Crisis on Infinite Arrowverses, part 2

It's time for part 2 of the Crisis on Infinite Arrowverses, covering the "Arrow" and "DC's Legends of Tomorrow" episodes to round out the 5-part crossover event.

There was a comic book with some original Crisis reprints and some new Arrowverse Crisis stories, in "Crisis on Infinite Earths Giant" #1, that took place in between episodes 2 and 3. The second issue of the comic immediately follows issue 1.

The 80-page giant will continue its retelling of the Crisis saga with the 24-page "Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two" from writers Marv Wolfman and Marc Guggenheim and artists Tom Derenick, Trevor Scott, and Andy Owens.

"The Multiverse is losing its battle against the Anti-Monitor. Felicity Smoak mounts one last effort to find a way to save Oliver Queen, and it will bring the team face to face with an entire corps of new heroes: A Green Lantern Corps!", reads the story description.

Then Wolfman and Guggenheim will team up with artists Tom Grummett and Danny Miki for the 8-page "The Council Part Two".

"Lex Luthor has been captured by a council of Luthors from across the Multiverse, and to stop them from destroying everything, he'll need to team up with people he hates: the council of Supermen."

Crisis Giant #2 will also feature a new cover from Jerry Ordway, and reprints of "A Flash of the Lightning," from Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 (1985); "Aftershock," from Crisis on Infinite Earths #11 (1986), and "Aftermath," from DC Universe: Legacies #6 (2010).

 
The one on the left is the Walmart exclusive (Jan 2020) while the one on the right is coming to comic shops in February. Same interiors, which include the original Crisis #8 and 11 (so there's your Legion reprint).

You'll recall that in a recent Rolling Stone interview with Marc Guggenheim, the co-producer of the Arrowverse, says that “He told the creative teams of all the CW shows (including Black Lightning, whose title character will participate even though Crisis isn’t making an episode for it) to consider Crisis “a magic ticket” that would allow them to make whatever changes, big or small, to their continuity, in the same way that Superman and Wonder Woman got new origin stories and altered supporting casts in the wake of the original comic book Crisis.” This kind of mimicked the finale of the original merged-Earth Crisis. We start to see these changes in Episode 5.

When last we left our heroes, there were only 7 people left at Vanishing Point, all from either Earth-1 or Earth-38; all the other Earths in the Multiverse were gone. Of the ones we had seen in the first three episodes, that included:

• Earth-1: Green Arrow, Flash, Batwoman, and the Legends
• Earth-2: Black Siren, Jesse Quick, Harry Wells, evil versions of Earth-1 heroes
• Earth-9: Hawk & Robin (Teen Titans on DC Universe streaming) 
• Earth-16: an alternate Green Arrow
• Earth-18: an alternate Jonah Hex
• Earth-38: Supergirl, Superman, Martian Manhunter, and the Legion
• Earth-66: the Batman 1966 TV show
• Earth-73: Black Lightning
• Earth-74: an alternate Legends team has retired
• Earth-75: an alternate Superman who was killed by Luthor
• Earth-89: the 1989 Batman movie
• Earth-96: the Christopher Reeve/Brandon Routh Superman movie series
• Earth-99: an alternate Batman who killed Superman and his foes
• Earth-167: the Smallville TV series
• Earth-203: Birds of Prey TV series
• Earth-666: Lucifer TV series
• Earth-X: The Ray

Additionally, in the comic, we saw:

• Earth-12: home of the Guardians and the Green Lanterns
• Earth-76: the Wonder Woman TV series
• Earth-99: as above, also the Council of Luthors
• Earth-D: the Justice Alliance
• Earth-F: the Fleisher animated Superman cartoon
• Earth-N52: the New 52
• Earth-X: as above

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Episode 4 (Arrow, 1/14/20):

Stuck in the Vanishing Point, the Paragons search for a way to escape. The futility of the situation is compounded by The Flash’s disappearance. However, hope appears in the form of Oliver, who reveals that he has become something else. Meanwhile, the origin stories for The Monitor and Anti-Monitor are revealed. 

The Maltus and Speed Force stuff bounced back and forth, but I moved it all around to minimize bullet points. 

• Previously: a wave of anti-matter swept across the multiverse, destroying all Earths and all life. Only seven people made it to Vanishing Point, a place outside of time and space. Six heroes and Lex Luthor. Jim Corrigan told Oliver Queen it was his destiny to become the Spectre.
• On Maltus, 10,000 years ago, Mar Novu is an explorer, looking at the dawn of time with his wife. His suit of armor will protect him from chronal radiation. But his presence there caused him to breach the wall into the anti-matter universe, where he meets his opposite number.
• On Vanishing Point, Ryan Choi and Lex Luthor are trying to repurpose some Time Masters tech to create a teleporter. Kara volunteers Luthor but it doesn’t work, instead it brings back Flash, missing after months. For him, only a few seconds have passed while he tried to escape via the Speed Force.
• In Purgatory, Oliver relives his life, Corrigan says it’s all led him to this point, so he could fight the Anti-Monitor.
• Oliver, as Spectre, appears at Vanishing Point and tells the heroes that he is in tune with the multiverse, and that the Speed Force is the key to saving them. He tells them the multiverse is gone, and the Anti-Monitor is at the dawn of time trying to make it permanent. While some will go to the dawn of time to fight, the rest will go to Maltus and try to prevent Mar Novu from creating the anti-matter universe in the first place. Oliver touches Barry’s forehead and gives him the key to unlock his potential.
• Supergirl, Choi, and Luthor go to Maltus.
• Luthor promptly leaves; Supergirl and Choi follow, but he blasts them (he made some upgrades when he rewrote the Book of Destiny).
• Choi and Supergirl wake up and go after Luthor, who she suspects is trying to change Mar Novu’s experiment to his advantage.
• Luthor finds Mar Novu as he is ready to go back in time. He tells Novu that he’s from the future and he’s willing to share his future knowledge in exchange for Novu’s abilities that he’ll soon have. Luthor calls it “The Brave and the Bald” teamup. Luthor tells him that Novu tore a hole into the anti-matter universe and tells him how to prevent that, then Supergirl shows up. Choi takes Novu aside and tries to warn him not to open the portal while Supergirl fights Luthor. Then Flash grabs Luthor, Choi, and Supergirl.
• Barry ends up in the Speed Force, where he finds Oliver, using part of his essence to contact Barry but he’s lost in the Speed Force. He’s using part of his essence to keep J’onn, Kate, and Sara together, having been quickly defeated on Maltus. Barry needs to find everyone and get them out, by looking at the connections and memories they’ve made.
• Flash meets the DCEU Flash at STAR Labs, at the beginning of his career (he hasn’t picked a name yet).
• TV FLASH MEETS THE DCEU FLASH! ALL THINGS DC LIVE ACTION ARE IN THE SAME MULTIVERSE! Or will be, assuming this universe lives! Note that DCEU Flash is in his universe and taps into the Speed Force, while in Arrowverse Flash's time there is nothing but the Speed Force, which transcends the Multiverse.
• Kate finds herself in PalmerTech with Oliver and Ray.
• J’onn finds himself with Oliver and Kara, during the Invasion crossover. 
• Flash finds himself in the Elseworlds crossover, where Green Arrow and Superman stop Deegan with the Book of Destiny. He makes Oliver realize that he’s really in the Speed Force. Oliver tells Barry that this was when he made a deal with the Monitor to give up himself so that Kara and Barry would live.
• Diggle and Laurel are with a dead Sara, and he tells Laurel to take up her mask and be the Canary. Then Flash appears. This is before they met Flash, so they don't know who he is. Barry touches Sara and wakes her up, then leaves with her.
• Flash grabs J’onn and Kate.
• At the dawn of time in the anti-matter universe, the seven survivors find the Anti-Monitor, who tells them that in the infinite universes, there will always be one Mar Novu whose ambition causes him to go through the portal no matter what anyone says (Supergirl did stop one, but there are an infinite number of others). Oliver as Spectre appears and tells them they’re the Paragons and must hold the line and buy time until the universe can be "rebirthed". The team fights the Shadow Demons while Oliver fights the Anti-Monitor (he tells the Anti-Monitor that “you have failed this universe!”). The Shadow Demons vanish as Oliver gets the upper hand, and the group realizes that by focusing their Paragon “powers” on the fragment of the Book of Destiny that Luthor has, they can bring back the universe. Oliver wins, and appears to be human again, and they see the rebirth of the multiverse. Oliver says he’s at peace with dying, and tells them to keep going. Then he dies again, for good (apparently).

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Episode 5 (DC's Legends of Tomorrow, 1/14/20):

“Worlds lived, worlds died.  Nothing will ever be the same.”

Just like in the finale of the comics, the heroes wake up on the single Earth and learn about what has changed when the multiverse rebooted.

