Even though I haven't met a single one of you in person, I consider the wonderful posters at Legion World to be an awesome extended family.

I was just curious as to how each one of us came to find his or her way to Legion World and the LMB?

I remember way back when I was a wee lad of 15 (or was it 14, I can't quite remember). I was already a Legion fan, and lurking on the DC Boards to indulge my Legion love. Two of my closest real life friends read the Legion too, but we only got to discuss Legion-y stuff while in school. These were the days of dial-up Internet connections

I remember chancing upon one of the LMB tag team threads on the DC boards - Heaven help me which one it was, maybe Cobalt Kid can guess. I was shocked! Who the heck were all these wonderful, crazy characters whom I had never heard of in a Legion comic?

Globe Girl? Whordru? The LMB Spectre? What the...?

I was AMAZED. Maybe this was what the Legion would be like in real life.

I didn't jump in yet - I was too shy, and too paranoid about Internet security (plus my folks would have killed me if I'd tied up the phone lines). But I lurked, and read, and fell in love with this awesome collection of people called the LMB.

One day, when I was bored at home with nothing to do, I checked back on the DC boards to find... NOTHING! The DC boards had changed, and the LMB had LEFT!

Imagine my consternation to find that THE COOLEST GROUP OF POSTERS EVER was gone. It was like... like... like how fans must have felt when The Beatles, the Spice Girls or the Backstreet Boys broke up. It was just so sad.

Now, Cobalt Kid tells it much better than I do, so here's a link to his Year Four of the LMB (if you have time, do read the whole thing - I've had many a chuckle reliving old moments).

Anyway, I was such a devoted fan that I followed the LMB as they made their exodus - first to Rob's Damn Boards (damn those "Naturals"), Ships N' Giggles, and finally, Legion World.

It was weird, in a way. As a lurker, I didn't interact with ANY of the LMB. Yet, I felt I knew them somehow; their posts just overflowed with personality. I could laugh along with some of the in jokes. And I was deathly afraid of actually joining in, because... I didn't think I'd be cool enough.

When Nightcrawler, Lightning Lad and the others opened Legion World, and it was bliss. This was a place where the LMB could flourish; where sense and silliness could both thrive; and where everyone could be themselves.

I swallowed my nerves and signed up in October 2003, just a month before my 16th birthday. Legion World was here for me during my final years of high school, and was a "home" I could visit when real life became too overwhelming. I remember the first time one of my "heroes" responded to me in a thread! While my friends would go nuts because they attended a Backstreet Boys concert, I'd be beaming because MLLASH, Cobalt Kid or Fat Cramer had replied to ME!

I was one of the most prolific posters back then, I remember, and at that time, I was also the "Youngest LMBer", a title I hold proudly to this day even though it's no longer true. I believe we've had some younger members join - but I still maintain I was the first youngster

After the first couple years, I became, true to my name, invisible - college life caught up with me, and for 5 years I dropped out of relative sight.

Luckily, I ended up with a job that keeps me behind a laptop for long stretches of time AND that has a lot of idle time - hence my recent return to prominence on Legion World.

You know what, though? I realized that I never truly "left". All the awesome friends I've made over the years welcomed me back.

To this day it still rocks that these cool people I've met online are my real, honest-to-goodness, awesome friends.

So, what's YOUR story?

I think I'm a fairly unique case on Legion World, in that I actually met a bunch of the LMB in person first, prior to migrating to the board itself.


I joined the DCMBs back in 2007, and the Legion board was really my first messageboard experience. Although I enjoyed posting about comic books, the main thing that I felt was lacking was any sense of community. Any time that conversations began to stray toward the personal, you could be certain that the threads would be deleted as "off topic". Conversely, threads that would become argumentative and even, at times, abusive, would remain untouched. This erratic and seemingly counter-intuitive moderation frustrated me a good deal, and I started looking for another place to hang my online hat.

One of the posters that I had gotten to know there, kenaustin, suggested that I should check out Legion World as an alternative. I registered here in early 2008, but I don't know if there was something going on with the servers at the time, but the whole site was painfully slow to navigate, so my initial foray over here was aborted.


Until that summer...


2008 was the 50th anniversary of the Legion and accordingly, the San Diego Con was celebrating with an unprecedented number of Legion-related panels. Though I had never been to SD, I thought, this has to be the year that changes. I flew out to SD with the intent of meeting some of my creative heroes (Giffen, Levitz, the Bierbaums, Grell, etc.) but little did I suspect that another band of heroes was also arriving in force.


Up on the mezzanine of the convention center I saw the Legion World booth being set up, so I thought I'd go over and say hi. I met Kent Shakespeare (who I mistakenly thought was the board owner) and Nightcrawler (who I only knew as "the guy that runs that Dave Cockrum fansite"), and chatted a bit. I popped by again later and also met Rockhopper Lad (who doesn't remember me ) and Director Lad.

Though I should have figured as much, as I made my way around to the various panels that weekend, I was literally surrounded by other Legion Worlders (though I would only discover this after the fact).


That cosplaying guy dressed as Star Boy sitting next to me? Suddenly Seymour.

That girl I was checking out sitting in front of me? Caliente.

That guy I was talking to at the water fountain? Cobalt Kid.

His quiet friend? CJ Taylor.


When I checked out the Legion World site the next week and found that I had somehow wound up in one of Director Lad's photos, I figured the time was right to make the move over here officially.

And I haven't shut up since.

My Legion World experience began at the old Wizard forum, where I as an internet newb first ventured because that magazine use to tickle me so.

It was there I took notice of this hilarious poster named LARDLAD. Everything he posted was funny to me, and we also seemed very in synch on our comicbook posts as well.

As I grew more adventurous on the web, I made it to the old DC boards and the LSH forums, where I was delighted to see LARDLAD again! Turns out, his titsworthiness was the same on this board as well, and it was probably him I responded to/talked to most at first there.

But I quickly discovered posters like Cobalt Kid, Shadowplay in Candlelight and Tsarin (now known as Mystery Lad), who also had hilarious, fun, in-synch and intelligent posts to be made and who all stood out to me...

...and the rest is well-known already here, almost as well-known as the tale of 3 teens saving the life of a rich Durlan one day.

So that's the earliest, smallest roots of it for me... maybe Lardy or Cobie or Shady or Mystery Lad will pop by with their versions and tell more of the tale!!

For my story, we have to back up to 1994 or so. Zero Hour had just been published, the Legion had been rebooted and I stopped reading comics. It wasn't necessarily because of Zero Hour, I just stopped reading them. I never read a single Reboot issue.

Then, around 2003 or so, I started picking up comics again. A year later the Threeboot was announced and I figured, it was a good time to check out my old favorite, the Legion. I went looking for Legion-related stuff online and found Legion World, thought it looked cool, but didn't register. Several months later, I checked in again and realized this was a community I had to be a part of. I have used variations on "rockhopper" as a user name for years, so I added "lad" to the end in Legion style. That was August 6, 2005. Six years later, here I am!

In early 2005, I started reading comics regularly again after having been more or less away since 1997. I also took all my old comics out of storage, among them a fair chunk of the L.E.G.I.O.N. run, which I had been more into than the Legion. I loved them just as much upon re-reading them.

That summer, I found the DC Boards and made some passionate posts about L.E.G.I.O.N. in the Legion forum. A certain glc-1, LW's own Nightcrawler, said he agreed with a lot of what I was saying and invited me to join Legion World.

The good times have kept rolling ever since.

I can just feel the love emanating from this thread!

Awesome stories, everyone. I find it just amazing that our journeys were so different, yet here we all are.

I DEMAND that everyone else post their stories!

