3000-3009: A Decade in Review
Let's all cast our minds back to 990 years in the future.
January, 2000: The “Widening Rifts” storyline concludes, and as it does so, the series Legion of Super-Heroes Volume 4 and Legionnaires come to an end after 125 and 81 issues, respectively.
January, 2000: First issue of the miniseries Titans/Legion of Super-Heroes: Universe Ablaze.
March 1, 2000: First issue of the limited series Legion Lost. Introduction of Shikari, one of four new Legionnaires to be created and join the team in this decade.
January 3, 2001: Panels from Legion Lost #11 (Abnett-Lanning/Coipel-Lanning).
February 21, 2001: First issue of the Elseworlds series Superboy's Legion.
April 18, 2001: First issue of the limited series Legion Worlds.
October 24, 2001: First issue of The Legion, the fifth ongoing series to star the Legion of Super-Heroes as title characters.
July 24, 2002: Panels from The Legion #10 (Abnett-Lanning/Walker-Andrasofszky-Coipel-Lanning).
July 6, 2003: The message boards at www.legionworld.net open for business.
November 25, 2003: TwoMorrows publishes The Legion Companion, a collection of interviews with Legion creators from over the years.
August 11, 2004: Panels from The Legion #37 (Simone/Jurgens-Smith).
September 29, 2004: With the publication of the Titans/Legion of Super-Heroes Special, the reboot Legion goes into limbo and the threeboot Legion is introduced.
November, 2004: TwoMorrows publishes Best of the Legion Outpost, a collection of the best articles from the pivotal APA.
December 29, 2004: First issue of Legion of Super-Heroes Volume 5, the sixth ongoing series to star the Legion of Super-Heroes as title characters.
February 2, 2005: First-ever blogpost on Legion Abstract.
April, 2005: Publication of Chris Roberson's novel Here, There and Everywhere, a time-travel novel containing a cameo appearance by three futuristic teenagers bearing a striking resemblance to Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl.
June 22, 2005: Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes #7 (Waid/Kitson-Thibert-Pascoe).
November 8, 2005: First-ever blogpost on the Legion Omnicom.
December 4, 2005: First-ever blogpost on Get-A-Life Boy's LSH Blog.
March 22, 2006: With issue #16, the comic book Legion of Super-Heroes is retitled Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes.
April 15, 2006: The cartoon series Justice League Unlimited broadcasts its episode “Far From Home,” guest-starring the Legion of Super-Heroes.
May 25, 2006: Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #18 introduces Dream Boy, also known as Rol Purtha of Naltor, second of four new Legionnaires to be introduced and to join the team this decade.
July 9, 2006: Debut of the Legion Wiki (as far as I can tell).
September 23, 2006: First episode of the animated series Legion of Super-Heroes airs on the CW network.
December 6, 2006: The last page of Justice Society of America #1 shows a glimpse of Dawnstar's arm, giving us our first hint of the existence of the retroboot Legion.
December 27, 2006: Panels from Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #25 (Waid/Kitson-Gray).
April 4, 2007: First issue of the five-issue story “The Lightning Saga”, a Justice League/Justice Society crossover, in which the retroboot Legion is introduced.
April 18, 2007: First issue of the comic-book Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century, a Johnny DC title based on the cartoon and the seventh ongoing series to star the Legion of Super-Heroes as title characters.
July 18, 2007: Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century #4 (Boylan/Uy).
August 3, 2007: McDonald's offers figurines of eight characters from the Legion cartoon as Happy Meal toys: Superman, Lightning Lad, Brainiac 5, Timber Wolf, Bouncing Boy, Tharok, Validus, and Mano.
August 22, 2007: Panels from Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #33 (Bedard/Calero).
September 22, 2007: First episode of the second season of Legion of Super-Heroes introduces the character Kell-El, also known as Superman-X, third of four new Legionnaires to be introduced and to join the team this decade.
October 31, 2007: First issue of the six-part story “Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes” in Action Comics, in which we first see the retroboot Legion in their native setting.
December 26, 2007: Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes reverts to its previous title, Legion of Super-Heroes. The new creative team on the book includes up-and-coming artist Francis Manapul and old-school Legion writer Jim Shooter. Issue #37 introduces Gazelle, also known as Giselle Smith of Triton, fourth of four new Legionnaires to be introduced and to join the team this decade.
January 30, 2008: Panels from Action Comics #861 (Johns/Frank-Sibal).
February 27, 2008: Fiftieth anniversary of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
February 27, 2008: Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes #39 (Shooter/Manapul-Livesay).
May 27, 2008: First Legion podcast from the Super Future Friends.
July 9, 2008: Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century #16 (Manning/McManus).
August 20, 2008: First issue of the limited series Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, a crossover featuring the reboot, threeboot and retroboot Legions, with art by George Perez.
September 2, 2008: Sequart Books publishes Teenagers from the Future, a book of essays about the Legion.
