Check out the first LNH post here.
Some say that the Legion began during the time of Nick Naime and his agents of P.U.L.P. Others say that it went back even further, back to the time when Boy Lad and Boy Lad Jr. would protect Net.ropolis from the villainy of Bad Guy and Villain Ness. Still others would point to the Classics Squad, the Tantalising Teens or the L.E.G.I.O.N. Such tales owe their origin to retroactive continuity: in reality, the Legion began with a single thread. Back in May '92, on rec.arts.comics, there were a lot of people who had a distinct net.personality. Someone (who was obviously having a bad day) declared himself "Dr. Killfile" and threatened to killfile all of them. Ben Pierce (aka Marvel Zombie_Lad) responded by calling for all net.heroes to join forces against Dr. Killfile and his Legion of Net.Villains. At least forty-four people responded to this call. Craig Thomas Judd (aka Manga Man), however, chose instead to be the first villainous WC; he put it upon himself to collect the first forty-four or so posts together and give it a semblance of plot. So was begun The Cosmic Plot Device Caper. There are two versions of The Cosmic Plot Device Caper: the original version and Drizzt's Post Cry.Sig version. Neither were finished. Nevertheless, there have been a couple of stories that have alluded to the unrecounted conclusion of the Cosmic Plot Device Caper, namely The 501 Blues: A Lurk of Faith (by Todd Kogutt) and Generation Y #0 (by Martin Phipps). Lurk of Faith established that Rebel Yell did not formally become leader of the LNH until after the Cosmic Plot Device Caper, despite the clear leadership role that Rebel Yell had in Drizzt's version of the Cosmic Plot Device Caper. Generation Y#0, meanwhile, established that Rebel Yell was one of the LNH's founding members along with Lurking Girl, Marvel Zombie_Lad, Kid Yesterdaze and Loquacious Lad. The extent to which the description of the LNH's origin as recounted in Generation Y#0 is canon depends on how good Bad-Timing Boy's memory was, seeing as how the origin was given as part of a flashback. Two and a half months after the CPDC had stopped (as opposed to finished :)), Todd Kogutt (aka Rebel Yell) tried to find out who was still around out of all those who had originally got involved in the LNH; it turned out that only about a dozen of them were still active on the net (including Jef The KaTeFan [aka Cliche Dude], Tori Fike [aka Lurking Girl], Brian Perler [aka Obscure Trivia Lad] and Jeff Coleburn [aka Multi-Tasking Man]); the remainder were eventually considered "Public Domain". Todd (who from here on will be referred to as "Scavenger"), decided to make do with what characters there were plus create some more (Typo Lad, List Lad, Allusion Lad), making himself the first person claiming multiple WCs. This then became The 501 Blues: The Long Road to Nowhere. With TLRtN having come out, the LNH was less of a joke. New people came along with their own LNH stories: Drizzt (CRY.SIG), Dave Van Domelen (Sound of Clashing Metal, etc.), Stephane Savoie, Hubert Bartels and Doug Wojtowicz (Integrity Quest), wReam (Sieze Dangerous), Gary St. Lawrence (The Secret Origin of Sarcastic Lad) and Jameel al Khafiz (The Comics Connection). Now, with about fourteen people involved in the LNH in one form or another (including Mark Friedman [aka Net Lurker]), the LNH was just starting to get organised: Integrity Quest continued, The Electrocutioner's Song (by Jef, Scav., wReam and Dave) began and Drizzt, Gary and Jameel went on and did their own insane things. Meanwhile, Scavenger decided to form a Council of Elders which included everybody _except_ the Integrity Questers, Gary and Jameel. The latter were not considered "elder" at the time; the Integrity Questers were omitted for alleged political reasons. Ah, yes. I refer you now to sections 4.1-4.2 of the FAQ where it refers to "explicit sex, profanity" being "frowned upon" and how "Porno stories' are NOT allowed." Seems a reference to a certain part of the male anatomy being