Way, way back I was posting my legion manips on yahoo legion groups (pretty sure it wasn't called yahoo then). I was pretty much a regular artist there, with one or two new manips a week.
I had been doing that for a while when I recieved an email from Therod (BTW, what ever happened to him?). I can't remember exactly what the email said, but the gist of it was that I seemed like a devout legion fan and that I should join with some like minded folks on the DC boards.
At the time there were 2 legion boards, one for the LSH and another "abandoned" board that had been co-oped by the LMB. I wasn't there long when the mods shut us down, but that just resulted in moving to the Phineas B Fuddle boards. Eventually we got booted from there too and I pretty much lost track of everyone.
Many years later, I put up a new art website and shortly afterwards recieved an email from an old DC boards poster, Greybird. He let me know about this place and having lots of fond memories of the people on the DC boards I popped in registered. So I logged in and lurked for a bit, when suddenly two threads appeared on the MMB, one welcoming me here and the other calling me out to stop lurking and start posting. So, I knew I had again found my internet home!!

SECONDED--- LOUDLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those of you that know me know that I can talk about this at length so I’ll do my best to give the abbreviated version (yeah right). Essentially, the LMB and Legion World have been a big of my life—for almost half of it!

In 1999, at age 18, I went off to college and for the first time in my life I had ongoing access to a computers: my roomate’s (my parents never had a computer then and there was no way I’d ever get one unless I bought it myself). He was real cool and let me use so the first thing I decided to check out was comic book stuff, and that’s how I found the DCMB’s.

Back in the Fall of 1999 the DCMB’s were totally different than what many of you would experience. It was mainly two camps: the Nature Boys, who would later become famous on Rob’s Boards, versus Greybird & Sk8maven, and the argument was usually centered around the preboot vs. the reboot. Also present in those days were Dean Lee, Rhino and Dev Em. Never being shy, I registered and posted on my very first trip there and began posting regularly; my roommate got a kick out of my message board presence since I knew nothing about computers. I also arrived at a crazy time for the Legion: DnA had just been announced as the upcoming creative team and it was clear the reboot was changing—and it looked like for the better! Oh how we clamored for the death of Monstress and change of Sensor-snake back to Jeckie in those days.

Shortly after my arrival I began to see some other names pop up more and more: Newcru (who became Princess Crujectra), Shadowplay in Candelight, Tsarin (now Mystery Lad), Bellbookcandle and others. Also important early on was the very ‘out’ gay community among Legion fans and general acceptance of it by the strait posters. Probably only the Wonder Woman Board equaled that. Another poster who arrived shortly after me, Paul McNeil, was a big part of keeping that community strong.

But it was the arrival of two posters that changed the Legion Board in a big way: MLLASH and LARDLAD. Both came over and added a big sense of humor to the LSH Board and they also apparently knew each other pretty well. They joked and interacted with one another on a much more personal level. Previously, I had become friendly with a poster named “Continuity Kid” who has long since disappeared and kind of friendly with Newcru. These guys were like the new class clowns / cool kids. Even more amusing was they both started to suddenly start arguing like crazy with Greybird! And then, when the tension began to mount, in true diplomatic fashion, Lardy & Lash were able to rope Greybird into the actual humor and fun of it!

Of note is the DCMB posters on the Legion Board in 1999 gave Dan and Andy the ‘DnA’ nickname, which has stuck with them ever since.

The first big change occurred on the Legion Board when Lard Lad posted a thread called “Who Are You?”. His premise was clear: let’s remove some internet ambiguity and learn more about who the various posters were. Some posters responded negatively to it; but most really were just blown away by the fresh concept and delved right in! That’s how I got to know those earliest LMBers—you can look at the thread on the LMB websites and see the actual friendships between us happening right there in the posts.

The next big change came in late February / early March 2000. It occurred to me there was a Legionnaires Board even though the series was just cancelled as DnA’s run took off. I wondered why it still existed and checked it out. To my surprise, the Board was basically abandoned but only one poster was keeping it alive—bumping every thread and starting new ones day in and day out. His name was Engine Joe.

In an odd occurrence, a few of us began responding to Engine Joe’s threads all within the same 1 or 2 nights. But the tragedy is, having no one respond to him for several days, Engine Joe moved on completely and disappeared! He truly was an inspiration to what soon happened, but never got to see it! (Until later when he returned ).

Those posters and I began to interact with one another and I was glad to see LARDLAD and MLLASH were among them. As you can guess, this also included Tsarin and Shadowplay in Candelight. Taking our cue from Engine Joe, most of our posts were only quasi-Legion related while also being more about ‘us’, the posters. And then on March 12, 2000, Lash kicked off the LMB by posting a thread called the LEGION OF MESSAGE BOARD POSTERS! By the second post, Shady recruited Bellbookcandle, Lev and Goon Boy, all of whom were also on the Legionnaires Board (which we called the “L* Board”). By the second days, more posters joined. By the end of week 1, we were flooded with members! By 10 days, we had like 25 members!! Something else else special was happening.

One day I logged in and saw the very first tag team thread, created by (who else?) Lardy. Imagine my surprise to see Cobalt Kid was in the starring, lead role!

In those days, I was the youngest LMBer by far; I was only 18 and while I thought I was an adult then, looking back on it, I was clearly a kid. A few years later STU would tell me I was “the collective kid brother of the LMB”. Cobalt Kid the character was the big lady’s man of the LMB because (A) I was one of about 5 strait males and (B) the ‘older brother’ LMBers were always looking out for me and building me up.

The LMB basically taught me about the internet. It refined my abilities to analyze and critique comics. It introduced to me to all kinds of ways of life I never would. Clearly, my comfort and enjoyment of dozens of gay friends is because I’ve had an entire lifetime among them online.

My presence in the early years was a bit of a rollercoaster. During summer break in 2000 I left for home and since we had no computer, I left the LMB. I returned in September and the group had clearly changed. To my delight there was a thread entitled “Countdown to Cobalt Kid!”. But my sophomore year in college saw me hit the party scene in a HUGE way and my presence was pretty sporadic unlike my major prominence in the earliest days. By 2001, I had kind of left again.

Then in summer 2001, I got an email from Seahorse (formerly Bellbookcandle) inviting me to the new hangout since the L* Board was destroyed. I was back at school in two weeks and September 2001, I decided to check it out. It was like old home week—there is just something so damn special about this group and I knew it even then. I remember on 9/11 when everyone was worried about STU because we knew he was flying in and out of New York around that time. I remember learning that Pov actually lived about 5 minutes from my campus!

The college cycle hit again and I went home in the Summer of 2002, right at the tail end of my term as LMB Leader, and was again computer less (we did have one by then but it was real slow). When I came back for my senior year, I never checked back in. Again, a whole year went by. Before I graduated, I bought my own laptop and when I moved back home, we had a better connection. I began using it regularly and one day it occurred to me—I’ll check out the LMB!

And so in September 2003, I asked on the Yahoo Group where everyone was and Pov gave me the link—and the rest is history. I missed the first three months of Legion World but I made up for it in short order. Never being shy, I basically jumped into meeting all the new posters I didn’t know.

And this time, I never looked back. I’ve been on here steady ever since and in addition to all the fun, the LMB shenanigans, the comic book reviews, I’ve got to share a ton with you all about my personal life. In those early years I told you when I was having doubts about my relationship, or when I was drunk at work from the night before. I told you when I was in a bad car accident. I told you when my brother and I lived with two girls and had a huge party house. I told you when I bought a condo and asked for you advice about it. When I got engaged. When I got married. When we got Pickles. And then when my son was born—and now when my second son was born.

I remember the first time Pov and I actually met; by then I lived an hour away. We basically had to own up to meeting since Lash pressured us into it, even though we’d been friends for a few years online. Still, it was pretty weird to think about actually doing it. And when we did—it was fantastic. The weirdness went away pretty fast and it was clear we had a real bond of friendship. That was also the day that Paul McNeil died; in a weird way, between an LMBer I knew dying and then meeting another in person for the first time, it all kind of came together on what this group really meant to me.

