This week the Legion Longbox is using a time bubble to jump out of sequence to celebrate the recent publication of a new collection of classic Legion of Super-Heroes stories from the 1970s.

Paul Levitz' first published Legion of Super-Heroes story has been reprinted for the first time in 35 years; to see a 600-point force of Legionnaires featured in that issue, follow the link!

News Flash: The 13th volume of DC's Archive Editions Legion of Super-Heroes went on sale this week. It's been almost a decade since the previous volume was published, which renews my hope that all of the pre-Baxter stories of the Legion of Super-Heroes eventually will be available in collected formats. My rough estimate is that something like 7 more volumes are needed to collect the Superboy/Legion titles before the (already collected) Great Darkness Saga and Curse issues, as well as the Karate Kid title and any other LSH appearances in Brave and The Bold and 80-page giants.

Before I provide a synopsis of this issue, here is the force of key players from Paul Levitz' first Legion of Super-Heroes adventure:

150 Rookie (Smallville 001) Superman
+ 2 Additional Team Ability Kryptonian
132 (Superman 039) Wildfire
130 (LSH 006) Ultra Boy
70 (LSH 001) Lightning Lad
66 Veteran (Collateral Damage 053) Shadow Lass
50 (JL 048) Dream Girl

= 600 Points

Synopsis: Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #225 is a very interesting story to read and review. It has the typical 1970's "grumpy Legionnaires" theme running through the issue, which is pretty jarring when compared to the recent run of 1960's Legion stories I have been featuring. The resolution of this issue is a complete throwback to some of the earliest LSH stories (keep reading), and the issue provided hints of how Paul Levitz would later handle such a large cast of characters.

The story starts with the resolution of the reader poll for Legion leader. Unfortunately, this collection does not included any letter pages...and there is no real in-context clue as to why the poll resulted in the "most disputed election ever." Short answer: Superboy won the fan vote, but for whatever reason the powers that be at DC editorial passed leadership to Wildfire. "Grumpy" Superboy interrupts the coronation, takes a smack on the chin from Mon-El, and storms off.

Wildfire assembles a team to investigate some extra-terrestrial raiders, and it really looks as if Superboy is doing his best to sabotage Wildfire's first mission as leader. In a hackneyed story-telling twist, Superboy was just trying to prevent a fortune-telling computer's prediction of the Legion's leader's demis from coming true...but a one-panel triple-reverse double-Lindy worthy of Sicilian with a penchant for Iocaine powder, Wildfire reveals that he also knew about the prediction, the attempt to foil the prediction, the mechanism by which the attempt to foil the prediction would be foiled, and then came up with his own plot to use Superboy's attempt to replace Wildfire by using a spare containment suit to instead use the spare containment suit to hold his energy form when the first suit was blasted with a Kryptonite ray by the aliens that thought it was really Superboy in the suit. Whew. And now to the HeroClix portion of tonight's entertainment...

To qualify for a Legion of Super-Heroes keyword theme team, the choices for Superboy are somewhat limited. I have chosen a version character that I have often suggested: the Smallville Fast Forces 'rookie' dial. This version, when played with the Kryptonian Additional Team Ability, offers two reasonably effective team abilities for Wild Cards to copy. The dial itself is nice and offensively minded, and may distract opponents from some of the other offensive threats on the force.

R Superman Points: 150 Range: 8
Team: Superman Ally
Keywords: JLA, Justice League, Justice League of America, Kryptonian, Legion of Super Heroes, Metropolis, Reporter

| | |

9 11 18 4

9 10 17 3

8 10 16 3

8 10 17 3

7 9 18 3

6 11 19 3

KO KO KO KO

Champion of the Oppressed: Superman can use Defend, but only characters 100 points or less can replace their defense values through this use of Defend.

Arctic Breath: Superman can use Incapacitate. When he uses it and hits, he may also give an action token to each opposing character adjacent to the hit target.

For Tomorrow: Superman can use Super Strength and Willpower.

Kryptonian Cost: 2 per character Prerequisite Keyword(s): Kryptonian

When characters using this team ability occupy the highest level of clear, outdoor terrain and is not adjacent to blocking or hindering terrain, modify their attack values by +1.

Keep in mind that the force I have built has two figures that cannot directly benefit from Superman's awesome Champion of the Oppressed trait. Those higher-point figures (Wildfire and Ultra Boy) *can* indirectly take advantage of Superman's defense values if Shadow Lass can use the defense value and pass it along through Defend.

An REV of Shadow Lass exists courtesy of the Collateral Damage booster release. By itself, the dial is somewhat disappointing (ugh, those defenses values), but when adjacent to Superman, she isn't nearly as bad as she is by herself. The figure does have an impressive opening movement, and does have a natural 6 3-damage, which is not that common for the older LSH figures, so you should be able to get a few surprise hits in with her.

V Shadow Lass Points: 66 Range: 6
Team: Legion of Superheroes
Keywords: Future, Legion of Super Heroes, Teen

10 9 17 3

9 9 16 3

8 8 15 2

7 8 15 2

7 7 14 2

6 7 13 2

KO KO KO KO

The Wildfire on this force is the most recent version of the character from the Superman booster release. The REV/LE from Legacy are still viable figures (especially considering ranged damage output) but I wanted to showcase the newest version. The force I've built has a combination of ranged and close combat options, and I wanted the /self-healing version of Wildfire to be able to react to all options.

