The Legion Omnicom

Monday, September 16, 2019

LSH v4 #14 annotations: Evillo's 11

Annotations for Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #14

On sale date: November 13, 1990
It's OK, I'm a Senator: https://itsokimasenator.livejournal.com/4070.html
Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 570 (September 16, 2019)
Timeline: approximately 12/15/94 to 12/27/94

Regarding the cover, Tom Bierbaum says in IOKIAS: There was also an intentional or unintentional goof on the cover. Keith wanted Tenzil to be saying to the menacing figure of Evillo "OK, I can see that you're mad..." or something like that, but the word balloon never made it onto the cover. I remember Keith expressing frustration that on many earlier covers he very much wanted no captions or dialogue at all and the editors kept putting on captions that he feared were undercutting the impact of the visuals. And now the one time he wanted to add something, it got left off, leaving nothing but a scene that couldn't have meant much to even an avid reader of our series. About all you can draw from the cover art is that Tenzil is in the story, and there's really not even any humor to the scene.
Page 1 panel 1: We first saw Tartarus back in ADV 350, when we met the Devil’s (Half) Dozen. Tartarus is a dark, sunless world that bears the name of the ancient Greek netherworld, and is a small planet that is a hideout for criminals of many worlds, ruled over by an evil genius named Prince Evillo.
Page 2 panel 9: Evillo’s wife is Eve Aries, the former Saturn Queen who was a charter member of the Legion of Super-Villains. Note that her continuity is very convoluted: we first saw her as an adult with the Adult LSV in the time of Superman and the Adult Legion (SMAN 147), and then as an adult with the Adult LSV in the time of the regular Legion (e.g., ADV 331). When this came out, we had seen a teenage Lightning Lord but never a teenage Saturn Queen. Best not to think too hard about her continuity.
Page 3 panel 5: Tenzil made the same “Devil’s Half Dozen” joke that I’ve been making forever!
Page 3 panel 8: Recall from the Annual, I mentioned that Sugyn had been sent away by Evillo during ADV 350, I guess he hasn’t been seen since
Page 5 panel 2: For such an allegedly smart guy, Jo doesn’t realize these Dominators are also diskless.
Page 8 panels 6-7: Tenzil says “Hey, I’m a Legionnaire. When trouble strikes, we put on costumes.” Tom Bierbaum says in IOKIAS: On page eight, Tenzil's supposed to say "I'm a Legionnaire, when trouble strikes, we put on colorful costumes" and the word "colorful" got cut. I don't know why, but to me it's pretty vital to the rhythm of that punchline and the line now hangs pretty limply for me.
Page 10 panel 2: Hate Face was another hero whose memorial was on Shanghalla in ADV 341. “The face of a devil, the soul of an angel. He rescued millions, yet none could bear his revolting visage. Some say he died in battle, others say it was his broken heart that killed him!”
Page 10 panel 2: Draxler is a world whose money is in the form of a giant mirror coin (ADV 377)
Page 17 panel 1: Mlain is a war-wrecked world to which Shrinking Violet fled when Heroes of Lallor tried to capture the team, having been tricked by Dr. Marden King into thinking they were super-villains. Duplicate Boy tracked here there and confessed his love for her, eventually surrendering at her behest when the full Legion arrived and tried to capture him (ADV 324).
Page 17 panel 2: Talus has been seen twice before: it’s an artificial asteroid made up of the wrecks of junked spaceships, where Uli Algor tried to destroy the Legion. (ACT 386) It was later a temporary base for some Resource Raiders. (SBOY 226).
Page 17 panel 2: Erkenhom is a barren planet with a mountaintop sorcerer’s tower where Superboy and Bouncing Boy tracked down Celebrand (ADV 375)
Page 21 panel 5: several days have passed while they were in the Realm of Darkness.
Page 21 panel 6: Tenzil want a funeral, nothing fancy, “just one like old King Tut” (a line from the 1977 song of the same name by Steve Martin)
Page 21 panel 7: Porcupine Pete and Arm-Fall-Off Boy mentioned. Pete hasn’t been seen since ~~the crowd scene in~~ LSH 300 the Subs Special, while AFOBoy was last seen in Secret Origins 46 (the origin of the Legion HQ).
Page 22 panel 3: Brek surprisingly decides to stay behind on Tartarus with Evillo and Eve Aries in order to train his daughters Styx and Stiletta how to become super-heroes.
Page 23: Tenzil was declared dead and his seat vacated, filled by Calorie Queen. Tenzil heads to Winath where the rest of the Legionnaires are.
Omnicom: Dated 12/27/95, shortly after Garth, Cham, and Rokk survey Talus

The survey was probably 2 days before the report (Christmas day 2994), and we saw Tenzil return from the Realm of Darkness in between the survey and the report, so that would be about 12/26. Tenzil was gone for a while in order to be declared dead, so let’s figure about 10 days, making the opening scene about 12/16/94 at the Ranchito Mobile Lodge (Tenzil and Brek were last seen on 12/11 on the space station above Gnogg)
The article mentions that Talus would be in a Lagrangian point. This is a real thing! A Lagrange point is a location in space where the combined gravitational forces of two large bodies, such as Earth and the sun or Earth and the moon, equal the centrifugal force felt by a much smaller third body. Basically, it's a place where all the gravitational forces cancel out and if you put something there, it will stay there (see the explanation here) - so that means that Talus is at the L4 or L5 Lagrange point of the system.

Here's what we know of the timeline to date. I'm color coding them based on whether the date appeared in the 2995 Sourcebook (yellow), it's a confirmed date that was given in the comic (green), or an estimated date based on keeping track of events and days (blue). Bold text is something new added this issue.

2/17/89 – Mekt admitted to Labyrinth Penal Institute (LSH v4 #10)
6/23/89 – Magic Wars end (LSH v3 #63 – date as given in the 2995 Sourcebook)
4/13/90 – Communique from Earthgov President Wellington, trying to legally disband the Legion, with Imra, Rokk, and Cham “currently out of the picture” (LSH v4 #1)
April 2990 – Validus Plague ravages Winath; former Legionnaire Brainiac 5 helps (LSH v4 #3)
TBD 2990 – Earthgov secedes from the United Planets, and the Science Police Earth splits from the Science Police Proper. (LSH v4 #2). Since then, “resistance forces have opposed Earthgov since the introduction of repressive measures… but with little success to date.” (LSH v4 #13)
4/12/91 – Tinya goes missing (LSH v4 #2)
5/8/91 – Search for Tinya called off; Sun Boy is leader (LSH v4 #2)
5/27/91 – Mekt released from Labyrinth, rehabilitated (LSH v4 #10)
6/9/91 – Planned date of wedding of Tinya and Jo (LSH v4 #2)
TBD 2991 – Garth and Imra, having left the Legion, start the Lightning Ring Plantation (LSH v4 #3)
1/21/92 – Rebirth Summit (LSH v4 #1)
7/6/92 – LSH leader Polar Boy disbands the Legion, mentions Black Dawn which “cost” the Legion (LSH v4 #1); Mordru coronated as the Supreme Teacher of Sorceror’s World (LSH v4 #6)
TBD 2992 – Brek Bannin arrested for insurrection (LSH v4 #11)
10/22/94 – Raid on anti-government terrorists, but ringleader Vidar (aka Universo) is not captured; Cham tells Marla he’s leaving (LSH v4 #1)
10/23/94 – Cham begins to recruit members for the new Legion, first approaching Rokk; Vi leaves the Imsk army for Winath; Dominator agents help Roxxas escape from Labyrinth (LSH v4 #1)
10/25/94 – Attack on Jo and Kono on Rimbor; Loomis and Lydda en route to Kathoon (LSH v4 #2)
Fri 11/21/94 – Blok is killed by Roxxas the Butcher [Sourcebook] (LSH v4 #3)
Thu 11/27/94 – Mordru crushes Rond Vidar’s ring; Rokk and Cham finally meet up with Jo and decide to go to Tharn to rescue Mysa; Dominators and Shvaughn Erin watch the tape of Roxxas and Blok, whose body is delivered to Winath; Mon-El resurrected (LSH v4 #3)
Fri 11/28/94 – Mon-El goes to Talok VIII, then Shadow Lass and Mon-El visit Brainiac 5, then Mon-El destroys the Time Trapper (LSH v4 #4)
Sat 11/29/94 – Mordruverse (LSH v4 #5)
Sat 11/29/94 – Cham, Rokk, Jo, Kono, and Furball arrive on Tharn and are captured by Mordru; after being hired by Earthgov to find Blok’s killer, Celeste, Devlin, and Bounty leave for Trom (LSH v4 #6)
Sun 11/30/94 – Celeste, Devlin, and Bounty meet Jan on Trom (LSH v4 #6); with the help of Laurel Gand, Rokk’s crew rescues Mysa and Rond from Mordru but are teleported to Grocz; Celeste, Devlin, Bounty, and Jan leave Trom for Winath (LSH v4 #7)
Mon 12/1/94 – Rokk, Cham, Jo, Kono, Furball, Rond, Laurel, and Mysa travel from Grocz to Zirr (LSH v4 #8)
Tues 12/2/94 – Rokk, Laurel, and Rond take some R&R time on Zirr with baby Lauren, while the others go to Winath; Marla reminisces (LSH v4 #8); on Cygnus IV, Roxxas watches a holo of Laurel Gand; Celeste, Devlin, Bounty, and Jan arrive on Winath (LSH v4 #9)
Wed 12/3/94 – Rokk and Rond arrive in the morning, having left Laurel behind on Zirr; everyone (Rokk, Rond; Cham, Jo, Kono, Furball, Mysa; Celeste, Devlin, Bounty, Jan; Brainy, Garth, Ayla, Vi, Imra) is on Winath when Roxxas attacks; Bounty, Mekt, Cham, and Celeste are seriously injured, while Jo disappears and is presumed dead; Earthgov linked to Roxxas; Tenzil arrives on Earth (LSH v4 #10)
Thu 12/4/94 – On Winath, Roxxas is on the loose, and kills a doctor and nurse in the Bloomfield Free Clinic. On Earth, Tenzil participates in the Batcave dig, meets with Shvaughn and Brek (who is released for the first time since incarceration 2 years prior), has dinner with Prosecutor Jakobi, then falls asleep. (LSH v4 #11)
Fri 12/5/94 – Tenzil and Brek in court; Holo Scene news article on the trial (LSH v4 #11); Celeste is healed by a green glow; the former Legionnaires team up to capture Roxxas, who reveals Dominion control of Earthgov (LSH v4 #12)
Wed 12/10/94 – All-points bulletin on Persuader, who meets Kent Shakespeare in on Quarantine trying to attack Char Burrane Jr. (LSH v4 #12) Persuader is defeated by Kent and SP Captain Gim Allon, who then takes Kent to Toonar. (LSH v4 #13)
Thu 12/11/94 – Kent leaves Toonar for Winath; Laurel fights Khunds in deep space; Tenzil and Brek on Gnogg. (LSH v4 #13)
Sun 12/14/94 – The Legion is formally reinstated
Mon 12/16/94 – Tenzil, Brek, and Calorie Queen are taken to Tartarus by Prince Evillo; Tenzil banished to the Realm of Darkness
Thu 12/25/94 – Garth, Cham, and Rokk remotely survey Talus
Fri 12/26/94 – Tenzil and Sugyn return from the Realm of Darkness, only to hear that Tenzil has been declared dead and his Senate seat vacated.
Sat 12/27/94 – Loomis writes his report on Talus’ suitability for being the new HQ; Tenzil leaves Brek behind on Tartarus and heads for Winath
Sun 12/28/94 – The reformed Legion establishes headquarters on the asteroid world of Talus
April 2995 – Imra & Garth’s twins due (LSH v4 #3)