Jillikers, LMB! It’s been 12 years. Here’s to many, many more!

I was about to turn 30 years old. We had just found out that we were going to have a baby a few weeks earlier. I was a somewhat regular poster on the DCMB, the Legion of Super Heroes board in particular. I strayed into the Legionnaires board a bit too, but there was usually no life there, so I didn't really post a lot on that one.

Then one day, someone asked a question on the Legionnaires board and I chimed in and answered it. I also noticed that there had been quite a bit of activity on that board as well the last week or so, and really was curious about it. A little apprehensive to post personal things on the net, I had lurked at the amazing thing that was happening before my eyes. Anyway, I was invited to join their group, and I became the official 25th member of the LMB.

I was a regular member for years, helping get other forums to post on when Rob closed us down. Then I had a fit one day and pissed some people off. Then I found LW, and rejoined...and they welcomed me back like I had never left.

Then, on Christmas Eve one year (not sure how long ago) my hard drive fried itself...and I was without internet. It was a year or so of posting a post here or there as I could get to the library, or when my parents finally got a computer I could hop on once a week.

When I finally got a computer back at home, I started posting again here in earnest. In the last two years I have had the pleasure of meeting Quis, Beagz and Suddenly Seymour in person. Ironically, I met Quis first on a business trip to Boston when SS lives about a half hour from me, and while I had spoken with SS a few times, it was Beagz coming up to our neck of the woods that got us all together.

I do remember the punch in the gut feeling when upon returning to the forums here and learning that several of my friends had passed. Of particular note was Paul and Art. Still gets me when I think of them and the out and out fun times we had.

In twelve years, I have had the joy of sharing the birth of my two kids with my LW family. Met some of the greatest people on the net, and a few in real life.

One more thing...I distinctly remember creating the Furball (now Timberwolf) character during our reboot adventure and nobody knowing who I was. I forget how long it lasted, but nobody ever guessed it was me until I finally outed myself for whatever reason.

Unlike poor Sharklad who outed himself as PBeaver during an online chat session on the Yahoogroup.

Vell, it vass shpringtime undt ze cannibus vuss in bluum...zen, i met zomvon called mmmmmlashz undt vee rest vuss historee!

"Springtime for Rickshaw?"

I've only been a member since the beginning of 2007 and I believe (although I cannot remember for sure) I found out about Legion World from someone mentioning it on the DC message boards.

Well when I finally got on this site for the very first time I have to tell you I was so impressed at the details and all the funny threads. It really was the ultimate place of all things Legion!

I didn't know where to begin first!

I felt like a little kid when I was trying to figure out a code name for myself.
I still think the name I chose is kinda corny, but I'm a firm believer in sticking to your guns, so I picked this name and I guess I'm going to see it through until the end.


... unless I change my mind at some point that is!

Here's to the last 4 years (and the next 1000 years) of great times with GREAT NEW FRIENDS whom I consider to be my extended family!

I joined the LMB pretty early on... had some amazing times with an equally amazing group of people... then after six months or so, I went back to school for my doctorate... I wasn't reading any comics at that time, and I dropped out of the group for the most part... it wasn't until the summer of 2003, after a spectacularly bad break-up and the stress of grad school had me back at the comic store, that I came across a familiar name on the DC message boards... my old friend Lash Lad... his signature line said something to the effect of "Visit the new home of the LMB at LegionWorld.net"... I signed up and it was just like old times... unfortunately, just like old times, I dropped out again after a while and only posted sporadically until 2008 when, with grad school long behind me and in a wonderful new relationship that, I started posting pretty regularly... I met my first LMBers in 2009 and have been lucky enough to meet up with a couple of them more than once... Legion World means more to me than I can adequately put to words, and I consider myself very lucky to be a part of it...

I have been posting on comic book forums since I was a teenager. I have held Moderator/Adminstrator positions on the gaming section of one of those forums. I think I joined this website because I was bored a couple of summers ago and had the time and interest to join another forum. After awhile, this became the primary comic book website I visit. The people are geniuine, respectful, and the longevity of this website speaks to its success.

This still makes me laugh... thought I was being so clever... ah well...

*cough* Still think "FUBAR King" = AWESOMETITSAUCE!!! *cough*

*Altidofsharklad*

I missed the original DCMB heyday and the infamous Rob's Boards.

In short: I was a Legion fan from around 77-78ish to 1989; I left when Levitz did (ironically, the Giffbaum run would in recent years become one of my favorites). I never had any desire to be part of active fandom, let along Legion-specific. I had friends into comics, and worked at a CBS from 1993-98ish; that was enough contact for me.

I got back into Legion in 2002-3ish, and by late 2003 decided to give web forums a try. I got a link from he DCMB and lurked for a few days, joining around the same time as Invisible Brainiac, as I recall (under my main ID, that is). I was a regular poster until this past spring, when I came to the realization this might not be the place it used to be (for me). It still feels like home, but a home I've moved away from (paralleling certain real-life transitions, in a way).

I've lurked once or twice since then, but as most of the people I came here it interact with I see on Facebook, it is no longer the daily obsession it was. I do miss the rest of you, and will be on at least once more in mid-December, if only to keep up with tradition.

You are greatly missed (as I hope you saw me intentionally reference in a thread earlier tonight)! But I look forward to your annual toast, Ghost!

I did! thanks!

Great to stay in contact on FB but still miss you on LW!

As for my story, well, it's pretty much covered in Lash's and Cobie's entries, so I don't want to rehash any of that early stuff. I can only add that my first ever look at a message board prior to Wizard World was something called SMC or Superman Chat (IIRC) where I posted as "DC Bullet". Not sure what that board was connected to or whether it exists in any form today, but I kinda cut my teeth on it for a time. It was pretty active, being that it was during one of Superman's absolute peaks of popularity post-"Death" that it rode for many years. It didn't hold my interest very much when I realized I was so much older than the dominantly tween membership. That was pretty obvious when I announced I was about to become a dad for the first time. That would put me on SMC circa 1996.

Some time later, I tried again at the Wizard Boards. I noticed the web address on the Wizard magazine, which I'd been picking up at the time and registered as "LARDLAD" to show my own self-deprecating humor and Legion interest. I was primarily interested in discussing what proved to be my real, enduring love in comics: the Legion. Off and on, I could have some pretty good conversations about them there, really for the first time since I'd never met anyone who collected the Legion at my CBS or among my waning number of friends who'd collected comics. Particularly, this guy who went by "MLLASH" was a delight to have discussions with.

Frustratingly, though, after a while, the Legion area would go entire DAYS without any activity. And I found the other comics I was interested full of boneheads who you couldn't have a decent conversation with. So it struck me: I wonder if DC has message boards? Why, yes, they did, I found. And that MLLASH fella was there, as were countless other posters who were totally into discussing the Legion as much as I was. KEWL! I decided to retain the "LARDLAD" handle.

At some point I found I was enjoying these people so much that I wanted to know more about them as people. So with great nervousness, trepidation and excitement, I started the "Who Are You?" thread. Honestly, I was afraid it would be a total flop! Instead, it became the most popular thread on that board and just took off like a jet plane! It grew from just posting profiles of yourselves into discussions and getting to know you tangents, and I loved the hell out of it! I'm so glad I took that leap! Maybe someone would've inevitably done same, but, who knows, maybe not?

So it all grew into the LMB and thrived on the Legionnaires (or "L*" as we abbreviated it) for, I guess, a year or so before moving on to other places for our nomadic phase. (Did I really create the first tag, Cobie? I know I did "5YL" and that that wasn't the original...but the first?) I was an active member throughout our first roughly four years along with stalwarts like lash and cru.