• Kara wakes up in her apartment with Alex, who doesn’t know anything has gone on. Nia calls and reminds her that she’s supposed to be at the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony, and it goes to Lex Luthor. She says it’s so great when it goes to someone who deserves it so much. Luthor winks at Kara. Luthor is now a good guy, and her #1 supporter aside from Lena, and Luthorcorp owns the DEO. She finds J’onn and he tells her that he remembers too, and that some things have changed. She finds Flash, and each think they’re on their own Earth. Marv Wolfman appears and tells them that they’ve always been friends.
• In Central City, workers in a tunnel find Nash Wells, in the spot that used to be the portal to get to the Anti-Monitor.
• In Star City, Sara finds Ray and then J’onn appears, and tells them that only the Paragons know how things used to be, but J'onn can fix that. J’onn restores Ray’s memories, and says he’s been doing that with their other compatriots. Sara goes to the Arrowcave and finds Diggle, Rene, and Dinah, who already know what happened. Rene says that even Felicity can’t find Oliver. 
• Back in Central City, J’onn fills Caitlyn in and tells her that Wells is the one who released the Anti-Monitor, but he got better. J’onn restores Wells' mind and says it was all Wells' fault.
• In Star City, Barry and Kara visit Team Arrow, who learn Oliver sacrificed himself. Then a giant Beebo arrives. Nate and Ava are back in Washington with the ship, but Mick is signing his romance books nearby. Flash, Atom, Supergirl, and Heat Wave try to stop Beebo, but no luck, and then Batwoman shows up. They realize it’s a diversion – Sargon the Sorcerer is robbing a bank nearby. Sara stops him with one punch. Back at the bunker, Wells appears and says he’s detected anti-matter.
• Later that night, Barry finds Sara, reminiscing about Oliver, he was her only link to who she was before. Then the Shadow Demons arrive, they fight off one and rescue Choi. Wells says he detects that the Anti-Monitor is still alive. He, Ryan, and Ray conceive of a plan to shrink the Anti-Monitor into the microverse. 
• The Shadow Demons are converging on Gardner Pier (after Gardner Fox). It’s Wild Dog, Dreamer, Spartan, Flash, White Canary, Supergirl, J’onn J’onzz (in a new costume), Alex, Batwoman, and Superman, but the demons disappear immediately, only to be replaced by the Anti-Monitor. 
• At STAR Labs, Killer Frost and Heat Wave are joined by Black Lightning. 
• The heroes fight Anti-Monitor but nothing gets through his force field. He turns into a giant. Flash runs back to STAR Labs to help finish the shrinking bomb that Ray, Choi, and Cisco are working on. Dinah tells them the shadows are on the move again, at Perez Landing. Flash brings Ray to Anti-Monitor, who tosses the bomb to Supergirl, who throws it at Anti-Monitor, who disappears along with the shadow demons.
• Back watching the President laud the heroes and Oliver, we see that Diggle and Lyla now have both kids, Sara joining her brother JJ. Superman gets a call from Lois, their sons are acting up. 
• Epilogue: the multiverse is back.
• Earth-2: Stargirl, STRIPE, Hourman, Dr Midnight, and Wildcat
• This is a different version of Earth-2, which previously had been mostly evil versions of Earth-1 heroes
• Earth 2012: Green Lanterns (probably the upcoming HBO Max series, not the Ryan Reynolds GL movie)
• However, Ryan Reynolds made a “cameo” via recycled footage of him in flight (you can’t really see him) heading to Oa.
• Earth-19: Swamp Thing
• Earth-9: Titans (Raven, Hawk, Dove, Starfire)
• Previously seen on Earth-9
• Earth-21: Doom Patrol
• Given a different Earth from the Titans, as this team is a different one that appeared early in the Titans series
• Earth-96: Superman (with John Williams theme) – he’s got his yellow “S” background now instead of black
• Brandon Routh gets a Super-sendoff, he'll be leaving the show soon. But with the yellow in the "S" shield instead of black, that suggests that he got a happy ending that reversed the Kingdom Come version
• Earth-Prime: the new merged Earth-1 & 38 & 73 (Black Lightning)
• The heroes gather to eulogize Oliver. The abandoned hangar that they used in the Invasion crossover that used to be a STAR Labs building (and which just happens to look like the Hall of Justice) is the new HQ in case they need to meet again to save the world. This new group consists of Superman, Batwoman, Flash, White Canary, Martian Manhunter, Black Lightning, Supergirl. With one chair left for Green Arrow. Then we hear sounds of a monkey running around, then an empty cage that says Gleek, and then we cut to the outside of the building, which is the Hall of Justice. It’s the new Superfriends!

The finale of "Arrow" showed one more change: a billboard in the background of a shot read "Van Wayne", which was the lead on the 2017 sitcom "Powerless", so that unnamed Earth got folded into Earth-Prime. Here's a list of other changes made to Earth-Prime as seen on Arrow, Supergirl, and Black Lightning.

Crisis on Infinite Arrowverses part 1

A little something different for this page - it's my notes for the podcast, but this episode is not a Legion-centric one (in fact, a Legionnaire only appears in part 1 of this 3-part section).

 
The one on the left is the Walmart exclusive (Dec 2019) while the one on the right is coming to comic shops in January. Same interiors, which include the original Crisis #7 (so there's your Legion reprint).

This episode of the podcast returns to Event Theater: Crisis on Infinite Arrowverse part 1, where we will recap last week’s episodes of Supergirl, Batwoman, and Flash. Part 2, with episodes of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, will be covered on our January 20th podcast. Worlds will live, worlds will die, and the universe will never be the same! I think the last time we had an Event Theater episode was #381, 200 episodes ago. Podcast episodes on 12/15 (part 1) and 1/19 (part 2).

We know that there are multiple Earths in the “Arrowverse” multiverse. Flash, Green Arrow, and the Legends of Tomorrow are on Earth-1, while Supergirl and Superman are on Earth-38. On Earth-2, it was Oliver Queen who died while his father lived, becoming The Hood in Starling City, while evil versions of Black Canary, Firestorm, Vibe, and Killer Frost terrorized the world. Jay Garrick is the Flash of Earth-3, Harrison Wells is a wizard on Earth-13, Gypsy is from Earth-19, the Crime Syndicate is on Earth-27, everyone is a vegan on Earth-30, the 1990s Flash TV series was on Earth-90, and Earth-X is where the Nazis won WWII and many of our heroes have Nazi counterparts.

In the pilot episode of Flash, there’s a newspaper whose headline reads “Flash disappears in Crisis” and references red skies, taking place in 2024. Through some time travel shenanigans last season involving XS (Nora West-Allen, the daughter of Barry Allen and Iris West, from the year 2040), that has moved up to 2019. In last year’s crossover “Elseworlds”, we met the Monitor and Psycho Pirate, and the end of the crossover teased this year’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. It looks like Oliver Queen is fated to die – he apparently bargained with the Monitor to take him instead of Supergirl and Flash (who, ironically, both died in the comic book version), while Barry says that when he traveled to the future in this season’s premiere, he saw billions of futures, and the only one in which everyone lives is when he dies. So far this season, Oliver has seen the destruction of Earth-2 to red skies and antimatter, and Oliver has learned to accept his fate, while Flash has been trying to secure his legacy in his team after he’s gone. The Monitor has tested and recruited Martian Manhunter, Black Siren, and Green Arrow, and revived Lex Luthor (seemingly killed in the Supergirl finale last season) to be a hero. We have also seen Harrison “Nash” Wells become Pariah and seen that Arrow’s Lyla Michaels is Harbinger, working for the Monitor – and whose code name early on in the series was Harbinger!

And a recent Rolling Stone interview with Marc Guggenheim, the co-producer of the Arrowverse, says that “He told the creative teams of all the CW shows (including Black Lightning, whose title character will participate even though Crisis isn’t making an episode for it) to consider Crisis “a magic ticket” that would allow them to make whatever changes, big or small, to their continuity, in the same way that Superman and Wonder Woman got new origin stories and altered supporting casts in the wake of the original comic book Crisis.” So we’ll have to see what happens, as we’ve been given no information on what each of the core series will be like after the winter break. 

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Episode 1 (Supergirl, 12/8/19):
The Monitor sends Harbinger to gather the worlds’ greatest heroes - Supergirl, The Flash, Green Arrow, Batwoman, White Canary, The Atom, and Superman - in preparation for the impending Crisis. With their worlds in imminent danger, the superheroes suit up for battle while J’onn and Alex recruit Lena to help them find a way to save the people of Earth-38. 

The Earth-16 stuff here is spread out a bit, but I moved it around to one bullet point to avoid having to go back and forth a lot. 

