Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes General Reading Order Help Needed. Also, What's with the New 52 and the Retroboot Legion?

Hi everyone, I'm new here and am trying to get into the Preboot (Levitz/Giffen era)/Retroboot Legion. With some (kinda) recent comics kinda throwing things kinda out of whack, I just wanted to get some stuff cleared up. I read another thread here, but it was pretty dense and assumed some knowledge already, so it was hard to follow. Anyway, here's what I plan to read (mostly, I plan to mainly read from trades and the stuff not in trades digitally), I just need some confirmation on some things, particularly some advice/thoughts concerning the asterisks.

From what I understand, the reading order for the Levitz/Giffen era to the Johns era to the third Levitz era goes:

LoSH #284-313 and Annuals #1-3
LoSH #1-63
"The Lightning Saga" - Justice League of America #0, 8-12 and Justice Society of America #5-6
Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes - Action Comics #856-863
Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #1-5
DC Comics Presents Legion of Super-Heroes - Adventure Comics #0-4
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes - #Adventure Comics #515-520
LoSH (2010) #1-16
* LoSH (2011) #0-23
Legion Secret Origin $1-6
** Legion Lost #1-15 (including the dumb Culling crossover stuff)
*** "The Infinitus Saga" - Justice League United #6-10, Annual #1 and Futures End issue (Or issues, since I recall the thing being a two-parter ending in Justice League's tie-in).

* Apparently the end of this series implied that this series took place in the future of Earth-2. So... is it still the preboot/retroboot Legion? Didn't this series essentially ignore the New 52 aside from the "no time-travel" rule? So is the prior series not canon either? So is this still canon with the Retroboot legion and the 2010 comic?

** So does Legion Lost reference the 2011 series? I mean, the team definitely travelled back to the mainstream New 52 continuity as seen in the "Culling" crossover with Superboy and Teen Titans, so... huh? Or did they somehow also travel between universes while time-travelling?

*** And wait, so is this a separate Legion from the one in the 2011 series? Or is it the same one? So are they still from Earth-2? What...?

I seriously need help for the asterisks. Just... so confused. But I really want to get into this team, and I think if it's explained to me, I can push through it all. I asked on the CBR forums, but they don't seem to have a big Legion fanbase.

Hi Fuzzy, I don't think we ever sorted it out completely or exactly, but there's a rather long list of continuity changes and open questions here. The first post summarizes all the discussion.

The order of reading looks right, but some of our more expert historians may have further comments and can provide more specific answers to your asterisk questions.

Glad to see another enthusiast jumping aboard!

Thanks, glad to be here! Community is really welcoming so far

Yeah, I was linked to that post, but it's pretty dense and kinda scattered and assumes some knowledge. Plus, it's pretty specific when I'm really just concerned about the New 52 and what its little Earth-2 twist meant for the... well, entire Retroboot era, seeing as the 2011 series apparently ignored that it was supposed to be rebooted/relaunched

Once you've been here for 10 years is when we start being unfriendly.

To best of my knowledge, roughly:

Johns's original intention with the retroboot was that it would include all of Legion history up to Crisis (so, roughly, LSH Vol. 3 #16), leaving what had happened since Crisis to be filled in. There's also a lot of awkwardness as to how exactly that "Earth-1" history was supposed to fit into the post-Infinite Crisis DCU history, but we weren't supposed to think too hard about that.

When Levitz took over with vol. 6, he stated that he was including up through his entire 80s run and then everything Johns had done, though one assumes that some of the stuff that was blatantly building off Crisis (like the Pocket Universe) would have to be vastly reworked if they were still in continuity.

Then comes the new 52. At the time, the word was that Vol. 7 was going to continue on from vol. 6 without a reboot, and in many ways seems to, as it builds upon stuff going on in the previous series. However, they soon release the Secret Origins series, which gives a rather different take on the Legin's origin to the pre-Crisis version, and then halfway through the series they start to reference the Fatal Five as a group the Legion has never met, and of course in the last issue you get the "Earth-2" (or whatever) twist. So overall it seems to be a different continuity than the previous series, even though it continues on from it, if that makes any sense.

As far as the Infinitus Saga goes, I didn't read that but as far as I can figure out it appears to be another distinct version that kind of resembles the pre-Crisis team, but who knows?

You are missing "Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes" #314-#325 which run concurrent with Losh #1-12. Some great stories in there.

"Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes" also retroactively fits in around issue #300, and is obviously out of continuity, but uses the Levitz/Giffen Legion from that time.

"Legionnaires 3" and the "Cosmic Boy" mini-series also occur during the 1-63 timeframe, and there's a crossover with Byrne's Superman books, reprinted in Man of Steel Vol.4 TPB.

Finally there's a "Legion of Substitute Heroes" special in that era as well.

Regarding the 2011 version: As things start to unravel near the end it becomes increasingly obvious that this Legion isn't the same as the one we were reading about Pre-Flashpoint, but the exact nature of what's happened is deliberately left ambiguous (Though it's implied we're on another Earth).

For the "The Infinitus Saga" Lemire specifically stated a few times that he wasn't interested in strict continuity adherence. His group approximates the postboot Legion, but contradicts the ending of the 2011 series, while at the same time tying up loose ends from Legion Lost. Add to that the story is about changes to the timeline, which muddles things, and throw in an artist who had a penchant for drawing background characters from all Legion iterations and the story is a big mess for anyone looking for concrete continuity.

And there's a long line to get into the bathroom.

I know about the crossover with Superman, but I'm not sure how much of that series I'm going to read, since apparently it started getting a bit weird and using the pocket universe for actual stories instead of a small retcon fix. I'll definitely read the Cosmic Boy, Legionnaires 3 and Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Helps that they're short, just wish they were collected

One month from now, Australian authorities find a tormented soul, identified only as Fuzzy Barbarian, wandering the streets and repeating "I can sort it all out, I can sort it all out! Just find me the issues!"

This is what I was looking for, thanks guys. I'm not sure if I'm gonna start reading the New 52 series now. Seems... weird. Is it even good? I heard it wasn't, but I think that was from non-Legion fans. From what I've seen of the art, the first arc had really great art, but then we had Scott Kolins, who kinda seemed to be half-assing it compared to his Flash run. And didn't it end in an ultra depressing way? And how was Legion Lost? I know it had a pretty bad crossover in the middle, but that's all I know. But at least it takes place in the future of the New 52 (I think?), not that that will mean much once Rebirth comes around. But I guess I'd be willing to deal witht he weird pesudo reboot in the New 52 if Legion of Super-Heroes v7 and Legion Lost were actually good. Were they?


Oh, and I also decided to get some older stuff, so I bought Legion Archives 1-7. I've never read a comic from that long ago before, but I'm really looking forward to it. Just so charming

What's this 'bath-room' you speak of? Ya mean the dunny, mate? Ain't no coppers here, haven't ya seen Mad Max?

The first two story arcs aren't too bad, and there's a good Walt Simonson one-shot in Issue #5 that's fun. A lot of it depends on how much you like the Academy kids from Adventure that get thrust into the spotlight. The last ten issues are where things go off the rails and I think I can safely say are generally disliked.

Legion Lost (2011) was about a group that's splintered off from the main group and stuck in the past. It looked promising as it had some of my favourite Legionnaires (Wildfire, Gates & Tellus), but it, IMHO, wasn't very good. For starters they kept rotating the writing team and in turn the focus of the book. There were twists and subplots that went nowhere and poor characterizations and character choices. It was mostly an incoherrent mess, and as you mentioned, the nonsensical crossover didn't help.

No, not the dunny. The bathroom. The room where you take a bath. We are a very fastidious lot. Although with only one bathroom it is difficult.

I would strongly recommend at least reading issues 1 through 35. The Universo Project arc from 32-35 is IMO Levitz's masterpiece.

Then it all goes way downhill.

Well, guess I'm avoiding Legion Lost! Heck, the entire teen line of comics is pretty awful in the New 52, so not really a surprise, just hoped Legion Lost was a hidden gem or something.



Cool, I'll give it a go. When reading older runs not from trades, I like having a rough idea of when a run goes bad or gets good before starting it, rather than blowing money on the entire run. If they were collected, I wouldn't mind -- I just like having them on my shelf as opposed to more boxes I have to find places for -- but DC refuses to collect their older stuff (unless it's Bat-stuff, seemingly), so... boo. I know it'll never happen -- because it's not written by Geoff Johns -- but I wish the Levitz/Giffen run got an omnibus. Or at least big trades like what Nightwing's currently getting

Thought dunny could refer to bathroom as a whole... yeah, I'm bad with Aussie slang

And yet, I'm still better than any American writer who tries to use it!