The Lightning Saga

"The Lightning Saga" is a comic book crossover story arc that took place in DC Comics' two flagship team books: Justice League of America and Justice Society of America. It was written by Brad Meltzer and Geoff Johns, and illustrated by Ed Benes, Dale Eaglesham, and Shane Davis. It is notable for re-introducing the Legion of Super-Heroes in the post-Infinite Crisis era.

This crossover would also be the beginning of DC's three year reinvention of the Legion, with the next part occurring in the Action Comics story "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes," and culminating in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds.

Story

It begins with a captured villain, Trident, under the control of a Starro drone. Batman performs a DNA scan, and discovers that it is really Karate Kid of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Karate Kid awakens, and fights Batman, almost defeating him, until Black Lightning steps in. Meanwhile, Starman reveals to the JSA that he is also from the future.

Batman, Sandman, and Geo-Force are called to Arkham Asylum, where Doctor Destiny is manipulating Dream Girl into creating horrific illusions. Starman manages to free her by saying "Lightning Lad" in Interlac. Dream Girl then reveals that there are other Legionnaires in the present. The JSA and JLA decide to team up and search for the time-displaced Legion members.

The Guardian Project (comics)

The Guardian Project is a fictional superhero squad created by Stan Lee for Guardian Media Entertainment, in conjunction with the National Hockey League. Each NHL Franchise is represented by one of the 30 heroes, titled "Guardians". They are all named in accordance with the name of the team (e.g. The Flame for the Calgary Flames).

Plot

Mike Mason is a 15-year-old hockey fan, who sketched 30 different characters for the NHL teams, designing their powers and personalities, giving them alter-egos and writing about grand adventures they would embark on. Once the evil Devin Dark and his military machines attack Earth, Mason's characters came to life as the Guardians.

Marketing

The Guardian characters were revealed sequentially according to a bracket pairing Guardians and encouraging fans to vote via Facebook on which character they would like to see first. The superheroes were revealed every day from January 1, 2011, until January 30, in time for the 2011 NHL All-Star Game in Raleigh, North Carolina. By June, NBCUniversal had signed a multimillion dollar deal with GME, hoping to exploit the Guardian franchise in various media. But by December 2011, the project had failed to develop momentum and was dropped without further fanfare.