• Monitor explains the origin of the Multiverse and explains how the Age of Heroes kept chaos at bay from the multiverse. See other worlds getting wiped out:
• Earth-89: Alexander Knox (from the 1989 Batman movie, complete with theme) reads a paper in Gotham City, headline reads “Batman captures Joker”. The Bat-signal is projected onto the red skies as he says “I hope you’re watching, big guy!” 
• Earth-9: Hawk & Robin (Teen Titans on DC Universe streaming) 
• Earth-X: The Ray
• Earth-66: Gotham City, Dick Grayson is walking Ace. “Holy crimson skies of death!”
• Earth-38 in National City, Wil Wheaton is holding a sign (from Superman II) proclaiming the end of the world; Supergirl saves him from a dragon named Spike (from season 4). At the DEO, Brainy says there’s seismic activity all over the world, coming from outside, and calculates they have until tomorrow night before the antimatter wave hits Earth. 
• Argo City is in imminent danger, that’s where Superman and Lois are with their son Jonathan and Supergirl’s mother Alura. Supergirl warns them but only with enough time for them to send Jonathan on a ship to Earth (using Jor-El’s movie words, with shades of not only baby Kal-El but also Alexander Luthor. The wave hits and Argo is destroyed.
• Earth-1: Harbinger recruits the Green Arrows (Oliver and Mia) from Lian Yu and Flash from Central City, then gets Batwoman from Gotham City when she was trying to capture some Wonderland Gang members. She gets Ray (Atom) and Sara (White Canary) at a trivia night in Star City.
• Earth-38: Harbinger arrives with Oliver and Mia plus Superman and Lois, who she rescued from Argo (the others are doing recon). She explains that there’s a wave of antimatter sweeping across the multiverse; Oliver says he saw it destroy Earth-2. She says Monitor brought them all here to make a stand on Earth-38. A quantum tower appears (similar to the comics cosmic tuning forks), Lyla says the Monitor put them on key Earths as a last line of defense, but the heroes will have to defend it from the Anti-Monitor’s forces. Brainy has tracked baby Jonathan’s ship through a wormhole to Star City on Earth-16 in the year 2046 (site of a season 1 Legends episode s01e06 whose future doesn’t track with the Arrow 2040 timeline, so it was shunted to an alternate Earth), so Lois will go with Sara and Brainy to recover him. J’onn tells Brainy and Alex he will ask to use the ships the aliens came on to transport as many people off Earth-38 as possible, and take them to Earth-1 since that’s the last world that will get hit by the antimatter, but only Lena can make a transmatter portal big enough. Kara gives Superman a pep talk and he asks her how she can have so much hope in all this. Oliver gives Mia a case with her own Green Arrow suit and gear and says she’s earned the right to wear it. Barry reminds Oliver of the future newspaper that said Flash dies in Crisis, so Oliver calls the Monitor to remind him of their deal, Oliver dies so Barry and Kara live. Monitor wants Oliver to be ready for all possibilities. Alex tells Lena about the antimatter wave but despite the feelings that Lena has for Team Supergirl, they need her help. The heroes prepare to protect the quantum tower from the Shadow Demons (two Green Arrows, Atom, Batwoman, Superman, Supergirl, Flash). Dreamer and J’onn help evacuate National City via alien ships and the Legion Cruiser while Alex and Lena work on the portal. 
• Earth-16, 2046: the team tracks baby Jonathan to the Arrow Bunker, where Oliver is shocked to find Sara alive. The old Oliver apologizes to Sara and tells him that in her world, it was destiny that got her on the Queen’s Gambit and set off an entire chain of events. Brainy says they have to leave. Sara tells Oliver that he’s a good man on every Earth (neglecting to tell him of his evil Earth-X counterpart).
• Earth-38: Superman and Supergirl go to the roof of the tower to fix what broke while the others hold off the shadow demons, so the use their vision powers to recharge the tower long enough to hold the antimatter off a while longer. Superman is drained and falls first, but it buys them enough time – the portal is open and there’s only 14 minutes left. The heroes fight the shadow demons on the roof while people escape in the alien ships through the portal. The Monitor appears and says the battle is lost, they must retreat, and teleports all of the heroes away. Oliver refuses to go until the planet is evacuated. He fights the shadow demons until he runs out of arrows and charges them. Earth-38 falls.
• Earth-1: Monitor transports the badly wounded Oliver to Star City and says he saved a billion people, but only 3 billion of the planet’s 7.5 billion got out on the armada. Pariah appears, he says he is sent to bear witness to the Anti-Monitor’s actions. The team returns from Earth-16. Oliver says it’s his destiny, he gave it all up for Barry and Kara. He tells Mia to find Felicity and William and tell them how much he loved them, then he dies. Monitor says this is not the way Oliver was supposed to die. Pariah says they’re all doomed.

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Episode 1-1/2 (Walmart comic):
The 100-Page Giant Crisis on Infinite Earths Special from Walmart contains two stories that chronologically fit in between episodes 1 and 2. The main story (as summarized here, here, and here) deals with the Monitor gathering heroes and working on a plan that will appear early in episode 2, while the backup features a council of multiversal Luthors (as summarized here).

• As the issue opens, Pariah appears on an Earth where a giant billboard in Metropolis's Heroes Square depicts the Justice League -- in what appears to be an alternate angle from the famous Justice League #1 image by Jim Lee. In case there was any doubt that the parallel was intentional, the Earth he lands on is designated Earth-N52. On the comic's second page, it is wiped from existence. A group of heroes is assembled and, since this is taking place in between parts one and two of the story, Felicity Smoak takes point on trying to figure out who the seven Paragons are. Fans also get to see how Felicity discovers that her husband is dead, and confronts The Monitor about it. Harbinger/Lyla Michaels admits that she has not yet informed John Diggle about Oliver's death, and Barry Allen/The Flash is there to give Felicity a supportive shoulder. The Monitor sends a group of heroes -- The Atom, Batwoman, The Ray, The Flash, Kid Flash, Nyssa al Ghul, and Harbinger -- to seek out Outkast, the antimatter universe doppelganger of Pariah (and a character with no direct corollary in the comics, as far as we could find). Earth-76 is just one of their stops along the way. Wonder Woman suits up and heads into action, saving a group of innocent bystanders endangered by the battle between Pariah and Outkast as well as the red skies that spell doom for their world. She isn't the only Wonder Woman seen in the issue -- there's a picture of the New 52 Justice League on a Metropolis jumbotron on the comic's first page, and later fans can spot the Wonder Woman of Earth-D and also the version played by Adrienne Palecki in the failed pilot -- but Carter's is the one that has something to do with the plot. They trail him through the multiverse, finally catching up to him on Earth-D, a world created by Wolfman and the late artist Paul Ryan in Legends of the DC Universe: Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1999. It's there that Outkast takes aim at Barry Allen, but before The Flash can be struck down, Wally West runs in front of Outkast's antimatter beam, vanishing into thin air and seemingly dying. 
• The backup story deals with a "Council of Luthors" who have convened to try to kill all of the multiverse's Supermen, using the events of the Crisis for cover. Among a number of favorite looks from the comics, there's one guy who's absolutely the one seen in Superman: The Movie. He shares his scene with the Jon Cryer Luthor from Supergirl, who of course played Hackman's nephew Lenny in Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. Besides the Hackman Lex and "Aussie Lex," the long-haired, bearded "Lex Luthor II" from the '90s, there is an appearance in here by Beppo the Super-Monkey. If the Batman v Superman Lex appears here, though, it's basically unrecognizable in his post-prison form: there are a pair of bald Luthors in orange prison jumpsuits, but not one who looks like the long-haired version that Eisenberg played in his earlier appearance.

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Episode 2 (Batwoman, 12/9/19):
The group uses Ray’s invention to track new recruits to help save the universe. The Monitor sends Iris, Clark, and Lois in search of a mysterious Kryptonian, while Kate and Kara head out to find Bruce Wayne. In addition, Mia challenges Sara, Rory discovers a hidden talent, and Lex Luthor returns.

Like last episode, the show jumps from team to team a lot, so I've grouped all of the stuff that each team goes through into one set of bullets for easier reading.

