Tis The Season To Be Freezin' - Polar Boy in "Snow Date"

Title: Snow Date

Writer: Rich Bernatovech

Penciller: Travis Mercer

Inker: Norm Rapmund

Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse

Letterer: Dave Sharpe

Editor: Michael McCalister

The Legion's pretty much been absent this past year while Brian Bendis worked on Justice League, Checkmate, and, I-I dunno, whatever else he's wasting time on. I don't think about him if I can help it.

Imagine how delighted I was to learn my friend Rich Bernatovech was not only writing for DC's holiday anthology - he was submitting a Legion story!

AND IT'S GOOD, YOU GUYS. LIKE SO GOOD. THE BEST THE LEGION'S BEEN IN AGES.

After interviewing Rich in my previous post, I'm now submitting a review of the story in question featuring the return of Polar Boy, Comet Queen, and the debut of a new Legion villain.

Memorial Day 2021

In the United States, the last Monday in May is marked as Memorial Day. This is the day we Americans set aside to honor those who died while on active military duty. It started after the US Civil War, which ended in April 1865. Memorial Day became a federal holiday in 1971. 

The Legion of Super-Heroes has had more than their share of members fall in battle. Although they are a group of fictional characters, we believe that when they are done well they represent character traits we as real (?) people can aspire to. 

With that in mind, we honor Those Who Gave All...

Happy New Year 2020!

Welcome to the Future! 

Dream Girl stopped by to wish all of us here in the United Planets a very Happy New Year! Although she knows what is in store for us, she still hopes that we manage to have a safe and healthy 2020! 

While Dream Girl was in the 21st Century she also let us know a few things she sees happening on the Legion of Super-Bloggers in 2020. And as you know, Dream Girl's visions are never wrong....! 

Valentine's Day 2019

Happy Gal-I MEAN Valentine's Day, Legion Bloggers... No Wait I Did Mean Galentine's Day!

It's February 14th, a day in which we come together to celebrate LUUUUUUUUUUUUUV. It shouldn't matter what kind of love, whether it be platonic, romantic, or familial.

Okay no there ARE some kinds of love that are not okay but they're not really love, are they?

Anyway, to celebrate this lovely love day I once again commissioned Denise Zhang to do a little gift for Super Bloggers, featuring one of the longest standing Legion couples of all time.

Ladies, gentlemen, and enbies, the original Space Lesbians, Lightning Lass and Shrinking Violet.

Boy those Ranzz Twins sure have good taste in girlfriends, don't they?

Happy New Year 2019!

Happy New Year, Legion Fans! 

Welcome to the future! Yes, it's January 1, and that means we have a whole new year of Super-Blogging about the Legion of Super-Heroes to look forward to! Read on for what we have planned....with adorable illustrations by talented artist Sandy Jarrell!

Sarcasm Kid's 2018 Holiday Wishes

This is the holiday commission I set up specifically for Super-Bloggers. Instead of having the commission double for here and Legion World, I'm now commissioning one each for each website. It wasn't right to make you guys share a gift.

This year's piece is done by Denise Zhang from over on twitter.

Happy New Year 2018!

Happy New Year Legion fans!
With the passing of another year, we wanted to take a moment and thank all of you for continuing to join us in celebrating the Legion. This is a special time for the team as they first appeared in Adventure Comics #247, which went on sale February 27, 1958. This means of course that the Legion is just about to hit its 60th anniversary.

DCUniverse Holiday Special 2010

DCUniverse Holiday Special 2010 (February 2011)
title: "Holiday"

writer: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
artists: Chris Batista & Rich Perrotta

letterer: Travis Lanham
colorist: Hi-Fi

asst. editor: Rachel Gluckstern
editor: Mike Carlin
cover: Matt Haley (?) 

reviewer: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage

Mission Monitor Board: 
Cosmic Boy, Wildfire, Dawnstar, Polar Boy, Shadow Lass, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Lighting Lass, Element Lad, Brainiac 5; Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Mon-El, Sun Boy, Invisible Kid, Ultra Boy, Phantom Girl, Timber Wolf, Gates

Opponents:
fatigue, holiday envy

Sarcasm Kid's 2017 Holiday Wishes

Every year for Legion World I commission a special holiday style piece to post on LW as my gift to its members Lash, Candle, Cleome, Myg, Dev, Fanfic, Rhino, everyone.

But since I've started writing for Super-Bloggers, that means the commission goes out to you guys as well as the guys on LW.

