[LNH/Admin] For consultation: history of the LNHHQ

[Saxon Brenton]

The current state of the history of the LNHHQ, as best I can figure it 
out.
 
     Hello all. Well, I've just sent the most recent issue of Limp-
Asparagus Lad off to Jamas for editorial fleaing over, and as part of 
that I've finally (after 1-and-a-half years) managed to finish the 
scene where Very Big Boy goes over the history of the Legion and the 
LNHHQ. As FabNic has recently had cause to write in the previews for 
_New Thunderbolts_: `chunky continuity goodness'. This is done in 
outline form, as you'll see in the excerpt below.
 
     I'll run this by all of you to see if there are any egrarious holes 
in my logic. I also have a question about a piece of back-history for the 
city of Net.ropolis itself that has been pillaged from Dvandom's _Acton 
Lord_ #0
 
So:
     * I've been intrigued by the notion from _Acton Lord_ #0 that 
Net.ropolis was originally named Babbage Town and renamed at the start 
of the C20th in a turn-of-the-century fit of optimism. Of course, that 
net.comic was an alternate version of the LNH2 imprint, and that 
Net.ropolis is a different city (on the northern California coast). 
Nevertheless, I want to run it by everybody about whether there are any 
objections to the LNH classic Net.ropolis having a similar renaming as 
part of it's backhistory.
     Major corollaries of this is that Net.ropolis University (presumably 
the oldest university in the city) and the Net.ropolitan Hotel Grand may 
once have had different titles and needed to be renamed, but I'm unsure 
as to whether the founding/upgrading of that institution/businesses took 
place.

Anyway: Timeline:
     * The site on which the current LNHHQ is built has always had 
esoteric properties as a place of power, and has attracted heroes (and 
villains to combat them). [_Stranger Tales_ #5] {Although all the stories 
in Stranger Tales are Elsewhirls/alt.timelines, the homeworld of Fearless 
Leader seems to be a close parallel of the mainstream LNH (the basic 
principle is that Dvandom was writing the LNH leader rather than wReam) 
and so I'm assuming that much the same early history since.}
     _System Corruptors_ #24b suggests that the LNHHQ is in fact a 
creature from a higher dimension that feeds on heroic emotions, and that 
over time it has refined its cultivation techniques of attracting heroes. 
{We can speculate that setting itself up on a site that also attracts 
heroes would be a sensible move for such an entity.} In any case, this 
Entity has been on the current site for `decades'.

     * Boy Lad founds the original Legion of Net.Heroes sometime in the 
1910s or 1920s -- the _Particle Man Annual_ doesn't give a firm date, but 
does say that this version of the Legion was winding down around the same 
time that the P.U.L.P. Institute was starting up, as well as that Boy Lad 
introduced personal angst about 50 years ahead of its time. The LNHHQ was 
a 3 story building in the centre of town. _Lagneto 2016_ #4 says that it 
had previously been the `Net.ropolis Grand Hotel', and _Ultimate 
Mercinary_ #4 notes that it was a `major' hotel. Additionally _Jong_ #4 
notes that while the Agents of P.U.L.P. and the Classic Squad would use 
the LNHHQ occasionally, they didn't actually live there.
     The above date seems to jibe roughly with _Jong_ #4, which says that 
Boy Lad and Boy Lad Jr disappeared in the 1920s. It doesn't jibe _Lagneto 
2016_ #4 which says that Boy Lad was active in the 1930s, and Martin 
later corrected this date with the likes of _Bride of C'thulhu_ #7.
     {The one big advantage of the original Legion being active in the 
1930s was that the stock market crash of 1929 was an excellent reason for 
a `major Net.ropolitan hotel' to be closed so as to become available for 
Boy Lad's use. Does anybody have any suggestions for why the Hotel Grand 
would have closed in the late 1910s or early 1920s?}
 
     * The P.U.L.P. Institute activities as a group were mainly pre-World 
War 2. [_Dvandom Force_ #44]
 
     * The LNHHQ building was again used as a hotel for an unspecified 
period of time after World War 2 and presumably through to the late 1960s 
or early 1970s [various recent stories like _Bride of C'thulhu_ #6_] 
Possibly it even reopened under its original name of the `Net.ropolis 
Grand Hotel'.
 
     * The Society of Wireless Heroes of the 1950s is not stated, but can 
be strongly inferred, to be not just British but Britain-based. [_Dvandom 
Force_ #37-38] Out of story comments by Dvandom suggest that they may 
have been active as early as late WW2.
 
     * The Challengers of the Abominable were active after WW2, from the 
late 1940s and possibly through to the 1950s. [_Challengers of the 
Abominable_ #0]
 
     * The Net.tastic Nine are active in the Silver Age of the 1960s, 
before they fell out of continuity due to the machinations of IMPLO and 
probably Defacto V as well. [_Dvandom Force_ #42, 43]  Dunno where they 
were based.
 
     * Legion of Net.Hippes became active in the 1970s and use the LNHHQ 
building [_Jong_ #4]
 
     * During the 1980s the Legion of New-Wave Heroes was active. [_LNH: 
`Tsk' Force_ #6 & 9]  Dunno where they were based.
 
