"An injun gal with bird wings…a flyin’ boy in blue-and-red longjohns…!"

§ May 24th, 2008 § Filed under Uncategorized § 1 Comment

Here is the cover for Hex #10 (June 1986):


As you’ll note, there is a blurb advertising the Legion’s “surprise appearance” — yes, I’m aware it’s not really a surprise if it’s full-on spelled out like that:


The “surprise appearance” is as follows…the Legion shows up in their time bubble, startling Hex:


The Legion realize they’re in the wrong time period:


…And they split, leaving a puzzled Hex in their wake:


I was a little disappointed when I first read this, 22 years ago, as I was a Hex and a Legion fan, and I was looking forward to them meeting. I realize now that a crossover event was never promised…all they said was “appearance,” not “Hex, Wildfire and Polar Boy versus the dual menace of Grimbor the Chainsman and Reinhold Borsten.”

Here’s the other side of the “crossover” from Legion of Super-Heroes #23 (June 1986). What did amuse me about the Hex side of this encounter is that the heroes didn’t even acknowledge Hex’s presence…here, there’s some new dialogue revealed indicating that they’re surprised by Hex, and wonder if he’s a threat:


Also note the info-dump in Hex’s thought balloon for the Legion readers…apparently added after the fact, as the lettering in that balloon is slightly different from the rest of the book’s (which may be hard to notice in the scan).

I wonder if Hex picked up any new readers from this. Or how much of a sales bump this achieved. Not too much, probably, since the series was canceled within the year. Shame, as it was an entertaining series in a real “B” movie sort of way. Not good, not good for you…but darned if it wasn’t a fun read.

Images from Hex #10 by Michael Fleisher, Ron Wagner & Carlos Garzon; Legion of Super-Heroes #23 by Paul Levitz, Steve Lightle, Greg LaRocque & Mike DeCarlo.

One Response to “"An injun gal with bird wings…a flyin’ boy in blue-and-red longjohns…!"”

  • Dino says:

    Hey,

    I just wanted to thank you for this. I ALWAYS wondered what the flip-side of this “appearance” was and you finally put a 20-something year old mystery to rest for me!

    I agree Hex was a fun read, too bad Giffen showed up and destroyed the artwork in the final issues of the serioes…

    thanks,
    Dino