TIRED: Legion tryouts are cliquish and a popularity contest. WIRED: Legion tryouts are probably a colossal hassle if you work in the downtown Metropolis area.

I'm not sure I'll stick with it, but the newest Legion of Super-Heroes #1 was an interesting start. No spoilers, but there's a pretty obvious break from previous Legion lore as an integral character appears to have been murdered (or, more accurately, not saved from being murdered...) and the Persuader design (from the Fatal Five) seems to be the template for the cops, instead of the relatively benign Science Police of the past. Actually, the SP's were probably fascist dicks in the Waid/Kitson "Threeboot" version as well; and the new one seems to carry over the younger generation's fascination and reverence for the super-heroes of their past, whether or not they really existed, seemingly based on old comic books and paraphernalia. Also, the new version does get their spin on dark horse fan favorite Matter-Eater Lad in there right away, as maybe the Watson to Brainiac 5's Holmes. M-E Lad is of course, simultaneously a respected teammate, kind of a joke, really silly, and insanely dangerous; but he also went through a stretch reduced to just a support guy. I think he's in this one: from 1996, Legionnaires #43, "New Blood" Script and plot by Roger Stern, plot by Tom McCraw, pencils by Jeff Moy, inks by W.C. Carani and Phil Moy.

Not 100% sure they hadn't had a try-out issue before, post Zero Hour, but it was once again try-out day for the Legion of Super-Heroes, with the press breathlessly covering it like an episode of American Idol, noting that thousands of kids from across the United Planets had shown up to vie for a spot. The two-page spread has a bunch that longtime readers would recognize, like Charma up front, or Giffen-era space cadet Comet Queen and that dick Dev-Em flying; as well as at least four future members of the Legion of Substitute Heroes. (Although, I don't know if the Subs have ever really been re-established in any of the reboots?) Meanwhile, M-E Lad Tenzil Kem is serving up grub for the downbeat Lori Morning, who is grousing about not being eligible, since she didn't have powers. (Maybe! We've seen her before.) Likewise, Tenzil's fellow previous-continuity Legionnaire-turned-support staff guy Chuck (Bouncing Boy) Taine is depressed, that tryouts almost certainly meant building damage, that he'd have to fix.

Outside, the Legion's other support, the alien Athramites, had been trying to sort the applicants; but of course things still get out of hand. Current leader Lightning Lad wonders why he took the job, as one applicant, Braalian Dyrk Mags, makes himself a standout by disarming a misfired weapon. LL then has to break some bad news: only applicants with actual powers would be considered, not those with gear or gadgets. (In-story, the team had a bad experience when one such hero, the original Kid Quantum, had an equipment issue and was killed.) Another Legion tradition continues, as some of those rejected become disgruntled, and join another team; in this case Leland McCauley's Work Force: he had the alluring Spider-Girl (not that one!) onboard already, and she was quite the recruiter for teenage boys. Polar Boy gets shot down there, too: he was shorter, and seen as too young, even as he grouses he can break the laws of thermodynamics, what more do they want? Distracted, he then bumps into a tall, "gorgeous!" girl--she was already tall without her big beehive hair; it's Night Girl! She was super-strong, but it would fade in sunlight, so she got rejected: worse, she'd maybe just come to try and meet Cosmic Boy, who was currently missing in the 20th century. Polar Boy thinks fast: maybe there was something they could do--not like that! Maybe the Subs were coming...Seemingly every reboot after this point has grudgingly acknowledged that Polar Boy's powers were good, although they usually seem to do so by getting rid of his charmingly-doofy fur-lined costume and basically making him Iceman.

The 328th applicant proves interesting: Jeka Wynzorr, of Orlando, capable of creating incredibly realistic illusions. She appears--so to speak--to be a lock, unlike the next applicant, Nura Nal (Dream Girl, in the old continuity!) a narcoleptic pre-cog, who foresees her own rejection, but maybe makes a date with Star Boy...or an ominous prediction, he's not sure. Stone Boy is then rejected, as well as the mystic Dragonmage, who gets a flat 'no' cutoff from Lightning Lad, who didn't want anything to do with magic after recent troubles with the Emerald Eye. With their finalists in place, the team then uses Chameleon Boy to stage an attack: Arm-Fall-Off Boy and the Scooby-Doo like Cannus don't react well, but Dyrk and Tasmia (Shadow Lass!) Mallor step up, as does the surprisingly hands-on Jeka, who reveals she didn't have any: she was actually not a humanoid, but a very large snake, albeit a very charming one with a disturbingly sexy voice. They make the team as Magno, Umbra, and Sensor. (Sensor was a new spin on Princess Projectra, although still a princess; while Magno's term on the team might be a short one...) 

Sensor's redesign made her a rarity on the team, even now: there have been very few non-humanoid, truly alien Legionnaires. We also saw a Tellus-style one in the big crowd shot, he would've been a good pick! Along with Sensor, this version of the team also had Gates; but I'm positive she was more personable than he usually was.