Whatever Happened to the Legion of Super-Heroes?

There was so much reading to do last week that I fell a little behind.  Camelot Falls finally wraps up, the third Kryptonian is revealed, the reunion with the original Legion of Super-Heroes starts to turn dark, and the saga with Darkseid comes to a tragic conclusion.

Superman Annual #13

In the long-awaited conclusion to Camelot Falls, Superman had found Arion's hiding place under the ocean and created a whirlpool that he then let collapse on it.  Arion transforms the two children who stayed behind from New Genesis into monsters and he himself takes a monstrous form to fight Superman.  In a force of wills to let humanity succeed or fail, Superman defeats Arion and turns the kids back to normal so they can go back home.  The real Arion lets Superman capture his doppelganger so he can continue to operate freely.  Although the villain Khyber is resurrected to life at the end of the issue, his alternate future is never brought up again.  After the long wait, the finale felt less than epic and left no real mark on the Superman mythos.

In a backup story, Superman takes Lois, Supergirl, Christopher, and Ma & Pa Kent to an alien world for a vacation.

Interestingly, the last pre-Crisis Superman annual before the reboot was #12.  There had been 12 annuals since the reboot, but this was this first one after the series was restored to its original numbering just happened to be the 13th and could have been a continuation of either series.

Superman #669

The Third Kryptonian part 2 of 3

Superman meets another survivor from Krypton who's been hiding out on Earth named Karsta War-Ul.  Karsta was a defector generations ago during the Kryptonian Empire, among a group with her lover, Ro-Kul.  After Krypton's destruction, a pirate named Amalak had killed all of them except her.  She had been hiding out on Earth because she thought a prominent Kryptonian like Superman was certain to be discovered by Amalak before she was found, which would give her a head start to escape.  Sure enough, Amalak finds them both on the last page.

We're only a few years away from the end of the post-Crisis period, but it's starting to resemble the end of the pre-Crisis period.  One of the reasons for John Byrne's strict rule that Superman was the only survivor of Krypton was because surviving Kryptonians had become so common in the pre-Crisis era that Superman was no longer that special.  History was repeating itself, as this issue also hints that the non-Kryptonian Bottle City of Kandor that has been around since the 90's may not be the real one.

Action Comics #859

Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes part 2 of 6

In the year 3008, the fugitive members of the Legion of Super-Heroes explain to Superman that how his legacy has been hijacked by a xenophobic Legion reject who now calls himself Earth Man.  Earth Man claimed to have found evidence that Superman was not really from Krypton, but was born on Earth.  Some members of the Legion excavate the Bat Cave looking for evidence that Superman was really Kryptonian: Batman's Kryptonite ring.  Earth Man and his Justice League of Earth capture these Legionnaires, while Superman and the remaining members follow the trail of Brainiac 5 to an alien prison camp.

In retrospect, it seems optimistic that writer Geoff Johns thought it would take 1,000 years to get to this dystopia.  The misinformation campaign that led to it and the xenophobic result are too familiar to the post-Trump present day.

Superman/Batman #42

Torment part 6 of 6

Though Highfather tells him escape is impossible, Superman tries to escape from the Source, a place where direction and distance have no meaning.  Under the infatuation of Bekka's euphoric powers, Batman regrets all the loves that Bruce Wayne has lost because of his crime-fighting career, and he and Bekka seem to consummate their lust in the steam of Tartaros. Armed with Highfather's staff, Desaad turns on Darkseid but he's overpowered by the Lord of Apokalips whose Omega powers have returned.  Batman and Bekka ambush Darkseid and Batman gets control of the staff, which acts as a beacon to guide Superman out of the Source.  Superman threatens to trap Darkseid on the Source Wall again, but he vanishes.  Bekka opens a Boom Tube to take them all back to Earth.  Superman takes the Scarecrow to the police, and Orion arrives to interrupt Bruce and Bekka before they can even discuss what had happened.  Bekka whispers to Orion, who seems to understand and forgive Batman for being drawn to his wife.  Orion take Bekka back to New Genesis, but after he leaves she is killed by an unseen hand in the shadows, just like so many other New Gods in recent months.

Superman/Batman #43

In a self-contained story, holographic projections of the original Teen Titans attack Superman while he's assisting John Henry conduct an experiment on a S.T.A.R. Labs satellite.  While the Man of Steel is distracted, Dr. Light breaks into the Fortress of Solitude expecting to find it unguarded, but he's surprised to find Batman is there.  Batman traps Dr. Light in dark matter while Superman stops the holographic Titans.  Dr. Light's story continues continues in concurrent issues of the Justice League of America featuring Lex Luthor's Injustice League.