So, thankfully, we were blessed with LW in 2003 and owe quite a debt to its founders for finally having stability. Problem was, only a few months into LW, I encountered a mysterious computer problem that disallowed me from signing in. To this day, I still don't know what caused it. The admins tried their best to help me with it but to no avail. So this began a period of approximately two years that I wasn't active.

It's not that the computer problem persisted that long, I think. It was the original impetus to such a degree that I gave up trying after a while. Then, RL started getting pretty rough. My wife and I had our second child. I'd accepted a transfer to another store for a big raise that involved my having a major commute for the first time. Then, my dad died, and I learned I was a Type II diabetic as his death brought a sudden focus to my health.

At some point, I adjusted to all this change in my life and eventually checked back in to Legion World. I'm certainly glad I did! Like others have said, it always seems to feel like home, no matter what people stay, move on or arrive brand new. I regret, though, that I missed possibly the wildest, most creative era in LMB history when I never intended to miss a bit of it.

But I've been back for longer than I originally was helping giving birth to all this insanity, and, though LARDLAD has (mostly) morphed into "Lard Lad", y'all ain't gittin' ridda me!

One of the first things I did when I got a computer with an internet connection was sign up on the DC Message Boards. As a lifelong comic book geek and Legion fan it seemed like the natural thing to do. I was more of a lurker - and occasional poster. I commented on current issues and memories of growing up with the Legion. I was aware that things were getting silly on the Legionnaires board. It was amusing but not really my thing, so I avoided it and stuck mainly to the main board.

I wasn't really aware of the whole migration to Rob's boards and home hopping. At some point, shortly after Legion World was established, somebody must have sent me a link or announced the establishment of this place on the DC message boards. My profile shows that I signed up in October 2003, so I made my way over early.

Again, it was more about keeping up with the Legion comics and participating mainly in conversations about memories of Legion books than actively participating in the growing community. I was never a prolific poster, but was pretty consistently present. As time moved on, I guess you guys got under my skin. I gradually participated more and more.

My partner was diagnosed with cancer about three years ago. He had been pretty sick for almost a year before the official diagnosis. So, a once active social life evolved into quiet nights at home. No more going to the bars, concerts, theatre or fabulous dinners. His energy level has declined. Quiet nights at home evolved into me tucking him into bed shortly after dinner and facing some long and lonely nights. I started spending more and more time on line in the evenings, and now come to Legion World almost every night. The sense of community that is present here has become an important part of my life. It helps provide some balance and levity in some pretty crazy times. Legion World has become a safe harbor in an enduring storm. In short, you guys and gals rock and I am grateful for the time I get to spend with you.

I Just read Cobie's entry, and had to comment before I return to read the rest of the thread--

As I have never had any significant absence from the LMB that I can recall, I can state confidently that Cobie's absences were awful periods of time that only Absinthe could help me get through.

Cobie, I know I can say in a non-embarassing way that I love you, and the LMB would not be the tiniest fraction of what it is without you, son!!

And now I wish I had said that in a non-embarassingly way, but, y'know, that's the LMB for you!

Great, I guess the old blowhard (me) is now gonna comment on EVERONE'S entry... forgive me, y'all...


Dev-- I *totes* remember you being the 25th person to post for membership on the original LMB thread (which I think I have on a disc somehere...)!

And I totes remember seeing pictures of your baby girl... possibly on the old LMBP Yahoo group??? Is that even still there?? And it is SO COOL to see the little lady she has grown into, as well as seeing your son (via Facebook, these days)!!

I can't understand a WORD you are posting!!!! *glares at Rick, then laughs hysterically*

Future King... 2007? That was, like, 4 years ago!! Is it crazy that I still think of you as a newbie we all should be hazing???


Sharklad... All I needed to see was "Lash Lad" in your post... everyone may now bestow love upon me for ensuring that you rejoined our ranks! (Seriously though... your absence too was felt hard by me, and I was elated when you returned!!)

Love you too older brother!

All these years together on the boards...sometimes I remember conversations from like 10 years ago that make me laugh. I can't imagine *not* talking to you everyday about some cool topic (especially if one our names are in the thread title! )

Thing is, my daughter cannot wait until I eventually let her join. She once said to me, that she hopes that this place is still here when she is older.

btw, just checked and the Yahoo group os still there...no activity for about a year or so though...Allen was the last to post.

Jerry, having you make the leap to prominent poster in a wider variety of the forums has been great! You always have great comments on an array of topics--and for me particularly, I really pay attention to your comic reviews, as I think we often have similar tastes.

Now we need to give you an LMB superpower and codename.

Des, anyone---where IS "Who Are You?" these days? I assumed it was on Losers LMB Archives, but it's not--I checked. Pretty sure it's saved somewhere....

THAT IS SOOOO COOL that she wants to join!!! We promise to be on our BESTEST BEHAVIOR when she does!!!!-- just warn her about any thread I post in.... especially if it involves discussion of China Cat...

I thought it was...major bummer.

It'll be a few more years...got other things to prepare her for first...other 'talks' to have.

I especially love Jerry for TWO very important reasons (to me):

1. Lucinda Williams. SAY NO MORE. I love you, you are my friend, and I understand everything you feel and everything you ever HAVE felt.

2. TMK version of LSH. I *love* the five years later LSH, but somewhere on this message board (I am FAR too drunk to look for it) is the absolute most passionate endorsement of this era (made by Jerry) that I have EVER SEEN... SO passionate, in fact, it made me feel like I didn't appreciate the era ENOUGH-- which I now know I totes DO-- but still, his words were THAT POWERFUL.

Anyhoo, it was then that I knew Jerry was a kindred LSH spirit to me, and anything else was just icing on the Legionnaire cake.

Lardy & Dev, the 'Who Are You?' thread is saved on the LMB Yahoo Group. I don't like to it in the history because you have to log-in to see it.

I reread it about 5 years ago and it's mind-blowing awesome. I'm overdue or a reread.

I know eh? (the "eh" is purely for my friend Dev's enjoyment)

It's actually been almost 5 years now! Can you believe that??
I too still feel like a newbie so, uh...errr....ummm, haze away!

Springtime for... Rickshaw? I can kind of see that happening.

I echo Lardy - I'll be looking out for it too. And, see you on the Legion World page on Facebook

I'm pretty sure it still will be Whoa, get ready for the next generation, Legion World! I signed up for the YG a while ago but never got around to reading it. I think I should - it'll be like going back in time and watching how the Beatles formed. Mind-blowingly AWESOME!

My Legion World story is quite boring. I was on the DC boards. Can't remember how I got on them. When they closed down for the make-over. I tried Rob Whatshisname's board. Didn't end up going there much. But I think it was there where I saw people talking about Legion World. So, I came to Legion World. And 34k+ posts later, you guys haven't kicked me out yet. I mean how can I brag about getting kicked off message boards when you don't kick me out?

Lash

Other threads that complement this thread well:

What\'s your Legion-reading roadmap?

Tell your story about ONE purchase of a comic book!

Tell your story about ONE purchase of a Legion issue

SPECIFIC ways the internet has changed your involvement with the LSH

SPECIFIC ways the internet has changed your involvement with comic books

Thanks you ever so much...

My ten-year anniversary is in two weeks. Expect French.

I started reading the DCMBs in 2001. Late one night, after reading through the boards of the books I followed, I wasn't ready to sign off and went looking for other forums. LSH...I read dozens of LSH issues when I was a kid, so why not?

I stopped in because I wasn't ready to call it a night, and I stayed because the Legion board was having fun, more fun than any forum I'd seen. After a week or two, I registered and posted. I understand there was immediate speculation elsewhere that I was an altID (oh, whatever) and male (oh, really now).

