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T-shirt #127: Legion of Superheroes LogoHow cool would it be to belong to a club of teenaged superheroes?
In the future.
FAR in the future, like 1000 years in the future.
In which every superhero has special and unique powers.
And it's a club SO BIG that it has a waiting list (the "reserves"): The Legion of Substitute Heroes.
It's the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES.
AND membership provides each hero with a ring that lends the wearer the power of flight and a special force field to be able to fly in space while breathing Oxygen magically produced from the tiny gadget while keeping the wearer safe from the vacuum and cold of space by some other magic technology provided by the ring, which, like many uniforms features a cool logo, the team logo of THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES (and, no, this is not technically a run-on sentence).I want to belong to that club.
I had to buy this seven-figure PVC figurine set when I saw it solicited in Previews, featuring the original three founding members of the Legion in their original costumes (Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad) as well as four of the earliest members in their original costumes. The box mirrors the Legion's original headquarters, The Legion Clubhouse, which was a rocket ship that crashed in Kal-El (Superman's Kryptonian name) Memorial Park where it became a tourist attraction until the Legionnaires discovered that it was a second supply rocket equipped by Jor-El of Krypton and launched to follow the rocket that carried Kal-El to Earth. Later, the clubhouse was nearly destroyed in a battle with the Fatal Five and the Legion relocated its HQ. The old rocket ship was refurbished and served as an HQ for the Legion of Substitute Heroes.
One thing about the Legion of Superheroes that drew the attention of fans is the relationships between the large cast. Many of these relationships were only hinted at in the original Silver Age comics. The Legion developed a huge and rabid fan base. Large, more vocal, and with greater subtext on which to focus than any other fan community, the Legion fandom were so intense and devoted that they alone kept the Legion published when the general comic book readership had abandoned it as a goofy, throwback to the 1950s and 1960s with heroes sporting very silly names that ended in "Boy," "Lad," "Girl," or "Lass."In fact, the Legion fan community was so devoted that many came to produce Legion comics, starting with Jim Shooter who wrote his first Legion script at the age of fourteen, soon becoming the regular writer on the Legion comic. Longtime fan Paul Levitz may have logged the most issues and the most defining run in Legion history aided by great artists like Mike Grell, Steve Lightle, and Keith Giffen. Starting in 1989, other fans straight out of Legion fandom, Tom and May Bierbaum, took over writing Legion comics and did some work that was inscrutable to most readers and yet much loved by some of the hardcore Legion fans (like me). The Bierbaums were very active in the exclusive APA (Amateur Press Association - see my T-shirt #61: Nightwing for more explanation of what an APA is) Interlac, named after the International Galactic Language of the Legion era, which is 1000 years in the future.
Interlac and The Legion Outpost fan club are the holy grails of comic book fandom.
Legion fans are very fun and interesting people as seen here in a "Cos Play" photo.
I may be a fan, but I don't do Cos Play.
Not that there's anything wrong with Cos Play. Just not my thing.
Some of my bets friends do Cos Play.
Okay... whatever. Shutting up now.
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| Photo to be found via : http://www.flickr.com/photos/patcave/5011972641/ |
DC-Wiki - Legion Entry
Legion WIKI
Regular Wikipedia Entry for the Legion
List of all Legion Members
TOP TEN FAVORITE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES CHARACTERS
- Wildfire
- Dawnstar
- Element Lad
- Sun Boy
- Shadow Lass
- Timber Wolf
- The White Witch
- Lightning Lass
- Chameleon Boy
- Cosmic Boy
Honorable mention: Matter-Eater Lad. I have to give him an honorable mention because the idea for the hero is so ridiculous. He eats anything and everything.
The list of names will not mean much to people who are not comic book fans and have some experience with the characters. For instance, in the image to the left, Dawnstar has the wings, Wildfire is in the extreme foreground at the bottom (you can see his shiny visor), and Timber Wolf is in the lower right corner right below Shadow Lass who is the dark colored woman to Dawnstar's upper left (her left is our right).
I tried to find the earliest Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes comic I won in an online image but that will have to wait for a future posting as there are more Legion shirts (big surprise). But I did find a few of the earliest covers (#201, 204, 205, and 207). I own plus some others that I like and may inspire others to investigate this Legion thing.
- chris tower -1307.26 - 19:06
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