Legends #1 (November 1986)

With the Crisis on Infinite Earths having come and gone, DC had a supposedly cleaned-up universe to play with. So what to do with it now? How do you follow up from Crisis on Infinite Earths?! Well, maybe another event. But what would this event do? According to former DC editor Mike Gold (who was the editor of Legends), it was decided to take a different approach. This new little event would contrast to Crisis in one thing. If Crisis was about destroying things...then this new event would be about creating new elements. It would be about...creating Legends.

As part of that goal, Legends would be used to debut the Suicide Squad, a new Flash series (which made sense, as Barry Allen was just killed off, and the end of Crisis showed Wally West taking up the mantle), and a new Justice League title. Legends would also be used to explore the idea of how superheroes would be treated in society. After all, this was the late 80s, when deconstruction was the hot, hip and in thing.

In my opinion, Legends is an event that is important to helping establish the post-Crisis DC Universe, but has been left forgotten. It's understandable why, but I feel it should be spotlighted. Hence, I'm going to give it some love here. So with that out of the way, let's take a look at Legends #1!

The cover is pretty cool. It's a John Byrne piece. You got Darkseid holding the two villains of this comic on his one hand while his other hand has Cosmic Boy of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Beast Boy, and...Wally, what are you doing there? You were told you would fall off his hand if you kept dancing around on it! Good thing Beast Boy is there to catch you. Captain Marvel looks raring to go! Firestorm looks a bit pensive there. I don't blame him. Brimstone is an ugly mother.

"Once Upon a Time..."
Writers: John Ostrander and Len Wein
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Karl Kesel
Colorist: Tom Ziuko
Letterer: Steve Haynie
Editor: Mike Gold
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano

The story begins on the hellish world known as Apokolips, home of Darkseid and his Elite.

Apokolips...NOW.

Darkseid should be pretty good about himself. His planet his cowering to him, his torturers are meeting their quota, and things are nice and bleak. Despite that, something is bothering him. He demands that his chief scientist, Desaad, explain why. The torturer suggests that maybe he's bothered about Earth.

"I assure you sire, I have the Wonder Woman figure pre-ordered!"

The planet and its heroes have resisted him in the past. They have foiled his schemes before. Darkseid notes that the people of Earth admire these heroes, see them as Legends. Title drop! They inspire humans to be great, to be better people. They are a beacon of hope. A metaphorical light bulb turns on in Darkseid's head. Maybe to conquer Earth, he needs to attack that. Turn Earth against its protectors, their heroes. He summons two of his Elite for this: Doctor Bedlam and Glorious Godfrey.

"Behold, sire! Doctor Bedlam has been lifting!"

These two have a job to do. Doctor Bedlam specializes in terrorizing people, while Glorious Godfrey's thing is persuasion. Meawhile, Desaad is ordered to prepare something called "The Techno-Seed." When they're done, the only legend Earth will have...is Darkseid's.

At S.T.A.R. Labs on Earth, one Dr. Martin Stein is helping test a new fusion reactor. For SCIENCE! Darkseid's little seed materializes in the heart of the reactor. The seed causes the reactor to go berserk as something grows and blooms within it like a flower of evil.

"AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE, BECAUSE BRIMSTONE SAID SO!"

Brimstone has arrived! Stein has no choice but to summon Ronnie Raymond. However, the young college student is occupied at the moment. He's getting ready for a hot date with Doreen Day. Raymond is merged with Stein, and the two become Firestorm! Remember him from my Firestorm #1 (March 1978) review? The Nuclear Man tries to engage the beast, but his powers seemingly have no effect on Brimstone. The giant self-proclaimed "fallen angel" grabs Firestorm with a large burning hand and tosses him into a building. Firestorm saved himself from being fried by turning the air around him into asbestos. And now he's going to get cancer, because that stuff is a carcinogen.

In New York City, the new Flash (Wally West) is engaging Deadshot. While fighting him, Wally notes that he's not as fast as he used to be, and his stamina isn't as great as it once was, too. Despite that, he's able to easily take down Deadshot with one punch. He thinks about how he's only able to reach the speed of sound. He goes to drop Deadshot off, and heads back to Titans Tower to do some thinking.