Legion fan? No, I identified myself as a part-time slip-shod half-assed Legion reader --- in a thread thus titled, as is the Teeds way. (It tickled me to be name-checked a couple of times as "really knowledgeable" about LSH stuff. I was winging it!) Ever in search of pun material, I tracked down most of the back story. Adventure Era and 5YL in particular were worth the trouble.

After the DC board implosion, I followed the group and registered here at LW on the first day it was open.

Dream Girl is still my favorite Legionnaire.
I'm still totally going to marry Lester Spiffany.
And I'm still here for the fun!

Happy anniversary, Teeds!

My own tenth anniversary was last January. I had been to a rec.arts Legion forum for about six months in 2000, but there wasn't much activity on it. Somehow, I found my way to the DC boards and registered on January 7, 2001.

I didn't quite get the LMBP at first. I wanted to talk about the Legion, and I had no time for the silliness, the role playing, and the collective story telling (which flourished in spite of DC's edict that original stories were prohibited). I remember getting into debates with certain posters and enjoying the exercise in critical thinking.

But, gradually, the silliness and community aspect won me over. I remember posting a filk of The Hollies' "Carrie Ann" about Invisible Kid coming out. I emailed three openly gay posters first (LASH was one of them) to see if they found it offensive; LASH and Ger responded that they not only found it unoffensive but funny (the third didn't respond) -- I guess that was the first time I felt there was more to this community than just names on a computer screen.

I was saddened to see DC cancel the original board, but I remember the fun we had posting freely on what was to be the final day, in May 2003. However, I followed the community to its ill-fated sojourn on Rob's board. Somehow, I missed the Ships and Giggles board that briefly followed.

Scott (Lightning Lad) then invited me to this board, and I registered on July 6, 2003, two days after its launch. I've been around ever since, except for a six-month period in 2004-05, when I thought the time I spent on the Internet was contributing to certain upheavals in my life.

I've come to realize that Legion World is a rare blessing: a place to not only hang out and have fun, but a gathering of like-minded yet diverse individuals who share ideas and their lives openly and with concern for each other. Coming to LW always feels like a celebration, not only of the Legion but of life in general.

Question, was Art a member before our stint on Superhero Chat? Or did he join us there?

Take off eh! Hoser.

Coo-oo-coo coo coo coo coo coo.

I think he actually joined there.

One of the things I did after joining LW and then seeing Sharky return was make an effort to find as many old LMBers as possible and invite them here. I was able to track down Yellow Kid and Kid Therod and they both joined; 'Roo left soon after but Art became a major part of LW for years. This was also when Grey found Deddy!

That's what I thought, but my old addled brain wasn't convinced. He stuck around SHC for quite a while as well.

I was around longer than I thought then and managed to stick with the group as far a SHC, I remember having several "conversations" with Art from back in those days.

It's really hard for me to even talk about this. A decade or so ago I was incredibly miserable. There were just a number of things that seemed to be going wrong in my life, and I was really losing hope as to things ever getting better. Among other things there was a lot of crazy family stuff, plus there were people I thought were friends who turned out not to be, and I was feeling really lonely and isolated overall. So, I think I started re-reading the Legion and reading the Legion forums on the DCMBs as a bit of escapism from what I was going through. I enjoyed reading other people's opinions on the Legion, and eventually decided to join in and offer my own.

I chose "Eryk Davis Ester" as a screen name because one of my favorite issues when I was a kid was an old copy of Adventure #342 that I'd picked up at an antiques/arts and crafts festival we used to attend during the summer, and that issue contained the debut of this obscure character called "Calamity King". When I was about ten or eleven I had discovered that CK's real name was "E. Davis Ester" via Who's Who in the LSH, and since apparently I couldn't accept the fact that the "E." didn't stand for anything, I decided his name was "Eryk", which sounded like a nice Legion-y name. Little did I know that twenty-five years later people would be regularly referring to me as "Eryk".

Anyway, I guess I don't really remember much about my early days posting. I do remember that one of the earliest threads I started was on dangling plotlines from previous versions of the Legion. I didn't really get the LMB stuff at first, so I largely avoided it until the "Hot Summer Nights" thread. Somehow I became really involved in it and its successors, and gradually became a more prominent poster generally.

The first contact I ever had with anyone outside the boards proper was with Lard Lad, who had basically e-mailed me to tell me that MLLASH had guessed that I was an alt-ID of Lardy, and that he had "confessed" that this was so. So I basically agreed to let Lash think this, which he apparently did until the last day of the old DCMBs, when I revealed the truth.

Anyway, I was there through the various transitions until we found a home here on Legion World. And I've posted pretty regularly ever since. There was a point at which I really believed that I was quitting the boards for good, but I'm glad it didn't end up that way. Even though my interest in the Legion or in comics generally isn't all that great these days, it's still nice to be able to come here and chat about various things with a group of people that, for the most part, I really like and who seem to enjoy my presence.

I'm generally really happy at this point in my life despite the various ups and downs of life, and so it's not easy for me to get back into the mentality of where I was when I first joined the DCMBs. It's hard to imagine that had I not been going through such a rough patch back then, I might never have gotten involved in this website which has been a really important part of my life since then. Thanks to everyone for making it awesome.

For someone with such a "boring" story, you sure have a lot of posts!

Teeds, thanks for sharing all the links. Your story shows that we're united by more than just our love for the Legion!

And I love how Des, Lash and the others actively went on a recruiting spree to bring more people on-board. Maybe I should convince a couple of my friends to sign up...

EDE, thanks for sharing. Legion World was there for me during some bad times in high school, too. And I wish I had seen Lash's reaction when you revealed you WEREN'T an alt!

I hate the idea that anyone or anything was ever keeping my EDE down! Anything or anyone who attempts to do so ever again will suffer my bitchy wrath! Unless its Teeds... if its Teeds, you're on your own.

I didn't know that E. Davis Ester was Calamity King's real name, so, all during his stint on the DC boards, I thought Eryk was using his real name.

Out of habit, I still refer to him as Eryk instead of EDE.

Agreed!

The great positive is that Eryk rose to become one of the great leaders of this community! And with a cool hat too!

I started watching the Legion Cartoon on YouTube in late summer of 2008. (Thankfully, it had already been canceled, so I was saved the usual crushing guilt over pretty much every show I've liked in the last decade never making it past Season Two. :rolleyes: )

Don't ask me how I heard there was a cartoon in the first place. Some marketing genius at YouTube is probably to blame.

Aaaaanyway, I started writing fanfiction because of this. (I'd originally stopped writing the stuff about eight years after I quit seriously reading Big Two comics.) So this led me to fanfiction dot net, which in turn led to me hanging out with Legion cartoon fans.

When I'd read pretty much everything over there that I cared to, I used my search engine to scout for more fic. That's how I found out that Sarcasm Kid, who I already knew from fanfiction dot net, was hanging out over here. (I recognized Kent's name, too, because he'd posted a few chapters of his Camelot story over there.)

So remember, LMB: next time you see SK visiting, my presence is at least half his fault. The other half goes to the [censoreds] at [censored] Construction Company for firing me in early summer '08-- and consequently gifting me with so much free time coupled with so little free money: A surefire recipe for obsessive online fandom.



Ask a silly question...

Cleome, we are blessed to have you here.

More than anything, it means Teeds and I are not the only women who post regularly on Legion World. I'm sure we all have our share of horror stories about being the token fangirl among fanboys.

D'awww...

So true, Dear Lady. So true. (I'm eagerly awaiting the Worst Fanboy Moment In Your Personal History thread.)

Also, the absent portions of the Girl LMB contingent needs to <strike>revolt</strike> post much, much more often. [sulks]

I'll get working on that thread right away. It'll be so cathartic.