in an excited state was considered explicit, profane, even pornographic by... certain people involved in the LNH at the time. This was the "Woody Scandal." Thus were all of the Integrity Questers excluded from the ranks of the Elders, even though Doug was the only one actually guilty of pushing the envelope (at first). (An alternative view of someone who was around at the time: Doug threw in a semi-explicit sex scene in the middle of what had been a good story with no warning. I wrote him a heated letter about it, he posted to get the general feeling of the LNH on it. Basically, most other people -- wReam being the only exception that springs to mind -- didn't care. Hubert objected on the grounds that Panta should be unattainable, the story was retconned away, and the advisement about labelling was added to the proto-FAQ. Doug and I made peace, everyone went away happy as far as I know. Dunno why... certain people have to harp on this piece of LNH history that was really nothing more than private email. -- Drizzt) In the interests in peace and harmony... well, actually because he didn't have enough time to finish it on his own... Drizzt got together himself, Stephane, Mike Caprio, Jef and Gary to do THE FLAME WARS. It was significant in that it was the first multi-writer effort that had an actual plot that was worked out in advance (by Drizzt). By this time, it was actually becoming difficult to break into the LNH because the LNH already had so much history. Thus along came a poor sap by the name of Martin Phipps who, being out of the loop so to speak, was doomed to face the wrath of... whoever might have a very strict view as to his own personal control over continuity. At first he tried to play it safe by writing stories outside of regular continuity (i.e. Generic Man (tm)) but then the temptation to become part of regular LNH continuity became too great and Deja Dude was retconned into continuity with The Judas Handshake, And Now The Good Guys (tm) and Deja HULK. Then heroes started dropping like flies: Lost Cause Boy of the Net Patrol (formerly the Integrity Questers) died in the Lost Cause Boy Special (by Doug), Continuity Champ died in Blaze of Glory (by Drizzt) and even Generic Man (tm) found himself in a state of discontinued life in Generic Man (tm) #7... only to return, miraculously, in Generic Man (tm) #8. Any similarities between these stories and The Death of Superman is, of course, pure coincidence. ;) Generic Man (tm) #7-8 was, BTW, only the second time Generic Man (tm) and The Good Guys (tm) met any of the LNH besides Deja Dude, namely Bad-Timing Boy, Doctor Stomper, Sidewinder, Super Apathy Lad, Irony Man and Procrastination Boy. The latter two hadn't been used since their first appearance in The Cosmic Plot Device Caper; this fact was capitalised upon in In Pursuit of the Net.Villains in which these characters plus Deja Dude decided to singlehandedly go after the Brotherhood of Net.Villains (introduced during THE FLAME WARS). It so happened that wReam's own plans involved having the Legion question the leadership of Ultimate Ninja... who was taking over the leadership of the LNH after the departure of Rebel Yell as a result of A Lurk of Faith. This then lead to The Leadership Crisis which had Ultimate Ninja officially assuming authority as leader of the LNH (and a _lot_ of wrangling over continuity, BTW). The Crossover Caper (by Jef, Jameel, Mike Escutia [aka Pliable Lad] and Martin) was the first LNH mini-series since The Electrocutioner's Song to involve a storyline that ran over several different titles, notably Deja Dude / Master Blaster (by Martin with help from Gary amongst others), LetterinG MaN (by Charles Fitzgerald) and All Things Dark and Scary (by Josh Geurink [aka Occultism Kid]). Jungle Cheesecake was the second: it originated in Ultimate Ninja and crossed over into LNH (which is how Martin began to refer to his stories), LetterinG MaN (by Charles) and Tales of the LNH (by Hubert). Meanwhile, Jameel, Mike and Andre Condon had their own continuity