Days of Legion Past – Part 3: The Interlac Substitution Cipher and Legionnaire Avatars

Even though this will probably end up being the shortest entry in the “Days of Legion Past” series of blog posts, it’s still going to be one of the most important ones.

The following scans from Legion of Super-Heroes #311 (May 1984) and Who’s Who in the Legion #1 (April 1988) provide details on both the personal avatars used by the Legionnaires as well as the key to the Interlac alphabetical and numerical substitution ciphers. The latter is especially useful, as it will allow you to decode the signs and untranslated word balloons that frequently accompany the team’s appearances.

To get all you potential codebreakers out there started, here’re some deciphered examples from Action Comics #859 (January 2008) and Superman: Secret Origins #2 (December 2009):

Banner: "Braal - Proud to be a member of the United Planets"

Left panel: "There he is." - Right panel: "Turn your Legion Flight Ring Translators on."

Happy hunting and translating!

Tags: 30th century, 31st century, Comics, Days of Legion Past, DC Comics, Legion of Super-Heroes