Legion Worlds: coming eventually

Here's an excerpt from a project I've been working on since May 2015. I call it "Legion Worlds" (for now, at least). Or maybe it should be "Where's Where in the Legion of Super-Heroes"? I guess "Encyclopedia Galactica" is already taken.

This logo by Josh Beatman of Brainchild Studios, as seen on Todd Klein's blog of Legion logo studies here.

Back in 2007, Geoff Johns (who apparently read my blog at the time) emailed me to ask if I could help with a project he was working on, which later turned out to be Legion of 3 Worlds. He asked "Do you know where I can get a list of the members of the United Planets from the original series - up to Crisis?" I was able to give him the list of UP worlds in a list that combined the "World Book" and the "Atlas of the DC Universe" from the Mayfair role playing game, "Who's Who in the LSH", and Mark Waid's Legion index (later published as "The Official Index to the LSH" from ICG). I came up with a list of 158 named worlds. If he used anything from my list, I don't know for certain.

But that exchange got me thinking, "I should do some more research to find out if such a list exists". Never found anything that had been created as part of Interlac of the Legion Outpost. But I eventually found a list generated by "Portfolio Boy" on the Legion Worlds message board in 2014, and it was just what I was looking for - but it only went up to Adventure Comics #349.

So beginning in 2015, I went back and looked up every Legion story starting with Adventure Comics #247, and made notes on every dimension, galaxy, solar system, star, planet, country, city, and building that I could find, including whatever history was given, notable inhabitants or animals, whose homeworld it is, and anything else the Encyclopedia Galactica said about it. I'm up through LSH v3 #45 now, covering up to early 1988 ("only" 30 years of history!). I intend this first volume to cover the Pre-Crisis, Post-Crisis, Five Years Later, Retroboot, and New 52; the Reboot, Threeboot, and Rebirth versions will come later (and will be far shorter). This should be the definitive list of Legion-related worlds (plus some 20th century places they visited).

Once I'm done (eventually), I will release it with a Creative Commons license.

This is just the list of "A" places (1958-1988). Who remembers all of these? I have 93 pages of notes so far, covering A-Z plus numbers and unnamed places.

1. Aarok
2. Aegea
3. Aktar
4. Aldebaran
5. Alkoz
6. Alkrania
7. Alpha-4
8. Alpha XVII
9. Altair
10. Althar
11. Amadus
12. Amarta
13. Amazonia
14. Ananke (12th Moon of Jupiter)
15. Andalu
16. Andromeda Galaxy
17. Angtu 
18. Anakar
19. Ankar
20. Antares II
21. Anterio
22. Anti-Matter Universe
23. Anv
24. Anvor
25. Apokolips
26. Arane II
27. Arbro
28. Arctoraan
29. Arcturus
30. Ardemo
31. Arguv
32. Arion Star
33. Arnak
34. Arok-1 and Arok-2
35. Arturus
36. Asteroid 108
37. Asteroid Archipelago
38. Asteroid 73-Q
39. Asteroid Belt
40. Asteroid X52
41. Asteroid YW-89
42. Asteroid Z
43. Asteroid Zone
44. Asteroid ZYX-1W
45. Avalon
46. Avatanda

Meanwhile: Kingdom Come #1 notes

Over on the podcast when doing LSH v4 #81 (episode 804), we noted that there was an ad for a then-new story called Kingdom Come, which had its first issue come out the next week, a week before Legionnaires #38. On the show, I have a recurring segment called "Meanwhile..." named of course after Dick Giordano's house ad columns, reused here to mention what's going on with the Legion (or Legionnaires) outside of the main book that doesn't necessarily warrant full coverage on the podcast.

So here's what I came up with for the surprising amount of Legion content in the book that is nearly devoid of it, as used on the podcast for Legionnaires #38 (episode 805).

The week before this issue came out (5/8/1996) saw the publication of Kingdom Come #1. In last week’s episode, we mentioned that there was an ad for it in LSH 81. This iconic story includes some Legionnaires and Legion-adjacent characters. In the comic itself, we only saw the characters, usually without names, but the names and backstories were given in the trading card set and later from the supplement to the Slipcase edition of Kingdom Come, called "Revelations". And originally designated as an Elseworld, it later became Earth-22 and it (and its characters) eventually crossed over into the mainstream DC Universe.

• Starman VII: The card set describes him as "formerly Star Boy, from the 30th century." "Revelations" adds the following: The eighth character to bear this title is actually a design culled from my childhood supergroup creation. Since my design was so obviously inspired by the Legion of Super Heroes 1970s Star Boy costume, I figured that this Starman should be the grown-up incarnation of that character, transplanted to our time from the 30th Century (much like Karate Kid was for a time, as well as many of his contemporaries have been on occasion). It is not known how he travelled to the Kingdom Come timeline. This Starman was later retconned to be a time-lost Thom Kallor from the Retroboot who got stuck there before coming to current Earth in the Lightning Saga.
  
• A new character called Demon Damsel; the card set calls her a "would-be Legion of Superheroes member." Mark Waid says Demon Damsel is a new character, and not someone who actually applied, in the comics, to be a LSH member. The Revelations supplement adds this about her, presumably from Alex Ross: "This is my sexy, childhood design for a villainess with a Legion of Super Heroes member sound to her name."
  
  
  
  
  
• Brainiac's Daughter (informally known as XTC) is a new character here. She was originally described as "the living computer's human progeny, and ancestor of Brainiac 5." However, this was later changed. From the "Revelations" supplement: “As silly as it sounds, this character is the combination of two songs by one of my favorite groups, XTC: "That's Really Super, Supergirl" and "Brainiac's Daughter." Apparently people assumed that her origin was from the coupling of old-time Legion lovebirds Brainiac 5 and Supergirl, and so, never having answered this question before myself, I'll go along with this idea. This also suggests that she has traveled back in time from the 30th Century.”
  
  
   
  
  
• Finally, The Legion of this timeline is shown only once in this issue as a cameo. Their costumes in most cases resemble those of the post-Zero Hour Legion, but there are a number of different members (Princess Projectra the human rather than as the anthropomorphic snake Sensor, Bouncing Boy, Chemical King, etc.). The Revelations supplement says this about Superboy & Supergirl, who were shown with Legion-inspired costumes: “The current inheritors of these classic Superman family roles may not have the same blood relationship to Superman that the former had, but they could still join the Legion just as the originals did. The 30th Century's interplanetary Legion of Super Heroes could well invite the super-youths to join their ranks and offer them a second home in the future. The implication in Kingdom Come is that at some point they will leave our modern era behind for the more settled society of superhumans in the future. Designing these costumes was a real joy, combining the modern Legion design aesthetic with the classic Silver Age outfits of Superboy and Supergirl. Superboy's current "mod" hairstyle is grown out like Superman's recent `do, but pulled back to give a sense of the original Boy of Steel's clean-cut look.”
  


 
(via Travis Ellisor's Legion Visual Reference Page)

SDCC 2023 Convention Exclusives: Supergirl & The LSH #23 covers by Hughes & Nakayama

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #23 - July 2023

For some reason, DC decided to put out some San Diego Comic Con 2023 exclusives around Supergirl and the Legion #23 from back in 2006. You'll recall at the time there was the regular Barry Kitson cover and a special (for unknown reasons) variant 1:10 cover from Adam Hughes. 

Regular coverArt by Barry Kitson	1:10 VariantArt by Adam Hughes

Well, that Hughes variant was on sale at SDCC 2023 in a couple variants of its own:

• "Virgin Foil" variant, with the cover in foil with no logo
• "Superman #51 Mexican foil variant" (I don't know what it reprints inside, as this shows Tomasi/Janin as the creative team instead of Waid/Kitson/Gray). I don't think it's the "La Mole" version (see below) since that has #43 on the cover, not #51.

