Legacy Number

(Originally published 2/22/20, updated 11/22 to include the various Bendis-written series and miniseries)

Back in 2017, Marvel had a “Marvel Legacy” thing that temporarily restored “legacy” numbers to some of their long-running titles which had been restarted with new #1's over the years. DC later did the same thing for Action Comics and Detective Comics, primarily so they could take advantage of the issue #1000 (other recent legacy books to get renumbered were Wonder Woman and Flash). So I thought about doing that for the Legion - what would its legacy numbering look like? This is a slightly tweaked version of what I wrote back then.

Just for grins, here’s my take on where the Legion would be. I did not include one-shots, Annuals, weird-numbered issues that were line-wide (#0, #1000000, etc. - see footnote at the bottom), or miniseries that were outside of the main series. My math says the current version by Bendis & Sook, volume 8, would start at #660, but I may have done it differently than you did.

This is NOT a list of all Legion appearances renumbered such that Adventure Comics #247 is the new #1, etc. It also ignores the 81 issue run in Adventure Comics, because the Legion was starring in Adventure Comics and not a book titled The Legion of Super-Heroes, and this aims to track the theoretical numbering from the book that the Legion took over, which started as Superboy #1 in 1949. And the first 196 issues of that series were of course not the Legion’s book, but then the Legion took over the cover spot with #197. The title officially changed (per the indicia, not just the cover logo) to Superboy & The Legion of Super-Heroes with issue #231, and then just Legion of Super-Heroes v2 with #259 - "v2" for "volume 2", indicating that it's the second series that had the title "Legion of Super-Heroes", the first being a 4-issue reprint series in 1973. (Comparing to Marvel's case, for example, Captain America appeared in Tales of Suspense which changed the title but kept the numbering from Tales #99 to Captain America #100; Doctor Strange appeared in Strange Tales up to issue #168 and then the book got retitled to Dr Strange #169; see that Marvel link at the top for other examples of how they used miniseries to cover a gap when a regular series wasn't being published).

LSH v2 ended with issue #313, then it changed to Tales of the Legion #314-325 with new stories that came out biweekly with the new LSH v3 series for the first year. Tales #326 on up were reprints, so I’m discounting them. I count both the new Tales and LSH v3 books for this exercise, the only time I allow two ongoing books published bi-weekly, the first since it was the legacy book that kept the numbering and the second because it was the regular series at the time.

Two other times there have been two books published biweekly (LSH v4 and Legionnaires in the 5YL and Reboot timelines, LSH v7 and Legion Lost v2 in the New 52 timeline), but I’ll argue that the Legionnaires and Legion Lost v2 books were each a spinoff that focused on a different team for the most part and should not count as one biweekly title, unlike Tales/LSH v3.

I did keep Legion Lost v1 and Legion Worlds in my calculations - both miniseries - because each was the main Legion book at the time and they were planned to bridge the gap between the end of LSH v4 and the beginning of The Legion. (Note faux Blok’s comment on the cover of LSH v5 #15 below, that issue “should” have been #568, but that tally assumes that neither of those two limited series counted and also that the v4 #0 and #1M issues did count. You are, of course, free to make your own interpretation.)

No, Blok, it should have been #584 by my counting.

I'm eliminating all of the issues of Legionnaires, pre- and post-ZH Reboot for one reason: Legionnaires is the name of the series, it is not Legion of Super-Heroes. Legionnaires (and later, Legion Lost v2) was a spinoff book from the main Legion of Super-Heroes title. Leaving it out has nothing to do with readability, reading order, or who stars in it.

I'm also not including Valor, Timber Wolf, Legion Science Police, Cosmic Boy, Inferno, Karate Kid, The Legion of Super-Villains, Legion Secret Files, Legends of the Legion, Superboy's Legion, Legion of 3 Worlds, Legion Secret Origin, Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes, Adventure Comics, Secrets of the Legion, Legionnaires 3, Who’s Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes, Titans/Legion: Universe Ablaze, Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium, or Justice League vs Legion of Super-Heroes, or any other ongoing or limited series starring the Legion or various Legionnaires, because they are all spinoffs. Likewise, I disregard the 4-issue Legion of Super-Heroes (v1, 1973) reprint series because its numbering was not used anywhere at the time, and Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes because it was part of a line-wide stunt (like #0 or #1,000,000 issues).

