posted
Well, I guess there’s really two ways to look at this. There is the timeline from the Legion’s perspective, and the timeline from the LOSV’s perspective. I find this fascinating, because the first few times we see the LOSV (with Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen and Cosmic King), it’s from the Legion’s future! Obviously, somewhere along the way during Levitz and TMK’s runs, this kind of went by the wayside, but there seemed to be a pretty set continuity early on for how this could be done.
From the perspective of the LOSV - First, we would have the Origin of Lightning Lord story, with Garth and Ayla.
- Next, would be the rejection of Radiation Roy, Ron Karr and Spider-Girl from the Legion.
- Nemesis Kid’s betrayal
- Tarik the Mute begins his academy to train the Legion of Super-Villains. Members include his Android, Lightning Lord, Nemesis Kid, Radiation Roy, Spider-Girl and Ron Karr, as well as what looks like a potential host of others. Getting into the finer details, this would include Colossal Boy, and the four Legionnaires (well, two and two academy students) infiltrating them.
- There is then the backup story in Action where Mekt battles Garth and TimberWolf and gains his classic white hair.
- The next story (I believe) is during the Cockrum/Grell era, where we see Lightning Lord, Nemesis Kid, Spider-Girl and Radiation Roy reappear, and see Sun Emperor for the first time. Interestingly enough, Sun Emperor seems more like their leader here than any other. I find this interesting because he, Nemesis Kid and Lightning Lord always seemed like they were all leaders of the LOSV, or at least Mekt and Sun Emperor had an understanding with Nemesis Kid during the larger LOSV story in that they were not subject to his orders.
- The next one I can remember off-hand (I don’t have issues in front of me) is the larger Levitz LOSV story, although there were some Lightning Lord appearances in b/t, the most memorable being the Levitz one, #302. During this one, we essentially get the first appearances of the present day Cosmic King.
- The LOSV members appear on and off for the rest of Levitz’s run, usually in Takron-Galtos, and usually spotlighting Sun Emperor, Titania and a few others more than the rest. Others appear, but not as a group, so I wouldn’t go as far as to count them as LOSV appearances.
Had TMK not happened Then the next logical appearances would be when Saturn Queen (we never see her really appear), Lightning Lord and Cosmic King fight the Adult Legion and Superman with Echo and Beaty Blaze.
Perhaps after, they travel back in time to battle Superman with Lex Luthor and Brainiac 5 in that story (Action #?)
Then they would have the stories where the come to the Legion’s earliest years to battle the Adventure-era Legion. The most memorable of these IMO, is the awesome double-cross of Dynamo Boy (not a memorable story, just a memorable double-cross). Is this the final appearance of the LOSV as written as adults from the Legion’s future? Interesting if that is so, as they actually join the Legion at the end of their careers (a technicality, but an interesting one).
If you count TMK Then it’s hard to tell if those stories would have ever occurred at all in that timeline. Somewhere in the 5 Year Gap perhaps? We know TMK made it out to be that Cosmic King was some cult leader who used drugs and stuff to corrupt Lightning Lord, Spider-Girl, Saturn Queen and Ron Karr into joining, which kind of changes the history there. And by 5 Years Later, Mekt had reformed, Saturn Queen wasn’t so bad (and marries Tenzil), Ron Karr is a resistance fighter and Spider-Girl actually joins the Legion. We never get to see post-5YL Cosmic King though.
Any thoughts on this?