going in Particle Man, Pliable Lad and Kid Chivalry, respectively. (Deja Dude / Master Blaster #6 featured, BTW, the climactic battle between Pocket Man and Master Blaster for the love of Organic Lass as well as the first appearance of Gary's Elvis Man.) Summertime meant that fewer people were on the net: it also meant that those of us who were around had more time to write. Mike, Dave, Ken Schmidt (aka the villainous Tsar Chasm) and Jameel put out a considerable amount of stuff over the summer including Pliable Lad #2-6 (by Mike), Constellation #1-9 (by Dave), The Great Public Domain Caper and LNH Comics Present #1-6 + Special #1 (all by Ken), The Three Day Lull (by these three plus Martin, Steve Hutchison [aka the Invisible Incendiary], Jeff McCoskey, Steph, Andre, wReam and Gary) and Kid Kirby and Sing Along Lass #3-4, The LNH vs. Dimwiticus and Particle Man #3-8 (all by Jameel). As expected, Continuity Champ returned in THE FLAME WARS II (by Drizzt, Gary, Mike Caprio, Martin and Josh). This then allowed for Continuity Champ appearances in Through the Looking Glass (LNH #58, a sequel to Martin's earlier story, Mirror Mirror) and Descent (LNH #63-67, a sequel to The Crossover Caper). Meanwhile, Drizzt was putting together Continuity Champ & The Drizzt's Defenders, his first ongoing title. What then followed were two more multi-writer storylines, namely the Universal Bureaucracy storyline which began in, of all places, the Wrath of the Administrator (by the Net.Trenchcoat Brigade), showed up in Constellation (by Dave) and crossed over into Easily Discovered Man (by Rob Rogers), Pliable Lad (by Mike) and Errand Boy (by Eric Sturgeon)... and Looniverse Adrift (by Ken and Jeff McCoskey) which crossed over into Errand Boy (by Eric Sturgeon), Constellation (by Dave) and LNH Triple Play (by Jeff). Meanwhile, Martin's LNH was establishing itself as a flagship title with stories like Interlude (LNH #62), Deja Four (LNH #68), Acts of Violence (LNH #69-71), The Final Fate of Flameproof Lad (LNH #72-73), Peril Room Duty (LNH #74), Old Acquaintance (LNH #75) and PC or not PC (LNH #77) all serving to help resolve LNH continuity. The Omaha Project (by Ben R. Pierce, Russ Allbery, Christopher J. Sypal, Rob Rogers, David Henry, Mike Escutia and Arthur Spitzer) had various Legionaires (Easily Discovered Man, Easily Discovered Man Lite, Pliable Lad, Parking Karma Kid and Tour Guide Girl) being sent to Omaha to investigate an explosion. Jeff McCoskey (with help from Ken, Hubert, Dave and Steve Hutchinson) wrote LNH Triple Play #3, the Valentine Ball. Saint Squad #2 (by Gary) then had Pocket Man propose to Organic Lass. They were married in Giant Sized LNH #6 (by Martin and Gary with Rebecca Drayer). Meanwhile, Pencil Rain was working for the Waffle Queen (in Rob and Jameel's Breakfast in America crossover), robots were invading (in Dave Van Domelen, Arthur Spitzer, Robert Armstrong, Rob Rogers and Mike Escutia's RoboMACE crossover) and the LNH Registration Act had passed (a storyline that was resolved in Drizzt's Continuity Champ and The Drizzt's Defenders #12 and Martin's LNH #83). Then, in LNH #85, Squid Boy (who had only recently taken up the identity of Squidman in Constellation #24-25) died from a mysterious virus. Squid Boy's funeral took place in LNH #86 and Constellation #26. It was around this time that a lot of new blood was joining the Legion, specifically in Decibel Dude and Vigilantee Guy by Tick, Swordmaster and the Load Island Renegades by Badger, Glitch Girl and the Alt.ter.Net.tives by Marie Antoon, Johnny Stomper by Josh, Coma Kid and Continuity Champ Junior by Mystic Mongoose and Generation Y by Martin. Meanwhile, Squid Boy returned from the dead in Constellation #29; with his former mentor now having become a trademarked character, Squid Boy chose to continue on in the Legion as Squidman. Retcon Hour (by Jeff, Badger, Tick, Mongoose, Martin, Dave, Mike, Zagyg, Hubert, Stirge and Paul Hardy) spanned July and August '94. In order to confuse the LNH, the Time Crapper was creating