Legion of Super-Heroes #15 “Ancient Times” (April 2006)



Creative Team: Written by Stuart Moore. Penciled by Pat Olliffe. Inked by John Livesay.

The Story: “Stories” actually. A group of teens are camping in Metropolis Memorial Park, and a hooded figure prompts them to tell stories they have heard about the Legion. The first teen volunteers a time travel story about the Silver Age Legion teaming up with the JLA and JSA to rescue Flash-1 and -2. His audience is dubious; they’ve never heard of non-rebooted characters like Bouncing Boy.



The second tale involves the 1970s Cockrum Legion fighting a time-displaced Secret Society of Super-Villains to protect Captain Comet. In an obvious slam on Brad Meltzer’s “Identity Crisis” story, the audience of this story complains at a plot point in which Saturn Girl erases the memories of the villains.



The third tale takes place during Crisis on Infinite Earths and reveals that it was not Barry Allen but rather Paul Levitz’ late 80s Legionnaires White Witch, Blok, Quislet, and Sensor Girl that destroyed the Anti-Monitor’s doomsday machine. Then they return quickly to the future before the Zero Hour event erases them from continuity.



Lettercol: Triplicate Girl reviews the members of the Legions, their powers and relationships, and how the original Legion trio represent the ego, id, and superego, “like the Star Rovers.” I had never thought of either of those connections. Chamelon shows up at the end as Bouncing Boy.



My Two Cents: This fill-in issue was a ton of fun. It’s an homage to Levitz’ LSH #300, which was divided into short stories representing different eras of Legion history. Each was drawn by a different artist from Legion history; this time around instead, Oliffe does a creditable job imitating 60s, 70s, and 80s art styles all by his lonesome.

At the end of the frame story, the storytelling teens’ names are revealed; they seem to be amalgams of creators. For instance, P’al Gif’n represents Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen. "Kahn" would be Jenette Kahn. I am not sure about all the rest. Together they chant the Legion’s new anti-adult catchphrase, “Eat it, Grandpa!”

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #16 “1001 Years Later” (May 2006)



Creative Team: Mark Waid writing. Barry Kitson pencils. Mick Gray inks.

The Story: Several Legion members are fighting an alien infiltrator in the streets. The racket perturbs a citizen who rouses his neighbors to come with him to complain. The adults are irate, but a little kid (first named Joseph but then called Jonathan a few panels later) thinks the Legion are cool.





The rest of the issue is consumed by the threat of a huge object careening through the Solar System straight for Earth. The Legion can’t stop it; just before it hits the planet, Supergirl arrives, seemingly from nowhere, and dispatches it with a single punch. The crowds are thrilled; all the teens know her well from old comic books. She accepts her presence in the future calmly, explaining to Cosmic Boy that this is all a dream from which she will awaken any minute.



My Two Cents: After several issues focusing on the invasion threat of Terra Firma, and two “cooldown” character-driven issues, Waid returns to the “adults vs kids theme.” The cartoonish adults are so accustomed to video conferencing that they can barely bear each other’s physical presence. The Legion are sympathetic, except for one moment when Shadow Lass steals a man’s goggles.



Supergirl’s post-COIE presents a tangle all its own. John Byrne had lobbied heavily for the post-Crisis Superman to return to “the last of his kind.” No superpets, bottle cities, or surviving cousins. But DC couldn’t very well let trademarks like Supergirl and Superboy languish, so new characters were attached to those names. It would take a better man than I to explain all the twists, turns, retcons and revelations attached to Supergirl from 1985 to 1995. Here’s a summary of some of the weirdness from Action Comics #644:



The Infinite Crisis sub-story “Outsiders: Crisis Intervention” (OutsidersVol. 3 #29-33) showed Dona Troy leading Supergirl and other heroes to the center of the universe, and when this latest Crisis is over, continuity has changed once again. This is the context for Supergirl getting spit out in the 31st century to join this series. Once again Waid uses the kids in the Legion Plaza as the voice of fanboys arguing about DC continuity.

I believe this is Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin who appeared the first time in Superman/Batman #8 and not Matrix. 

Oh, it's quite simple.

Just forget about Matrix. Probably her existence was erased by Infinite Crisis. 

ETA: yes, Infinite Crisis erased from the existence the Pocket Universe, so Matrix never existed.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #17 (June 2006)



Creative Team: Mark Waid writing. Barry Kitson pencils. Mick Gray inks.

The Story: The Legion busts up a subterranean robot cult and pulls the plug on their giant robot warrior.



The kids in Legion Plaza are delighted by Supergirl’s presence. She believes not only that her presence in the future is a dream, but that her life on Earth as a superhero is part of that dream. She thinks she’s still in Argo City on Krypton. Nevertheless, she thinks it would be cool in her dream to join the Legion. They accept her as a member despite her loopiness. Braniac 5 gives her a Legion flight ring, which we’ve been told is super rare and expensive, so he doesn’t keep any spares lying around. Whose flight ring did he give her then?



Somewhere out in space, Dominators discuss how the earthbound meteorite destroyed last issue was actually a technovirus delivery system which achieved its purpose.



My Two Cents: This issue sets up the next big foe the legion will face. The Dominators had first appeared way back in Adventure Comics #361 (1967). In that Jim Shooter story, the United Planets were coming to the end of a bitter (but previously unmentioned) war against an alien race, the Dominion, whose individual members were “Dominators.” The Legion were tasked with escorting a group of Dominator ambassadors to Earth for a peace conference, protecting them from another Dominion faction known as the Unkillable. The Dominion possessed tech that made super-powers go haywire.



Keith Giffen and Bill Mantlo brought the Dominators back for the Invasion! event in 1989, in which present-day heroes contended with an alien alliance which also included other alien races culled from 20th century (Thanagar, Psion) and 30th century (Khund, Durla, Gil’Dishpan) stories. Their plan was to detonate a gene-bomb to remove the “anomoly” (sic) that gave some humans super-powers. Todd McFarlane was on art, turning the robotic grill of the 1967 Dominators into a set of pointy teeth.

Good eye! Post that on the swipes thread.

Thanks! I know this forum skews toward 60s/70s comics, whereas most of my reviews cover more recent material; I figured maybe somebody would like to know what's out there these days.