A Brief History of Legion of Super Heroes Volumes

 

Greetings Legionnaires!  As I write this, we are on the cusp of the NINTH separate Volume of the Legion of Super Heroes comic book to be published.  Why nine?  Well, I’m glad you asked!  This is a very confusing subject for many, especially new readers, but even long-time readers, as in addition to different publishing volumes, there have been completely independent VERSIONS of the team.  These we usually refer to as Original/OG, Reboot, Threeboot, Retroboot and Bendisboot/Rebirth, as they are all distinct iterations of the team.

But those are only FIVE versions of the team.  Where do we get NINE volumes? 

Okay, bear with me here.

Even though the Legion started in the pages of Adventure Comics and even went into Action Comics for a time, the Legion did not get a book titled “Legion of Super Heroes” until 1973.  This was a four-issue run that reprinted Adventure 328 (The Lad Who Wrecked the Legion), Adventure 333 (The War Between Krypton and Earth), Adventure 340 (Computo the Conqueror), and Adventure 341 (Colossal Boy’s One Man War!).  These four books also contained some Tommy Tomorrow reprints as well.  Therefore, this run is considered “V1”.

The next bit is also confusing, because shortly after this, the Legion starts starring in the Superboy title beginning in 1974 and even shares the title on the cover, but, as Alan Williams pointed out in a recent discussion on the Long Live the Legion podcast, the Indicia of the book only says “Superboy.” This remains the case until Superboy gets’s kicked out of his book and the book is fully renamed “Legion of Super Heroes” beginning with issue 259 in 1980.  Thus begins “V2” and includes some very mediocre stories (Space Genies, Dr. Mayavale, Reflecto, Space Pirates), but also some of the very best when Paul Levitz returns to the title for a several years long run that includes the amazing Annual #1 and The Great Darkness Saga. This lasts until issue #313 in 1984.  At this point the issue numbers continue but the book is retitled “Tales of the Legion of Super Heroes” because a new title has launched…

Which is the V3 Legion of Super Heroes Title, commonly referred to as the “Baxter Legion” because of the Baxter paper format on which it was published. This begins in 1984 and runs for five years until issue #63 in 1989.  Paul Levitz was the sole writer for this run, although there were multiple art collaborators, namely Keith Giffen, Greg LaRoque, and Steve Lightle. Beginning with the iconic showdown with the Legion of Super Villains and ending with The Magic Wars, it is perhaps the best full run ever published of the Legion, containing universe-bending adventures, mystery, action, not to mention being rife with some amazing character development.

Once the Baxter version finished, V4 begins with the now-famous (and famously divisive) “Five Years Later” storyline. Written by Keith Giffen, Tom Bierbaum and Mary Bierbaum, the story advanced five years after the Magic Wars to a corrupt United Planets and a defunct Legion.  In my opinion the first year, maybe year and a half of this title is some of the best story you will see in a comic book.  But parallel to this, John Byrne was flexing his muscle on the post-Crisis Superman and that editorial team made an edict that there was NEVER a Superboy and no Kryptonian should even be referenced.  This became a massive problem for Legion continuity, and a decent amount of time was used retconning the changes of the post-Crisis DCU into the Legion, which had the side affect of dragging the story momentum.

Over time (let’s say after issue 20 or so), the V4 stories began to lose their impact and started to become filled with fan theories (Jan is gay, Garth is really Proty, etc) and story choices (blowing up the Earth) that didn’t seem to add things to the story. Additionally, the creation of a younger cloned Legion made things a bit more confusing.  Eventually, Giffen leaves the book (with the blowing up the Earth mentioned above), leaving it in the care of the Bierbaums for a bit until Tom McCraw took over. While also releasing a sister title (Legionnaires, dedicated to the exploits of the younger version of the team), the main book turned to a story called “Legion on the Run,” which is not fondly remembered by fans.

Here we start to get into the next bit of confusion. The Bierbaum era ended with the Zero-Hour reset, which affected the entire DCU and was designed to help create a unified point of origin for the characters. Central to this was the Legion, as editorial interference around Superboy and the Superman Family created a swiss cheese out of the background continuity.  The Zero-Hour event, spearheaded by KC Carlson and Mark Waid affected the Legion the most, because while other mainstream DCU characters (Batman, Superman, etc) could cherry pick items from their past to be “official,” the Legion completely reset the continuity.  The was reflected in the Legion family titles (LSH, Legionnaires and Valor) in the “End of an Era” storyline in issue #61. By the end of it, the Legion was rebooted in 1994 with Legion of Super Heroes #0 (along with Legionnaires #0), but the new “Reboot” Legion continued with issue #62. Even though we have a new version of the team, the V4 continues all the way until issue #125 in 1999 (cover date January 2000) with the conclusion of Abnett & Lanning’s “Widening Rifts” storyline. This makes V4 a run that covers both the original AND Reboot teams AND is the single longest running volume of a book with the title Legion of Super Heroes.   (Interestingly enough, the book is split almost evenly between the two versions.)

