This relatively short era had a lot to prove. After the tremendous success of the Great Darkness Saga, could the Legion still hold its own? Despite some bumps here and there, I think it definitely did… with some exceptions.
Legion significance: 8/10
For the most part it doesn’t have that huge of an impact… until we get to the whole Shrinking Violet business, which skyrockets it.
Silver Age-ness: 3/10
Consistently low, despite a couple of intentional throwbacks.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
While there are still a few growing pains… especially towards the end… this was a solid run.
Levitz manages to consolidate the work from the previous stories, helping make the Legion’s future feel very much alive. And perhaps as a consequence of being in the shadow of the Great Darkness Saga, it lacks a serious big threat.
It doesn’t reach the heights of other eras, but when when it hits the target, it REALLY hits.
And now, ladies and gentlemen: the Legion Awards!
BEST LEGIONNAIRE
Winner: Colossal Boy
We get to explore his relationship with Shrinking Violet, with Yera and with his mother. And he reveals an unsuspected level of depth and maturity.
Runner-up: Brainiac 5
He turns Computo into his butler (!!!) and we a bit of insight into his relationship with Supergirl.
I was this close to giving him first place, but unfortunately that’s not an exploration that gets very deep, plus there are too many issues where he’s a no-show.
Third place: Sun Boy
This was a toss between him and Star Boy. But while I can’t praise #306 enough, Star Boy doesn’t do anything impressive there.
Sun Boy, on the other hand, gives us a VERY visceral reaction when he discovers terrorism still exists in 30th century Earth in #296.
Sadly he later fades into the background, and his relationship with Gigi feels very shallow, but that was a very powerful reaction!
Honorable mention: Shrinking Violet
Yes she’s BARELY in this run, but what a way to kickstart her evolution into a better character!
WORST LEGIONNAIRE
Winner: Dawnstar
Always making everything about herself, including her love interest’s disability (!!!). Plus she meanders through her own subplot that takes her away from the action for a while. 
Runner-up: Invisible Kid
He doesn’t really have that much of an argument for taking Wildfire back to the regular universe, and he doesn’t do much of anything during the rest of the era. It would be too easy to make the joke that you barely ever notice Invisible Kid is there, but it’s… kind of true? 
Third place: Dream Girl
We don’t really get an explanation for why her re-election fails. Apparently she just sucks at being the leader.
Dishonorable mention: Light Lass
She does have her reasons… kinda… but the only thing she does is quit.
PARTICIPATION TROPHIES
Chameleon Boy: managing to recover his dignity after a few disastrous eras, not to mention some of the best shapeshifting battles ever.
Wildfire and Timber Wolf: the sad singles
Star Boy: the sad boyfriend
Phantom Girl and Shadow Lass: the gossip girls
Ultra Boy: the sore loser
Element Lad: the sore winner
Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy: the best teachers
White Witch: best badass entrance
MOST IMPROVED LEGIONNAIRE: Cosmic Boy
This was a tough one. Star Boy has the amazing #306 and Shrinking Violet has her moments at the end, but they’ve both won this trophy before so they technically start from a better position.
Cosmic Boy is the real underdog, since he hasn’t done anything all that great before #297, so his improvement is more impressive.
MOST IMPROVED ANYTHING: Proty II
I despised that little s#it during the entire Silver Age, so the fact his cameo in #301 stunned me for how good it was should be high praise.
BEST NEW STUDENT: Comet Queen
There aren’t any new Legionnaires in this era. Cosmic Boy’s brother gets a proper introduction as Magnetic Kid, but it’s obviously Comet Queen that steals the show.
WORST NEW STUDENT: Urk
I still have no idea what he’s doing there. 
MOST FANSERVICE LEGIONNAIRE
That’s basically Laurel Kent’s codename, right? 
BEST VILLAIN
Winner: Mordru from Legion of Super Heroes #300
It’s an alternate reality version, sure, but how come the real Mordru hasn’t been this terrifying in ages?
Second place: Micro Lad from Legion of Super Heroes #304
What a manipulative little racist bastard.
Third place: Emerald Empress from Legion of Super Heroes #302
Her first attempt at a solo supervillain career does not disappoint. 
