Before we get to the really crazy apocrypha, a couple of minor cameos.
Justice #12 (2007)
written by Jim Krueger & Alex Ross
pencils by Alex Ross & Dough Braithwaite
cover by Alex Ross
If you loved Kingdom Come but hoped to see more characters drawn by Alex Ross in their classic looks, this series has you covered.
The artwork is an absolute masterpiece, but honestly I found the story to be quite boring.
We’re at the epilogue of the whole series, which after seeing the heroes go through a series of tragedies has to end with an uplifting message about the future.
And what better way to show the future can be positive than a cameo by the Legion of Super-Heroes?
Specifically it’s quite clearly the 70s Legion.
You have to love all the minor Alex Ross details, like showing a tiny Shrinking Violet.
Also, unlike most alternate versions of the Legion, I think we can safely assume Superman used to be a member.
And that’s about it. To be perfectly honest I can’t really recommend this series for the story, but holy crap is this some peak Alex Ross.
I’m not giving a score in any category for a cameo.
We are legion
Active Legionnaires: 18
-Shadow Lass
-Colossal Boy
-Star Boy
-Dream Girl
-Cosmic Boy
-Lightning Lad
-Saturn Girl
-Timber Wolf
-Mon-El
-Brainiac 5
-Shrinking Violet
-Dawnstar
-Chameleon Boy
-Sun Boy
-Wildfire
-Unseen Legionnaire behind Saturn Girl. I’m going to assume Karate Kid if that think is his 70s collar.
-Unseen Legionnaire behind Dawnstar’s wings. I’m going to assume Ultra Boy given the hair.
-Unseen Legionnaire behind Wildfire. I’m assuming Tyroc, as the only black Legionnaire from the 70s.
Reserve members: 1
Presumably Superboy.
19 people have been members
Elseworlds 80 Page Giant (1999)
cover by Ty Templeton
Needless to say, this is a huge Silver Age throwback.
There’s some truly wild stuff here, like a universe where Lex Luthor and the Justice League were the Discount Beatles.
It goes all-out: in this universe, the entire superhero community is music based!!!
You might have guessed that a comic featuring Wonder Madonna is not taking itself too seriously.
That was cute. Comics should do stupid stuff like this more often.
And speaking of stupid, how could I not mention the Super-Sons?
Superman dies. Surprisingly, not out of embarrassment for being Superman Junior’s father.
If you thought Superman Junior would step up to uphold his father’s legacy after his death… well technically he does, but only because of his MASSIVE inferiority complex.
However it turns out that it was all a trick thanks to Batman Junior being a terrible friend.
This is truly inspired by the original Super-Sons because everyone is consistently a terrible person.
And no wonder: it’s written by Bob Haney, in what is most likely his very last DC story!!!
The issue also includes a story about Superman’s babysitter.
Despite the fact that the babysitter story won TWO Eisner Awards (Best Short Story and Best Writer/Artist), the issue was withdrawn from publication because DC was concerned about the part where the Baby Superman gets into a microwave oven.
Overblown reaction. This story is awesome!
All of this was just an appetizer. The REAL appeal of this whole 80 page special is the “Hall of Silver Age Elseworlds”: a gallery of fake cover spoofing the most insane Silver Age ideas.
These are all written by Mark Waid, one of the few people who can write both genuine love for the Silver Age and hilarious parodies.
Sadly these are only splash pages, but tell me you wouldn’t love reading a full story developing these premises!
With one exception: I most definitely wouldn’t want to see what the actual Silver Age would do with this premise.
At this point you might be wondering: this is funny and all, but why in the world are you including this in the Legion apocrypha?
Well, it’s all thanks to one of the fake premises!
But the crown for THE most hilarious spoof goes to this one:
No joke, but Eve not realizing that Batman is Adam even when THERE’S LITERALLY NOBODY ELSE IN EXISTENCE might just be the funniest thing anyone has ever written.
We are legion
Active Legionnaires: 6
-Phantom Girl
-Colossal Boy
-Saturn Girl
-Cosmic Boy
-Chameleon Boy
-Lightning Lad
Legion Rejects: 1
-Young Darkseid
You have to love how the reason for his rejection is not “you’re a tyrannical god of evil”.
6 people have been members
That “Hall of Silver Age Elseworlds” reminds me of the L.E.G.I.O.N. Annual from the 1994 Elseworlds Annual event, which, after some pretty funny full stories, featured one-page “rejects”, one of which was a parody/homage of Adventure # 247 (does that count as Legion apocrypha?) and one of which was a hilarious Dick Sprang Batman spoof in which Vril Dox, playing the part of Bruce Wayne, tries to think of a persona that will strike fear in the hearts of men, and Stealth, a female member of the team, crashes through his window, whereupon he decides he will become WomanMan (with sidekick Girl, the Boy Wonder).
One more thing – I think the partially-hidden Legionnaire behind Wildfire that you identified as Tyroc might actually be Element Lad. While I’m only looking at your scan and not at the original, the face and hair don’t strike me as “black” but merely shadowed, and I think the hairline looks more like his curly blonde hair (as generally depicted during that 70’s era) than like Tyroc’s afro.