But I did forget to list Candlelight among the women who post here regularly. So sorry, Shady.

Although I don't have any terrible fanboy stories, I agree that I'm missing the chicks who haven't been posting lately...and the ones who haven't posted at all.

Come on, femmes. Do Imra proud.

AUGH! I also forgot to list Emily Sivana!

Sorry, Emily.

I deliberately avoided listing names, because I knew I'd forget somebody!

Still waiting for my beloved Fart Girl to post...

It will be alright, Fanfic Lady.

I have lots of stories to talk about from all the gaming sections I have posted on. One that leaps to mind is this massive Wonder Woman vs. Thor thread, which ended anticlimatically when the poster said it was the DCU Thor.

LEGION WORLD NEEDS SPACE-CHICKS!

...WITH---

...er, nevermind.

I always wonder if it's Britney Spears under a pseudonym, or at least somebody inspired by one of the more tasteless parodies of her music that I've ever been privileged to hear.

With no testosterone.

Here's to more space-chicks!

Both men and women have testosterone.

Oh, I knew that. Men have estrogen too, right?

I wonder if alien women would have testosterone, though.

In 1999, I found the rec.arts Legion board & the DC Legion board & started posting on both.
The other posters at rec.arts were mean, bitter, humorless & argumentative, so I stopped going there. The posters at the DC boards were less so(except for that evil sk8maven), so I stayed.
12 years later & a different board(our own board)-I'm still here!!

And the posters here are nice, sweet, funny and still argumentative, but polite at least?

Sometimes it's hard to imagine how time could pass so quickly!

Moi? Argumentative?

Only if you WANT to be argumentative

I should tell some religion forum stories soon. Now those are some exciting stories! I've had many really good, really bad, and really sad experiences with those sites. I almost became Moderator of one, but rejected it because I was already Moderating a comic book site.

Would love to hear some of your stories, Emily!

And the stories of everyone else!! Post, people, post!

*hic*

This story parallels much of early LMB history!

I know that this is a very belated post, but I've gotten out of the habit of looking at the Mission Monitor Board for some reason. God knows why, since the people who post here are generally intelligent, warm, and very, very humourous.

Anyway, I came here after having one-too-many flames wars with a couple of people on the old DC board. I'd come to to realize that comics aren't worth getting hot and bothered about--they're supposed to be fun. So I made a public apology to those I'd been warring with (Sk8tmaven in particular), and foreswore returning online hostility with pointless counter-hostility ever again.

I then began lurking more and more at Legion World because a few posters had mentioned it on the DC board, and referred to the fact that LW encourages polite and respectful discourse. What made me finally become a member rather than a lurker was an e-mail or message from EDE (I can't remember on which board) that commiserated with me about the increasingly hostile dialoging on the DC board at the time, and urged me to give LW a try.

So I did and I've never looked back since. I may not post as often as I should or come to the Mission Monitor Board very much, but I do check Legion World almost every day (hah, maybe I'm still sort of a lurker after all in some ways!). And I really do value the kindness, humour, and strong sense of community that's displayed here. So thanks very much, everyone.

By the way, I just noticed that I became a LW member way back in 2005. Now, I know that I'm not a prolific poster, but when will I finally become a full-fledged legionairre? Sheesh--it looks like I'm gonna be old and grey before that happens at this rate. Ha ha!

Mediocre Boy,

Once a lurker, always a lurker.

To get the Legionnaire status you need 2958 posts. You do have a ways to go as you only have 477. Although if you go to your profile and click update, you will not have "Honorary" as a user title, but "Active". You can find the user titles and the number of posts to get in the faq under "What are user titles?"

Thanks, Quislet, Esq.

I came to know the wonderful world of LW through Invisible Brainiac. He told of good stories about this site (he's a persuasive speaker which makes me wonder why he's not in Sales or Marketing) and I was totally convinced to sign up. Special thanks to Nightcrawler for helping me create my account.

Neither a fan of Legion nor comics in general, I was intimidated to post on my first day and found the discussions too much to digest in 1 sitting. Heck, I didn't even know what Legion was until IB told me about it. He was kind enough to walk me through the boards and recommended the Legion Outpost for starters.

I immediately felt at home here and started posting on my second day. I found the posts witty, funny, and lively. Members respected each other's view and gave equal value to all posts, regardless of membership status.

I hope to make friends here too, as I know that this is a community brimming with humorous, intelligent, warm, and young (and young at heart) people with interesting personalities.

Soon, I hope to start reading the Legion so I can relate and contribute to the topics here.

I wouldn't be here if not for Invisible Brainiac, of course. So thanks baby!

Glad you decided to jump in (and not just cause it's a thread I started )! Keep it up Medicore Boy

You're welcome baby!

PS, you're such a flatterer

I didn't tell Blaze to say that. Honest

It's funny to see some of my earliest days with the LMBP recounted through other people's eyes.

The beginning of my story is pretty typical. In the spring of 2001, I was lurking on the DC message boards when I saw that some posters were doing more than just talking about the Legion -- they were creating their own online personas and having fun with them. I signed up, and one of the people I got to know soonest was bellbookcandle/Seahorse -- whom I also had the opporunity to meet later that year. Unfortunately, he never made the move over to LW, but I'm glad we still manage to keep in touch through the magic of modern-day social media.

It's really the continuation of my "story" over the last 11 years that's been more amazing. Like Cobie said, there are times when I think of things that someone posted 9 or 10 years ago, and laugh out loud -- and marvel that the memory is still so vivid.

Some of my favorite recollections include:

- My first trip in 2001, when I met Seahorse, Terence, and Looks That Kill Lad (Paul). Memorable for so many reasons, both happy and sad.

- The utterly insane escapades that took place on the DCMBs forum for The Remarkable Worlds of Phineas B. Fuddle. Seriously, it was crazy. Part of the fun was seeing how much we could push Rob Kamphausen before he actually dropped the ban hammer. Side note: Boaz Yakin, the esteemed creator of Phineas B. Fuddle, also birthed such cinema classics as Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights.

- The almost-as-crazy posting period on the intermediate MB that immediately followed the DCMBs. I forget the name of it, but it was almost completely freeform because you didn't have to create a fixed screen name and commit to posting under it -- you could just make a new post under whatever name you wanted at the time. Needless to say, there were a lot of alts...

- Rob Kamphausen's boards, for a brief period. Most of his hangers-on there epitomized the definition of "troll."

- The Dallas meet-up (that steakhouse with all the cut up neckties!); the Boston meet-up; and, of course, San Diego 2008. (I have a funny feeling I walked by Ex at some point during the con, and just never knew it...) The rooftop at San Diego, then ice cream at Ghirardelli's, and the dueling pianos place... double-fisting drinks...

- Riding back to Pov's with Cobie after the Boston con. That was most definitely a CRAZY couple of hours I'll never forget -- nor ever speak of again!

- Plus all the mini meet-ups across the country and in England over the years -- beer, pizza, BBQ, margaritas, and haggis! (Not all at the same time...) Riding a log flume with OMEGA Matt... testing the limits of Abin's agoraphobia on the Stratosphere tower!

I look forward to seeing what the next decade will bring.

You're still in touch with Seahorse?!?! I wasn't aware that anyone still was! How's he doing, and what's he been up to?

I just joined Legion World only a couple of days ago, but I've been checking in on these posts for a number of years.

I first got acquainted with the Legion by reading old issues that my older brother had collected during the 1960's and 70's. I fell in love with the comic at that point. Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy were my favorite characters.

I started my own collection with issue #303 (Sept. 1983) and faithfully collected all the Legion titles until #38 Baxter series (1987) when I quit my senior year of high school to save up money for college. I wanted to collect the Legion again after college but discovered that the Legion had been rebooted and lost interest, though my collection traveled with me over the years. When I discovered the Legion cartoon series I became like a kid again. My wife just rolled her eyes and joined me in making the Legion must-see TV.

