Meanwhile: Kingdom Come #1 notes

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

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

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

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


 
(via Travis Ellisor's Legion Visual Reference Page)

A Field Guide to Unpublished Legion Covers

The Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants, Appendix A: Unused Covers

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

Unused covers, Second printings 

Unlike my previous Field Guides to Variant Legion Covers, this one is a guide to covers that were NEVER published. For one reason or another, a cover was commissioned, drawn, colored, and solicited but then pulled for something else or significantly altered somehow. Here are the ones that I know about, with the unused solicited cover alongside the actual published cover.

Demand Classics #2, 1978
In 1978, DC was set to release several reprint titles, including Demand Classics. The first issue would have been a reprint of Flash #123, "Flash of Two Worlds", while the second issue would have been (for some unknown reason) a reprint of Adventure Comics #357, "The Ghost of Ferro Lad". The cover had been created, but then that series (and many others) was pre-cancelled in the DC Implosion, and so this cover was included in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade, "published" by photocopy to preserve copyrights. It was never colored or lettered.

Unused coverArt by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #34 - November 2007
The cover on the left was the one originally solicited, but DC decided to use a different cover for the final version. The solicited one was never published.

Unused cover Art by Dennis Calero	Published cover Art by Dennis Calero

Legion of Super-Heroes: 1050 Years of the Future - June 2008
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Legion (thus "1050 Years"), DC published a collection covering the team's history, focused on the pre-5YL run but also including the Reboot and the Threeboot. The book was originally solicited with a Neal Adams cover, reprinting his artwork from the 1976 DC Calendar (and more closely resembling the edited version of that cover that was used on the 1977 Tempo paperback reprint), but what actually saw print was a portion of the Mike Grell cover from Limited Collector's Edition #C-49.

Solicited cover Art by Neal Adams & Dick Giordano	Printed cover Art by Mike Grell

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 (two other versions of Brainiac 5 vs Kid Flash).

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

Legion of Super-Heroes v6 #7 - Jan 2011
The cover was solicited with Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5, Timber Wolf, and Tyroc, surrounded by gunmen. The published cover kept the gunmen but changed the Legionnaires (swapping out Brainy for Ultra Boy) and their positions. The solicited one was never published. 

Original solicited cover (unpublished) Art by Yildiray Cinar & Wayne Faucher	Regular published cover Art by Yildiray Cinar & Wayne Faucher

Legion of Super-Heroes v6 #11 - May 2011
The cover was solicited with Dream Girl carrying Star Boy, but it was replaced with one showing Timber Wolf vs Sun Emperor. The solicited one was never published. 

Original solicited cover (unpublished) Art by Yildiray Cinar	Regular published cover Art by Yildiray Cinar

Legion Secret Origin #4 - March 2012
From the "Bits of Legionnaire Business" cover variant blog post:

Another Secret Origins title was issued in 2011, and just like LSH Vol 6 #11, the covers solicited for one of the issues did not make the cut.

Issue 4 of LEGION: SECRET ORIGIN sported a cover featuring Colossal Boy as the central figure. But in the previews, two different covers had been spotlighted, with Star Boy in Gim's place, wearing either his purple or his white costume.

Artist Chris Batista lamented that the covers were done during a confusing time at DC, when the editorial team did not have a firm direction on the Legion's future.

I'm not sure which of the promo covers came out first, whether it was purple Star Boy and Red Ultra Boy or White Star Boy and Gray Ultra Boy, but at some point Editorial stepped in and said "Take out Star Boy altogether, move giant Colossal Boy from the background into Star Boy's slot and replace him with debris, then replace Lightning Lad with Invisible Kid and move Lightning Lad into Ultra Boy's slot."

Unpublished cover Art by Chris Batista & Mark Deering	Unpublished cover Art by Chris Batista & Mark Deering
Cover as published Art by Chris Batista & Mark Deering

Legion of Super-Heroes v7 #19 - June 2013
Via the Bits of Legionnaire Business blog post:

The cover, drawn by Keith Giffen, showed Mon-El in combat with the Emerald Empress. The previous two issues also featured covers by Giffen, so he must have been commissioned to draw the covers for this particular arc, which marked the end of the Legion. 

But for that month, DC decided to publish books with novelty gatefold covers, which flipped open to reveal little surprises … in this case, it was Mon-El losing an arm to the villain. 

JJ Kirby was summoned to provide the cover, with Giffen presumably tied up with other assignments by that time.

