Reflections on L3W

(This was originally publioshed on July 23, 2009)

Well, the dust is settled and we finally know the fate of the Legions, Superboy-Prime, the Time Trapper, and all the other related characters and institutions. What a long, strange trip it's been.
 

THE LEGIONS

Everyone thought that this series would end with only one Legion in existence. Happily, that was not the case.

There are now three main Legions. There's the Legion of Universe-0, which is the Classic/Retro Legion with the addition of XS and Gates. There's the Legion of Universe-Prime. And there's the Legion formerly-of-Universe-247, possible now the New Wanderers.

In addition, there is a multiverse of potential other Legions. We saw the SW6/New Earth Legion, the 5-Year-Gap Legion, and various earlier incarnations of the classic Legion.

If I had my way, there would be a Legion for each of the 52 Universes (add Universe-Prime and the Wandering Legion, and that would give you a total of 54).

And here's the best news: Apparently, at a Comic-Con panel today, Geoff Johns said that we will see all the Legions in Adventure Comics. I couldn't be happier.

Remember the old days, when the JLA and the JSA had their annual meetups -- and all the Legion fans were jealous because there was no Earth-2 Legion? Well, boys & girls, wouldn't it be cool to see annual meetups between different Legions? Wouldn't it be excellent to see a team composed of (say) Saturn Girl, Gear, Gates, Kono, the L-Prime Shadow Lass, and (I dunno) Furball? Wouldn't it be superb to see a Boy's Night Out featuring L-247 Invisible Kid, L-0 Element Lad, Classic Chemical King, Sean Erin, and L-Prime Colossal Boy's brother?

Or think of the erotic potential of a M'Onel/Valor/Kent Shakespeare teamup. :)

Seriously, though, there are plenty of open threads for each Legion to pursue. Missing members of L-0, plus Thom and Tellus in the 21st century. All the unfinished business with L-Prime, from Cosmic Boy's leave-of-absence in the future to Lightning Lad & Saturn Girl's future as a couple. And with L-247 prowling the white spaces of the multiverse, who knows what they'll turn up?

There were some personal transformations that made things interesting. Luornu is now Duplicate Damsel, and can manifest as many copies of herself as she wants. That's kewl. And the White Witch is now the Black Witch, with all the Mordru/Kinetix magic to deal with -- you just know we haven't seen the last of Mordru.

And the Time Trapper? Hey, he'll be back. He's inherent in the nature of Time itself. He can never be pinned down to a definite origin or identity.