 

Additionally, two other brand-new versions of SLSH #23 were for sale:

• David Nakayama "Pink Stars with Foil" Virgin 
• David Nakayama "Sky Blue" DNA Trade Dress (non-foil)

On his Instagram page, Nakayama says:

My final exclusive for SDCC is my first-ever SUPERGIRL cover!😃❤️👍Available in sky blue or pink stars with FOIL, this special edition of SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES No.23 is ONLY available at the WHATNOT HEROES HOUSE across from the convention center.

 

So then I went down the rabbit hole looking up the Mexican version. One of the most helpful things I found was this 20-minute YouTube video from 2020 talking about the different international versions:

• The US version that we are familiar with (Dec 2006), they estimate 4000-4500 copies exist
• From Italy, "Supergirl e la Legione dei Super-Eroi" #4 (2007), reprinting S/LSH #22-23
• From Spain, "Supergirl y la Legion de Superheroes" #8 (2007), reprinting S/LSH #23
• From Mexico, "Superman" #43 (2017), "La Mole" convention exclusive, reprinting Action Comics #51, Superman #51, Batman/Superman #31, and Superman/Wonder Woman #28

However, I don't track foreign versions, so I won't be adding those to my Cover Variant Field Guide, but there are a lot of Adam Hughes collectors who seek these out because either (a) they're less expensive than the US version, and they're just looking for one for their collection, or (b) they are obsessive collectors who must have every version. I will, however, add these four new ones to the 2006 Field Guide.

And if you're an obsessive collector, a pen/ink version of the cover (pre-painted) appears in Hughes' 2007 sketchbook called "Thongs You Know by Heart", as seen in this screen grab from the YouTube video. No idea where I got the work-in-progress images below that.

 

And just for funsies, here's a computer wallpaper (1024x768) for you to download that I found somewhere, based on the original Hughes version.

Flashback: how old were the Reboot Legionnaires supposed to be?

As the podcast is just now starting to get into the Reboot timeline, I thought this post might be relevant to resurrect (here's the original).

This came out over on the Compuserve Comics and Animation Forum. Back in the olden days, many of the comics creators were active on the moderated message boards (and to some extent on the unmoderated Usenet newsgroups). Among those on Compuserve were many Legion creators, including Mark Waid, Tom McCraw, Kurt Busiek, and Jeff Moy. This came out around the time of the zero issues, in response to questions about the various members ages.

Tom McCraw, writing to Mark Waid for confirmation, suggested these. Waid read it and never commented on it. Since we're doing a re-read, I will post the relevant panels as we see their ages (as of May 2994).

Forum:  Comics/Animation+ Section:  Comic Books

Subj :  Legionaires #0

To   :  Mark Waid Saturday, September 03, 1994  2:06:23 AM

From :  TOM McCRAW #679086

MARK,

In response to Juliana Kristi's question on the age of the Legion members I've  listed below.  Mark, You may correct me if I goof on someone.

Cosmic Boy -     Rokk Krinn  age 15

Saturn Girl-     Imra Ardeen age 15

Live Wire -    Garth Ranzz   age 14

Apparition -     Tiny Wazzo  age 15

Triad -        Luornu Durgo  age 16

Leviathan -       Gim Allon  age 17

Kid Quantum -   James Cullen age 16

XS -           Jenni Ognats  age 14

Invisible Kid -   Lyle Norg  age 16

On Chameleon and Brainac 5 I'm still trying to figure out the math on Coluan and Durlan timelines. (and it's making my head hurt.)

Hopes this helps anyone who wants to know.

Tom

From Legionnaires #0, page 2, panel 2, we get confirmation of the ages of the founders.

From the new Omnicom pages in "LSH: The Beginning of Tomorrow" TPB, here's Luornu's age. Either she just turned 16 after this page (published May 7) came out, or they revised her age down from 16 to 15.

I later (in 1995) asked Tom about the other Legionnaires who had joined since the above was written. 

Forum:  Comics/Animation Section:  Comic Books

Subj :  LSH CMMTS - LSH #76

To   :  Michael Grabois Wednesday, November 29, 1995  1:51:22 PM

From :  TOM McCRAW #1062756

Michael,

Here are some additions, even if they aren't Legion members yet or not.

VALOR-              Lar Gand age 18

GATES-        Ti'Julk Mr'Asz age 18

SPARK-            Alya Ranzz age 14

KINETIX -         Zoe Saugin age 15

ANDROMEDA-       Laurel Gand age 16

SHRINKING VIOLET- Salu Digby age 14 (almost 15)

Chuck Taine                  age 16

STAR BOY         Thom Kallor age 16

Lori Morning                 age 10 (even if she doesn't look her age)

No word on Cham yet, noone can really understand him except Lyle and Brainy is very vauge about his information.  Quote:  "Why does it matter?"

Hope this helps and let me know next time you want another up-date.

Tom

Jimbo Fett's Reboot Timeline

Friend of the blog and friend of the podcast Jimbo Fett (of Jim's Legion Blog fame) has shared with me his best attempt at making the Legion Reboot timeline. As you saw in my 5YL timelines, some dates were given while others were implied, and some were just educated guesses (like "let's say it takes a day of travel to get from one solar system to another"). Jim has done that for the Reboot series and I offered to post it here. All the work and credit goes to him!

This will be a work in progress as we refine the dates (as needed) when we cover the issue on the show.

A lot of dates are referenced from LSH Secret Files #1, so that's just abbreviated as LSHSF in the table below. This timeline does NOT attempt to figure out when the 20th century events happened between when half the group got sent back in time in LSH v4 #84 and when they were reunited in #100 (but if anyone has come up with proposed dates, I'll be happy to post it or link it here!).

We know the "report by" date is 5/31, so the 5/25 date for the founding (and thus all the other dates that are keyed off of it) is somewhat arbitrary but a reasonable assumption.

