New reprint collections for 2025

Well color me shocked that DC has decided to put out FOUR new Legion reprint collections in 2025! I had despaired of ever getting more, so maybe this is a harbinger of some NEW collections, as these are all (mostly) new editions of previously-released books. Given that DC is returning to its bullet logo later this year, I'd expect all of these (except maybe the first one) to have the bullet instead of this one.

There's one coming out next month, I'm including that one here because I never mentioned it previously when it was announced. But it's a curious one.

Arriving 9/24/24: Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga. The first edition was published in 1989, with a second edition in 2000 that did not have the fold-out Giffen/Mahlstedt poster. This is the original version, reprinting only the Great Darkness storyline itself from LSHv2 #287, 290-294, and Annual 3. The original included the newly-redrawn version of the story from 287, I suppose to keep the art all Giffen, but I think I heard that they will restore the original version for this volume (or maybe include both). But given the next entry on the list, I'm surprised this one is coming out at all.

Arriving 3/4/25 - Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga Deluxe Edition (New Edition). This was previously published in 2011. The Deluxe version  reprints LSHv2 #284-296 and Annual 1, meaning it's complete and follows “Before the Darkness vol 2” chronologically. No, I don't know why they are going to have two versions of GDS in print at the same time. 

Arriving 4/15/25 - Legion of Super-Heroes: Five Years Later Omnibus Vol. 1 (New Edition). This was previously published in 2020. There may be some new content in this one, the original was 1413 pages, new is 1425 pages, but it also implies a new edition of Vol. 2 later this year or next year. This reprints LSHv4 #1-39 and Annuals 1-3, plus Adventures of Superman #478 (part of the "Time & Time Again" storyline), the 5-issue Timber Wolf series, and various Legion-related entries from the 1990-92 Who's Who in the DC Universe series.

Arriving 5/6/25 - Superman – Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds: The Deluxe Edition. This was previously published in 2009, under the title of "Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds". This Deluxe version will have lots of extra content, this one is 240 pages vs 160 in the original, but it doesn't say what the new content is that makes this deluxe. I'm hoping it will be lots of Perez stuff (pencils-only version of an issue, sketchbooks, reference material, etc.).

Arriving 5/20/25 - Legion of Super-Heroes: The Curse Deluxe Edition (New Edition). This was previously published in 2011 and reprints LSHv2 #297-313 and Annuals 2-3, closing out the v2 series and ending right before the split to Tales and v3 series. This one surprises me in that it's the next volume in the series after GDS Deluxe, and coming only 2-1/2 months later. I hope that this volume implies that there's a follow-up volume that will finally reprint not only LSHv3 #1-13 (which appeared in "An Eye for an Eye" (2007) and "The More Things Change" (2009) but also Tales of the LSH #314-325, which have never been reprinted and occurred at the same time as v3 #1-12. It should also include DC Comics Presents #80, which took place in between a couple of those v3 issues. (This one is not on Amazon or Penguin yet for some reason, so no cover photo or link, but this screengrab from the Near Mint Condition show on YouTube).

Happy anniversary! (Plus: The long and winding road of page 8A of Superboy #212)

On Wednesday, July 15, 1975, "Superboy" #212 was just appearing on the newsstands across America. Sometime around then, I picked it up from my regular shop (a 7-11 near the local mall). It was just a month shy of my 9th birthday. I think it was a little while before I became a regular reader, eventually getting the back issues that I had missed, but I consider this to be my anniversary of being a Legion fan.

So in honor of that, here's a story in 3 parts behind the story in that issue; in particular, about a single page of art in that book that never even appeared in the first place. Surprisingly, I don't think I've told this story to a wide audience before.

