acts the way he does. Plus, we get another look at the Academy students, which I always liked.

32. The Super-Stalag of Space/The Execution of Matter-Eater Lad (Adventure Comics #344-345) Another great Shooter-Swan two-parter, with the Legionnaires doing hard time! (And not for the last time!)

33. If You Think Khunds Are Cuddly, You'll Love the Lythyls! (Legion of Super-Heroes #13; 1985) Timber Wolf goes to Lythl to try and fulfil Karate Kid’s last request

34. Election Day (Legion of Super-Heroes #10; 1985) The Legionnaires must guard the candidates for presidency of earth from assassinatin.

35. The Millennium Massacre (All New Collector’s Edition #C-55; 1978) The wedding of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad!! Every Legionnaire makes an appearance, even Tyroc! A Levitz-Grell collaboration. Not Grell’s best work, though. I don’t know if he was rushed or not, but having Vince Colletta ink it probably didn’t help.

36. Soljer’s Private War (Superboy #210; 1975) Shooter and Grell team up to tell about the soldier from a past war who mysteriously appears and can fire “imaginary” weapons.

37. The Tyrant and the Traitor/ The Ordeal of Element Lad! (Action Comics #590-591; 1970) The Legion Espianage Squad in action!! Great story by E. Nelson Bridwell. I’d rank this one higher if the art were better.

38. Playing Hooky (Adventure Comics #12[515]; 2010) Levitz is back, and the Legion goes back to 20th century Smallville to take Clark o a tour of the 30th century!

39. Friends, Lovers and the Calm Before the Storm (Legionnaires #59; 1998) Just a nice character building issue by Stern/McCraw, & Jeffrey Moy.

40. Endless Summer! (Legionnaires #77; 1999) A cute issue with some more good character moments.

41. Has Anyone Noticed a Crisis Going On? (Legion of Super-Heroes #18; 1986) The bad news is that this is a Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. The good news it that it’s still an excellent story, with even better art by the Greg LaRocque/Larry Mahlstedt team. The Infinite Man is back!!

42. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished (Legion of Super-Heroes #19; 1986) The Controller summons the five formerly-lost Legionnaires into Limbo, where he gives them the chance to destroy the menacing war-world his Sun-Eater was being prepared to deal with.

43. The Greatest Hero of Them All (Legion of Super-Heroes #38; 1987) Some Crisis aftermath here as the “pocket universe” Superboy teams up with the Legion to battle the Time Trapper. Sadly, Superboy sacrifices his life to defeat the Time Trapper and save his “pocket earth” from destruction.

44. A New Beginning (Legion of Super-Heroes #18; 1986) Leland McCauley tries to be R.J. Brande, but the Legionnaires are there to protect him.

45. Back Home in Hell (Legion of Super-Heroes #23; 1986) Mon-El develops an immunity to his anti-lead serum, and must return to the Phantom Zone!

46. Trust (Legionnaires #80; 1996) The Legion expose the fact that UP President Chu was behind the Braal-Titan War, brainwashing Jan Arrah to attack the Legion, and the freeing of te Fatal Five-thanks largely to the Legion Espionage Squad, headed by Invisible Kid. . RJ Brande takes over as new UP President, largely against his will. He pardons Andromeda & Braniac 5 and abolished the Legion draft.

47. Tenzil Kem Takes a Bite Out of Crime! (Legion of Super-Heroes #11; 1990) I had to get a Tenzil Kem story on this list! I loved his appearances and he was one of the few saving graces for me on the 5YL Legion. Tenzil takes to the courts, defending Polar Boy in a trial. Great stuff. Meanwhile the rest of the team recovers from the run-in with Roxxas and Jo find himself lost in time. The only reason this doesn’t get a higher great is the so-so art. Better than the art on most of this run, though.

48. Foundations (The Legion #25-30; 2003-2004) Though I didn’t much care for DnA’s run overall, I have to give them credit for this one, and the Chris Batista art (with a few different inkers) is even better than the writing.

49. Dark Circle Rising (Legion of Super-Heroes #106-108, Legionnaires #62-64; 1998) The Legion take on, of course, the Dark Circle. As was typical for this series, I liked the Legionnaires issues a bit more than the Legion of Super-Heroes issues, both in writing and artwork. Still, a really good big story.

50. Tenzil vs. Evillo! (Legion of Super-Heroes #14, 1990) Another 5YL Tenzil Kem issue as he leads a rag-tag group against Evillo, ruler of Tartarus! Meanwhile, Lightning Lad an Ultra Boy (uh, excuse me, Garth and Jo – no more superhero names in this Legion!) search for a new headquarters for the team.

51. Monster in a Little Girl's Mind (Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1; 1982) First appearance of Jacques Foccart, Invisible Kid II, as Brainy tries to cure his sister.

Favorite Legionnaires
This is too tough!  I like pretty much all of the Original and "Archie Legion" members, so I'd have  tough time narrowing it down, though I might be able to come up with a 25 member all-star roster. I think I'd have to find a place for the 5YL Tenzil Kem, though. Maybe as a reserve member.


That’s about it. Just a couple of little observations now.



One is that, since the end of the original Legion in 1989, it seems to me that the Legion hardly ever just battle good old fashioned supervillains anymore. Everything for the last 30 years has been invasions and politics, plus they’ll throw in the Fatal Five or Mordru every once in a while Where is Starfinger when you need him?


Also, there’s been too much of the Legionnaires in the 20th century, or somehow crossing over with 20th century characters in more recent years. Maybe they’re tying to force Legion fans to buy other DC titles, or maybe they want to make the Legion more “relevant” to the main DC Universe, I don’t know, but one of the main points about the Legion is that it takes place I the future, not in the present!


Finally, the costumes since the end of the original Legion have been very lackluster. Nothing really catches the eye anymore.

I don't think it was ever addressed, but I would assume that they were depowered as well, though I kinda doubt the Legion writers necessarily took it into account.

Favorite Legionnaire costumes:
By the way, I had a hard time finding good images for a lot of these characters. I can appreciate the trouble MechaGodzilla went through with his thread!


1. Star Boy


2. Wildfire




3. Phantom Girl



4. Sensor Girl (though Princess Projectra's costume was really good, also)



5. Sun Boy



6. Mon-el





7. Karate Kid



8. Chameleon Boy





9. Ultra Boy



10. Timber Wolf



Honorable Mention: Saturn Girl



Honorable Mention: Shadow Lass - she had a few I liked (and a few I hated) but I just chose the one that I liked the best, more or less.



Honorable Mention: Lightning Lad



Honorable Mention: Ferro Lad



Honorable Mention: White Witch



Honorable Mention: Princess Projectra



Honorable Mention: Superboy



Honorable Mention: Supergirl




Equal time for the bad guys - Best Supervillain uniforms

1. Dr. Regulus



2. Pulsar Stargrave (I love me some disco era uniforms!)


3. Emerald Empress
 

I don't know if this is technically a costume or not, but I always thought Infinite Man was cool looking.