#50 “Enemy Manifest Part Six: Hack the Infinity Net!” (March 2009)



Hey, a wraparound cover!

Creative Team: Jim Shooter writing. Francis Manapul pencils. Jim Livesay inks.

The Story: It’s a TRON episode! Sort of. Braniac 5 digitizes a Legion strike force comprising Seven Soldiers (Ultra Boy, Invisible Kid, Gazelle, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Star Boy, Atom Girl) to invade the attackers’ computer network. We get some exposition about the invaders’ origins. Their plan is to copy all the cool stuff in the universe, put digital copies of it in a virtual world, and then destroy the real universe so that all that’s left is an ideal version that they prefer. Enforced heaven.



Even in the midst of combat, romantic complications are brewing. Invisible Kid made sure that his virtual-reality avatar is way buffer than his scrawny real life self. Giselle is impressed for the moment—but what will she think when she meets the real “him”? He didn’t think this through. Shooter set up this moment way in advance, by having all their previous interactions be when he was invisible. Oh, the teen angst!



The defeat of the alien invasion proves unexpectedly quick and easy: Braniac 5 uses his big brain to take control of the enemy computers. Then he un-summons all of their foes, who are just computer avatars. Yay! In the process, Invisible Kid shows his own smarts, and Giselle decides his scrawny real self isn’t so bad.



Unfortunately, the real bodies of the strike force were destroyed by a monster attack on Legion HQ. But since Brainy had their minds stored in his computer, he just grows new clone bodies for them and re-inserts their minds/souls. While he’s at it, he grows a new body for Dream Girl as well, downloading her mind out of his own dreams of her.



My Two Cents: The super-bad guys were dispatched awfully quickly, for all the build-up. Brainy didn’t even affect their home dimension; he just affected two of their virtual realms, one of which is our own universe. Paging Grant Morrison!

So… Braniac 5 can now resurrect anybody he’s scanned. Is he going to use this technology to scan every person in the United Planets, so they can all live forever? I wonder whether Jim Shooter read Howard Chaykins’ Twilight series to see what a disaster immortality would be. A similar story involving future clones of Supermen appeared in Action Comics #399 (1971).



That’s where the story abruptly ends; the series was canceled after 50 issues. The romantic drama with Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad is still up in the air. Cosmic Boy, Triplicate Girl, and Karate Kid are still off with the Knights Tempus of the 41st century, doing who knows what. The treachery of Timber Wolf and Princess Projectra is still brewing.

But none of those threads get followed. Instead, Geoff Johns was writing a non-threeboot series (well, sort of, as we’ll see next) concurrent with this one, and when Paul Levitz started a fresh Legion #1 (its sixth renumbering; see image below) in mid-2010, he used his own older (in the sense of 1980s, but also adult rather than teen) Legion world, not the Waid/Shooter Threeboot.

Legion of Three Worlds #1: “Book One” (October 2008)



Creative Team: Geoff Johns writing. George Perez pencils!! Scott Koblish inks

The Story: Instead of the Threeboot Legion, we’re picking up where Geoff Johns left the Levitz Legion after their recent appearance in Action Comics’ “Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes” story. The xenophobic Earth-Man (formerly Absorbency Boy) is being put on trial. We catch up once again with the “definitely not Thomas and Martha Kent” bigots who killed a baby alien “straggler” in Action Comics.



This evil not-Pa-Kent gets his comeuppance when another alien crash-lands in his field, courtesy of some intervention by the Time Trapper. This new arrival in the 31st century is Superboy Prime, with his typical bad temper. One flash of heat vision later, bye bye not-Pa-Kent.



Finding he’s in future-Smallville, Superboy Prime checks out the Superman Museum there. He’s chagrined to find that he didn’t rate a display among Superman’s major villains; his old costume (with built-in yellow sun generator!) languishes in storage. He starts tearing the place apart but is intrigued by a mention of the “Legion of Super-Villains.” He heads to the prison world of Takron-Galtos and releases every single super-villain imprisoned there. Then he carves a giant “S” into its surface.