Part 1: How a Comic is (Un)Created

If you have read ""Last Fight for a Legionnaire!", the story from "Superboy" #212 about the Legion of Super-Rejects and Matter-Eater Lad getting drafted, in Legion Archive #11 and compare it to the printed issue, you'll notice that there's an extra page in the reprint, the page where Karate Kid gives Tenzil a pep talk. That page was cut from the original issue. Why? Well, here's Jack C. Harris (aka Production Assistant Lad), to tell us why, from the pages of "Amazing World of DC Comics #9" (cover dated December 1975), the special all-Legion issue, in an article entitled "How a Comic is (un)Created".

In prior installments of this feature, various writers revealed how comics spring from the scripter's or editor's mind, are translated into penciled pages, inked and finally become finished artwork.

Boy, did they ever make it sound easy! To hear them tell this wonderful story, you'd think there were never any problems! Oh, if it were only so!

Every snag or delay that could possibly happen -- has! Even those problems that couldn't ever occur -- do! Thankfully, most of those difficulties are little ones that can be corrected in the early stages. But some require more drastic action.

For instance, here's a problem that confronted us in March of this year. Murray Boltinoff and I had just turned SUPERBOY starring THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #212 in to the production department for final corrections before it headed to the printer. Originally, these stories were scheduled for the lead pages of a 50¢ Giant. Since we'd recently discontinued that format, we kept the 12-page cover feature ("Last Fight For A Legionnaire"), the 8-page back-up ("A Death Stroke At Dawn") and my Super-Talk letters page (my first one for that book!) as our regular 25¢ Issue.

The day after we turned it in, production manager Jack Adler rushed in (Adler constantly rushes nowhere) to tell us the page count of the 25¢ books had been reduced. We had to cut two pages....

The first thing we sliced was my letters page! It was a good one, so I could easily add some new comments and have it ready for #213. But how about that second page? Somewhere, somehow, we had to cut some story! After careful re-reading, Murray and I found that the 8th page of the first story could be omitted without losing the even flow of action, even though we had to sacrifice a good bit of Jim Shooter's dramatics concerning the resignation of Matter-Eater Lad. It was an editorial decision -- lose some characterization or some action -- and characterization lost out! The page was removed, the remainder was re-numbered and the book left for the printers.

Now the question arose as to what to do with this un-used, paid for, Mike Grell page of Legion art. Murray suggested that we use it for a "springboard" and write a new story around it -- which we still might do someday. In the meantime, instead of letting it collect dust on our shelves, we've decided to present it here within our special Legion issue of AWODCC!

If the purists among you wish, you can color the opposite page, clip it out and insert it between pages 7 and 8 of SUPERBOY #212's lead story, thus maintaining the tale in its original form.

However, since those two pages are back to back, this might prove a bit difficult. Because we've just told you how we solved one of our problems, we figured, to be fair, we'd offer suggestions as to how to overcome this page manipulation problem:

1. Buy an extra copy of SUPERBOY #212.
2. Find yourself an incredibly sharp razor blade to split pages 7 and 8 apart.
3. Make your own Editor's Note at the bottom of page 7 referring to this page of AWODCC.

If you can think of any others, please keep them to yourself -- we've got problems of our own!

Click on each image to embiggen.

 

Part 2: How an Archive is Created

I'm sure this will come as a shock to some readers, but I've been tracking Legion reprints for over 20 years. In the 1990s, I was Archives Lad, and once a year I'd post to Usenet's rec.arts.comics.dc.lsh newsgroup my best guess for what would be coming in the Legion Archives, which were at the time being published annually. Here was my guess for Archives 11 as posted in July 2000. As you can see by scrolling down a bit, Paul Levitz lurked in the newsgroup (as "DCOLevitz", the DCO standing for "DC Online" which was part of DC's AOL presence at the time) and posted from time to time.

I predicted the volume would cover issues 203-214 (it ended up being 203-212), and then said this (emphasis added in bold):

That's 233 pages (not including covers). None of these have already been reprinted. The stories are by either Bates or Shooter, and the art is all Grell (except for Cockrum pencils in 205 and inks by Bill Draut in the backup of 214). I'm hoping for a new cover by Grell, too.

