(There is some talk about gaming here, so bear with me!)
A new Legion of Super-Heroes comic book series dropped this week, which inevitably sent me down memory lane and resulted in this post.
I won’t claim to be the biggest Legion fan in the world, but they’ve always held a special place in my collection. I was introduced to them through DC Digest issues filled with Silver Age stories and scattered Spanish translations. The first actual issue I picked up at a newsstand was Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #331, featuring Lightning Lass on the cover. She quickly became one of my favorites, alongside Wildfire and Blok in the late 80s and Andromeda in the 90s. After that issue, I was hooked and started hunting for the series every month. Then Crisis on Infinite Earths happened, and I was enthralled by what would become of the team.
Soon after, I discovered our local specialty shop and started collecting Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 3) along with most of post-Crisis DC. It was among the first books I would read each month. I was also heavily into L.E.G.I.O.N. and the modern-day connection they had to the classic team. The Five Years Later run was a brilliantly complex story—decidedly not easy to get into, but it pays off completely.
In hindsight, it remains my favorite era, though I was certainly ready for a return to the classics when the Zero Hour reboot arrived. Around this time, my friend Luis ran a Legion-inspired superhero campaign, cementing the team as a major reference point whenever I thought about superhero TTRPGs.
I’d be hard-pressed to pick a definitive favorite between Marvel and DC; it always depended on the era and the creators working on them. But I was definitely riding a DC high when I got the DC Heroes 1st edition boxed set from Mayfair Games. While it focused on the regular DC universe rather than the 31st Century, I absolutely loved the Legion supplements, especially the two volumes covering the characters and the worlds of the United Planets. Somehow, I missed out on the four-part Chessmen Adventure Series, which is amazing in retrospect since the Time Trapper was arguably their greatest villain. The 2995 Legion of Super-Heroes Sourcebook, which dealt directly with the Five Years Later period, was another massive favorite. I eventually parted with my DC Heroes rulebooks, but I made sure to keep the Legion and Watchmen sourcebooks.
Following the post-Zero Hour reboot, Luis and I were really into the new series, and I recall him trying to get another campaign off the ground. I believe we used Heroes Unlimited—our go-to superhero system back then—though I’m not 100% sure. By the end of that era, my comic reading had tapered off, so I only read the rest of those issues much later when filling gaps in my collection. I dabbled in subsequent versions, like the Waid and Kitson “Threeboot,” but it didn’t really capture my interest.
During the retroboot of the classic timeline, I wasn’t buying monthly floppies, so I mostly followed the news via YouTube commentators.
Still, my love for the franchise never vanished. I thoroughly enjoyed Green Ronin’s DC Adventures for Mutants & Masterminds, which included excellent Legion character write-ups. I even planned a homebrew sequel to a Wild Cards and New Universe-inspired campaign (Dawn of a New Age) featuring a Legion-esque team traveling back in time, though it never made it to the table. When I wasn’t getting my Legion-fix from comics, the two-season Legion of Super-Heroes animated series captured the classic heroics with a post-Zero Hour flair.
Later, when Bendis tried to refresh the book with the post-Rebirth Legion, I excitedly picked up a few issues but forgot to return to the store—I was a new dad, and my priorities had shifted.
The 2023 animated movie reignited that old spark, prompting me to track down TPBs and omnibuses. I never got around to reading the whole thing, but the Legion mania was definitely back.
Now, I’m going to the comic store with my son as he explores his own interest in comics and manga, making the release of this new Legion of Super-Heroes perfectly timed. The Absolute series by DC are amazing, and reading the new Legion #1 feels a bit like an Absolute Legion book, even if it isn’t branded as such.
It is a clear, engaging jumping-on point for new readers, packed with great writing and stellar art. But if you are a long-time fan, there are plenty of nods to continuity, along with twists and changes to keep you guessing. I’m intrigued and will definitely keep reading to see what happens to these characters. I highly recommend picking it up.
As I prepare to wrap up my Savage Fading Suns campaign in a few months, I know our next game will be in the superhero genre. I was deeply tempted to run a Buck Rogers XXVc and Legion mash-up: a super-team in a colonized star system, cut off from their homeworld by a collapsed jumpgate, dealing with boiling political tensions and an unknown extra-solar threat. But after playing a sci-fi game for over three years, our table needs a change of pace, so we’re shifting to pulp heroes instead.
Regardless, I hope to run that Legion-inspired campaign someday. While I wait for the opportunity, I’ll happily stick to the comic adventures. Long live the Legion!
P.S. – There is also a new Doom Patrol series out right now. I’ve always loved that group, their concept, and their past runs. I don’t love them quite as much as the Legion, but still… maybe I should check it out!
P.S. #2 – Let me share with you a picture of my flight ring from my time with the Legion! (I love this ring I got from Metro Comics years ago.)
P.S. #3 – If you want to read some Legionnaire write-ups for the original DC Heroes game, check out the Legion entry in the DC Heroes Role Playing Game Database.