I had an idea for a Doc Mayavale commission from my friend Brooke for years, so I followed up on it after she mentioned she's closing commissions for a while and re-calibrating her prices. I had her focus on many different December holidays instead of just Christmas so nobody would feel excluded.

I know my writing hasn't been as Legion oriented as most hope, but I thank you for providing me another space to talk about the Legion and to further refine some of my ideas a writer.

Happy holidays and Long Live the Legion!

Memorial Day 2017

Memorial Day is a day in the US on which those who died in active military service are remembered. It began as a type of catharsis after the US Civil War, which ended in April 1865. Memorial Day became a national holiday in 1971. 

In the 30th and 31st Century, the Legion has had several members fall while on active service. Today, we honor them. 

Couples Legion Style

The earliest Legion stories I read as a child were reprints of earlier tales in Adventure Comics. The title at the time was featuring Supergirl, and Legion reprints were common. Two stories that left an impression on me were "The Revolt of the Girl Legionnaires" originally from Adventure #326 and "The Weddings That Wrecked the Legion" from Adventure #337.

These two stories made my preschool mind aware of two things. First: how progressive the future was in that men and women, even as teenagers, were all equal – as opposed to the present day where most super-teams only had one female, like Sue in the Fantastic Four and Wanda in the Avengers. Secondly I was made aware that most of the female Legionnaires were paired off with male Legionnaires. Straight in the Silver Age, but the Legion was ahead of its time gender-wise in the years to come. So it's true, the Legion taught me equality, and sexuality, before I even hit kindergarten.

So for the day before Valentines' Day, let's take a look at couples, Legion style!

Happy Thanksgiving 2016

by Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage
This is our third year here at the Legion of Super-Bloggers. We started in September 2014, and now here we are still going strong in November 2016. As we continue to barrel forward into the future, it's important to have a clear understanding of the past. So here is our 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Day LSB post!

For those of you who may not be from the United States, Thanksgiving Day is the fourth Thursday of November. It is set aside to get together with family and friends to take stock of all of our blessings over the past year. It was originally created by our first immigrants, the Pilgrims, after they survived a horrific first year in their New World.

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. As an adult living abroad (I lived in Japan for 14 years) I always tried to take vacation time at the Thanksgiving weekend and have "family time." Now that I am back in the United States, it is the one time of year that I take time off and visit my family. In 2014 I was so thankful to be working on this page with like-minded people that I hit upon the idea of making up a Legion of Super-Heroes version of Norman Rockwell's famous "Freedom From Want" painting. I created the illustration at the top of the page, and call it "Giving Thanks Day 2986."

"Freedom From Want" by Norman Rockwell

I think most people will agree that this year has been a pretty difficult one. For the page we were happy to welcome Shotgun as our newest member. She works with Siskoid on our our Reboot Series' reviews, and we're glad to have her. On the world scale, we lost so many points of light this year, I don't even know where to start. Personally, I can't believe that Prince is gone. He was always one of my favorites.

The world seems to turning into a darker place. The US Presidential election was a low-point of ignorance and awfulness. Wars continue to ravage the world. Hate is invited in to too many homes and hearts.

Which means that we here at the Legion of Super-Bloggers must continue to embrace the bright, positive future promised by super-heroes in general and by the Legion of Super-Heroes in particular. Is 2017 the year we get a NEW Legion of Super-Heroes series? We can only hope....Even without that beacon of light, however, we here at LSB promise to continue to work diligently to post something new every single weekday. We haven't missed a (week) day since our debut in September 2014, and we don't intend to miss a day any time soon.

Thank you, LSB reader, for making all of our efforts worth it.

Have a safe and happy (Thanksgiving) weekend...

and Long Live the Legion!

DC Salutes the Bicentennial!

Today marks the 240^th birthday of the United States of America, and thus the 40^th Anniversary of America’s 200^th Birthday, the Bicentennial, which was celebrated with great enthusiasm in 1976. In fact, DC Comics even got in on the celebration of the good ol’ US of A’s 200^th Birthday, with unifying “DC Comics Salutes the Bicentennial” trade dress on all issues cover dated July 1976, which included Superboy  (starring the Legion of Super-Heroes) #218. (for a full recap of this issue check out here: Superboy #218)

All told, DC released a total of 34 different comics with a July 1976 cover date, with 33 of them sporting the “DC Comics Salutes the Bicentennial” trade dress. The only holdout was DC Super Giant #27 (a 48 page reprint book and the last of the Super Giant series) which reprinted “flying saucers adventures” from Silver Age issues of Strange Adventures. 