This volume will cover the death of Invisible Kid, Brainiac building a Supergirl robot, the intro of the clone bank, Dvron, Flynt Brojj, Roxxass, Matter-Eater Lad resigning, and the appearance after 26 years of the page that was cut out of issue 212 when they had to cut out a page of story for budget constraints.

And for what it's worth, this volume catches up to the first LSH issue I bought off the newsstand (the aforementioned issue 212).

At some point years later, Paul Levitz was interviewed by Comic Shop News for their site csnsider.com (unfortunately, the content has long since been removed and I don't have the original URL to check the Internet Archive), came this quote that I copied into a post on the LSH-L email list:

An Internet board that I poke my head into occasionally was having a discussion of the Legion Archives; they remembered a page that had been cut out of a Grell Legion issue and published in an Amazing World of DC issue later, and they wanted to know if we were going to put the page back in the Archives. I was one of the editors of the book it was reprinted in, and I didn't remember it; I was thrilled to find that page there, and I ran down to Dale Crain and said, "Look what I found!" That will make the Archives a vastly better book.

So that's how that deleted page ended up being put into LSH Archive #11. It's page 8A in the book, as seen colored below. (It has since been reprinted again, in 2008's "LSH: 1050 Years of the Future" TPB.)

Part 3: How an Art Collection is Created

OK, not "created" so much as "added to", but that would have wrecked the flow of the three headings.

In 2008 I attended the San Diego Comic Con. Among the many pieces of Legion art I would have loved to have bought but didn't have the budget for, was this page for sale for $1500. Taking and owning this photo is as close as I would be able to get to owning the page itself:

I did not buy it, but not too long afterwards Tom Fleming did. He bought it and posted it to his ComicArtFans page in 2009, where it presumably sits in his collection today (and is likely worth a lot more than $1500). Notice the little stamp in the upper left corner, it says "N.P.P. INVT'Y", meaning that National Periodical Publications wrote that off as inventory.

So there you have it. The long and winding road of page 8A of Superboy #212.

A Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants, 2008-2009

The Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants, part 3: 2008-2009

1958-2005, 2006-2007, 2008-2009, 2010-2011, 2012-2014, 2015-2018, 2019, 2020, 2021-2022, 2023-2026

Unused covers, Second printings 

The gallery, presented in chronological publication order along with cover date:

2008

Action Comics v1 #859 - January 2008
Part 2 of "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story arc. Note that the solicited version of the Andy Kubert variant includes Batman's utility belt, which is completely cropped out of the printed version.

Regular cover Art by Gary Frank
Variant cover (as printed) Art by Andy Kubert	Variant cover (solicited) Art by Andy Kubert

Action Comics v1 #860 - February 2008
Part 3 of "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story arc.

Regular cover Art by Gary Frank	Variant cover Art by Steve Lightle

Action Comics v1 #861 - March 2008
Part 4 of "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story arc.

Regular cover Art by Gary Frank	Variant cover Art by Mike Grell

Legion of Super-Heroes (vol 5) #37 - March 2008
Meanwhile, on the main title, the team of Jim Shooter and Francis Manapul were starting a new run on the Threeboot while the Retroboot was still going on, and Manapul produced a diptych set of covers.

Cover A (left side) Art by Francis Manapul	Cover B (right side) Art by Francis Manapul

This one fits together nicely as a single poster (though it would have been nice to have been able to see it without the cover copy).

Action Comics v1 #862 - April 2008
Part 5 of "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story arc.

Regular cover Art by Gary Frank	Variant cover Art by Keith Giffen

Action Comics v1 #863 - May 2008
Part 6 of "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story arc, the finale. In 2010, the regular cover was reprinted with the interior of issue #859 as a special edition promoting the collected version of the story (see the 2006-2007 Field Guide).