Issue	Date	Event	Reference Info
LSH v4 #0	May 9, 2994	Brande is saved from assassination	Omnicom page from the "LSH: Beginning of Tomorrow" TPB
LSH v4 #0	May 25, 2994	Brande charters the Legion with Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Live Wire as the first members	In LSH v4 Annual #6 & Legionnaires #0 - "Report by 29940531", so this date is arbitrary based on 2-3 days between issues
LSH Secret Files #1	May 26, 2994	Legion captures Grimbor	Founding + 1 day (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #0	May 28, 2994	UP Senate is attacked	Founding + 3 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #0; LSH v4 Annual #6	May 29, 2994	Apparition and Triad join the team; draft notices sent out to Gim Allon, Lyle Norg, Jenni Ognats, James Cullen, Querl Dox, and a Durlan	Assume a couple of days prior to "Report by date"
Legionnaires #0	May 31, 2994	Date given for draftees to report (not shown)	Legionnaires #0
LSH v4 #62	June 1, 2994	Leviathan, Invisible Kid, XS, Chameleon, and Kid Quantum join; KQ killed in action	Founding + 7 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #19	June 4, 2994	Funeral for Kid Quantum is bombed, but mitigated by XS	Assume 3 days later. Brande to Brainy - "Your membership was approved last week"
LSH v4 #63	June 7, 2994	HQ opened	Founding + 13 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #20	June 8, 2994	Legion faces off against Mano	Founding + 14 days (LSHSF #1)
LSH v4 #64	June 9, 2994	Intro of Ultra Boy, Spark replaces Livewire	Founding + 15 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #21; LSH v4 #65; Legionnaires #22	June 12, 2994	Planet Hell, parts 1-3	Founding + 18 days (LSHSF #1)
LSH v4 #66	June 17, 2994	Andromeda, Violet, Kinetix drafted	Founding + 23 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #23	June 21, 2994	Girls night out; Invisible Kid invents the flight ring	Founding + 27 days (LSHSF #1)
LSH v4 #67; Legionnaires #24; LSH v4 #68	June 24, 2994	Tangleweb II; Assault on Triad	Founding + 30 days (LSHSF #1)
Showcase '95 #6	June 26, 2994	Legion Academy story	This has to take place prior to the fight with the Composite Man: Apparition and Andromeda are behaving somewhat civilly, and it's before Andromeda gets sick
Legionnaires #25; LSH v4 #69	June 28, 2994	The Legion fights and defeats the Composite Man; Saturn Girl hospitalized	Founding + 34 days (LSHSF #1)
LSH Annual #6	June 29, 2994	Shvaughn Erin officially assigned new role as Legion liaison; Zoe & Vi's trip where Kinetix loses her powers	Founding + 35 days (LSHSF #1)
LSH Annual #6	June 30, 2994	Shvaughn finds out she’s the new liaison and reviews the Legionnaires files	In order to make the Zoe/Vi story fit the timeline, Shvaughn doesn’t find out until the next day about her new assignment
Showcase '95 #6	July 2, 2994	Leviathan assists Shvaughn, Gigi, and Deacon in bringing in criminals	After LSH Annual 6 (since Shvaughn is the new LSH liaison), but before the Triangle War
Legionnaires #26	July 4, 2994	Micah Aven tries to aid Saturn Girl; the Workforce fights the White Triangle	A sick Andromeda crashes through the monitor room, so assume a day before LSH v4 #70.
LSH v4 #70	July 5, 2994	Brainy cures Laurel. Kinetix leaves.	Founding + 41 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #27	July 6, 2994	Introduction of Roxxas as a Daxamite	Andromeda recovered
LSH v4 #71; Legionnaires #28	July 7, 2994	Stargate network and Trom destroyed by the White Triangle Daxamites	Just before the Daxamite attack on Earth (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires Annual 2	July 8, 2994	White Triangle War. Andromeda and Apparition apparently killed	Founding + 44 days (LSHSF #1)
LSH v4 #72	July 10, 2994	Memorial Service for the fallen Legionnaires	Estimated a couple days after Annual events
Legionnaires #29	July 11, 2994	Dirk Morgna taken hostage and mutated by Dr. Regulus	Founding + 47 days (LSHSF #1)
LSH v4 #73; Legionnaires #30 pages 1-19	July 12, 2994	Garth hunts down Mekt; Garth and Ayla defeat Mekt, but Garth loses his arm	Founding + 48 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #30 pages 20-22; LSH v4 #74; Legionnaires #31	July 15, 2994	Superboy/Future Tense (parts 1 & 2); XS is lost in the time stream	Founding + 51 days (LSHSF #1)
LSH v4 #75; Legionnaires #32	July 16, 2994	2-Timer parts 1 & 2	Founding + 52 days (LSHSF #1)
LSH v4 #76	July 18, 2994	Repairs continue. Gates & Star Boy join the team	Founding + 54 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #33; LSH v4 #77; Legionnaires #34	July 20, 2994	Starfinger attacks the Legion, Kinetix bargains with Mysa; Nara Minsork mentally interrogates Brainiac 5; Starfinger defeated and revealed to be Jan Arrah.	Founding + 56 days (LSHSF #1)
Impulse #9; Flash v2 #109; Impulse #10; Flash v2 #110; Impulse #11; Flash v2 #111; Impulse #12; Flash #112; Legionnaires Annual #3	N/A	XS, stuck in the 20th century, finds Impulse and they hang out before finding themselves helping to fight Savitar in "Dead Heat". Afterwards, she hangs out with Bart and then jumps through time, only to find herself meeting her grandfather Barry Allen in the 30th century, Ultra-Man in the far future, and the Time Trapper at the end of time, who sends her back to her time.	XS is lost in the time stream in LSH v4 #74, finds herself in the 20th century in #75, and returns at the end of Legionnaires #35.
LSH v4 #78; Legionnaires #35; LSH v4 #79; Legionnaires #36	July 22, 2994	With the threat of the Sun Eater, President Chu orders the Legion to assemble the Fatal Five; XS returns from being lost in time; back at HQ, Shvaughn, Lori, Tenzil, Chuck and Rond defend against Protean invaders; the Legion fights the Fatal Five; Fatal Five defeated, Kinetix returns to the team	Founding + 58 days (LSHSF #1)
LSH v4 #80	July 23, 2994	Chu's control of Starfinger and the Fatal Five is revealed. She is deposed and Brande is elected president	Founding + 59 days (LSHSF #1)
Showcase '96 #8	July 24, 2994	Leviathan, Gates, and XS go to Dagosk on behalf of the UP	Takes place before Leviathan is directed to take a team to Xanthu in LSH #81
Legionnaires #37	July 25, 2994	Lar Gand/Valor is re-christened as M'Onel	Estimate between LSH v4 #80 and Legionnaires #38
LSH v4 #81	July 26, 2994	The Legion attempts to help Dirk Morgna.	Estimate between Legionnaires #37 and #38
Legionnaires #38	July 27, 2994	Vi elected leader. The founders visit Titan.	Founding + 63 days (LSHSF #1)
LSH v4 #82	July 30, 2994	A Legion team visits Xanthu. Tinya's ghost manifests itself from within Jo.	Arbitrary date between the prior issues
Legionnaires #39	August 2, 2994	Strange things happen in the Legion HQ. The Legion is summoned to Vega to confront Regulus	Just prior to LSH v4 #83
LSH v4 #83	August 3, 2994	Leviathan dies in battle with Regulus	Founding + 70 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #40; LSH v4 #84; Legionnaires #41	August 4, 2994	Emerald Legion parts 1 & 2: half the team is thrown back to the 20th century	Founding + 71 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #41	August 5, 2994	Aftermath of the Emerald Legion. Funeral for Leviathan	Assumed - 1 day between LSH v4 #84 and Legionnaires #42
Legionnaires #42	August 6, 2994	Kinetix & others abducted by Mysa. Kinetix's powers returned. Garth appointed temporary leader	Founding + 73 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #43	August 10, 2994	Legion tryouts	Founding + 77 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #44; LSH v4 #88 (p 1-3)	August 11, 2994	Lori’s 11th birthday; Rond contacts the 20th century team; Mordru's tomb is discovered; new members Sensor, Umbra and Magno go on mission	Live Wire to new recruits - "You joined yesterday." Legionnaires #44 p 9 and LSH v4 #88 p 1-3 show the holo meeting between the two teams from each side.
Legionnaires #45	August 13, 2994	Mantis Morlo causes havoc on Vygra; Lyle elected leader	Founding + 80 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #46	August 15, 2994	M'Onel recruits Laurel Gand to search for Violet. Jeka and Reep go on a date.	Issue picks up just after prior with Thom taking Nura home
Legionnaires #47	August 20, 2994 (Oct 1996)	Crossover with 20th century team (issue partially takes place in 1996); entire Legion temporarily reunited in the timestream	Story opens w/Lyle & Dragonmage. Legionnaires #48 Lyle says this happened "yesterday"
Legionnaires #48; Legionnaires #49; Legionnaires #50	August 21, 2994	Emerald War begins; Legion, Workforce and Amazers unite to attack Mordru; Violet freed from the Emerald Eye; Mordru defeated	Founding + 88 days (LSHSF #1); Brande says Sklar was destroyed "today" - i.e., Legionnaires #48
Legionnaires #51; Legionnaires #52	August 22, 2994	Emerald War aftermath; Vi gains growth powers	Founding + 89 days (LSHSF #1)
Legionnaires #53	August 25, 2994	Lori uses an H dial; Magno considers his future; Monstress adjusts to the team	Arbitrary. A couple days after Legionnaires #52
Legionnaires #54	Out of Time	The Legion experiences an alternate reality on 1940s Earth	Current Legion only in timestream - but with Vi there no one from the 20th c. team realizes she's not still possessed!
Legionnaires #55	August 29, 2994	The Legion fights the Composite Durlan again	Legionnaires #54 was "last week" so at least three or four days since Legionnaires #53
Legionnaires #56	August 31-ish, 2994	M'onel's story to keep him away from HQ	Legionnaires are not to be found - as they are all in LSH v4 #100. Valor's encounter with the Khunds keeps him away from HQ
LSH v4 #100	August 31, 2994	COMPUTO defeated. Legion Reunited	Concurrent with Legionnaires #56, prior to Ferro mission & Outpost dedication
LSH v4 #100	September 1, 2994	Violet & Ferro defeat Medusa	Assume 1 day prior to Outpost dedication based on Ferro comments
LSH v4 #100	September 2, 2994	Legion Day - Dedication of Legion Outpost Allon	Founding + 100 days (LSHSF #1) - Outpost Allon dedicated; assumes Legion Day story takes place earlier in the day as Kinetix gives her cape to Monstress
LSH v4 #100	September 3, 2994	Mysterious Deep space anomaly discovered by Andromeda.	Story happens after Outpost Allon dedication given Andromeda cameo in dedication story