I stopped by Legion World and other Legion sites many times over the years to see what was going on but never bought any comics since my "Legion" was long gone. Then last year, after I bought my iPhone and off-the-cuff decided to download the DC Comics app and discovered Legion Lost #1 with Timber Wolf, Dawnstar, Tellus and Wildfire on the cover, I was hooked because I knew the old Legion was back! Needless to say I've spent the last 10 months collecting all of the past issues of the retro-boot Legion to get back up to speed. Fortunately I don't have to collect all of the past 20 years since all of the re-boots don't fit into current continuity. (Though I do feel bad with you guys who lost "your" versions of the Legion when it got re-booted over and over throughout the years.

By the way, my favorite Legionnaires are still Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy. To that list I now add Dawnstar, Dream Girl, the revised Tyroc, Tellus and Invisible Kid II.

The Legion has been the only comic I've ever collected (except for the short-lived Atari Force). I prefer my comics set in the future so that there might be a possibility that those events could happen some day.

Thanks for letting me be a part of Legion World!

Is he on FB?!?!?!

Welcome to the party Leather Wolf. Glad you decided to stop lurking and take the plunge.

Welcome Leather Wolf! Jump right in !

Welcome, Leather Wolf! You should try to collect the rest of the Baxter series after 38 and then sample Vol. 4. thru around issue 60 (the first top-to-bottom reboot happened after that). It was a controversial run, but it continues the Levitz run after an in-story 5-year gap in which the Legion breaks up. Some here hated it, some loved it. (Count me among the ones who loved most of it.) In any case you gotta read it to believe it!

Hell, even the reboot that happened after Zero Hour is worth checking out! It's mostly very good, imo, with only one really forgettable period.

Thanks for the recommendation Lard Lad! I have already started working on collecting the rest of the Baxter series. It's a good read. I'll have to sample the 5 year gap, but my next goal is to start filling in the gaps prior to my 1983 collection.

Welcome to the party, Leather Wolf!

Thanks for the sympathy. There are quite a few of us Postboot Legion fans here, though I'm happy to say that the majority of posters appreciate elements of all Legion "boots".

It's our pleasure to have you on board!

And I agree with Lard Lad's recommendation - Ultra Boy and Cosmic Boy were among the most prominent Legionnaires in the vol. 4 run, and Tyroc and Invisible Kid II also had very good development during that run. And let's just say you'll see a very different side of Dream Girl in those issues!

Good luck with your collection - I believe a lot of us had to scour the back issue bins of many comic book shops to complete ours, so maybe some of the great people here can suggest some places for you to continue your search.

I highly recommend the Legion Archives as a nice way of collecting early Legion stories. The recently published Volume 13 contains Levitz's earliest Legion tales.

All you newer posters out there, come on in and share your stories with us!

Come on, people! Come on in and share your stories. What better way to celebrate Legion World's 11th birthday than by telling us how you came to be part of the community?

You know that music video where the leads are made for each other, but never seem to quite meet and connect? Yeah, I think its rubbish too. Something else else else we have in common!

I get a legion bug every few years or so…

Back in the last millennium, I knew I’d end up with doing some website tasks at work. A Legion site was the first I thought of as I hadn’t really seen anything I liked. In the end I did something that actually made some pennies instead, but Legion and websites were linked from then.

I looked at the DC boards on a few occasions but never really found a thread I really connected with.

I remember seeing a starry backgrounded Legion site just at the time I’d seen a glut of starry backgrounded websites and could really have done without seeing another.

There was the time I took a look at the history of the Legion World, only to go into the role playing history when I should have stuck to the comics threads.

More recently, I was one attempt away from abandoning the registration process – it was almost thoth lad/boy/lass or some such.

Without a forum to call my own, I found myself on a DC yahoo group. While not a huge poster, I did find that I had views on a number of comics issues and, indeed, issues. It certainly reminded me of the fondness I had for the Legion.

But what prompted me to get through the Legion World registration was the last Levitz issue. That bitter-sweet ending with the lovely Maguire art meant that I just had to post somewhere.

Having done that, I worked my way through a lot of the site’s history and threads, discovering all the great comments I had missed out on for all those years. That led to more posts…

The rest, as they say, is bagged in the evidence locker awaiting the trial.

So thothkins joined because the Legion comic ended.

At least we got something good out of the cancellation

How about the rest of ya??

You were right Ibby. Making something up read much better than "thothkins: Spaceopoly addict"

It worked for me so well when I started this thread, thothkins

I hope it's okay to perform some necromancy on this thread.

I've been reading comics since roughly 2006, at the age of 10. My first comics were issues of Amazing Spider-man given to me by my cousins in India during my vacations there. I would spend hours reading them and I soon branched out to DC comics from there, particularly the Flash and Green Lantern who are still my favorite characters to this day.

I first started reading about the Legion roughly 3 years ago, when I stumbled upon them on the DC wiki while looking up something about Professor Zoom from a Flash comic I was reading(Flash v2# 79 if you're curious ). "Teenage superheroes in the 31st century?! That sounds so crazy enough that it's awesome!". My enthusiasm led me to stumble upon several issues of the Postboot Legion and I just couldn't get enough. I was initially confused by a lot of the continuity reference, but I just looked up the stuff I was confused about and continued to love the Legion's convoluted history even more. From there, I continued to collect more Legion stories, from the DnA era to the pre-Crisis Levitz run to the Baxter era to the recent Retroboot.

In 2013, I joined the Comic Book Resources(CBR) forums. I mostly talked about the Flash and Green Lantern on the DC Boards and became one of its resident H.E.A.T fanatics, but the Legion fans were largely scarce there save for a few obsessed posters like Desaad. I continued to try to spark Legion talk there, but most people didn't really offer the type of conversation I was looking for.

This summer, I was tired of the lack of Legion talk on CBR and Googled "Legion of Super-heroes fan forum" and somehow stumbled on Legion World! I was amazed that there was not only such a large Legion fan forum out there, but one that was this old! At first, I was intimidated by the really close community here and thought I wouldn't fit in, but you guys have been really welcoming, especially Ibby and Rocky!

So thanks for the great experiences LW and here's to many more to come hopefully.

Long Live the Legion!

Braal Janitor, we're glad you're here! This crew is an open and welcoming bunch. And you've proven you know the secret to gaining LW friendships...persistent, personal, playful posting.

Thanks for sharing your story, Braal Janitor. It's great to see someone so young get into the Legion and LW.

Braal Janitor's post prompted me to review this thread, and I realized I'd never posted my story. It starts a lot like this:



My first ventures onto the Internet were via WebTV (before I had a computer), and that led me to the rec.arts Legion forum which was moderated by Johanna Draper Carlson. I don't recall when I started visiting rec.arts.lsh...sometime in the late '90s. Johanna and a few others there were great, but as Rhino said, lots of posters were not pleasant...yes, I remember sk8maven too. I still have e-mail versions of some memorable posts from that time, as well as Andy Lanning's response to a fan e-mail I sent him.

I never found the DC Boards, as I recall, but I did visit Rob's Damn Board, and it may have been there I learned about Legion World. I joined here just a few days after it opened. I mostly lurked until around 2010 when my occasional posts prompted Kent Shakespeare to assume I was an alt-ID. That's when I woke up and become a Real Legion Worlder.

It was goofy interactions, especially with cleome, Dev-Em, future king (miss you, amigo), and rickshaw1 that exploded my posting in those early months after "coming out". Since then it's been a delight to get to know and interact with more and more of my heroes on Legion World!

This is awesome! I'm so glad you guys shared your stories, BraJa and LT!



I'm elated that you did, BraJa Thanks! Always good to hear stories from newer posters.