E Wildfire Points: 132 Range: 7
Team: Legion of Superheroes
Keywords: Future, Legion of Super Heroes

9 10 17 3

9 10 16 2

8 9 16 3

7 9 16 3

7 8 15 2

10 10 17 2

9 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

Free Energy Form: Wildfire can use Poison and Pulse Wave.

Wild Energy Absorption: After one of Wildfire's ranged combat actions resolves, heal him of one damage for each opposing character that took damage during that action.

The only HeroClix Ultra Boy is from the Legion of Super-Heroes 2007 starter. In terms of min-max, it can be hard to get 130-points of value out of this figure by itself...but it can easily tie up more than 130-points of opponent's and allow his teammates to claim those points. The top-dial of this figure demands complete attention by most opposing forces, and the rest of the dial turns the figure into a swiss-army knife of offense.

R Ultra Boy Points: 130 Range: 6
Team: Legion of Superheroes
Keywords: Future, Legion of Super Heroes, Teen

10 10 18 4

8 11 17 3

8 10 17 3

11 9 16 3

9 8 16 2

8 9 16 2

7 8 15 2

7 8 14 2

KO KO KO KO

The Lightning Lad from the same Legion of Super-Heroes starter set is the all-around best version of the character in HeroClix, and when copying either the Superman Ally or Kryptonian team ability, he should be hitting when you need him to hit.

E Lightning Lad Points: 70 Range: 10
Team: Legion of Superheroes
Keywords: Future, Legion of Super Heroes, Teen

8 10 16 3

8 9 15 3

8 9 15 2

7 8 14 2

7 8 15 1

6 7 15 1

KO KO KO KO

The only version of Dream Girl is from the 2007 Justice League 5-figure booster release. The figure provides some important Probability Control (remember: while she has the power she cannot take action tokens for theme team re-rolls) and her attack values are fine, she has no ranged attacks and only 1-damage. The late-dial Outwit is unlikely to appear unless the game has gone pear-shaped for the Legion, and so I recommend that you try to plan on using the probability control to assist her teammates as long as possible.

R Dream Girl Points: 50 Range: 0
Team: Legion of Superheroes
Keywords: Future, Legion of Super Heroes, Psychic, Teen

8 9 16 1

8 9 16 1

7 8 15 1

7 8 15 1

7 7 15 1

KO KO KO KO

This article concludes one year of weekly "Teams from the Longbox" articles! It has been my pleasure to share some of my appreciation for certain comic series with HCRealms. I appreciate all the feedback and want to thank the folks who have played against my assorted forces as well as those that have helped me correct my occasional math and strategy errors.

Special words of thanks go out to Typhon and Anonymouse, for allowing publication of what can look like a 'vanity' project (at least from certain viewpoints); and also to WizKids for making so many favorite comic book characters available for play.

I like the choice of the Kryptonian team ability.

Aw, I've never thought of these articles as a vanity project. It's great to see exactly how far the comic-accuracy of Heroclix games can be explored, and learn that in the end it's pretty darned far.

I hope this doesn't mean the series is ending?

I agree. I always thought this article was a cool way to show how comic-accurate teams could be if you worked at it, and never once considered it a vanity project. And I also certainly hope this article series isn't ending. I look forward to reading it every week, and hope it continues for a long time.

I couldn't agree more! These are fun, informative for new readers and nostalgic for older readers!
Please keep these going!!!

Great article!
I like the return to Legion teams.

I have no plans to end the weekly series, although occasionally I have a hard time deciding if I should focus on the nostalgia aspect of a comic, or some peculiar play aspect that the force represents.

The Legion is a team I enjoy, but sometimes the characters in the lineups get repetitive...and quite frankly, some of the older HeroClix figures can be difficult to make work from a strategic perspective. As I have written before, I was very pleased to see so many LSH members make it into the last DC release. There are still plenty more to be made, and if this series helps motivate new and improved LSH members, I will be proud to have done my small part.

This week's force has an interesting use for Shadow Lass, in that her otherwise wimpy Defense Value (couple with Defend) can allow her to share the Superman defenses with 100+ point characters that he normally cannot share defense values with. I'm amazed when the older figures can find ways to pull their weight on LSH forces...it's almost as if the HeroClix force has found a way to channel some of that Legion magic!

congratulations on the anniversary, tidge. i have thoroughly enjoyed all your articles and want to provide as much blatantly flattering praise as i can to encourage you to keep up the battle cry for comic accurate line-ups, a personal ocd-drive for my clix teams, min/max metagame be darned!

keep up the good work and until tidge recommends a "comic accurate" lineup with nightcrawler and metron, make mine longbox!

I would have swapped out the Vet version of Shadow Lass for Umbra (which is the same character anyways), and used the Justice League Silver age ATA instead of Kryptonian. The benefit gained would have been more consistent

That's not a bad idea. I do like the upgrade of the Vet Shadow Lass, but I can see what you are thinking.

Keep in mind that if given map choice, I think I am pretty much always picking "Fountain of Asgard" for the Legion's battles: it favors teams that are mobile and have a combination of ranged and close-combat. I only mention this because it is in the back of my mind when I suggest the Kryptonian ATA.

Another map I like when Invisible Kid is on the force is Dr. Manhattan's Lab. It has just the right placement of Elevated and Hindering terrain to deal with pesky outwit and sniping.

Vanity project? pshaw. Looking forward to year 2

What about Young Superman?

What about what about him?