So my breakdown:

• #1-230 - Superboy (1949-1977) #1-230
• #231-258 - Superboy & The Legion of Super-Heroes (1977-1979) #231-258
• #259-313 - Legion of Super-Heroes (v2, 1980-1984) #259-313
• #314-325 - Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes (1984-1985) #314-325
• #326-388 - Legion of Super-Heroes (v3, 1984-1989) #1-63
• #389-513 - Legion of Super-Heroes (v4, 1989-2000) #1-125
• #514-525 - Legion Lost (v1, 2000-2001) #1-12
• #526-531 - Legion Worlds (2001) #1-6
• #531-569 - The Legion (2001-2004) #1-38
• #570-584 - Legion of Super-Heroes (v5, 2005-2006) #1-15
• #585-606 - Supergirl & The Legion of Super-Heroes (2006-2008) #16-37
• #607-619 - Legion of Super-Heroes (v5, 2008-2009) #38-50
• #620-635 - Legion of Super-Heroes (v6, 2010-2011) #1-16
• #636-659 - Legion of Super-Heroes (v7, 2011-2013) #1-24
• #660-671 - Legion of Super-Heroes (v8, 2020-2021) #1-12

That means that the new Bendis/Sook LSH v8 #12 would have been #671 in a legacy numbering scheme, the most recent number. A new volume 9 series would have to last 29 issues in order to get to legacy #700 by my count.

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Footnote: based on a question in the comments, I wanted to see what DC did when they resumed legacy numbering for Action Comics and Detective Comics.

• #1-881 - Detective Comics (1937-2011) #1-881
• The #0 issue came between #678-679 and was not counted as part of the numbering, because it was a line-wide thing and no numbers were skipped. Likewise, #1M was between #726-727.
• #882-933 - Detective Comics (2011-2016) #1-52
• Issues #23.1-23.4 were between #23-24 and didn't affect the numbering
• #934-present - Detective Comics (2016-present) #934-present

Action Comics is also easy:

• #1-600 - Action Comics (1938-1988) #1-600
• #601-642 - Action Comics Weekly (1988-1989) #601-642
• #643-904 - Action Comics (1989-2011) #643-904
• The #0 issue came between #703-704, and #1M was between #748-749
• #905-956 - Action Comics (2011-2016) #1-52
• #23.1-23.4 were between #23-24
• #957-present - Action Comics (2016-present) #957-present

So the answer is that DC did not include the #0 or #1M issues in their legacy numbering, just as I had also not done (independently, before I saw what they did). And the title wasn't being published during the 23.x books.

LSH v4 #24 annotations: Quiet Darkness part 4

Annotations for Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #24

• On sale date: September 17, 1991
• It's OK, I'm a Senator: https://itsokimasenator.livejournal.com/10786.html
• Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 592 (February 17, 2020)
• Timeline: April 22, 2995 

Notes:

• Cover: The layout of “3 panels on each side and a full figure in the middle” is an homage to Adventure #300 (1962), which itself was an homage to Superman Annual #2 (1960), and which was later homaged in such Legion books as LSH v2 #301, LSH v4 #41, Legionnaires #59, and Adventure Comics 504-513 variants, and by other companies and characters including Cerebus, Bart Simpson, Dick Tracy, The Trouble With Girls, Flaming Carrot, and Dark Horse Presents. See this Comicvine gallery for 49 different examples. For example:

• Page 2 panels 6-7: did Furball do something to fix the reserve coils?
• Page 3 panel 1: Carole is calling him “Francis”, which is the male form of the name, except for the last 3 issues he’s been “Frances” which is the female form
• Page 4: the artwork is identical to page 3, except for the bottom tier of panels
• Page 5: Lobo has brought Aria back to Darkseid and her father
• Page 10: Darkseid’s insult “Your minuscule awareness of this is so obtuse and vain that to even consider yourself sentient would be a monumental disservice to those who are.” Brainy gets OWNED by Darkseid! Reminds me of this from The Wizard of Oz:
   