• Lyla needs Ray’s lab, but not the regular Waverider (they have a multiverse of them, and Sarah said her team could sit out this crossover). She goes to Earth-74 where she recruits Mick Rory, and his Waverider Captain Cold is Gideon on that ship.
• Monitor: across space and time there are 7 heroes, beings of the purest will who can ultimately defeat the Anti-Monitor, known as Paragons (found with the help of Felicity and the Tome of the Guardians)
• Kara – Hope
• Sarah – Destiny
• “A second Kryptonian who has suffered a greater loss than most mortal men could endure” – Truth
• “The Bat of the Future” – Courage
• Monitor has brought back Lex Luthor 38 to fulfill his destiny; Luthor steals the Book of Destiny to go kill Superman across the multiverse, Monitor insists this is part of it
• Batman
• Earth-99 (Batman Beyond debuted in 1999): Kate and Kara go to find Batman in Gotham, we hear the Batman Adventures theme, meet Bruce wearing exoskeleton like in Dark Knight and Kingdom Come. Luke Fox reveals that Batman killed Superman and that fight is why he wears the armor, Bruce tries to kill Supergirl, says his Kate would never trust a Kryptonian and that his world isn’t worth saving. Kate knocks him back and he falls and dies, saying “there is no hope”. She takes his Kryptonite.
• Superman
• Earth-75: Iris goes with Lois and Clark to find Superman, Metropolis, Luthor killed that Earth’s Superman and then breached (Death of Superman homage to Superman #75)
• Earth-167: Smallville – Lois, Clark, Iris meet Clark Kent but Lex zaps them away. He gave up his powers to marry Lois, live on the farm, and raise a family; Luthor leaves because it’s no fun killing a Superman with no powers. (Homage to Smallville creators Millar & Gough who were both born in 1967)
• Earth-96: Metropolis, Lois Lane music when she meets Superman, Iris: “he looks just like Ray Palmer”. On this Earth, Joker gassed the Daily Planet and killed everyone (as seen in the Justice Society Kingdom Come Special), including Jimmy, Perry, and his wife Lois. He changes into the Kingdom Come costume to the John Williams music.  Lex appears with the Book of Destiny and has the Supermen fight, but he turns his back on Lois and Iris who knock out Luthor and restore Superman-96. The two Supermen talk about their families (including Superman's son Jason) and the fight (reference to Superman III fighting himself) and recover the Book of Destiny. This Superman has suffered a greater loss than most mortal men could endure and they realize he's the Paragon they were looking for. (Kingdom Come debuted in 1996)
• Constantine, Flash, Sarah, Mia looking into a Lazarus Pit to resurrect Oliver
• Earth-18 North Dakota they find a Lazarus Pit in a mine owned by Jonah Hex. They resurrect Oliver but he doesn’t have his soul yet, Constantine is having trouble due to all the antimatter. He had previously helped with the resurrections of Sara, Thea, and Roy on the Arrow show. (Named after the 1800s fighter Jonah Hex)
• On board the Waverider, Ray meets Superman. Superman-96 and Batwoman are revealed to be the 3rd and 4th Paragons (of Truth and Courage, respectively)
• Harbinger is teleported away and meets the Anti-Monitor

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Episode 2-1/2 (Black Lightning, 12/9/19):

Black Lightning is revealed to be on a different, unnamed Earth and has his own "red skies" episode (titled "Earth Crisis") leading into Episode 3.

• Red skies and lightning appear in the sky during the beginning of the episode. As Jennifer Pierce stands at her window watching the storm, she passes out and meets different versions of herself in the multiverse. Anissa, Gambi, Jefferson Pierce and Lynn Stewart gather at Anissa's loft, where Gambi tells the family that the red storm is filled with antimatter, which Jennifer's cells are storing. A projection of Jennifer appears on Earth-1 to witness her father murdered in their house by the ASA. The Earth-2 Jennifer, referred to as Jinn, is a cold-blooded killer who uses her powers to kill her entire family when they try to have an intervention. The episode ends with the antimatter wave wiping out their Earth, though Black Lightning is rescued by a flash of light.

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Episode 3 (Flash, 12/10/19):
Pariah enlists Black Lightning to help stop the Anti-Monitor after Flash-90 shares what he learned from his battle in “Elseworlds.” With the help of Black Lightning, Barry, Cisco and Killer Frost come up with a plan that could save them all. Meanwhile, Iris has a heart-to-heart with Ryan Choi, while Oliver and Diggle return to an old, familiar stomping ground.

Again, episode events are moved around to be easier to read.

• Earth-203, New Gotham, Huntress (Birds of Prey series from 2003) has Oracle send her some data but both are wiped out
• Ralph, Cisco, and Frost appear on the Waverider, “Holy All-Star Squadron!”. Jonn organizes a rescue team to save as many from the multiverse as they can and bring them to Earth-1, Superman-96 goes with him (all happens off-screen). Cisco fixes the Paragon detector and finds the other three:
• Jonn – Honor
• Flash – Love
• Ryan Choi – Humanity
• Diggle arrives, wants to help save Oliver. The Monitor tells him that Lyla is with Anti-Monitor. Cisco and Frost try to find the source of the antimatter wave, Monitor restores Cisco’s Vibe powers.
• Saving Oliver’s soul (Diggle, Constantine, Mia, with Sara watching his body back on the Waverider)
• Earth-666, they go to Lucifer’s bar because Constantine can’t get into Purgatory and Lucifer owes Constantine a favor. They get a card to get in to Purgatory. 
• Purgatory for Oliver is Lian Yu. Oliver finds them and recognizes them. They’re just ready to go back when Jim Corrigan (Spectre) shows up, says it’s Oliver’s turn to be called to a higher purpose, it’s his destiny. Oliver tells Diggle and Mia it’ll be OK and they vanish.
• Source of antimatter (Vibe, Frost, Flash) – Central City
• Pariah appears, he’s there to bear witness. Cisco vibes the memories of how to open the Anti-Monitor’s door from him. Find the antimatter cannon, see Flash-90 trapped on the treadmill, he’s powering the cannon, the test fire was Earth-2, that's why that Earth was destroyed relatively early this season. (Recall that Earth-90’s heroes were destroyed by the Monitor at the end of Elseworlds, but Flash escaped.) Vibe stops the treadmill, Flash-90 says he has to go back on due to the fail-safe that would destroy all worlds at once. Black Lightning appears, Pariah brought him from his Earth which was just destroyed. BL absorbs the energy from the cannon. Barry says that this is what he’s been running towards all these years, it’s time for Flash to vanish in the Crisis. But Flash-90 steals Flash’s speed – “Monitor said Flash had to die but never said which one”. He gets back on the treadmill running the opposite direction and disintegrates (like in Crisis #8), the cannon is destroyed and the wave stops before hit hits Earth-1.
• Waverider (Batwoman, Supergirl, Luthor, Lois, Sara)
• Luthor explains how the Book works, via willpower. Supergirl wants to try to bring back Earth-38 using the Book. Lois sees Earth-73 destroyed, now there are only 7 left. Superman-96 returns (with the John Williams theme) briefly, he couldn’t save them. Kate stops Kara from opening the Book (she was going to use the kryptonite if needed), convincing her that if something happens to her as a Paragon then they’re all doomed, so Kara leaves.
• Ivytown looking for Ryan Choi (Iris, Ray, Ralph)
• They find Choi in his lab (he is an expert on Ray Palmer's quantum miniaturization), but he wants to go home instead. He says he’s not a hero, but Iris tells him it’s their humanity that make the heroes want to fight. Ray gets word that the other 6 Earths are gone, this is the only one left.
• All teams now back on the Waverider. Kate tells Kara that she has Bruce’s kryptonite and would have used it to stop Kara from using the Book, he had it because he lost hope and she never will. Kara tells her to keep it and that she has the courage that Kate will never have to use it. Harbinger reappears, she can’t remember what happened. The team realizes that the Anti-Monitor planted her back on the ship. Through Harbinger, Anti-Monitor defeats the heroes, Monitor tells Pariah he will know what to do when the time arrives. Harbinger and Monitor blast each other but she wins. The antimatter comes back and destroys Earth-1 leaving only the Waverider. Pariah sends the seven Paragons away and the Waverider is destroyed. They appear at Vanishing Point, a place outside of time and space where the Anti-Monitor can’t go. Superman falls (Supergirl holds him like on Crisis #7 cover) and Luthor takes his place carrying the Book of Destiny. 

Part 2 coming in January! The Arrow (episode 4) and Legends of Tomorrow (episode 5) will air back to back on January 14th.

Coming soon to your TV

Two items of note today regarding Legion(ish) stuff on TV:

1. At the NYCC, Warners announced that the 1979 2-part miniseries "Legends of the Super-Heroes" will be released on DVD later this month. This is the infamous show where part 1 has "The Challenge" and part 2 has "The Roast". Both feature Mordru, who appears in part 1 on a jet-ski.

No, really.

2. James Marsters, last seen on Smallville as Brainiac being taken to the 31st century by the Legion, returns next Friday 10/15 in the series 200th episode as Brainiac 5 (but not a green version). TV Guide has a preview video with its article.

Bits of Legionnaire Business

I still have my San Diego wrap-up to do - you guys learned more about what happened at the con than I did, and I was there - but here are some Bits of Legionnaire Business to hold you over in the meantime.

SMALLVILLE

Via TV Guide:

What can you tell me about the returns of Brainiac and Supergirl on Smallville? — Jeff
ADAM: James Marsters returns as Brainiac 5, who, despite being a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the comic books, executive producer Kelly Souders describes as "a slippery fish" with a questionable moral compass. As for Supergirl, expect her to have a more dramatic impact this time around: "She's going to shake up the world for our superheroes," Souders says.

Members of the Smallville message board on the CWTV site discuss which Legionnaires they want to see this season.

TOYS

Toyfare #158 apparently cover-features the Legion figures from Mattel.

The Fwoosh has a very long discussion thread on the Legion 12-pack, starting the day they were revealed in San Diego up through today.

Joe Acevedo has some new custom Legion figures, as does glwannabe at the DC Direct message board.
 