16 pages in, we meet the Legion. Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, and Saturn Girl are appearing before a United Planets board of inquiry for the latest round of, “Should the Legion be disbanded?” When their benefactor R.J. Brande speaks in their behalf, his long-time nemesis Leland McAuley steps from the shadows and assassinates him. Brande reverts to his native Durlan form (like Chameleon Boy), chaos ensues, the Science Police try to arrest the Legionnaires for some reason. Earth withdraws from the United Planets and demands that all nonhumans go home, which means the end of the Legion, or at least a relocation.



Meanwhile, Shadow Lass and Phantom Girl enter the Phantom Zone to retrieve Mon-El. Braniac 5 quickly administers the lead antidote before Mon-El dies.



Sun Boy is super-depressed at having been a prisoner of Earth-Man in the Action Comics story, his power unwillingly harnessed to turn the sun red as a ploy against Superman. Polar Boy tries unsuccessfully to cheer him up. This is a much different Sun Boy than the confident golden child of Waid’s run.



Flummoxed by all this woe, the Legionnaires ask Superman to travel to the 31st century and help them out. Braniac 5 says that the obvious solution is for this Legion to use alternate reality tech to summon the Reboot Legion and the Threeboot Legion to assist them.



What’s the Deal with Superboy-Prime? Ugh, it’s complicated. In fact, it was already complicated when he first appeared in a pair of Elliot S. Maggin stories in DC Comics Presents #87 (1985). He was born on Krypton in some unknown alternate dimension. Instead of taking a rocket ship to Earth, he took a cross-dimensional teleport beam, which is how he ended up in the only dimension with (supposedly) no super-powered folks. When our vanilla Superman from Earth-One visited Earth-Prime, that baby, now grown up and called “Clark Kent,” developed super-powers which he used to help Superman complete his mission.



The two heroes traveled to Earth-One. Then Crisis on Infinite Earths happened, stranding Superboy-Prime when his home dimension ceased to exist. In the final issue of COIE, Alexander Luthor, having ascended to a godlike state due to the stolen powers of the Anti-Monitor, promised to transport Superman-2, Lois-2, and Superboy-Prime to a place of “everlasting peace.”



But DC needed to keep the Superboy trademark alive, so they brought him back from this Nirvana as an embittered teen brat whose strength caused major problems and casualties wherever he went. He acquired a super-suit which gave him yellow light even under a red sun. After establishing Bart “Kid Flash” Allen as a nemesis, eventually (in Infinite Crisis #7, 2005) he ended up the prisoner of the Guardians of Oa. This is when he carved a bloody “S” in his chest.



He was freed by Sinestro Corps, won a victory over Sodam Yat (more about him later), and then was transformed into an adult, because the Siegel family was challenging DC’s ownership of the Superboy trademark. This new Superman-Prime continued to cause havoc during the Countdown to Final Crisis (#14) until he was lost to the multiverse following an explosive tussle with Monarch which destroyed Earth-51, home of futuristic Bronze Age Kirby characters like Kamandi.



Now in our current series, the name “Superboy-Prime” returns, so I suppose DC settled its latest legal action. Variety Magazine explained the 2008 situation in 2013:


My Two Cents: The first issue inevitably is a combination of recap and set-up for those who hadn’t seen relevant previous stories. So far there’s no tie-in with the Darkseid-centric Final Crisis series that Grant Morrison was concurrently running. Indeed, when we saw an advertisement for “Superman and the LSH vs Superman-Prime and the LSV” several months ago, there was no attempt to connect it to Final Crisis.



George Perez’s art is good, of course. He’s always exceled at large group scenes, and this story, which promises three whole Legions, will put him through his paces. But overall comic book art has improved so much in the last thirty years, and coloring has come to play such an increased role, that I can’t honestly say that this book gives me a “Woah, this artist is on a whole other level from the rest!” sensation compared to other contemporary comic book artists. His strongest asset is the ability to make the art clear on small panels, so there's plenty of action per page.

Legion of Three Worlds #3: “Book Three” (December 2008)



The Story: Sodam Yat is moping over being the last Green Lantern. Mon-El persuades him to join the fight against Superboy-Prime.



