The Juvenile Battalion of Heroes has been around for an undetermined time, most likely a few years. The Legion is most likely aware of the group given that Ham-Boy is a member of the group & they did borrow a Lair Jet once. The story also said that Visionary & Hatman did have to smooth out some tension caused by the group while in The Republic of Spango.

As for being "Homages", the story mentions the group having bought the rights to few things like names & likenesses. But there is also mention of past lawsuits so maybe Lisa had already gotten involved.