     * The LNHHQ was going to be torn down in 1989, but was petitioned to 
be saved as a historic landmark. [_Lagneto 2016_ #4]
 
     * _LNH: The Early Years_ #3 has the Legion of Net.Heroes reforming 
in 1985, and that originally Marvel-Zombie Lad had built a clubhouse in 
the suburbs of Net.ropolis where the land prices were lower. Toony Stark 
(Irony Man) arranged for the creation of the Maria Stork Foundation to 
fund the Legion as a charity, and began having the current Legion head-
quarters in the centre of Net.ropolis built to be finished in 1992, just 
in time for the subsequent expansion of its roster as many, many Writers 
and their characters became involved in the Cosmic Plot Device Caper.
     Marvel-Zombie Lad's call-to-arms against Dr Killfile in 1992 was 
from the Legion `clubhouse', which was said to look like a computer 
terminal that had been planted in the ground upsidedown. Although the 
shapeshifting nature of the LNHHQ (and particularly the emotion feeding 
Entity) means that this could have been the current LNHHQ anyway, it can 
be inferred that the Legion either didn't move into it's new digs until 
after the start of the Cosmic Plot Device Caper (and must have done so 
off-panel) or was still in the process of moving and was maintaining dual 
residency.
 
 
     All details subject to future retconning, of course.
 
     There are various contradictions in this, which can be handwaved 
away by inaccurate records or memories of characters, or even the fact 
that (based on _Systems Corruptors_ #24b) the Entity has the ability to 
make people think that they have constructed a building, whereas in fact 
the Entity has simply materialised in building form. The latter poses the 
interesting idea that perhaps the Entity replaced the original Net.ropolis 
Grand Hotel when Boy Lad and Boy Lad Jr decide to set up base there. 
(Indeed, although it wouldn't be necessary because of its multi-
dimensional, including extra-temporal, nature, the Entity may have even 
put the original Net.ropolis Grand Hotel back when Boy Lad and Boy Lad 
Jr left, jumped forward in time to the 1970s and picked up where it left 
off by replacing the Grand Hotel again. Freaky.)
 
 
     Okay then, with all that background in mind, here is the excerpt of 
PUBLIC RECORD that will be appearing in Limp-Asparagus Lad #54. 
Commentary and necessary corrections welcome.
 
Begin excerpt:
 
     "Just doing some reading on the LNHHQ. There seems to be a lot of 
stuff here. Or at least, the history covers a long period of time." [said
Very Big Boy]
     Frothing-At-The-Mouth Lad nodded. "Old and venerable institution. 
Although we've swapped digs over the years. For instance, does it mention 
that at the time that Marvel_Zombie Lad first called the Legion to arms 
against Dr. Killfile that the Legion was hanging out in a clubhouse shaped 
like a computer terminal that had been stuck in the ground upsidedown?"
     "Yeah, I think there mention of that in here somewhere," VBBoy said.
     "So what have you got then? General history?"
     "Uh-huh. Here, the chapter summary isn't all that long," he said, 
and began to read:
 
|      The building known as the Legion of Net.Heroes Headquarters has 
| had a long if intermittent history as the rallying point for costumed 
| champions. Moreover, even prior to the LNHHQ's construction at the start 
| of the 20th century, the site on which it was built was reported to 
| posses esoteric properties that made it a location of importance. The 
| site is believed to be a `place of power' that complements and enhances 
| the heroic (and theoretically, villainous) prowess of whatever individual 
| or group possess the location [_Stranger Tales_ #5 - Footnote Girl]. 
| (However, rumours that the location is in fact an ancient Indian burial 
| ground have never been substantiated, and these days are taken seriously 
| only by the overly excitable.) Definite records of this phenomenon can 
| be traced back to the 19th century, and anecdotal evidence stretches 
| back even further.
|      The earliest (recorded) version of the Legion of Net.Heroes was 
| active in the 1910s and 20s, and led by Boy Lad [_Particle Man Annual_ 
| #1 - Footnote Girl] and was based in the three story Net.ropolis Hotel 
| Grand [_Lagento 2016_ #4 -- Footnote Girl] which had closed in [1910]. 
| This version discontinued in the late 1920s, and the burden of heroic 
| activities were shouldered by other groups. Although the P.U.L.P. 
| Institute and the Classics Squad both made use of the building, neither 
| group resided or was permanently based there. [_Particle Man Annual_ #1] 
|     In the late 1940s and 50s the predominant hero team was that of the 
| mainly British based Society of Wireless Heroes, while the Net.tastic 
| Nine of the 1960s were similarly headquartered elsewhere. [_Dvandom 
| Force_ #37-38, 42-43 - Footnote Girl]. From after World War 2 through 
| to the late 1960s the building once again reopened as the Net.ropolis 
| Hotel Grand [_Bride of C'thulhu_ #7 -- Footnote Girl], but closed again 
| for a few years before once again being adopted by a net.hero team -- in 
| this case the Legion of Net.Hippies.
|      After the era of the Net.Hippies, teams like the Legion of New-Wave 
| Heroes were based elsewhere. [_LNH: `Task' Force_ #6-9 - Footnote Girl]. 
| Even the initial reformation of the modern version of the Legion of 
| Net.Heroes in 1985 saw them headquartered in a smaller clubhouse out in 
| the suburbs. It was not until after the formation of the Maria Stork 
| Foundation was established to financially support the LNH that the team 
| moved back to the site of the Hotel Grand [_LNH: The Early Years_ #3] 
| Ironically, this came at the most fortunate time for the classic 
| building, as it had been scheduled for demolition in 1989 and only 
| saved from destruction after petitions for it to preserved as a heritage 
| site. [_Lagneto 2016_ #4]
 
---
Saxon Brenton     Uni of Technology, city library, Sydney Australia
saxon.brenton at uts.edu.au