Honorable mention: Lex Luthor from Superboy vol.2 #50
To be honest he doesn’t do anything spectacular, but he has enough presence to still carry his part of the story!
WORST VILLAIN
Winner: Omen from Legion of Super Heroes #310
Good idea, TERRIBLE execution. 
Runner-up: Prophet from Legion of Super Heroes #307
The only reason he’s SLIGHTLY better than Omen is that he does something. Not WELL, but that’s still an improvement! 
Third place: Lightning Lord from Legion of Super-Heroes #302
You just cannot stop sucking, can’t you? 
Dishonorable mention: the Durlans from Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #2
Admit it, you completely forgot about these guys. 
MOST INFLUENTIAL STORY
Winner: Legion of Super Heroes #304
It’s hard to overstate the importance of this story to Shrinking Violet, which in turn will take its toll on other Legionnaires AND gives us a great supporting character with Yera.
Runner-up: Legion of Super Heroes #297
You can basically forget like 95% of what Cosmic Boy did before this story.
Third place: Legion of Super-Heroes #295
It will take a lot before the Green Lantern connection is explored, but it’ll have its influence.
Honorable mention: Legion of Super Heroes #300
It’s mostly metatextual, but this is the story where the Legion future is no longer tied to the Adult Legion.
BEST STORY
Winner: Legion of Super Heroes #306
I don’t think Star Boy ever gets better as a character than his trial and this story.
Runner-up: Legion of Super Heroes #297
Holy crap, Cosmic Boy is THAT badass!?
Third place: Legion of Super Heroes #304
Possibly the best superhero impostor story ever.
Honorable mention: Legion of Super Heroes #308 (Part 2)
It’s just a little story about Colossal Boy’s mother, but it’s told extremely well.
WORST STORY
Winner: the Omen storyline, Legion of Super-Heroes #307 to 310
What a disaster. I think I’ve gone into enough details in the review itself why this does NOT work.
Runner-up: Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #2
This was SUPPOSED to be about the marriage of Projectra and Karate Kid, but it’s a lackluster plot about time traveling Durlans posing as Greek gods that barely makes any sense.
Third place: Legion of Super-Heroes #295
It’s neat to see Curt Swan draw the earlier era, but the revelation that Universo was a Green Lantern comes out of nowhere and has absolutely nothing to do with what Blok is supposedly trying to teach to Timber Wolf.
Dishonorable mention: Legion of Super-Heroes #312 (Part 2)
Even some nice Gene Colan artwork can’t salvage Dawnstar’s story.
MOST SILVER AGE PANEL
MOST MEME-WORTHY PANEL
BEST ALIEN DESIGN: the Gil’Dishpan 
BEST TECHNOBABBLE 
WORST TECHNOBABBLE
Removing the clouds over Venus would do the opposite of that, Dawnstar. 
BEST REACTION SHOT
WORST REACTION SHOT
Not because of the artwork, although it’s nothing spectacular. But this is Colossal Boy’s mother reacting to learning his son is secretly married… except at the end we discover she’s known about this for a month. 
BEST PANEL
WORST PANEL
BEST SPLASH PAGE
MOST FANSERVICE PANEL
WORST FANSERVICE PANEL
BEST COVER: Legion of Super-Heroes #306
Simple yet brilliant design.
WORST COVER: Legion of Super-Heroes #313
Is that even a cover?
BEST NEW COSTUME
Winner: Shrinking Violet Yera
It’s a pithy this version is only worn by the impostor because it’s one of my favorite Legion costumes.
Second place: Lamprey and Nightwind, tie
Not only they changed costumes, their look is completely unrecognizable. Not to mention a VAST improvement over their rather generic earliest look.
Third Place: Shrinking Violet
It gets little screen time and it’s extremely similar to her Silver Age costume, but this becomes her standard costume for most of the rest of this continuity.
WORST NEW COSTUME
Winner: Blok
I love you man, but I just cannot take you seriously with those high-waist pants.
Second place: Shadow Woman
This is just Shadow Lass doing whiteface for basically no reason.
Third place: Laurel Kent
Not to be a prude or anything, but there is such a thing as too much fanservice.
Dishonorable mention: the H-villains
The H-Dial rarely comes up with good costumes.