Unknown dates:

Black Dawn: something big and bad happened. Polar Boy says “you know what that cost us”. Sun Boy was a previous leader. By the time it happened, Chameleon Boy had left the Legion and “watched everything fall to pieces” (LSH v4 #1). Timber Wolf was irradiated during Black Dawn, eventually turning him into Furball. Char Burrane (Starfinger II) was somehow involved. (LSH v4 #12)
Rokk and Loomis are injured at Venado Bay on the Braal side, and Rokk lost his powers. Salu was somehow involved on the Imsk side. Imsk won, as the army is occupying Braal. (LSH v4 #1) She says that Braal attacked Imsk, and they were just defending themselves. She was head of security on the damper project and knew what it would do, but fought against it (not hard enough, in her admission). (LSH v4 #10)
Kent Shakespeare and Gim Allon are both ex-Legionnaires, but it’s unknown when or under what circumstances they left. (LSH v4 #12)

Saturday, September 14, 2019

When does the Bronze Age end for the Legion?

The end of the Silver Age for the Legion is pretty clear and convincing – it’s when they moved out of Action Comics (issue 392, Sept 1970) under original series editor Mort Weisinger, and into the backup of Superboy (issue 172, March 1971) under new Superman office editor Murray Boltinoff. Archives #9 ends with Action 392, as does the upcoming Silver Age Omnibus vol. 3.

The end of the Bronze Age for DC is generally – but not universally – agreed to be Crisis on Infinite Earths, which ended in issue 12, cover-dated March 1986. That would suggest that the Bronze Age for the Legion ended with the final Crisis crossover, LSH v3 #18 cover dated Jan. 1986 (recall that the last two issues of Crisis only featured then-current day characters, so the Legion didn’t appear). But in discussions elsewhere, others have made other starting-point arguments, so I’ll throw it to the hivemind to debate.

Some have given the end of the Bronze Age as early as LSH v2 #282, primarily because Paul Levitz came on to the series with issue 283 as the main writer (and Giffen came a few issues later). But while tonally the Legion moved forward into the Modern Age at that time, that’s pretty early, it was cover-dated Jan. 1982, a full four years before Crisis.

Another popular choice is LSH v3 #1, the Baxter series, as kicking off the Modern Age, which is closer in time, cover-dated Aug. 1984, but still well pre-Crisis. On the other hand, another popular choice is LSH v3 #37, the start of the Pocket Universe Superboy story arc, in Aug. 1987, but that’s a year and a half post-Crisis and already a year into the John Byrne Superman reboot.

Although there’s nothing really thematically different about the Legion in the immediate aftermath of Crisis (between issue 19 and 37), it’s hard to point to something specific and say “this is where the breakpoint is”, so we're going to have to be arbitrary and just pick something.

So I’ll go with LSH v3 #18 as the end of the Bronze Age of the Legion. Convince me otherwise, with these or other issues.

Monday, September 09, 2019

LSH v4 Annual #1 annotations: "Charade"

Annotations for Legion of Super-Heroes v4 Annual #1

On sale date: 7/24/90, in between issues 11 and 12
It's OK, I'm a Senator: Tom Bierbaum didn't do a writeup for this issue, but he did comment in other places (which I'll excerpt below after the annotations)
Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 569 (September 9, 2019)
Timeline: 2960 when Jo is 1-2 years old, to May 2991 when Tinya goes missing

It’s a big retcon issue, we see lots of events happening differently than how they did when the Time Trapper was around instead of Glorith

Cover by Adam Hughes and Al Gordon. This is Adam's first art on the Legion, he'll be back in a few years when he pencils a few issues of Legionnaires in 1993.
Page 1: The Great Darkness Saga still happened (just ended slightly differently), per the revised timeline in February 2984. The Magic Wars ended in June 2989, with the Great Collapse coming later that fall. The 2995 Sourcebook says that on January 1, 2988, “Glorith of Baaldur destroys Daxam. A small group of Legionnaires begins planning a retaliatory attack against Glorith.” (which is the retcon of the Conspiracy storyline)
Page 4: Ultra Boy knows something about Lar Gand and Glorith
Page 5: Laurel Gand is now the 5th member of the Conspiracy (previously, there had been only four). Instead of facing Time Trapper on his turf, they face Glorith on hers. (LSH v3 #50)
Page 6 panel 6: in the 5YL timeline, Lu still lost the second of her three bodies
Page 7: Valor is hurt by Glorith instead of Time Trapper
Page 8: Jo looks like he’s between 1 and 2 years old, putting this scene in 2960 (he was born 2/21/59)
Page 11: An Ryd, last seen alive in SLSH #239.
Page 13 panel 1: Muntz Hall (for the fan formerly known as Michelle Muntz)
Page 13 panel 3: Leeta-87 is from a memorial on Shanghalla. Her monument reads “Singlehandedly, she defeated innumerable super-villains, but one day slipped on a banyo-peel, fracturing her skull, an ironic end to an illustrious career!” As seen in ADV 341.
Page 14 panel 6: Imskian dragon-hunters were mentioned in SLSH 234, space dragons have eaten Imskian rocks and absorbed their energies, which Imskians need to shrink, so hunters go to harvest dragon scales
Page 15: the origin of Ultra Boy! He was going out to rescue An Ryd, but got eaten by an ultra-energy beast that was hanging around with the Imskian space dragons.
Page 17: Sugyn was one of Evillo’s Devil’s Dozen (ADV 350), who has a magical horn that is capable of draining any source of water dry. Per Who’s Who in the LSH, “After mistaking the non-powered Bouncing Boy’s ring-based flight for a natural super-power, Sugyn brought him back to Prince Evillo, only to be banished to the realm of Darkness for his stupidity.”
Page 18: Jo helps Phantom Girl defeat Sugyn, which leads to his Legion tryout (as seen in SBOY 98). But his competition is Reflecto, who is now a real person. [Note: see IOKIAS excerpt below, where Tom Bierbaum tells me the secret origin of Reflecto!]
Page 19 panel 3: We saw in the Marla issue that he had that “T” logo for a long time before this, so it appears that Jo (for some reason) modeled his costume and logo after Marla’s, as they look like twinsies here. [Note: see comment below, where I asked Tom Bierbaum about this.] Based on the Legionnaires who are already there, it appears as if Ultra Boy has the same joining order in the Glorithverse as he did in the Silver Age (all of them joined before he did).
Page 19 panel 6: Instead of going back to find Superboy’s secret identity as his initiation task, he has to figure out what happened to Lar Gand (basically, what replaced him going into the Phantom Zone?).
Page 20: on their way back through the time stream, they hit a speed bump which is due to Glorith
Page 22: by the 20th century, Rimbor was a dead planet. It was obviously rebuilt sometime over the next millennium.
Page 23 panel 3: Dominators wanted to establish secret bases on Earth in order to prepare for an invasion (prior to the “Invasion!” miniseries, and a millennium before they did it in the 30th century), obsessed with the Power Gene (as we’d see in Invasion).
Page 24: Reflecto passed the initiation test, but didn't join (until some time in the Five Year Gap)
Page 26: Jo am smart! He could tell that he was bumped out of the time stream at just the right moment to help Valor learn about the Dominator plot, as if they had been manipulated there. And Marla references hearing about the Durlan’s appearance back in 2949.
Page 27: Jo figures out that the 2949 incident needs a counterbalancing event, but it’s still floating perpetually 30 days in the future (the Iron Curtain of Time, originally seen in ADV 317)
Page 28: Jo is smarter than Brainiac 5! He figures out that it was Brande that came through from the 20th century into 2949.
Page 31: Jo is smartest of all! He’s the only one who knows that Glorith’s plan involves Brande and Lar Gand.
Page 32: “A traitor within the Legion – Ultra Boy!” In ADV 316, Ultra Boy worked a ruse with Cosmic Boy to pretend Jo was a traitor in order to get in with an alien gang of bad guys. Tinya was the only one who believed him and stuck by him while everyone else thought he was guilty.
Page 35: an “in memoriam” statue of Lightning Lad, which doesn’t make sense because he was resurrected in ADV 312.
Page 36 panel 4: Artist error: Vi and Star Boy have their 1980s costumes here instead of their 1960s costumes.
Page 36 panel 5: Grykk is the planet on which Colossal Boy battled a giant who terrorized a city of normal-sized beings (ADV 301). Here, Ultra Boy entered a nonaggression pact with the Jaguar Court of Grykk even though they were allied with Mordru, thus preventing the Legion from facing Mordru before they were prepared to beat him.
Page 43: later, he baits Mordru into attacking Glorith before either of them were ready, to keep them occupied with each other
Page 44: Brainiac 5 finally figured it out, 16 pages after Jo did.
Page 47: a new explanation for the events of SLSH 239 (which was eventually chalked up to stress)
Page 49: a new explanation for Brainiac 5’s insanity and the creation of Omega (SLSH 250-251)
Page 50: back to the “present", Glorith finishes her deep dive into Ultra Boy’s history via Saturn Girl’s reading of his mind.
Page 51: Lar is recovering after the battle with Glorith, unlike the original battle with the Time Trapper in which he was fatally injured. Instead, Glorith merely kills the Eltro Gand entity inside of him, and he fully recovers.
Page 52: sometime February 2991 when Jo proposes (there was a rumor reported back in issue 2 that Tinya had had an affair with Thom prior to this)
Page 52 panel 6: Twyler mentioned (Tom says: Twyler I think is just an invented name, and sounds like it might have been inspired by the planet Twilo from my favorite “Dick Van Dyke” episode “It May Look Like a Walnut” (also saluted in Kent Shakespeare’s background as detailed on his “Who’s Who” page).)
Page 54: Tinya went missing 4/12/91, search called off 5/8/91. The Sourcebook says that Jo quit the Legion that day.

