A Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants 2021-2022

The Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants, part 9: 2021-2022

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

Unused covers, Second printings 

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

2021

Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 8) #11 - January 2021
Issue 11 had the usual two variants, one on regular cover stock and one on cardstock.

Standard coverArt by Ryan Sook	Cardstock variantArt by Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok

Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 8) #12 - March 2021
Issue 12 had the usual two variants, one on regular cover stock and one on cardstock.

Standard coverArt by Ryan Sook	Cardstock variantArt by Matt Taylor

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 image of 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
Cardstock variant Art by Ian MacDonald

Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #2 - April 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. 

Standard coverArt by Riley Rossmo	Cardstock variantArt by Ian MacDonald

2022

Justice League vs Legion of Super-Heroes #1 - March 2022
Start of a six-issue miniseries, with the usual two variants, one on regular cover stock and one on cardstock. There was also a separate variant of the Godlewski cover with a different logo color scheme that was only available as part of a 3-pack in Walmart.

Standard coverArt by Scott Godlewski	Cardstock variantArt by Travis Moore
Walmart variantArt by Scott Godlewski

Justice League vs Legion of Super-Heroes #2 - May 2022
Issue #2 had the usual two variants, one on regular cover stock and one on cardstock. 

Standard coverArt by Scott Godlewski	Cardstock variantArt by Travis Moore

Justice League vs Legion of Super-Heroes #3 - July 2022
Issue #3 had the usual two variants, one on regular cover stock and one on cardstock. 

Standard coverArt by Scott Godlewski	Cardstock variantArt by Travis Moore

Justice League vs Legion of Super-Heroes #4 - September 2022
Issue #4 had the usual two variants, one on regular cover stock and one on cardstock. 

Standard coverArt by Scott Godlewski	Cardstock variantArt by Travis Moore

Justice League vs Legion of Super-Heroes #5 - October 2022
Issue #5 had the usual two variants, one on regular cover stock and one on cardstock. 

Standard coverArt by Scott Godlewski	Cardstock variantArt by Travis Moore

Justice League vs Legion of Super-Heroes #6 - November 2022
Issue #6 had the usual two variants, one on regular cover stock and one on cardstock. 

Standard coverArt by Scott Godlewski	Cardstock variantArt by Travis Moore

Last updated 1/7/23

A Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants 2015-2018

The Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants, part 6: 2015-2018

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

Unused covers, Second printings 

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

2015

Justice League United #6 - January 2015
Part 2 of the "Infinitus Saga" story arc. The combo pack version was recolored, a higher price, and polybagged, but included a code for a digital download of the issue, with some additional trade dress. The Lego cover was part of a line-wide gimmick that month.

Regular cover Art by Andrew Robinson	Combo pack cover Art by Andrew Robinson
Variant cover Art by Rod Reis	Lego variant cover Art by computer

Justice League United #7 - February 2015
Part 3 of the "Infinitus Saga" story arc. The combo pack version was recolored, a higher price, and polybagged, but included a code for a digital download of the issue, with some additional trade dress. The Darwyn Cooke cover was part of a line-wide gimmick that month.

Regular cover Art by Andrew Robinson	Combo pack cover Art by Andrew Robinson
Variant cover Art by Rod Reis	Variant cover Art by Andy Kubert

Justice League United #8 - March 2015
Part 4 of the "Infinitus Saga" story arc. The Flash 75th Anniversary cover was part of a line-wide gimmick that month.

Regular cover Art by Andrew Robinson	Variant cover Art by Rod Reis
Flash 75th Anniversary Variant cover Art by Karl Kerschl

Justice League United #9 - April 2015
Part 5 of the "Infinitus Saga" story arc. The Harley Quinn variant cover was part of a line-wide gimmick that month.

Regular cover Art by Andrew Robinson	Variant cover Art by Matteo Scalera
Harley Quinn variant cover Art by Mikel Janin

Justice League United #10 - May 2015
Part 6 of the "Infinitus Saga" story arc. The movie poster variant cover was part of a line-wide gimmick that month; this one was an homage to "Mars Attacks".

Regular cover Art by Andrew Robinson	Variant cover Art by Dan Hipp
Movie poster variant cover Art by Marco D'Alfonso

Convergence: Superboy & The Legion #1 - June 2015
This variant is partial panel art from page 9 of Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #11, designed by Chip Kidd. Features the pre-Crisis Legion.

Regular cover Art by Pia Guerra	Variant cover Art by Ernie Colon & Larry Mahlstedt

Convergence: Booster Gold #1 - June 2015
This variant is partial panel art by Jason Fabok, designed by Chip Kidd. Features the pre-Crisis Legion.

Regular cover Art by Dan Jurgens & Danny Miki	Variant cover Art by Jason Fabok

Superman v3 #40 - June 2015
The scene on the 1/50 Gary Frank cover variant, featuring Superman and the Retroboot version of the Legion vs Validus, does not appear in this issue, and only this cover features the Legion (the regular cover is shown here for example; there are a total of 4 variants and 1 2nd printing).

Regular cover Art by John Romita Jr & Klaus Janson	Variant cover Art by Gary Frank

Convergence: Superboy & The Legion #2 - July 2015
This variant is partial panel art from page 9 of Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #11, designed by Chip Kidd. Features the pre-Crisis Legion.

Regular cover Art by Pia Guerra	Variant cover Art by Art by Ernie Colon & Larry Mahlstedt

Convergence: Booster Gold #2 - July 2015
This variant is partial panel art by Jason Fabok, designed by Chip Kidd. Features the pre-Crisis Legion.

Regular cover Art by Dan Jurgens & Danny Miki	Variant cover Art by Jason Fabok

Convergence: Blue Beetle #2 - July 2015
This variant is partial panel art from Crisis on Infinite Earths, designed by Chip Kidd. Features the Reboot Legion, who only appeared in issue 2.

Regular cover Art by Brett Blevins	Variant cover Art by George Perez & Dick Giordano

2017

Legion of Super-Heroes/Bugs Bunny #1 - August 2017
Two variants in equal numbers.

Cover A Art by Tom Grummett & Karl Kesel	Cover B Art by Ty Templeton

Introduction to the Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants

This is the master index page to the Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants. For purposes of this Field Guide, I am only showcasing where one issue has different cover artwork, coloring, and/or logo to represent a variant. I know there are collectors out there who differentiate between the Direct Sales and the Newsstand copies (whether there's a barcode or something else like a logo in the UPC box on the cover), but since that's not something I am interested in, I'm not going to include them here. Likewise, I'm also not including Canadian or UK price variants, or "Whitman variants".

Each chapter has a pictorial list of the different variants available during that time frame, along with the artists and a note about any rationale about the variants (second printing, cardstock variant, 1:25 variant, etc.). I include all Legion-specific books, and some books with Legionnaires in them (such as Starman and Mon-El/Valor), but it's not every single book that has a Legionnaire in it.

As a bonus, I have a couple of Appendices, including a field guide of covers that were solicited but for one reason or another went unused, and a field guide to second printings (which is a small subset of the larger main guide as the vast majority of variant covers are first printings).

This page will be pinned over on the side, and updated as needed.

Part 1: 1958-2005
Part 2: 2006-2007
Part 3: 2008-2009
Part 4: 2010-2011
Part 5: 2012-2014 
Part 6: 2015-2018
Part 7: 2019
Part 8: 2020
Part 9: 2021-2022

Part 10: 2023-2026
Appendix A: Unused covers

Appendix B: Second printings  

Last updated Jan 2023