Mairead Reacts to the Covers of the Baxter Legion; Is This Her Starting Point?
Sometimes the best research happens by accident. A week after we first mentioned wanting to explore the Baxter Legion, Michael found a stack of original 1980s issues sitting in a comic shop's $1 bin — and brought them straight to Mairead, cover unseen.
As part of our ongoing Sprock Talk series (crowdsourcing the best entry points into 65+ years of Legion of Super-Heroes continuity) this episode is less lecture, more reaction. Michael and Mairead go through a handful of actual 1984-87 Legion of Super-Heroes covers and talk about how they grab you — exploding logos, unusual trade dress, a character mystery that had readers obsessing for months. We explain how DC ran this Baxter-paper series alongside a newsprint companion title, Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes, which published original stories before transitioning to reprints of the Baxter issues for newsstand readers.
Along the way, we get into why this particular relaunch is remembered as the moment the Legion "grew up," and whether jumping into that energy (deep end, et cetera) might be a better entry point for Mairead than trying to start "at the beginning."
Oh, and round about the 10:08 timestamp we reference our video on the Knightfall trade dressing, “Eclipsing the Bat”. You can find that video here: The Bat Signal Is Dying…On Purpose? Batman: Knightfall's Secret Visual Trick ( • The Bat Signal Is Dying…On Purpose? Batman... )
Is the Baxter Legion — steep learning curve and all — a good place for Mairead to start? We want your vote. Long live the Legions!
Chapter Titles
00:00 Welcome Back
00:51 What Does "Baxter Legion" Mean, Anyway?
04:53 A Higher Price Point for a New Kind of Reader
06:40 "This Is When the Legion Grew Up"
07:51 Discoveries in the $1 Bin
08:48 The Cover Reactions Begin: "Dead End" and "Back From Hell"
13:40 One Kid's Confusion: Buying "Reprints" at 7-Eleven
14:20 Verdict: Should This Be Mairéad's Starting Point?