Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Before the Legion of Super-Heroes, there was the L.E.G.I.O.N.

<font size="10">L.E.G.I.O.N.</font s>
Base of Operations: The planet Cairn First Appearance: INVASION! #2 (1989)




The Licensed Extra-Governmental Inter-stellar Operatives Network - or L.E.G.I.O.N. - is a vast and powerful peace-keeping squadron that acts as a police force for those worlds that choose to subscribe to its "service." Though it has a relatively small core membership, the L.E.G.I.O.N. employs literally hundreds of operatives from many different worlds, many of whom have paranormal abilities that make them particularly effective on specific missions.
The L.E.G.I.O.N. was organized by Vril Dox II, one of the most brilliant and inventive minds in the galaxy. Dox was one of thousands of aliens taken as prisoners of war by the Alliance, an organization of extraterrestrial races intent on conquering the Earth. Dox, who refused to accept imprisonment in the Alliance's "Starlag," engineered a revolt and, in the ensuing riot, led several fellow prisoners to the docking bay, where they stole a starship and made their getaway.
The Starlag escapees - Garryn Bek, Lyrissa Mallor, Strata, Stealth, and an unnamed Durlan - were anxious to resume their lives. Instead, they were duped by Dox into accompanying him back to his homeworld, Colu. There, Dox enlisted their reluctant aid in overthrowing the computer tyrants that ruled the planet.
Successful in their mission, the escapees decided to remain together as a team rather than let the untrustworthy and megalomaniacal Dox – and his newest ally, a vicious psychopath named Lobo – loose on an unsuspecting galaxy. Next, they accompanied him to Cairn, home to a narcotics network that spanned five star systems. Dox’s plan was to establish and lead a peace-keeping force with a galaxywide reputation for effectiveness; to that end, he manipulated Cairn’s warring druglords into exterminating each other, assassinated the head druglord himself, and thus cleaned up one of the dirtiest planets in the universe. As a result, not only had Dox almost instantly built the reputation he had craved, but the entire police force of Cairn came under his control as well and formed the foundation of Dox’s L.E.G.I.O.N. The team is overseen by an inner circle comprised of the Starlag escapees and is led by Dox.
L.E.G.I.O.N. members routinely leave Cairn to aid the planets under their protection; the L.E.G.I.O.N. has even traveled to Earth in pursuit of Vril Dox’s father, Brainiac. Their most celebrated case, one that added immeasurably to their notoriety, involved Dagan-Ra, a slave trader and interstellar criminal, Dagon-Ra, who could transmute elements at will, quickly proved to be the L.E.G.I.O.N.’s most formidable opponent; working together, however, they defeated him and released his captives, many of whom have joined the L.E.G.I.O.N.’s ranks in gratitude.
The L.E.G.I.O.N. has endured several changes to its core membership since the team was founded. Shortly after Lobo’s arrival, the Durlan was shunted through time to the 30th century by a sorceress named Glorith; he was later to adopt a Terran name, R.J. Brande, and finance the Legion of Super-Heroes. Glorith replaced the Durlan with the 30th century heroine Phantom Girl, who arrived in the 20th century; though suffering from amnesia, she retains her powers and operates under the code name Phase. Lady Quark and Captain Comet, both involved as solo agents in the Dagon-Ra case, also joined the Network subsequent to Ra’s defeat, as did a new hero, Telepath. Shortly thereafter, Lyrissa Mallor was killed, a victim of the Colu Computer Tyrants.



text: MARK WAID/art: BARRY KITSON/colors: TOM McCRAW

Great tribute Gary! With Barry as a regular here and L.E.G.I.O.N.'s upcoming appearance in "Adam Strange", the timing is perfect. I really liked this series, but dropped it at some point (I think it was a L.E.G.I.O.N. annual where I first saw Mik McKone) and I'm curious to find out what happened to these characters (well, not Lobo...)

Barry Kitson was the artist from the beginning, L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 #1 (Feb 1989). He drew the series (with various inkers) through L.E.G.I.O.N. '90 #18. Jim Fern took over through L.E.G.I.O.N. '91 #24, with Barry returning on L.E.G.I.O.N. '91 #25-28, 29-37, 39-43, 46-47, 49-50, 52-55, 57.

Barry is listed as the co-plotter after Giffen left as of L.E.G.I.O.N. '90 #13. He co-plotted until #18, returned for #25-27, 28-39. When Alan Grant left, Barry became the writer with L.E.G.I.O.N. '92 #40-48. L.E.G.I.O.N. '93 #49 brought Mark Waid into the mix. They worked together for the next issue #50 and came back for L.E.G.I.O.N. '93 #52-55, (Waid wrote #56), 57-60.

Although the series lasted until L.E.G.I.O.N. '94 #70 (Sept 94), the remaining issues were by Tom Peyer (writer) and Arnie Jorgensen (penciller), with the only exception being Stephen Jones & Tom Tenney (pencillers) on L.E.G.I.O.N. '94 #62.

The series changed to R.E.B.E.L.S. after Zero Hour.

Thanks, Drake!

I did some smilies and added some avatars, as well.

Maybe when Barry returns he can let us in on some behind the scenes tidbits. And I know I'm interested in what may have happened to the characters after R.E.B.E.L.S. '96 #17 (Mar 96).