Excerpts from Tom Bierbaum's "It's OK, I'm a Senator" blog, since there's no one single source to go to for this issue.

From a discussion about Annual #3

I haven’t done a “Legion Lore” write-up about the earlier annuals, in large part because I think our first two annuals were two of our least-successful issues of the entire run. I’ve re-read them over the years and found a lot of good in them and have been pleased to find that they weren’t as bad as I'd feared, but I'm still not too interested in going over them in detail, at least at this time. (We were asked during the Legion 50th Anniversary Panel at San Diego what we regretted doing during our term. Paul Levitz mentioned his Rejuvium story that said all the Legionnaires were still “Kids” and “Lasses” because they were being kept younger by Rejuvium. I’m forgetting the other panelist’s answers but I mentioned those first two annuals, where we tried to do things that were probably beyond our skills at that time.)

From a discussion about Jo Nah:

Keith was moving in a different direction with Jo as his series picked up after the five-year gap, turning U-Boy into a clever, successful smuggler. So Keith’s Jo was kind of a pirate and, while not an intellectual by any stretch, a formidable, savvy individual.

That set the stage for our Ultra Boy annual, which initially was intended to be the first issue of a spin-off series Keith wanted to do that would be a series of spotlight stories that would lay in the background of each Legionnaire. The idea was that this series of origins could introduce new readers to the background of each of the key Legionnaires without bogging down the storyline of the main Legion title. Keith wanted us (and other writers) to come up with cool new stories that would give new readers the necessary origin details while creating some new context and plot twists to excite the long-time fans.

I think Keith may have suggested we start with Jo and as I considered ways we could surprise readers with his story, it started me thinking about ways to show he was more formidable than people gave him credit for. That melded with an idea I’d been kicking around since the start of the Stargrave storyline back in the 1970s that maybe the Legion was a necessary creation to maintain a stalemate / balance between the supremely powered villains Mordru and the Time Trapper (Shooter started the Stargrave story with that new villain recruiting the Legion to team up with him to stop Mordru from conquering the universe).

Mary and I came up with a pretty cool idea for streetwise Jo, who’d shown in the past a natural gift for acting (convincing the Legion in Adventure #316 that he had a criminal record). We had him stumble across the Time Trapper’s machinations to create the Legion (to battle and weaken the immensely powerful Mordru, opening the way for the Trapper to finish off Mordru and move on to conquer the universe). Jo covertly and cleverly sabotages the Time Trapper's schemes, but knows all too well that the Trapper can view events from the past, present and future, so can easily discover at any time that Jo was the one who ruined the TT's schemes. U-Boy had to find a way to permanently push suspicion away from himself so he set about acting consistently like he was perhaps the least likely Legionnaire to have the brains and savvy to deduce and wreck the Trapper’s machinations.

Keith and then-editor Mark Waid loved the story idea but realized it was too complicated to cram into one issue and said to plot it as the first double-sized annual of Keith’s Legion run. We felt like it was shaping up to be a real barn-burner of a story, but then major complications set in. The edict came down to no longer use any elements of the Superboy/Superman mythos in the Legion and to deal with that, our team decided to alter the timeline to take out those Kryptonian elements. The story that accomplished that eliminated the existence of the Time Trapper and replaced him with Glorith. It also eliminated Superboy and replaced him with Valor. These changes altered some key pieces to our Ultra Boy origin, but there were ways to put it back together with the new pieces of Glorith and Valor and I think we managed to still pull off an OK comic -- great plot, but uneven work on the script and art. We didn't really have the skills yet to pull off the story the way it could have been done, but it was such a good story, I'm glad we stuck to our guns and did it.

From a discussion about issue 2 (in which it was revealed that Tinya had apparently died):

The apparent death of Tinya (Phantom Girl) that was revealed in issue 1 was planned all along to be a switch of her and the R.J. Brande Durlan in L.E.G.I.O.N., though I don't think Keith had a real plan for why the two of them would switch places. That's one of the reasons we worked so hard to preserve the Ultra Boy story in our first Legion annual -- it explained pretty nicely why those two particular characters were switched in time. Tinya was taken away to punish Jo for frustrating the plans of Glorith and Brande was brought into the future by Glorith to assemble the Legion of Super-Heroes as a counter-balance that would weaken Mordru and stop his otherwise inevitable ascension to galactic dominance.

From a discussion about Tinya:

The whole story of Jo and the Time Trapper, though, landed in the dustbin when we were told not to make any further use of any Superboy mythos or the Pocket Universe. Keith strongly advised us to just forget about the story and chalk it up as a learning experience, but we couldn't let go of it, and instead proposed that we piece it all together with the revised timeline (by having Glorith replace the Time Trapper, Valor replace Superboy, etc.) and got the story done in that form. I'm prone to thinking it was a mistake, that by the time we had to make all those changes, the story lost something and became that much more complicated and confusing. Certainly that Jo/Glorith annual doesn't rank as one of our shining moments on the Legion.

It's hard to say, though. I think if we could have given the artist the time to really draw the story right, and if we'd scripted it a little less ambitiously (using very conventional scripting to communicate the challenging, complicated story), this one could have been a real doozy. And for anyone who had any real appreciation or understanding of the events of #4-5, (the death of the Trapper, destruction of the Pocket Universe, the return of the Mordru timeline and creation of the Glorith timeline), this story provided a lot of important detail and background.

Tom discusses the Reflecto saga:

I was pretty dissatisfied with the Reflecto saga back when I read it in the 1980s because it never really added up to me why these events would have produced a Reflecto statue in the Hall of Dead Legionnaires and why Ultra Boy ever assumed that identity in the first place.

So we took it upon ourselves to build on that established story with the hopes of making it fit a little better. Our thinking was to establish that prior to Jo Nah gaining his Ultra Boy powers, there was a planetary champion on his world who was the real Reflecto. Ultra Boy would have naturally idolized him to some degree in his youth, making it seem natural to the readers, we hope, that during the Reflecto saga, an amnesiac Ultra Boy might in his confused state take on the identity of his one-time idol.

I guess we established in the Ultra Boy annual, in fact, that Ultra Boy and Reflecto had a contest to see who could earn membership into the Legion, and at that time we established that Jo considered Reflecto one of his personal heroes. And we also listed in one or two places (including the “Legion: 2995” Mayfair Sourcebook) that the real Reflecto joined the Legion during the five-year gap and actually ended up being killed by the Molecule Master during that period (as part of the build-up to the never-told saga of “Black Dawn”). So in our minds, there’s now a logical reason why the addled Ultra Boy assumed the Reflecto personality and why there’s a statue in the Adult Legion’s Hall of Dead Heroes that depicts Reflecto as a Legion member who'd been killed by the Molecule Master.

By the way, Reflecto’s civilian name, “Stig Ah,” is kind of an inside joke with our friend John Moore (who’s written lots of comics, especially at Marvel, and was the asst. story editor on the “Flash” TV show under the name John Francis Moore). Like me, John was a fan of the Beatles-spoof TV Movie “The Rutles” that Monty Python's Eric Idle did in the 1970s. And one of the members of the Rutles was their version of George Harrison, Stig O’Hara. And in their spoof version of “I Am the Walrus,” called “Piggie in the Middle,” there’s are a few spoken lyrics played backwards during the song that begin “Stig Ah…” and continue with some nonsensical syllables. John told us that before we knew him, he and a friend who was also Rutles fan created the “Stig Ah” society based on that snippet in “Piggie in the Middle.” Ever since John mentioned that to us in the early 1980s, “Stig Ah” stuck in my mind as a phrase that sounded like a Rimborian name (similar to Ultra Boy’s Jo Nah). So when we eventually got the chance to work on the Legion, it was fun to make use of that "Stig Ah" name for Reflecto. Like most of my in-jokes, my hope was that all Legion readers in the world who were not John Moore or myself would just accept Stig Ah as a typical , perfectly normal Rimborian name, while John and I would enjoy the inside reference.

A couple weeks before we recorded this, I asked Tom on Facebook some questions, and he was kind enough to reply.