Jim says "The Reboot timeline goes along pretty swimmingly until LSH #100, when Carlson leaves and McAvennie takes over. Up to then, the 30th century stories take place in 2994. After LSH 100, McAvennie makes everything back to the old publish year + 1000 model, which completely throws off any timeline tracking efforts."

Coming eventually: Jim says he'll work out a timeline post LSH #100, which we won't get to in the podcast until late 2025.

Mark Waid on writing "Valor" and the Legion's "End of an Era"

Prior to covering this week's episode of the podcast, which looked at the finale of the 5YL Legion in LSH v4 #61, I asked Mark Waid if he could answer some questions and share some stories about writing the Legion during this period in 1993-94. He was gracious enough to answer, and even told me some things I had never heard before. Thanks, Mark!

Omnicom: The first of the Legion books you started on was Valor with #11, which according to the solicitations was the “Beginning an exciting new direction for VALOR that will ultimately lead to a major shake-up in the DC Universe.” That issue came out when the Bierbaums were still writing both LSH (then on #47) and Legionnaires (then on #7), and was on sale a year before Zero Hour. Your first issue as regular writer wrapped up the plots from the previous team. How much did you know at the time about what DC was planning for the future of the DCU in the form of Zero Hour? How much direction were you given on the title?

Waid: At first, in the Valor days, the outcomes of Zero Hour were held close to the vest, though it helped enormously that Legion editor KC Carlson was also the editor of ZH--so he could at least set up guard rails for me, and I'm sure the solicits were from his keyboard, not mine, so he could say with some authority what I didn't at the time know.

Once we got to End of an Era, we knew the outcome of ZH, so we knew where we were going.

Omnicom: The Bierbaums were off of the LSH book with issue 50 and Tom McCraw took over as writer. Do you recall at what point you started working together to plot out the future of the Legion books?

Waid: I want to say about four months before the first chapter of End of an Era came out? It's hard to remember after all this time, but that would make sense.

Omnicom: The Bierbaums stayed on the Legionnaires book up through #15, and by that time Valor had finished up DOA – the 20th century version of the character was dead, and the SW6 version was now starring – while Tom’s LSH book was wrapping up the Legion on the Run story. It’s clear (in retrospect) that things were moving towards something big, and Kurt Busiek joined the writing team. Can you talk about the writing process bringing together three books which up until that time had not been involved with each other?

Waid: Well, Tom, KC and I were friends as well as workmates, so the process was easy--and bringing Kurt in was to help me out because I couldn't juggle all my pieces of End of an Era and hit my other deadlines. I didn't have a whole lot of personal communication with Kurt in the process (though we, too, were friends)--mostly, he was just springing off the outline that Tom and I had crafted--but it was nonetheless a seamless process as I recall.

Omnicom: Somewhere in there is the infamous “it’s broken and we can’t fix it!” plotting session. Can you go through what you, Tom, Kurt, and KC Carlson & Mike McAvennie (and whoever else) went through in figuring out how to try to fix and then end the series? Were you given any story beats to hit or avoid other than to make sure that things matched up with the Zero Hour title? Was that decision yours (collectively) or was there a mandate from above to end with a Legion reboot?

Waid: Oh, there was far more than one "how do we fix this?" plotting session. KC, Tom and I spent countless hours across several weekends in Tom's studio throwing ideas around. And as I have said repeatedly, even though hardcore Legion fans don't want to believe me, the amount of energy we spent trying to figure out some way to salvage existing LSH continuity could move the Pyramid at Giza. Remember, all of us were die-hard Legion fans. Tom and I were both long-time members of Interlac, the Legion fan group. I knew more about the Legion at that point than probably anyone else in the world save maybe Paul Levitz--I was the one who created the famous Legion Index covering all of Legion history in excruciating detail. We loved the Legion. We didn't want to bury history. But at the same time, no matter how many plotting paths we went down in order to salvage it, they all became just too Byzantine, and I distinctly recall pointing out late in the game that it felt like we were trying to build a house on shifting sand. The Superman office had already dictated that there were to be none, zero, no ties between the LSH and the Superman mythos, and other DC editorial offices were following suit, stripping us of mention of the Green Lantern Corps and the Thanagarians, both of which had played a role in LSH history. And we had no idea what we'd be stripped of next. Every attempt to simply replace verboten characters with other characters took us to places that would be more confusing than edifying to non-hardcore LSH readers. No one was campaigning for a reboot. It wasn't a goal; it was a necessary evil that we all then tried to make the best of.

Omnicom: I became a member of online fandom on Compuserve during Zero Hour, right before LSH #61 (the finale) came out, and I recall a discussion of that two-page spread at the end where we see vignettes of various points in Legion history. Can you talk about that? If I remember correctly, you had asked fandom what to put there (without telling them what you were going to do).

Waid: I did reach out to my fellow Legion fans, but the obvious choices were obvious--Ferro Lad, the cover of Adventure 312, and so forth. The only image I can take personal credit for is the image of Luornu crawling through Superboy's secret tunnel in Smallville; it resonated (and still resonates) with me in a hugely emotional way, being the perfect condensation in one image of writer Jim Shooter's skill at characterization, the moment that we really got hit hard with the intensity of her crush on Superboy and the tragedy of knowing they'd never be together. I knew that image would resonate with the hardcore fans--a few years earlier, in 1992, I'd been at a Legion fan gathering where someone had put together a slide show commemorating the Legionnaires who'd died in battle, and when that image of Luornu came up, the entire room gasped a melancholy gasp. It was a beautiful and moving moment.

I was surprised to hear Mark say that "other DC editorial offices were following suit, stripping us of mention of the Green Lantern Corps and the Thanagarians", that's something I had never heard before. The Superman office, yes, but not Green Lantern or even the Thanagarians.

LSH v4 #61 annotations: That's all, folks!