How can it revert to something it never was before?

Gary, you know I love this stuff and your graemlins are brilliant as usual. But shouldn't this, or at least a copy, be in the Encyclopedia Galactica?

It will be when I get there. I've still got to finish the first Who's Who series. Consider this a sneak peek at how the loose leaf section will look.

Ha ha, L.E.G.I.O.N., the series whose name is kind of a pain to write out. I actually didn't start collecting it until after R.E.B.E.L.S. was over, but I ended up collecting all of L.E.G.I.O.N. and R.E.B.E.L.S. eventually and overall, I liked it a lot. There were slow points and the underlying idea of R.E.B.E.L.S. was pretty sorry, but I usually enjoyed the writing and the art. Even with the problems I had with R.E.B.E.L.S.'s underlying storyline, I thought the dialogue was a lot of fun in it. And L.E.G.I.O.N. did have some really fun points, I especially liked the first two years and later on the business with Ig'nea. I think the series kind of gets a bum rap. I'd be happy to see L.E.G.I.O.N. come back in some form. Or better, I'd like to see a Vril Dox II miniseries. Or better than that, I'd like to see another plotline with Brainy and Vril versus Brainiac like that Showcase story.

Now I've gotten myself all distracted with wonderful thoughts...

i loved L.E.G.I.O.N and collected the series right up untill it became R.E.B.E.L.S (what the hell did it stand for any how?) stopped then started again when Dox got DoxIII inteligence reduced to that of an infant and Capt Comet came back to lead the team.
damn i miss that book.

I enjoyed both of those series...I did hear that we might get to see them in the current Adam Strange mini series.

#5. On sale in January.

Revolutionary Elite Brigade to Eradicate L.E.G.I.O.N. Supremacy

So that makes it the Revolutionary Elite Brigade to Eradicate Licensed Extra-Governmental Inter-stellar Operatives Network Supremacy.

No wonder they shortened it

I don't write these things. I just point them out.

So exactly how many of you have read or collected this series?

I have.

I was intrigued by their appearance in Invasion, but not quite sold to the point of picking up the book. I started picking it up later when I found out they were bringing back Captain Comet, who was an old fave of mine. But I stayed with it because I liked the stories, the mix of characters, and the whole overall "space opera" aspect. (Not to mention the art, much of it by some guy - Barry something. Wonder what happpened to him? ) I stayed with it in spite of Lobo, a character who had outlasted his welcome even then.

Waid has said there will be a L.E.G.I.O.N. connection in the new LSH book, and I'm rather curious to see what that will be.

I got the whole L.E.G.I.O.N. series on eBay last year, and one issue of R.E.B.E.L.S. - I had been following the original, but it went flat for me at some point - certainly after Lyrl was born and started being the baby genius. That was sorta funny/corny, but more of a groaner. Up until that, I enjoyed it, except Stealth's birthing issue...

Stealth was a very interesting creation, however and I'm sorry her race hasn't appeared in Legion continuity.

There was a lot of funny stuff in that series. It could get campy. Lobo was okay when first introduced but he always gets real old real fast for me.

Was this the first superhero-as-a-business group? Maxwell Lord's Justice League was something of a hero-for-hire, IIRC, but not profit driven. L.E.G.I.O.N. was a good take on this concept, and the idea of a wheeling and dealing Coluan struck me as funny. Dox was something of a pirate, it seemed to me.

I read an article about Dyna-Corp (a private security firm that operates globally) in Wired Magazine - it sounded like that company was lifted straight out of the pages of L.E.G.I.O.N., without the superpowers and aliens.

My L.E.G.I.O.N. collection is kinda spotty and relegated to a specific period of time, which was when I was an intern at Marvel and was able to get free comics evey week ("spotty" because DC comics were less available there). I liked the series, but not so much that I went out and spent money on it though. I wasn't really up on Legionlore at the time so its connection to the 30th century didn't mean anything to me - I kinda liked the characters and art. I think I lost interest after Kitson stopped doing art though.

I am currently building a collection of this. Always a long term plan because of the tenuous links to the legion and I do have a certain AR tendency in me

I brought forward the plan, because of two reasons, firstly Barry Kitsons role in the new legion so I wanted to see what his work was like, and secondly because it was cheaper than spending up to £100 a comic for the remaining Adventure issues I need.

As a series it definitely has its up and downs. I am not, so far, sold on Captain Comet, nor am I keen on Strata (sp?) who I think was only introduced because of the legion connection, i.e. let’s have a Blok analog. Dox is a fascinating character, and the early issues with his escape from Colu are among my favourites. Lobo is a pain in the proverbial and I can do without him.

I like the scale and scope, the “space opera” as it’s been called, feel to the book. I don’t think I will be disappointed with the full run.

Started collecting the early issues, but found availability on east coast of Scotland patchy ... and specialist comic book shops were more rare than sunshine. Enjoyed what I read, and may yet follow Faraway Lad's route through ebay.

I believe I own the entire run, all the way through R.E.B.E.L.S. I have them packed away somewhere, but haven't read them since they originally came out over a decade ago. I don't really remember it all that clearly (I *was* in college when the series finished it's run after all ), but I remember losing interest in it around the time the Dox baby started taking a real prominent role. Stewie from Family Guy aside I don't really have a fondness for infant geniuses.