Did Laurel Gand have a Legion code name? I don't seem to recall one, which seems to me kind of odd given that she went into hiding on Earth in the first place to escape the Khunds.

No, Laurel Gand in her earlier Legion incarnation probably just went by “Laurel Gand” in the same way Laurel Kent was completely identifiable without a further code name, or sort of like Mon-El not needing a more descriptive code name than the Kryptonian “civilian” name Superboy game him, or as if someone were “Laurel Washington” and well known as a descendant of George Washington. I think the assumption was she went into hiding as an orphan of about 12 years old but as she grew toward adulthood and opted to pursue full Legion membership, there’d have been no point in trying to hide her identity (which most likely would have been deduced in the intervening years by Khundish espionage anyway).

Earlier, you showed that Marla had worn his “T” symbol for years before we saw him with Jo. Did you have a backstory explaining why Jo’s and Marla’s costumes were nearly identical?

I don’t think we ever came up with a specific explanation for Marla’s symbol but wanted to in general establish there was some kind of tradition upon which Ultra Boy’s similar uniform was based. I think I vaguely envisioned that Marla was part of some benevolent group that worked to provide opportunities to disadvantaged kids like a reforming Rimborian gang member. And at that point, I was probably reluctant to impose a detailed and binding explanation for a key element of a really classic Curt Swan-drawn story from the group’s early days and so instead just subtly suggested a general explanation.

Numerous places in your blog posting, you denigrate your work on this Annual - for example, "I think we managed to still pull off an OK comic -- great plot, but uneven work on the script and art. We didn't really have the skills yet to pull off the story the way it could have been done, but it was such a good story." In hindsight, what do you think didn't work as well as you had hoped?

I’m pleased to say a lot of fans over the years have come forward with praise for our stories in Annual #1 and Annual #2, demonstrating that what we were trying to do actually did get communicated pretty effectively for some readers, so I’ve largely re-evaluated the job we did and am increasingly happy with it. My misgivings with Annual #1 mostly involved the detached “voices” we used to “narrate” the story, which I’ve always feared was confusing for readers who might have had trouble figuring out who was supposed to be speaking and what was happening in terms of the passage of time. And not the fault of anyone, but I think the artists on those annuals had a truly daunting challenge to meet trying to pencil those really lengthy and really complicated stories on tough deadlines, and I don’t think there was anything we could have done differently to address that, but we were really asking a lot of our art teams.

Saturday, September 07, 2019

Legion creators speak out (in 1996)

This hasn't seen the light of day since it was compiled in 1996. Back in the olden days of the mid to late 90s, I was one of the FAQ-keepers for the rec.arts.comics.dc.lsh Usenet newsgroup. In addition to the FAQ, we thought it would be both interesting and humorous (see question #4 for our attempt) to present a set of standard questions to various Legion creators and then compile their answers. At various conventions and via email between April to August 1996, we got 15 people to answer our questionnaire, from Curt Swan and Jim Shooter to Mark Waid and Jeff Moy (I don't recall who never replied). I don't believe that we ever actually published this in the newsgroup, but I've been copying it from from one computer to the next over the last 23 years. Responses are listed by creator in alphabetical order of last name.

Our standard questionnaire:

What do you do on the Legion books?
How long have you been working on the Legion books?
What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
What's your shoe size?
Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brushstroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?

The Legion Creators Speak Out

We asked a number people who've worked on any of the Legion titles, past and present, a few questions about the Legion and themselves. Here's what they had to say. (Note: all answers are presented as they were given to us, typos and all.)

                             Years worked on LSH books
                        5 6         7         8         9
                        890123456789012345678901234567890123456
Ron Boyd                --.----.----.----.----.----.----.-23456
Pat Brosseau            --.----.----.----.----.----.----.-23456
Cory Carani             --.----.----.----.----.----.----.---456
Reuben Diaz             --.----.----.----.----.----.----.----.6
Colleen Doran           --.----.----.----.----.----.----.--34.-
Barbara (Randall) Kesel --.----.----.----.----.----.--8-.----.-
Karl Kesel              --.----.----.----.----.---456---.----.-
Paul Levitz             --.----.----.----567890123456789.----.-
Steve Lightle           --.----.----.----.----.--3456789.----.-
Tom McCraw              --.----.----.----.----.----.---90123456
Jeff Moy                --.----.----.----.----.----.----.---456 
Tom Peyer               --.----.----.----.----.----.----.---456 
Jim Shooter             --.----.67890----56---.----.----.----.- 
Curt Swan               89012345678-.----.----.----.----.----.- 
Mark Waid               --.----.----.----.----.----.-789.--345-

[2019 note: you were supposed to be able to click on the name above which would jump you to the anchor next to the name below, but Blogger doesn't let you do that. So no hyperlinking or jumping around, sorry!]

Ron Boyd
Date: 4/24/96

The Questions:

1. What do you do on the Legion books?
I am the inker on the Legion of Superheroes. Though it is a much maligned role, I feel that my contribution to the book has been quite large, through cohesion of creators to keeping the book on deadline.

2. How long have you been working on the Legion books?
I am currently working on issue 84, which is my 47th issue of the Legion. I started on issue 39, inking the cover, and have had a hand in every book since, including annuals, Legionairres #'s 0 and 19, and an upcoming story that I have written, and I will ink, in Showcase #9.

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
I really liked the story-line just prior to Zero hour. I enjoyed the idea of these galactic do-gooders being outside the law, and fighting to get back in. Aside from that, I think my fave spot has to be issue 48, cause my wife appeared in a cameo role as the purple doctor on the second-last page. (She's really a doctor. She's not really purple)

4. What's your shoe size?
10.

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Shrinking Violet and Cosmic Boy. I can't choose. I also like Ultra-boy...heck...I just love 'em all!!!

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
Uh....Personality....I would have to guess Cos, with a bit of Ultra tossed in. I tend to be a little altruistic, but I have some healthy cynicism to balance me out. As far as a physical resemblance --- I don't think any of them apply. I am 31 years old, not in great shape, and am losing hair, and currently sport a goatee...not exactly the taught clean good looks of the youthful legionairres!

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brushstroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
Not really anything concise, but I would like to say that I have a lot of love for comics, and a growing fondness for the Legion. This book has been very good to me, and I am happy to contribute a small part to the legend. I just hope that all the fans can enjoy what we do, and forgive us for the liberties we take with these characters. Our main goal is to tell stories that somehow entertain you, and hopefully, along the way, we can use these stories to tell you all something about ourselves.

Pat Brosseau
Date: 5/30/96

The Questions:

1. What do you do on the Legion books?
The Lettering

2. How long have you been working on the Legion books?
On Legionnaires since #1, on LSH since #70.

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
Legionnaires # 7. Nice artwork. A lotta fun to letter. Fun story.

4. What's your shoe size?
Size 8.

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Gates, cause he's such a smart-ass.

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
Ultra Boy.

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brushstroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
Hope you all keep buying the book and my Lettering is as important to you as the writing and artwork.

Cory Carani
Date: 5/24/96

The Questions:

1. What do you do on the Legion books?
I am the inker on The Legionnaires!

2. How long have you been working on the Legion books?
I have been working on The Legionnaires since issue #21!

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
I think my all time favorite Legion story has nothing to do so much with the story! I really like issue #7 of The Legionnaires "Devil in the Deep". Its a fill in issue by Adam Hughes with Mark Farmer on inks. It looks great and is just plain fun! (I respond more to visual than to written - flakey artists - Go figure!) I am partial, also, to the first appearance of Supergirl with the Legion. Martian ice-cream? Nine flavors - From nine different planets no less! C'mon, that'd be like living in space or something! Too much fun!

4. What's your shoe size?
My shoe size is eleven and a half.

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
My favorite Legionnaire is Ayla...or maybe Jenni Ognats...Or maybe Luornu...Hmmm... Violet?...Zoe?No, purple Triad...Nah...Andromeda...Or...

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
I probably most resemble Matter-Eater Lad or Leviathan.

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brushstroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
I'd like to personally thank all of the Legion fans for their support! You all make it one of the best books to be a part of...And one of the most fun! I'm proud to be there every month working on something I really like. Ecstatic when you all like it too. Your feedback is the best. Keep us on our toes!

Reuben Diaz
Date: 4/17/96

I'm still pretty new to this, so I'll try to answer as best I can.

The Questions:

1. What do you do on the Legion books?
As the associate editor, well, besides associating with the editor, I arrange for burly men in rolled up tee-shirts to break non-essential body parts of freelancers who are late turning in assignments. Except for Lee Moder, who I dress in a bonnet and diapers and make him do the hokey-poker in front of the local High School <g>. That and making sure Brainiac is the right shade of green. (Ask Tom if you really want to know what it is.)

2. How long have you been working on the Legion books?
Work is a completely subjective term.

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
"Light and Darkness War" -- 'natch. Although the one where Timberwolf has to go claim Karate Kid's inheritance was pretty swift.

4. What's your shoe size?
Depends if we're talking sneakers, shoes, or bunny slippers.

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
I have 3 -- Timberwolf, Karate Kid, and Wildfire.

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
Polar boy, for reasons to personal and embarrassing to discuss in public.

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brushstroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
Well, it's nice to be working with a fine group of creators, most of whom I've worked with before on various projects in the last four years. "Lee, do the 'Mr. Plow' song one more time -- for old times sake." Hopefully I can bring a fresh perspective on the 30th century and help foster the continued, long-standing success of one of comicdom's most popular super-teams.

Colleen Doran
Date: 6/27/96

The Questions:

1. What did you do on the Legion books?
Valor, Legion of S, Legionnaires, fillins, pinups in who's who

2. How long did you work on the Legion books?
Valor - 1 year Legion - ?

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
Murder Most Foul [ed. note: Superboy and the Legion #239]

4. What's your shoe size?
6 1/2 W

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Element Lad

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
Shvaugn Erin [ed. note: she crossed out the word "Legionnaire" in the question.]