 Annotations for LSH v4 #61:

• On sale 7/26/94
• Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 727 (September 19, 2022)
• Timeline: 10/2/2995

Notes:

• Recap: At the End of Time, Rokk spends time in the Infinite Library and eventually meets Time Trapper, who reveals to Rokk that (a) he had been trying to help the Legion all along because the temporal duplicates (not clones) were messing up time too much, and (b) he is actually a version of Rokk himself. Meanwhile, in the 30th century, Mordru is defeated by members of the Legion on Talus, but projects himself into the heart of the Pocket Universe Earth, which is soon going to self-destruct. Elsewhere, Superman leads a team from the 20th century into the 30th to stop the wave of destruction. After they are successful, the Time Trapper arrives with Rokk and sends the 20th century heroes back home. But a little while later, someone appears and reopens the rift to restart the end of everything. (See LSH v4 #60, Legionnaires #18, Valor #23, Zero Hour #3, and Zero Hour #2).
• Cover: “End of an Era: The Real Conclusion” because you’ll recall that on the cover of Legionnaires #17, which was EoE part 1, it read “End of an Era: Conclusion” instead. Even the logo is fading to white.
• Page 3 panel 1: The remaining Legionnaires include two Brainys, two Chucks, two Tenzils, two Luornus, two Nuras, two Jans, two Aylas, two Thoms, two Violets, and one each of SW6 Inferno, SW6 Ultra Boy, SW6 Apparition, Night Girl, Wildfire, Imra, and Garth.
• Page 4 panel 2: Now we have two Jos, two Imras, two Garths, and one new SW6 Cosmic Boy, arriving after helping out at New Earth in ZH #2
• Page 6 panel 1: Everyone seems to remember the Time Trapper now, but for most of the series (and since the Mordruverse back in issue 5) he has been gone from continuity, replaced by Glorith
• Page 9 panel 5: So basically, the only ones left are duplicates (with Night Girl gone, everyone has a double except for Apparition, Wildfire, and Inferno), and by merging they will be able to save the universe
• Pages 10-11: Let’s check in with our other supporting cast and watch them vanish – Tellus; Mekt and Loomis; Ivy and Kent; Porcupine Pete and the Subs; and Garridan and Graym.
• Page 13 panel 2: Wildfire’s secret that he’s been hiding for several issues is that his energy is inside Dirk’s body
• Page 15: finally, the return of Tinya, who was actually dead for a while
• Page 19: and after everyone has gone, it’s only the founders left with the Time Trapper
• Pages 23-24: For this page, Mark Waid reached out to Legion fans online for some memories of the Legion. The ones on this page include the new guys who joined in LSH v3 #14; the resurrection of Lightning Lad from Adventure #312; the sacrifice of Ferro Lad from Adventure #355; Luornu crawling through the tunnel from Adventure #369; saving Brande in the origin story from Superboy #147; the death of Karate Kid in LSH v3 #4; and Cham coming to Rokk in LSH v4 #1.
• Page 25: And that’s all she wrote, kids. The Legion fades to white. 
• I've been carefully trying to keep an accurate record of what day things happened. I've had to make some assumptions along the way (like it takes a day to get from one planet to another, or how long is "several weeks later") and as best as I can tell, today is roughly October 2, 2995. Issue 1 took place on October 23, 2994. So not even a full year has passed since Cham came to Rokk and decided to get the band back together.

The Legion may be gone, but there are still two more issues of Zero Hour to wrap things up.

---

Cutting down the timeline to just the last few days of story as we get close to Zero Hour. 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 (cyan). Bold text is something new added this issue. Italics are unknown dates.

Due to the timelines in the stories bouncing between 2995 and 1994 and things happening "simultaneously" 1001 years apart, I'm keeping the events in the order that they happen to the people involved, not strictly chronological by day and year. To make it easier to follow, the 1994 dates will be in red text and anything outside of time (like at the beginning or end of time) will be in blue text.

• Fri 9/29/95: Arriving at Weber’s World, the team tries to stop the Khunds’ bombs from destroying the planet; Dawnstar arrives and meets Wildfire; Firefist kills Veilmist; and after studying at the Infinite Library, Glorith travels to Tharn where she restores Mordru’s powers to help her conquer the universe (LSHv4 #58). Meanwhile, SW6 Brainy & Triad find that Valor has been retconned from history (Valor #13, Legionnaires #16 pages 9-10), so a team of Legionnaires goes back in time to find out what happened (Valor #14, Legionnaires #16 page 10).
• Outside of time: the Legionnaires enter the time stream and crash their Time Bubble (Valor #15); the Legionnaires fight Valor and find out that Lori is Glorith (Valor #16), and then fight Glorith, but Valor succumbs to the effects of his lead poisoning and dies; SW6 Valor appears (Valor #17); Brainiac 5 tells SW6 Valor that he will have to spend another 1000 years in the Phantom Zone in order to save time, and Valor does not take it well (Valor #18), but the presence of Waverider and seeing his fellow Legionnaires vanish changes his mind. Once he accepts his fate, the Legionnaires appear back in their own time and the legend of Valor is restored (Valor #19, Legionnaires #16 page 11. From Vanishing Point, the Linear Men see a timequake affect the 30th century (Valor #20), which causes Dream Girl and Star Boy to appear (Legionnaires #16).
• The Legionnaires instantly return to their present, unaware of their meeting with Glorith and the Valors (Valor #15-19, Legionnaires #16 page 11); Star Boy, Dream Girl, and Bouncing Boy appear with the Legionnaires and Ferro Lad is long dead, leading Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad – who seem to be the only ones aware that something funny is going on – to take a Time Bubble to figure it out (even though Invisible Kid and Rond Vidar are secretly aware that something’s happening); Polestar appears at New Earth (Legionnaires #16, LSHv4 #59); Rond, SW6 Brainiac 5, and SW6 Invisible Kid arrive on Weber’s World in a time bubble at the same time as with Mon-El, Shadow Lass, and Dev-Em, but they're all too late to prevent the death of Laurel Gand from the Khund bomb; Jo leaves for 1994 to find Tinya (LSHv4 #59). The SW6 Legionnaires confront Polestar at New Earth (Legionnaires #17).
• Sat 8/6/1994: Valor tries to re-create the feats he did before he went into the Phantom Zone, but fails; the Linear Men watch Valor from Vanishing Point (Valor #20). As a result of the timeline issues, Valor splits into multiple copies of himself and manages to do all the things that legend said he did over the years, in just a few hours, then resigns himself to having Glorith send him back to the Bgztl Twilight dimension. But the Linear Men realize it’s too late, the future is doomed (Valor #21).
• Sun 8/7/1994: Jo Nah arrives from the future in the time bubble (L.E.G.I.O.N. #68). He meets who he thinks is Tinya, but it turns out to have been her cousin Enya all along. He wants to bring her back to the 30th century (L.E.G.I.O.N. #69).
• Sat 9/30/95: Laurel Gand is laid to rest on Shanghalla in a ceremony attended by a number of adult and SW6 Legionnaires, after which Glorith and Mordru attack the group with replicas of some of their old foes and kidnap Rokk, and then Dawnstar fades out (Legionnaires #17). Valor and others go to New Earth to help RJ Brande bring Pocket Earth into this universe, but while the Subs and several Legionnaires blink out of existence, Pocket Earth turns out to be unstable and will explode in 72 hours (Valor #22). Rokk tries but can’t escape Mordru and Glorith (LSHv4 #60).
• Sun 10/1/95: Rokk escapes Mordru and Glorith by going into the Infinite Library; the surviving members of the adult and SW6 Legions meet on Winath to help look for Rokk, but when Glorith and Mordru show up on Talus seeking the Time Beacon, the Legions go there. The magicians call forth the Infinite Man, and then they take his powers. Gim Allon disappears when his SW6 counterpart Leviathan is killed (LSH v4 #60). Mordru and Glorith begin to remake the universe, and the Legion teams fight them and their evil dopplegangers. But one by one, more Legionnaires fade out. Mysa manages to break Mordru and Glorith apart which causes their spell to fail, at least temporarily, before she fades out (Legionnaires #18). Valor and Shadow Lass meet Pre-Crisis Superboy, who helps the Legions fight Glorith and Mordru. The team beats Glorith, and her Infinite Man powers flow to Valor. He then dumps it all on Mordru, who is unprepared to have his mind merge with the universe. Mordru teleports away into the core of Pocket Earth, which is ready to explode in a couple of days. Valor and Shady vanish, and after Superboy makes a rousing speech, he too vanishes (Valor #23).
• End of Time: Time Trapper is blasted by someone unknown, who starts to destroy time from the end going backwards and from the dawn of time going forwards (Zero Hour #4).
• 8/8/1994: Jo tries to go back to the future with Enya/Phase, but at the last second she leaves him and returns to her L.E.G.I.O.N. team (L.E.G.I.O.N. #70). His time bubble is blocked from going to the future moments later. SW6 Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Livewire fall out of the timestream in 1994, where they are met by Jo (Legionnaires #18). Meanwhile, the pre-Crisis Earth-1 Kal-El Superboy appears after helping the Legion and meets Kon-El Superboy in Smallville. Kal-El quickly realizes that this is a mix of his town and the post-Crisis Byrne version, and after a fight with Kon-El he realizes that he is the time anomaly here. Kon-El tells Kal-El that he will carry on the job as Superboy, and Kal-El vanishes (Superboy v3 #8). Batman, Superman, Metron, and GL Kyle Rayner contact heroes, including Emerald Dragon and the SW6 founders (Legionnaires #18) and Kon-El (Superboy v3 #8), to join up in New York City (Zero Hour #4). Metron notices that Impulse is from the 30th century (Zero Hour #3).
• End of Time: Rokk spends an infinite amount of time in the Infinite Library and meets the Time Trapper when he finally escapes (Legionnaires #18). The Time Trapper explains his history and reveals that the SW6 Legionnaires were taken from time by him, not cloned by the Dominators. But their continued existence warped time and caused the Trapper to go insane trying to “fix” things to actually protect the Legion from the Zero Hour energy wave (Valor #23). He then reveals himself to Rokk that the two of them are really temporal duplicates (Valor #23, also shown in Zero Hour #3).
• 8/8/1994: In the middle of the night, SW6 Saturn Girl, Livewire, and Cosmic Boy and Emerald Dragon join the gathering of heroes, including Superboy and Impulse (Zero Hour #3). Vril Dox launches a probe into the time stream to try to figure out what’s going on; it will reappear in ZH #1 (L.E.G.I.O.N. #70, Zero Hour #3). While trying to save NYC, Emerald Dragon reminds Booster Gold that they’ve met before. Afterwards, Waverider tells the heroes that they must try to stop time from eating itself in the past and in the future; the Legionnaires choose to go on the future mission, as this is their only way home. (Zero Hour #2)
• Beginning of Time: Waverider leads a team to the distant past. They are attacked by Extant, and Waverider sends the heroes back to their own time (Zero Hour #2).
• 10/2/2995: Meanwhile, Superman leads a team to New Earth in the 30th century where they see “the end of time and space”. Metron devises a plan to stop the future from collapsing; Captain Atom blasts Metron’s Mobius Chair inside a boom tube which apparently saves the day in the future. Polestar arrives with Time Trapper, who sends the 20th century heroes back to their home while the Legionnaires remain in the 30th century (Zero Hour #2).
• 8/8/1994: Extant says that he was not supposed to lose in the 30th century (Zero Hour #2).
• 10/2/2995: A little while later later, someone appears in the 30th century and reopens the rift in time to make sure things happen correctly (Zero Hour #2). The remaining Legionnaires (adult and SW6) arrive on Pocket Earth from Talus, only to find that they can’t stop the imminent destruction of the planet. The Time Trapper brings Rokk and the Legionnaires who just helped out at New Earth to Talus, and tells them that they are temporal duplicates and the only way to save the universe is by combining all of the counterparts (LSH v4 #61). The Time Trapper leaves the Legionnaires on Pocket Earth, saying the future is in their hands. It’s now a group of both adult and SW6 Garth, Imra, and Rokk, and the Trapper’s Iron Curtain of Time is the only thing protecting them. The Legionnaires and the universe fade to white (LSH v4 #61, Zero Hour #1).

