Let’s take a short break from the main Legion book for a Superman crossover that involves them.
Adventures of Superman #476 (1991)
by Dan Jurgens
This is also an introduction to the time cops called the Linear Men, who will become VERY important for the Legion considering their role in Zero Hour.
Specifically we meet the guy who will give the team their name: the Linear Man, also known as “That’s not Cable” and “Every 90s design cliché ever”.
This is an important period in Superman’s life, since this is just ONE MONTH after he revealed his secret identity to Lois Lane.
Their heavy discussion is interrupted by Booster Gold being shot by the Linear Man.
Superman interferes in Linear Man’s attempt to bring Booster Gold back to his time, and this screws up the time machine.
According to Booster Gold, this should take Superman a few centuries into the future…
…and I think this MIGHT be the first time the post-Crisis Superman travels into the future.
Superman’s arrival created a massive explosion (that also burned his cape, which is NOT indestructible in this continuity)…
…but that is being dealt with by the Legion of Super-Heroes.
I kind of like Superman having trouble adapting to the future, as well as the Legion not IMMEDIATELY thinking this is the real deal.
But it doesn’t take long before they’re convinced.
In a nice bit of continuity, Superman remembers meeting the Legion way back in 1987 on Superman #8… but he SHOULD remember he met an older version of Cosmic Boy during Legends. I guess we’re supposed to believe Cosmic Boy looks THAT different as a teenager.
Then Superman asks for what every single time traveler wants: spoilers.
It’s not out of nowhere… part of the reason why she’s hesitant to commit to a relationship with Superman is that she worries whether he will forever stay young while she ages, so Superman is in a hurry to find out if he DOES age.
Action Comics #663 (1991)
by Roger Stern & Bob McLeod
cover by Kerry Gammill
I’m only going to cover the parts of the storyline that involve the Legion, but rest assured things get WILD.
The Legion refuses to give spoilers, and go back to dealing with the aftermath of the explosion caused by Superman’s arrival.
However Superman is pulled back into the timestream, and that’s the setup for the storyline: every once in a while, he’s going to jump into other periods.
He spends most of the story in 1943, performing as a circus strongman and saving FDR from an assassination attempt, before being sent away by the Spectre.
Superman vol.2 #54 (1991)
by Jerry Ordway
Superman fights in WWII in the next part, but this features no Legion so we’re going to skip it.
Adventures of Superman #477 (1991)
by Dan Jurgens
This part, however, prominently features the Legion.
Specifically the Legion from the 70s. We’ll see if we can pinpoint when this might take place.
The Legion has been called by a space observatory that has detected the return of the Sun-Eater.
This is interesting when it comes to Legion history, because at this point the original Sun-Eater story should still be mostly canon… it just didn’t involve Superboy.
It’s not very believable that Wildfire wouldn’t know about it… I know being a jackass is his thing, but he’s not THAT oblivious.
It’s also interesting from the perspective of the main DC books, because the Sun-Eater WILL show up in the 20th century… and it won’t interact with just the Reboot Legion, it will be the basis of an entire company-wide crossover.
That Sun-Eater will be very distinct from the classic one, but this is CLEARLY the original version.
See, what did I tell you? The original story IS still in continuity, and I find VERY unlikely that Wildfire wouldn’t know about it since the Legion never shuts up about Ferro Lad.
Meanwhile, Superman witnesses the Sun-Eater devour another star.
I should point out that throughout this Linear Man tried to stop Superman from messing with history. And Linear Man is really, REALLY bad at his job.
I do like the fact that the Legion uses EXACTLY the same plan that stopped the Sun-Eater the first time… after all they DO have the right bomb for the job, why wouldn’t they use it again?
And it makes sense to have Wildfire do it, considering that even if his suit is destroyed his energy could conceivably be recovered.
But also IT’S THE SUN-EATER, of course things aren’t that easy.
This looks like a job for Superman.
I’ve been missing Wildfire.
The Legionnaires don’t know Blok yet, so when could this story be placed?
Widfire joined in Superboy #201 in 1974, and the Legion first meets Blok in #253 in 1979.
However, considering the Legion doesn’t make any comment about Superman mentioning Invisible Kid, I’m going to assume this is before his death on Superboy #203.
But I think we can even get more specific than THAT!
Wildfire chooses his new codename in Superboy #202, but he doesn’t participate in that that story… it focuses on a different batch of Legionnaires. None of those are in the Superman story…
…whereas Phantom Girl is present during the last Invisible Kid story.