My story is much the same, started with the Post Zero Hour team and branched off into the other versions. One thing I like about LW is most of us are able to appreciate different eras and versions of the team.



I gotta say you've definitely proven that you fit in, and it's only been two months! Thanks for adding a lot of life to these boards

I'm still getting the hang of the whole roleplay thing going on here. I'm having fun doing it though.

Better late than never, LT! But your story made me realize, you registered near the beginning of LW (even before I did in fact)! Glad you decided to de-lurk



"That evil sk8maven". That just makes me I have never encountered sk8maven but have heard of her.



I felt much the same way too. After lurking on the DC Boards and on Rob's Damn Boards, it was such a delight to actually speak and interact with people who, for the longest time, had just been screen names/personalities whom I have admired for a while!

I think you're doing quite well with it. The main roleplay "rules" are:

1) keep with the tone of the thread, some threads are meant for "real life" while others are for us to be as imaginary as we want

2) during roleplaying/fic writing, if doing something permanent/serious/major with someone else's "character", ask permission. of course, some characters are pretty much common domain (like that one time we inducted Britney Spears, Gary Coleman and Frankie Muniz into the LMB!)

3) when in doubt, feel free to ask!

Oh, and this guide to roleplaying on the MMB should help too!

Since most of "Braal Janitor's" stories have taken place in the actual LSH universe (conquering Braal, elected and impeached as LSV leader, living as a Trom hobo), but you and Rocky also took part in those stories, does that mean Braal Janitor is from a different Earth in the multiverse than the rest of the LMB members?

Hmm I guess I should make myself a new avatar then, seeing that Cosmic Boy isn't a fitting avatar for someone who's a member of the LSV and conquered Braal.

Some posters would say that Cosmic Boy fits your actions perfectly

Don't worry, I actually have a Microhero avatar for Braal Janitor I made for a roleplaying game last year. Hopefully it isn't too shabby compared to everyone elses.

What He Who said! Legion, like all mainstream comics properties, needs to be appreciated by each successive generation in order to survive.



This is amazing. First it turns out that Rathmaker and I have Green Lantern: Rebirth as a touchstone, now it turns out that BraJa and I share a connection to Flash v.2 #79 -- that was the issue (the conclusion of The Return of Barry Allen) that turned me into a Flash fan!



Glad to have you here, LT. I especially appreciate your reviews in the Anywhere Machine's So What Are You Reading? thread.

Thanks for the kind words, BraJa. You've fit in here just fine. One of the things I have always loved is that this is truly a multi-generational community. Fun is had by all.

Multinational and multicultural, too

And multisexual.

And how We even have Cobie and his sheep, and a Giant RoboticLesbian...

Would any of our new members like to share their stories?

All new members soon realize that the majority of men on this site are only interested in other men!

up for the festivities!

Another up. Share your stories, folks! We would love to hear them.

I just re-read Cobie's first post here and AGAIN remembered those awful times he wasn't around!! Then I saw my quoted post above.

We miss folks when they don't --or in some cases, can't-- come to play anymore. So here's a shout-out too ALL the regular posters. You'd be missed if you didn't come around!

Amen to that!

Thank you, Lash.

Well said!

Wow. Talk about something to get you all teary eyed.

In the upcoming Lash Secrets: Revealed! Thread, I will perhaps delve into more detail, but I think some of you will appreciate that on several occasions, often a few years apart from each other, Lash and I would PM in the wee hours where he was high / drunk and I was high / drunk and we would have an "I love you, man" moment. And then the next morning laugh about how hilarious we were...but always admit that we still meant it!

I didn't know that!

Okay, my story:

My love of comics actually began with the 90's X-Men cartoon. I thought it was really cool and also enjoyed the X-Men films and X-Men: Evolution cartoon, too. My depression took a downward spiral in 2002-2003 and I began reading mountains of fan fiction. I mean, just piles and piles of it. Then I decided I could definitely write this stuff myself, so I began doing that, too. Some of the other writers told me about roleplaying, which I was not familiar with, and I started doing that, too. The escapism was great because I was so depressed.

Around this time I discovered illegal downloading for comics and started reading tons and tons of them. At first it was mostly Marvel stuff (X-Men, duh) but soon I branched out because I'd also enjoyed the Batman and Justice League cartoons - even Superfriends back in the day. I would binge read comics like it was going out of style. I also rented trade paperbacks from the library. I consumed comics like it was feeding my very soul... and maybe it was.

Mark Waid was a writer I found myself enjoying quite a bit. His run on Flash, who had by then become my favorite character, was really great. I saw he was writing another book called Legion of Super-Heroes and I was curious. I'd read the Teen Titans crossover and not really understood it but thought, what the hell? Looked interesting and, you know, free being free with the illegal downloading thing, I decided to go for it.

I loved the series. I tried so hard to get my roleplaying friends on board and the did not care! I was so butthurt. Finally, I googled Legion or something and found the Board. I registered immediately, introduced myself and jumped right in. I was not shy or a lurker. I wanted to consume more Legion and I wanted it now. From there, I read the entire reboot on the recommendations of Tamper Lad (miss him!) and Invisible Brainiac, as well as L.E.G.I.O.N. thanks to Stealth (now Ficcy) and Tamper, too. I really, really enjoyed it and my time on the Board. Without you all, I probably never would have made it to SDCC or met so many cool people in real life or any of the other random shenanigans from years gone by!

Later on, my depression worsened and I pulled away even from Legion World. It was a hard few years, where I cocooned into myself. I stopped reading most comics because I could not stand DC throwing away so much stuff - it's so lazy, work with what you have, damn it! Still, I appreciate all that Legion World is and that I can still come here to be with lovely folks and talk about anything and everything! My depression is under control these days and I'm crazy busy but forever I will drop in at random because you guys are the best.

Thanks for sharing, Cali. You're the best, too.

I, too, have struggled with depression for years, so I can relate to a lot of what you said in your post.

I am so glad that you have your depression under control now. And I'm happy to say that I currently seem to be getting closer every day to achieving the same thing.

It's never easy, but Legion World makes it easier.

It does! There are few places that are so warm and lovely - especially on the internet! I'm forever grateful to have found the site. As long as it exists, I'll always pop back, even if I'm gone for extended periods.

Aw Cali! Thanks for sharing your story. I too am proud of you for not giving up. And so glad to hear you read the Reboot yay! Good taste you have

Legion World and the LMB are what doctors should be prescribing for depression!

Seriously, though, it's heartening that our community can have such a therapeutic effect on people. I've just read thru this thread and seen other examples of such, including how we helped EDE when he first found us.

I'm generally an upbeat person, but this place can certainly make me feel better if I'm not feeling too happy. I mean, just look at how it's helping us all deal with the loss of such a tremendous human being over the last few days!

Indeed. The folks at Legion World are the first people I ever came out to. It was on LW that I first said, "I think I'm gay."

And I have never known such love and acceptance.

(I'm not out in "real life").

And... six years later... I finally bought you a drink. Talk about a slow roll.

Talk about biding your time!

Hahaha, yep!

(Incidentally, I have not partaken in the alcoholic beverage since that trip to Massachusetts.)

[snif!]

'Scuse me. Some stuff seems to have gotten in my eye again.

Yeah, but there's more to life than romance. I still need somebody to come over to help haul away all this yard debris and then drink all this wine that I'm not supposed to have anymore.

Wha? The yard woksh was befo the wine? >hic<... >collapse-thump<

You know, it's all in fun until one of the tipplers picks up the solar chainsaw by the wrong end.

"Make your self useful at parties. Turn your prosthetic hand into a drinks holder or tray!"

- Ad for Fun with The Fugitive (1963)

I think it’s a good time to bump this up, especially as we have some new blood!