“Blizzard” is fine, but the rest… ugh.
HALL OF FAME (combining all eras)
7 good trophies
-Saturn Girl continues to be the MVP: she’s won 4 good trophies (Best Legionnaire 3 times, she’s been Best Legionnaire Third Place once), she has 2 participation trophies, plus 1 Best New Costume, and zero bad trophies
-Shrinking Violet is inching closer: 3 good trophies, 4 participation trophies, and zero bad trophies
-Duo Damsel is not far behind: she also has 3 good and 4 participation trophies, but she’s racked up one bad trophy
-Bouncing Boy is the dark horse, with a staggering 7 participation trophies! Impressive to see him this far up, considering he’s never won any other kind of trophy!!!
6 good trophies
-Cosmic Boy: 3 good trophies, 3 participation trophies, 2 bad trophies
-Lightning Lad: 2 good trophies, 4 participation trophies, 1 bad trophy
-Ultra Boy: 2 good trophies, 4 participation trophies, 1 bad trophy
-Colossal Boy: only 1 good trophy, but an impressive 5 participation trophies and zero bad trophies
HALL OF INFAMY (combining all eras)
4 bad trophies
-Tyroc: Worst New Legionnaire, Worst New Costume, 2 Worst Legionnaire Third Place. No good or participation trophies.
-Light Lass: Worst Legionnaire, 2 times Worst Legionnaire runner-up and 1 time Worst Legionnaire Dishonorable Mention, but she does have 1 participation trophy
3 bad trophies
-Chemical King: 3 times Worst Legionnaire runner-up, but also won Best Legionnaire runner-up once
-Chameleon Boy: once Worst Legionnaire, once Worst Legionnaire runner-up, once Worst Legionnaire third place. At least he has won Best Legionnaire once and has 4 participation trophies.
Technically, this is the second time we’ve seen the Emerald Empress act solo, the first time being the backup story of Superboy # 215, when Cosmic Boy couldn’t use his powers due to a Braalian religious holiday. (Of course, she must have had a solo criminal career before her first appearance, since her being on the most wanted list is what made the Legion recruit her and the rest of the Fatal Five for help against the Sun-Eater.)
“Winner: Legion of Super Heroes #304
I don’t think Star Boy ever gets better as a character than his trial and this story.”
Should be 306?
Whoops. You’re right, I’ve fixed it, thanks!
Yera’s awesome Shrinking Violet costume, as has been pointed out elsewhere, is just about the only time Pre-Crisis SV actually wore a violet-colored costume. I wonder if that was one of the clues Levitz and Giffen baked into the story to hint all wasn’t on the up and up with Salu Digby
I completely agree with your assessment of the Legion era you’ve discussed in this post. While it may not have had the same impact as some of the other eras, there were definitely some standout moments, particularly in the Shrinking Violet storyline. My question for you is, do you think the Legion has the potential to become more popular and have a larger impact in the future, or do you think it’s best left as a niche interest for hardcore comic book fans? Personally, I think there’s a lot of potential for the Legion to gain more mainstream recognition, especially with the popularity of superhero movies and TV shows. But I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the matter.
That’s a great question.
I think the Legion absolutely has the potential to be popular with a mainstream audience: the cartoon series had a decent following, even against bad promotion and lots of executive meddling in the second season. Animation would be the best option by far.
Live action, however, doesn’t suit the Legion very well. The two main things that set apart the Legion from other superhero teams are the futuristic alien setting and the huge cast of regular characters.
You can’t do that properly on a TV series unless you have a humongous budget, and even at the peak of superhero popularity that would be a hard sell to producers. You’d have to make Star Trek starring the equivalent of at least two whole regular-sized superhero teams.
You can have the Legion show up in the series of another hero if you have a bunch of Legionnaires crash into the 20th century for a while… I haven’t watched the Supergirl TV series but I’m positive that’s how they did it… but that’s hard to translate into a regular Legion show.
A movie could work as an introduction, like have Superboy or whatever exploring the 31th century, but just a couple of hours is not really enough to explore the setting and the characters.
Unless you scale down the membership and don’t do too much sci-fi stuff, but if you go that way are you still doing the Legion?
That was fun. Helped me kill time between sets at the gym!