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brushstroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
I love you, madly!

Barbara (Randall) Kesel
Date: 7/22/96

The Questions:

1. What did you do on the Legion books?
I wrote all but the final issue of "Who's Who in the Legion" and shared an office with Mark Waid while he was editor of the book. I've recently written a solo Ultra Boy story (inventory) that Matt Haley is drawing. It'll show up sometime in the future.

2. How long did you work on the Legion books?
The Who's Who took six months to nine months, also the U.B. story. (It was my back-burner project.)
3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
The Fatal Five story where Dream Girl fills in when Ultra Boy's knocked out.

4. What's your shoe size?
7D

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Phantom Girl

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
Physically -- probably Shrinking Violet (change hair to red-brown) for purposes of height. Personality -- probably Saturn Girl

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brushstroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
I always liked the Legion because they were so often written as KIDS instead of 19-year-old 40-year-olds, and because the mood stressed hope (well, in those pre-Giffen days) rather than misery. Down with gloom and doom comics! PLUS -- and most important: the girls had powers and did something with them other than hang on the heroes' arms or needing to be rescued all the time! SHOCK -- There was always MORE than ONE girl and they had DIFFERENT personalities -- almost as though they were human beings! Hey -- I'm reading Karl's answers -- he stole my "hope" line. That's always been MY observation. Sigh! MEN!

Karl Kesel
Date: 7/22/96

The Questions:

1. What did you do on the Legion books?
Inked the "Tales of the Legion" run back in '84. Plus an issue, story, or couple of pages here & there. Also inked "Legionnaires 3" mini-series & "Legion of Subs" one-shot.

2. How long did you work on the Legion books?
A little over a year

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
"Great Darkness Saga"

4. What's your shoe size?
10-1/2 triple "E"

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Probably Bouncing Boy... Altho' I'm very fond of the current take on Brainiac 5. Also really liked Elasti-Lad and Insect Queen.

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
Maybe Cosmic Boy, if he was REALLY out of shape and had brown hair. He's the closest personality-wise, I think. [Altho' Bouncing Boy is closer all around...]

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brushstroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
I think the Legion is one of those basic, instinctively appealing concepts -- tons of super-powered kids! It's also a HOPEFUL series at it's core -- something I find is lacking in all too many comics.

Paul Levitz
Date: 8/9/96

The Questions:

1. What did you do on the Legion books?

1975

Karate Kid #1-2 (#2 in collaboration)

1976-1978 (regular writer on strip)

Superboy & The Legion #225, 226, 228-231, 233, 235-247, 250-251 (some stories in collaboration)
All-New Collectors' Edition/Legion
DC Special #28
Justice League #147-148 (in collaboration)

1979

DC Comics Presents #13-14
Super-Star Holiday

1981-1989 (regular writer on strip)

Legion of Super-Heroes #281-282 (in collaboration), 284-313, Annual #1-3
Legion #1-63, Annual #1-4
Tales of the Legion #314-325 (some stories in collaboration)
Legion of Substitute Heroes Special (in collaboration)
DC Comics Presents #43, 59 (in collaboration)
Cosmic Boy #1-4

Text pages, misc.:

Legion: Great Darkness introduction
History of the DC Universe Legion piece
Karate Kid #1-7
Legion of Substitute Heroes Special
Legion #281-282, 284-293, 295-325, Annual #1-3
Legion #1-63, Annual #1-4
All-New Collectors Edition/Legion
Superboy/Legion #225-245, 247-250, 252-255
Texts for digests chronologically reprinting Legion stories

Various desk jobs: 1974-on

2. How long did you work on the Legion books?
As above, 1974 to now.

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
"Ghost of Ferro Lad"

4. What's your shoe size?
6 1/2 E

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Varied over the years; as a kid, Timber Wolf and Element Lad

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
Beats me.

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brushstroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
Thanks for paying my mortgage for years. It was a hoot to get to write a strip I loved as a kid. And thanks for the fan mail--it was always one of the best parts of the deal.

Steve Lightle
Date: 5/19/96

1. What did you do on the Legion books?
Stuff and lots of it.

2. How long did you work on the Legion books?
Off and on between '83 and '89.

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
I remember a great storyline that had the Legion hunted by the Science Police. My strongest memory of this story is of seeing Legionnaires gathered in the sewers of Metropolis, avoiding detection and planning their triumphant return. This was a story from the late '60's, although a '90's analogy does exist.

4. What's your shoe size?
I hear that there is a direct corrolation between a man's shoe size and his creative powers.

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Karate Kid (60's) Mon-El (70's) Timber Wolf ('80's) Allegra ('90's)

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
[no answer given]

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brush stroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
Curt Swan: I want to thank you for always being an inspiration.
Dave Cockrum: Your creative energy was contagious.
Paul Levitz: I'll never forget your generosity. Our collaboration is one the highpoints in my career.
Karen Berger: God bless you.
Mark Waid: You owe me.

Tom McCraw
Date: 4/24/96

The Questions:

1. What do you do on the Legion books?
Co-plot and color both LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and LEGIONNAIRES.

2. How long have you been working on the Legion books?
Since June 1989. I started coloring LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES vol. 4 #1.

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
That's a tough one, there are so many that come to surface in my mind when I think of the Legion. To make it easier on me I'll answer by making up categories: Multiple part saga: "Great Darkness" from LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES vol. 2 #290-294. Origin Story: The Unique Properties of Condo Arlik in SECRET ORIGINS #47 and for favorite single issue LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES vol. 3 #38 "The Greatest Hero of Them All!" Favorite cover is still the one on LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES vol. 2 #289 "A Cold and Lonely Corner of Hell."

4. What's your shoe size?
This is a trick question right? It's 9-1/2 anyway.

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Male: Invisible Kid. Female: Triad, but I really like all the members. They each have their own bit of charm that draws me to them.

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
Mark Waid says that I look like Cosmic Boy, but I think my personality is more like Lyle's.

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brush stroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
Just that the Legion means a lot to me. I always try to treat the characters with the respect that I would want from anyone else if they were working on the book.

Jeff Moy
Date: 4/27/96

The Questions:

1. What do you do on the Legion books?
I pencil the Legionnaires.

2. How long have you been working on the Legion books?
I've been working on Legionnaires and for DC for about 2 years.

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
Either the Computo story or the one with the introduction of Shadow Lass. Whatta babe.

4. What's your shoe size?
Depending on the day.... 9 to 9 1/2.

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Most of you guys already know this.... Its Spark! She's too cute for her own good.

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
Physically, I would say Dragonmage, for the simple reason, because hes Asian. But personality-wise I really don't know. I don't thinks the code allows for that type of persona. :)

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brushstroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
I'd like to thank everyone for this award...whoops wrong speech. Well, I would like to thank the many faithful readers who stuck with us thru the reboot and are finding out that they like it. It's you guys that really keep us on our toes! Tounges! Tounges for everybody! Thanks for making my mark in Legion history. :)

Tom Peyer
Date: 4/18/96

The Questions:

1. What do you do on the Legion books?
I write LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES.

2. How long have you been working on the Legion books?
Since the spring of '94, my time. Since LEGIONNAIRES #19, your time.

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
Computo the Conqueror!

4. What's your shoe size?
36-24-36.

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Brainy, because I can relate to his view that the universe exists mainly to keep him from getting his work done.

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
The Weirdo Legionnaire, both physically and personality-wise.

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brushstroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
Thanks for welcoming me into the Legion fold!

Jim Shooter
Date: 4/28/96

The Questions:

1. What did you do on the Legion books?
I wrote & drew layouts interiors & provided cover designs in color for Legion stories from '66 to '70 -- Also wrote full scripts for Legion storeis from '73 or '74 to '76.

2. How long did you work on the Legion books?
See above

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
The Fatal Five stories

4. What's your shoe size?
14C

5. Who's your favorite Legionnnaire?
Karate Kid

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
I don't look like any, but at least when I was writing the Legion, a lot of myself & my friends became invested in those characters.

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brushstroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
No.

Curt Swan
Date: 5/3/96

The Questions:

1. What did you do on the Legion books?
Pencilled the characters and created some of the visual appearances, the costumes.

2. How long did you work on the Legion books?
Between 3 and 10 years. [note: He was the regular cover artist beginning with Adventure 247-364 (1958-1968), and the regular interior artist from Adventure 340-372 (1/1966-9/1968).]

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
If there was one, I can't recall. Every job on the Legion was a labor of love.

4. What's your shoe size?
9D

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Basically, I have 3. Sun Boy, Cosmic Boy, and Saturn Girl.

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
None.

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brush stroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
I think the answer to number 3 says it all.

Mark Waid
Date: 4/21/96

The Questions:

1. What did you do on the Legion books?
Editor on the 1989 series from issues #1-7, though the incoming editor took my name off some of the work. Also edited WHO'S WHO IN THE LEGION and compiled ICG's THE LEGION INDEX. Later, dialogued LEGION #59, wrote or co-wrote #60-61, 0, 62-71, LEGIONNAIRES ANNUALS #1 and #2, LEGIONNAIRES #16-19, VALOR #9, 11-19.

2. How long did you work on the Legion books?
1987-89, and then again 1993-95.

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
"Mordru the Merciless"/"The Devil's Jury"

4. What's your shoe size?
10.

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
pre-Byrne favorite Legionnaire: Mon-El. Even though I liked Superboy better, I liked him for non-Legion reasons. modern: Brainy.

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
Physically, I most resemble the Adult Legion Garth, prolly. Personality-wise? No clue.

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brush stroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
Yeah. Byrne killed the Legion. We just pulled the plug on the dwindling life-support in the face of further and unending rectonning by editors.

