All DC retrospectives eventually end up going through Crisis, although the Legion will be a bit different. Not only the retrospective WILL continue after Crisis, but the regular series will be far more involved with the events of the miniseries than the Metal Men, or even Supergirl, so I’ll have to alternate between the series.
Please consider I will cover ONLY the points relevant to the Legion here: Crisis is a MASSIVE story, and talking about everything would be too much even for me.
Crisis On Infinite Earths #1 (1985)
by Marv Wolfman & George Perez
Having said that, you can bet I’m showing the amazing Perez covers any chance I get. This time I have the excuse that Dawnstar is in it.
Dawnstar is, in fact, recruited by the Monitor to join his mission. I don’t think she knows he made a bunch of appearances in earlier Legion stories.
Her recruitment is a bit weird. Other recruits are simply grabbed by Harbinger, the Monitor’s adopted daughter, but instead Dawnstar is tricked into following a telepathic summoning.
I guess Harbinger wanted to test her tracking powers, since she has Dawnstar following her… but wasn’t that the whole reason why the Monitor spied the Legion?
Interestingly, we get to see a side of the 30th century that is seen very rarely: Suicide Slum.
That’s the “bad side of Metropolis” in stories set in the 20th century; I wonder if they simply kept the nickname for the next 1,000 years, or if the Legion’s time is not at utopic as it seems.
It’s a nice scene, even if it doesn’t entirely match the way Harbinger recruits the others.
Dawnstar is eventually taken to the Monitor’s satellite, where she meets the other recruits.
Of note, this issue is the introduction of Blue Beetle into the DC Universe (he comes from the Charleton comics, before they were bought by DC).
She soon gets to fight the Shadow Demons sent by the Anti-Monitor; she’s helped by Solovar of all apes, the king of Gorilla City (the place where Grodd is from).
Dawnstar’s presence at this gathering is quite possibly the most high-profile appearance of her entire publishing career, and she’s not really making a great impression.
The Shadow Demons are then dispelled by the Monitor, who makes his first proper appearance.
Crisis On Infinite Earths #2 (1985)
by Marv Wolfman & George Perez
See? Dawnstar is still on the cover, no matter how hard you have to look for her.
This time the rest of the Legion manages to show up, and they’re looking for Dawnstar… AGAIN.
Considering she’s the one with the power to track people, at this point the fact that the team is constantly looking for her is starting to get ridiculous.
Seriously: this issue has a cover date of May 1985, the same of “Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #323″… ANOTHER story where the Legion was looking for a lost Dawnstar.
What do you mean “it’s not like her”!? She’s always getting lost!!!
Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy are shown with the rest of the team, but at the time of publishing of this story they were still lost in space; it’s quite likely these scenes take place a little later than their actual publishing date.
But the Legion’s connection to Crisis isn’t just Dawnstar. One of the weirdest aspects of Crisis is that the event is basically happening simultaneously in various time periods.
The mammoths disappear on their own, but the Legion has bigger problems coming up.
“Meanwhile” Dawnstar is part of the team that the Monitor has sent to Kamandi’s timeline, and she gets to be a little more useful.
And that’s basically everything Legion-related that happens in the first two issues.
Kind of underwhelming, I know, but they’ll get more to do later on.
Legion significance: 0/10
Crisis is easily one of the stories with the highest historical significance EVER… but when it comes to the Legion alone, these two issues are nothing.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
It is kind of funny how most of the heroes don’t find it weird hanging out with a winged woman from the future and a supersmart gorilla king.
Does it stand the test of time? N/A
Since this is not a proper review, I can’t give a real score.