LSH v6

Photon Torpedoes looks at the Jim Lee alternate version covers so far. Over on Twitter, Jim briefly discussed who's going to be on which cover:

So I've been doing these variant covers for Paul Levitz and @ycinar great run on Legion. Need a quintessential 80s Legionnaire for that slot 11:40 AM Jul 29th via Echofon

Had Superboy for 50s cvr, Chameleon Boy for 60s, Saturn Girl for 70s. Just did Mon-el in his "5 years later" Giffen costume for 90s. 11:45 AM Jul 29th via Echofon

Already locked in for 00 choice (a current Legionnaire). 80s still up in the air...any Legion fans out there? 11:46 AM Jul 29th via Echofon 

Down to Tellus, Dawnstar, Sensor Girl and Timberwolf... 12:03 PM Jul 29th via Echofon 

Kello explains why he doesn't like the Legion, while Chris Sims explains why the Legion does work. Let's you and him fight!

The trade paperback for the first 6-issue arc of v6 is available for preorder on Amazon: "The Choice" will be available next April.

MISC

Here's a pinup by Francis Manapul showing Superboy and the Legion (in his Adventure Comics style).  



Doug Wolk explains why the v4 "Five Years Later" Legion should be reprinted.

SDCC 10: Geoff Johns panel

At the Geoff Johns panel today I asked two Legion questions. First, will we see the Legion in "Smallville" this next (last) season? The answer: "I'm not allowed to say." Second, when Waid & Kitson rebooted the Legion a few years ago, they were not able to use the original Legion. What changed in DC corporate policy that allowed you to use them a few years later? Answer: "I don't know, you'd have to ask the editors at the time, we didn't have anything to do with that."

It's San Diego Time.... Programming part 2

Part 2 of San Diego programming, covering Saturday and Sunday. Some of it's generic DC stuff, one with Levitz as a panelist. (See part 1 for Thursday and Friday here).

Saturday, July 24

12:30-1:45 DC Universe: Event Horizon— Ian Sattler, senior story editor, and your favorite writers and artists are here for the main event: The DC Universe! What lies ahead for your favorite heroes and series? Got a question for your favorite DCU creator? Come on by! There's no greater gathering of top-tier creative talent! Room 6A

Sunday, July 25

10:00-11:00 Smallville Screening and Q&A— Comic-Con favorite Smallville returns for its last visit to Comic-Con in advance of the show's 10th and final season, as showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson join star/executive producer Tom Welling and series stars Erica Durance, Cassidy Freeman, and Justin Hartley to talk about the year ahead, answer fan questions, and give an exclusive sneak peek at clips from the final season. From Tollin/Robbins Productions, Millar/Gough Ink in association with Warner Bros. Television, Smallville airs Fridays at 8pm ET/PT on The CW. Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 7. Ballroom 20

2:00-3:00 DC Focus: Premiere Teams— DC Comics knows a thing or two about teams. From the company that brought you the first team in comics' history (Justice Society of America), don't miss this panel on the DCU's top teams roaming Earth (JLA, JSA, Secret Six, Titans), the farthest reaches of space (R.E.B.E.L.S.), and even across time (Legion of Super-Heroes)! Senior group editor Mike Carlin is joined by Tony Bedard (R.E.B.E.L.S.), Marc Guggenheim (Flash), JT Krul (Titans), Paul Levitz (Legion of Super-Heroes), James Robinson (Justice League of America), Matthew Sturges (JSA All-Stars), and others for this collaborative panel! Room 6A

3:00-4:30 Comics Pro/Fan Trivia Match— Len Wein (Microbots), Kurt Busiek (Kool-Aid Man), and Mark Waid (Batman Electric Talking Toothbrush) face off against fans Tom Galloway (former Google employee), David Oakes (college professor), and Michael Grabois (rocket scientist) in a match on significant pre-Crisis DC events in celebration of DC's 75th anniversary. Peter David (Captain America's War on Drugs) will moderate. Room 4

Bits of Legionnaire Business

Here are a bunch of links that popped up in the last few weeks that I didn't get to post, in roughly chronological order. Part 1 of 2 (or maybe 3):

• Gene Gonzales has been posting Legionnaire sketches, including Shrinking Violet (pencils here and inked here), Princess Projectra, Timber Wolf, Wildfire, Duo Damsel, Brainiac 5, and Phantom Girl. More coming in the next post.
  
  
• Todd Klein revised and updated his Legion logo project. It now runs an intro plus five parts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Note: for some reason, the images only seem to load in Internet Explorer, not Firefox. If you read this before, you need to read it again, there's a ton of new stuff including many unused logos.
  
  
• In part 6 of the Wonder Girl/Supergirl teamup on Random Happenstance, the girls wonder why Supergirl can't remember the Legion.
  
  
• Newsarama's Legion Blogpost discusses Officer Wilcox of the Science Police in the 21st century, who is really... wait, what?
  
  
• From the 10/5 Ten Questions with Dan Didio:
  

  9)needcomicmoney wrote:
  Will Geoff Johns be finishing his Legion story featuring Starman and the others who are secretly in the 21st Century?
  
  DiDio: Some of the story threads will move over to be handled by James Robinson, because a number of the Legion members in the 21st Century are integral to some of the events in Superman.
  
  Nrama: Will Paul continue the Legion that Geoff set up? We're not going to see another Legion reboot, are we?
  
  DiDio: Not another reboot. We're picking up on the story threads with the Legion right now. Some of the Legion stories that involve the characters in the 21st Century will be picked up on by James Robinson, and some of the storylines, as they move up to the 31st Century, will be written by Paul. But all the stories are building off current continuity.

  
  
• Legion Abstract tries to put the clues together to figure out just who is a Legionnaire in the current retro-boot.
  
  
• George Perez, at the Baltimore Comic Con:
  

  ...He's also spoken with upcoming "Adventure Comics" writer Paul Levitz, whom Perez has known since their teenage years, about some future projects, and has even spoken with DC Comics honcho Dan DiDio about a project.
  
  ...The panel kept a casual air as Perez began to field questions from the audience. Among the first ones he was asked if there were any dream projects he would like to work on. "After 'Legion of 3 Worlds,' I pretty much completed the cycle of my fanboy dreams," Perez said.

  
  
• Legion Abstract quickly reviews Adventure Comics #3, with the comments section longer than the review.
  
  
• Jim Lee shows off a piece that he and the Wildstorm crew did for Paul Levitz on the occasion of his arrival/departure. Click the link for a bigger picture and to see the framed version. (Via CBR's Robot 6)
  
  
  
• CBR has a Q&A with Geoff Johns:
  

  CBR: First off, I guess the big news since the last time we chatted is that, after only six issues, you and Francis Manapul are leaving "Adventure Comics" and outgoing DC Comics Publisher Paul Levitz is taking over the book. Michael, Eric, Matthew E, Christian and Dennis want to know what this means for Superboy?
  
  GJ: I just finished #6, so I've finished the story Francis and I were working on. Superboy is one of my favorite characters. I'm not really the one to tell you what is next for Superboy, but I know he features prominently in the Superman universe from here on out, and the Teen Titans, as well, for starters.
  
  As far as the Legion goes, I'm beyond excited for Paul Levitz to return to "Adventure Comics" and the Legion of Super-Heroes.
  
  CBR: HawaiiPJ1959 had a question regarding Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl's children, Graym Ranzz, and their son, whom Darkseid transformed into Validus and sent back in time. He wants to know if the children of Garth and Imra Ranzz are still in existence.
  
  GJ: That will be something to ask Paul.
  
  CBR: Slewo was wondering if we'd see any explanation into why Barry would allow XS, his granddaughter, to live away from him at such a dangerous time, instead of having her live a semi-normal life with him and Iris.
  
  GJ: There are very big plans for XS in the future of the Flash universe. "The Flash" book and the "Kid Flash" book start next year, and the Flash universe is something I'm very committed to, both in comics and film.

  
  
• I haven't even finished last season of "Smallville", but a Legion flight ring is a continuing plot point in the 2009-2010 season.
  
  
• Artist George Tuska passed away on October 16th. 20th Century Danny Boy has a good writeup. Tuska did several issues over the years:
  
  • Superboy 172's "Brotherly Hate", 173's "Trust Me or Kill Me", 176's "Invisible Invader", 183's "War of the Wraith Mates" (1971-72)
    
  • "Trial of the Legion Five" (S/LSH 235, 1978)
    
  • the Amalgamax/Composite Superman story (World's Finest 283-284, 1982)
    
  • Star Boy, on the cover to LSH v2 #300 (1983)
    
  • The Gim/Yera story "Guess What's Coming to Dinner" (LSH v2 308, 1984)
    
  • The White Witch origin story (Tales of the LSH 314-317, 1984)
  
  
  

More Bits of Legionnaire Business

More stuff:

Former editor KC Carlson (late v4/early reboot) talked about Legion of 3 Worlds from the perspective of both a former staffer and a fan. Go read it.

I had a lot to be worried about, especially after my normally loving wife had cynically put it into my head early in the series that “you know, a lot of the characters are just gonna be cannon fodder. They’re probably going to kill off ‘your’ Legion to make room for a new one.” Thankfully, a chance meeting with Geoff Johns at last year’s Wizard Chicago Con gave Geoff the opportunity to say “I hope you’ll be pleased with what happens with ‘your’ Legion – especially with XS and Gates, who I loved writing!” Thankfully, I was very pleased at how the whole thing turned out, especially since most of the characters did survive, although it was often a brutal and bloody fight.