This leads to me to believe that Adventures of Superman #477 is set DURING Superboy #202: after Wildfire chooses his name, he’s part of the team dealing with the Sun-Eater while the others deal with the main Earth storyline of that book.
That information is COMPLETELY useless for this story, of course!
But I do find it pretty cool that we can actually pinpoint the setting with such precision.
Wildfire has the most Wildfire plan to deal with the Sun-Eater, but Superman is being more methodical.
This feels like a deliberate throwback to older eras, complete with Ultra Boy throwing in an unnecessary explanation about his helmet.
It’s also a pretty good plan, relying on making sure the Sun-Eater doesn’t notice Wildfire until it’s too late.
You would think the plan would to just blow up the Sun-Eater, but it’s surprisingly more complex.
Kind of cool to have an inside look at Wildfire’s suit, to be honest.
This is because they don’t have a second bomb that can destroy the Sun-Eater… so they TURN THE SUIT INTO A BOMB.
Superman saves Shrinking Violet, but the destruction of the Sun-Eater throws him into the timestream again.
The Legion will meet Superman further down the line in the storyline, but… does this mean that they believed for years to have witnessed his death?
Action Comics #664 (1991)
by Roger Stern & Bob McLeod
cover by Kerry Gammill
Superman fights dinosaurs in this one.
He also meets Chronos here, after he ended up in the past for completely different reasons.
He will also be important for the Legion during the Reboot, although indirectly.
Superman vol.2 #55 (1991)
by Jerry Ordway
Another chapter that doesn’t involve the Legion.
And that’s when we’re going to stop, because the finale will be a legit crossover with the Legion… which has a few issues before they catch up.
Legion significance: 0/10
Kind of the first meeting between Superman and the Legion, from their perspective. Apparently forgotten by everybody.
Silver Age-ness: 4/10
Talking just about #477, I think it’s fair to say there’s clearly an attempt to match the style of older stories while not playing them completely straight.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
Ironic considering the theme, I know. Again I am only talking about #477, because that’s the only one I gave a proper review… sort of, considering I skipped the various subplots of the 20th century.
I’m a sucker for storylines where the protagonist is thrown in a different era each chapter AND this is one of my favorite Superman runs, so of course I love every moment of it.
It’s also a good Legion story overall! I don’t know if I have a higher opinion of it because it’s surrounded by so much bleakness in the main series, but I thought this was VERY solid.
I can only imagine this must have hit a lot more when it came out, especially for older fans that were not enjoying Volume 4.
I wonder if you can make me understand the situation better. I must be missing something.
Presumably Superman editorial at this point does not want the Legion to be inspired by Superboy, and that is one reason why they feel the need to relaunch as Volume 4 and rewrite the timeline around #5 or so.
Yet here we are, with a storyline from the Superman books of the time that visits past and soon also the then-current Legion continuity.
So… what was the intent?
Apparently not to boost creative freedom by keeping the editorials free from each other, since we are having this event and even featuring the Legion in the covers.
Maybe it was to establish that we are in a new continuity and the LSH no longer carries any traces of the pre-Crisis origins, but it feels like a tortuous and unclear way of making the attempt.
I have no clue what the editors were thinking, and from what I can tell… they didn’t either.
However, if you want to remove Superboy from the Legion’s past, it’s not a bad idea to make them interact with Superman: it drives home the idea that they are still in the same continuity of the mainstream DC books, just clarifying that they are meeting only now.
What complicates things, as you correctly point out, is the confusion from the fact that Superman remembers them from the Pocket Universe saga. Which is nearly impossible to remove from Superman’s continuity at this point, as it’s the basis for a lot of very important things from him (the post-Crisis Supergirl is from there, and without that saga Superman would never have left Earth and met the Eradicator).
The easiest solution would have been to have Superman remember the Legion because he recognizes Cosmic Boy from Legends, since that particular storyline is not connected to the Pocket Universe.
Going by the note that you highligh in the review of Vol 4 #9-10, apparently one goal was to clarify how the involvement of Superman with the Time Trapper’s Pocket Universe (which must have happened and survived the timeline reboot of #4-5 if the stories of Superman meeting the Matrix Supergirl and the Pocket Universe Kryptonian villains are still in continuity) can have happened without participation from the pre-Crisis Superboy or of the LSH.
Going by the text note in #9 or #10 alone, apparently it is still canon that the Time Trapper created the Pocket Universe and Superman went there for some reason; it just doesn’t involve Superboy or the LSH anymore.
That might be an interesting story to tell, but I don’t think “Time and Time Again” sheds any light on how that happened. If anything, the first installment establishes that Superman remembers the LSH participating in that Pocket Universe story.