• Page 14: Welcome Gemini, a “step between man and god”
• Page 15 panel 6: Lobo’s glasses get knocked off and he’s revealed to be a Probe, then Darkseid promptly psszzatts him
• Page 16 panel 7: Darkseid snaps his fingers and turns Furball back into Brin, but being Furball is keeping his degeneration in check…
• Page 16 panel 9: … but someone forgot to tell Kent that Furball is Brin
• Page 17: Gemini does something to Darkseid that he wanted, but we don’t know what that is
• Page 18 panel 6: Darkseid meets Coda (WTF?)
• Page 18 panel 8: Jo: “Brainy, are you going to publish a journal on all of this?” Brainy: “Sure, Jo, just as soon as I figure out what happened.” I think Brainy speaks for us all. What did we just read?
• Page 20: BION is tracking the SW6 Legionnaires from when they left the chambers to when they rescued Devlin, using Saturn Girl's telepathy as enhanced by Dominator technology (per IOKIAS). Note that BION has a disk on his head just like the Dominators, but it's Earth, not a red disk.
• Page 21 panel 7: BION thinks he’s tracking SW6 Laurel, but it’s really regular Laurel in disguise as Celeste as seen last issue
• Page 23: I think I wet my pants when I first saw this page. The SW6 Batch is revealed to be (apparently) a bunch of Silver Age Legionnaires! (art on this page only by Dusty Abell/Brad Vancata; the different artists are because this is the splash page from next issue)
• Omnicom: mumbo jumbo about Gemini; may need to turn Brin back into Furball to stop his degeneration disease; Darkseid disappeared; gratuitous insult of Jo
• Project Champion
• BION has the powers of all 20 of the SW6 Legionnaires – essentially a new Composite Superman
• BION must capture the SW6 unharmed, but not at the expense of BION itself
• Subject number assignments seem to be based on the Legionnaires joining order

For me, this story didn't work. I didn't buy emo Darkseid, in his fancy clothes, being all erudite, not at all like every other incarnation of bombastic Darkseid we've seen before. I don't buy that after only about 10 years since the Great Darkness Saga that he's grown bored and weary with life and is looking for a way to commit suicide. I did a quick search to see what others had said about this arc, and picked these two:

CBR did an article about it in 2009, in which this was one of "A Year of Cool Comic Book Moments of the Day":  

Darkseid, meanwhile, is depressed - he's sick of the so-called "Quiet Darkness" he has been living in, where he has no peers and no real goals in life, so he's just sitting around depressed. … "The" moment is almost certainly the point where we realize that Darkseid has done all of these machinations simply to create a creature that could kill him, as he finally goes into the "quiet darkness" that he EMBRACES, rather than fears.

Matthew Elmslie blogged about it in 2013 at his Legion Abstract:  

Here's what I think: I think the real "quiet darkness" is loneliness. The characters in this story are often lonely for the counterparts in their identified pairs (even Lobo tries to hold a conversation with a severed head that he comes across). Yet all the characters are also able to resist that loneliness through whatever companions they have; Aria has Lori, and the Legionnaires have each other, for instance. Only Darkseid has no counterpart, and no way of defending against his loneliness, which, given his situation, must be profound. Throughout the story, Darkseid considers himself above all the mortal characters, who are all stumbling around in the dark, bumping their heads and thinking that everything they hear is a rat. (Count up all those examples.) All the characters are united in this ignorance, guard and child and Legionnaire alike. Darkseid, though, with his godlike knowledge and perspective, is above all that, but this also separates him from everyone else. This is where the Gemini Matrix comes in: it combines Aria and Coda into some kind of cosmic superhuman, "the step between man and god", but one that's manifested as a grown-up Aria, while Coda is only sort of there but is also sort of dead: in the last panels of the story we see Coda and Darkseid meeting in some cloudy pink realm, walking and chatting together very cordially. I'm aware that this contradicts me a bit: Darkseid's embrace of "the quiet darkness" has solved his loneliness, not exacerbated it. Still, it's clear that what Darkseid has found is not oblivion but companionship.

I see what they're getting at, but I don't buy it.

But we're not done with Gemini yet, she reappears in a little while during the Timber Wolf miniseries and then she even jumps companies!

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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.

