Cracking the Code: "We Were Legion."

Cracking the Code is a series of posts that hopes to dissect and express what made the Legion of Super-Heroes so important to me. Perhaps not as important as family, and friends, and school, and so on -- but important enough to resonate in your soul, like many favorite movies, songs, and novels.

It was in Justice Society of America #6, during the JLA/JSA crossover storyline featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes that a little bit of that Legion magic from past eras shone through in the thoroughly modern light of the 21st Century.

There's a scene wherein Superman relates that classic tale wherein several Legionnaires took up several special lightning rods in an effort to bring back one of their own from the dead -- by exchanging one of their very own lives. And, very much like Comic Book Revolution's Rokk Krinn, I also had that chill and thrill when Superman says that line: "We were Legion."

Geo-Force -- that powerful, outspoken, and oftentimes arrogant royal member of the Outsiders -- had just told Superman, in incredulous yet respectful tones, surely, that what Superman and his friends had done in their Legion days was "not only ridiculous... It is insane."

Superman tries to express his feelings about that fanatic loyalty to one another by admitting that it was inexplicable. It's an admission which Batman tries to handwave -- possibly dismissively, possibly in defense of his friend -- with a gross simplification: "You were kids."

But Superman, older and wiser and possessed of many years of experience, disagrees. "No, Batman. We were Legion."

And perhaps that's part of the futility of explaining the Legion appeal to people who haven't read the series, didn't encounter it at the right time in their lives, or just didn't have the same needs: it's too hard to explain, without that shared experience.

Perhaps, like Batman, they were self-made individuals throughout their childhood. Perhaps, like Geo-Force, they had that experience of being of a special, privileged lineage throughout youth.

But others, like a young Superman

• who knew they were special, but also different in ways that most might not appreciate
• who wanted to belong, but didn't or couldn't have the things that made it easy to fit in
• who wanted to be treated as an equal, as a capable individual, as responsible, and as a friend

and found a group that they wanted to be a part of (try-outs) and that wanted them (acceptance), and that held them all to a higher code and calling -- they were the ones who understood how important being a Legionnaire could mean, and did mean, to the frequent visitors to the 30th (and later, 31st) Century.

We were Legion.

And perhaps, someday soon, we'll say "we are Legion" once more.