posted
This continues from my previous thread, "Legion Memories: SUPERBOY # 198-201":
Obligatory * Spoiler * Warning * For * Those * Reading * The * Legion * Archives * *
The next issue was another "special" issue and then some. DC had recently launched a special format for some its titles, called "100 Page Spectaculars." Such comics, which included Superman and Batman titles, among others, were expanded to 100 pages (including covers and ads, naturally), featuring both new and old stories. The price of 100 Page Spectaculars was originally 50 cents, though it soon rose to 60 cents – an exorbitant amount in those days! (The regular-sized comics had only just increased from 20 to 25 cents.) Being raised by middle class parents who were born during the Great Depression, I learned early on the value of the dollar – and no comic was worth half a buck, I thought. Nowadays, such notions seem silly. But comics then were something I was expected (by my parents as well as myself) to outgrow. They were just a childish diversion, no different from Wacky Packages trading cards or G.I. Joe action figures. I even promised my mother that when regular comics reached 35 cents, I would stop buying them (or, to be more accurate, stop asking her to buy them). It was a half-hearted promise, at best – I never expected comics to get that expensive!
So when SUPERBOY was increased to a 100 Page Spectacular with issue # 202, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was angry at DC for being so greedy (!), but, on the other hand, I had no intention of giving up the Legion. So, when the issue came out, I swallowed hard and asked Mom for 60 cents.
It turned out that the issue was well worth the price. It contained two new Legion stories (both by Bates and Cockrum with soon-to-be Legion artist Mike Grell debuting as inker on the second), and four older stories – three featuring the Legion and one Superboy solo tale. As a bonus, it also contained a text feature called "The Lore of the Legion" – an updated version of the "who's who" feature in the old LSH reprint series. All the information you needed to know about the Legionnaires – their real names, home planets, origins and powers – was encapsulated in a few pages illustrated by Cockrum. Although the stories were outstanding in their own right, "The Lore of the Legion" was my favorite part of the book – however, it was incomplete. It spotlighted only half of the team, saving the rest for a later issue.
Of the two new stories, "Lost: A Million Miles from Home" was a throwaway story, probably originally intended as a backup feature (oddly, it led off the issue), in which Shrinking Violet and Colossal Boy are stranded in space aboard a Legion cruiser that loses power. The other new story was much more interesting. "The Wrath of the Devil Fish" began with the induction of Wildfire, as mentioned previously, then followed four Legionnaires (only four again!) as they encountered a mysterious sea creature called the Devil Fish. At least Mon-El, my favorite member, was one of the four, and he even saved the day by subduing the Devil Fish and learning that he wasn't the villain he first appeared to be. The odd-looking yet somehow elegant creature was to be Dave Cockrum's final, fleeting contribution to the Legion mythos; although the story suggests that the Devil Fish will be seen again, that wasn't to be for nearly three decades.
The reprinted stories, however, were from the Legion's previous heyday in ADVENTURE COMICS, and chronicled certain events of Legion history that I had only read about in text features. "The Legionnaire Who Killed" (from ADVENTURE # 342, 1966) was about Star Boy's court martial and expulsion from the Legion after killing a villain. The two-part story, "The Super-Stalag of Space" and "The Execution of Matter-Eater Lad" (ADVENTURE # 344-345, also 1966) followed several Legionnaires as they became captives in an alien prisoner-of-war camp. Both stories drew on popular movies for inspiration – "The Caine Mutiny" (I think) and "Stalag 17," respectively – but I didn't know this at the time. However, the fact that writer Edmond Hamilton borrowed from such classic films probably explains why these stories became Legion classics; they are certainly a cut above most super-hero tales at the time: Neither panders to the reader.
Star Boy, for example, kills a murderer in self-defense, only to be expelled from the Legion when it is proved that he could have rendered him unconscious instead. The Legionnaires held themselves to very high standards, the story showed, and their friendship with Star Boy could not stand in the way of upholding their principles.
