Legion of Super-Heroes #85 (1996)
written by Top Peyer & Tom McCraw
pencils by Lee Moder
cover by Alan Davis
This begins the 15-issue run of the Legion being lost in the 20th century.
Superman in such a rush to team-up that he’s already on the cover!
The Emerald Eye has thrown a few Legionnaires into the past… as well as Inferno and Shvaughn Erin.
And that includes Apparition, who only Ultra Boy and Saturn Girl can see…
…at least until Saturn Girl telepathically shares the ability to see her.
Notice the detail of Gates mentioning he’s never met Apparition, since he joined after her death; I continue to be impressed by this era’s accuracy with keeping track of small things like that.
A small detail that will actually turn out to be important later: there WAS a dead body when Apparition died.
And then SUDDEN AIRPLANE!!!
It really shouldn’t take a 12th level intelligence to figure out you’re in the past, guys.
What’s the plan here, Inferno? Incinerate the guy who builds time machines so that he will build a time machine for you?
Sounds legit.
Even without a time machine, there is a slight chance to returning to the 30th century if only the Legionnaires could catch the residue of the Emerald Eye’s energy.
Reboot Ultra Boy gets a lot of criticism from fans for his “dumb jock” persona, but I find that Apparition often goes way too far with her jealousy.
Alright, the Legion has to find that little cloud of energy before it reaches the ground.
How hard could that possibly be?
Did Gates not pay a lot of attention in school, or is education that bad on Vyrga?
The Legionnaires are particularly grossed out by Earth people eating actual animal meat instead of synthetic substitutes.
That’s a classic science fiction trope, but the fact that Spark is the first to point this out is interesting.
Her planet is typically depicted as being kind of the backwater of the United Planets… a flyover planet if you will… so the fact that even she finds eating real meat to be unthinkable suggests synthetic meat is truly universal in the 30th century.
The attempts to stop the green cloud damage the city, and gain the attention of someone who knows the Legion.
Yeah I was also often overwhelmed by 20th century people, Saturn Girl.
And things won’t exactly improve in the 21st.
If this really was 1958, Brainiac 5, only two people in this team would exist. And you wouldn’t be one of them.
The Legionnaires meet the Metropolis police, and they have a problem with the language barrier.
Hilariously Gates is STILL convinced this is China because he confused a regular wall for the Great Wall.
Get used to Brainiac 5 complaining about how primitive the 20th century is, that’s going to be a huge part of his characterization.
He goes overboard with it at times, but he will be forced to realize he’s being too harsh.
Well, up to a point at least. This IS Brainiac 5 after all.
Dealing with the power armor of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit… of course they have those… is a bit more complicated than expected, because even the residue of the Emerald Eye’s energy is enough to upgrade them.
The effect doesn’t last long. Not even long enough for the non-Legion visitors to fight each other.
The situation is a bit of a mess, but an unexpected ally shows up: Mullet Superman.
Specifically, he remembers the last time he met the Legion… well, he met “a” Legion.
Brief intermission here.
This is the post-Crisis Superman, meaning that he remembers everything that has happened to the character from 1986 onwards. Which means that by this point, Superman has already met THREE distinct versions of the Legion!!!
He met the original Legion in Superman vol.2 #8…
…and the 5YL Legion at various points of their history, both from his own time travel saga and Adventures of Superman #478
The latter is intriguing because it’s the story where Superman learns that the Moon will be destroyed a thousand years into his future.
So because he doesn’t know the Legion has been rebooted, when he sees the Legionnaires, he should think they come from the same future!
There was no Lightning Lass in any of the incarnation met by THIS Superman, so he doesn’t immediately recognize Spark.
Versions of the Legion that Superman remembers: 3
Also: I know Superman is a tall guy, but holy crap does he tower above the Legionnaires!
He will definitely get the chance to know them better, because Brainiac 5’s force field failed to contain the energies of the Emerald Eye: they are stuck in the past.
Straight into a company-wide event, even!!!
Legion significance: 10/10
As mentioned, the Legion will stay in 20th century for quite a while. But we also have the rest of the team learning Apparition is alive, and also the acknowledgment that Superman DOES remember the past incarnations. The latter doesn’t really have a ton of impact in-universe, but it’s notable enough to mention.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
I can see some of these shenanigans in the 60s.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
Not a masterpiece, and I have to stress once again that this is not supposed to be a quality score.
A perfect score is meant to signify that you can do the entire story today without changing a thing… and honestly besides giving Superman a haircut, I can’t think of anything else.It’s not a mast
erpiece by any stretch… it’s honestly a very slight drop in quality from the Emerald Violet arc… but it does everything it sets up to do.
