Thursday, May 24, 2007

The Legion of Three Worlds

Newsarama's got a preview of next week's JSA #6. Holy shamoley! Listen to what Superman says:

Time travel was never easy on us. Once in a while memories would be altered or even erased. One of the Legion's most historical adventures remains undocumented because none of us could recall the exact circumstances behind it. The archives called it "The Legion of Three Worlds" ....

Hmmm. The pre-Crisis version, the post-Zero Hour version, and the current version?

It appears this Legion may very well be the pre-Crisis Legion.
The last time I saw them was right before the first Crisis. They never came back. And I never understood why.

Well that's because you were retconned out, ya big goofball! The text references Adventure 312 and the resurrection of Lightning Lad. Then Karate Kid says:
If [Saturn Girl] knew what we were attempting to do, she'd be here along with Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad. They risked their lives to save me, but now more than ever -- the Legion needs their big three.

So... Lightning Lad isn't the 7th person in the 21st century they're looking for. As had been surmised, his name was the code word for the plan to apparently resurrect someone at the cost of one of their own.

Related: Double Articulation on the same preview

13 comments:

MaGnUs said...

Michael, have you read JLA #9? They used the Batman belt to carry copper lightning rods to the 21st Century, and they go on an on about how one of them is going to sacrifice his/her life.

Lightning Lad is probably dead, and they're going to do what they did back with Proty and all that jazz. I wonder if someone's carrying a more conducting rod?

MaGnUs said...

Crap, I just realized that it says "Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad", so it's probably not him who's dead... but his name was used as code word because of the lightning they need to hit the rod.

naladahc said...

I can still hope they are trying to revive Quislet or Tellus.

With all this return to past Legion versions I really want the 80s are to be represented.

That's when I started reading the Legion and hope we get a nod to that era soon.

Skeleton Munroe said...

So I obviously have to stop borrowing JLA and JSA off of my friend months after they've come out.

I don't really mean it, but I miss the days when not much was happening on the Legion front and I could chip away at reading all of the back issues. I've still got years to go!

Ah, well. Suck it up, me.

MaGnUs said...

naladahc said: I can still hope they are trying to revive Quislet or Tellus.

With all this return to past Legion versions I really want the 80s are to be represented.

That's when I started reading the Legion and hope we get a nod to that era soon.


A-men man, you've said. I hope it's Quislet. I started reading the 80s Legion too (although it was already the early 90s for me), and that's where I my heart lies, with the post-Crisis stories and the Magic Wars stuff.

Anonymous said...

These are all Legionnaires who joined or rejoined post-Shooter. (I think: I'm not sure just when the Sir Prize and Miss Terry story was.) My bet would be that they are resurrecting one from that era.

Ferro Lad is unlikely, since we know he was blown to bits -- no body. That would mark the 7th Legionnaire as either Sensor Girl or Tyroc.

Given Absolute Perfect Physician of the Great Ten having Tyroc-ish powers, that's whom I suspect to be the "deceased" one, although why Jeckie isn't with these others, I don't have an answer for.

Of course, we also saw Sensor Girl's cape in the First Crisis flashback, which should be after Val died, but he's here, so... Val is Proty II?

MaGnUs said...

What would the Physician's powers similarity to Tyroc's have to do with resurrecting the latter?

And God, who would want to resurrect Tyroc? (Well, I would, after Quislet. II've never read a book with Tyroc, yet I love his 'fro.)

Michael said...

Just got back from vacation, otherwise I would have chimed in earlier...

1. Why would any of these Legionnaires (specifically) potentially sacrifice their lives to revive Tellus and/or Quislet?

2. You're forgetting the time period - if Karate Kid is alive (never mind the costumes on the statues in the Fortress), that is our limiting factor. Karate Kid died in the early issues of v3, so if these Legionnaires are from a time shortly before that, they haven't even met Tellus and Quislet (or Sensor Girl) yet.

3. After Karate Kid, Princess Projectra, and Ferro Lad joined but before KK died, next up were Timber Wolf, Chemical King, Wildfire, Tyroc, Dawnstar, Blok, and Invisible Kid II. During that time, Invisible Kid I and Chemical King died. (Sir Prize and Miss Terious joined just a couple issues prior to Shooter's first story.)