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
cmk's Legion Help File has an interesting take on all of the time travel stuff from LSV's perspective:
quote:Many members of the Legion of Super-Villains escaped Labyrinth during the Magic Wars. Under the leadership of Cosmic King, they re-organized to engage in their most bizarre plot ever: to go back in time and negate the Legion's existence. He added new members Echo and Beauty Blaze and convinced Saturn Queen to finally take an active role in the adventure. While the Legion was still trying to get back on-line following the massive technology failures of mid-2989, the villains took advantage of the lack of automated security, and invaded the Legion's headquarters directly. The rest of the villains ran interference while Lightning Lord, Cosmic King and Saturn Queen slipped through the Legionnaires to their storage area for Time Bubbles and escaped into the past. They aimed for Earth in the late twentieth century, hoping to kill Valor and prevent the Legion's formation retroactively, but before they could locate Valor, they ran afoul of Superman, who knew the Legion and Valor and beat them back (Superman (1st series) # 147). They made it to their time bubble before Superman could stop them and aimed for the time of the Legion's actual formation, but that point in the time stream was surrounded by turbulence, and they found themselves at a later point in the Legion's existence, in early 2976, where their time bubble got damaged by the turbulence and they found themselves stranded. They kept hidden until they saw an open call for new Legionnaires by Dynamo Boy, who had infiltrated the Legion on behalf of space-pirates and arranged the expulsion of every other Legionnaire so he could replace them with like-minded villains. The three villains pretended to be heroes and joined the Legion, where Dynamo Boy, who knew their true nature, let them in on the plan. They, in turn, decided they didn't need Dynamo Boy, and after getting rid of him, proceeded to commit crimes while posing as the Legion of Super-Heroes until the real Legion exposed them and defeated them in battle. They were being brought to prison when they disappeared from the Legion's cruiser, brought to 2989 by the Legionnaires of their proper time through use of Rond Vidar's Time Cube (Adventure Comics # 330-331). The three were imprisoned, and no group has since been formed using the Legion of Super-Villains name.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Wow, I’d never read that before. That’s actually pretty interesting, and gives a good idea for when that all could have taken place. Kewl!!
I like how the other members of the LOSV are in on it too, at least by running interference.
Another minor question: does anyone remember which LOSV’s were involved in Black Dawn (if any?). I can’t seem to remember if any where, although I remember Starfinger, Dr. Regulus and Molecule Master being specifically involved (Molecule Master kills Reflecto, Dr. Regulus dies). Those three weren’t part of the LOSV of course, but I can’t recall if any of the group were involved in this much referenced but never written story.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
I do recall seeing the LSV linked with Regulus/Black Dawn in at least one attempt to "fill in the Gap" (the "What if Levitz wrote the Gap" site, I believe), but I'm not sure if that's grounded anywhere in the text or sourcebook.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think it was in the TMK sourcebook that you're thinking of EDE, which would mean it has an actual basis on Legion stories, not just the 'lost Legion stories' fan fiction. I read through that a few months ago and remember seeing something, but even with a quick few minutes spent looking through it online, I couldn't find where I saw it.
I'm pretty sure there were some of them involved in Black Dawn though.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
Yeah, come to think of it, I'm fairly certain that was supposed to be when Saturn Queen "officially" appeared as a member of the team.
I've said this before, but I always thought the Dynamo Boy story would work a lot better without all of the time travel elements, just using it as the actual origin story for the LSV.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: If you count TMK Then it’s hard to tell if those stories would have ever occurred at all in that timeline. Somewhere in the 5 Year Gap perhaps?
The thing is, by the time of the 5 Year Gap, you have to figure you are no longer on Earth-1, so all bets are off... even if it had been meant to be part of the timeline previously...
One recent appearance of the LSV: the 3rd collected volume of Superman/Batman, "Absolute Power" (issues 14-18).
Besides Lightning Lord, Cosmic King, and Saturn Queen in lead roles, the story also features alternate versions of Grell-era Legionnaires, alternate (non Earth-1?) versions of the Adult LSH. The current DCU Superman seems to relive memories of Earth-1, including his holding of Supergirl's dead body in Crisis... And the story apparently ends with Earth-1 Superman (!) a split moment after the end of the last Earth-1 Superman story, "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" (Although he seems to have his powers back, somehow...)
Probably, I didn't need to type all that, since the book just came out, and it's likely that many, if not most people here, have already read it. But I hadn't read it (or really even considered reading it), until I saw the LSV on the back cover. Leafed through it quickly, saw the Adult LSH scene, and suddenly I was $20 poorer.
Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic | Subscribe To Topic