alternate timelines and allowing them to exist simultaneously. This resulted in, amongst other things, multiple versions of Myk-El and Squalor to come into being. In particular, these Myk-El versions ranged from good to evil since Acton Lord had apparently been responsible for Myk-El turning evil in the first place so it was easy enough for TC to create alternate Myk-Els, some good and some evil. In order to stop TC, Entity arranged a RACCelestial Madonna Pagent, one that would choose the RACCelestial Madonna who would gain the power to defeat the Time Crapper. Knowing that he'd be defeated by the RACCelestial Madonna, the post-CRY.SIG version of the Time Crapper tried to prevent the RACCelestial Madonna Pagent but was defeated by Decibel Dude and Panta. The pre-CRY.SIG version of TC was oblivious to all this: he was busy trying to coerce Contraption Man into creating a machine capable of shaping time as he saw fit. Contraption Man was, however, under the influence of wReamicus Maximus, having been kidnapped between panels in Jungle Cheesecake and brainwashed into being an Acolyte of DVANDOM. wReamicus Maximus reasoned that the LNH would try to recover the Ring of Retcon as a means of stabilising time and laid in waiting for that eventuallity: he told his Acolyte to play along with TC but stall rather than build his machine. Sure enough, Continuity Champ Junior, working with his fellow GenYers, managed to retrieve the Ring of Retcon. wReamicus Maximus sent the Legion of Unliving Legionaires against GenY and stole the ring. When wReam put on the ring, he started retconning continuity. This then got the attention of the Rac.ctre who started gathering up heroes to defeat wReamicus. Meanwhile, VAMMO Woman was crowned RACCelestial Madonna and teamed up with one of the variant Myk-Els to defeat TC I and II. They then proceeded to join the other heroes in defeating wReam. With wReamicus Maximus defeated, VAMMO Woman used her power as RACCelestial Madonna to recover continuity... with the stipulation that the divergent, heroic Myk-El remain in this timeline and be her consort. Retcon Hour ended with the introduction of two new LNH subgroups, The Legion of Occult Heroes (by Paul Hardy) and Dvandom Force (by Dave). Mike Escutia wrote a great deal during the fall of '94, including Retcon Midnight (along with Russ Allbery, David Anastasion and Drizzt), The Crisis of Infinite Sidekicks (along with Marie Antoon and Tick), which ended with the death of Echo Lad, and Pliable Lad #30 which described the wedding of Pliable Lad to Tour Guide Girl. The death of Echo Lad apparently had a profound affect on Typo Lad who decided to spend less time in the public eye. (Actually it was Scavenger deciding to not let Typo Lad be used. Whatever.) Many new writers appeared during the year following Retcon Hour: Campbell March (Guitarless Man), Saxon Brenton (Limp Asparagus Lad), Rene Villareal (Dog Boy), Ben Rawluk (Kid Mysticism), Mike Friedman (Spite Grrrl), Eric Gearman (Leftover Lad), Jamas Enright (Fan Boy), Jennifer Whitson (Misfits), Ian Porrell (Kid Kiwi) and A. Khoshla (Refugees of Net.ropolis). Meanwhile, Chris Gumprich had become the official RACC reviewer as well as, eventually, the writer of R.E.J.E.C.T.s. Crimes of the Brotherhood (by Jeff McCoskey, Martin Phipps, Badger, Tick, Drizzt, Mike Friedman, Jaelle, Rob Rogers and Scott Johnson) proved to be the LNH's most lackluster crossover in years with the Brotherhood of Net.Villains making ineffective attacks against the Legion. The surprise, and somewhat anticlimactic, ending of the storyline came in Continuity Champ and The Drizzt's Defenders #22 which revealed Mr. Homage to be none other than the Robbing Lie-fild. With their leader captured, the remaining members of the Brotherhood turned to Lagneto for leadership and relocated to Asteroid L. Meanwhile, Sig.Lad's funeral took place, Sig.Lad having been killed in Dvandom Force #48 while doing battle with an evil Sig.Lad from an alternate future.
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