Memorial Day 2016

 

In the United States, the last Monday of May is set aside as a Federal (National) holiday called Memorial Day. Originally called Decoration Day, it was created to honor those men who had died during the US Civil War. After World War I, the day was changed to honor all those American men and women who died in defense of our country. I can't speak for the entire world, but I know that some other countries have similar days or events.

It may seem presumptuous to compare actual heroic sacrifice to comic book characters. However, unlike most characters in comics who "die" and then "get better," in the pages of The Legion of Super-Heroes most characters who have died stay dead (atleast in their specific continuities.)

We mean no disrespect in calling out these "dead" comic-book characters. In fact, we mean just the opposite. Each of these Legionnaires died in battle, saving the lives of their friends as well as countless others. That is a heroic ideal that we believe all of us can aspire to....and why so many of us actually LIKE these characters and consider them as role models.

If you have lost any member of your family to war, our hearts go out to you. We thank you for his/her sacrifice.

All Gave Some

Some Gave All 

Remembering Those Who Paid For Our Freedom....

Happy Valentine's Day, Legion Style!

From the Bits of Legionnaire Business site, here are a few Legion-inspired Valentine's Day greetings to brighten up your day! Most were crafted around the time of the Baxter run, so reflect the stories of the time.

New Years' Eve 2015

So here it is another year ending.....

Hard to believe another year has gone by. We've experienced some great highs in 2015, but we have had a few terrible lows, as well. 

Merry Christmas!

Hoping that everyone has a great holiday season!

I'll be too busy drinking traditional kono juice (or as I call it - egg nog) to post anything dramatic today.

Merry Christmas!

Happy holidays!

Hope everyone gets something nifty!

Merry Christmas 2015

Here is our annual Christmas Tradition.....a reprint of "Star Light, Star Bright...Farthest Star I See Tonight!" from DC Special Series #21.
If you would like to read our review of this story from last year, check it out here.

Happy Thanksgiving 2015

Happy Thanksgiving 2015!

by Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage
This marks the second year for the Legion of Super-Bloggers. We started in September 2014, and now here we are still going strong in November 2015. As we barrel forward, it's always good to have a clear understanding of the past. So here is our 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Day LSB post!

For those of you who may not be from the United States, Thanksgiving Day is the fourth Thursday of November. It is set aside to get together with family and friends to take stock of all of our blessings over the past year. It was originally created by our first immigrants, the Pilgrims, after they survived a horrific first year in their New World.

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. As an adult living abroad (I lived in Japan for 14 years) I always tried to take the Thanksgiving weekend and have "family time." Now that I am back in the United States, it is the one time of year that I take time off and visit my family. Last year I hit upon the idea of making up a Legion of Super-Heroes version of Norman Rockwell's famous "Freedom From Want" painting and posting it on Thanksgiving Day. To me, the Legion is all about Family. They may not all get along all the time, but they would literally die for each other. Doesn't that sound like Family?

"Freedom From Want" by Norman Rockwell

Click HERE to read last year's essay, which was mostly about who I chose to be in the picture, and why. I ended up calling it "Giving Thanks Day 2986."

This year has been a bittersweet one. On the good side we held an open call for new members in June and ended up adding Condo Arlik, Myk-El, and Continuity Kid. On the very bad side, we lost one of our brothers when David Sopko passed away on November 11. I actually got to meet David on one of my trips to Detroit. We met at a famous pizzeria named The Green Lantern (seriously!) He was a great conversationalist. He seemed like a very nice man who loved his children very much and looked forward to continue to pass on his love of comics to them. We will miss him.

So what am I thankful for? First of all, I must thank my fellow Bloggers! Thank you for making this blog so much fun. We are happily a part of The Fire and Water Nation, and I *literally* could not do this without you. I love working with all of you guys.

And almost as importantly, here's a big THANK YOU to our fans. I am humbled to think that there are so many other people looking at our page and enjoying (?) what we do. We would probably still do this without you, but knowing you are there makes it even more fun.

Have a safe and happy (Thanksgiving) weekend...

and Long Live the Legion!

Happy Fathers' Day!

Today is Fathers' Day here in the 31st Century. 

To help celebrate throughout the United Planets, 

please feel free to take this Super Father Quiz!