LEGION

LEGION is the title of a comic series that the US publisher DC-Comics published between 1989 and 1994.

The series, the concept of which goes back to the author and draftsman Keith Giffen , who first introduced the main characters and the plot scenario of LEGION in 1988 in the miniseries Invasion! presented, was located in the field of science fiction comics in terms of genre , but also processed topoi of crime or agent comics and above all satirical elements.

Release history and creators of the series

LEGION achieved seventy issues and five special editions over a period of almost six years: The special issue of the regular series "LEGION'94" # 0, published in 1994, and four extra-long editions from 1990 to 1993 called "LEGION Annual ".

While the numbering of the "LEGION" booklets was continuous, the title of the series was changed slightly from year to year: The booklets from 1989 were titled as "LEGION'89", the booklets from 1990 as "LEGION'90" etc. - right up to the 1994 issues that appeared as "LEGION'94". After "LEGION" was discontinued in 1994, a follow-up series was started under the title " REBELS ", which appeared until 1996, continued the old titling scheme ("REBELS'94", "REBELS'95", "REBELS'96"), and overall reached seventeen issues.

The creators of the "LEGION" comics included the authors Keith Giffen , Alan Grant and Tom Peyer , as well as the illustrators Barry Kitson , Bill Mantlo and Todd McFarlane .

action

"LEGION" describes the experiences of a kind of intergalactic police force of the same name - L icensed E xtra- G overnmental I nterstellar O perative N etwork - which has set itself the goal of maintaining peace in the universe. The organization accordingly consists of a collection of alien aliens of all kinds: The most common characters include Vril Dox , a calculating, green-skinned strategist from the planet Colu, who has a computer-like brain and acts as the head of the Legion; the violent bounty hunter Lobo from the planet Czernia; the exotic warrior Stealth ; former policeman Garryn Bek from planet Cairn; Lar Gand , a youth from the future; the Durlaner ; Lyrissa ; Lady quarks ; Borb Borbb ; Phase ; the android Darius from the planet Acheron; the superhero Captain Comet ; and Strata , the members of a race of plump crystalline "rock people" from the planet Dryad.

The LEGION is formed for the first time in the miniseries '' Invasion! '' From 1988 in which some of the later “legionnaires” meet as prisoners in the dungeons of a powerful alliance of aliens who have made it their goal, the earth and a number conquer other planets. Dox and the other prisoners finally manage to escape: Once they have been released, they decide to join forces to help destroy the alien alliance. After this has been successful, the group stays together to prevent the emergence of similar threats in the future as LEGION or - if they do come about - to be able to render them harmless as effectively as possible.

Together, Colu and his people first overturn the tyrannical regime on Dox's home planet Colu, on which an intelligent computer program has developed a dictatorship. Then the LEGION set up their headquarters on the planet Cairn, which is ruled by an interplanetary drug cartel, which is systematically slain in the first editions of the series and replaced as the ruling force. The following sixty-five issues of the series finally tell the further rise, the heyday and the decline of LEGION.In the last issue of LEGION, Dox's son Lyrl - an infant who, like all Coluans, is a genius as an infant - finally takes control of the LEGION during Dox with a few loyal followers - Phase, Lobo, Strata, Stealth and Borb in a mysterious spaceship that they later named Di'ib flee from Cairn.

The underground LEGION, henceforth called REBELS (Revolutionary Elite Brigade to Eradicate LEGION Supremacy), tries from now on to reorganize itself and to regain control of LEGION. After arguments with Lyrl and her former teammates as well as the demon Neron, the sextet Lyrl fell in the last edition of "REBELS" and regained control of the LEGION. Dox and Stealth then retire to look after Lyrl while Captain Comet is entrusted with the management of LEGION.