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Legion of Super-Heroes Reading Order, the team from the future

When Superboy met three teenagers and members of the Legion of Super-Heroes for the first time in the comic book Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958), he couldn’t predict how popular this young team would become. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino for a one-off story, the Legion is a team of young superheroes from the 30th and 31st centuries.

They proved so popular that they returned again and again, eventually becoming a regular feature in Adventure Comics #300. Sharing the spotlight with Superboy for years, the Legion finally earned its own comic title in the 1970s.

By the 1980s, the Legion of Super-Heroes was among DC’s best-selling series, alongside Uncanny X-Men and New Teen Titans. During this time, Paul Levitz wrote some of the most iconic stories in Legion history, including The Great Darkness Saga. Later, Keith Giffen took the series in a darker, more experimental direction, but not without its share of continuity challenges.

To reconnect with a lighter and simpler Legion, the Legion of Super-Heroes title was rebooted by Mark Waid, Tom McCraw, and Stuart Immonen In 1994. Ten years later, sales were failing, and despite good reviews, Waid and Barry Kitson rebooted the series again, creating a third incarnation of the Legion.

Generally, when a new version of the Legion was introduced, the previous team was usually erased from continuity, as they all occupied the same place in history. Each team was meant to represent a different possible future for DC. In 2008, writer Geoff Johns changed this concept with Final Crisis, revealing that the different versions of the Legion come from separate worlds but still interact with the main Earth’s history. This allowed all the Legion teams to coexist, and the pre-Crisis team was restored to continuity for the occasion. In 2019, a new version of the team was introduced by Brian Michael Bendis.
 
The Legion became a beloved team, with a history that’s anything but simple. Full of stories ranging from lighthearted to dark and serious, from soap opera to high sci-fi, and everything in between, you can now explore their rich past with our Legion of Super-Heroes Comics reading order!

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The Most Iconic Members of The Legion

The Legion of Super-Heroes is a large group of teen superheroes, with multiple iterations and a membership that, at one point, exceeded two dozen! Listing them all would require a full article, so here are some of the most iconic members of the Legion:

Cosmic Boy (Rokk Krinn) – Founding member and original leader of the Legion of Super-Heroes, with magnetic powers. First appearance: Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958).
Lightning Lad (Garth Ranzz) – Founding member with the ability to generate and control lightning. First appearance: Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958).
Saturn Girl (Imra Ardeen) – Founding member with powerful telepathic abilities.
 
 
Brainiac 5 – Fifth-generation descendant of Brainiac and longtime Legionnaire. Super-genius hero from the planet Colu. First appearance: Action Comics #276 (May 1961).

Lightning Lad – Founding member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Hero with lightning-generating powers from the planet Winath.
Saturn Girl – Founding member and telepath of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Hero with mental powers from the moon Titan. First appearance: Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958).

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Discover Early Legion of Super-Heroes Stories with the new DC Finest Collection

DC Finest is a new line of DC Comics aiming to be both affordable and comprehensive, highlighting iconic characters from the publisher’s history. Recently, a volume focusing on the Legion of Super-Heroes was released. While it offers a good introduction to some of the team’s early adventures, this first collection reprints content that have been collected in the past in The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 3, The Archives Collection Vol. 8–10, or Showcase Presents Vol. 4–5. If you already own material from past editions, take a closer look at the content before adding it to your collection.

Legion of Super-Heroes Complete Comics Reading Order

Some notes about the titles:

  1. You will notice there is no first volume of “Legion of Super-Heroes” listed below. It was a four-issue limited series reprinting stories from Adventure Comics.
  2. With issue #259, “Superboy” (Volume 1) was retitled “Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes”.
  3. Following Superboy’s departure from the Legion, the book was renamed “The Legion of Super-Heroes” starting with #259.
  4. Starting with issue #313, “The Legion of Super-Heroes” was renamed “Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes”
  5. A new ongoing Legion title was launched in 1984, Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 3) and the first twelve issues take place concurrently with “Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes”.
  6. Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #326–354 are not new stories, but reprints of Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 3). Tales was canceled with #354 while Vol. 3 came to an end in 1987, after 63 issues.
  7. Published in 2004, Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 5) was renamed Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 1), beginning with issue #16. It reverses to just Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 5) at issue #37.

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Legion of Super-Heroes in the Silver Age/Bronze Age (1958-1989)

The Silver Age Era of The Legion of Super-Heroes has been covered by DC Comics at some point in their Showcase Presents line and DC Archives editions. As these lines have ceased, the following details don’t go into details about those collections.

DC Comics has released 5 Showcase Presents: Legions of Super-Heroes volumes, covering their adventures from their first appearance in Adventure Comics #247 to Superboy #220 in 1976, while there are in total 13 Volumes of the Legion Super-Heroes Archives, republishing stories up until 1977.

The Earliest Adventures of the Legion of Super-Heroes

The Silver Age era of the Legion of Super-Heroes has been collected in the Omnibus format, reprinting stories from Otto Binder, Jim Shooter, and al.

This is around here that is set the recently released DC Finest: Legion of Super-Heroes – Zap Goes the Legion, collected many issues already reprinted in the Omnibus Vol. 3

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To start exploring the Bronze Age, you need to find the Vol. 10 to 12 of the DC Archives Editions:

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes Comics at the end of the 70s

Picking up where The Legion of Super-Heroes Archives left off, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes starts with stories from 1977. This period marked the beginning of Paul Levitz’s work on the series, including the ambitious ‘Earthwar’ storyline (issues #241–245), where the Legion faced threats like the Khunds and the Dark Circle. Levitz also began developing the character dynamics that he would later expand on in his more iconic runs. After issue #245, he left the series, and Gerry Conway took over as the main writer.