• 3/26/78 Dark Circle obtained updated cell samples from when Dr. Zan Orbal restored bodies and powers to Matter-Eater Lad, Lightning Lad, and Bouncing Boy on Tartarus, to complete their collection (LSH v4 #22)
• 10/78 Doppelganger substitution during Dark Circle invasion (LSH v4 #22)
• 2/17/89 – Mekt admitted to Labyrinth Penal Institute (LSH v4 #10)
• 6/23/89 – Magic Wars end (LSH v3 #63)
• October 2989 – the Great Collapse
• 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)
• 6/7/90 – Legion Academy closes (LSH v4 #16)
• 7/6/90 – Former Legion Academy heads Chuck and Luornu Durgo Taine open the United Planets Militia Academy (LSH v4 #16)
• 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)
• 10/8/91 – Imsk sets off the Damper weapon on Venado Bay on Braal-13 during the Imsk/Braal War. Rokk lost his powers, Loomis lost an arm. Salu was head of security on the damper project and knew what it would do, but fought against it (not hard enough, in her admission). Imsk won, as the army is occupying Braal. (LSH v4 #1) She says that Braal attacked Imsk, and they were just defending themselves. (LSH v4 #10)
• 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)
• 4/11/93 – Announcement of upcoming wedding of Grev Mallor (of the City People) to Kahnya Nahtahnie (Lady Memory of the Hill People) on Talok VIII
• 8/14/93 – wedding of Grev Mallor and Kahnya Nahtahnie 
• 1/17/94 – Marzal reappears over Africa and the corrupt Earthgov destroys it, but not before Tyroc escapes (LSH v4 #16)
• 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 (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 (LSH v4 #14)
• Thu 12/25/94 – Garth, Cham, and Rokk remotely survey Talus (LSH v4 #14)
• 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. (LSH v4 #14)
• 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 (LSH v4 #14)
• Sun 12/28/94 – The reformed Legion establishes headquarters on the asteroid world of Talus
• Sat 1/3/95 – Tenzil Kem rejoins the Legion
• Sun 1/11/95 – Orando falls to the Khunds  (LSH v4 #15)
• Mon 1/12/95 – The Legion agrees to team with the United Planets Militia to beat back a Khundish invasion that threatens the heart of the United Planets.  (LSH v4 #15)
• Exact date unknown – Cham meets with a Khundish double agent; Venegar falls to the Khunds, who then make a deal with the Hill People of Talok VIII; the UP Militia tries to decide if Xolnar or Talok VIII will be attacked next; Valor and Shadow Lass appear on Talok VIII; Khunds attack Xolnar; Circe wants Dirk to give a pro-Dominator speech (LSH v4 #15)
• Exact date unknown – Last stand on Xolnar; introduction of the Resistance on Earth (LSH v4 #16). 
• Fri 3/13/95 – SP Officer Roon Dvron’s police report on Sussa Paka (LSH v4 #22, 23)
• Sun 3/22/95 – Khund decoy fleet arrives at Talok VIII, while the main fleet attacks Xolnar, leading to the death of Jed “Power Boy” Rikane; after destroying the Talok fleet, the Legion and the UP Militia arrive at Xolnar to finish the Khundish fleet; Glorith sent to the end of time; the Khunds are driven back to pre-2995 borders, and the Legion concludes its participation in the war against Khundish encroachment (LSH v4 #17)
• Wed 3/25/95 – Don and Dawn Allen are arrested by Earthgov (LSH v4 #17)
• Thurs 3/26/95 – Don and Dawn Allen are put on trial (LSH v4 #17)
• Fri 3/27/95 – Tensions increase on Earth with the execution of Legion friends Don and Dawn Allen. (Note that 3/27/95 is a Friday, while the comic says it happened on a Monday) (LSH v4 #17)
• Sat 3/28/95 – Daily Planet article on the Allen executions (LSH v4 #17)
• Exact date unknown – Valor and Shadow Lass help counter a Dark Circle attempt on Queen Projectra’s life on Orando, then remove the Dark Circle cultists from Carggg; Universo and Jacques meet; holo studio bombing allegedly by one of the Resistance groups (LSH v4 #18)
• Thu 4/9/95 – Valor and Shadow Lass leave Carggg on their way to some R&R in deep space (LSH v4 #22)
• Sat 4/11/95 – Luna is destroyed, ravaging Earth. (LSH v4 #19). The mysterious “SW6" Legionnaires awaken in an underground Dominion chamber on Earth. (LSH v4 #20)
• Sun 4/12/95 – Jo Nah returns from an extended journey through time (LSH v4 #19) and is added to the reformed adult Legion team (LSH v4 #20)
• Mon 4/13/95 – Dacey and Doritt Ranzz are born to ex-Legionnaires Garth and Imra Ardeen Ranzz. Rokk recalls the events of Venado Bay as the Dominators start executing Science Police Earth officers who are revolting against the Dominators. (LSH v4 #20)
• Wed 4/15/95 – Furball meets Aria on Zuun, unaware that she’s being hunted by Darkseid; Atmos revealed to have been killed by Project Champion; the Dominators begin harsher punishment of insurrectionists on Earth. (LSH v4 #21)
• Fri 4/17/95 – Jo, Celeste, and Kent on the way to Zuun to get Brainy and Furball; on Talus, Kono reads Nura’s unanswered messages to Mysa; on Altair, Valor finds troubling news from a Dark Circle computer (LSH v4 #22)
• Tues 4/21/95 – Jo, Celeste, and Kent arrive at Zuun  (LSH v4 #22).They are briefly detained but they escape to the surface and meet up with Brainy and Furball, but Lobo captures and leaves with Aria; during the escape, Celeste generates a burst of intense green energy. On Earth, Resistance leader Jacques has Laurel and Bounty meet up with Circe, who has turned against the Dominators and Earthgov. Valor leaves Shady to go to Earth to check into what he found. (LSH v4 #23)
• Wed 4/22/95 – Lobo brings Aria to Darkseid, followed by Jo, Kent, Celeste, Brainy, and Furball. Lobo is revealed to be merely a probe and Darkseid vanishes him, and then turns Furball back into Brin. The Gemini Matrix activates and Aria turns into an adult Gemini and blasts Darkseid, per his secret wish, who then disappears. Back on Earth, BION discovers the adult Laurel Gand while looking for the SW6 version, and the SW6 Legionnaires reveal themselves to Devlin. (LSH v4 #24)