Solicited single-page cover Art by Keith Giffen	Published gatefold cover Art by JJ Kirby

Superman #15 - September 18, 2019

The first cover below was solicited in Previews, but when the decision was made to change Lightning Lad's skin color, DC opted to have a new, different cover created (both by Ivan Reis). The original cover with the light-skinned mohawk version of Lightning Lad was never published.

Original standard cover (never published) Art by Ivan Reis	Published standard cover Art by Ivan Reis

Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #2 - October 2, 2019
LSH: Millennium #2 was also caught up in the effort to change Lightning Lad's ethnicity. In the original solicited version of the standard cover, featuring Saturn Girl holding up a flight ring through which we see Superboy, Bouncing Boy (to the left of Superboy) was dark-skinned and Lightning Lad (to the right of Superboy) was light-skinned. For the final version of the cover, the ethnicities were reversed. The original version was never printed. Here's a close-up comparison:

And looking at the cover, you can see Light Lass change ethnicity too, just above Ultra Boy's shoulder from his raised arm, below Shadow Lass, and above Element Lad. A version of the entire Hitch image - left half as seen on issue 1 and the right half on issue 2 - was sold at the 2019 New York Comic Con as a convention exclusive. This version is a wraparound cover printed on foil.

Original standard cover (unpublished) Art by Ryan Sook	Published standard cover Art by Ryan Sook

Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1 - March 2021
The tie-in to the Future State line-wide event had the usual two variants, one on regular cover stock and one on cardstock. However, the issue was originally announced (though never solicited) as "Future State: Legion 5000" #1, but that was shortly changed to the final "Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes" #1, the title under which it was published. (Note that only one image of the Legion 5000 cover was ever released, and it was on Instagram so the cover was cut. I took that image and superimposed it on the final FS:LSH cover, you can see that the original was cut off partially through the barcode at the bottom and was missing a sliver at the top. The only difference between the two is the logo.)

Original announced (but never solicited or printed) standard cover Art by Riley Rossmo	Final solicited standard cover Art by Riley Rossmo

A Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants, 2006-2007

The Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants, part 2: 2006-2007

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

Unused covers, Second printings 

For this pre-Rebirth checklist, I'm indebted to "Condo Arlik" who maintained the "Bits of Legionnaire Business" page on Facebook, in particular this gallery of cover variants (adapted to the web in part 1, part 2, and part 3 at the Legion of Super-Bloggers site), which made it a whole lot easier for me to compile a current list.

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

2006

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

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

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

Justice League of America vol 2 #1 - October 2006
Relaunch of the JLA. Technically, only the second printing has a Legionnaire! Many of the characters on these covers changed from the original poster version seen below the covers; the Threeboot Karate Kid was originally behind Blue Beetle on Cover B. The combined Cover A+B appeared (without Karate Kid) on the Diamond Retailer Edition RRP promotional giveaway. The second printing cover had the original poster before the characters were changed around, so this is the only one that does have Karate Kid. Note that there exists a separate first printing with a Michael Turner cover that does not have KK, and that one was the basis for the pencil-only third printing and the recolored fourth printing (but because KK is not involved, I'm not showing those here, but see this page for all of the covers).

Cover A Art by Ed Benes	Cover B Art by Ed Benes
RRP Diamond Retailer Edition Art by Ed Benes	Second Printing Art by Ed Benes

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #23 - December 2006

For some reason, this odd issue of the Legion's regular book got a variant cover by Adam Hughes, featuring Supergirl. It wasn't an "Adam Hughes variant for all books" thing that month, so I don't know the story behind why this issue had this cover (and not, say, the regular Supergirl title).

Regular cover Art by Barry Kitson	Adam Hughes 1:10 Variant Art by Adam Hughes

Two fan-favorite artists released convention-exclusive covers at the San Diego Comic Con in July 2023, both based around this 2006 issue. The Adam Hughes original variant was re-released with foil versions, one "virgin" (no logo) and one based on a Mexican comic. Not sure what the "Superman #51" signifies, as it's different from the 2017 "La Mole" version which was a Mexican convention exclusive version of Superman #43 (not 51). And randomly, David Nakayama did a brand-new Supergirl cover, a virgin one with stars on a pink foil background, and one with the same image on a non-foil sky-blue background with trade dress. For more info on these, see my separate blog post.

