Crisis On Infinite Earths #3 (1985)
by Marv Wolfman & George Perez
Once again the Legion is on the cover, so it’s a neat excuse to have a look at gorgeous Perez artwork.
There isn’t a lot of Legion in this issue, but it’s when the anti-matter wave reaches the 30th century.
One of the most confusing aspects of the Crisis is that, since time itself is unraveling, the same disaster is SOMEHOW happening simultaneously at various points in history.
The fact that Dream Girl didn’t foresee this catastrophe is used to great effect.
While it’s true that she doesn’t ALWAYS get a warning on the next big event, she’d have to be a pretty bad precog if she couldn’t foresee THE LITERAL END OF EVERYTHING.
The real Legion connection, however, comes from one of the reserves: Kid Psycho, who is in charge of helping London of all places.
The last time Kid Psycho did anything was his first appearance in 1965, on Superboy #125.
Since then he’s only had cameos, at the Legion wedding of Superboy #200 and in the big reunion of Legion of Super-Heroes #300, both times in a non-speaking role.
And this is his last appearance. To add insult to injury, his death isn’t even particularly heroic.
If you forgot, Kid Psycho has the power to create invisible barriers; he could’ve died by protecting people from the advancing wall of anti-matter… but nope, he’s just knocked out by debris and then slowly consumed by anti-matter.
Kid Psycho was the Legion’s secret weapon, since every time he used his powers he shortened his own lifespan. So keeping him on the sidelines until a major battle made sense.
But he doesn’t even show up in the Great Darkness Saga (where EVERYONE ELSE linked to the Legion has a role!!!) and he dies in Crisis without even using his powers.
Legion significance: 0/10
Harsh, I know, but… poor Kid Psycho, nobody had any idea of what to do with him for TWENTY YEARS. Which is a shame because he had A LOT of potential!!!
The idea of a hero whose powers are killing him, the fact that he’s a mutant (bet you didn’t remember that from his origin story), or even the fact that he could have words with Superboy or Element Lad since he’s ALSO the last member of his species.
His death isn’t even mentioned right away in the Legion books, because while I’m reviewing these in the order of publishing date, the Legion titles take a while to cath up with the events of Crisis.
Silver Age-ness: N/A
Does it stand the test of time? N/A
Since this is not a proper review, I can’t give a real score.
We are legion
Kid Psycho was the original reserve! But at this point there are more deceased members than reserves.
19 active Legionnaires
8 reserve members
10 deceased members
3 resigned members
1 honorary member
41 people have been members
41 people have been rejected
On the one hand, Kid Psycho’s death could have been visually dynamic. They could have shown him visibly aging with each forcefield he created and each life he saved. It could have been a horrific race to see which would kill him first, the antimatter or his own powers. On the other hand, they might have wanted to save the sight of a hero aging to death for Barry Allen. There are only so many good deaths to go around, and Crisis was full of second-banana characters getting less than their due when death came for them.
Dream Girl’s comments here are similar to her (or their, as there were two Dream Girls at that moment) comments at End of an Era/Zero Hour – “For the first time, we looked into the future, and saw nothingness.” (or something along that vein). That’s what convinced the Legion(s) that they needed to merge and disappear, leading into the Reboot.
I don’t know if we had a clear explanation for Dream Girl’s inability to predict Crisis.
It seemed natural at the time, but I am not sure why. If I had to attempt an explanation now, it might be because Crisis has disturbed and clouded the passage of time itself, and overlayed previously entirely separate timelines besides (as Supergirl notes when the Legion headquarters become visible in Earth-Two). Precognition becomes very difficult if not all-out impossible until the flow of time resumes some semblance of normality.
It is possible that the plot of the last pre-Crisis issue (Legion of Super-Heroes Volume 8 #18) also factored in. Maybe Dream Girl’s power made those effects happen to her before others?