Second Printings in Legion History

The Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants, Appendix B: Second Printings 1994-2020

1958-2005, 2006-2007, 2008-2009, 2010-2011, 2012-2014, 2015-2018, 2019, 2020, 2021-2022

Unused covers, Second printings 

Someone asked on one of the Facebook groups, discussing the v8 #6 Gold Lantern sell-through, when else that had happened in Legion history. I found that this appears to be the 11th time that a Legion book has gone back to print. From my Field Guide to Legion Variants:

Legionnaires #18 - September 1994
Legionnaires #18 was part 4 of "End of an Era". The second printing came out about 4 weeks after the original printing, and can be distinguished primarily by the different color Zero Hour logos (red with white letters on the first, yellow with red letters on the second). Additionally, there's a small "II" in the price box in the upper left corner, and the color palette is slightly different between the two - the blacks are darker on the reprint and the reds are more muted.

First printing Art by Stuart Immonen & Wade von Grawbadger	Second printing Art by Stuart Immonen & Wade von Grawbadger

Valor #23 - September 1994
Valor #23 was part 5 of "End of an Era". The second printing came out about 4 weeks after the original printing, and can be distinguished primarily by the different color Zero Hour logos (red with white letters on the first, yellow with red letters on the second). Additionally, there's a small "II" in the price box in the upper left corner, and the color palette is slightly different between the two - the blacks are darker on the reprint and the reds are more muted, just like above.

First printing Art by Stuart Immonen & Jose Marzan Jr.	Second printing Art by Stuart Immonen & Jose Marzan Jr.

JSA Classified #2 - October 2005
The first four issues of this new series had Power Girl as the lead feature, but the Legion was only on the cover of issue 2. Issue 1 was an unexpected success (with two covers, one by Amanda Conner and one by Adam Hughes) that it soon got a 2nd and 3rd printing. The Threeboot Legion had a cameo at the end of issue 1. They joined Power Girl on the cover of issue 2, but only the first printing and not the 2nd or 3rd. Their part of the story ended in issue 3, which had a second printing. This version of the Legion was just a hoax by the Psycho Pirate though. See the original 2005 post for more.

First printing Art by Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti	Second printing Art by Adam Hughes
Third printing Art by Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #16 - May 2006

The second printing got a sketch cover, which came out about a month later. The typical "One Year Later" logo for line-wide event has been altered to "1001 Years Later" to match the setting of the issue. (See my original post from 2006 for a look at the covers without the logos; the second printing was much lighter blue.)

First printing cover Art by Barry Kitson & Mick Gray	Second printing cover Art by Barry Kitson

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1 - October 2008

Spinning out of "Final Crisis", this series had the Reboot, the Threeboot, and the Retroboot Legions all meet up for the second time (the first was in an untold tale). 

Main cover (first printing) Art by George Pérez	Second printing Art by George Pérez

Legion of Super-Heroes v6 #1 - July 2010

This one has a 1/10 variant cover by Lee/Williams, with a second printing that was just the pencils by Jim Lee. Despite being issue #1, this was actually part 3 of the 6-part cover poster, representing the 1970s.

Variant cover (1st printing) Art by Jim Lee & Scott Williams	Second printing Art by Jim Lee

Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #1 - October 2011 

This series had a total of seven covers: the "A" and "B" covers, by Phil Jimenez and Keith Giffen, respectively, with the "B" cover at 1/4 of the "A" cover; two Retailer Incentive covers RI-A-1 and RI-A-2, each by Gabriel Rodriguez, and the wraparound cover version combining both, as cover RI-B; the Hastings Retailer Exclusive cover, which was a black and white version of the Jimenez "A" cover; and the second printing, which was a black and white version of the Giffen "B" cover.

"B" cover Art by Keith Giffen	Second printing Art by Keith Giffen

Legion Lost v2 #1 - November 2011
Like many first issues of the New 52 era, this one went to a second printing, differentiated by a red background color.

First printing Art by Pete Woods	Second printing Art by Pete Woods

Legion of Super-Heroes v7 #1 - November 2011
Like many first issues of the New 52 era, this one went to a second printing, differentiated by a red background color.

First printing Art by Karl Kerschl	Second printing Art by Karl Kerschl

Superman v4 #14 - August 28, 2019
This issue and Supergirl #33 were originally to go on sale on 08/14/19, but less than a week prior to that date, DC asked retailers to destroy all copies of these issues and told them that replacement copies would be sent to go on sale later. This issue was delayed to 08/28/19, Supergirl #33 was delayed to 09/04/19. DC's stated reason was that the original issues had covers that featured a "Year of the Villain" logo, but these issues had no ties to that event so they would be re-issued with new covers. This reasoning was questioned, as there was another issue on sale the same week, Catwoman #14, that also had a "Year of the Villain" cover logo and a story that had no ties to the event, and that issue was not recalled. Subsequent speculation centered around the introduction of the new Legion of Super-Heroes in the Superman and Supergirl issues, and the depiction of Lightning Lad's ethnicity. In the published issue, Lightning Lad is portrayed as dark-skinned, in leaked images of the original printing, Lightning Lad was light-skinned. The second printing featured the standard cover by Reis and Prado with an orange background instead of blue, and went on sale 10/2/19.

Superman #14 Replacement standard cover Art by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado	Superman #14 Second Printing Art by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 8) #6 - August 2020
Issue 6 had two variants on 6/9/20. This was the first issue back after the industry shut down in March due to the coronavirus. Interestingly, speculators decided that this issue has the potential to be the next hot book due to the character of Gold Lantern, who is spotlighted on the cover (pay no attention to the fact that he actually debuted in LSH: Millennium #2). Interest in this book was so high that it sold out within 3 days of going on sale, prompting DC to go back to print on this one (released July 7) as well as add a new variant cover to issue 7.

LSH volume 8 #6 Standard cover Art by Ryan Sook and Travis Moore	LSH volume 8 #6 Second printing Art by Ryan Sook and Travis Moore