A look at the Legion of Super Heroes a comic book retrospective

Incredible writer and editor Joe Corallo stops by to go on a deep-dive into the origins of the Legion the Super-Heroes... a comic that many forget was one of the top selling books for decades, outselling titles like Batman and even kicking Superboy out of his on comic at one point. But beyond the legacy of the Legion, it's also the starting place for a young Jim Shooter, who started writing the comic at the age of 14. Come learn about the legacy of the legion and perhaps open up a whole new world of comics to explore.
Follow Perch at...
✅ Twitter: / comicperch
✅ Facebook: / perch.comments
✅ Email at: [e-mail]
#ComicBooks #TopComics #GraphicNovels

[@braxtonwages195]

The most underrated comic book superhero team. What a mythology. The Star Trek of comics.

[@geekynerd7346]

When I was a kid, Legion of Superheroes was my favorite comic. I thought that Jim Shooter was the best Legion writer.

[@kevinpillar6934]

Anybody remember watching the cartoon show Legion of Super Heroes?

[@mysticalmonotreme]

I grew up reading my Mom's Legion comics from the sixties, which got me into the medium so the LoSH made me a second-generation fan.

[@terry7907]

“I think Legion is straightforward, all things considered.” Bro, you have read too many comics.

[@owenservant4630]

My brother and his friends, when I was maybe 5 years old, used to take turns buying Adventure comics with the Legion and handing them around the neighborhood. Years before Gwen Stacy died, the death of Ferro Lad (written by very young Jim Shooter) was startling.

[@TyranusRex721]

Dawnstar and Shadow Lass are my favorite Legion members!

[@spitflamez]

Seriously slept on, one of the best groups ever, I recommend all the stuff from the 60s in reprint or whatever form you can get and you will become a fan.

[@bounty_hunter101]

My favorite part of the 60's book was the letters column. The ships, character suggestions, and plot corrections were a joy. Fandom culture was been around forever.

[@wtk6069]

My favorite Legion era was the silver age stories by Edmond Hamilton. The stories were dramatically stilted a bit by 60s editorial restraint, but there's still such imagination, and they laid down a very strong sci-fi tradition that has never left the Legion. People today forget that Hamilton had earlier in his life been the co-creator of the space opera sub-genre in the 1920s (no Star Wars without him!) and was a borderline legend as a pulp writer. He was the #3 "Weird Tales" writer after Robert E Howard and HP Lovecraft. He did stuff with the Legion that nobody else in comics would try in those days, including occasionally killing members or giving them bad outcomes (a trope young Jim Shooter continued even after Hamilton retired to return to prose fiction).

[@justinfive4206]

The Keith Giffen Legion poster from the 80s is still my favorite birthday gift. I spent many hours, days, years trying to identify all the characters. In the 80s DC released several digests of Silver Age Legion stories which helped fill in some of the blanks. Just recently I started on the omnibus and have almost completed my goal 36 years later. I know I could have gone online to do this but what's the fun in that?

[@arumidden]

Ever since I watched the LOSH animated series as a young kid (yeah, I'm a pretty young fan for a series as long as the Legion), the Legion has been my favorite team. I've been making my way through all the Legion comics, all the way from Adventure 247 to Five Years Later. I really love the early 80s era especially, with the Great Darkness Saga being one of my favorite stories for the Legion, but I also really love the rebooted Legion from 1994. I feel like the best version of the Legion would cherry-pick the greatest elements from all the different iterations the Legion universe has gone through!

[@viniciusbenettigennari]

Man, what a blast this was! Joe hit the nail on the head near the end, when he talked about the Legion being this hopeful, heroic idea of a bunch of folks being inspired to do good by the legend of Superman.

[@alexandrefrauches132]

The legion is really a very underrated team. Their whole concept of a group of weird alien heroes who live incredible sci-fy, fantasy adventures in the future is incredible (it's basically x-men + star trek). I really hope that someday in the future someone like Geoff Johns (who from what I heard is huge legion fan) get the chance to write the characters.

[@StephenAnderson98403]

I like comics chats on KZbin from people who actually read comics. Thank you Perch & Friend

[@gevdarg]

Once... one of my favorite teams, particularly with Superboy. Loved the Grell run, the Cockrum issues, and of course, the Levitz/Giffen run. Can't wait to listen to this one!!

[@jdc4483]

Excellent retrospective! As a child of the 1960/70s I read many of these stories off the rack and appreciate the research you've done for accuracy. One thing, though the 1989 "Five Years Later" story line by Keith Giffen/Bierbaums was not "my" Legion - jettisoning any typical fan-boy resentment I may have had from the change itself - I found that storyline fascinating, well done, and now consider the first 38 issues as one of my top 10 Legion stories. I file it under a big "What if?" I even re-read it a few years ago and it holds up very well. Regardless, I was happy when they introduced "Batch SW6" and what would become "The Legionnaires" series. I think that reboot was very faithful to the original, and remains underrated.

[@Khultan]

I never got into DC Comics but I should have been a fan of this because of the fantastic costume designs and alien concepts and architectures.

[@DrLynch2009]

I still want to see Jonathan Hickman writing the LoSH.

[@TheNickcone]

I've been a Legion fan since I got into DC. Its one of the more interesting and unique corners of the DC universe. I really like the Levitz/Giffen runs in the 80s. The post zero hour run is fun too, and I don't hate the threeboot run either. Its just a shame Bendis got his hands on the legion. Brainiac 5 and Wildfire are two of my favorite characters..oh and Dream girl.