Legion of Super-Heroes, the Paul Levitz/Keith Giffen era

The Paul Levitz/Keith Giffen era of the Legion of Super-Heroes is widely regarded as one of the most influential in the team’s history, beginning with the Great Darkness Saga in 1982 features appearances by every living past and present Legionnaire up to this point. This period saw the Legionnaires face their greatest threats and featured some of the most iconic moments in the series, like the unification of the team and the return of long-lost heroes.

Crisis on Infinite Earths Icon Reading Order

With Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC’s timeline was rewritten, merging alternate Earths into a single continuity. As a result, a new version of the Legion of Super-Heroes emerged from the altered post-Crisis continuity, which continues here. The original pre-Crisis version of the team was reintroduced after Infinite Crisis twenty years later. See below for more details!

  • Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 3 #14-63
    Available on Kindle & comiXology

    • Crisis on Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Vol. 3
      Collects Amethyst #13, The Omega Men #31, a story from The Omega Men #33, Blue Devil #17-18, Wonder Woman #327-329, Swamp Thing #46, Legion of Super-Heroes #16 and #18, Superman #413-415, DC Comics Presents #87-88 and #94-95, Justice League of America Annual #3, and pages from Superman and Batman: World’s Funnest #1. 
    • Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 2
      Collects Action Comics #588-593, Adventures of Superman #429-435, Legion of Super-Heroes #37-38, and Superman #5-11. Superman encounters the Legion.
  • Legionnaire 3 #1-4
    Available on Kindle & comiXology. Released around Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 3 #20-21

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Legion of Super-Heroes: 5 Years Later (1989-1994)

As well as penciling, Keith Giffin took over as the main writer. The book was set five years later and delivered much grittier and more complex stories. Some older Legions fans hated it, others loved it, and things were not made simple by DC who decided to retroactively remove Superboy completely from Legion history not long after the beginning of the title.

Zero Hour DC Event Comic Reading Order

This era concluded with Zero Hour (see reading order), as the event was used to reboot the team’s continuity. The original continuity came to an end in Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #61.

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Legion Rebooted (1994-2004)

A new entry point! Post-Zero Hour, the second incarnation of the Legion of Super-Heroes team is introduced. Created by Mark Waid, Tom McCraw, and Stuart Immonenn, this versionwill be active for ten years before being destroyed by time rifts. It’s a back-to-basics approach, revisiting the original team and many of the early stories. Fans often refer to this period as the “Archie Legion” due to the clean artwork and the tone of the stories. Later, this future will be established as the alternate Earth-247.

  • Legionnaires Book One
    Collects Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #0, 62–68, Legionnaires #0, 19–24
  • Legionnaires Book Two
    Collects Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #69–73; Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #6, Legionnaires #25–30; Legionnaires Annual #2; Showcase ’95 #6
  • Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #74-121
    Available on Kindle & comiXology.

    • Issue #86 is part of Final Night.
  • Legionnaires #31-77
    Available on Kindle & comiXology. There are numbers on the covers that tell the proper order between the two series.

At the end of 1999, the creative team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, later known for their work on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and the Modern Cosmic Saga, took over the series. They guided the Legion of Super-Heroes into a more sci-fi-driven direction, focusing on darker themes and a futuristic tone.

After the cancellation of the Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 4) and Legionnaires comics, as well as two related miniseries, a new ongoing comic series titled The Legion was launched, continuing under the creative team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. The series ran for 38 issues before being canceled in 2004 to make way for another reboot.

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Threeboot Legion (2005-2009)

New relaunch, new entry point! Ten years later, Mark Waid, this time collaborating with Barry Kitson, rebooted the Legion once again. Set around the time of Infinite Crisis, this iteration reimagines the team as a social movement. In the thirty-first century, a group of teenagers rebels against their super-utopian society and their parents’ conformity. Inspired by the heroes of the twentieth century, they form the Legion of Super-Heroes to fight crime and challenge the status quo. The group first appeared in Titans/Legion Special (Nov. 2004) before starring in its own comic book:

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The Return to the Classic Legion (2007-2011)

At the same time, writer Geoff Johns, with artist Gary Frank, restored a version of the original Legion of Super-Heroes Team–the Pre-Crisis Version mostly, as it doesn’t include the events set between 1989 and 1994. They reappear in Justice League of America vol. 2 #8 (June 2007), at the start of The “Lightning Saga” crossover.

Paul Levitz, one of the most renowned writers of the Legion of Super-Heroes, returned to the series in 2010 for a new run before the New 52 relaunch. He brought the Legion back to its 31st-century roots, blending space-opera intrigue with action and character-driven drama.

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Classic Legion in New 52 (2011-2015)

A New DC era starts here with the New 52, bringing some changes in the continuity for many DC superheroes. Writer Paul Levitz stayed on Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 7), writing about on the team’s challenges in the 31st century. At the same time, Legion Lost, written by Fabian Nicieza and later Tom DeFalco with art by Pete Woods, followed seven Legionnaires travelling back to the 21st century to protect their future.

During the Convergence event, the Pre-Crisis and pre-Zero Hour Legions are pulled out of their time for a short time:

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Legion of Super-Heroes Rebirth (2019-2021)

A new version of the Legion of Super-Heroes joined the ranks, coming from writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Ryan Sook. Events from Doomsday Clock #10-12 sort of explain the existence of the Rebirth Legion, though you don’t have to read those issues. The first official appearance of this new Legion incarnation is at the end of Superman vol. 5 #14 as they come to ask Jon Kent, son of Superman to join their ranks.

And that is, as of now, the last time the Legion of Super-Heroes appeared in the DC Universe!

Legion of Super Heroes Icon Reading Order

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