...Yeah, I’m still a little bent about the Legion just being the back-up, although I hear from “knowledgeable insiders” that this is more of a placeholder as DC’s PTB work out the details of just what the Legion’s place in the new DCU will exactly be. And it looks like with the recent announcements, Paul Levitz may now be more of a part of those discussions.

...When Mark Waid, Tom McCraw, and I spent several months determining how to streamline the Legion and all its various far-flung stoylines and situations prior to the big Zero Hour event – now known as the Legion Reboot – I kept trying to break down what the Legion was in its most basic form. I kept coming back to this phrase: “Kids in the future in space.” That was the Legion that I grew up reading, and I felt that’s what made the series so special.

Legion Abstract has a long essay (with a neat little pun as the title) on the Great Darkness Saga (which DC should really put back in print now!) focusing on how Darkseid was portrayed in relation to the Legion.

I once said that what the GDS was really about was fear. I don't think that anymore, but I do think I had a point. What I think now is that Darkseid and the Legion never really understood each other.

I'm still several episodes behind in "Smallville" (and getting behinder) but apparently a Legion flight ring played a part in the season finale last May and in the season premiere this week. The FlickCast has a picture and a video clip. IO9 has more on this season of "Smallville" in general, but they also say that the Legion is rumored to reappear (wishful thinking or is this news?).

Asgard Press has the 2009-2010 DC Calendar with vintage covers. For whatever reason, they chose the cover to Superboy 147 for October 2009. (Thanks Mike for the tip!)

Get-a-Life Boy reviews the Legion in Comics for the 9/16 week.

Comix Secret HQ looks at the Adult Legion of Super-Villains.

And don't forget that the new miniseries "Superman: Secret Origin" ends issue 1 with a plug for issue 2 in which the Legion shows up. They used the 1970s "Superboy & The Legion" style logo.

SDCC09: Superman & Geoff Johns

It was kinda fun following the Twitterers Thursday afternoon (you can follow me at @LegionOmnicom) and the live-updates of the panels. Thursday we had the Superman: Two Worlds and the Geoff Johns Spotlight panels. Newsarama had their coverage as a live chat, while Newsarama posted live material.

Highlights from the Superman: Two Worlds panel

Via Newsarama

Before moving to audience Q&A, Robinson piped in that he hadn't talked about Superman yet (an odd thing to leave out in a Superman panel). "I hope everyone is following the adventures of Mon-El," Robinson said. He discussed all the "fragmented pieces" in the book, and an upcoming story called "Mon-El, Man of Valor," that will include, among other things, a new costume for the Daxamite.

"What Legion or Legions is Connor going to be interacting with in Adventure Comics?" "You'll see every Legion in Adventure Comics, eventually," Johns answered.

Via CBR:

The [Adventure Comics] co-feature will have JSA's Starman, Lightining Lad, Polar Boy and Sun Boy in the first few issues, Johns said.

...Rucka noted that the Thanagarians arrive as the Kryptonians are moving one of Jupiter's moons to New Krypton. A Joe Kubert cover will see the Hawk characters fighting Commander Kal-El and Robinson added that he wants to turn Mon-el from a "weak J'onn J'onzz" to "the alien Namor."

Note: someone who was at the panel said that this was a reference to Jemm, Son of Saturn, not Mon-El.

"Coming out of 'Codename Patriot,' we're going to finish the finish the book up to #700, with 'Mon-el, Man of Valor,' which will see him return darker, with a new purpose, and a new costume."

The Superman Annual will be about the history of Daxam with art by Javi Pina.

What Legion/Legions in "Adventure?" "You'll see every Legion in 'Adventure Comics' eventually," Johns said.

Superboy Prime will appear in "Adventure Comics" #4-5, Johns said.

Highlights from the Geoff Johns spotlight panel

Via Newsarama

Nothing.

Via CBR

Briefly touching on his work on “Smallville,” Johns revealed that he and the show’s producers had discussed depicting the 31st century on the CW series, but that budget restraints made it impossible. For example, if such a direction had been pursued, Lightning Lad would not have been able to demonstrate any of his electricity powers, making the whole thing rather pointless.

Johns confirmed that Starman’s “new quest” has nothing to do with “Blackest Night,” and will be depicted as a co-feature in “Adventure Comics.”

Well duh! Of course it has nothing to do with Blackest Night. Starman is carrying a document that reads "Last Will and Testament of R. J. Brande" on it. Seems pretty clear to me that it has nothing to do with BN.

But very surprisingly, Legion of 3 Worlds concluded the day before this panel and not one question came up about the series.

Up tomorrow: the DC/Mattel panel and the DC Nation panel.

Bits of Legionnaire Business

Odds and ends...

• Hero spotlights:
  
  Green Lantern Spotlight looks at XS as part of Flash Month.
  
  Kandou Eric looks at a number of Legionnaires, including Starman, Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Dream Girl, Dawnstar, Wildfire, Mon-El, Invisible Kid(s), Brainiac 5, and XS.
  
  Blog@Newsarama looks at the history of Connor "Superboy" Kent and his return in L3W #4.
  
  Living Between Wednesdays introduces a new series called Super-human Delinquents of the Thirtieth Century, featuring all of the future’s most strange and incompetent bad guys. First up: Vibrex, Master of Vibration!
  
  
• Other looks at L3W #4 from SpeedForce.org, IGN, Every Day Is Like Wednesday (which also includes a harsh but truthful discussion about DC Editorial), Reilly2040, Comic Book Bin, Major Spoilers, Newsarama, CBR,
  
  Two very long and thorough reviews at Rokk's Comic Book Revolution and Legion Abstract ("The Trapper is turtles all the way down"). They write better than I do.
  
  
• Get-a-Life Boy interprets L3W #4 and how it relates to the multiverse, especially the one that Geoff Johns is working on.
  
  
• Colossal Boy is listed as one of the top 10 Jewish super-heroes by io9, and links to a 2005 article with an interview with Paul Levitz as to how Gim Allon came to be portrayed as Jewish.
  
  
• "Smallville" Magazine #32 features an 8-page interview with the actors who portray the Legionnaires in the "Legion" episode. Smallville Buzz has a long excerpt.
  
  
• And speaking of Smallville - I totally missed posting a warning that Cosmic Boy was going to be on the season finale. I'm still a few episodes back, how did you guys like it? Television Without Pity gave it a D+. "It starts with Clark being visited by a rocket-boot-flying Rokk from the Legion of Superheroes (circa 1,000 years from now). He warns Clark that getting rid of Brainiac set off a chain of events with Chloe that leads to Doomsday killing Clark..." Also: recap at Newsarama.
  
  
• At Again With the Comics, here are several fake Silver Age splash pages, including the infamous scene where the Legion rejects Young Darkseid. Also discussion on Metafilter.
  
  
• Though it was cancelled at the end of the second season in spring 2008, it was still nominated for a 2008-2009 Daytime Emmy Award, for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing - Live Action & Animation.
  
  
• As you've heard elsewhere, the new Adventure Comics #1 will have a variant cover labeled #504 (which is an homage to the original Adventure Comics #300). Check out Francis Manapul's page for a look at both.
  
  
• Daily Scans reminds us of the Legion's Blackest Night (aka Legion Zombies) from when the v4 group fought Mordru. Braaaaaiiinnsss!
  
  
• Ben Morse writes at the Cool Kids Table of a Legion article for Wizard that never saw the light of day but which will make an interesting post here soon. Don't write your answers down yet, but start thinking about who you'd like on your Ultimate Legion team.
  

James Marsters, on being Brainiac (5)

IGN has an interview with James Marsten (Spike on "Buffy", Brainiac on "Smallville") in which he discusses his role as Brainiac and the possible evolution of the character into Brainiac 5 of the Legion. Note that he doesn't say that he's going to portray Brainy, just that it'd be a different take on the character for him.

IGN: It's been funny on Smallville this season, because Brainiac has been a presence, but you haven't been a presence unfortunately.

Marsters: [Laughs] They're sick of paying me so much money. They were very generous about offering me some money up front and something told me, "Yes, we're going to work with you James for a good amount of time..." But if you notice, it's been like that a lot. They talk about the character, but... It's a good group of people, but I think that may be over.

IGN: Ah, so you don't think there's much of a possibility of returning?

Marsters: You know what, who knows? That series just seems to be immortal. It's done so well. So if the future is long, I'm certainly open to it. If they need me, I'd love to come say hi to everybody. But at the same time, they may not need me. They're very imaginative about how they do things.

IGN: The last time they had your character, in some form, they sent him off to the future to become Brianiac 5 – the good character from the Legion of the Superheroes.

Marsters: Oh, cool!

IGN: Yeah, it seemed like there was a door there for you to come back in a very different way.

Marsters: That's cool! [Laughs]

IGN: [Laughs] I might be throwing you a curve ball here, but would that be something that would be fun for you, to play such a different take on Brainiac?