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)
• Kent Shakespeare and Gim Allon are both ex-Legionnaires, but it’s unknown when or under what circumstances they left. (LSH v4 #12)

Legion sales data: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics for January 2020 (LSH v8 #3)

The drop from issue #1 to #2 was due to it being a #2 with two covers (instead of four) and no flight ring, so it's completely expected that sales would drop. The drop from #2 to #3, however, is very small and very hopeful for a quick leveling off of sales - but that remains to be seen.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (volume 8) #3 - January 15, 2020

Issue 3 had two variants: one $3.99 regular cover and one $4.99 cardstock cover. Sales data below via Comichron.

LSH volume 8 #3 Standard cover Art by Ryan Sook	LSH volume 8 #3 Cheung cardstock variant Art by Jim Cheung

TL;DR version: LSH #3 sold 34,732 copies (down from 35,653 the previous month) and was the #44 book for the month and the #15 DC book. 

Context:

• Combining both covers, LSH #3 was the #44 book for the month, with total sales of 34,732 (down from 35,653 the previous month). It was the #15 book for DC (behind 9 Batman or Harley Quinn books, 3 Superman books, and 1 JLA and 1 Wonder Woman). The #1 book of the month was Wonder Woman #750 with sales of 167,377.
• The $3.99 regular cover was the #63 book for January 2020, with sales of  26,933 (down from 27,177 the previous month). It was the #19 DC book.
• The $4.99 cardstock cover variant was the #82 DC book and the #230 overall book for January, with sales of 7,799 (down from 8,476 the previous month). 
• Too early to guesstimate the point where sales will level off, where the book has found its base, but after the large drop from issue #1 to #2, there was a surprisingly small drop from #2 to #3.
• Digital sales of issues are generally not known to the public, but anecdotally the digital market as a whole is about 10% of the traditional market. This does not necessarily apply to any particular comic from any particular company. Diamond does not report digital sales, and it's the Diamond data going to Comichron.

Color key for tables below:

• Brown = 5 Years Later
• Orange = Reboot
• Green = Threeboot
• Yellow = Retroboot/New 52
• White = Rebirth
• Blue = none of the above

LSH v8 sales and rank 

Issue	Total sales (all covers)	overall #	DC #	#1 book
1	75,611	10	3	138,434
2	35,653	50	17	117,926
3	34,732	44	15	167,377

Sales drop historical comparison: ongoing series *

Date	Title	#1 to #2	#2 to #3	#3 to #4
Dec 1989	LSH v4 (5 Years Later)	-33.5%	-10.2%	+2.5%
Dec 2001	The Legion	-14.0%	+0.0%	+0.2%
March 2005	LSH Vol 5 (Threeboot)	-19.0%	-7.7%	-7.0%
Nov 2009	Adventure Comics v3	-16.6%	-6.1%	** +91.6%
Aug 2010	LSH v6 (Retroboot)	-22.0%	-7.0%	-5.8%
Dec 2011	LSH v7 (New 52)	-20.2%	-25.9%	-20.4%
Dec 2011	Legion Lost v2	-23.2%	-26.8%	-23.1%
Oct 2019	LSH: Millennium	-18.4%	n/a	n/a
Dec 2019	LSH v8	-52.8%	-2.6%	TBD

* Note: sales data from April 1993 to October 1994 is not publicly available, which coincidentally covers the entirety of the "Legionnaires" title in the Reboot era, so that title is not included in this chart. Also not counting "Valor" or any miniseries except for "Millennium".
** Adventure Comics #4 included a Blackest Night ring promotion

What is the bottom of the sales curve?

