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_____I had read only one Legion of Super-Heroes comic, not counting their guest appearances in a couple of crossovers. It was the first appearance of Tyroc issue. I wasn't impressed. I had actually also read Legionnaires 3, which I did like, but didn't make me want to get right to collecting the LSH.
_____Then, I saw a rather moody cover on a comic that was being sold for a mere quarter. It was a first issue of the Legion of Super-Heroes, series 4. The Legion. From that Tyroc story and all those Lads and Lasses gracing Who's Who's pages. But it was a long series of subway rides home and the only other thing that I had found was The Generic Comic Book (no, really, that's what the thing was called. Honest. I may even write about it some day).
_____Alright, I had some advantage. I had read Who's Who straight through. So even without being a Legion fan I had a vague idea who I was reading about.
_____But no preparation for what I was reading.
_____It was a complex look at a world that had turned against itself and its heroes, a true science fiction story instead of a generic utopian future, and featured heroes who had grown up and left their costumes behind, only to realize where they truly belonged was as heroes.
_____Interestingly enough, the retired-heroes-return is a standby for mature looks at super heroes. Consider Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen.
_____Now, I bring this up because before I get to the blow by blow I like to discuss the characters or title in general. And LSH v 4 has two crucial debates about it, and my being introduced to the Legion through V 4 affects my views on both.
_____The first debate is whether or not v 4 is comprehensible to new readers. The prevailing opinion seems to be no. My vague knowledge of the characters may have helped me, but I think it is fair to say that I went into v 4 pretty much unprepared. And I wasn't lost. True, there were lying in the background a vast tapestry I wasn't able to fully comprehend, histories I got only references to, characters whose motivations were tied with a past I saw only in hints. Ever read Tolkien?
_____You can still enjoy v 4 without knowing everything about the Legion that had gone before. As long as you paid attention, and were willing to accept that there were things you wouldn't quite understand, you were fine.
_____Okay, debate number two is whether this period of Legion history was a mockery of the Legion, heresy even. Well, by the time I came to be familiar with the earlier Legion, I was already accepting v 4. I will admit that the tone is drastically different, and that the notion that all the Legion does still won't prevent v 4 is depressing.
_____That's the preamble. Here's the breakdown.
_____Issue 1 features almost nothing happening. A decision is made, but that's it. Yet it shows us a world. It hints at a past, and at what is to come.
_____Oh, and I might as well admit that while I wouldn't want it in most comics, the 9 panel grid is very effective. This is a world without the flamboyant freedom that large panels and interesting layouts imply. This is a world forced into bleakness. Plus, Splash pages here have a power they lack when every issue of Action comics features one just of Supes flying over Metropolis.
_____The first year is this version of the LSH at its best. The first three issues begin the reformation of the legion, then the brilliant issue 4 and 5 establish that the Time Trapper (my all time favorite bad guy) created the LSH, and for his own ends. Not to mention the fact that, motivation aside, he did some good. Issue 6 through 12 bring the story to a satisfying close while revealing the far darker problems that lie beneath. I should mention that the 11th issue is one of the few comics ever to get me laughing hysterically.
_____That first twelve part story arc, sometimes referred to as Five Years Later, is the high water mark of this Legion series. But it's really only the first act in a three act cycle.
_____The second act is the much more diverse set of tales going from here to the end of The Quiet Darkness, and heralded on the cover of 13 as The State of the Universe.
_____This section is significantly more troubled than the first. The Glorith Khund War lacks the writing finess that Giffen brought to the series, and the departure from the 9 panel grid just breaks the artistic flow of the series. Also, Glorith really lacks the style of the Trapper, although I'll give her points for inspiring the charming Lori Morning post Zero Hour.
_____The follow up with Tenzil Kem and Brek Bannin meeting Evillo falls flat much more than the brilliant issue 11.
_____Finally, the Quiet Darkness is really not that good. Darkseid is trying to die. And he does. It's the suicide of Darkseid, people. Maybe the intent was to make this the cosmic death of a God story, but it lacks the sort of polish that Jim Starlin might have brought to such a thing.
_____But it's by no means all bad. This section is at its best when it's filling in the gaps, like the explanation of the Venado Bay massacre, or the results of the Time and Time Again cross-over.
_____Finally, The Terra Mosaic. The introduction of Batch SW6, a group of youthful Legionnaires who may be clones... unless they're the originals, and the ones we've followed for years are the clones. The Dominators are revealed to have taken over the Earth (well, we knew that already) and the war is on. Heroes live, heroes die, there is redemption, love, and sex changes (seriously, in a really stupid move).
_____Stop reading V4 with issue 36, though. Stop. I'm begging you. The original creative team leaves, the atmosphere goes away, and the 9 panel grids dissapear. The new creative team was completely unprepared for the v4 Legion, and tries to do old v2/v3 style stories, like the Mordru raises the dead story. Or the Outlaw Legion, a concept that would have worked better in the early, paranoid days of v4.
_____Oh, and issue 38 contains a Death of the Endless cameo.
_____Because, to quote the old song, it's the end of the world as we know it.
_____In the end, the creative team was left with a problem. The v4 Legion was not an open ended concept. It had a built in lifespan, or at least the story it was meant to tell had been told. The Legion was reborn, the United Planets were free of the Dominion. The backdrop and characters, though, had changed to the point where bashing the old villains didn't seem right.
_____Enter End of an Era. Glorith, the heir to the Time Trapper, teams up with Mordru. The Trapper returns. The Legion fights alrenate versions of themselves alongside Batch SW6. The identity of the Trapper is revealed (debatably), and the secret of SW6 is shown. Finally, in a scene that would be echoed later in Onslaught: Marvel Universe with Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, it is just the founding 3 (and their counterparts in SW6).
_____And the 30th Century fades away.
_____I'll admit that ultimately v4 proved a mistake, but I think that the seeds of the Legion's reboot were actually laid earlier, in v3, when the Legion left behind quick battles with menacing alien pirates or whatnot in favour of an examination of aging heroes and the inter-personal dynamics of the Legion. v4 took that to the next level, as no comic ever has with pre-existing characters.
_____And now that it's all been washed away in a wave of light, maybe we can look back and appreciate what it was.