The "Stalag" story features several young heroes (non-Legionnaires) being executed for attempting to escape and other infractions. Not that the Legionnaires get off easy: Brainiac 5 endures mental torture in an attempt to wear him down. Invisible Kid is shrunk to the size of an insect and left at the mercy of a spider! And Matter-Eater Lad, caught trying to escape, is about to be executed when Superboy arrives to save the day – but the rescue doesn't go off without a hitch: Excess radiation from the villain's weapons causes M-E Lad to bloat up so that he resembles Bouncing Boy.
All three of these reprinted stories left an indelible impression on me. For many years, I didn't like "The Super-Stalag of Space" and "The Execution of Matter-Eater Lad" because so many young heroes were butchered, and our heroes, the Legion, were powerless to prevent it. The story demands a certain sophistication of the reader – a willingness to admit that things don't always work out for the best, and that sometimes the good guys can't stop evil from happening. In the end, good triumphs, but my heart was with Plant Lad, Blockade Boy, Weight Wizard and the unnamed Durlan youth who died so far from their homes, just as thousands of people died in Hitler's concentration camps. The story hit too close to home. In some ways, it still does.
As for Star Boy's fate in "The Legionnaire Who Killed," I already knew that he would later be reinstated. But still, one can't help but feel sorry for him. Most children know how it feels to be expelled or rejected, and when one is rejected for doing what one believes to be the right thing, the pain is even worse. Star Boy does receive two consolation prizes – reuniting with his love, Dream Girl (who was not a Legionnaire at the time of this story), and an offer to join the Legion of Substitute-Heroes, an auxiliary branch of the Legion. It's a credit to him that he accepts the offer and makes new friends. I recall thinking that I would have been much more bitter about the experience.
These three reprinted stories also marked one of my first encounters with the Silver Age Legion's greatest artist, Curt Swan. I probably already knew that Swan was drawing Superman at the time, but I had only been exposed to his Legion art through ADVENTURE # 368 and 372, then owned by my friend, Tim. Swan's art was, in some ways, as bold and sharp as Cockrum's, yet it also reflected more traditional layouts and designs, an apt bridge between the clean but rather stiff art of John Forte and the sexy dynamism of the ‘70s. Just as Cockrum defined the look of the Legion in the ‘70s for me, so, too, would Swan define the look of the earlier Legion.
SUPERBOY # 202 was, despite it's exorbitant price of 60 cents, one of my favorite Legion comics for many years. It was my Legion bible, containing a wealth of information about the group's past as well as its present. I didn't even mind the price hike and was looking forward to spending the same amount of money on the next issue, and getting even more treasure stories and text features.
I would be disappointed.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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I still think it was those 100-Page Spectaculars that made me a life-long Legion fan.
I was little-- REAL little-- but I think I understood the concept that some of the stories were new and some were older. I loved them all.
And as for those Cockrum Lore of the Legion pages-- I loved them so much, I cut them out of the comic to play with them and send them on their own adventures!
I think the Archive program has killed any chance of something similar to a 100-Page Spectacular happening nowadays, which is sort of a shame, despite how nice the Archives are.
posted
One would think DC and Marvel would make their best stories available to younger or more frugal readers. The fact that I can't lay hands on the extended Lee/Kirby FFour run without paying 50 bucks a hardcover book is a travesty. Whatever happened to reprint issues? Seems like a no-brainer to me--making more money off of old stuff. Hell, if I knew that I would be getting classic stories, I'd put reprints on my hold list in a second.
Marvel did do those "monster" format books a couple of summers ago. I thought that was a great packaging idea. I hope they do it again.
-------------------- The only consistent feature of all of your dissatisfying relationships is you.
Don't judge me!
Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:Originally posted by armsfalloffboy: Marvel did do those "monster" format books a couple of summers ago. I thought that was a great packaging idea. I hope they do it again.
Tom Brevoort said a while back that they wouldn't be doing any more - when they did them, they could just send the film to the printers, but now it's purely digital and the extra expense of scanning, tidying the scans up etc makes it too expensive or somesuch
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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