And it wouldn't be fair if your FAQkeepers didn't answer the same questions too....
Michael Grabois
Troy McNemar
Sidne Ward
Andrew Woodard

Michael Grabois
Date: 5/3/96

The Questions:

1. What did you do on the Legion books?
I co-wrote the FAQ for the rec.arts.comics.dc.lsh newsgroup on the internet, I had a letter published in LSH v2 #265, and I compiled the Anal Retentive checklists. That's me with the dark curly hair and moustache in the magnoball crowd in Legionnaires #38, page 13.

2. How long did you work on the Legion books?
I've been a fan since Superboy 212 (1975), and I've bought every issue since then (plus most of the back issues).

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
The Great Darkness Saga. Wow!

4. What's your shoe size?
8

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Sun Boy. I hated what happened to him in v4 under Giffen and the Bierbaums.

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
I have Element Lad's curly hair (but black), Chuck Taine's moustache, and probably Matter-Eater Lad's physique. Personality-wise, probably Bouncing Boy.

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brush stroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
I'd like to thank the Academy for... No, wait, wrong speech. I'd like to thank all the fans who've made this newsgroup a fun place to hang out.

Sidne Gail Ward
Date: 5/11/96

The Questions:

1. What did you do on the Legion books?
I co-wrote the FAQ for the usenet newsgroup rec.arts.comics.dc.lsh. I've also been tuckerized twice in one issue. In Legionnaires #38, Imra's mother's name, Sydne, is based on mine. And on page 13, panel 3, I've been drawn into a crowd shot (alongside other LSH fans). I'm the blonde at the bottom of the panel.

2. How long did you work on the Legion books?
My first Legion book I ever read was Adventure #341 (the second half of the first Computo story) which I bought in late 1965. The LSH quickly became my favorite characters. I read the Adventure and Action issues until about 1970 when I quit collecting. I started reading again in 1975 with the Superboy issues. This time I continued until around 1980, shortly after the title became The Legion of Super-Heroes (v. 2). And I began reading once again with the first issue of LSH (v. 4) during the Fall of 1989. Since then I've acquired an almost complete collection of LSH comic appearances and merchandise.

3. What's your all-time favorite Legion story?
I have a real fondness for that first Computo story. I've certainly read that more times than any other LSH story!

4. What's your shoe size?
An 8 in Nikes, 7 1/2 in pumps.

5. Who's your favorite Legionnaire?
Saturn Girl. Blonde, intelligent, and even back in the 60s she used to boss the boys around!

6. Which Legionnaire do you resemble most, either physically or personality-wise? Or both?
Physically, it would have to be Saturn Girl. Except my eyes are brown. Personality-wise? I don't know.

7. Anything else you want to say to the assembled masses who are hanging on your every word, pencil mark, brush stroke, color, word balloon, blue pencil mark, or whatever?
Hmm. I doubt anyone out there is hanging on my every word.....

     ______
    /  __  \  The rec.arts.comics.dc.lsh FAQ Committee
   |  / / * |     Michael R. Grabois (WizardImps@hotmail.com)
   | / /___ |     T. Troy McNemar (troyesq@indirect.com)  
   |(_____/ |     Sidne Gail Ward (sward@primenet.com)
    \______/      Andrew Woodard (woodarda@acf2.NYU.EDU)
 "The ritual Klordny toast: To Freedom, Friendship, and Frunt!"

Saturday, August 31, 2019

LSH v4 #13 annotations: "State of the Universe"

Annotations for Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #13

On sale date: 10/2/90
It's OK, I'm a Senator: Issue 13 Recollections (March 28, 2009). This is Tom Bierbaum discussing all of the stuff going on behind the scenes that culminated in this issue.
Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 567 (August 26, 2019)
Timeline: December 10th (just a few seconds after last issue) to the 11th, 2994

It's a cool looking cover, with each section representing one of the plot threads in this issue, but the section at bottom gives a little too much away about who's there (which was supposed to have been a surprise)
Picks up just a few seconds before the end of last issue (which ends at panel 4)
Page 2: we meet Ivy and Garridan in the nursery. Garridan was born in November 2985 (revised timeline), so he’s just shy of 9 years old here. Ivy was created by Giffen and she will be seen more going forward.
Page 3: Gim must be wearing a transsuit here since he's underwater without any gear.
Page 4 panel 6: among Kent’s powers are NOT holding his breath forever.
Page 6 panel 4: That’s a novel strategy for an invasion, hire a PR firm to shape opinion so the public will eventually go along.
Page 6 panel 6: Roxxas is babbling like a madman – but he *IS* a madman! It’s clear that he’s insane, with the voices in his head coming from imagined Trommites that he killed, so he should be easy to discredit.
Page 7 panel 1: Darzyl is the Planet Vorm claimed to be from when he joined the Legion under false pretenses as Dynamo Boy (ADV 330).
Page 7 panel 3: Mano, without his bubble helmet, was last seen in LSH v3 #25 trying to join Emerald Empress’ new Fatal Five. Note that he has his Mordruverse look here.
Page 8 panel 2: Gigi Cusimano (named after Paul Levitz’s wife) first appeared in LSH v2 #301 and last appeared during the Magic Wars in LSH v3 #62. She’s now the Chief of the Science Police, having taken over from Chief Kimball Zendak (also last seen in LSH v3 #62, but we don’t know what happened to him that he’s no longer in that position).
Page 12: probably the next day, Gim has gotten Kent as far as Toonar as promised. Toonar was mentioned in issue 3 as a place the Lightning Ring Plantation could sell some Quatro grain, and in the “Legion Groupie” letters page of issue 9. Toonar is where the Legion traveled after being abandoned in the vastness of infinity by a space-fatigued Sun Boy (ADV 318).
Page 13: Laurel wasn’t there for the fight against Roxxas because she was still on Zirr (on 12/3-5, issues 10-12) [I didn’t realize this at the time we covered this issue!]. She says “If only I’d just stayed on Winath in the first place, instead of running back to Zirr every two days”, but the timeline doesn’t allow that – Rokk and Rond got to Winath the day of the attack.
Page 14 panel 1: Collingwood Inn on the planet Gnogg, which is an inhabited but radioactive world, whose money (Ergloks) is pure radium (ADV 377).
Page 14 panel 4: Brek is still wearing his Braino headpiece that he put on during the trial six days ago (issue 11).
Page 14 panel 6: Savignano mentioned (named for Lisa Savignano)
Page 15 panel 1: Brande’s Planetoid is the home of R. J. Brande, located inside the orbit of Mercury and first seen in ADV 351.
Page 15 panel 2: Weber’s World is an artificial planet built to help administer the United Planets Federation governmental operations. First appeared during Earthwar (SLSH 241).
Page 15 panel 9: Furball is back. He wasn’t around for Roxxas’ attack on 12/3, but it sounds like he’s been going off for days at a time since then.
Page 16 panel 2: Celeste says she’s got a “tendency” to glow green, suggesting it happens from time to time since she was healed on 12/5 (about six days ago).
Page 16 panel 3: Angtu was Mano’s homeworld, which he blew up (as seen in ADV 352)
Page 16 panel 5: Tombor is a dead world whose inhabitants transformed themselves into wraiths as their world died. They refused an offer by Phantom Girl to return them to normal, having come to prefer their new state of existence (ADV 340).
Page 18: haven’t seen Lydda or Loomis since they were en route to Kathoon on October 25 back in issue 2. This scene takes place after Vi and Rokk have their talk, even though panel 5 says “now that we’ve finally nailed Roxxas” which took place six days ago.
Credits: Dan Raspler is the new editor, their third so far (Waid 1-6, Eury 6-12 plus Ann1, Raspler 13-?)
State of the Universe memo

Volume 1 Mentions the following UP worlds having been conquered by the Khunds: Lallor, Sklar (home of the Sklarian Raiders, Kono’s people), Tsauran (home of Ontiir), and Rann
Volume 3 mentions Leland McCauley III and IV. It’s been 13 years (revised timeline) since we saw the younger McCauley, who would be in his mid-20s by now. No mention of where Brande stands in the richness rankings.
Volume 4 says that since Earthgov seceded in 2990 “resistance forces have opposed Earthgov since the introduction of repressive measures… but with little success to date.” This is very likely related to the “raid on anti-government terrorists” seen back in issue 1, in which ringleader Vidar (aka Universo) escaped.

Page 21: Interlude on Baaldur, this is the first time we’ve seen Glorith’s homeworld and the first time we’ve seen her in present time (previously, only in the Mordruverse and in flashback in the Annual).
Page 22: in the Pocket Universe, the Time Trapper still lives, his form but not his essence was destroyed by Mon-El.
Page 22 panel 8: By altering the time stream, Glorith has become the Time Trapper, suggesting that this is why the Time Trapper is someone else after every reboot or time stream alteration.
Page 24: But is he really truly for sure dead this time? Glorith has turned Time Trapper to dust and gotten rid of him in a manner that calls back to how he killed her the first time around, by turning her into protoplasm (ADV 338). There’s a LOT in this week’s IOKIAS about why this section is in here (it has to do with the Superman office).
Also includes a poster of all the main characters, but they were never all in the same place at the same time.
Impromptu Fatal Five 3/5 reunion (Persuader, Mano, and Garridan that used to be Validus) in this issue, the first time we’ve seen more than two since they broke up.

Tharok was last seen disappearing at the end of the Dark Man story (LSH v2 271)
Mano last appeared in the LSH v3 26, where he unsuccessfully tried to kill a Legionnaire so he could join Emerald Empress’ new Fatal Five
Emerald Empress took over Weber’s World and tried to turn it into her own planet-sized weapon (LSH v2 301-303). She rebuilds her own new Fatal Five (LSH v3 21-26), but ultimately dies when Sensor Girl cuts off the Emerald Eye from her (LSH v3 57-58). The Emerald Eye made one further appearance in LSH v3 61 during the Magic Wars.
Persuader has been a killer for hire (seen in the Lady Memory storyline in Tales 318-319) and a member of Emerald Empress’ new Fatal Five
Validus was eventually cured of the effects of Darkseid’s manipulation and turned back to a normal child Garridan Ranzz, but he was the carrier of the Validus Plague which affected people from Titan and Winath.

