Back-Issue Bin

Now that the legendary Paul Levitz is back as the writer on DC Comics' "Legion of Superheroes", it's time to go back and reread over 30 years of back-issues.

The original incarnation of the team began in Adventure Comics #247 back in 1958, and for all intents & purposes ("5 Years Later" was interesting, but is not considered canon now) ended in 1989. To me, this is the iconic version of the team, as it was "my" team when I was growing up. I will always remember the sheer joy at getting the latest comic off the stands at The Westminster Pharmacy right up the street from my childhood home, or the time I found a few missing issues of the "Reflecto Saga" at the now-defunct Hildreth's Variety Store on a bicycle ride with my cousin Jebb to our family's place on Wyman's Pond. Add in the many occasions my grandfather would drag out boxes of comics he picked up at flea markets or yard sales, and it was a great time to be a comics-loving kid.

A couple of long 'reboot' runs later (wherein I mostly enjoyed the "Archie Legion", and mostly hated the recent "Threeboot" version), and the original team, under it's most successful writer, is back once again, this time in two books: current adventures in Legion of Superheroes (issue #2 out tomorrow) and new tales from the team's past in Adventure Comics (issue #12 on the stands now). Paul Levitz is at the helm of both books, where he belongs, with Turkish illustrator Yildiray Cinar doing the art duties on the main title, and with various artists doing the drawing on the old-time tales. Here's to 30 more years of great stories and no more reboots!