Marsters: Oh yeah. I think that would be wonderful. I would also like to go back and be evil for them too. It's fun to be evil! It's fun to play a robot who doesn't really care and who's only pretending to. But it would be fun to play a robot who actually did care at the same time...

Bits of Legionnaire Business

Stuff and more stuff, thirteen items.

• The Life and Death of Ferro Lad came out in hardback a couple weeks back, reprinting Adventure Comics #346, 347, 352, 353 and 357.
  
  
• Last time I told you about the Space Canine Patrol Agents. Now Brian Hughes at Again With the Comics brings the awesome sequel, where the SCPA fights not only the Mutt and Meow Gallery (including Fido Felon and Kid Kitty) but also the Phanty Cats, who were so evil that when their owners got banished to the Phantom Zone from Krypton, their cats got banished too. No, really.
  
  They appeared in SBOY 136 (3/66). For what it's worth, over at Marvel the same month you could have read Fantastic Four #48 which introduced Galactus and Silver Surfer. That's the difference between DC's and Marvel's Silver Age.
  
  
• The BEAT has sales for the end of the Legion title.
  
  

  86 - THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES
  01/2004: Legion #29 — 24,908
  01/2005: LoSH #2 — 42,261 [48,584]
  01/2006: LoSH #13 — 32,730
  01/2007: SLoSH #26 — 32,342
  —————————–
  01/2008: LoSH #38 — 33,045 (-27.9%)
  02/2008: LoSH #39 — 31,123 (- 5.8%)
  03/2008: LoSH #40 — 30,377 (- 2.4%)
  04/2008: LoSH #41 — 28,939 (- 4.7%)
  05/2008: LoSH #42 — 27,940 (- 3.5%)
  06/2008: –
  07/2008: LoSH #43 — 27,531 (- 1.5%)
  07/2008: LoSH #44 — 29,954 (+ 8.8%)
  08/2008: LoSH #45 — 25,783 (-13.9%)
  09/2008: LoSH #46 — 24,959 (- 3.2%)
  10/2008: LoSH #47 — 23,751 (- 4.8%)
  11/2008: LoSH #48 — 22,917 (- 3.5%)
  12/2008: LoSH #49 — 22,180 (- 3.2%)
  01/2009: LoSH #50 — 22,327 (+ 0.7%)
  —————-
  6 months: -22.3%
  1 year : -32.4%
  2 years : -31.0%
  5 years : -10.4%
  
  The final issue of the property’s current incarnation gets a slight boost, presumably on the basis that its number is a multiple of 25.
  
  In one of those baffling management catastrophes that seem to happen all the time at DC, the entire creative team was exchanged on short notice, just one issue before completing a year-long storyline — according to the credits, the writer is one “Justin Thyme” (a commonly used pseudonym for hack jobs), while the title of the story is “Hack the Infinity Net!”
  
  I’m sure this guarantees people are going to be standing in line for the paperback collections for decades to come.

  
  I'll be updating my sales charts shortly.
  
  
• Richard Caldwell at ComicNews.info has a 2-part interview (part 1, part 2) with former Legion artist Mike Grell. He doesn't talk about the Legion, but I know that many Legion fans are also fans of Grell.
  
  
• Did you hear that they made a movie about "Watchmen"? I keep getting these email alerts for various articles about the movie because it uses the words "legion of super-heroes" in close proximity, which in a way points out that the Legion is at the fringes of the mainstream. Some examples:
  

  Siu~V:
  Set in a gritty and alternate 1985 in US, it tells the story of Rorschach, a costumed vigilante who investigates the murder of an ex-superhero. His journey reunites him with his former legion of superheroes, thus unraveling some of the deepest darkest conspiracies and secrets about them.
  
  New York Newsday's Frank Lovece, in an article on Zack Snyder:
  “It may be too early to call him the next Ridley Scott,” he says of Snyder, “but visually he’s freaking extraordinary. Anybody who says he’s not, after they see the first 15 minutes, they’ll be eating their hats.” And unless you’re Matter-Eater Lad of the Legion of Super-Heroes - the very antithesis of “Watchmen” - that just won’t do.
  
  Black Voices:
  It took a legion of superheroes to bring Madea down. Dropping to second place after landing the top spot during the last two weekends was 'Madea Goes to Jail.'

  
  
• Matthew at the Legion Abstract writes about what kind of Legion stories would he like to read.
  
  
• The Legion Flight Ring made an appearance on the 3/12 episode of "Smallville" titled "Infamous" (read recap here).
  
  
• The Bottle City of Kanga reminds us that Mon-El is starting his year-long(ish) run in "Superman", starting in issue 685.
  

  So this issue is the set up for Mon-El to take over as the lead in the Superman books which, supposedly, should have really taken place in the soon-to-be-relaunched Adventure Comics. But they can’t relaunch Adventure until Legion of Three Worlds finishes which will tell the reader which of three versions of the Legion DC are planning to stick with. That won’t conclude until George Perez actually pulls his finger out and finishes drawing the series though which already seems to be around a year behind it’s original conclusion date. Gah!
  
  So poor old James Robinson has to introduce Mon-El without giving away which version he’s supposed to be...

  
  
• L3 Brainiac 5 returns in R.E.B.E.L.S. #2, where he tries to assemble his own version of the Legion.
  
  
• Oklahoma's NewsOK has an interview with Yuri Lowenthal, voice actor of Superman on the animated Legion show. He talks about his audition for the show a few years ago. They also list his favorite episodes. In a third article, Lowenthal talks about his inspirations while voicing Superman.
  
  
• The Idol-Head of Diabolu (a Martian Manhunter blog) looks back at DC Comics Presents #43 from 1982, featuring Superman and the Legion vs Mongul and a Sun-Eater.
  
  
• Tilting at Pinwheels has a few more Legion sketches from what we saw last time.
  
  
• Daily Scans looks back at "Legionnaires" #7 because everyone is drawn by Adam Hughes and is wearing a bathing suit. This is v4-era after the Earth had been destroyed.
  

Legion to return to Smallville

Thanks to Murray for pointing this one out to me, from Entertainment Weekly:

Question: How about some Smallville news? --D-rick

Ausiello: The Legion will return in the May finale -- in some form. Also, I'm told this season's final two episodes will focus on a manhunt for Chloe and Doomsday.

Not sure what "in some form" means, but we'll find out.

Smallville "Legion" rerun this week

For those of you who missed it the first time around, or who want to watch it again, the "Legion" episode of "Smallville" will be shown again this Thursday at its regular time (8pm Eastern/Pacific, 7pm Central/Mountain, other than that you're on your own).

Click the "Smallville" tab at the top for previous posts and discussion.

Smallville wrapup and other bits

Wrapping up last week's episode of "Smallville" (I was out of town on business and dind't have time to work on this), there was mostly praise for the story. Here are the other reviews and articles, in no particular order:

• Television Without Pity
  
• Billie Doux
  
• The Blogged Toilette
  
• SF Universe
  
• Winged Lion's Quiver
  
• Legion Abstract
  
• Operation Save Clark Kent
  
• CliqueClack
  
• Sean McDevitt
  
• SyFy Portal
  
• PopSyndicate
  
• The A-Train
  

And more random bits of Legionnaire business:

• Here's the iTunes link if you want to download the Smallville episode legally.
  
  
• Artist Ovi Nedelcu reposted his Legionnaire character studies originally done for the Legion TV show, but of course they went with James Tucker's designs. (see the original report from 2006 here.)
  
  
• Vinnie Bartilucci talks about Superboy and the Legend of Super-Heroes.
  
  
• Amber's Fashion Tips looks at the Legionnaires' costumes on Smallville.
  
  
• Geekshow Entertainment looks back at the Legion animated series.
  
  
• Legion Abstract has a hero history of Saturn Girl.
  
  
• Finally, White Party Palm Springs is having their 20th Anniversary Celebration: Legion of Superheroes Easter Weekend – April 10-13, 2009. It's certainly not the kind of party I had expected to read about.
  

Newsarama has an interview with Francis Manapul.

NRAMA: How did you end up on Superman/Batman?

FM: I've been talking to Dan Didio throughout the summer cons on what I could work on after Legion. I expressed to him my desire to draw anyof my 3 favourite characters at DC. I was lucky enough to get two of them! Well technically 3 of them. [laughs]

...NRAMA: Probably your most high profile work to date has been on DC's Legion of Super-Heroes with Jim Shooter. Although DC ultimately ended the series, it got your name out to more people than ever before. What did you think of the experience?

FM:This was my first work for DC. In fact it was my first work ever for either of the big two so it was a very big deal to me. I'm sad to see the series go but we did our best to try and revitalize the property. The people I worked with was fantastic I had the full support of my editor Mike Marts, and great collaborators with Livesay and J.D Smith, and of course it was a real honour to have worked with a legend like Jim Shooter. I learned a LOT from this experience and was glad to had been a part of it. Jim was very tough on me but in that hard ass coach kinda of way. He really pushed to try and make me better and pulled no punches. I learned quite a bit from him but I think in the end we had different styles in our approach to telling a story. But I wouldn't have traded the experience for any other.