Here's what we know of the timeline to date. From here on out, I'm color coding them based on whether the date appeared in the 2995 Sourcebook (yellow), it's a confirmed date that was given in the comic (green), or an estimated date based on keeping track of events and days (blue). Bold text is something new added this issue.

2/17/89 – Mekt admitted to Labyrinth Penal Institute (LSH v4 #10)
6/23/89 – Magic Wars end (LSH v3 #63 – date as given in the 2995 Sourcebook)
4/13/90 – Communique from Earthgov President Wellington, trying to legally disband the Legion, with Imra, Rokk, and Cham “currently out of the picture” (LSH v4 #1)
April 2990 – Validus Plague ravages Winath; former Legionnaire Brainiac 5 helps (LSH v4 #3)
TBD 2990 – Earthgov secedes from the United Planets, and the Science Police Earth splits from the Science Police Proper. (LSH v4 #2). Since then, “resistance forces have opposed Earthgov since the introduction of repressive measures… but with little success to date.” (LSH v4 #13)
4/12/91 – Tinya goes missing (LSH v4 #2)
5/8/91 – Search for Tinya called off; Sun Boy is leader (LSH v4 #2)
5/27/91 – Mekt released from Labyrinth, rehabilitated (LSH v4 #10)
6/9/91 – Planned date of wedding of Tinya and Jo (LSH v4 #2)
TBD 2991 – Garth and Imra, having left the Legion, start the Lightning Ring Plantation (LSH v4 #3)
1/21/92 – Rebirth Summit (LSH v4 #1)
7/6/92 – LSH leader Polar Boy disbands the Legion, mentions Black Dawn which “cost” the Legion (LSH v4 #1); Mordru coronated as the Supreme Teacher of Sorceror’s World (LSH v4 #6)
TBD 2992 – Brek Bannin arrested for insurrection (LSH v4 #11)
10/22/94 – Raid on anti-government terrorists, but ringleader Vidar (aka Universo) is not captured; Cham tells Marla he’s leaving (LSH v4 #1)
10/23/94 – Cham begins to recruit members for the new Legion, first approaching Rokk; Vi leaves the Imsk army for Winath; Dominator agents help Roxxas escape from Labyrinth (LSH v4 #1)
10/25/94 – Attack on Jo and Kono on Rimbor; Loomis and Lydda en route to Kathoon (LSH v4 #2)
Fri 11/21/94 – Blok is killed by Roxxas the Butcher [Sourcebook] (LSH v4 #3)
Thu 11/27/94 – Mordru crushes Rond Vidar’s ring; Rokk and Cham finally meet up with Jo and decide to go to Tharn to rescue Mysa; Dominators and Shvaughn Erin watch the tape of Roxxas and Blok, whose body is delivered to Winath; Mon-El resurrected (LSH v4 #3)
Fri 11/28/94 – Mon-El goes to Talok VIII, then Shadow Lass and Mon-El visit Brainiac 5, then Mon-El destroys the Time Trapper (LSH v4 #4)
Sat 11/29/94 – Mordruverse (LSH v4 #5)
Sat 11/29/94 – Cham, Rokk, Jo, Kono, and Furball arrive on Tharn and are captured by Mordru; after being hired by Earthgov to find Blok’s killer, Celeste, Devlin, and Bounty leave for Trom (LSH v4 #6)
Sun 11/30/94 – Celeste, Devlin, and Bounty meet Jan on Trom (LSH v4 #6); with the help of Laurel Gand, Rokk’s crew rescues Mysa and Rond from Mordru but are teleported to Grocz; Celeste, Devlin, Bounty, and Jan leave Trom for Winath (LSH v4 #7)
Mon 12/1/94 – Rokk, Cham, Jo, Kono, Furball, Rond, Laurel, and Mysa travel from Grocz to Zirr (LSH v4 #8)
Tues 12/2/94 – Rokk, Laurel, and Rond take some R&R time on Zirr with baby Lauren, while the others go to Winath; Marla reminisces (LSH v4 #8); on Cygnus IV, Roxxas watches a holo of Laurel Gand; Celeste, Devlin, Bounty, and Jan arrive on Winath (LSH v4 #9)
Wed 12/3/94 – Rokk and Rond arrive in the morning, having left Laurel behind on Zirr; everyone (Rokk, Rond; Cham, Jo, Kono, Furball, Mysa; Celeste, Devlin, Bounty, Jan; Brainy, Garth, Ayla, Vi, Imra) is on Winath when Roxxas attacks; Bounty, Mekt, Cham, and Celeste are seriously injured, while Jo disappears and is presumed dead; Earthgov linked to Roxxas; Tenzil arrives on Earth (LSH v4 #10)
Thu 12/4/94 – On Winath, Roxxas is on the loose, and kills a doctor and nurse in the Bloomfield Free Clinic. On Earth, Tenzil participates in the Batcave dig, meets with Shvaughn and Brek (who is released for the first time since incarceration 2 years prior), has dinner with Prosecutor Jakobi, then falls asleep. (LSH v4 #11)
Fri 12/5/94 – Tenzil and Brek in court; Holo Scene news article on the trial (LSH v4 #11); Celeste is healed by a green glow; the former Legionnaires team up to capture Roxxas, who reveals Dominion control of Earthgov (LSH v4 #12)
Wed 12/10/94 – All-points bulletin on Persuader, who meets Kent Shakespeare in on Quarantine trying to attack Char Burrane Jr. (LSH v4 #12) Persuader is defeated by Kent and SP Captain Gim Allon, who then takes Kent to Toonar. (LSH v4 #13)
Thu 12/11/94 – Kent leaves Toonar for Winath; Laurel fights Khunds in deep space; Tenzil and Brek on Gnogg. (LSH v4 #13)
April 2995 – Imra & Garth’s twins due (LSH v4 #3)

Unknown dates:

Black Dawn: something big and bad happened. Polar Boy says “you know what that cost us”. Sun Boy was a previous leader. By the time it happened, Chameleon Boy had left the Legion and “watched everything fall to pieces” (LSH v4 #1). Timber Wolf was irradiated during Black Dawn, eventually turning him into Furball. Char Burrane (Starfinger II) was somehow involved. (LSH v4 #12)
Rokk and Loomis are injured at Venado Bay on the Braal side, and Rokk lost his powers. Salu was somehow involved on the Imsk side. Imsk won, as the army is occupying Braal. (LSH v4 #1) She says that Braal attacked Imsk, and they were just defending themselves. She was head of security on the damper project and knew what it would do, but fought against it (not hard enough, in her admission). (LSH v4 #10)
Kent Shakespeare and Gim Allon are both ex-Legionnaires, but it’s unknown when they left. (LSH v4 #12)

Friday, August 30, 2019

LSH v4 #12 annotations: "Five Years Later" (part 12)

Annotations for Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #12

On sale date: August 14, 1990
It's OK, I'm a Senator: None (Tom replied on Facebook that he apparently just forgot)
Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 566 (August 19, 2019)
Timeline: Part 1 on 12/5, same day that Tenzil and Brek are in court; part 2 on 12/10

A few names in bold are likely former Interlac people or others in Legion fandom, if the name is familiar, please let me know!

Cover – the now-iconic new L symbol, which has made it through to the Reboot, Threeboot (slightly revised, with the comet going lower left to upper right), retconned into the Retroboot, both animated versions, and now slightly revised for the RebirthBoot. But recall it’s not the VERY first time we’ve seen it, which was in issue #5 (Mordruverse). Kind of appropriate that it’s showing up as we review this in August 2019, with the imminent return of the Rebirth Legion.
Page 2: Cham isn’t dead, but he’s hiding in his traditional robes while he heals
Page 3 panel 3: So Celeste McCauley is the cousin of Leland. Back in issue 6 we first heard the Dominators talk about her real name; this is probably Leland McCauley IV (first seen, as a kid, SBOY 214, and who will appear later in this series) and not his father III (first seen ADV 374, then once more in Adventure and twice in the Baxter run).
Page 5: Devlin is healing from the bee-stings he got on 12/3. Since Roxxas was on the loose and killed the doctor and nurse on 12/4, this would be 12/5, the day that Brek and Tenzil are in court in issue 11.
Page 8: Confirmation that Furball is Brin Londo, who is now a were-furball due to the Black Dawn radiation’s effect on him combined with the zuunium in his body (and note that we still don't know very much about Black Dawn, see the stuff at the very bottom in the Unknown Dates section)
Page 10 panel 5: Roxxas looks like Two-Face, and the blood on his forehead makes him look like a Dominator
Page 11 panel 9: this whole page is a fakeout, with Roxxas’ split personalities on commentary
Page 13: Jo finds the Khund with antiques and fossils
Page 14: Roxxas claims Earthgov hired him to kill the Legionnaires, which does not make the Dominators happy. But any decent lawyer could claim those are the ravings of an insane person and not trustworthy.
Page 15: Cham had Marla make uniforms
Page 16: This marks the end of the first storyline, though it’s kind of odd how they just smash-cut to a page that’s nothing but a starfield (probably the same one from issue 1) and the name of the group.
Page 17: Start of the next storyline, which takes place 12/10/94 (via the Omnicom text page). Science Police officer Cavett named (after Christopher Cavett). And there’s an ex-Legionnaire working on Quarantine? Recall from the Omnicom story in issue 3 that Garridan Ranzz is on this world, which was first seen in ADV 313.
Page 19: The ex-Legionnaire is named Kent Shakespeare, and he’s a new character. The guy in the green jacket is probably Char Burrane Jr., as we’ll find out in a few pages
Page 20: Persuader has been hired “to do a job” but he’s not after Garridan.
Page 21: It’s SP Commander Gim Allon. SP officer Nofzinger mentioned.
Omnicom 1

New uniforms will be space-rated, customized for colors and symbols, have long-range subspace beacons (after the “disaster on the asteroid”, likely a reference to the Legionnaires getting stranded in LSH v2 289) and long-range telepathic earplugs, plus the new L symbol. Murphy Caldwell mentioned (named for the son of Roger Caldwell).

