My First Introduction to the Legion of Superheroes: "Pawns of Time"

I really don't know what attracted me to this when I was seven or eight. I found this at some weird bookstore or hobby shop I went to with my dad. Actually, I can't really remember it that well. We may have been at a thrift store for all I know. But I do remember that I really, really wanted it for some reason.

But now that I ruminate on the cover over a nice, cold Dinklel Acker, I think it was Supergirl that made me want it so much. After all, I thought Supergirl was amazing. She always reminded me of my older cousin Christine, who I absolutely idolized at that point in my life.

However, after making my dad buy it for me, I found out that it wasn't a story at all. Rather, it was this:
This was NOT what I thought it was going to be. I was so pissed on the car ride home that this was what I got for going shopping with my dad. In retrospect, I guess I should have at least flipped through it before assuming it was a Supergirl comic book.

Nonetheless, I still read it:


I didn't understand anything about role playing games or DC comic books at this point. All I wanted was a picture book about Supergirl. I thought it'd be like a super-powered Sweet Valley High story. However, it was only some shitty rule book for a game I didn't understand with black and white drawings. So this is what I did with it:


Man! I was a pretty lazy kid!

Anyway, I am not a fan of "Pawns of Time". Even though it has stuff like this in it:

(Which you'll notice I did not try to color...)

Ultimately, I never cared for this book because it was confusing and boring. But it piqued my curiosity in the Legion of Superheroes enough to try to figure out who they were and what they did--and why they would be fighting their dead team members in some asinine game?

And why, I wondered, would you ever name a superhero "Gas Girl?"


It was absolutely befuddling to me. I didn't get it. It probably didn't help that this was book one in a four part series and I didn't have any friends who would ever even attempt to play this with me.

Incidentally, I still don't.