Supergirl Sighting: Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #3

What better way to wrap up 2011 than by a looking at a past version of Supergirl who cropped up in an unlikely place.

Chris Roberson salvaged the end of the Superman arc 'Grounded', weaving in a lot of Superman lore into his issues as Superman staggered to some psychological healing. Roberson's issues really saved that arc.

So I was thrilled when I saw that he was writing a Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes crossover mini-series for IDW. I am a casual Star Trek fan. I have seen all the episodes too many times to count, I love the movies, and very much liked Next Generation. But my Trek fandom is sort of on the periphery of my geekiness. On the other hand, I am a huge comic book guy and a giant Legion fan for most of my life. So this was a mix of two disparate things that I like, a sort of 'chocolate and peanut butter' mix ... perfect.

And Roberson seemed like the right writer. In 'Grounded', it was clear he had a working knowledge of some little known Superman history. So I figured he would treat both the Legion and the Star Trek crew the right way.  The book has been fantastic so far as the Legion and the Enterprise meet in an alternate timeline where the Federation is a fascist and expansionist regime run by Tommy Tomorrow.

In the last issue, the Legion and the Enterprise crew compare the United Planets to the Federation, how both those timelines are superior to the one they are trapped in, and how they need to fix things.

During that conversation, we get a montage page of the Legion and their greatest enemies. This is clearly based on the Levitz/Giffen Legion based on the presence of Light Lass, the cowl/hood of Wildfire's costume, and the presence of Karate Kid.

And there among the Legionnaires is Supergirl! This was around the time that she came out of 'retirement' to help in the Great Darkness Saga and then hung around for some adventures with Brainiac 5. I have covered those issues in depth on this blog in the past.

How wonderful to see this version of Supergirl again, even in a group shot.

But as fantastic as that was, it wasn't the best moment of the book.

Now this amalgamation of Trek beings and Legion's Fatal Five was the biggest moment of sheer geek giddiness. A Gorn Persuader? A Mugato Validus? An Orion Emerald Empress? Now that is awesome sauce.

If you are an old school Legion fan, or an old school Star Trek fan, or any fan of either in any form, I advise getting this comic. It is fun and entertaining and well worth reading!