Omnicom 2

12/10/2994 - APB for Persuader, headed for Quarantine
Planetoid 7RK, where he was last seen, was where Saturn Girl and Princess Projectra go while chasing a space renegade (ACT 392)
The clinic is called the Luc & Perla Ranzz Memorial Clinic, after the parents of the Ranzz children who were killed when their spacecraft got stuck in a meteor storm (SBOY 207).
Turns out he’s got a contract to kill Char Burrane Jr, son of Starfinger II, who is on Quarantine. Molock Hanscom (Starfinger III) is alleged to have had Burrane Sr killed in retaliation for Burrane Sr (Starfinger II) having Lars Hanscom (Starfinger I) murdered.

Lars Hanscom was Lightning Lad’s doctor who secretly brainwashed him into becoming Starfinger in order to extort Rejuvium from Earth (ADV 335). Next appeared when he kidnapped one of Duo Damsel’s bodies on her wedding day (SBOY 200). Later had cosmetic surgery and assumed the identity of Dr Larsh, Imra’s obstetrician. Killed by Char Burrane prior to LSH v3 29.
Char Burrane found a ring in which Starbright and Starlight lived, and decided to kill the first Starfinger and take over his criminal gang. Chameleon Boy and Colossal Boy went undercover to try to take him down, but he escaped in the end (LSH v3 Annual 4).
We don’t know anything about Molock Hanscom to date, but it will be revealed next issue that he was first seen as Moloch the Merciless, the leader of the Cosmic Spy League (ADV 320), before being taken down by Dev-Em and the Interstellar Counter-Intelligence Corps. From this briefing, he has had Burrane killed off-panel and has taken on the mantle of the new Starfinger.

The Burrane gang had some involvement in Black Dawn
Persuader got the Atomic Axe in the mid 2960s from Wolf Behbach

So here's the updated timeline of things we know, as of this issue (new stuff in bold):

2/17/89 – Mekt admitted to Labyrinth Penal Institute (LSH v4 #10)
6/23/89 – Magic Wars end (LSH v3 #63 – date as given in the 2995 Sourcebook)
4/13/90 – Communique from Earthgov President Wellington, trying to legally disband the Legion, with Imra, Rokk, and Cham “currently out of the picture” (LSH v4 #1)
April 2990 – Validus Plague ravages Winath; former Legionnaire Brainiac 5 helps (LSH v4 #3)
4/12/91 – Tinya goes missing (LSH v4 #2)
5/8/91 – Search for Tinya called off; Sun Boy is leader (LSH v4 #2)
5/27/91 – Mekt released from Labyrinth, rehabilitated (LSH v4 #10)
6/9/91 – Planned date of wedding of Tinya and Jo (LSH v4 #2)
TBD 2991 – Garth and Imra, having left the Legion, start the Lightning Ring Plantation (LSH v4 #3)
1/21/92 – Rebirth Summit (LSH v4 #1)
7/6/92 – LSH leader Polar Boy disbands the Legion, mentions Black Dawn which cost the Legion (LSH v4 #1); Mordru coronated as the Supreme Teacher of Sorceror’s World (LSH v4 #6)
TBD 2992 – Brek Bannin arrested for insurrection (LSH v4 #11)
10/22/94 – Raid on anti-government terrorists, but ringleader Vidar (aka Universo) is not captured; Cham tells Marla he’s leaving (LSH v4 #1)
10/23/94 – Reep Daggle begins to recruit members for the new Legion, first approaching Rokk Krinn; Vi leaves the Imsk army for Winath; Dominator agents help Roxxas escape from Labyrinth (LSH v4 #1)
10/25/94 – Attack on Jo and Kono on Rimbor; Loomis and Lydda en route to Kathoon (LSH v4 #2)
Fri 11/21/94 – Blok is killed by Roxxas the Butcher [Sourcebook] (LSH v4 #3)
Thu 11/27/94 – Mordru crushes Rond Vidar’s ring; Rokk and Cham finally meet up with Jo and decide to go to Tharn to rescue Mysa; Dominators and Shvaughn Erin watch the tape of Roxxas and Blok, whose body is delivered to Winath; Mon-El resurrected (LSH v4 #3)
Fri 11/28/94 – Mon-El goes to Talok VIII, then Shadow Lass and Mon-El visit Brainiac 5, then Mon-El destroys the Time Trapper (LSH v4 #4)
Sat 11/29/94 – Mordruverse (LSH v4 #5)
Sat 11/29/94 – Cham, Rokk, Jo, Kono, and Furball arrive on Tharn and are captured by Mordru; after being hired by Earthgov to find Blok’s killer, Celeste, Devlin, and Bounty leave for Trom (LSH v4 #6)
Sun 11/30/94 – Celeste, Devlin, and Bounty meet Jan on Trom (LSH v4 #6); with the help of Laurel Gand, Rokk’s crew rescues Mysa and Rond from Mordru but are teleported to Grocz; Celeste, Devlin, Bounty, and Jan leave Trom for Winath (LSH v4 #7)
Mon 12/1/94 – Rokk, Cham, Jo, Kono, Furball, Rond, Laurel, and Mysa travel from Grocz to Zirr (LSH v4 #8)
Tues 12/2/94 – Rokk, Laurel, and Rond take some R&R time on Zirr with baby Lauren, while the others go to Winath; Marla reminisces (LSH v4 #8); on Cygnus IV, Roxxas watches a holo of Laurel Gand; Celeste, Devlin, Bounty, and Jan arrive on Winath (LSH v4 #9)
Wed 12/3/94 – Rokk, Laurel, and Rond arrive in the morning; everyone (Rokk, Rond, Laurel; Cham, Jo, Kono, Furball, Mysa; Celeste, Devlin, Bounty, Jan; Brainy, Garth, Ayla, Vi, Imra) is on Winath when Roxxas attacks; Bounty, Mekt, Cham, and Celeste are seriously injured, while Jo disappears and is presumed dead; Earthgov linked to Roxxas; Tenzil arrives on Earth (LSH v4 #10)
Thu 12/4/94 – On Winath, Roxxas is on the loose, and kills a doctor and nurse in the Bloomfield Free Clinic. On Earth, Tenzil participates in the Batcave dig, meets with Shvaughn and Brek (who is released for the first time since incarceration 2 years prior), has dinner with Prosecutor Jakobi, then falls asleep. (LSH v4 #11)
Fri 12/5/94 – Tenzil and Brek in court; Holo Scene news article on the trial (LSH v4 #11); Celeste is healed by a green glow; the former Legionnaires team up to capture Roxxas, who reveals Dominion control of Earthgov (LSH v4 #12)
Wed 12/10/94 – All-points bulletin on Persuader, who meets Kent Shakespeare in on Quarantine (LSH v4 #12)
April 2995 – Imra & Garth’s twins due (LSH v4 #3)

Unknown dates, presented in the order they were revealed in the comics:

Black Dawn: something big and bad happened. Polar Boy says “you know what that cost us”. Sun Boy was a previous leader. By the time it happened, Chameleon Boy had left the Legion and “watched everything fall to pieces” (LSH v4 #1). Timber Wolf was irradiated during Black Dawn, eventually turning him into Furball. Char Burrane (Starfinger II) was somehow involved. (LSH v4 #12).
Rokk and Loomis are injured in the Braal/Imsk War at Venado Bay, and Rokk lost his powers. Salu was somehow involved on the Imsk side, which did some questionably legal things. Imsk won, as the army is occupying Braal. (LSH v4 #1) She says that Braal attacked Imsk, and they were just defending themselves. She was head of security on the damper project and knew what it would do, but fought against it (not hard enough, in her admission). (LSH v4 #10)
At some point, the Science Police Earth splintered off from the main Science Police (referred to as Science Police Proper) (LSH v4 #2)
Kent Shakespeare and Gim Allon are both ex-Legionnaires, but it’s unknown when they left. (LSH v4 #12)

The Legion Omnicom

Monday, September 16, 2019

LSH v4 #14 annotations: Evillo's 11

Saturday, September 14, 2019

When does the Bronze Age end for the Legion?

Monday, September 09, 2019

LSH v4 Annual #1 annotations: "Charade"

Saturday, September 07, 2019

Legion creators speak out (in 1996)

The Legion Creators Speak Out

Saturday, August 31, 2019

LSH v4 #13 annotations: "State of the Universe"

Friday, August 30, 2019

LSH v4 #12 annotations: "Five Years Later" (part 12)

Contributors

Also find me here

Twitter

Omnicom Archives

LSH Blogs: news, reviews, and misc.

LSH Message Boards/forums

Wikipedia/Legion Wiki

My LSH stuff

Quick Linker

The Legion Omnicom

Monday, September 16, 2019

LSH v4 #14 annotations: Evillo's 11

Saturday, September 14, 2019

When does the Bronze Age end for the Legion?

Monday, September 09, 2019

LSH v4 Annual #1 annotations: "Charade"

Saturday, September 07, 2019

Legion creators speak out (in 1996)

The Legion Creators Speak Out

Saturday, August 31, 2019

LSH v4 #13 annotations: "State of the Universe"

Friday, August 30, 2019

LSH v4 #12 annotations: "Five Years Later" (part 12)

Contributors

Also find me here

Twitter

Subscribe To

Omnicom Archives

LSH Blogs: news, reviews, and misc.

LSH Message Boards/forums

Wikipedia/Legion Wiki

My LSH stuff

Quick Linker