MaGnUs said...

Doh, because he IS QUISLET, HE IS VERY COOL!

And if you don't like my answer, PEW PEW PEW!

Anonymous said...

What would the Physician's powers similarity to Tyroc's have to do with resurrecting the latter?

Because there's a good chance that the writer on JSA also wrote that bit of 52. I was struck immediately by the power similarity in 52, and how it could "salvage" Tyroc.

And God, who would want to resurrect Tyroc?

A writer who liked the character and always thought he got the short-end of the stick. (Which he did under Levitz, by Levitz's own admission.)

Or simply by a writer who wants to play up the multi-racial aspect of the Legion.

1. Why would any of these Legionnaires (specifically) potentially sacrifice their lives to revive Tellus and/or Quislet?

True. Wildfire is the only one with a strong connection to those two. We don't have Polar Boy, Lightning Lass, or Saturn Girl in this group.

You're forgetting the time period - if Karate Kid is alive (never mind the costumes on the statues in the Fortress), that is our limiting factor. Karate Kid died in the early issues of v3, so if these Legionnaires are from a time shortly before that, they haven't even met Tellus and Quislet (or Sensor Girl) yet.

Assuming that this *is* the v3 Legion, and not something a lot like it by somewhat different. (As a key example: they have Reboot or Threeboot flight rings, rather than V3 ones. Error or clue?)

3. After Karate Kid, Princess Projectra, and Ferro Lad joined but before KK died, next up were Timber Wolf, Chemical King, Wildfire, Tyroc, Dawnstar, Blok, and Invisible Kid II. During that time, Invisible Kid I and Chemical King died. (Sir Prize and Miss Terious joined just a couple issues prior to Shooter's first story.)

Dawnstar joined (went to the Academy, anyway) between Lyle and Condo's death's right?

I would expect that any resurrection we're seeing here would not be something we can target from the comics, such as Condo. The Legion knew that Garth had been in an extreme death-like coma by this time, not quite dead, and thus if there is an intended resurrection here, a similar sort of "not yet dead" would be expected.

Me said...

Actually, Sir Prize and Miss Terius were just *after* Shooter, in Adventure #350-351. Shooter's first story was Adventure #346.

I believe Shooter's first three stories were part of his initial submission to Weisinger. He has said in an interview that #348, the Dr. Regulus book, was the first one he actually wrote. E. Nelson Bridwell wrote #350 and #351 as a brige between Shooter's first four issues and the rest of his run.

Me said...

I think we may need to look to the Seven Soldiers story that was the inspiration for "The Lightning Saga" is guessing who the Legion is trying to save, or at least who is going to die.

I think the Legionnaire to die will be some unofficial member, just Wing was the member of the "Law's Legionnaires" to buy it in the Seven Soldier's revival.

I wonder if a reservist or other Legion ally will emerge to grab the durilim wand from on of the seven Legionnairs we've seen.

I believe the inclusion of both Sensor Girl and Karate Kid is NOT a mistake, and that Val has come from some other Earth. Thus he ends up stuck in the 21st century after this story, unable to return to the 31st, because he is already dead there.

So, I recommend looking at which Legion association could convincingly stand in for Batman and hold his own in a fight with Batman. Duplicate Boy comes to mind.

I LOVE the idea, postulated on Legion World, of Kal-L being the one the Legionnairs are trying to save. The Kon-El Superboy also is a possibility. I doubt that it could be the pocket universe Superboy, since Alexander Luther essentially reset reality, meaning, I think, that most post-crisis quirks probably did not happen.

My guess is that Kal-L gets revived and we come away from "The Lightning Saga" with an Earth-2 Legion of some kind, the idea being that there was no Superboy on Earth-2 because Kal-L spent that time inthe future training with the Legion. Except for all the trips to Smallville that would get erased from continuity, I'd guess that we might learn that the pre-Crisis Legion was the Earth-2 version all along, leaving the current group to become the Earth-1 team. Of course, I've also speculated that the traditional Earth-1 is still out there and not the current amagamated Earth we know as the DCU.

Unknown said...

I'm taking odds that it's the Earth-2 Superman.