Reign of the Supermen #161: Kal Brande

Source: Superboy's Legion #1-2 (2001)
Type: ElseworldsAt the start of the millennium, Mark Farmer and Alan Davis created a Legion story that I'm not sure has been topped since by having baby Kal-El's rocket get stuck in Krypton's debris for a thousand years. In 2987, wealthy financier R.J. Brande finds it among now inert kryptonite, its stasis systems still intact.
14 years later, Kal, inspired by the heroic age of the 20th century, has started wearing a costume and calling himself Superboy, much to the dismay of his father and the surprisingly fascist Science Police. Taking his example from the now dwindling Green Lantern Corps, Kal builds his own team - the Legion - more or less taking Lightning Lad's place in the original trio. But his cockiness gets them into trouble, and their first mission costs them Legionnaire's life and another's arm. As this is a Superman Elseworld, his legacy villains must come into the picture, and they do. Lex Luthor has survived all these years by uploading his consciousness into the Universo system that runs the Science Police, and his ultimate goal is to find Colu and get himself into Brainiac's robot body. In the end, the Legion prevails through teamwork and friendship, and both Luthor and the Science Police are overthrown. Bouncing Boy does particularly well - no joke! My favorite bit comes at the end when the new Legion HQ is unveiled and it looks like Kal-El's rocket.
And now... BONUS LEGION BABIES!
1000 years after Tiny Titans! Brought to you by the Emerald Empress in glorious Eye-o-vision!

Comments

Robert said…
At least that Legion HQ doesn't look like a rocket that crashed.
Siskoid said…
No, just like one that's about to leave.
Bill D. said…
Took me a really long time to find these issues at an affordable price, but it was worth the hunt. And a shame that it has never been collected!
Robert said…
The original Legion HQ was in a drawing by Keith Giffen of the Legion Subs, so I assumed that it was a crashed rocket and the Subs had something to do with it.
Siskoid said…
Oh no no... it dates back to the early days. Just "futuristic", I guess.

The truth was revealed much later.
Robert said…
The first sentence of my previous comment should have read, "The first time I saw the original Legion HQ was in a drawing by Keith Giffen...." I must have had a brain floop.