Action Comics #591

Action Comics #591 (1987)
by John Byrne

The Legion BARELY appears in this one, but it’s arguably the most important part of the storyline.

Superboy has frozen both the Legionnaires and Superman, but he’s still too much of a good guy to deliver ALL of them to his “master”.

However the stasis field’s effect on Superman soon fades, and he’s able to follow Superboy.

It’s not that easy, because Superman isn’t fast enough to time travel in this period.
It’s going to take a long time (pun intended) for him to get that power back! At the very least until the mid-to-late 2010s.
I actually rather liked him having that limitation: while I never bought the idea that Superman is “too powerful to be interesting”, giving him all his powers to their fullest extent AND time travel is reeeally pushing it.

At the very least he’s able to SURVIVE the trip once he latches on Superboy, which is still something.

Superman ends up crashing in Superboy’s time, which doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Superboy was taking the Legion to the Time Trapper, so he should’ve been moving FORWARD in time. Granted this isn’t the same Smallville that is in Superman’s past, but still, how did Superboy happen to fly past… ehm, the past?

This gets the attention of Krypto, who has been having fun chasing comets.

Aside from THIS story, Krypto won’t be a part of Superman’s lore for a long time.
The modern version, however, won’t have the human-like thought balloons of the original.

Meanwhile, outside of time… whatever the heck that means… the Time Trapper is monologuing about his plan.

I really like this way at looking at the Time Trapper. Is he a million years old? Was he born yesterday? Does it even make a difference?

Well, I can believe some versions of the Time Trapper were born yesterday.

But jokes aside, pay attention because this is going to be the origin of the Legion for a while: the Time Trapper was directly responsible for their creation!!!

Because, when the Time Trapper discovered the Legionnaires were about to use the Time Bubble™ to go back in time to recruit Superboy, he discovered that thanks to Crisis Superman had never been Superboy in the first place.

So the Time Trapper stole a second from the universe (!!!) and created his own pocket universe that is basically the Silver Age one.

It’s pretty convoluted, but Byrne really pays attention to details here: he even has the Time Trapper give a (rather morbid) reason for why in THIS version the Kents are already old when they adopt Clark, as opposed to the post-Crisis version when they were younger.

This is the first of many, many retcons that will shape the Legion. At least for now, ALL the times the Legion interacted with Superboy and other Silver Age characters they were actually interacting with the Superboy and other characters from the pocket universe created by the Time Trapper.

Everything kind of works for the moment. The only thing that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense is that the Legion was inspired by Superboy’s legend BEFORE the Time Trapper discovered it and went on to actually create Superboy, so… where did the Legionnaires learn Superboy’s legend?
Sure the Time Trapper works outside of time and his creation of Superboy is retroactive, but shouldn’t the Time Trapper already have known that?

Back to Superman, he’s been rescued by Pete Ross who thinks this is just Superboy affected by Red Kryptonite.

Byrne is really counting on the idea that Smallville is more the idealized version of a small town than a real place. I would argue that was already the case for at least ten years before Crisis, if not more.

Unfortunately for Superman, this is when he runs into Superboy.

AND into Krypto!

Even with the fight, Superman is finding the whole Silver Age status quo charming.
Krypto is confused by the fact that Superman’s cape is no longer indestructible, but he eventually comes up with the idea that he must be a Phantom Zone criminal.

Naturally the best solution would be using Kryptonite.

Except Krypto arguably chooses the worst plan possible, by deciding to use Gold Kryptonite: the kind that PERMANENTLY removes a Kryptonian’s powers.
And Krypto’s plan is to expose HIMSELF to Gold K so that Superboy can see it???

Why would he do that!? Leaving aside that he could’ve used Green Kryptonite to hurt Superman and then attack him together with Superboy… if all he wanted was for Superboy to get the idea and spot him, he might not be able to see through lead but HE CAN READ the “Gold K” letters on the container!!!
This is especially dumb because Pa Kent ultimately does end up using Gold K exactly that way: there were dozens of other ways Krypto could’ve given him hints, even if he can’t speak!!!

…
…
…
Am I really arguing the validity of a dog’s plan?

So Pa Kent ends up exposing Superman to all types of Kryptonite at once…

…which does absolutely nothing, because pre-Crisis and post-Crisis Kryptonite are entirely different from each other.

Superman doesn’t really want to fight, however, and he explains everything with THE MOTHER OF ALL INFODUMPS.
Seriously, just look at this wall of text!!!

I showed the entire page to showcase that GIANT WALL OF TEXT, but awkward presentation aside it ties up everything: Superboy was doing everything he could to lose.

It also explains why exactly Superman ended up here: Superboy made sure of it.
So I guess he took the scenic route to get to the End Of Time?

But the deciding factor was meeting the Kents of this reality, who are just as wholesomeness incarnated as the real deal.

Good thing there is no version of the Kents that fundamentally misunderstands what they stand for and what Superman should be about.
That would suck if it existed, now wouldn’t it?

And we finally bring this back to the Legion! Yeah remember this storyline used to be about them?

Perhaps they’re jealous of Superman stealing the spotlight, because they’re not allowing him to show up in the finale.

Just kidding; slightly hidden in Brainiac 5’s words, there’s the implication that while the Legion used to be the future of a DIFFERENT Superman they might still end up being the future of this one.

John Byrne is often accused of having some kind of agenda towards erasing everything from the Silver Age, and while he’s indeed responsible for the disappearance of several characters and tropes, it’s hard to read this story and not think he still has a deep love and respect for the era.

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Legion significance: 10/10
As mentioned, this is the new status quo of the Legion: their origins lie in the Pocket Universe created by the Time Trapper.
This has A LOT of repercussions for the Legion, and even outside of it the Pocket Universe will end up having a long lasting impact. As we’ll see in a quick look at the epilogue, this is ultimately where the so-called Matrix version of Supergirl comes from.
And THAT version of Supergirl is around in some shaper or form until 2011, meaning this story had a legacy lasting 24 years. To give you an idea of how long that is: there are FOUR different Legion continuities in place between 1987 and 2011.

Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Yes it’s not the REAL Silver Age, but the reason behind why is even MORE Silver Age.

Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
Despite its impact on the lore, the Legion is tangential to the story here. It’s more of an exploration of the difference between the old and new Superman, plus a love letter to the Superboy world.
I didn’t know much of Superboy’s Silver Age adventures when I first read this story, but what I got out of if was “there must have been plenty of goofy stuff around but it sounds like those were entertaining stories with a lot of heart and some hidden depth”.
And you know what, that was pretty accurate!
Having said that… this issue hits you with A LOT, and while it does a better job at exposition than the previous one… that giant wall of text is kind of inexcusable.