Who did it better?
As much as I enjoyed Superman’s time travel story arc… his interactions with the Legion must have been confusing for anyone who wasn’t deep into Legion lore.
Since this quickly acknowledges the time paradox shenanigans and quickly moves forward with the story, I think it’s the superior version of the trope.
We are legion
Structuring the era on separate books creates a bit of a challenge for my classification scheme… particularly for a member that will join soon.
I’ve decided to keep the “missing in action” category up until the moment the 30th century Legion contacts the 20th century one, after which everyone will be considered active regardless of the century.
- 9 active Legionnaires
- 8 missing in action
- 1 resigned member (Andromeda)
- 1 honorary member (Superboy)
- 2 deceased members (Kid Quantum and Leviathan)
- 21 people have been members
- 3 Legion leaders (Leviathan, Cosmic Boy, Shrinking Violet)
- 2 members have been rejected
Now what we have our separation of the teams, let’s analyze if it was a good idea or not to separate them like this from a storytelling perspective.
I think it’s clear that a lot of thought was put into this, but there doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut division: it’s not like one team is only classic Legionnaires and the other has the new guys.
Which is a great idea: since the 20th century team is going to do team-ups with better selling books, it makes sense to include both classic and new characters.
Since this is THEIR book, let’s start with the 20th century team.
Brainiac 5: absolutely essential to keep him here. If he was in the future, he would have easy access to the means to build a time machine, since he’s done it before. He’s also one only two current Legionnaires with a strong connection to this century.
Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl: I think they’re the other two essentials. They’re easily the most recognizable Legionnaires, and separating Saturn Girl from Live Wire creates easy drama. Also if Cosmic Boy stayed in the future, it would’ve been natural for him to return to a leadership position instead of opening the field for that aspect to be explored properly.
Gates: you need to have at least one Legionnaire who allows the reader to tell at a glance that this isn’t the old team. He also creates the challenge of a visibly alien member needing to hide himself. And of course, who doesn’t love Comrade Gates?
Spark: separating her from her brother allows some character growth. While it’s not as evident, placing her here also separates her from her closest friends (I’m pretty sure the only Legionnaire in this team that she truly likes at the moment is Saturn Girl). Unfortunately having her here means she won’t be present for Violet’s character exploration on the other book, which I’m pretty sure is a major reason why they’re not a couple in this version.
Ultra Boy and Apparition: he’s one of the most recognizable Legionnaires, and keeping them in the future would’ve screwed up the arc about her return to solid form. And considering how weird it already is, that would’ve been hard to follow!
Inferno: this is the most unexpected addition. The Final Night cameos were my first exposure to the Reboot Legion after the Issue Zero, and I would’ve sworn she was a full Legionnaire.
Shvaughn Erin: I get the feeling that there were plans to use her more extensively, because honestly I can’t think of much that she actually DOES in this entire era.
As for the Legionnaires who stayed in the future… would it have made sense for some of them to join the other team? Or replace one of its members?
Chameleon: good call not sending him back, it would’ve been way too easy for him to blend in, and the “fish out of water” angle is the best part of doing this whole thing.
Element Lad: while there would be some great aspects to explore, I think his power is way too story-breaking to keep him around the 20th century if you’re going to do crossovers.
Invisible Kid: I don’t think he would’ve added anything to the past team. And the future one needs at least one super-genius if they don’t have Brainiac 5.
Kinetix: would’ve been very fun; imagine her trying to get Doctor Fate’s helmet or something! But of course she’s WAY too important for the main arc of the other book.
Live Wire: great call separating him from both his sister and Saturn Girl. It forces him to grow up when compared to his earlier attitude.
M’onel: that would’ve opened up the hornet nest that is the Valor continuity. No thanks.
Shrinking Violet: you’re kidding right? In the middle of THAT storyline?
Star Boy: could’ve replaced Ultra Boy without the Apparition story. But I think they could’ve managed to squeeze him into the team: the chance to make him interact with Starman was right there!
Triad: she will actually show up much later. And because of a particular storyline that’s going to happen, adding her too soon would’ve given away what we’re going to get.
XS: she already had her own 20th century adventure. And having her guide the others would’ve taken away some of the fun of them fumbling understanding the past.
Interesting letters: this era of the Legion gets some criticism for introducing too many new/old Legionnaires at once (although that’s more on the other series).
It doesn’t come out of nowhere, as the letters are often asking to see more returning faces.
I agree Vince about Chemical King and Tyroc, but I wouldn’t have minded to see Quislet again.
But Wildfire being “unalterably seventies”? Uh? Where did that come from???