Regular cover Art by Gary Frank	Variant cover Art by Gary Frank

DC Universe #0 - June 2008
This was the bridge between Countdown (which had just ended, counting down from #52 to #1) and Final Crisis (which counted up from #1), but a transition story not really a part of either. The textless version of the cover is shown just because of the gorgeous George Pérez artwork. The center column of the first printing, which shows the Legion, was later made a part of the Legion of 3 Worlds trade paperback cover.

First printing cover Art by George Pérez	Second printing cover Art by Ivan Reis (Green Lantern), George Pérez (Superman/LSH), & Aaron Lopresti (Wonder Woman)
Regular cover (textless) Art by George Pérez

Legion of Super-Heroes (vol 5) #44 - September 2008
This one has a Neal Adams variant cover.

Regular cover Art by Francis Manapul & John Livesay	Variant cover Art by Neal Adams

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). The trade dress on this series resembled that on the main series, with one cover being a full image of a character and the other cover showing only a sliver of action in the middle third of the page. At a Diamond Retailer Roundtable Program (RRP) summit, they were given a special incentive cover which was the pencils-only version of the main cover.

Main cover (first printing) Art by George Pérez	Sliver cover Art by George Pérez
RRP variant cover Art by George Pérez	Second printing Art by George Pérez

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #2 - November 2008
Same trade dress for part 2. After this, the title fell way behind schedule, the next issue didn't come out for five months, until the April cover date. The sliver cover homages Justice League of America #1, the first time the JLA met the JSA.

Main cover Art by George Pérez	Sliver cover Art by George Pérez

2009

Justice Society of America v3 #22 - February 2009
Part 7 of the "Thy Will Be Done" story arc.

Regular cover Art by Alex Ross	Variant cover Art by Dale Eaglesham

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3 - April 2009
After a several-month delay, issue 3 is out.

Main cover Art by George Pérez	Sliver cover Art by George Pérez

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #4 - June 2009
Part 4, Brainiac 5 gets the portrait this time. Notice that the printed version is different from the solicited version in the image that appears in the lightning rod.

Sliver cover
Art by George Pérez

Main cover (solicited) Art by George Pérez	Main cover (as printed) Art by George Pérez

Justice Society of America v3 #26 - June 2009
Three variants for this issue combine to make one large image.

Left side Art by Alex Ross	Center Art by Alex Ross	Right side Art by Alex Ross

The entire triptych with no trade dress

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5 - September 2009
Part 5, the final issue (which has come out after the main Final Crisis series has already ended).

Main cover Art by George Pérez	Sliver cover Art by George Pérez

Adventure Comics v2 #1/#504 - October 2009
Adventure Comics (Volume 2) was a revival of the old series of the same name. It featured Superboy and Legion stories, as well as three Blackest Night tie-ins. After #12, the old numbering was picked up again at Adventure Comics (Volume 1) #516. The main cover had the new numbering #1-12 with a shadow legacy number, while the variant cover showed the legacy numbering starting with #504 on top of a shadow number from the regular cover.

Notice that the solicited version of the variant cover had Superboy-Prime blacked out so as to not spoil his appearance.

Main cover Art by Francis Manapul
Variant cover (solicited) Art by Francis Manapul	Variant cover (as printed) Art by Francis Manapul

Adventure Comics v2 #2/#505 - November 2009
Main cover is Superboy, variant cover is mainly the Legion.

Main cover Art by Francis Manapul	Variant cover Art by Francis Manapul

Adventure Comics v2 #3/#506 - December 2009
Main cover is Superboy, variant cover is mainly the Legion.

Main cover Art by Francis Manapul	Variant cover Art by Francis Manapul

Superman Secret Origin #2 - December 2009
This 6-issue miniseries gave the history of Superman in the post-Infinite Crisis Retroboot era, when it was shown that he had been Superboy when younger and had joined the Legion. The main cover was part of a connected series (seen below).

Main cover Art by Gary Frank	Variant cover Art by Gary Frank