Year	Series	Sales at series end	Notes
2000	LSH v4 (Reboot)	17,500	Series cancelled for new Abnett/Lanning Legion Lost v1
2000	Legionnaires (Reboot)	17,200	Series cancelled for new Abnett/Lanning Legion Lost v1
2004	The Legion (Reboot)	23,300	Series cancelled for Threeboot
2009	LSH v5 (Threeboot)	22,300	Series cancelled for Retroboot
2011	LSH v6 (Retroboot)	21,400	Series cancelled for New 52
2011	Adventure Comics (Retroboot)	19,200	Series cancelled for New 52
2013	LSH v7 (New 52)	15,500	Series cancelled due to sales
2013	Legion Lost v2 (New 52)	13,500	Series cancelled due to sales

Not counting miniseries, which are known to have a finite end.

Top selling Legion books, 2004-present (since the start of the Threeboot)

Rank	Cover date	Sales	Series	Issue
1	Jan 2010	85,145	Adventure Comics v3	4
2	Nov 2019	75,611	LSH v8	1
3	Oct 2008	73,914	Legion of Three Worlds	1
4	Dec 2008	64,412	Legion of Three Worlds	2
5	Apr 2009	61,358	Legion of Three Worlds	3
6	Oct 2004	61,047	Teen Titans/The Legion Special	1
7	Feb 2005	59,944	LSH v5	1
8	Feb 2010	59,876	Adventure Comics v3	5
9	Jun 2009	56,888	Legion of Three Worlds	4
10	Oct 2009	56,706	Adventure Comics v3	1
11	Sep 2009	55,970	Legion of Three Worlds	5
12	May 2006	54,826	Supergirl & the LSH	16
13	Mar 2010	53,721	Adventure Comics v3	7
14	Nov 2011	53,285	LSH v7	1
15	Jul 2010	50,106	LSH v6	1
16	Nov 2011	49,952	Legion Lost v2	1
17	Mar 2005	48,584	LSH v5	2
18	Sep 2019	48,389	LSH: Millennium	1
19	Sep 2019	47,857	Superman	15
20	Aug 2019	47,777	Superman	14
21	Jun 2006	47,697	Supergirl & the LSH	17
22	Nov 2009	47,296	Adventure Comics v3	2
23	Feb 2008	45,803	Supergirl & the LSH	37
24	Jul 2006	45,520	Supergirl & the LSH	18
25	Apr 2005	44,824	LSH v5	3
26	Dec 2009	44,431	Adventure Comics v3	3
27	Aug 2006	43,918	Supergirl & the LSH	19
28	May 2005	43,408	LSH v5	4
29	Mar 2010	42,514	Adventure Comics v3	6
30	Dec 2011	42,504	LSH v7	2
31	Sep 2006	41,679	Supergirl & the LSH	20
32	Jun 2005	41,664	LSH v5	5
33	Dec 2006	41,554	Supergirl & the LSH	23
34	Jul 2005	40,970	LSH v5	6
35	Oct 2006	39,852	Supergirl & the LSH	21
36	Oct 2019	39,489	LSH: Millennium	2
37	Apr 2010	39,351	Adventure Comics v3	8
38	Aug 2005	39,155	LSH v5	7
39	Aug 2010	39,102	LSH v6	2
40	Dec 2011	38,385	Legion Lost v2	2
41	Dec 2011	38,248	Legion Secret Origin	1
42	Dec 2011	38,248	Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes	1
43	Jun 2010	37,573	Adventure Comics v3	10
44	May 2010	37,515	Adventure Comics v3	9
45	Sep 2005	37,272	LSH v5	8
46	Nov 2006	36,735	Supergirl & the LSH	22
47	Sep 2010	36,360	LSH v6	3
48	Oct 2005	35,834	LSH v5	9
49	Nov 2005	35,800	LSH v5	10
50	Dec 2019	35,653	LSH v8	2
51	Jul 2010	34,794	Adventure Comics v3	11
52	Jan 2020	34,732	LSH v8	3
53	Aug 2010	34,663	Adventure Comics v3	12
54	Oct 2010	34,239	LSH v6	4
55	Dec 2005	34,100	LSH v5	11