Because I am ancient, Legends is the massive crossover mini-series that I measure all other massive crossover mini-series against. Your crossover is either better than Legends (i.e. Final Crisis, Infinity Gauntlet) or it is worse than Legends (i.e. Secret Wars II, Millennium).

Like most comic book fans, my affection for the comics of my youth has little to do with their actual quality. Sentiment trumps merit for geeks like me, and this is definitely the case with Legends. In reading through the series again, I was shocked - SHOCKED, I say - to find that it just wasn't as good as I remember. But as a piece of nostalgia, as a snapshot of the state of DC comics in the Eighties, as a gateway comic for new readers, Legends holds up. This was the mini-series that launched the Giffen/Maguire "bwah-ha-ha" era of Justice League and introduced the Suicide Squad. Plus, there was that bitchin' Cosmic Boy mini-series that tied into Legends!

OK, that one sucked. Even as a youngster I remember thinking, "Cosmic Boy? Really, DC?" I would have loved to sit in on the meeting where that book was greenlit. What were they thinking? "Kids love Cosmic Boy and his pink and black costume! Plus: his name is COSMIC BOY. It's like printing money!"

But enough mocking Cosmic Boy, I'm sure that's pissing somebody off out there. Let's talk Legends.

A six-issue mini-series that tied into a number of different DC books, Legends was plotted by my man John Ostrander and drawn by John Byrne, with dialogue by Len Wein and inks by Karl Kessel. The story involves a wager between the mysterious Phantom Stranger (DC's better dressed version of Marvel's The Watcher) and Darkseid, in which the arch-villain bets the Stranger a twenty-sack of weed and a couple White Castle burgers that he can turn the population of Earth against the superheroes.

This is not an easy task, since we're talking the DC Universe here, home of Superman. Unlike the bigotry that mutants like the X-Men face in the Marvel Universe, on Earth-One everybody pretty much remembers all those times that Superman & Co saved their collective asses and has a certain tolerance, if not affection, for their superfolk. So Darkseid send his lackey, the hypnotic Glorious Godfrey to Earth wearing a big puffy jacket to stir up anti-superhero sentiment. He means to destroy the legends of the heroes... hence the name of the comic. Clever.

I know: it's a bit of a stretch, isn't it?

Lots of bad stuff happens. Captain Marvel is blamed for the death of a generic giant villain named Macro Man, who has a cool double-M belt buckle. Ronald Reagan passes an executive order banning all superheroes. Robin gets trampled by a mob. Actually, that last one was more in the "funny" category.

In the end, Dr. Fate gathers all the heroes for a last ditch battle against Godfrey's minions, including a rabid mob, parademons from Apokolips, and hate-filled people who pilot giant mechanical dogs (it's cooler than it sounds). Fate collects the greatest heroes on Earth in the fifth issue, appearing out of nowhere and intoning in his eerie word balloons, "You are needed!"

Fate's task force of titans includes Superman! Capt. Marvel! Guy Gardner! Black Canary! The gosh darned Batman! The Flash! Blue Beetle! And, um... Changeling? I'm not sure what Fate was thinking. Maybe Fate wanted to give the angry mob an obvious target to throw rotten fruit at.


I've pasted together most of the "You are needed!" panels above. As you can see, the most common reaction to Dr. Fate's appearance is "HUH-?!"

You'll notice that Batman gets to say, "--EH?" It's hard to imagine Batman saying "Huh-?!" under any circumstances.

Superman doesn't say "HUH-?!" at all, but Capt. Marvel sure is surprised. I think Legends provides us with the first documented usage of "WTF?" What can I say, the comic was ahead of its time. Maybe he was just surprised to see Dr. Fate snapping a Nazi salute.

OK, I might have altered the good Captain's dialogue for a cheap laugh. That's the only kind of laughs we offer around here. On closer inspection of that panel, it looks like Marvel's surrounded by characters from the webcomic The Rack. Now I know where Benjamin Birdie swiped his character designs from: John Byrne himself!

The heroes prevail in the end, with the help of The Children. That's not a super-group, I literally mean a bunch of kids act as a human shield between Godfrey's hate-filled mob and the heroes. You see, Godfrey's hypno-hate can't effect The Children. In a fit of pique, Godfrey backhands a little girl --

-- and that snaps everybody out of it. The hate-filled mob is all, "OMG, dude! What have we done?" and "That motherf%$#@r just smacked that little girl!" and "Let's use these pitch forks and torches on HIM!"

I really enjoyed Legends at the time, primarily because of Byrne and Kesel's art. It was cool to see them draw so many different DC characters, and Legends sort of established a baseline visual aesthetic for the DC Universe. For me, Legends established how all the DC heroes should look, except for Jazzercise Black Canary and her headband. This was also the comic that provided fans with a truly snarky inside joke, an extended piss-take on Marvel EIC Jim Shooter.

At the time, a DC book that had such a sweeping scope was relatively novel. Now crossovers are old hat, but back in the Eighties they were rare enough to be a big deal and fanboys like me didn't regard them with the same jaded stink eye that we look through today.

But the central concept of Legends just doesn't work all that well. It was a Marvel Comics story at heart, and the idea of widespread hatred of superheroes - mind control or not - just didn't seem to fit.

The script really beat the "legends" angle to death as well. Wein used the word whenever possible, and it seemed a little self-conscious and forced after a while. It's like when you're watching a movie and a character says the title of the film: "I guess this time the Empire strikes back!" or "For your eyes only, darling." It just pulls you out of the story.

Take this sequence from Legends #6. A parademon snatches Dr. Fate's magic helmet of Nabu off his head, robbing him of his ability to speak in cool word balloons:


This has happened to Dr. Fate like, a million times. Dude should invest in a sturdy chin strap; I'm sure Nabu wouldn't mind. He's not powerless, though. A few panels later Fate flies off to find the parademon that 'jacked his helmet and kick his ass. But Godfrey is convinced that this minor setback is the death of another of Earth's legends.


We get it, we get it. The name of the book is Legends. Enough already.

Fate's helmet is recovered - by Godfrey! Ha ha! Thus ends another of Earth's legends! But the dumb-ass tries on the Helmet of Nabu, which is never a good idea. Nabu hates redheads, and Godfrey receives a mystical lobotomy. Game over.

In the end, The Phantom Stranger wins his little bet with Darkseid and the Justice League is formed anew!

Flaws and all, I still love Legends. Nothing can sever that lifelong bond between a geek and his first massive crossover mini-series - not even Darkseid.

This entry was posted by David Campbell, on Wednesday, January 28, 2009. You can leave your response.