Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #74

Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #74 (1995)
written by Tom Peyer & Tom McCraw
pencils by Lee Moder
cover by Alan Davis

“Future Tense” continues, this time in the future, after Superboy #21.

Well that didn’t take long.

The XS subplot will have to wait until next issue.

The future is not exactly impressed with the new Superboy, and frankly neither is the Legion.

This is the first time travel story for both the Legion AND Superboy.
And it gives a reason for why Mon-El can’t be freed in the 20th century: the whole reason why the Legion is trying to help him is because of the influence of his religion… a religion that could easily not exist if he’s still around.
Especially the 90s version that was around in the Valor series: who could possibly worship THAT guy!?

Brainiac 5’s questionable manners certainly don’t help Superboy feel wanted.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for Triad-Purple being horny for him all the time, I believe Superboy would just leave without even helping Mon-El.

In fact this issue goes a little too far with Purple. She’s supposed to be the more lustful side of her personality, but she comes across as one-note here.

It does, however, lead to one of the most influential decisions of the Reboot: keeping the rescue of Valor a secret to the general public.

While I really like the 90s version of Superboy (in his series… he’s kind of insufferable in this crossover), given his obsession with fame and glory I do find it very funny that the 30th century has completely forgotten him.

Triad-Purple isn’t the only one to get reduced to a single character trait.

If you want to keep a secret, Superboy might be the worst candidate.
Save perhaps Booster Gold.

The main plot is a mission to recover specific components to repair the Stasis Zone Projector, and the Legion can’t wait to be done with Superboy.

Ultra Boy (who is not officially a member yet) tags along…

…worried about the mission, which is ALREADY public knowledge.
The news travel fast in the future!

Cosmic Boy does inform the President about the plan, which is… odd considering what is going on between her and the Legion.

After the traumatic events of their fight with their brother, Live Wire and Spark are back with their families. Notice that she’s still wearing the necklace gifted by her secret admirer, nice touch.

The Legion is going to purchase the components they need from a collector…

…who is a Superboy villain: The Scavenger.
He’s like the Collector from Marvel without the history or charm; most superhero universes have a guy like this.

This turns into, of course, a Big Dumb Collecting Fight.

The Scavenger shouldn’t be a big problem for the Legion… if he hadn’t collected the Philosopher’s Stone, the primary weapon of Flash villain Doctor Alchemy.

I’m sure you guys wish Element Lad was already on the team.

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Legion significance: 8/10
Cosmic Boy deciding to keep the mission a secret will have long-term consequences, despite the news breaking without his consent.

Silver Age-ness: 5/10
Superboy traveling a thousand years into the future and running into one of his villains is a lot of a coincidence.

Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
What is up to everyone suddenly becoming a one-note version of themselves?
This is weird considering we didn’t get a change of writers! I’m guessing Superboy is bringing out the worst out of the Legionnaires.
If you’re only familiar with this version of Superboy from his Legion appearances, I can see why you’d end up not liking him. I found him quite insufferable: in his own series there’s a charm about his brashness that this one completely lacks.
I don’t think it was done on purpose to stop the fans from asking to make him a regular member… I could be wrong, but I get the impression that Peyer and McCraw plainly don’t like the character.

Who did it better?
The reason for why Mon-El must be freed after a thousand years of exile and not in the 20th century is actually given here.
I believe that it’s much flimsier in the original: the future doesn’t know much about Mon-El (at least until 5YL), so why couldn’t they free him in the present?

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We are legion

• 11 active Legionnaires (3 volunteers, 8 drafted)
• 1 expelled member (Live Wire)
• 1 resigned member (Andromeda)
• 2 deceased members (Kid Quantum, Apparition
• 15 people have been members
• 2 Legion leaders (Leviathan, Cosmic Boy)
• 2 members have been rejected

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Interesting letters: not all new readers are new young readers!
I know several people who read comics for decades and never seriously tried to approach the Legion because of its reputation of being too complex; the Reboot is unquestionably the easiest one to read from the start.

Weird that the Legion already had a reputation of already having too many issue #1, while it’s definitely not the case… Volume 1 was a 3-issue miniseries of reprints and Volume 2 took the numbering from Superboy, so at this point there had been only two “real” LSH #1.

Both LSH Volume 4 and Legionnaires will last longer than what T. Paul wished: #125 and #81 respectively.

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On a personal note, this issue marks a change in my perspective of the Reboot.
Because from this point forward, I have original physical copies of all issues from both the main series.
Thanks to a gigantic www.milehighcomics.com sale for making me complete my collection!

Use the code ARCHEOLOGY to get a 0% discount on your purchases.
Because they are not sponsoring me.
Because I did not ask.
Not that they would anyway.

And man do US comics have a lot more advertising that I’m accustomed to. This issue has:
-22 pages of comics
-2 letters page
-8 pages of ads, which are placed between comics pages interrupting the story, and are frequently for commercial products and not other comics
At the cost of 2.25 dollars, which in 2026 would be 4.88 dollars.

By comparison, a 1995 issue of the Italian reprint of Spider-Man would translate 3 original issues with a total of:
-66 pages of comics
-2/3 pages showing the cover of one of the issues translated
-2/3 pages of ads which never interrupt the story. The VAST majority are ads for other comics
-1 page of editorials or recaps (occasionally, otherwise they are replaced by ads or letters)
-1/2 pages of letters
The price was 3300 lire: in 2026, that’s the equivalent to 3.5 dollars.
Given that it’s 3 books in one, that’s like paying 1.16 dollars per original issue today.

I’m no longer buying the Italian translations… I read everything in the original version through the official apps… but as recently as 2019 the standard for most books was:
-44 pages of comics
-1/2 pages showing the cover of one of the issues translated
-3/4 pages of ads which never interrupt the story (again, mostly for comics)
-1/2 pages of editorials or recaps
-1 page of letters (rarely)
The typical price was 3.5 Euro, which in 2026 would be 4.95 dollars
Given that it’s 2 books in one, that’s like paying 2.47 dollars per original issue today.

It’s amazing to me how much you guys pay for comics compared to Italy reprints, considering that A) Italian translations can be purchased at any newsstand and not just comic book stores B) we still have to pay for the translation.
I also find it the fact that advertisements are CONSTANTLY interrupting the story REALLY irritating. No wonder that trade collections grew so popular.