Confusion point #3.  Once volume 4 wraps up, Abnett & Lanning release Legion Lost, Legion Worlds and the ongoing The Legion.  Even though these are the next Legion-focused stories, NONE OF THESE ARE TITLED “LEGION OF SUPER HEROES” therefore do not get a volume number.  These are, in fact, all Volume 1 of their respective titles.

That brings us to Volume 5, commonly known as the Threeboot.  There is some discussion around the origins of this, but writer Mark Waid has said that editorial insisted that this be an all-new version of the team, different from the original as well as the recently concluded Reboot Legion.  In 2005, Legion of Super Heroes v5 #1 releases where a group of teenagers who are disaffected by the helicopter parenting of the adults decides to rebel and use their powers based on the heroes from 21^st century comic book heroes.  While the team deals with fairly lightweight problems at first, soon they find themselves fighting for their very survival.  For me, the book has some amazing storylines as well as some that drag, so the book is very uneven overall, but things get a massive shakeup when Mark Waid leaves the title with issue #30. Over in the mainstream DCU, the original Legion (i.e. from v2 & v3) were participating in a storyline called “The Lightning Saga” which begs the question, why did editorial insist on a new Legion reset with v5 if DC was going to us the OG Legion a few years later? 

In any case, Mark Waid leaves and is replaced by Legion veteran Jim Shooter.  Eventually due to low sales and likely creative differences he leaves a year or so later with issue #50. So ends V5 in 2009.

It should be noted that in the 2007 and 2008 timeframe, Action Comics featured the same v2/v3 Legion in the “Superman and the Legion of Super Heroes” storyline by Geoff Johns. It was very well received, possibly better than V5.  But it did show DC that the Legion had legs, and so when it came to the featured event at the time, Final Crisis, The Legion received their own spinoff tale called “Legion of Three Worlds” which featured all three published Legions at the time (OG, Reboot, Threeboot) in a story pitting them and Superman against Superboy Prime.  The result of this story was that the Reboot and Threeboot were pocketed away, and the OG Legion (also dubbed “Retroboot) was the last Legion standing.

What better way to capitalize on this than by giving the Legion a new book?  Written by the longest running Legion writer around, Paul Levitz? And so Legion of Super Heroes v6 was launched in 2010. Featuring the villain of the Superman and the Legion story Earth Man as a Legionnaire, as well as some Green Lantern shenanigans, reception of this v6 was somewhat muted given all the people who clamored online for a return of the original Legion. This lasts for 16 issues before all of DC gets reset in the DC-Wide “New 52” initiative and V6 comes to a close.

With the New 52 we also received a new Legion of Super Heroes title, this being V7, with a #1 title in 2011, also written by Paul Levitz.  Sales of this edition were also muted, even with Kieth Giffen coming in late to lend a hand with the art.  This edition is known for its ignoble disposal of some of the team by the end of the run. This lasts a bit longer than V6 and goes to issue #23 in 2013 and V7 comes to an end.

Even with a few Legion appearances here and there, we have a six-year gap between the end of V7 and Legion of Super Heroes V8 which is launched out of the Rebirth initiative.  This edition is probably known for its amazing art by Ryan Sook, which redesigned the Legionnaires in many interesting ways, but also for the writing by Brian Michael Bendis. Due to issues including publishing delays and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this performed badly and was done by issue 12.  We received a “Future State” two-issue story after issue 12, and then a 6-issue Justice League vs the Legion of Super Heroes series, but V8 was done in 2021.

And that leads us to today.  On September 2, 2026, DC will release the NINTH book to sport the title “Legion of Super Heroes.”  Literally a “Five Years Later” scenario for fans and readers.  The book is written by Joshua Williamson, drawn by Hayden Sherman, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, edited by Chris Rosa and Paul Kaminski.  While we have not read the story yet, what we have seen of Hayden’s art and Tamra’s colors is amazing.  On the Long Live the Legion podcast, we talk about how v4 Reboot and the v6/7 Retroboot do a lot of looking back.  This Legion of Super Heroes V9 feels like its looking to the future while still acknowledging the past.

I, for one, cannot wait to begin the journey, and here’s hoping V9 will be super successful and will be the last volume for a long time to come.