At the Tower, one Garfield Logan, aka Changeling, is watching a man named G. Gordon Godfrey talk about the menace of superheroes.

"Batman kicked me in the nards! And stole my wallet!"

Logan and Wally discuss his struggles with living up to the legacy that Barry Allen left behind. The TV reveals that a young boy named Billy Batson is interviewing them. Wait, why are they letting a kid interview this guy? The TV goes dark, much to the two Titans' confusion. The studio has undergone a mysterious blackout. Billy Batson secretly transforms into Captain Marvel to check it out. And the World's Mightiest Mortal manages to find the source.

"COME GET SOME, HANK PYM!"

The two brawl, but Macro-Man manages to catch the Big Red Cheese and slowly crushed him with his giant hand. Captain Marvel decides to try and slip out by changing back into Billy Batson. He calls out "SHAZAM!", and the magic lightning bolt does its job...but also hits Macro-Man, and sets him ablaze.

"When I said I was hot stuff, this was NOT what I meant!"

Much to Billy's horror, the flaming giant stumbles out of the building and falls to his death.
We next shift scenes to the Pentagon. One Rick Flag Jr. had heard a group called Task Force X had been reactivated, and he wanted in. A woman named Amanda Waller hands him some files about the first candidates for this new team, and they're...not what he expected. Waller doesn't care, he just wants a man that can lead the bunch. If he has a problem with it, then she can find someone else. Flag states none could do the job better than him. He never let his personal opinions interfere with the performance of his duties, and that's not going to start here and now.

The scene shifts again to a diner. One Rokk Krinn, aka the far-future Legion of Super-Heroes member Cosmic Boy, is hanging out here, enjoying the culture of the then-present. He's in awe that he's in an actual diner. Do...diners no longer exist in the Legion's future?  This was part of a mini-series of his own he had going at the time. The diner is attacked, and the Legionnaire finds himself engaging Brimstone. It does not go well. Luckily, he's got some backup.

"Yeah, we're pretty much done after this."

Meet the Justice League! This incarnation of the League is known as the "Detroit League" or "Justice League Detroit" because the Motor City was where they were headquartered at the time. Meanwhile, the cops and bystanders are looking over the smoldering corpse of the mysterious Macro-Man. One man points out some guy in a red suit incinerated the big man, but the cop just wonders if he meant Santa Claus.

Billy processes what just happened. He's horrified by what he has done. He ended up killing a man. Remember, Billy Batson is a kid. It does raise questions about why he was working as an interviewer at a television station, but still, he's a kid. Macro-Man's death was accidental (As far as Billy knows. It was not quite what anyone thought), but as far as he can see, he still killed a man. To him, that is something heroes don't do. The story ends with Darkseid laughing as Billy Batson vows never to become Captain Marvel ever again. That's one legend destroyed...

"BY ME, THIS IS BETTER THAN NETFLIX!"

I enjoyed this comic. I really did. I thought it gave a nice little peek into the then-newly minted Post-Crisis DCU. We got to see a bit of Wally West in action as the then-new Flash, as well as the beginnings of the Suicide Squad. Legends was about establishing new things in the DCU, and we get to see a bit of that with Wally and the Suicide Squad. Wally still hanging out with the Titans does make sense. At this point, he had left the group earlier due to his health. However, they were the first team he was ever a part of, and arguably his closest friends. Makes sense that after a big change like becoming the new Flash, he'd go to them to get some stability back in his life.

I know some may find the idea of a demagogue preaching against DC's superheroes rather odd. It does sound more like a Marvel thing, huh? But I think it does make some sense. There would be people having issues with superheroes in a world where they existed (Especially in a world in which they existed since World War II at the earliest), whether it'd be legit concerns about vigilantism and property damage, out of jealousy, or as a way to weaken Earth so your boss can conquer it.

John Byrne turns in some fine artwork, but then again, Byrne was at his peak in the Me Decade. His characters are very expressive, especially in the faces.

If you want to read this for yourself, I suggest obtaining the 2016 trade paperback Legends: 30th Anniversary Edition. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! Join me next time, as we look at the first encounter between two of Marvel's most prominent super-teams...