Valor #23 annotations: End of an Era part 5

 Annotations for Valor #23:

• On sale 7/12/94
• Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 721 (August 8, 2022)
• Timeline: 10/1/2995, 8/8/1994, and the End of Time

Notes:

• Cover: shows Valor fading to white. In the late 1990s I met Kurt at a convention and had him sign my Valor “End of an Era” issues. Kurt wrote a word balloon for Valor on the cover, saying “No! Wait! Sales are going upppppp….. (Damn! There go the royalties!)” Just like last week’s Legionnaires #18 (End of an Era part 4), this one also had a second printing. It 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 Roman numeral "II" in the price box in the upper left corner of the reprint, and the color palette is slightly different between the two - the blacks are darker on the reprint and the reds are more muted, same as with the Legionnaires reprint.
• You can see the two covers in my Field Guide to Legion Second Printings at https://adventure247.blogspot.com/2020/07/second-printings-in-legion-history.html
• Here is what Kurt Busiek wrote on the cover to this issue:

  .@ColleenDoran @KurtBusiek Look what I recently discovered while cataloging my collection! pic.twitter.com/w7DkLyAItt

  — Michael Grabois (@mgrabois) July 2, 2022

• Page 1: this takes place 2 hours after Legionnaires #18.
• Page 3: glimpses of Valor’s previous life in this book, including him meeting the Justice League, fighting the future Braalians, with Glorith, and being dead, and also things that didn’t happen (that we saw) like pulling the sword from the stone, one-eyed pirate, and taking on the mantle of Superman.
• Page 4: meanwhile, at the end of time, Rokk has just come out of the Infinite Library and met the Time Trapper (who was dead, but he got better), as seen in Legionnaires #18
• Page 4 panel 1: this Time Trapper got his powers from the Infinite Library, an eternity ago
• Page 4 panel 3: the Iron Curtain of Time was built to protect the 30th century from the coming of the Zero Hour wave in this retcon
• Page 7 panel 1: the original pre-Crisis Superboy saved Valor and brought him and Shady to Talus to help fight Glorith and Mordru
• Page 8: no, it wasn’t the Dominators who created a set of clones in the Weisinger Chambers, it was the Time Trapper who split time and stored one set of Legionnaires while the other set lived their lives. It's just that the Dominators found them and took advantage of that.
• Page 12: The Trapper says he created the Pocket Universe as a safe haven so the Legion could ride out the storm, but shit happened and it was destroyed before he could use it.
• Page 13 panel 1: Other times the Time Trapper fought the Legion happened differently in his reality: 
• “Turning you away from the power of the Concentrator” – in his first appearance, he built the Iron Curtain of Time to prevent the Legion from traveling to his era, in order to steal a super-weapon that would draw upon every energy source in the universe (ADV 317-318)
• “Sending the Matter Master to aid you” – the Molecular (or Molecule, but never Matter) Master was a robot sent by the Time Trapper to steal the Miracle Machine, defeated by new member Wildfire (SBOY 201)
• “Shielding Garth and Imra’s wedding from the Controllers” – in another attempt to steal the Miracle Machine, he created an alternate timeline (All-New Collector's Edition C-55, aka the Wedding Tabloid)
• Page 14 panel 1: He messed things up so badly that he had to keep trying anything to re-create his original timeline
• “Teaching you the dangers of time manipulation” – the Cosmic Boy and Legionnaires 3 miniseries
• “Devolving the Legion to childhood” – with Glorith, in ADV 318
• “encouraging you to cast me out of existence” – LSHv3 50, which was later retconned to be Glorith destroying Daxam
• Page 14 panels 3-4: he recounts being attacked, as seen in ZH #4 
• Page 22: Adios, Shady and Valor. Too bad you spent an extra 1000 years in the Phantom Zone for this.
• Page 24: Farewell, Superboy. Great speech at the end, too bad nobody will remember it. (Superboy appears next in Superboy v3 #8)
• Final issue of the series

I asked writer Kurt Busiek for some words on his writing tenure on Valor, I'll have those in the next post.