October 7, 2008: The Legion of Substitute Podcasters announces its first podcast.
January 15, 2009: Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, and Cosmic Boy guest-star on an episode of Smallville.
January 28, 2009: Panels from final issue of Legion of Super-Heroes volume 5 (Thyme/Bachs-Livesay).
April 29, 2009: Panels from Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #4 (Johns/Perez-Koblish).
May 15, 2009: Mattel releases a set of four Legion action figures, including Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and Brainiac 5.
July 22, 2009: Long-awaited fifth and final issue of Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds.
August 12, 2009: Issue #1 of Adventure Comics volume 2, which would feature the Legion of Super-Heroes in backup stories for a few issues.
September 9, 2009: DC Comics announces that Paul Levitz will become the new writer for a regular Legion of Super-Heroes run in Adventure Comics starting sometime in the next decade.
October 14, 2009: Panels from Adventure Comics #3 (Johns-Shoemaker/Henry).
Labels: Articles, Legion of Super-Heroes, Site/Legion Info
posted by Matthew E @ 9:57 PM
19 Comments:
Great stuff! One tiny quibble: The Legion Outpost was of course a fanzine, not an APA. (An APA named Legion Enthusiasts APA -- and later renamed Interlac -- was created by the staff of the Outpost, but they were always totally separate entities.)
Oh. Well, shows you what I know. Thanks!
Slight correction on Legion Wiki. The software was installed and the first Legion-related content added on May 19, 2006.
About two hours after it was installed, the content was a mere list of links, as shown on this history page - 5/19/2006 Legion Wiki Page.
Great information! Thanks for posting this!
BTW -- what does the acronym APA stand for? I also saw it in one of Bierbaum's posts, and couldn't figure out whit it meant.
APA stands for "Amateur Press Alliance" and it would be entirely fair to say they were the early print version of blogging, LiveJournals, et cetera. There's a good description of how an APA works and their significance in the history of science fiction fandom here:
http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=58397
…and some further discussion of their role in comics fandom here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_press_association
And I've just discovered Interlac has a page on Wikipedia as well, which makes me feel approximately 1,047 years old.
Thanks, all.
In Sept 2003 Phil Meade published PsiScouts #1: At Risk:
In the 26th century, three psi-gifted teenagers find themselves on the same flight to Earth:
* Gael Rimma of Wargal, code-named BOLT, controls electrical fields and can generate electrical charges. Confident and outgoing, Gael comes to Earth in search of her missing brother.
* Royd Kar of Taarla, code-named COULOMB, controls magnetic fields and forces. Shy but affable, Royd is fleeing the desolation of his economically-depressed world, hoping to find a job through which he can support his family back home.
* Iris Krall of Ceres, code-named MENTAXA, is a powerful telepath. Her cold, aloof exterior, a defense against the constant intrusion of others’ thoughts, hides an inner insecurity.
Thrown together by chance, the kids use their remarkable abilities to foil an assassination attempt against Colleen Artveldt, the galaxy’s richest person. In response, Artveldt announces that she wants them to be founding members of a new organization, a corps of similarly-talented youths to be called the PsiScouts.
Huh. New one on me. Thanks.
December 2009:
Mordru appears in the 21st century!
Oh? In what?
Mordru was just revealed as the villain in the current JSA arc (not the All-Stars -- the regular JSA).
(I realize now that Mordru is a long-time JSA villain, but for me, he'll always be a Legion foe.)
The poor JSA. You know you have a shallow rogues' gallery when you have to borrow Legion villains.
Great posting. I appreciate the way you have presented comic clips. All the best from side.
Thanks!
What are your thoughts on the just-announced new Legion book??
When it comes to things like this, my philosophy is very simple:
More is better.
My only qualm is that we've already seen what Paul Levitz can do with the Legion, so what surprises do we have in front of us?
Regardless, having two Legion titles is a lot better than having none.
New doesn't necessarily equate with interesting or surprising, though. Nor does old necessarily mean that we're going to be seeing the same old same old. It totally depends on the talent of the writer.
Geoff Johns was new to the Legion, but I wouldn't say that 3 Worlds, or Superman and the Legion was surprising or all that new, either.
I thought Shooter did great things when he came back. I'm confident that Levitz is going to be telling great stories, too.
Overall I was disappointed by Shooter, although there were some good thing about his run. I'm more optimistic about Levitz, but, as I say, with qualms.
What I liked about Shooter was that he kept a good balance between character moments and story. I probably had some issues with the story being told (and would have preferred to see the story he had planned than the story that played out), and with some of his character choices... but on the whole, I was pretty pleased.
I suspect that I'm going to be even more pleased with Levitz. Even if he sticks with the same story-telling style that he used back when he as originally writing the Legion, I'll be pleased, as that style allowed for lots of world-building, character stories, and sci-fi type adventure.
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