Virgin Foil version (2023)Art by Adam Hughes	Superman #51 Foil version (2023)Art by Adam Hughes

Virgin Foil/Pink Stars version (2023)Art by David Nakayama	Sky Blue version (2023)Art by David Nakayama

2007

Justice Society of America vol 3 issues 1-22, 24-26, 41, and 50 all had variant covers (usually Alex Ross doing the main cover and Dale Eaglesham doing the variant, except for the Lightning Saga), but rather than include all of those in this Field Guide, I'll only highlight the covers where Starman is on either of the covers. Here's a gallery of all the JSA covers.


Justice Society of America vol 3 #1 - February 2007
Relaunch of the JSA following Infinite Crisis. Starman is a member, this ends up being the Retroboot Thom Kallor wearing a full-face mask, who is also the Starman who was in Kingdom Come, and who had psychological problems due to being in the 21st century without his 31st century medications. The Alex Ross cover is an homage to All-Star Comics #3, while the Dale Eaglesham cover is an homage to All-Star Squadron #1 (which we'll see in 2020 homaged again, with LSH v8 #3 by Jim Cheung).

Regular cover Art by Alex Ross	Variant Art by Dale Eaglesham

Justice Society of America vol 3 #2 - March 2007

Regular cover Art by Alex Ross	Variant Art by Dale Eaglesham

Justice Society of America vol 3 #4 - May 2007
Dream Girl makes an appearance at the end, leading into the Lightning Saga.

Regular cover Art by Alex Ross	Variant Art by Dale Eaglesham

Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century #1 - June 2007
The first issue of the series based on the animated cartoon was reprinted shortly thereafter with a slightly modified cover for Free Comic Book Day 2007. Sometimes you'll find an FCBD version with the store's stamp in the blank spot at the bottom.

Regular cover Art by Steve Uy	FCBD cover Art by Steve Uy

The Lightning Saga was spread over five issues (three JLA and two JSA), with some of the covers linked together to form bigger pictures, which I'll show at the end.

Justice League of America vol 2 #8 - June 2007
Lightning Saga part 1 of 5, reintroducing the Retroboot Legion (despite the Threeboot version being a continuing series, at least for a while).

Regular cover Art by Michael Turner	Variant Art by Phil Jimenez & Mark Chiarello

Justice Society of America vol 3 #5 - June 2007
Lightning Saga part 2 of 5.

Regular cover Art by Alex Ross	Variant Art by Phil Jimenez and Rod Reis

Justice League of America vol 2 #9 - July 2007
Lightning Saga part 3 of 5.

Regular cover Art by Michael Turner	Variant Art by Phil Jimenez and Rod Reis

Justice Society of America vol 3 #6 - July 2007
Lightning Saga part 4 of 5.

Regular cover Art by Alex Ross	Variant Art by Phil Jimenez and Rod Reis

Justice League of America vol 2 #10 - August 2007
Lightning Saga part 5 of 5.

Regular cover Art by Michael Turner	Variant Art by Phil Jimenez and Rod Reis

Here's the three JLA covers for #8, 9, and 10 connected:

The Jimenez covers for JLA #9 and JSA #6 sort of connect, in that it looks like Superman's cape and Wonder Woman's hair bleed over from the JSA cover to the JLA cover, but it's not very centered as if some artwork was trimmed, and it also looks like there should be a third part but the JLA #10 Jimenez cover doesn't connect at all. And the Jimenez covers for JLA #8 and JSA #5 also don't connect. Oh well.

Justice Society of America vol 3 #7 - September 2007
Cover says Lightning Saga Epilogue but it's really just about Starman in the 21st century.

Regular cover Art by Alex Ross	Variant Art by Dale Eaglesham & Ruy Jose

Justice Society of America vol 3 #8 - September 2007
Dream Girl makes an appearance.

Regular cover Art by Alex Ross	Variant Art by Dale Eaglesham & Rodney Ramos

Action Comics v1 #858 - December 2007
Part 1 of the "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" arc, featuring the Retroboot Legion. Gary Frank did both the standard and variant covers. The second printing is a slightly cropped version of the main cover with a different colored background (red replacing yellow). In 2010, this issue was reprinted (with the cover to issue #863) as a special edition promoting the collected version of the story.

Note that there was a slight softening in Superman's face between the solicited version and the printed version, making him look less angry.

Solicited unpublished Art by Gary Frank	Published standard cover Art by Gary Frank
Variant cover Art by Gary Frank	Second printing Art by Gary Frank
Special Edition reprint (2010) Art by Gary Frank

Last updated July 2023