Back on Earth, everything is a big fight scene. Earth-Man and his “Justice League” are attacking alien ambassadors at the United Planets building. Myg of Lythyl, the second Karate Kid and now a politician, gets incinerated. Superman unsuccessfully tries to calm Superboy-Prime with exposition about their first adventure together from DC Comics Presents #87.  This is pretty much the last significant thing that Superman does in this series.




Just when the Levitz Legion is on the ropes, the Reboot and Threeboot Legions arrive to help. Time for another double page spread with 100 characters!



This leads to various “Legionnaires commenting on each other” scenes. The Lightning Lads debate how to pronounce “Winath.” Naturally the three Braniacs just quarrel, while other heroes have more romantic thoughts. Remember that Threeboot Phantom Girl is not dating Ultra Boy, unlike her parallel selves, but you wouldn’t know it from the dialogue here.



Dawnstar, Wildfire, and Polar Boy have been sent on a mission to Smallville of the past, to recover a hair sample from teen Lex Luthor.



The punchline of the issue is a multi-page sequence in which all the Lightning Lads and Lasses shoot electricity at a cosmic treadmill while XS runs on it; this summons Superboy’s nemesis Bart “Impulse/Kid Flash” Allen into the 31st century.



My Two Cents: Mostly fighting, plus a few jokes about the details of the three different continuities. Threeboot Sun Boy dies. This poses a continuity quandary, since Sun Boy was absent from the Threeboot Legion, only rejoining at the tail end of Shooter's run, by which time Triplicate Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Karate Kid were gone with the Knights Tempus, and Projectra and Timber Wolf were traitors. The Threebooters are wearing the new costumes arranged by M’rrissey a few issues into Shooter’s run.

At one point Braniac 5 gives a huge exposition dump about the previous “Legion of Three Worlds” story which was never actually told before now. Apparently the origin story of reboot Legionnaire XS is a key part of that untold tale, and I wish Johns had told it properly somewhere before recapping it here. If you want an artist to draw a zillion characters in one scene, Perez is still your guy.



With all these Legionnaires running around, it’s a little disappointing to have another issue whose big reveal involves the appearance of a non-Legionnaire who’s going to turn the tide. Last issue it was Sodam Yat. Now it’s Bart Allen.

Legion of Three Worlds #4: “Book Four” (January 2009)



The Story: Bart Allen, summoned from the past (and, it seems, the dead), beats up Superboy-Prime and makes jokes about Disney’s Aladdin movie.



The fight is going pretty well, but fatalities start to pile up. Levitz-Braniac gets his top half blown to bits. Is that where he keeps his brain? Kinetix, the sorceress of the Reboot Legion, gets absorbed by Mordru. Threeboot-Element Lad is eviscerated by a hunk of Kryptonite he created to harm Superboy-Prime.



The Time Trapper interrupts the battle, yanking Superman and the Levitz versions of Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, and Cosmic Boy off to his own “Vanishing Point” dimension outside of time and space.



At the North Pole, the three Braniacs (including the Levitz one, so I guess he survived somehow) are in the Fortress of Solitude. Amidst their arguing, they activate a Kryptonian regeneration chamber containing another of Superboy-Prime’s least favorite heroes: Connor "Kon-El" Kent: 



Superman and the Levitz Trio attack the Time Trapper, unmasking him as an aged Superboy-Prime, which is a bit surprising to say the least:



My Two Cents: This makes three issues in a row in which the main story is not about the Legion, except to the extent that the Legion are expending their main effort getting non-Legionnaires involved, Connor Kent in this case. He's the DNAlien Superboy from "Reign of the Supermen" following the muder of Superman by Doomsday in 1993. Mind you, the regular Superman has already fallen to Superboy-Prime, so I wonder why Braniac thinks this second tier Superman Family character will do any better than three whole universes full of Legionnaires, including three Mon-Els.

It was fun to see the Richard Donner version of the Fortress of Solitude well represented on the page at least.



By killing characters, Johns is putting quite a few nails in the coffin of the Threeboot Legion, as if to emphasize that DC is reversing course to put forward the Levitz Legion as the official version from here on.