---

Cutting down the timeline to just the last few days of story as we get close to Zero Hour. 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 (cyan). Bold text is something new added this issue. Italics are unknown dates.

Due to the timelines in the stories bouncing between 2995 and 1994 and things happening "simultaneously" 1001 years apart, I'm keeping the events in the order that they happen to the people involved, not strictly chronological by day and year. To make it easier to follow, the 1994 dates will be in red text and anything outside of time (like at the beginning or end of time) will be in blue text.

• Fri 9/29/95: Arriving at Weber’s World, the team tries to stop the Khunds’ bombs from destroying the planet; Dawnstar arrives and meets Wildfire; Firefist kills Veilmist; and after studying at the Infinite Library, Glorith travels to Tharn where she restores Mordru’s powers to help her conquer the universe (LSHv4 #58). Meanwhile, SW6 Brainy & Triad find that Valor has been retconned from history (Valor #13, Legionnaires #16 pages 9-10), so a team of Legionnaires goes back in time to find out what happened (Valor #14, Legionnaires #16 page 10).
• Outside of time: the Legionnaires enter the time stream and crash their Time Bubble (Valor #15); the Legionnaires fight Valor and find out that Lori is Glorith (Valor #16), and then fight Glorith, but Valor succumbs to the effects of his lead poisoning and dies; SW6 Valor appears (Valor #17); Brainiac 5 tells SW6 Valor that he will have to spend another 1000 years in the Phantom Zone in order to save time, and Valor does not take it well (Valor #18), but the presence of Waverider and seeing his fellow Legionnaires vanish changes his mind. Once he accepts his fate, the Legionnaires appear back in their own time and the legend of Valor is restored (Valor #19, Legionnaires #16 page 11. From Vanishing Point, the Linear Men see a timequake affect the 30th century (Valor #20), which causes Dream Girl and Star Boy to appear (Legionnaires #16).
• The Legionnaires instantly return to their present, unaware of their meeting with Glorith and the Valors (Valor #15-19, Legionnaires #16 page 11); Star Boy, Dream Girl, and Bouncing Boy appear with the Legionnaires and Ferro Lad is long dead, leading Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad – who seem to be the only ones aware that something funny is going on – to take a Time Bubble to figure it out (even though Invisible Kid and Rond Vidar are secretly aware that something’s happening); Polestar appears at New Earth (Legionnaires #16, LSHv4 #59); Rond, SW6 Brainiac 5, and SW6 Invisible Kid arrive on Weber’s World in a time bubble at the same time as with Mon-El, Shadow Lass, and Dev-Em, but they're all too late to prevent the death of Laurel Gand from the Khund bomb; Jo leaves for 1994 to find Tinya (LSHv4 #59). The SW6 Legionnaires confront Polestar at New Earth (Legionnaires #17).
• Sat 8/6/1994: Valor tries to re-create the feats he did before he went into the Phantom Zone, but fails; the Linear Men watch Valor from Vanishing Point (Valor #20). As a result of the timeline issues, Valor splits into multiple copies of himself and manages to do all the things that legend said he did over the years, in just a few hours, then resigns himself to having Glorith send him back to the Bgztl Twilight dimension. But the Linear Men realize it’s too late, the future is doomed (Valor #21).
• Sun 8/7/1994: Jo Nah arrives from the future in the time bubble (L.E.G.I.O.N. #68). He meets who he thinks is Tinya, but it turns out to have been her cousin Enya all along. He wants to bring her back to the 30th century (L.E.G.I.O.N. #69).
• Sat 9/30/95: Laurel Gand is laid to rest on Shanghalla in a ceremony attended by a number of adult and SW6 Legionnaires, after which Glorith and Mordru attack the group with replicas of some of their old foes and kidnap Rokk, and then Dawnstar fades out (Legionnaires #17). Valor and others go to New Earth to help RJ Brande bring Pocket Earth into this universe, but while the Subs and several Legionnaires blink out of existence, Pocket Earth turns out to be unstable and will explode in 72 hours (Valor #22). Rokk tries but can’t escape Mordru and Glorith (LSHv4 #60).
• Sun 10/1/95: Rokk escapes Mordru and Glorith by going into the Infinite Library; the surviving members of the adult and SW6 Legions meet on Winath to help look for Rokk, but when Glorith and Mordru show up on Talus seeking the Time Beacon, the Legions go there. The magicians call forth the Infinite Man, and then they take his powers. Gim Allon disappears when his SW6 counterpart Leviathan is killed (LSH v4 #60). Mordru and Glorith begin to remake the universe, and the Legion teams fight them and their evil dopplegangers. But one by one, more Legionnaires fade out. Mysa manages to break Mordru and Glorith apart which causes their spell to fail, at least temporarily, before she fades out (Legionnaires #18). Valor and Shadow Lass meet Pre-Crisis Superboy, who helps the Legions fight Glorith and Mordru. The team beats Glorith, and her Infinite Man powers flow to Valor. He then dumps it all on Mordru, who is unprepared to have his mind merge with the universe. Mordru teleports away into the core of Pocket Earth, which is ready to explode in a couple of days. Valor and Shady vanish, and after Superboy makes a rousing speech, he too vanishes (Valor #23).
• End of Time: Time Trapper is blasted by someone unknown, who starts to destroy time from the end going backwards and from the dawn of time going forwards (Zero Hour #4).
• 8/8/1994: Jo tries to go back to the future with Enya/Phase, but at the last second she leaves him and returns to her L.E.G.I.O.N. team (L.E.G.I.O.N. #70). His time bubble is blocked from going to the future moments later. SW6 Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Livewire fall out of the timestream in 1994, where they are met by Jo (Legionnaires #18). Metron, Superman, and Batman gather some heroes, including the Legionnaires (Zero Hour #4, Legionnaires #18).
• End of Time: Rokk spends an infinite amount of time in the Infinite Library and meets the Time Trapper when he finally escapes (Legionnaires #18). The Time Trapper explains his history and reveals that the SW6 Legionnaires were taken from time by him, not cloned by the Dominators. But their continued existence warped time and caused the Trapper to go insane trying to “fix” things to actually protect the Legion from the Zero Hour energy wave (Valor #23). He then reveals himself to Rokk that the two of them are really temporal duplicates (Valor #23, also shown in Zero Hour #3).
• 8/8/94: Vril Dox launches a probe into the time stream to try to figure out what’s going on; it will reappear in ZH #1 (L.E.G.I.O.N. #70).

LSH v4 #60 annotations: End of an Era part 3

Annotations for LSH v4 #60:

• On sale 6/21/94
• Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 716 (July 4, 2022)
• Timeline: 9/30 to 10/1/2995

Notes:

• Cover: Jo as Emerald Dragon is on the cover, but he shouldn’t be because he’s back in the 20th century.
• Picks up just a minute after the end of Legionnaires #17 when Rokk got kidnapped by Glorith and Mordru.
• Page 6: It’s a roll call of just about everyone who’s left, so they can get one last bit of screen time before fading out. Given that some of them were on Shanghalla and now they’re on separate ships with others, it must be the next day.
• Panel 2: Garth, Imra, Lydda, and Pol and his nanny Englenna, on Winath
• Panel 4: Celeste Darkstar, Wildfire, Chuck, Luornu, Loomis, and Gim
• Panel 5: Inferno, Cham, Jan, Alchemist, Star Boy, and Gossamer
• Page 7: more roll call
• Panel 1: Nura, Thom, Vi, Furball, Ayla
• Panel 2: Mekt, Kid Quantum, Shrinking Violet, Triad, Apparition, Ultra Boy
• Panel 3: Kono, Tenzil, Devlin, Brek
• Page 8 panel 1: the mystics on Winath – Dragonmage, Dream Girl, Jewel, Nura, and Projectra
• Page 8 panel 3: there’s Matter-Eater Lad with his adult counterpart
• Page 9 panel 1: Legionnaire statues, take a drink! They got one made of Dawnstar pretty quick, she just faded out the day before. There are no statues of anyone who was at the Pocket Earth site, since apparently they don’t know about them yet (Valor and Shady with Brande were the only ones left there). The others are Karate Kid and Phantom Girl.
• Page 9 panel 2: Wave was on one of the ships, as she’s here now. And SW6 Ayla is now older than her adult counterpart.
• Page 9 panel 4: Old Brainy, Invisible Kid, and Rond Vidar have also gotten from Weber’s World to Winath with everyone else.
• Page 9 panel 5: There’s Catspaw, along with Triad and Brek. Young Brainy is mentioned so he’s around here somewhere. 
• Page 10 panel 3: Catspaw has disappeared and Inferno has arrived – but Brek calls him Sun Boy.
• Page 12: Rokk escapes into the Infinite Library, which Mordru helpfully reminds us is the supposed archive of all chronal knowledge.
• Page 13: Neat how the farther back you go, the knowledge is in books, then scrolls, then stone tablets.
• Page 13 panel 4: He thinks there’s no exit, but that looks suspiciously like a door…
• Pages 14-15: everyone who has a costume is wearing one. Note that Imra and Garth at the upper right have new costumes. Vi and Cham update us on the status of everyone else: Quislet and Tellus can’t be reached, Kent is powerless (on Quarantine, with Ivy, Graym, and the others), and Valor’s team on Earth (but hey haven’t talked to that team yet).
• Page 16 panel 2: even Dvron gets a cameo!
• Page 17 panel 5: ordinarily it takes a day to get anywhere, but they get to Talus in a page. Only the time bubble has been shown to have instantaneous travel, so let’s just assume that the Brainys/Lyle/Rond hooked one into the Legion Cruiser seen on page 16.
• Page 18 panel 4: Glorith always did have a thing for turning people into children. That’s Thom, Kid Quantum, Shrinking Violet, and Chuck (who was the only male wearing a maroon SP jump suit).
• Page 20: Glorith kills Leviathan, then Gim fades away when his counterpart died. 
• 13 Counterparts left that we know of: Ayla/Gossamer, Garth/Livewire, Imra/Saturn Girl, Rokk/Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5s, Chuck/Bouncing Boy, Luornu/Triad, Jan/Alchemist, Thom/Star Boy, Nura/Dream Girl, Vi/Shrinking Violet, Tenzil/ME Lad, Jo/Ultra Boy
• Not counting the secret one we don’t know about yet
• Page 21 panel 1: Alchemist, Projectra, and Jan are now super-old
• Page 21 panel 4: it’s the Infinite Man, last seen fighting the Time Trapper during the Conspiracy storyline
• Page 23 panel 1: more time shenanigans – Garth now has a metal arm again; Imra, Luornu, and Cham are in old costumes; Jan is too, but he got aged back to normal
• Page 23 panel 2: Ayla got aged back to normal too, along with Kid Quantum and Chuck 
• Page 23 panel 3: Wave and Kid Quantum disappear
• This issue we’ve lost Catspaw, Leviathan, Gim Allon, Kid Quantum, and Wave
• This issue came out on 6/21/94; L.E.G.I.O.N. #69 (which we did in the crossover a few weeks back) came out on 6/28/94, one week after this issue, that’s the one where Jo finds who he thinks is Tinya but it’s really been Enya all along.

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Cutting down the timeline to just the last few days of story as we get close to Zero Hour. 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 (cyan). Bold text is something new added this issue. Italics are unknown dates.

Due to the timelines in the stories bouncing between 2995 and 1994 and things happening "simultaneously" 1001 years apart, I'm keeping the events in the order that they happen to the people involved, not strictly chronological by day and year. To make it easier to follow, the 1994 dates will be in red text and anything outside of time (like at the beginning or end of time) will be in blue text.

• Fri 9/29/95: Arriving at Weber’s World, the team tries to stop the Khunds’ bombs from destroying the planet; Dawnstar arrives and meets Wildfire; Firefist kills Veilmist; and after studying at the Infinite Library, Glorith travels to Tharn where she restores Mordru’s powers to help her conquer the universe (LSHv4 #58). Meanwhile, SW6 Brainy & Triad find that Valor has been retconned from history (Valor #13, Legionnaires #16 pages 9-10), so a team of Legionnaires goes back in time to find out what happened (Valor #14, Legionnaires #16 page 10).
• Outside of time: the Legionnaires enter the time stream and crash their Time Bubble (Valor #15); the Legionnaires fight Valor and find out that Lori is Glorith (Valor #16), and then fight Glorith, but Valor succumbs to the effects of his lead poisoning and dies; SW6 Valor appears (Valor #17); Brainiac 5 tells SW6 Valor that he will have to spend another 1000 years in the Phantom Zone in order to save time, and Valor does not take it well (Valor #18), but the presence of Waverider and seeing his fellow Legionnaires vanish changes his mind. Once he accepts his fate, the Legionnaires appear back in their own time and the legend of Valor is restored (Valor #19, Legionnaires #16 page 11). From Vanishing Point, the Linear Men see a timequake affect the 30th century (Valor #20), which causes Dream Girl and Star Boy to appear (Legionnaires #16).
• The Legionnaires instantly return to their present, unaware of their meeting with Glorith and the Valors (Valor #15-19, Legionnaires #16 page 11); Star Boy, Dream Girl, and Bouncing Boy appear with the Legionnaires and Ferro Lad is long dead, leading Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad – who seem to be the only ones aware that something funny is going on – to take a Time Bubble to figure it out (even though Invisible Kid and Rond Vidar are secretly aware that something’s happening); Polestar appears at New Earth (Legionnaires #16, LSHv4 #59); Rond, SW6 Brainiac 5, and SW6 Invisible Kid arrive on Weber’s World in a time bubble at the same time as with Mon-El, Shadow Lass, and Dev-Em, but they're all too late to prevent the death of Laurel Gand from the Khund bomb; Jo leaves for 1994 to find Tinya (LSHv4 #59). The SW6 Legionnaires confront Polestar at New Earth (Legionnaires #17).
• Sat 8/6/1994: Valor tries to re-create the feats he did before he went into the Phantom Zone, but fails; the Linear Men watch Valor from Vanishing Point (Valor #20). As a result of the timeline issues, Valor splits into multiple copies of himself and manages to do all the things that legend said he did over the years, in just a few hours, then resigns himself to having Glorith send him back to the Bgztl Twilight dimension. But the Linear Men realize it’s too late, the future is doomed (Valor #21).
• Sun 8/7/1994: Jo Nah arrives from the future in the time bubble (L.E.G.I.O.N. #68). He meets who he thinks is Tinya, but it turns out to have been her cousin Enya all along. He wants to bring her back to the 30th century (L.E.G.I.O.N. #69).
• Sat 9/30/95: Laurel Gand is laid to rest on Shanghalla in a ceremony attended by a number of adult and SW6 Legionnaires, after which Glorith and Mordru attack the group with replicas of some of their old foes and kidnap Rokk, and then Dawnstar fades out (Legionnaires #17). Valor and others go to New Earth to help RJ Brande bring Pocket Earth into this universe, but while the Subs and several Legionnaires blink out of existence, Pocket Earth turns out to be unstable and will explode in 72 hours (Valor #22). Rokk tries but can’t escape Mordru and Glorith (LSHv4 #60).
• Sun 10/1/95: Rokk escapes Mordru and Glorith by going into the Infinite Library; the surviving members of the adult and SW6 Legions meet on Winath to help look for Rokk, but when Glorith and Mordru show up on Talus seeking the Time Beacon, the Legions go there. The magicians call forth the Infinite Man, and then they take his powers. Gim Allon disappears when his SW6 counterpart Leviathan is killed (LSH v4 #60).