My Legion of Super-Heroes are BACK!!!

This is my Legion of Super-Heroes....

Picture it, South Philly, September 1987....a young peasant boy....

I'll never forget it....

TALES OF THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #349....

I was in a local 7-ELEVEN with two of my buddies. One was at the counter buying cigarettes for his mother and my other buddy and I were looking at the magazines.

My buddy that was with me (he was from Italy and English was a second language for him) asked "What does 'sus-spick-eon' mean?" He pointed to TALES OF THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #349 on the shelf in the magazine rack.

I said, "it's pronounced suh-spish-uhn and it's what your parents were under when they packed you and your sisters up and had to hightail it out of Italy." (I was a d**k even way back then!!!)

I picked the book up and I thought that the lady on the cover (it was Sensor Girl) looked awesome, so I bought it.

When I got home, I read it and I was blown away. I couldn't believe how cool it was. I went back every day for the next two weeks until they finally put #350 on the shelf.

That was my first exposure to the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES.

The Legion of Super-Heroes has a llooonnnnggggg and highly complex history, which would take me days and weeks to properly relate.  I recommend checking out this site for the full story.  

Over the last three years, My LSH has slowly, during the course of three excellent storylines that spanned four different series, been reintegrated to the DC Comics Universe.

It was wonderful to see the "original" LSH active and interacting with the other DCU heroes in THE LIGHTING SAGA, SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and LEGION OF 3 WORLDS.  All three stories were terrific and fun.  Some were more well received than other, but critical reception didn't matter to me.  My LSH was back and active!

Sure, there were massive differences in the characters and their relationships and set-up since they last appeared during ZERO HOUR in 1994, but that was ok.  All that mattered was that they were back and alive and active.

Thursday, I sat down and read issues #1 and #2 of the current LSH series.  This series is written by Paul Levitz, who was the writer of the characters when I first found them. 

As much as I enjoyed the three stories mentioned two paragraphs up - as fun and terrific and thrilling as they were - I didn't realize what had been missing from the stories and that was Paul Levitz. 

I am going on record stating that the two issues of the current LSH series have trumped THE LIGHTING SAGA, SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and LEGION OF 3 WORLDS as far as my enjoyment is concerned.  

THE LIGHTING SAGA, SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and LEGION OF 3 WORLDS were wonderful stories, but they were agenda driven stories.  

THE LIGHTING SAGA served to bring the original LSH back into continuity. 

SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES served to reestablish the links between Superman and the LSH; they had been intrinsically linked for decades, but all of that was unraveled in the wake of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. 

LEGION OF 3 WORLDS served to rectify and explain lingering continuity questions and tied the three versions of the LSH together in one continuity. 

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES Volume Six has no agenda.  At least none (other than to sell books and entertain) that I can see.  Without that burden of an agenda to set things right or to explain things or to link them, etc., the current series just moved along wonderfully, from page to page.  

I expected to be more excited about LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES Volume Six and its launch, but I wasn't.  I couldn't explain why I wasn't excited.  I barely even thought about the books and I waited a month to read #1.

But as I read issues 1 and 2, I felt as if My LSH had never gone away; a feeling of calm contentment washed over me.

I hope that this series runs for hundreds of issues and that Paul Levitz writes all of them. 

LONG LIVE THE LEGION!!!