More Smallville feedback

Some more reactions from around the blogosphere as well as TV-land...

E! Entertainment Online has the ratings info:

The introduction of Cosmic Boy and other Legion of Superheroes members helped lead CW's Smallville (4.3 million) to its biggest audience since early November, the network said. The show also did its anti-Gossip Girl thing, and won the 8 p.m. hour in men 18-34.

The LA Times blog Hero Complex had an interview with Geoff Johns the day that the show aired.

JP: And about the "Legion" episode tonight?

GJ: Well, we introduce Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl. Three founding members of the Legion.

JP: Any other characters that you may have wanted to add?

GJ: Well, we kind of introduce another one, but you'll have to watch and see. Legion fans will definitely get it.

TV Squad has a list full of in-jokes and references, most of which I got.

Screenrant calls it a "huge letdown".

Let’s cut to the chase - they were awful.

Now I get it - maybe in the comic books this is how “Lightning Lad” (Calum Worthy) acts, but to have someone as a member of something called the “Legion of Superheroes” who acts like a 12 year old twit was frankly, beyond annoying and just plain stupid. You’d think that 1,000 years in the future teenagers with such responsibility would be more mature.

On the other hand, Geekshow calls it "The single best episode of Smallville ever constructed".

The Legion of Superheroes took a visit to Smallville tonight in an episode written by comic scribe Geoff Johns. It was, without a doubt, the BEST episode of the entire series to date. Geoff Johns succeeded where every writer to ever work on the show has failed… he wrote the perfect episode of Smallville.

iFMagazine gave it a "B".

I liked the allusions to Clark’s future in this episode. Listening to Lightning Lad’s (Calum Worthy) criticisms of Clark lacking his cape or not being able to fly was just plain funny. Hearing Clark being called the Man of Steel or Davis being acknowledged as Doomsday for the first time was entertaining as well. As has been the theme for most of this season, SMALLVILLE is slowly catching up with Superman.

A recap from Beesite:

The trio that went back in time were perfect for taking down Braniac. They were kind of goofy though with Rokk reminding me of Mack from Always Sunny and Garth being a straight up dork. I am curious about what Lana is planning on doing and hope that her character stays on the show for a while.

Newsarama has the post-game wrap-up:

Was I the only one who viewed the trio of Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad as a sort of superhero version of Harry Potter, Ron and Hermoine? Certainly reminded me of them.

...My take on the Legionnaires? The telepathic Imra, Saturn Girl, was nice to look at, but seemed off at times, a tad distant and removed when communicating telepathically. Rokk, Cosmic Boy, displayed intelligence and good leadership skills at times on top of his power over magnetism. I just thought at least with the hair that he looked like a 1991 throwback, like someone you'd see at a Gin Blossoms show, or the movie Singles. Garth, Lightning Lad, definitely brought energy to the trio, not surprising considering his electrical powers. Way more geeky than I'd even envisioned LL, but still fun to follow. His fascination in Superman mementos, like Clark's letterman jacket (found at the "Levitz Museum," natch), was endearing.

io9 says that the future looks familiar:

...How did the Legion of Super-Heroes (and writer Geoff Johns) hold up in their series debut?

The honest answer would be an uncertain "Pretty well, maybe?" While Johns' script was perfectly fine, it was also more of a regular Smallville effort than what comic fans have come to expect from Johns. Yes, there were the geek-friendly shout outs (A Legion of Substitute Heroes reference? Really?). But the scale was smaller and the formula much more generic than fans of his Green Lantern or even his Action Comics runs would've expected.

Here are the Television Without Pity recap and forum discussion of the episode, the Zap2It recap, and the CW Source recap.

Previously:

• Legion World
  
• the ifanboy.com liveblog/live comment thread
  
• the Twitter search
  
• review at Republibot
  

You can also watch the episode online (for as long as this lasts) at MegaVideo and TV Dome.

Legion torrents and flight rings

Not surprisingly, my normal daily hit count tripled yesterday after the Legion episode of "Smallville" aired.

What was surprising, though, was the number of queries for flight rings. Sadly, there are none on ebay at the moment, though the first wave of Legion action figures from DC Direct in 2001 each came with a plastic flight ring. Chris at Atlas Comics might have some, but the official ones are hard to come by. Here's a closer look at my ring.

A number of people are also looking for torrents (keywords S08E11 or 8x11) to download the show: you can find a standard def version (350 MB) and a high-def version (720p, 1.09 GB) at these and other places.

Legion on Smallville: so what did you think?

SPOILERS for the Smallville episode "Legion":

If only they hadn't said that the only way to stop Chloe was to kill her, it would have been a great episode. I loved the little touches - the sulfur pits of Tharr, the Levitz museum, the flight rings, the bio-electro-magnetic blast, even the "costumes".

She looked the part, but Alexz Johnson's portrayal of Saturn Girl was just totally flat.

I was really surprised that the Persuader was out so fast. And in a nod to the Post-52 Post-Crisis Lightning Saga Legion, he was a member of the xenophobic group (at least in spirit) that Earth Man and the rest of his group were. Another Johns callback - giving Clark the time-travel Legion flight ring, also last seen in L3W.

But for all the squee-age of the episode, the only part that didn't ring true was that the Legionnaires said that they only way to stop Brainiac was to kill it's host, Chloe. I know that that was purely for dramatic tension in the story, and I would have accepted it from anyone else, but it didn't work for me. And given that Brainiac was taken to the future at the end, and not seen in the intervening 1000 years, how did they know that they had to kill the host?

Newsarama explained the "Brainiac 5" comment at the end of the episode - Chloe was the 4th person to have been possessed by Brainiac on the show.

I did get goosebumps at the "Long Live the Legion" scene at the end.

Unfortunately I didn't find this Newsarama article until too late:

NRAMA: Counting the people who have been possessed by Brainiac on the show, wouldn’t that make Chloe the fourth one? Is she Brainiac 4? And what does that mean for the future?

GJ: That's an interesting question. I guess we'll find out.

...NRAMA: The episode also has the Persuader in it. Was that your idea, and why pick him as the Legion villain in this episode?

GJ: There was a villain from the future coming back, and I thought, more than almost anyone, he would look great on film. I love the Persuader, and I wanted to see him swinging around that Atomic Axe. I did a list of villains that could come back, but at the end of the day, Persuader was the best one.

...NRAMA: What's it like for Clark to hear about what's coming in his future?

GJ: They do tell him about the future, but they temper it because of their Legion Code and the rules of time travel. But Clark probably hears a little more than Cosmic Boy would want him to know. And that's a lot of fun. There's a couple things that the Legion mention specifically that will resonate with comics readers and fanboys -- because Legion members are essentially fanboys and fangirls themselves, coming back in time to meet their greatest idol. So they know a lot about him, but there are certain things they see now that don't necessarily match what they've come to know in the future. What they believe is probably more in line with what we know about Superman. So, on one hand, they’re fanboys looking at Smallville and going...”Uh, why aren’t you flying yet?”

NRAMA: While Smallville is clearly a different universe from the comic book DCU, we've seen in previews for this episode that there are a lot of nods toward the comic Legion just in the way they're dressed, with their rings, obviously, but even a few little touches on their costumes. Was that important for these characters?

GJ: That's something everybody on the show was really into, making sure that, while they weren't going to wear spandex, they still needed to be Legionnaires. So I said, well they've got to have the colors and they've got to have their symbols. You know, Cosmic Boy has to be black and purple, and the only symbol of sorts he has are the metal discs. But they work.

Here's what they're saying:

• Legion World
  
• the ifanboy.com liveblog/live comment thread
  
• the Twitter search
  
• review at Republibot
  

Comments?

Smallville tonight, at regular time

So did you hear the Legion will be on Smallville tonight? It sounds like it'll be at the regular time, and will not be delayed by the President addressing the nation. As Mania put it:

Publicists for the CW have let us know that the network plans to air tonight's episode of 'Smallville' at its regular time of 8pm. [Eastern]

The reason that's interesting is because President George W. Bush will be delivering his farewell address at that time. The speech is expected to be carried by most networks, who will either preempt or delay their 8pm shows.

But the Legion of Super Heroes are using their time manipulating abilities to keep 'Smallville' from getting delayed.

Comics scholar Alan Kistler, writing on MTV's Splash Page:

Tonight, the LSH will finally make their live-action debut on the CW’s long-running Superboy-themed television series “Smallville,” in an episode written by veteran comics scribe Geoff Johns and titled “Legion.”

So, for you folks looking for a little background on DC’s young heroes from the future, MTV has compiled a list of some of Clark’s more exciting team-ups with these teen superheroes from the 30th century.

He lists some obvious choices (Ferro Lad and the Fatal Five, the recent Superman & The Legion trade) and some questionable ones (the Reflecto storyline and not the Great Darkness Saga).

And for those who can't wait, here's a final clip showing the Brainiac-possessed Chloe and the human form of Doomsday: