(See the previous threads on Archives #7, Archives #6, Archives #5, Archives #4, Archives #3, Archives #2 and Archives #1 and feel free to add in your two cents on those stories. It's NEVER too late! )


For the next month or two, we'll be reading and discussing the stories re-printed in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Volume 8. Archives 8 looks a li'l somethin' like this:



And, hey, if you actually OWN this sumbitch and paid something around or below cover price, then consider yerself LUCKY! This thang is RARE and fetching prices sometimes north of $200--more than decent copies of some of the originals reprinted therein!

The goal here is to read and review approximately one story a week. If it's a 2-parter, then it counts as one story. We cool?

Anyhow, other than its value on the after-market, Archives 8 is significant because it represents the end of the Legion's classic run on Adventure Comics. There are some great, significant stories to close out the Adventure run, so there should be much to discuss!

For those of you who own the floppies or are following in Showcase, the stories reprinted within are, in order:

Adventure 368, Superboy 147, Adventure 369-76

So....let's go Legionnaires!

It looks like Karate Kid is doing the Twist on that cover.

(For you youngsters, the Twist was a groovy mid-20th century dance. Of course, if you're a hipster, you'd know that.)

Let's twist again, like we did last summer.

Btw, I didn't realize Supes #147 is not until after Adv #368--I stated otherwise on the last thread. Given that it's an 8 pager, I'm wondering if we should just squeeze it in at the end of this week for good measure?

Fine with me. No reason to waste a whole week on a shortie.

I'm glad you guys made that decision. As I said in the Archives #7 thread, the Showcase Presents volume doesn't have that eight-pager.

Despite KK's goofy pose, I like that cover. Is it Jerry Ordway? Or Dan Jurgens inked by Ordway?

Superboy #147 was an 80-page Giant with 6 Legion-related stories. When you refer to the 8-pager, is it "The Origin of the Legion" story?

Yep.

The Archive credits the cover to Jurgens and Kesel.

Ah, okay. Thanks, Lardy. At least I got the penciler right.

Kesel's just as great an inker as Ordway, and they probably have similar influences.

Adventure #368

I have to admit that I never cared much for this story in the past. I never thought much of Thora at all, either. That is until I experienced the ongoing brilliance of Lash, Teeds, Eryk, FC and others on a regular basis, which caused Thora to become a lifelong favorite in an ironic, hilarious way. But much like Dr. Mayavale, while I find the issue enjoyable when looking at it as ridiculous farce, it doesn't do much for me if I take it at all serious.

Women's Lib and feminism were exploding across American campuses and were on the minds of a lot of people. Comics, like other media, reacted to that--either to tap into current concerns or to just outright exploit it. More often that not, they got it wrong.

Its so much fun to watch the Legionnaires develop from the clean cut 1958 era to the Cockrum era, growing and maturing all the way. This isn't that. This is a step in the wrong direction, thankfully long forgotten. Neither the boys nor the girls come off well here.

It's also one of the last stories in which Supergirl is a premiere player, which is unfortunate. There's an untold take somewhere of the last truly great Silver Age story of Supergirl on the active roster of the LSH.

Things I did like:

- Val continues to be the leading man of this era and I'm not bothered by it.

- "what do you think of this color, Vi?"; and thus Imra starts to consider the sexy look she'll have in the 70's--maybe Thora influenced her after all!

- the letters page announces my boy Ultra Boy as the LSH Leader (along with Mon-El as Deputy Leader).

- Shady instantly choosing Brainy as her slave, which triggers Supergirl to get jealous and resist more. Still enjoying the Shady / Brainy connection!

- "what an ugly cuss, must be male!". Ok, maybe still that ironic hilarity.

All in all though, not much to like. The ending also seems totally out of left field, talk about "boy that escalated quickly!" Suicide? The story truly doesn't hold up when the stakes feel so low to the reader but so high to the characters. It's too bad but Thora has had a much better, more dignified second life on Legion World.

1 more issue to go!

Adventure #368

Another late purchase for me. So, I missed out on the ads in the inside cover. I wonder how many kids are now running small countries from their tanks or looking forward to their prison release date following arrest for peeping.

Shooter's favourite gets to start off the story. Since Val presumably spends a lot of is time training, it's not a shock to see him doing it here. That the uniformed figure turns out to be Superboy and not a robot, or a danger room type simulation is a nice touch. It's also a reminder of Karate Kid's first appearance. We get another peek into his personal life, through his weapons collection and what they mean to him. With this sort of exposure, I can see why he could be a favourite for fans picking up the book around this time.
Superboy and Supergirl sit at a table and wait for it to get launched through a roof. The things they do to try and fit in with the others.

I thought the rocket disaster was quite dramatic. The shocked Legionnaire illuminated in the blast of the crash; the desperate emergency crews racing against time to get the crew free. This adds to the impact and strength of Thora's appearance from the wreckage. It's bumped a bit by the awkward "..a woman." comment from Star Boy. We miss someone hitting Thom about the head, as Lyle explains the Legion's actual thoughts on equality to the refreshingly incredulous Thora.

After Thora drops a few "I'm the villainess" hints, we see the Legion girls finish off their dorm, little suspecting that the chameleoid rug is Cham in disguise.

Statuettes play an important part in Legion lore. From Superboy's secret hideout to Dr Regulus' cover scorecard. Here, they become Legion fetishes enabling Thora to gain influence over them. There are a couple of panels that remind me of the later Titans villain, Houngan. In the crimson light of her alien science, the tension is increased as Thora talks about the beginning of the end.

The split in the Legion doesn't come from Thora being stronger, faster or being a hugely powerful, and dull, villain. It doesn't come from impostors or infiltrators or power loss. It comes form addingpower to the Legion. It's a lovely switch from so many other comics, and highlights the craft of the plotting and writing.

There's a tendency with comics characters to continually increase their power over time. Superman became stronger and tougher, Batman became more and more of an obsessed jerk, Lantern and Manhunter lost their vulnerabilities.

With this issue, there are only slight tweaks. Small changes that really add a lot of power. Luornu can create lots of duplicates, also providing a possible answer to why losing two bodies didn't kill her. Tinya can touch objects while phased. Something else else the Avengers' Vision used regularly. Salu could rival Colossal Boy in size while Tasmia and Ayla had the limits of their powers increased.

There's a bit of thought behind each of these and they all work effectively. Compare this with any number of "just because" powers and motivations elsewhere.

I like to think that, as mentioned for other heroes, Thora has unlocked the potential powers these Legionnaires possess. In future issues, we did get to see some of these Legionnaires develop similar abilities.

Thora's influence finally comes through the Legionnaires caring for each other. Lyle worries that the girls have contracted something. He isn't too wrong. The girls only break their quarantine when they think the boys are in deadly danger. Only then does the fighting start. I smile as Thom does indeed get slapped around the head.

Despite sizing Brainy up as a mate in earlier issues, Tasmia isn't terribly bothered about the relationship being on an equal footing. It's Supergirl's genuine love for Querl that breaks Thora's spell. A fairly tale moment in a sci-fi setting.

As the boys plan and Supergirl waits for her moment, we see the heroines in action. They do a great job. It's not only that the increased power make for some great visuals such as the towering Salu or Jeckie's terrifying creature. It's that they work really well together as a team too.

Thora is finally undone when she pushes her power too far. Supergirl's plan works like a charm when Thora tries to get the girls to dispose of the boys forever.

It's a shame Thora didn't live through the end of the story, and that her world changed in her absence. A regular reminder of the story's moral wouldn't go amiss today. Thora was a little single track and I guess with the point made, the writers thought it best to move along.

The art from the Adams cover to Swan's interiors is excellent, adding so much to a story I enjoy more with each reading.

I feel about this issue pretty much like Cobalt Kid does. It just seems awkward, and as Cobie said, "neither the boys nor the girls come off well." At least the writer didn't resort to having the boys assert their dominance other than having Legion leader Invisible Kid unnecessarily shout "that's an order" to the girls more than once.

Unfortunately, the mind-control aspect reminded me of other stories in which the females, being of "weaker mind", were more susceptible to being controlled by someone else than their male partners/counterparts were. I wonder how this story would have come across if Thora had been "Thoron," a male who had a different motive for boosting the girls' powers.

I remind myself to put this story in its historical place in the continuum of gender-related social change. The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote, had been ratified only 48 years earlier. People were still trying to figure out what gender equality meant and how it worked in real life. (Well, we still are.)

I must say that thothkins' insightful review brought more life to this issue than I thought possible. If I had time now, I'd chime on various points you made. Man, that would be so much simpler if we were all sitting in a room together.

Yeah, I agree that Thoth has a really excellent viewpoint that made me rethink this story a bit. There are a lot of good points that I missed since I was so turned off to the concept of the story: the dramatic (and beautifully drawn) crash landing and the idea of increasing the heroes power to cause division, which was not a common idea then.

Also, I agree that the art remains terrific. I never realized Swan's "giant Vi" and the army of Luornu's are probably what inspired later versions of those characters. They are drawn incredibly well here and are very exciting.

It's amazing how much has changed since then to now. I've never not known women in the workplace. Roe v Wade took place 8 years before I was even born. Gender issues are ongoing and things aren't perfect by a longshot (with all one needs to do is spend some time on the internet to see some pretty childish things) but certainly great progress has been made. The world is a very different place.

My main problem with this story is the trite "surprise" ending with Supergirl's booby trap. Why didn't she just snatch the bracelet off Thora and haul her off to the hoosegow as soon as she discovered she was the villain? Why bother waiting around for her to use her bracelet and blow her cover? Meanwhile the boys were taking their lumps from the brainwashed girls. Thanks, Kara.

Superboy #147

Ah! A LSH story I've never read before! As luck would have, my Dad and I randomly have Superboy #147, which is great because our Silver Age Superboy collection is super spotty. We also have Secret Origins #6 randomly, which reprints the story. Yet, this is my first read. Amazing that I know all of the various tidbits through other sources...then again, 20+ years as a diehard LSH fan and 15 as a message board legend certainly help.

It's funny how this story is in Superboy instead of Adventure--the last major LSH related Superboy story in the Silver Age. I wonder how much this was influenced by fan theories of the Legionnaires at Superboy's induction, and speculation on how RJ Brande fit in after Bridwell's first story. Since he wrote this one, chances seem high. The late 60's were an era where comic books fans became comic book writers and these sorts of questions started getting answers.

And in that regard, Bridwell delivers in spades. If you're a reader (young or otherwise) who likes clear, concise continuity without dwelling on it, then this 8 pager gives you a wonderful syrupy dose of it. Bridwell ties a bunch of tidbits we've gotten hints of over the past decade into the cohesive origin we know today. Nods to Mekt, the Garth / Imra romance, the constitution, and other things are done just perfect--making this story a great reason why sometimes it's better to do the origin after the fact when it can be informed by the canon.

I also love the additions, of course. Imra's intent to join the science police, for one, is a throwaway line for 25 years before it pays off dividends in the reboot.

Even better, the order of membership is further canonized as Luornu and then Tinya officially are shown as the 4th and 5th members. Given what we know already, this makes the order just about discernible except for two or three Legionnaires (which will eventually be confirmed).

All in all, a quick, fun story. I'm glad to have finally read it! The experience is greatly enhanced by knowing how much it influenced Mark Waid's first two issues of the reboot.

What's interesting is my Secret Origins issue has one additional panel at the end: the bottom third of the page has Invisible Kid talking directly to the readers telling us to check out "one of the biggest Legion doings yet--A WEDDING! In the gala 200th issue!" In the background are a handful of Legionnaires but in their Adventure costumes even though this was printed in 1974.

Adventure 368

What hasn't been pointed out yet about this issue is that it's the last one to be inked by George Klein, who in what turned out to be the final year of his life would be working for Marvel, after being laid off by DC along with Jim Mooney and other great artistic talents. Swan would stay at DC, but would only pencil three-and-a-half more issues of Adventure, inked by Jack Abel, who didn't have a fraction of Klein's finesse. Then the likes of Win Mortimer and George Tuska would ill-serve the Legion artistically. This is truly the end of an era, and the Legion wouldn't look this good again until the Cockrum/Grell era.

Other than the visuals, I cannot find any redeeming qualities in this story. Unlike Cobie and LT and others, I don't find any ironic pleasures in it. Unlike Thoth, I don't think the hints of the ladies' potential transcend the wrong-headedness of the catalyst, Thora, or the misogyny of Jim Shooter, which would only increase exponentially in some of his subsequent Legion stories (it rears its ugly head again most egregiously at the end of the Taurus Gang story.)

I guess my biggest disappointment in this story is not the misogyny of Shooter, from whom I'd expect such attitudes, but the inferred misogyny of Mort Weisinger, who admittedly came from a less enlightened generation, but who had always walked a fine line with the Adventure era Legion and the Silver Age Superman mythos in general. Supergirl and the other ladies of the Legion were characters way ahead of their time, while Lois and Lana in the Superman books were at least on equal footing in satirical terms as the male characters. I can't help but be reminded of Paul Levitz, who characterized some of the female Legionnaires so wonderfully, only to out himself as a sexist in an interview a few years ago, or of Roger Stern, who wrote the best female Avengers since Steve Englehart, but who as an editor was (allegedly) the prime mover behind the death of the Phoenix in X-Men.

And so, farewell, George Klein. Wish your DC career had ended on a higher note. The Avengers' gain would be the Legion's loss. Wish you had stayed around a lot longer, or at least the exact same amount of time as Curt Swan.

I don't know how I forgot to mention this in my Adventure 368 review in the above post, but I was very unhappy with how badly Shadow Lass comes off in this story. Even under the influence of Thora, Shadow Lass's fantasies about wanting to dominate Brainy are bit extreme.

Superboy 147

For a sci-fi team that has adventures across the galaxy, the origin of the Legion shows that they had simpler beginnings.

There can be a tendency to over elaborate origins. Hordes of 30th century heroes and the descendant of Rex the Wonder Dog didn't fight a cosmic menace.

We don't get a team of 20 heroes at the first meeting either, as could have been the case from the first Legion appearance. The team grows gradually, with it's inspirations and goals crystal clear. Those inspirations lead perfectly into the Legion traveling in time to recruit the Kryptonians.

The mystery behind RJ Brande is revealed, which builds on the work in #350. With Lightning/ Light Lass revealed earlier in the run, the Ranzz origin works smoothly into the story.

Three of the first five members being female is also a great switch from years and years of having token representation in other books.

It's a well crafted short, giving just enough detail to get an understanding of the team, without creating any further problems.

Yeah, I was pretty disappointed in the Thora issue--I mean not a single flogging or threat thereof! Thora has certainly benefited from our use of her here on LW; it's evident because Shooter gave her very little personality.

But I must admit that Swan and Klein certainly made her look beautiful! You typically expect villainesses in older comics to either be unattractive or have their features marred by a perpetual sneer or otherwise haughty expressions. For the most part she was pretty, though a bit Romulan in look and attire.

Thora's suicide at the end was pretty dark and overall unnecessary. It was also so abrupt, and the Legionnaires seemed to take in in stride. Part of me thought that maybe there was time to save her, and maybe the Legionnaires would pull it off. I'm sure it's mostly her use here on LW, but I couldn't help but think she had potential if used again and further developed. The LSH hasn't exactly blessed with major female villains beyond the Emerald Empress and Glorith (a big presence in 5YL), so it's hard not to wonder "what if?"

Otherwise, the story was pretty forgettable to bad. It was a struggle to get through, actually. I did like, however, that Kara's feelings for Brainy helped her overcome the brainwashing. A good moment for her in what Cobie correctly characterizes as an overall scarcity in appearing significantly in LSH stories in the recent past and certainly in future stories. Makes me wonder, though, why then-established loves like Imra for Garth and Nura for Thom weren't strong enough to overcome their brainwashing when Brainy and Kara weren't even relatively serious? It's a nice moment, though, for those of us (like me) that like to think of what might have been between the two.

Again, another curtain call for another trope of the dying Silver Age era, this time the girl's revolting. Unlike the recent Super-Pets callback that I enjoyed, this one missed the mark.

As for the origin story from Superboy 147, I didn't really feel anything particular while reading it. It's not badly told, but the details are so ingrained that there wasn't anything new to discover. I am glad, though, that Bridwell wrote an origin story because it is iconic and a huge staple in Legion lore. I'm actually surprised it came so late in the Silver Age. I guess that's because several of the salient points had already been established, but it's notable that the story was published less than a year before the classic Adventure era would end.

By the way, it's just occurred to me (while trying to recall which Legion romances were active at the time of the thora story) that Bouncing Boy has been probably the scarcest active Legionnaire during Shooter's tenure to this point! I suppose it's not surprising, considering he seems to be every writer's favorite to write out. But considering that Bridwell "Kitchen Sink" story brought him back into the fold near the beginning of Shooter's tenure, it's a bit surprising. Shooter didn't write him out, he just pretty much ignored him! Chuck barely cameod in that Morlo 2-parter, but I'm at a loss to recall any other Shooter story up to this point that he played any kind of role in.

LOL




Yep, nothing but a one-note caricature.



I hadn't thought of that, but now that you mention it, I agree. The Legionnaires were extremely callous here. More unbound misogyny.



But was it really worth Shadow Lass coming off so badly?

I don't think she came off that badly. I looked again, and the sequence came immediately after Thora gave the statues another dose stated to be aimed directly at the girls' minds. So we can't really hold that so much against Tasmia (or Shooter by extension). You can view it as having the effect of perverting whatever attraction Querl and Tasmia briefly shared during that Fatal Five adventure. I think the fact that Kara was the only one to break through says something about the true depth of her feelings for him, something she may never have realized or acknowledged on more than a subconscious level.

Point well taken, Lardy. I guess I dislike this story so much I tend to overlook details such as that one on the rare occassions that I re-read it.

Kara states that it was her "super-will" that snapped Thora's control. Imra and Nura may have deeper feelings for their beaux, but they just didn't have super-will. (Although I would argue that those two have above-average will. )

In his comments on the previous issue (#367) Lardy wondered if we would ever see the clubhouse ejector seats again. They're flinging Legionnaires into the sky in this issue.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Particularly across a millennium. Oh, and it keeps a Super-character front and center.



It's a bit extreme, but then that's Thora's power I guess. And it had to be something extreme to provoke Supergirl. "I'd limit his lab time" might not have worked too well.

With the hindsight of future issues, I quite like the idea of Shady being a bit aggressively dominant here. Her normal toned down self, does assertively look for a relationship. She finds it with someone a lot of people might have found really intimidating. Not a bit of it with Shady who's the stronger personality of the couple.

That little bit of having servants at all, might work quite well into the personality of someone from the cities, and not the hills, of Talok. Someone who comes from a lineage of hereditary protectors too.

It makes Shady less than a perfect person, and I think that's more interesting.



And next issue Jeckie forgets her flight ring! >splat<

Yes, in hindsight, everything you say makes perfect sense. But I imagine readers at the time who might have liked her a lot in her first appearance feeling let down by the way she was portrayed here and in the Mordru story (I'll get to the specifics of the latter...very soon.)

I agree that Shooter makes everyone look bad, but does give story reasons for why that happens. Still, I can easily see how the Shady scene can be incredibly annoying to Fanfie and others, even with the very good insight Thoth gives to her background.

All in all, I think this just wasn't one of Shooter's best, and it stands out because IMO he is providing exceptionally good stories at this point. Particularly, the next one...

Adventure #369

And so we come to another high point in LSH history, the first Mordru story, which I feel remains one of the greatest stories in Legion history, particularly the first part in #369. Here Shooter just up and does it again, building the franchise in a huge way and evolving the Legionnaires within.

This story is cited by Mark Waid as a major influence on everything he's ever written, particularly in story structure. Part 1 features a personal, tension filled journey full of suspense that a small group of heroes go through where they are forced to confront their fears and show true heroism. AND THEN, they the issue ends with the major threat still having to be faced in part two! This one-two punch of smaller / personal followed by epic / huge odds is a good combo for any writer to take advantage of.

I would add that if part 2 had featured the entire LSH taking on Mordru then that would have been even better. But the story we got is still enjoyable.

Mordru himself is an essential, iconic part of Legion lore. Earth War and TMK cemented that, but this story was the one that established him as the unholiest of unholies for the Legion (in my mind). His role is such that if he didn't exist, he'd need to be created. And Shooter gives him this iconic, overwhelming stature with how he writes Adv #369.

We've spoke at length--well, maybe just Eryk and I, I guess--at how the first Mordru story is one of those great told LSH stories from the Adv era. It's such an odd decision to introduce him like that, and yet that oddball reference to a story we've never known about or heard of before is yet another thing that makes him stand out.

This story is fascinating for many reasons. Foremost is that this is one of the last major times Smallville plays a role in an LSH story for a long time, thus making it yet another telltale sign that the Legion's Silver Age (and Superboy's) was ending. It's also one of the best, as if Shooter is giving fans a tour de force so we can say bon voyage and the Legion will mature. It's also charming in its own way: the old Bob Cobb identity is brought back while moments earlier Ma Kent gasps at Shady's blue skin. Interesting how one surprises but the other doesn't.

Of course, part of why the issue is iconic is the four superheroes within and how much they change. Within, Shady and Mon begin to fall for one another, while Luornu realizes she'll never be with Superboy. The Luornu parts are heartbreaking. I remember early on LW when we spoke of this issue and a few posters said there was a reason the panel with Luornu tunneling beneath the Kent's was included in the final panels before zero hour wiped away the original Legion (or so we thought)--it had stuck with them for all these decades.

It also shows and foreshadows the evolving Legion. I speculated years ago that it also subtly shows another change: Shady's new romance reflexes her deepening and important role as part of the Legion; while Luornu's heartbreak reflects her shift to being less and less and integral member. It might also reflect the shift from Luornu being Phantom Girl's best friend (as referenced by Vi during the Levitz era and probable as they joined together) to Shady, which we all saw to the max during Levitz's era and thereafter. One thing we know for sure is it sets up Luornu to be with Chuck, and ensures Superboy's ties to the Legion are always strong but always able to be snipped if needed.

I also enjoy the scene where Luornu thinks on her feet and prevents a head on collision without revealing her powers. It's literally mere panels after a scene where she's clearly the fifth wheel (as Clark plans a date with Lana), and it reminds the reader she's still a full blown superhero--brave and capable.

One thing Shooter does extraordinarily well is explain how Mordru gradually rose to power over the decades. Mordru does not conquer all at once and he thrives on fear and the weakness & indecision of his enemies. In that way, he is a true monster, and one the real world is all too familiar with. This helps ground a character with immeasurable power.

In a major ironic twist, which continues to show how good young Shooter was, later in the issue the citizens of Smallville do exactly the opposite of the United Planets, and stand up to the king gangster trying to take over. Thus, the Legionnaires see what should have, and what must, be done. It's great storytelling, and I love that the common people of our era (well, the prior generation) do what neither the LSH nor the the people 3,000 years later don't do.

There's a definite Sauron feel to Mordru (of LotR fame) and that is felt when Mordru's shadow scans Smallville for the Legionnaires. The scene is intense and well done.

The cliffhanger is one of the best of the Silver Age, and kudos to Curt Swan for the fantastic opening splash and the ending splash, both of which are terrific.

Fanfie's comment on the lack of George Klein on inks is well taken. I think Abel does a fine job--a very good job in fact--but Klein was just killing it for Swan, especially in the previous two years. But the art is still great here, with plenty of moody shadowing in sequences, which DC was doing more and more at this time.

In a horrible twist, I realize I've misplaced my Adv #370, which I finally tracked down a few years ago. Bloody liberty! I wanted to read this all at once! Alas, I'll check out the electronic version soon enough. I can't wait for my favorite, Pete Ross and Lana as Insect Queen.

Great review, Cobalt Kid! I couldn't agree more.

Thanks!

I think if you remove all the of the emphasis we put on how important things are to the LSH mythos, or which actual characters are in the story, Adventure #369 may be the best single issue Jim Shooter has written for the Silver Age Legion (at least, thus far). Story-wise, it is terrific.

My daughter loves Archives #8. It's the one I always find in her bed or her reading nook, and I think the Mordru story is her favourite one (Though the one she asks about the most is 376. More when we get there).

A typically excellent review, Cobie. I don't entirely agree with it, but, as always, I respect the passion and conviction you express.

I'll chime in on Adventure 369-370 either later tonight or tomorrow evening.



I seem to recall you saying in another thread that she's a tween? If so, then I can totally understand why she loves 376, because I'd have loved it if I had first read it as a tween (and even though I first read it as an adult, I do like it very much.) That's all I'll say about it for now.

Adventure 369-370

I'll start by saying that even though I'm ambivalent about the Mordru introduction story, I do appreciate the craft that went into it (on the writing, editing, and penciling levels at least). In a nutshell, I think it's good, but not great.

Cobie has already covered most of the positives. I'll only add that I really like the way Lana is portrayed in this story, especially when she says to Tasmia/Betsy, "It'll be nice having a sister for a while." That always makes me smile.

The other day, I found a thread discussing Shooter's entire Adventure/Action run, and I found a lot of the comments on the Mordru story to be illuminating of its strengths and flaws. Said comments are on pages 6, 7, and 8:

http://www.legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=57197&page=6

Now for the things I think are not so good:

- First and foremost, why doesn't Mordru just destroy them and be over with it? Yes, I know this is the Silver Age where the heroes always win and live to tell the tale, but it's kind of annoying to me that he has more than one chance to just vaporize them and he doesn't do it. I found the whole kanagroo court thing particularly eye-rolling, even if it does provide the means for the heroes' survival and triumph.

- Tasmia does something incredibly stupid by opening a safe when she has no idea what it contains. Now, yes, I love Tasmia, and while I don't expect her to perfect, I do think that accidentally setting free the most dangerous sentient in the universe qualifies as unforgivable. This has always been an aspect of Legion continuity that I have to fudge in my head.

- I also wish that, when Tasmia is first disguised as a Caucasian human, there had been at least a thought balloon saying, "I find this so humiliating, but desperate times call for desperate measures."

- Luornu - she's always been my second least-favorite female Legionnaire, and her obsession with Superboy has a lot to do with it. Nothing against Superboy, but, Jeez Louise, she's irrationally attracted to him to the point where, during the Baxter era, she stupidly goes on a suicide mission against the freaking Time Trapper to avenge Superboy. This in spite of having been happily married for years (and while I love Chuck, I think his whole, "Sure, honey, do whatever you want" attitude about the suicide mission is cringe-worthy.) Now, I know I shouldn't let future stories by a different writer color my perceptions of Luornu, but it's hard not to, especially since I read the later stories before this one. For what it's worth, I do like the couple of cool scenes she gets in the Mordru story.

- Jack Abel's inking could charitably be called erratic. Some of it is adequate, but a lot of it is out-and-out raggedy.

- Finally, in another instance of later stories coloring my perceptions of an earlier story, i think Shooter's tendency to make his villains near-omnipotent, to the point where it's hard to find a credible way to defeat them, starts here. Now, I also think the Mordru story is a billion times better than such Marvel mess-terpieces like The Korvac Saga and Secret Wars I and II, but I still believe Shooter kind of painted himself in a corner by making Mordru so powerful.

In summary, the first Mordru story -- a good read, yes, but far from the greatest tale of the Legion of Super-Heroes, in my humble opinion.

Cobie and Fanfie,

I loved reading your reviews of 369-370. I think you both hit the nail on the head as far as the story's strengths and weaknesses go.

I haven't the time to go back and re-read it to add my own thoughts (plus, being the completist I am, I'd rather start where I left off in these reviews, with # 359). But I want to say that this story has always stood out to me because it is so well structured and makes the most out of its small cast of characters.

Ironically, the reason I never think of it as one of my favorites is because it does feature such a small cast--only four Legionnaires! WTF? Yet it's because there are only four Legionnaires that there is room to develop them and explore their personalities and relationships. One of the four, at least, is my main man, Mon-El! (Though, aside from the beginnings of his relationship with Tasmia, he is developed the least in the story, as I recall.)

Luornu truly does come off as someone we care about and who demonstrates her resourcefulness in the near-collision scene.

I've always been bothered by Shady opening the safe, too! Blame it on her being an impetuous teenager, perhaps, or on her being so ga-ga over Mon-El that she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing.

The absence of more Legionnaires also gives Pete and Lana much to do. Both come off as smart and brave, unlike they did in certain earlier stories when their presence in Legion stories seemed a waste of time.

I'm comfortable with Mordru using a Devil's Jury to torture the Legionnaires with a mock trial. I just wish he had used actual foes of the Legion's--Zaryan, perhaps, or Molloch or Jungle King--plucked out of the past instead of four unknown throwaway characters.

The ending in 370 also feels like a cheat--all it took to defeat Mordru was creating an illusion that he had won? Too bad Jeckie wasn't on hand before.

However, the buildup was suspenseful. It was believable why these four heroes had to go on the run to hide from their bogey man. Shooter does an outstanding job of defining Mordru as a terrifying figure even in scenes in which he is not present.

Thank you, He Who. And I'm very happy you chimed in. We miss you in these Archives Re-Read threads, but I certainly understand that you'd rather pick up where you left off.



LOL

But seriously, I think Tasmia came across as very grounded and sensible in 365-366, so it doesn't jibe with her potrayals in the Thora and Mordru stories. Lardy and Thoth made good observations about Thora magnifying and twisting Tasmia's dark side, so I can accept that in the big picture, but as I said before, I have to fudge what she did in the Mordru story.

Now I wonder whether Tasmia's behavior in the Thora and Mordru stories might have caused a reader backlash which resulted in her being neglected by writers in subsequent years?

Regarding Tasmia "goofing up" and freeing Mordru, I can definitely agree. I used the phrase "goofing up" because it feels like 1950's hijinks that feel increasingly out of place as superhero comics grew more into their own. By this point, such a careless mistake by a capable character is jarring.

For #369, it's the one aspect that I really dislike. Beyond that, the issue is nigh perfect for me. As for #370, I haven't gotten to it yet but certainly some of the criticisms on how Mordru deals with the LSH and is ultimately beaten by them make it less on the level of 369 (though I still remember enjoying it immensely).

Btw, I've found it a lot easier in recent years to just outright make myself forget all the other stories featuring the same characters other than the one I'm currently reading. I think I've just read so many thousands of bad comics that it's become a cold defense mechanism.

HWW, I second Fanfie--love having you chime in and back in the Archive review! I'd love it if that continued!

LOL

I think that's a very healthy attitude. Certainly healthier than my irrational dislike of Luornu because of her irrational stupidity during Paul Levitz's Conspiracy arc.

Saaaaay...we have a thread in the Gy'mll's forum about stories that ended our interest in Non-Legion characters. Maybe I should start one in the Legion forum.

Thanks, Cobie.

I'm committed to doing the Avengers re-reads at the moment. I can only focus on one series to review at a time, it seems. (By the way, I've missed your comments therein.)

I'm kind of waiting for 353, but I'll jump back in for some broad comments. My memory isn't as good as the pre-353 issues (except cor the two parter that intros the new Swordsman which we reviewed). So I'll be back soon!

Cobie, sorry to be pedantic, but I think the Avengers issue you're referring to is 355.

Looking forward to your thoughts on it, BTW.

And I'll have lots to say about it, too, and even more to say about 356 (the first "current" Avengers issue I ever bought) and 357 (possibly my single favorite Avengers issue.)

Ah, you're right. Typo? Memory? Even I'm not sure.

So, 353 is your favorite story? That explains a lot.

LOL

I finally got to read both parts last night. As I read 369, particularly, I couldn't help but feel I was reading the greatest individual issue of the Legion's Silver Age Adventure run! I mean, really, I just thought it clicked on all levels. 370 was really good, too, but it let down it's great opener to some degree.

I disagree with those who feel Swan's art suffers here with Abel's inks as opposed to Klein's. I thought Swan's art had never looked better...from that creepy splash with Mordru's face dominating the background to allthe great images in that "flashback" montage (including Mordru's shockingly S&M alternate look! ) to how lovely Shady looked with the outfit and hair she wore to fit in in Smallville. There's a panel I love that stands out for me on page 15 where Clark is removing his glasses with Bob in the background that is just so dramatic and perfect! I don't know if the material was just especially inspiring to Curt or if Abel just worked some mojo on him, but it just felt like the stops were being pulled out and Curt was branching away from his usual (though still always excellent) repertoire.

I mean, there appear to be some nods to Neal Adams in the splash and some inspiration from Kirby, particularly in his depiction of Mordru! Mordru's eyes are reminiscent of what Kirby might do, and there's that flashback image from the top panel on page 7 with Mordu gesturing as Mon and Kal reel that looks like a pose you'd see from Kirby or John Buscema. Some might be disappointed that one of the Silver Age masters might appear to be aping some of his peers, but I like it a lot. These are only apparent in certain spots after all, and Curt does plenty with his own style, as well. His work with the four leads is pure Curt, for example, and is remarkable in how all look distinctive beyond their particular hairstyles. Curt always imbued all of his characters with their own humanity and was a master of expressions and acting. I'm sure he was also thrilled that the cast size was so manageable in this tale as drawing so many characters was what he didn't like about being assigned to this feature (as is the case with many Legion artists over the decades).

Of course, Shooter also deserves credit for the look of these issues because, as always, he did layouts for them. In any case I think Shooter, Swan and Abel make for a bang-up combo, at least in this 2-parter. Looking back and forth between the Mordru story and the Thora story, I can see that Abel's inks appear significantly heavier than Klein's. To me, in this case at least, that's a nice change. Not in that it's SO much better, but in kind of an apples and oranges way. I like that Abel inks differently from Klein. Both are competent but bring out different aspects of Swan's lines. I noticed that Abel's influence on the characters' facial features, for example, sharpens them in an attractive way while Klein has a lighter pass at them (at least in the Thora tale).

I know this is a lot of space spent on the artistry, but that just goes to show how much of an impression it made on me in this storyline. I expect excellence always from Swan, but here, it bore mentioning because my expectations were exceeded and I really, vehemently disagreed that the art took a step down with Klein's departure. In this Mordru story, at least, I was blown away!

And the story, especially in part one, really matched my excitement for the artwork. It was suspenseful, and the Legionnaires appeared to be in their worst spot ever--even more so than the stories I'd say were closest in that regard: the Super Stalag story and the Universo story in which he takes over the world. Here, for all the Legionnaires know, their compatriots are all defeated and likely dead, and these four are all that's left, on the run and have no idea how to defeat their all-powerful foe.

And as Cobie mentions, Shooter brilliantly uses this set-up to "check off" another Silver Age Legion trope, adventures in Smallville, for one of the last times. (I'd argue THE last time for the Silver Age as, in my mind, the SA ends for the Legion with the end of their Adventure Comics run.) And, as a Legion tale, I think this one stands way above any other adventure the Legion had in the setting. we've seen the Legion integrate into Smallville in various manners before, but never did it feel so immersive and important. They all truly feel like they become a part of the town and work together very well to protect it even as they have to protect themselves.

And I love how Lana and Pete become pivotal to the plot in part 2. Just as Smallville is being "checked off" memorably one last time, so are Pete and Lana in what also feels like their best uses in a Legion appearance. Honestly, seeing how well Pete, Lana and Smallville are used in service of the story here makes me wish that all those other stories weren't so largely formulaic in comparison! Lana, particularly, is so forthrightly heroic here--with all of her unlikable stalker-y attributes left behind--that I just ate up every bit of her panel time. I mean, even before she used her Insect Queen ring, she saved amnesiac Lu and Shady from Mordru's flunky--LOVED it! There was not even a snarky "HA!" when her suspicions about Clark are confirmed--all that mattered was the danger and how she could help.

Just so many great moments thru the first three quarters of this story! There's Lu's iconic and sad realization about Superboy, of course. What no one's mentioned is that moment where Clark finally takes notice of her after she prevents that accident. Even though Shady notices, Lu doesn't seem to pick up on it. Is it because she's already accepted the reality of things and doesn't read too much into it, or was it a missed opportunity to pursue his attention and see where it goes? We'll never know for sure, but I think Paul Levitz might have read it the second way, based on the controversial Conspiracy story Fickles mentions.

It's hard to blame a teenage girl for having a crush on a guy like Superboy. A lot of teenagers have crushes on guys who are unattainable, like boy band members and young TV stars. In Lu's case it was the most legendary hero who had ever lived, and she actually got to meet him and save worlds with him. I don't know if this excuses or explains her actions in Conspiracy, but I've always kind of liked that she never stopped loving him. I don't think it disrespects her love for Chuck because I feel her reasons for loving Superboy evolved from something romantic into something more like deep admiration. That's my take, anyway--it doesn't excuse her not accounting for what the consequences could be for her and how that would hurt Chuck, but I admire where her motivations came from.

Where the story lets me down somewhat is in its final quarter. The second half of 370 has some promise, even with the goofiness of the "kangaroo court", but it's disappointing to see Mordru defeat himself. Cornering them in the cave and about to finish off the Legionnaires once and for all, Mordru's ball of fire causes the cave to collapse. I'd certainly have rather the Legionnaires had brought about his defeat or at least deliberately tricked him into burying himself, but basically they have luck and Mordru's own stupidity to thank for their lives.

I suppose the defeat is somewhat novel and in its own way, shows that the only one powerful enough to defeat Mordru is Mordru--something that would happen again in some future encounters--but I was hoping they would pull something off. we did, however, get some nice images, particularly of the Legionnaires fighting under cover of Shady's darkness in a different way and Mordru aglow in the light of his own fireball.

And of course, Lana's and Pete's genies are put back into their bottles with Lana hypnotized into forgetting Superboy's identity and Superboy into forgetting Pete's knowledge of same. And we end catching up with the other Legionnaires and how they fared against Mordru. How they foiled him seems easy, but it reinforces that Mordru's ego is often his great downfall. It was nice to see Mysa appear there, too, even though the "foiled by THREE GIRLS!" line was quite uncalled for! Presumably, there's a cut scene afterwards where they kick Mon's ass!

Overall, I think 369 might just be the best single issue of the Silver Age. 370, had it delivered a stronger LSH victory, might have cemented the entire story as the best ever overall. Either way, it's a great and memorable artistic achievement in this fan's mind!

Great review, Lardy. As with Cobie, I don't agree with everything you say, but I certainly respect it all and appreciate that you give me some stuff to reconsider.

Re: Klein vs. Abel, I think Klein was the more consistently pristine of the two, and that while Abel certainly had his moments, he also had a lot of rough spots which I feel did not always compliment Swan's pencils.

Re: Luornu, very good point about typical adolescent crushes on the unattainable ones. At the same time, I think most people either get over such crushes in time, or at least scale them back to healthier levels.

Re: Lana, I'm in total agreement.

Re: Mon's sexist comment at the end, it was once again something of its time, and I can live with it. Not like when the whole story hinges on sexist notions, like the Thora issue.

Excellent insight, Lardy. I love how you trace Lu's evolution from starstruck teenager to mature woman whose crush grew into something deeper.

I think this explanation is a graceful way of explaining her actions during the Conspiracy.

This issue is easily in the top ten of favorite Legion issues for me.

Leaving aside the issues of Shady being dumb enough to attempt to open the vault or why they'd keep Mordru in an unsecured (from the outside) vault. Shady never opened it, she says on page 4 "I was trying to open it... ...when Mon-el stopped me". Maybe the act of starting to turn the wheel to open it let some air in. More likely if the vault was under the old Legion clubhouse a slow leak developed from the battering the clubhouse took during the Fatal Five's assault.

Could anyone other than a 13 or 14 year old kid invent a school-a-tron?

I don't have a problem with Jack Abel's inks & I wish he'd been around to ink Jimmy Janes. He's not as good as George Klein, Stan Kaye or Murphy Anderson but he's ok. The Archive credits Swan as the inker of the splash page.

I would love to see the story of Mordru's capture told in a 60s style comic.

If memory serves, googoomuck, you're right: Shady didn't actually open the safe. But she did turn the wheel enough to let air in.

I like the idea of the safe being damaged during the Fatal Five's assault; unfortunately, nobody at DC was thinking about such continuity in those days.

However, your post does bring up an interesting concern. Since Mordru was imprisoned when the Legion had its previous clubhouse, this means the safe had to be moved to its later location under their new headquarters. One wonders why they didn't leave it someplace that was less prone to assaults from super-villains. I suppose the basement of any Legion HQ is as secure as anywhere else.

Maybe secure from anything outside of Legion HQ but the Legion's janitor could have opened it.

Adventure Comics #369

I had read a lot of Legion comics, not to mention comics, before I bought this adventure. But it's one of those great reads that, even after all that time, provokes an emotional response. From the cover, through the splash page to the hurried, desperate escape from Legion HQ, the Legionnaires are terrified of something. And I'm scared for them. The guys who had taken down some of the centuries worst villains across the galaxy are wounded and scared. An enemy so powerful, the Legion have to flee across time to escape.

It's all very well having an impressive looking vault. But if you can't be bothered putting a simple "Keep Out! Danger of Galactic Annihilation!" sign on the door, then you can't really blame Tasmia for what happened. Clearly they put Brainy in charge of health and safety regulations.

In the flashback revealing Mordru's history we get a superb glimpse into the rise of despots and the political machinations of other nations that can keep them in power. Mordru isn't a cackling super villain. He's not just a sorcerer. He's a statesman capable of leading his world. Something else else that would be picked up in the TMK run.

His plan of selective conquest is very well done in fascinating stages, leading to one of the Legion's best hints of an untold tale. I think that Levitz was going to write this one at one point?

With the Dark Lord released, they are lucky to escape with their lives. Having Mon El and Superboy as vulnerable as anyone else to Mordru's powers just adds to the fear. As does knowing that time is something well within Mordru's capabilities. This is all within 7 pages!

The Legion barely have time to settle into their disguises in the lovely accepting Smallville, before the sky darkens. Mordru has the power to be a signs and portents kind of villain. His shadow self, creeping through the souls of the townsfolk is something from a children's nightmare. Shadow Lass protects her colleagues, but they are now fugitives in a town that could give pointers to an oppressive state.

As if all this wasn't good enough we then get one of the highlight pages of any Legion run. The four Legionnaires are willing to fade into a normal life in the town, hoping to one day find a way to defeat their foe. There's no doubt that this is long term thinking. They could be trapped in Smallville for years, if not the rest of their lives. The Legion's last meeting is an ominous one.

We then see the panel that will lead to Lar and Tasmia eventually becoming a couple. It's followed by the iconic panel of Luorni moving on with her life. Having seen Lar support Tasmia, she knows that her feelings for Superboy will never be reciprocated.

There's the lovely subtexts too. Luornu's barbed thoughts about Tasmia opened up a wealth of personal relationships in the team. Her knowledge of Superboy's future, and her inability to get over her feelings for him must have hit home to nearly every reader. Her later reaction to the others movie night was both sad and heartening. It's that change of attitude that ironically does get Superboy to open his eyes and appreciate her. That Lluornu never knows is also tinged with sadness.

We see the Legion lie low, yet still manage to deal with incidents around town. None more so than the armed gang that arrives to take over the town. It's a clear escalation in threat, but doesn't really work for me. It does show that the Smallville has a Superboy dependency that they have to shake themselves out of.

Still, it once again shows the confidence of plotter & writer not to rush Mordru into the action like nearly every other comic. Mordru waits. We see hints of his presence. The tension builds. It's very well done.

Realising that they can't hide from their troubles any more than Smallville could, the Legion resolve to fight Mordru. Which is the even that finally plays into the sorcerer's hands. It's Lana Lang's eyes, so often used for spying on Clark that betray the team. Having gone against the very reason they fled to Smallville, the team now face a deranged and very evil looking Mordru.

This is one of my favourite Legion issues mainly due to the opening half. Having read all the later issue first, I could see all of the stories that it had triggered down the years, and it was quite an eye opener. Just one example was James Sherman's take on Mordru in #300. It was terrifying, and now I could see where that horror came from.

I re-read Adventure #369 & 370 last week with much enjoyment. It truly is a fine story!

Other priorities have claimed my attention for the past several days, so I'm not able to offer any worthwhile comments right now. But somewhere among all the notes you've offered, you've covered everything I would have said...and then some. Great story, fine commentary on it...very good!

A lot of excellent commentary all around on this story (and I hope to read part 2 today of tomorrow).

Lardy, you have a ton of great insight into the issue. I think you've nicely identified some Kirby / Marvel Age influence in Swan's work here, which part of a much larger trend at DC. As DC began to seriously lose marketshare in the late 60's / early 70's, a lot of artists and younger writers believed it was because DC was much too stringent on the "house style" art they had in place for so long. Foremost among them was Carmen Infantino, who made his case so well that he soon went on to become Art Director and then EiC for the company. You can see a major change in his artwork in the late Silver Age, which he always claimed was how his art actually looked, without inkers being told to hone in the stylized nuance. This obviously spread to the Superman books, as we've seen Swan become much more explosive in his layouts. Abel's different inks and the darker coloring / shadowy are also part of this industry wide change, and lead to some exciting, different choices than what we were used to.

I also agree that #369 is probably the single best, most well-written issue of the Silver Age.

Regarding the explanation of how Mordru broke free, let's not forget that the major change to the HQ came from the Miracle Machine creating a new, second headquarters. I'd prefer the explanation that MM somehow couldn't totally imprison Mordru as even Controller tech is weaker than the Dark Lord. Somehow in that ruckus, he woke up and bided his time to escape.

One thing I'll mention about #369/370 is that I first read it in a treasury edition, and the art really, really worked in the oversized format. The Archive edition is nice on the high quality paper, but memories from my youth seem to recall the treasury being that much better.

Adventure #370...

The artwork is quite dynamic. The image of an enlarged Mordru standing over the four Legionnaires in the first page of the actual story is very exciting! Excellent line work by Abel and coloring.

Mordru’s opening attack, and the Legionnaires fleeing in terror, certainly fit in nicely with their terror last issue. The erasure of their memories is something I had totally forgotten and immediately reminds the reader of the terror they felt last issue. If it wasn’t only going to last an hour, it may be somewhat unnecessary given the personal journey (and victory) the Legionnaires had last issue where they decided it was time to confront Mordru. But by making it just an hour long, it works as an excellent tactic by Clark.

From there, we get a sequence where Mordru summons his army from the future and then another where he RIPS Smallville out of the Earth into space. As crazy as it sounds when written, it’s totally mesmerizing as rendered by Curt Swan and presents a true upping of the ante in the comic. The story takes on an epic, grand scale—the likes of which we have barely seen before.

I love how the secret ID’s remain the top suspects for Mordru and his minions, even after Clark’s plan seemed so good. Shooter doesn’t stray from his theme—the only way out of his mess is to face it, head-on.

And early on we get to see one of the great parts of this issue: Lana Lang, rising to the occasion. She does so first, without any powers at all, and later as Insect Queen. This story is one of her finest Silver Age moment (and really, ever in her history) and she comes off as she always should have: brave, capable, intelligent.

On the flip side is one of my all-time favorite supporting characters, Pete Ross, having his great moment in the sun too. It’s one of the last great Pete Ross issues, and it’s a doozy, capping off all those great stories in the early 60’s, which by now had partially died out. Between Pete, Lana, the tunnels, Clark’s lab, the citizens of Smallville and so many other things, Shooter has basically taken all of the great Superboy tropes of the Silver Age and put them together for the last truly great Smallville story.

The sequence where Pete tells Lana that Clark is Superboy is one long panel on 2/3 page and it’s fantastic. Today’s comics would have it last one entire issue, which probably would be quite good in the right hands. But it’s just as effective here when the momentum is such a force to be reckoned with. They ultimately succeed and wake up Superboy, who restores the others, which brings an end to the first part of this issue, or part 3 in total. And so far, part 3 was just as awesome as parts 1 & 2, as Lardy pointed out.

Part 4 opens up with another good use of the Legionnaires being clever: we’ve seen others pretend to be Superboy before, so Pete doing so is a nice touch while not all that original. But Luornu pretending to be Shadow Lass and uses her powers to pull it off is just brilliant, and something we haven’t seen before (and never really see again). This right here justifies Triad’s place in the reboot Espionage Squad.

And then…when it looks like they’ve got him, Mordru turns the tables, foils their plan and captures them after all. Could he have destroyed them then and there? Probably. Does it bother me? Not really. Because so far Shooter has been telling us that in order to overcome adversity you have to face it, and now the message is, in order to win you also have to earn it. It’s not going to be easy and things will go wrong. They certainly do here, and Superboy not defeating Mordru justifies all that build up to him last issue.

I like the idea of the Devil’s Jury including past Legion foes—that would have been a cool little nod. The lack of recognizing any of the Devil’s Jury never bothered me before though, and we can pass off not knowing them by either (A) they are Mordru’s lieutenants and his claiming they are the greatest criminals of the 30th century is just boasting on his part, or (B) there were some truly terrible criminals in the first half of the 2900’s, before the Legion’s time, and these guys are them (therefore, the LSH would have known them like kids know Hitler).

The trial may be stretching credibility a bit too far, but I’ve enjoyed it too much to complain. Plus, Pete gets to be defense attorney for the Legion. I suspect if I were a lawyer, I would probably use the same strategy a bit too often: insult the jury. Unfortunately it probably has a very low success rate.

Anyway, while the trial is a bit of good fun, the sentence Mordru is about to hand down is now taking things too far. It should have simply been “death!” and then he vaporizes everyone. However, by Wraithor suggesting an alternative and helping them escape, Shooter is delivering on the idea of Pete’s defense strategy. He did get through to someone—instead of the jury though, it was the prosecutor! Well played, young Jim!

And so here we go again! Wraithor bites it to showcase Mordru is tired of fucking around, but not before quickly divulging background info on Zerox and Mordru’s origins which other writers will expand on substantially. And then just as he’s about to really destroy them this time…he overplays his hand, screws things up in his anger and causes his own downfall! And here, Shooter reveals another life lesson: usually bullies and bad people are their own worst enemies; but you need to go the distance, stand up for yourself and stick it out in order to make sure you see them cause their own demise in the long term.

With the issue running out of room, we quickly see Superboy make Lana forget, even though that sequence would probably take up a 6 issue miniseries in today’s comics! And then he turns to Pete, but Mon pulls the ol’ switcheroo and my boy Pete gets to live on with his knowledge as a thank you for what he’s done. Man, he’s the grooviest.

Lastly, we get the Legionnaires finding out their teammates aren’t all space-pizza in a page that is really only there to tie up a loose end. The “three girls!” comment is a little cringe-worthy but the whole page isn’t really necessary. At least we get to see Mysa again.

All in all, pretty damn impressive! I’ve said repeatedly that I think #369 is the best single issue, but I have to say that #370 is pretty great as well. It’s not without its problems but as a whole it’s one of the best issues so far and definitely delivers on the promise of #369. The victory is earned and no one can deny that!

Yeah, given the discussion so far, I paid close attention to the artwork in #370 and found myself loving every page. I also read it electronically so it was vibrant and colorful, without any of the normal fade / wear & tear I usually get when I read the old issues.

This is all well and good, but I for one am chomping at the bit to get to the Colossal Boy/School for Super-Villains story, not only a great story IMO, but also a milestone, being as it is Curt Swan's farewell to the Adventure era.

Cobie, do you mind if I post the first review for this one tomorrow evening?

Certainly! I'll be reading the story myself tonight (not sure if I'm reviewing today or tomorrow).

But *choke*. So dismissive of my post!

Perhaps others might see something in there worth discussing further!

Thank you, Cobie.

And I didn't mean to be dismissive of your post -- I think I may be suffering from "Mordru Overload".

Gosh, I hope so Cobie! But I only read the other reviews when I've posted mine. Will I get my post in before Fickles' Colossal review of the next story? Find out in Deadline to Doomsday! Only on LW!

"What Do You Do the Day After the Deadline to Doomsday?" - an LMB story in the making!

Double LOL.

do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do

Oh No! Our singing has attracted the Dark One! His shadow falls over Smallville! No one is safe!

It's Mor...oh no...the hair is too coiffured...it..it's Morrissey!

Hey, Moz, you don't scare me. And I want you to refund the money I spent five years ago on "Years of Refusal".

Gah! I should have listened to Dario Argento's warning! This lady won't blindly let you take over her mind like that Lana Lang! She has ...standards. Curse you Fickles!

LOL

In current comics this Mordru story would take a year to tell and cost at least $36 for all the issues. And in that format all the suspense and emotion would have dissipated between monthly installments. Grife, back in the day we got this great story with just a month's wait...and for just 24 cents!

When you agree with me, I can see that you are indeed very intelligent!



Reading this reminded me of one Superboy trope missing from the issue that I think could've made for an interesting scene or two: the Superboy robots. One or more of them could have been utilized to at least buy some time for our heroes. I don't think that their non-use was terrible or anything, but as the story pushed so many of my Superboy/Smallville nostalgia buttons, I wouldn't have minded that one being checked off as well!

Ooh, great point! A sequence where they conduct a counter search for Mordru--and subsequently get smashed--would have been very cool!

I also notice Krypto was also left out, which was IMO a good decision.

You'd also get at least 2 to 3 deaths if this story was told in current comics.

Adventure 371-372

This is another story that just mesmerized me when I first made an effort to discover the Legion. It combined a few things: the novelty of tightly connecting past continuity (with the LOSV, Brin, Condo, young Mekt, etc) and the novelty of a modern LOSV, while also being a damn good story spotlighting a rarely used Legionnaire in Colossal Boy--and in a high stakes, nerve wracking way!

All the while, it looks fantastic with Swan saying goodbye, officially creating the usage of the term Swan Song. Well, not really, but you have to be a real dork to know where that term really comes from.

The LOSV were a great part of Silver Age LSH and Superman lore, but the Dynamo Boy story did something interesting: it gave a cool, "because you demanded it" story, but also pretty much showed you can't go to the well a second time with a grown up LOSV. The answer? Show the current LOSV, and start at the very beginning, to let fans feel as if they're in the know already. That plot tool is also utilized by Shooter showing us how Brin and Condo join, which we already know about from #354. We know Uncle Mort loved that story telling strategy, and wunderkind Jim takes an old Superman tool and sharpens it up extra nice.

The line-up is great too, btw: Mekt, past rejects, and the ultimate LSH traitor, Nemesis Kid! I'll admit I never thought all that much of Tarik the Mute and his Android...until Lash, Teeds and company made them totally awesome circa 2002-2004 on the DCMB's and early LW in more threads than they deserved.

It's great to see Colossal Boy spotlighted, though poor Gim is under the gun from page 1! Shooter taps into a fear every kid has: someone threatening their parents because of them. It's potent and we haven't seen it yet in the Legion.

Jo is the new Legion leader and he comes off well here too. He appears very much the go-getter in the vain of his awesome TMK personality, instead the hated ultra-jock nonsense.

Bouncing Boy shows up, and it stands out since as Lardy mentioned, we hardly ever see him. Also notable is Saturn Girl, who has been strangely absent since Shooter took over; noticeable since she was the lead actress of so many earlier stories. The panel where Chuck substitutes for Val at the Academy surely influenced Levitz decision to give Chuck that role later. (And as an aside, even though Val still feels new at this point, it had been over two years and Academy Instructor is a role that fits him.) Chuck comes off as a true friend, a role that always suits him.

As the issue goes on and Gim gets deeper and deeper into trouble, it's reminiscent of many great stories in various media where someone is compromised and forced to turn on their friends. While not as squirm-worthy as modern examples like the Shield (television show) and such, it's still a very intense presentation of that theme.

Yay, Condo! Seen at last--and we better enjoy it, because there aren't too many of these moments to come!

I've always felt Brainy being Gim's defense attorney is a result of his guilt over Thom's suspension, which resulted in a decision to never prosecute another Legionnaire again, just defend.

Part 1 ends with a wonderful panel by Swan showing Gim exit the Legion in disgrace and it's full of mood and gravity. Well done by a master.

Interlude - Back-up of #371
This story is, of course, an old Superboy story that has a few panels to make it an LSH story. Typically, I just look at the Legion panels. Ain't got time for that when I gots to gets to part duex!

372 opens up with noticeably different art. Something else else is off for the first few pages but that all changes quickly. By the time Violet goes on her perilous journey, Swan is killing it as usual, and the art is stellar.

As Gim is geared up to meet the LOSV as mentioned above, I'll revel in the appearance of another Legion World favorite, nosy neighbor Elza Perkins! I can remember when that thread actually was posted and the hilarity that ensued. Crazily, reading Legion comics have become even more rewarding thanks to 15 years with you wonderful people.

Violet gets her second great Silver Age moment with a perilous journey, which is great to see. Gim may be the star here but Chuck, Brainy and others all get great scenes. Cham also does something for the first time in forever, showcasing his awesome powerset.

At last we finally get the LOSV but unfortunately there isn't much story left! I'd have loved for a much lengthier showcase for them, but I guess that'll have to wait for later stories.

The plan to infiltrate the LOSV is a great one and part of why I moved the story when I was younger. Of course I was devastated by Gim's second betrayal--but Shooter wisely prolongs his (and our misery), like many great blackmail stories do. Ultimately, his turning point needs to be more visceral and emotional, so when it happens it feels like a volcano is erupting.

I wish later writers followed up on this story with Gim and how he must have felt after being readmitted to the team. Perhaps that's why he was always training harder, being a stalwart member and never quitting the team until the very? His personality is such that this would always bother him, but he is sadly so under-utilized.

The story wraps up way too fast, which is one complaint. On the last page we get the cavalry arriving, Luornu logically beating Nemesis Kid, the battle ending, Gim's parents being saved, Gim readmitted to the Legion and then Brin and Condo joining. Whoa. What did Mort promise two extra pages and then reneg?

Well, I might need to sit down after that, but one thing is for sure: the entire full blown Silver Age classic Legion roster is now 100% complete! 26 fir-eeking Legionnaires including Supergirl, and quite a force to be reckoned with. That's pretty cool that we've gotten to this point.

All in all, another terrific Shooter Silver Age story, as he is rocking and rolling. This may be his last major story, though I'm not prepared to make that statement until we review the rest of them.

Adventure Comics #370

The cover caught me by surprise. Mordru is singularly nasty, and is easily powerful enough to kill the Legion outright. Instead, he's put them on trial. Still, it's a trial so scary Mon-El has to remind himself who he is in his own thought bubble.

Inside, the Legionnaires manage to escape from Mordru with the old sand in the eye trick. They realise their only escape is to forget they were ever Legionnaires. It's a nice twist, but bettered almost immediately. Mordru scans everyone in the town, and picks out all of the identity lapses from the last issue. He recognises three of the Legionnaires as a result.

While someone as powerful as Mordru could simply kill anyone he even suspected of being a Legionnaire, his own evilness catches him out. He thinks the Legion may have set up four innocents as decoys.

Unable to find the minds of our heroes, Mordru isolates the area and summons an army to force the Legion out of hiding. You get the feeling it's going to be tougher on the Smallville residents than the mob attack in #369. He really wants the Legion to suffer, so he doesn't just kill everyone in the town.

Smallville in a force field reminds me of Byrne's pocket universe tale years later.
Mordru's army consists of soldiers who look as though they've been serving him for centuries, their wrinkled features showing that they have been kept alive with the help of some magic. While the legion may have forgotten who they are, Lana Lang & Pete Ross show their Legion credentials.

This is one of my favourite parts of this story. In the middle of a very tense Legion tale, Shooter's not afraid to move the spotlight away from them and Superboy. It just illustrates how important Lana and Pete were to he Superboy mythos. Smallville was rarely much of a feature by the time I started reading the Legion. Before I did read them, it had seemed a little hokey. But they are just full of good storytelling, executed with charm.

Despite Lana's covert and iconic use of her Insect Queen powers, Superboy thinks it's fine to fly around town in his pyjamas. Mordru must have been taking a toilet break when that happened. Superboy restores everyone's memories while Mordru is off making toast, wondering why even his magic can't get his 30th century travel adaptor to work. Superboy has a plan.

There have been a number of issues where one Legionnaire is disguised as another. It's a fairly common comics plot device. Shooter gives us a few panels of this, but essentially lets the reader in on the plan all along. It's confident writing.

Or perhaps it's just he know that it will fail anyway. Superboy gets a punch in, but Mordru defeats them easily.

Then Mordru seems to slip into becoming just another thug from the future. He summons various criminals from the future to judge the heroes and tells them that Fatal Five would have loved to have been there. I can only imagine how Mordru kept up with local villainy from within his big, metal tomb.

The whole trial part doesn't really work for me. It seems to be a contrivance to introduce the character who saves the team. I's a little irritating to see the submissive Legionnaire heroines in chains but Shadow Lass still stands.

The Legion escape, the Legion face Mordru and the Legion get beaten yet again. This time, Mordru looks to really be about to kill them. But his own awesome energy imprisons him, and conveniently all of his army and co-villains. Let's face it, the Legion weren't about to do it. Their only chance had been Wraithor, and Shooter killed him to raise the tension up a notch.

We get a lovely bit of memory wiping to get us back in line with continuity and then it's back to the future. Will we see a devastated Earth controlled by Mordru's minions? No, because he was tricked there by Jeckie, Mysa and Nura. Mon-El says "how ironic that he was foiled by three girls" How is it ironic Mon-El? Yet, Shadow Lass, utterly dismissed by that statement and aware that Mon El's sexism survived nicely in the Phantom Zone with him , still fancies him.

It's good to see the female Legionnaires shown as at least as capable as the others, following on from the Thora issue. I'm sure the transformed Frog-El who keeps seeing illusions thinks so too.

I'm glad that Cobie posted his review of Adventure 371-372, because I'm too tired to write mine tonight.

I'll read Cobie's review and Thoth's review of 370 tomorrow and comment accordingly.

Thoth, sorry to jump ahead before you posted a review--I hadn't realized you were going to.

As usual, I enjoyed immensely, especially the image of Mordru burning his toast while his army searches Smallville for the Legionnaires. Can't you just see him getting pissed off and zapping his toast with a bolt of lightning so powerful it causes the ground to collapse in on him and he's trapped again? That would be a funny ongoing parody, actually.

That's... >sniff<.. okay >choke< My friend Anti-Lad is helping me get over being forgotten... >sob<



Mordru the Mirthless. Issue 23:-

Mordru: With my armies poised to attack, and my political puppets in place, the galaxy will finally be mine! Just a quick comfort break, before I lead them to their destinies!

>flush<

Mordru: Now my armies...uh, armies? Why are you lying unconscious? Why have you broken all your weapons? Nooooooooooooo! Legion! I was away for two minutes! Two minutes! I hate you Legion!

I forgot to mention that in #370 Mordru mentions Yog-Sothoth. So there's a link between this story and the Avengers fill in issues over on the All-Avengers thread.

Shooter gets it to make sense, considering that Mordru is expanding his powers across time and space.

A reason to actually like those Avengers issues!

LOL




Agreed 100%.

And I apologize for not realizing you hadn't reviewed 370 yet the whole while that I was insisting that we get to the Colossal Boy story.

Adventure Comics 371-372

I admit I had forgotten that the whole business starts with Colossal Boy naively letting strangers into his and his parents' apartment. But those were less paranoid, less cynical times, so I can let it slide.

Ultra Boy takes to leadership like a duck to water. Unlike Cobie, I think TMK Mary Sue-d Ultra Boy, but I'm not a fan of the dumb jock portrayal either; as the saying goes, the truth lies somewhere in between.

Nice use of Bouncing Boy and Brainiac 5, showing sides of the two of them that hadn't been seen much if at all back then.

Page 11, showing Gim being found guilty and exiting the headquarters in disgrace, is masterfully drawn. Even Abel seemed to be giving it his all.

And...that's it for Part 1. The second story in this issue is obviously a rush-job fill-in, but I think the Colossal Boy/School for Super-Villains story is just right at its length of one-and-a-half issues. Any less and it would have felt truncated; any more and it would have felt padded. So in the end it works out.

Abel is back to slop-work in the first five pages of 372, and, as Cobie already pointed out, even Swan's pencils seem a bit off. But they rally when Vi goes on her journey, her first of its kind since 350-351 and ten times greater.

I think Tarik the Mute and his android are actually pretty neat, and don't need any irony to appreciate them.

I can't say enough good about the whole plan to get into the School for Super-Villains (including the use of Chemical King and Timber Wolf), the nods to past continuity in the form of Legion rejects and evil relatives, and Gim's heartbreaking, desperate decision.

Superboy giving Nemesis Kid a black eye is pretty graphic for its time, as is Tarik's punishment to the guy who got duped by the Legionnaires.

Great climax with Gim completing his journey from fallen Legionnaire to redeemed hero, Swan and Abel once again outdoing themselves.

Overall, this issue just clicks for me on all levels. I think it's the culmination of Shooter's learning-while-doing craftsmanship, and while there would be some more good Legion stories to come from him, I don't think he ever got better than this. Rather telling, in my opinion, that Shooter went on to borrow elements from this story for the fall-and-redemption arc that he put Hank Pym through in the Avengers book, but Shooter's execution there was a lot more heavy-handed (and Shooter didn't even finish that story, Roger Stern did.)

So, in a way, even though Swan will be sorely missed until many stories later when Cockrum comes on board, this was in hindsight the perfect point at which to exit. As I said, there were still good stories to come (the rest of the Adventure run remains inventive right to end, tainted only by the ending of the Taurus Gang story which I'll elaborate on when we get to it). However, comics is both a verbal and visual medium, and Win Mortimer just wasn't up to the task of filling Swan's shoes in my opinion. That's something else I'll elaborate on when we get to Mortimer's debut next issue.

The story in Adventure 371-72 has a special place in my heart, dating back to those halcyon years when my love affair with the Legion began. In a nutshell I jumped onboard the Legion train the first time right at the dawn of the Levitz/Giffen run while simultaneously experiencing many of the highlights of the Legion's Silver Age primarily in the form of the Adventure Comics digests which was the form the long-lived book took in its final days.

At the same time, I was also picking up the Best of DC Blue Ribbon digest series, which would feature reprints with different headliners every month. One month would feature Christmas stories, another Best of the Year selections, another a selection of stories featuring the top Batman villains, another the JSA, another Superman Red/ Superman Blue and so on and so on. Basically, I experienced a great selection of DC's past and present and got a great feel for the DC universe in a unique way.

So, anyway, while the Legion was headlining Adventure (sometimes sharing with the Challengers of the Unknown), one of the Blue Ribbon series also headlined the Legion. (After Adventure was cancelled, LSH would headline Blue Ribbon every few months.) It was issue 24, and it looked like this:



It's a bit of a rarity for Legion fans, I'd wager, because it features an all-new present-day framing sequence around "The Colossal failure/School for Super-Villains" that serves as a sequel. As the cover shows, Marte Allon is again turned into glass and Gim must save her. Unfortunately, I got rid of the digest (and all my other digests) long ago in my misspent, suddenly X-Men-addicted youth, so I can't remember exactly what happened in it. I seem to recall that Tarik the Mute's android actually ended up being behind the latest attack, but I can't find a synopsis here or elsewhere to fill me in. I guess I'll just have to give up and buy it someday because it's unlikely it'll ever be re-printed somewhere.

(BTW, that digest also featured the "Ghost of Ferro Lad" story!)

So all of that is a necessary prologue for me because that's how I originally experienced this story. In a way it feels incomplete to me without the framing sequence for that reason, even though it's clearly a fine story on its own and not in need of a framing sequence. Suffice to say, I could bitch-slap my younger self for selling off all of those digests and a ton of other of my early '80s DCs for virtual pennies on the dollar, so I could buy more X-Men!!! It would certainly save me some massive recent eBay trawling, part of which has been to recapture those beloved stories in the digests!

Anyhow, the original story itself is another hit from the mind of Shooter. Again, SO much world-building, this time in the form of finally giving us a contemporary LSV. I love how several characters return, showing us that the Legion's history is building on what may have seemed (and probably were intended to be) one-off characters whom we'd never see again: Nemesis Kid, Spider Girl, Radiation Roy and Ron Karr are all in the LSV academy--and every one of them would figure into the line-up in the great LSV War that would finally pay off the concept to the utmost many years later.

Even better, Mekt shows up, and we have one-third of the future LSV we're familiar with accounted for at the beginning. And on the side of the angels, we have the debut of Chemical King, heretofore only glimpsed as a statue in the Adult Legion story, and Timber Wolf, who's future self appeared as a Legionnaire in the same AL story but who hadn't been seen in the present in quite some time since his debut.

Honestly, with all the pieces Shooter was putting together here, one can only imagine the heights he might have taken the Legion had the feature not been bumped from Adventure just a few issues later. There's honestly no telling! I mean, you can argue that Shooter was JUST really hitting his stride with this story and the Mordru story just before it. He was really damn good from the start, but these stories---MAN! I don't know all the politics behind the decision to pull the plug on the Legion--I assume sales were dropping?--but it's incredibly hard to believe the book was hemorrhaging readers after being so popular and the quality SO high!!

Basically, I freaking love so much about this story! I'd put it maybe a tiny notch below Mordru, maybe because the art wasn't as utterly mind-blowing as the latter. Indeed, it was a return to the ordinary after all the flourishes and experimentation of the other. The artistic standout, though, was clearly that sequence with Violet for all the reasons others have mentioned. But I don't feel it was a poor effort--indeed a lot of the character work is beautiful--but it wasn't quite the eye-opener of Mordru's tale.

It's actually pretty freaky how far Gim crosses the line to save his parents--so far, that I wouldn't have been all that surprised to have seen him expelled if the same story had been done, say, five years later when consequences would have been taken into account much more and the status quo less likely maintained. I mean, think about it: had Superboy and Cham not taken the precaution they'd taken, Superboy would have been DEAD and history absolutely WRECKED! It's only after seeing Superboy apparently shattered that Gim is horrified into taking action and helps turn the tide in the battle.

His decision to expose his teammates was absolutely shocking! I would have expected him to covertly solicit their help and work out a way to save his parents and then take the academy down. In a way it's a brilliant move on Shooter's part and how it sets up the horror of the moment where Superboy is seemingly killed. Actually, it would have been set up better if he hadn't planted the seeds in readers' minds with the makeup reference, but at least, he didn't spell out exactly what they were doing.

It's certainly a well done Legion story. It's a very humanizing one for Gim, showing that he can be vulnerable to his loved ones being in danger and be paralyzed into taking heroic action until something awful galvanizes him. I also love Chuck's role in the story; Shooter uses him so well that I found myself wishing he had used him more often. Again, I sure wish Shooter had continued writing the Legion as a lead feature for another year or two! DAMN!

P.S. Fickles, I think Tarik and the android are neat, too!!!

I agree. I think he was building up to something spectacular in Adventure #400. If he had continued up to that issue, he would have had a nice run of about 50 issues.



I don't know, either, but I'm speculating it might have had something to do with all the layoffs at DC. Believe it or not, Mort Weisinger was also "let go", albeit with the proverbial golden parachute. Maybe nobody felt they could execute the Legion the same way as it had been by Weisinger, so rather than cancelling it, they downgraded it.



Awwww...thanks, Lardy.

Oh, and, Lardy, your story about your lost digests is very moving, and it reminds me of a personal experience: when my family and I moved from South America to the U.S., I had to choose between my massive collection of Peanuts paperbacks and my massive collection of Disney digests. I chose Peanuts, never suspecting that Peanuts would be kept in print decades later, while most of the Disney stories, which had never even BEEN printed in the U.S., would not be reprinted anywhere but Europe and Latin America.

I definitely feel your pain!

I think what it amounts to for me is that while I don't regret the great joy those X-Men comics gave me, it sucks that I decided to sacrifice all the DC books I'd collected in the prior years. Especially so because DC, though they were an innovator in the TPB format, have done an incredibly SHITTY job collecting material dating between the Bronze AGE thru much of the '80s! If you aren't classic GL/GA & Neal Adams this or that or New Teen Titans or a few other scattered super-high profile runs, chances are you've never seen a print beyond the original floppies!

Much of the stuff I want to rediscover via color trade or hardcover is simply NOT available, be it Flash from the death of Iris-on, DC Comics Presents, latter-day Brave & the Bold, the dollar-issue runs of Detective, Action and others, much of Curt Swan's latter-year run on Superman and so on! Even a lot of great Batman stories by writers like Wein and artists like Colan and Newton are only JUST RECENTLY getting handsome collections!!! DC is leaving a freaking GOLD MINE boarded up!

Comparatively, Marvel is doing a SUPERIOR job collecting their older material! Just like your Peanuts books, the X-Men collections are readily available while those old gems from DC's Bronze Age are practically NOWHERE to be found!!!

And I certainly didn't have the understandable dilemma of moving to another country! I was an IDIOT selling those great books for practically nothing! Really--I could just SLAP my younger self!!!

Adventure #371

The cover would have been drawn before the Mordru story, but it's easy to think that Luornu still carries a torch for Superboy from the cover. A cover that reminds me of the old Justice League one (#19 May 1963 - Editor Lad) where they leave the earth. It's something to do with the curved walkway.

Inside, we learn lots about life in the future. I embraced microwaves, not in a sad attempt to get powers of my own as Irradiated Boy, but because the Legion were computer-synthesizing meals years before. Remote broadcasts from people's living rooms, streamed across the world? No problem, thanks to Universe TV. There's no doubt good science fiction helps you broaden your technological horizons.

Something else else that a little harder to accept is that the future is such a trusting place...

>bing bong<
Gim: I'll get it mom! >opens door< Hi!
Old Bearded Figure: Hello mortal young man. I wish to interview you for our Legionnaire Lives scrying televisual entertainment event.
Gim: Wow! That will be galaxy wide. What an honour!
Old Bearded Figure: Now, if you could just step into this pentacle here, it will help the reception signals.
Gim: Y'now, that beard looks just like Mordru...
<Zap!<
Mordru: Yes! "Legionnaire Lives". Our obituary show! Ha ha ha ha ha >breathe< ha ha ha ha!

The Legionnaires have no secret identities. They have no security around their off headquarters addresses that we can see here. There's no checking on anyone's identities in a futuristic world.

Interviewer: tell me Mrs Allon. What's our favourite song.
Marte Allon: Why, it's Blondie's Heart of Glass.

This page is another gem, and not just because of the fascinating life force jewel that makes an appearance on it. The villain's dialogue is excellent. One is pleased with the results of their ruse. But the other expresses doubt that it was going to work. That simple emotion elevates them from being merely Acme Henchmen.

Then, their plan doesn't quite work out. It was a good plan, and they executed it well. But there's a hitch and it' s that flaw (ouch) which gives us our very well set up story.

Moving swiftly past the convenient teleportation device, the following panel shows a forlorn Gim trying to think of a plan. A simple caption shows that his solution didn't come to him easily or without a lot of soul searching. This panel does a lot to establish Gim's thought process.

The next day, we see Salu and Superboy spending some time together. They were also seen as a couple waving Gim off just the night before. Yet the possibility of this Legion romance never went anywhere. Therefore, I can only imagine Salu saw Ayla crying on the cover, and is looking to see why Superboy gets such an emotional response from her.

In the future it seems that the Legion are the only ones with diving gear, as the police are useless. Their monopoly on such equipment has enabled them to get specially adapted kit for Gim and Salu. The underwater adventure gives us some great visuals, with Gim in the diving mask looking quite eerie.

Colossal Boy really fouls up the mission. Not easy to do with Superboy and Ultra Boy on the team. Each goof is well structured step by step, taking the reader to Ultra Boy's decision to send Gim for retraining. Years later it's very hard to imagine Ultra Boy being so harsh about anything.

Even the Legion has to meet a budget in the future. So, they split the costs of training with a small cult that trains only clean cut, white, anglo saxon men.

We then get a sequence that would have an big impact on future Legion story. It's the Legion Academy being taken through their paces. It's not just all those great recruits of the future or that this would lead to Montauk point. It's that the Legion has developed into an layered, well structured organisation. It's not only about powers.

Seeing future Legionnaire Chemical King progress through the ranks endearing him to the reader. Like a football team, the home grown talent always gets a bit more support.

Although they could do with paying some attention to who's actually in the team as Gim isn't recognised.
We also see that Karate Kid teaches regularly here. This line of dialogue supports all those previous Karate Kid training scenes, his sensei's wish for Val to find students and all those Legionnaires with enhanced hand to hand skills later on. That's quite a pay off.

Interestingly, Gim seems to have super strength at normal height.

Finally, this sequence establishes Chuck Taine's role on the team. Considering his young age, he's a very good man manager, immediately seeing Gim's stress. Taine's peer conference with Imra and Querl also underlines his importance to the team. This is another panel with a huge pay off as Chuck would take over the Academy duties.

We get another chance to throw scorn over 30th century security as Chuck breaks into the Allon's apartment. He makes a bumbling, but successful detective. Both Gim and Chuck are compared, in an understated way, with the stealthier espionage squad in this issue. Having broken in, Chuck then gets Gim arrested while escaping punishment himself. None of Chuck's evidence is deemed to be inadmissible, leaving opportunities for traitor legionnaires.

Like the Salu and Superboy panels, nothing more is ever done with Jo calling Gim "Big Boy."

Just think.: A sens tank embittered Salu could have paralysed Lois Lane's brain in the Legion version of Identity Crisis, while Jo and Gim would have been an in-team alternative to Jed & Tel, as Gim goes off to Sci-Pol duties.

Gim wisely refuses to tell Brainy anything in his defence. Having Brainy anywhere near your trial will result in certain expulsion.

Whew! Ultra Boy is a total jerk when sending Gim along the walk of shame. Then I notice that Dirk is sitting beside him. So, Dirk is presumably passing Jo notes, and Jo's just showing those acting skills again.

It's a downbeat last panel, as we see Gim leave. How can Gim save his parents? Where was Element Lad, who could have made such a difference this issue? Who do the shady villains work for? How can Gim redeem himself? More than just a simple action based cliff hanger.

As always, Swan's art makes the visit to the future a treat. The underwater scenes were a nice change of pace, and as always Swan made them look great.

A longer review than normal, as there's just so much going on in such a well plotted issue.

I don't think you should be so hard on yourself, Lardy. We all do such things in our youth.

DC's weird royalty issues with their Bronze Age and Modern Age stuff are certainly an impediment, although the recent release of a trade collecting the first year of the Ostrander/Mandrake Spectre seems to indicate that at least some of those issues have been taken care of.

Adventure #372

The cover shows a surprisingly emotional, clean cut Brin Londo marking his return to the series, but it's mainly there to show Superboy in peril.

The splash page leaves the reader in no doubt about how far Colossal Boy has fallen. Looking at the expression, even knowing he's there in future issues, doesn't dispel the doubt that something may be permanently changed. And his four students look familiar.

There's a bit of a disconnect form the end of the #371. The Legion expel Gim, but not only is he allowed to keep his flight ring, it's a while later before he's arrested by the Science Police.

Additional punishment, beyond expulsion, wasn't mentioned last issue. While it does show the all too frequent divides between organisations like the Legion and UP, it's really there as a device to push Gim into having to turn even more villainous.

Who controls the post internet Computo News? Buyers accept what's being told even though it doesn't tally with what we saw. Gim grew away from the science police rather than "clobber" them.

I'm reminded of news reports in our time where the police report numerous injuries during events, only for a number of those to be self inflicted or unrelated to the actual event. Cue changes in reporting after they had been found out after who knows how many years of misrepresentation. Ten peaceful protesters in hospital does not equal one policeman stubbing his toe on the way out of the police station.

There's a million dollars on Gim's head. You'd think he'd have to grow to support such a weight. But it's only $10 dollars in our money once you adjust for inflation. Which is why no one bothers with Gim until the villains manage to find him, using that best forgotten teleportation device.

Another piece of strong plotting follows, as the Legion decide to talk to the people closest to Gim to find out what's going on. Meanwhile, our two villains are still able to adjust their plans to get some mileage out of Gim's knowledge.

I really wish every few years the Legion would encounter Elza Perkins. She moves apartment, from crime hotspot to hotspot, providing useful information to the team. "I'm not a busy body, but..."

We then get the pay off from the jewel macguffin of the last issue. But tied in with this is a focus on Violet's powers. She's not only small but can ride on energy waves. Considering how often super-teams rely on tracking odd energy signatures, she's the perfect advance agent.

Readers may also note the similarities between the suit Vi wears here and the Giffen redesign towards the end of v3. I'm a fan of the accessorised Legion, years ahead of such things for super hero action figures. So underwater and subatomic suits are lots of fun in this story.

Keeping the story moving forward at pace, while developing characters is always good to see.

Vi is the one who discovers the Legion of Supervillains. From her perspective they look all the more intimidating, thanks to the Swan/Shooter composition. We see Nemesis Kid immediately and remember that he can beat any single foe, including Superboy.

Colossal Boy's expression is very complicated thanks to Swan. He has grown to tower over the prospective villains. His arms are crossed defiantly or defensively. His face is a mix of impassiveness or having given into his situation.

Like last issue, we also get another moment that has repercussions for future stories. In this origin of the Legion of Super-Villains, Shooter provides context for their previous appearances and leaves the door open for future uses, such as the start of v3.

We can only be thankful that Gim didn't have any involvement in the creation of Tarik's android. I'd not trust many writers to avoid turning him into a guilt ridden Hank Pym knock off.

Salu continues her dangerous scouting mission, calmly finding out the truth behind Gim's actions. Only then does she make the journey back home. Compare that approach to Ultra Boy's idea to just burst in on the villains.

Her information means that the Legion, and Shooter, have to find a more subtle way of solving the problem.

Having not long gone through a spate of traitorous team mates, it's the Legion's turn to infiltrate an organisation. While I would have liked one of the team to impersonate the arrested Vrenn G'Ondd (just to have another recurring character), it's fun to see Cham and Superboy in their disguises. We also get a quick summary of Condo and Brin's powers. I quite like Marco Malik's (Superboy) costume too.

With the team in the Villainous academy, they see who they are up against. I wonder if anyone feels the slightest guilt about how some of these people were treated when they were rejected from the Legion.

Normally, the heroes would contact Gim and the combined group would defeat the villains. Not here. This time, Gim betrays his colleagues again. Remember that expression on the splash page? This is that moment of seeming no return for Colossal Boy.

With the heroes getting captured (great black eye for Nemesis Kid), we learn that only one of them has a communicator for a mission. Then what you see on the cover is exactly what you get. Superboy gets turned into glass and smashed. But in the future of impeccable disguises, it was Chameleon Boy all along. I've no idea why Chameleon Boy was able to shake off the glass beam.

Two final moments are seeing the Kid who could kill Superboy easily beaten by Luornu ( a classic representation of what the Legion can be about), and the graduation of Lone Wolf and Chemical King.

Gim rebelled in the end. Had Tarik not asked Gim to be the killer, would he have let it happen? What other secrets would Gim have been willing to share, when he was being blackmailed? Would the Legion increase its security procedures? None of these questions are answered in what is a happy ending all round.

In summary, this adventure was as important for many future stories as it was a well plotted and executed (ouch) tale in it's own right. We had betrayal and loyalty, powerful villains (Lightning Lord was there too - not long after the Legion origin issue) and spotlights on Chuck, Gim and Salu.

But who was the executioner in the hood?

LOL




LOL

He says he dodged it. Great reflexes!

Sorry for the long multi- post (one after this one too)...


Thanks Cobie



There I was breezing through all of the past and future links, and I forgot to mention that one. D'Oh! I think we picked out a lot of the same good things about this one.




Et tu Fickles? Hey Lyle! Quit putting your stupid serum in my coffee, darn it!



I was very much of the same mind as you, especially with the TMK Annual against Glorith. But you know how your Black Knight fan fic ties in exactly to Dane's portrayal in an Avengers issue I hadn't read at that point? There's a Legion issue where TMK were clearly mining for those aspects of Jo. It made me reassess their approach to him, although the result may be the same.



I had no idea who he was for years, beyond Who's Who. I quite like him, and his need for revenge. I'm a fan of the recruiters from #371 too.



The next time anything goes missing, or there's a hint of betrayal, the first question should be "How's your mom today, Gim?"



I hadn't realised that was Shooter on the Avengers when I was thinking of Tarik's android and Ultron. I would have read all of Busiek & Perez's retread of that, before I got to read all of that earlier Shooter tale. Both seem ponderous by comparison to this. The Weisinger influence?

Fair enough.

The framing sequence is by Levitz & Infantino. The splash page has President Marte Allon put to rest a reported feud between the government and the Legion. She does this by awarding medals to the Earth born quartet, and discriminating against the other Legionnaires. Form this page I'm very strongly reminded of TMK's Earthgov feud with the Legion and of Earth Man's Justice League.

As Gim and Marte discuss their relationship, a crook appears and turns Marte into a glass statue. Gim immediately thinks of Tarik. The crook says that Marte Allon is putting too much pressure on the criminal element, so he's killing her for free. He and Karate Kid capture the crook, but destroy the weapon. Gim tells Wildfire about the first time this happened...cue flashback.

After the Adventure story, Gim goes through the legion's paper based files to find out where Tarik has gone. Fortunately, there's only one planet that manufacture's androids as complex as Tarik's. Gim and Dirk interrogate the head of the manufacturing facility, only to find out that Tarki died of a heart attack shortly after setting the plan in motion. Gim despair, but pulls himself together to continue the search. As they leave the planet, the solution hits him. THe head of the manufacturing plant didn't sweat when Sun Boy used his powers (handy it was Dirk that went along). He also mentioned that he would "turn database"

The head of the plant is Tarik's android. Dirk melts it in place, and Marte is cured from the files found in it's memory. A small subplot of uncertain feelings between Marte & Gim over responsibilities is resolved. "Love you mother." "Love you Gim... my Legionnaire." >sniff<



Like Fickles, I put this down to the fall out from DC responding to workers daring to ask for some health care benefits by not giving them any further work.

On lost collections, our loft growing up would be subject to parentally imposed clear outs. Fickles posted recently about Star Wars comics. They all went. Loads and loads of reprints from non big two comic companies went. All those atomic age sci fi, post code suspense tales. Oh,lots of things.

But hey, they made space for more things. I'm very lucky they were bought for me to enjoy in the first place. So, I got the best out of them.

It's just that once in a while, I'll be watching something. The plot will pop into my head, and it's probably from some Lev Gleason comic that I'll never see again to make sure.




I'll let you know when Euro Disney finally gives up the ghost. You can see if they're reduced to selling discounted old comics to make it through.



But it's your, and others, great joy in X-titles that meant I got to cheaply add to my 1960s go-go checks collection. Because no one was remotely interested in them.

Dealer: Um... this isn't a X-Title. Does anyone die in it? Is it the first appearance of a grim, gun toting vigilante? Is it one of 10 multiple covers? Why are they wearing scuba outfits? Sea Devils? Okay, yours for buttons. I think I got implosion titles for even less.

LOL

Great reviews by everyone! I really couldn't think of much to add. (I'll have to start getting here before the rest of you.)



With a team the size of the Legion, who have such wide-ranging kinds of powers, it must be challenging for writers to decide which team members they must leave out of the story or disable within the story in order to carry out the plot they're writing. And when use of Superboy is mandatory, writers sometimes resort to some strange twists to disarm him, or they just fall back on using the ubiquitous kryptonite.

There's one small incident in #372 when no effort was made at all. It's when the police try to arrest Colossal Boy and he escapes. Immediately Superboy, Ultra Boy, and Vi appear and Superboy says, "We saw what happened, but had no chance to catch him!" Superboy? Ultra Boy? That's just silly.

I just think it's cool that it's Giant Gim's complementary teammate, Tiny Vi, who discovers the truth about the situation and sets the Legion on the proper path to recovering Gim.

Superboy: Look! Gim's escaping from the police! We have to do something!
Jo: We are doing something Kal. These Future Frappes are dangerously close to getting warm. Dangerously close.
Superboy: Then there's the health and safety dangers from Frappe spillage if we race off at super speed...
Jo: Exactly. We'll go help at ultra speed when we've dealt with this emergency.

I remember that I bought Adv #371 new but I missed 372. It's one of the reasons that I hated 2 part stories back in the day. I was able to pick up #372 a few months later in one of those 19¢ 3-packs of coverless comics that the local distributer would send out to local corner stores. Another really good 2 parter but the downside is that there's only 8 more issues with the Legion in Adventure.

Adventure #373

As the Silver Age moved on and Marvel's inter-connected universe proved a huge success with fans, DC started to take notice and used many of the same tricks. As always, the Superman titles didn't need to be a part of all that since Uncle Mort ruled over his kingdom with an iron fist. But finally at the end of the Silver Age, as Mort's power waned, that began to change (though it wasn't until the 70's that Superman truly became enthralled in the rest of the DCU, often masterfully done by Cary Bates). And all that trickling down finally comes to a rare LSH connection to a franchise beyond the Supers.

The Tornado Twins were always largely forgettable to me, except someone figured out a way to get Barry and Iris out of the total fiasco that was the trial of the Flash was to get them to the 30th century--where the Twins might actually have been their children rather than their descendants. That little tidbit inspired Mark Waid to use them to create XS and Impulse, and that finally was a worthy payoff to the promise of the characters.

But for the most part, I don't like the Twins, and the old bit about the jerk playing a trick on the hero / heroes while secretly doing it in good fun is something that the series and DC in general has moved past. By the late 60's that concept had lost a lot of its charm.

J. Winslow Mortimor comes on as ongoing Legion artist and the difference from Swan is striking. He does a satisfactory job, with nothing really too bad to complain about, but the art is lacking the pop and dynamic that we've grown accustomed to. It's also scratchy in places and that is jarring. It will take some time getting used to.

The beginning shows the Legionnaires briefly having their downtime interrupted: Dirk and Tinya at school, Jan ditching his beard girlfriend, a nice scene showing the Clark / Brainy friendship, and a nice sequence with Val and Jeckie as Shooter continues to build their romance--which is a lot steamier when Jeckie is sans cape since her costume basically looks like sexy lingerie then.

From there we get an old fashioned "new character(s) acts like jerks" which never was a favorite of mine the first 5 times around. And then the action leaves a lot to be desired: Tinya hit from behind? Val tossed around by a robot? Random green-K falling on Superboy? It doesn't add up and Jeckie plays the damsel yet again.

I don't mind the panel hogging from Val at all, since I know this is really his one great era. But he doesn't come across well here, picking a fight with Don just because he's a jerk.

The concept of feeling you're no longer needed is a good one, even if it's difficult to watch. But it's a fine line to not make your heroes look like whiners and quitters. Here, I feel the story strays too far into that territory. This is a familiar trope in Superboy's stories, and there are a dozen or more good examples how to do it right. I wonder if Shooter, who as we've seen in our reread appears to be exploring many classic Superboy / LSH ideas one last time, ventured into this territory as part of that process? If so, he should have stuck to what he does best and leave this type of story to Leo Dorfman or Jerry Siegel.

All in all, this is one of the weaker issues in Shooter's run. Perhaps not as bad as the Thora issue but close.

Great review, Cobie. I can only add that the story felt like a backup padded out to full-issue length, and that I'm less lenient toward's Win Mortimer's art than you -- I think it's ugly and downright amateurish in spots. Some of Shooter's subsequent scripts will manage to rise above the art, though, IMO.

Adventure #373
Whatever happened to good old fashioned sleep learning? We not only get to see that being a super hero isn't at the expense of an education, but there's a fun shot at ever shifting educational methods. We don't get to see Phantom Girl's smarts too often, but Dirk was considered to be a good scientist.

We get some more glimpses into personal lives with Jeckie and Val getting closer and Jan getting further away from his date (cue theorising).

The issue is right up there with Proty sending the Legion on missions, just so they can pick a leader. A huge amount of risk for something comparatively mundane in the end.

It doesn't take long before relations between the Legion and the Tornado Twins deteriorate. Karate Kid feels particularly hard done by, having been beaten/saved by both twins.

But both groups come across as mean spirited. Don refers to Val as small time, while the Legion spend their time investigating the Allens' records or in the huff. Even the citizens are shown as fickle, turning their backs on the Legion. Seeing Val and Dirk give up is particularly miserable to read.

I'm reminded of Dirk years later in the 5YG. A combination of this attitude and his mutiny in space traits, made him resign the leadership. Even Superboy pauses before answering an alarm. In the end, it's all in the celebration of Barry Allen, The Flash. But I wonder what he would have made of how his descendants and the Legion had acted.

I do like the Tornado twins. Their costumes and powers made them a nice alternative to Superboy hogging all the super-feats. Liking them made their fate in the TMK run all the tougher. Dirk sat back and let that happen too, in a nod to this issue.

It's been years since I read 373, but I agree that was a bit of a letdown. The entire mystery hinges on who the Tornado Twins are and why they do what they do, but if you already know that (as I did, from later stories), the payoff is not worth the effort.

I have to say I enjoyed the reviews of 372, a story I have stronger memories of. Even though the embryonic LSV doesn't get much of a showcase, it amazed me how much was crammed into the issue: Lightning Lord, Nemesis Kid, past Legion rejects, Duo Damsel (arguably one of the weakest Legionnaires) taking out NK (arguably one of their mightiest foes), Condo and Brin joining . . . the issue just rocks.

Adventure Comics 374

I want to like this issue more than I do, as it is a homage to one of my favorite TV shows, the original "Mission: Impossible", which was one of the hottest things on the airwaves at the time that this story was published -- complete with espionage, disguises, double-crosses, and best-laid-plans gone askew.

But I cannot. And a lot of the blame, in my opinion, should fall squarely on the shoulders of Win Mortimer. For all that could be criticized about Curt Swan, at least he was willing to evolve with the times as much as he could, and was open to input from young Jim Shooter. Mortimer, on the other hand, was, I think, a stodgy, old-fashioned hack whose work was the very personification of mediocrity. Compare the designs of the Taurus Gang to those of the Fatal Five, and it becomes clear how bereft of imagination Mortimer was.

But the fault is not all the artist's. Something else else about this script seems terribly off. The pacing is clumsy, the story beats aren't tight enough, and the cast is so overcrowded that the issue's nominal stars (almost all of them characters who were under-used at the time, such as Dream Girl, Element Lad, and Matter-Eater Lad, and Supergirl) hardly get to do anything of substance. Perhaps Shooter and Weisinger were having an off-day, or perhaps Weisinger, who was fast approaching retirement, wasn't putting the same care and attention into his work.

Nothing, however, can justify in my mind the creepiness of the ending, in which the formerly aloof Quanto now vows to make Mystelor more like the way she was when Dream Girl was pretending to be her -- in other words, force her to fit his definition of a good woman. The creepy misogyny of the Thora story seems to me to come more from Weisinger than Shooter, but the creepy misogyny of the scene described above is pure Shooter, especially when viewed in hindsight of the discomforting sexual politics which wormed their way into many of his later stories for both DC and Marvel.

The previous issue was merely mediocre. This issue is highly disappointing and completely unsettling.

I think you did an outstanding job of assessing 374, Fanfie. It's never been one of my favorite issues, either. There is something old fashioned about it, even by 1960s standards. Perhaps it is Mortimer's art. Perhaps it is the assumptions about women. In any case, there was a wonderful opportunity to introduce some new foes for the Legion that just didn't come off as well as it should have.

Thanks, He Who.

Yeah, one thing about the Post-Swan Adventure issues is that Shooter and Weisinger never stopped introducing new characters; at the same time, it's a shame that they didn't have a better artist and/or that both of them were not performing to the best of their abilities.

My impression of Win Mortimer is that his art pales in comparison to Swan's--but whose wouldn't? I actually like some of Mortimer's work on the Action run, when the stories were smaller and featured fewer characters. He was not as imaginative as Swan (or even Forte), but he had a few strengths, such as setting the mood of a story.

The situation is analogous to Mike Grell leaving the Legion a few years later and being replaced by Jim Sherman. Sherman is an outstanding artist in his own right, but he's not Grell. More, his art was very different from Grell's, and he was paired with inker Jack Abel, whose cartoony style was simply inappropriate for the Legion. It took me years to appreciate Sherman's style on its own merits because it was not the look of the Legion I was used to. I think Mortimer also suffers to some degree by being compared to who came before him.

I read this differently. Earlier Quanto had declared his superiority to his colleagues, then said, "I was sent...to aid you. I do not try to comprehend the motives of my superiors! I obey!" Then when he observed the difference in Mystelor/Dream Girl, he noted that she was "nobler, better...as beautiful inside as...outside." I don't necessarily read misogyny in that. And considering that later he says, "I see my mission here--to change her...help her become as she should be...and perhaps the others, too."

In his arrogant and misguided way, he realized there was potential for his colleagues to be better beings (they were, after all, criminals), starting with Mystelor, and that he was there to help them with that.

While the sexual dynamic played a part in the relationship, the same self-discovery could have happened if Quanto had encountered Jo as Black Mace.

I agree. Grell was more dynamic and fluid that Sherman in my opinion, and some of Sherman's closeups were a little too blatantly photo-referenced.

Be that as it may, the sexual element was there like the proverbial elephant in the room, and I'm not letting Shooter off the hook.

Adventure #374

In her review, Fanfie really nails it with this story: a mediocre job by Shooter rendered into something worse by awful art courtesy of Win Mortimor. There are some positive things that please me as a longtime member of Legion fandom, but they are peripheral and don't change that this one is a lemon.

I can't really think of anything off hand by Mortimor besides his LSH stuff, so I'm not in a position to question his whole career. But whatever was going on with him at the tail end of the Silver Age wasn't good, because the art here is just bad.

The story itself, with Scorpio capturing the Legionnaires to battle Taurus is overly complex for the room allocated it. By the end you've got Scoprio, Taurus, Zoltorus, the other temporary chief, Brande, McCauley...whew! An interesting choice, for sure--I applaud the unusual pacing; but unfortunately it causes the story to feel lumpy. Perhaps with Swan this would have felt like a beautiful, failed experiment that still is a lot of fun. With no artistic support, the flaws are laid bare to see.

It isn't a total wash, though: we get to see Supergirl, Jan, Nura and Tenzil---all underused in recent years. I wonder if that was mandated from the top down? If so, that's never a great way to get a writer enthusiastic. Regardless, Dream Girl comes off well, especially her quick thinking to take Mystletor's place. A very capable, clever Legionnaire, that one.

I'm a big fan of Taurus and their somewhat obscure multi appearances. I remember starting a thread to that effect back in 2005 or 2006. I wish they had been used more thereafter; Black Mace is just too cool a moniker / visual not to show repeatedly. All that is an aside though--merely a side effect of being an LSH fanatic for so long. They actually don't come off so great here and aren't very memorable, beyond the barest hints.

My interpretation of Quanto is the same as Tracker's (though given Shooter's later work, I can see where Fanfie is coming from). I'd have loved to have seen a Quanto follow up a few years later, possibly explaining his mysterious home planet he hints at.

The Subs show up too, and by now those appearances have become few and far between. I like that, though it's already a pretty overcrowded story. The same pro & con apply to Leland McCauley, who makes his first appearance. But back to the Subs, I do like that they contribute nicely to the complete victory at the end.

Here is a cover gallery of Mortimer's Superman and Batman work. I think his style was more appropriate here than on the Legion.

A lot of those covers, especially the Batman ones, I recognize as my father and I have been hunting down issues from the pre-Sivler Age 50's era for the last few years. They're quite striking.

I think HWW's thought that his style was not as appropriate for the LSH definitely has merit.

I would also add my own theory: in the late 1960's, DC generally began to loosen up its house style. The driving force here was Carmen Infantino. For years he was essentially DC's #1 top non-Superman artist, and he had a lot of sway in the company, eventually becoming Art Director and then EiC. Part of that relates to his ongoing battle to get editorial to allow him to actually draw in his own style. He was under quite a bit of pressure to adhere to the general DC house style throughout the early Silver Age, despite his style being admittingly more nuanced and stylistic. Often, many of his inkers were directed to smooth out some of the rough edges in his art. Usually the result was beautiful, so he couldn't really complain (though he did...though no one listened).

Once Marvel started exploding and Kirby was crowned as King of the 60's, DC's editors were suddenly singing a different tune. Infantino, who was then a friend of Kirby's, saw it as a chance to really let his art breath, and he did. Thus, starting around 1965 or 1966, you see Infantino's art changing dramatically in Flash and other series. It takes on a sharper, more stylized look as he draw the way he wanted and inkers went along with the program. He was supported from the top down to the extant that eventually he was promoted over most of his old bosses.

Another result of all of this is the general loosening up of art styles at DC across the board. Nick Cardy was allowed to truly showcase his art, while Neal Adams had almost free reign to be himself. Other artists were allowed to experiment.

A downside of this is that several artists may not have flourished but instead been overwhelmed by this free reign. Either so ingrained in the house style, or so used to inkers covering for them, their art didn't really hold up as the company's infrastructure and philosophy changes. Such is the case in any industry or corporation.

Win Mortimor may have been one of them. He'd been around a long time, and had perhaps grown so accustomed to the old way of doing things that when DC suddenly began to change, he found himself trying to change with it but falling short.

The artwork on the LSH when compared to those covers is noticably different. It's scratchier, and it's also clunkier. While still using stock layouts of the 50's, the linework is more stylized. It's clearly a different Mortimor.

At least, that's my personal theory that I've developed in the last 24 hours.

It's worth noting that Mortimer's assignment immediately (or at least not long before) his Legion run was on Stanley and his Monster, a *very* different book than the Legion, and perhaps one much more suited to him.

I understand where you're coming from, Fanfie. Not to belabor this issue nor to disagree with you...I just found myself thinking about it at lunch today. Quanto never says or does anything that hints at his sexual preference or his attitude toward females. As he states, he believes he's racially superior to Mystelor and the others.

If we're looking for hints about Shooter's attitude toward women, we might look at how he portrayed Mystelor herself. Although her powers would have enabled her to handle Shagrek's unwanted advances, instead she ran to Quanto for help, possibly as an effort at seduction. Still, that in itself is more "of the time" representative female behavior than it is particularly misogyny on Shooter's part. But as you say, taken with later stories, it may be a clue.

I don't think this story and art are so bad. Yes, there's too much content for one issue but I found the story easy to follow and graphically dynamic. The most difficult to follow part was when the Legionnaires had covered their uniforms; I had to stop and figure out each character in every panel.

From a literary and artistic viewpoint the book may be sub-par. But it was fun to see so much packed into one issue. When I first read it years ago, and even reading it now, I felt like I got my money's worth, which I rarely feel with today's comics.

That said, it would have been fun if the creators had expanded several aspects of this story. The Legion Subs, for example, had a successful side-mission and saved the Legionnaires in the end. While that was an element of surprise, it would have been nice to see more of their part of the adventure, perhaps as a backup story.

Wow, I can't believe some of you guys liked Grell better than Sherman. I thought Sherman was a better artist by far.

I also think you're being overly harsh in your critique of this story and Mortimer's art. Was he as good as Swan? Of course not, but he has a nice, clean, fluid style imho. Look at the bright side: they could've had Mooney or Costanza draw this story. Blecch.

I think there's a lot to like in this story. Nearly every Legionnaire appears, including the Subs and as mentioned, 4 of the most under featured Legionnaires get the spotlight, not to mention the almost unheard of concept of a female Legionnaire saving the day (as opposed to Superboy in every other story), let alone the rarely featured Dream Girl. The various traps used to capture the different teams of Legionnaires were fun and inventive too. I also liked Quanto's reformation and his epiphany that his mission is to try and convince Mystelor and the others to become better people. Dream Girl is the only Legionnaire missing in the following issue. I have a fantasy that she's off trying to help Quanto and/or having a romantic fling with him.

What I find lacking is the basic premise. Here we have an organization that is powerful enough to capture THE ENTIRE LEGION, yet they can't deal with 5 super-powered villains? And the 6 Subs, whose powers are mediocre at best, succeed in taking down the organization that have captured THE ENTIRE LEGION in a few panels? Also, Zoltorus has captured RJ Brande and seized his funds to build a crime empire. Hello? You've already got control of the biggest bank account IN THE UNIVERSE! Who needs a crime empire? And at the end, the Legionnaires are ready to just waltz out the door and go home without even trying to apprehend the goons who kidnapped them and held them hostage. And if the goons were going to kill them all anyway, why release them first? That just gave them the chance to escape and/or defeat the miscreants. This is a perfect example of the basic plot just not making any sense. You pull that thread loose and the rest of it falls apart.

I love Jim Mooney.

Didn't you see the disclaimer on every Silver Age story? "Don't pull the plot thread!"

I'm definitely going to have to re-read 374 at some point.

Yes, Jim, I did prefer Grell to Sherman. Grell provided a nice transition from Cockrum, whose art I adored. Grell's art was initially similar to Dave's, but developed in a more stylized fashion. Basically, Mike took the disco-style fashions on the '70s and made them seem futuristic (at least they did to me at the time.) Sherman was an extreme departure from all that.

As I alluded to, above, I grew to appreciate Sherman in later years, but I think it takes a rather mature or more experienced outlook than I was capable of at the time.

I've been absent from these discussions for a while, but since I lost my job 2 months ago I've had some time on my hands so I guess I could go back and post the letter columns that I've missed if anyone would be interested. Anybody know what the last one I posted was offhand?

Like Fanfie, I love Jim Mooney too. Flat out love his art!

And I also prefer Grell to Sherman--Grell's art on the LSH is a personal favorite for me, only becoming more so as I get older. (I also like Sherman too, but I never experienced the transition as it happened).

Okay, I just posted the remaining letter columns for Archive 7 on that thread. On with the ones we've discussed so far for this archive.

Adv. 368:

Adv. 369:

Adv. 370:

Adv. 371:

Adv. 372:

Adv. 373:

Adv. 374:

Adventure #374

This review will self destruct in 30 seconds, so read it quickly.

A variety of Legionnaires are trapped in several missions. Of note, Gim & Vi have branched out into acting & I'm reminded of the Who's Who issues years later where Gim's father consulted on a movie.

Either we should be seeing more Legion villains with power sapping weapons, or the Dark Man gave Neutrax his powers really early on. Jeckie & Val's relationship gets another subtle push as she and Imra fight to a draw. Superboy can't break through Manganium Inertron. It makes a change from him being weakened by Kryptonite. Phantom Girl's powers won't work against some energy types.

It leaves the traditional five Legionnaires (but no Swan?!) to be told that their comrades have been captured. They are told this by someone who seemingly forgets to put on his hood when first contacting the five Legionnaires. I guess there must be more than one member of Scorpius.

There must me any number of easier ways for Scorpius to get the Legion to catch crooks, which is what they do anyway. Perhaps it's the hint at killing the Taurus Gang if they have to.

Rogarth is as strong as Supergirl, which is a bit of a surprise, and, if anything, the Taurus Gang looks too tough for the Legion. Fortunately an, always welcome, appearance by the Subs ends the conflict and gives a hint to something more sinister.

If this was produced today, we'd have a 6 month "Legion on the Lam" outing (again) once Polar Boy recognised them. There's some small details that flesh out the Taurus Gang. Shagrek wants to be closer to Mystelor who has her eyes on Quanto who is elitist from a universe of snobs. I read a bit into the writer's personality through Quanto this issue.

Leland McCauley makes his first appearance. A family that would become yet another addition to the Legionverse down the years. Zoltorus uses confrontation to force McCauley make a mistake. Some police methods never age.

The department head of Scorpius is a descendant of Bob Hope.

Ultra Boy uses those acting skills again. Picked up in the TMK run.

The Legion (as Scorpius goons) are given an ESP dampener. Why doesn't Scorpius use the technology that captured the Legion on Taurus?

There's a good plot twist, as the Legion's meticulous planning goes awry and Dream Girl is forced into a more active role. It does Dream Girls character a lot of good too, showing her as more than looks and sleeping trances. Handy that another gambler has Mysterlor's wig and headband. We'd see insta-makeovers years later.

It doesn't take Dreamy long to get the group to return to Earth, exploiting their greed. In another book, Quanto would have tried out for the Legion. Having read Atmos, perhaps it's for the best that he didn't.

The head of Taurus also has the build of McCauley. That idea is switched for another as the Legion's founder gives the team a moment of doubt. Then, another layer as the true villain is revealed. It's writing that likes to put a bit of a spin on the plot. The Taurus Gang reasons for abandoning their leaders was well done and consistent.

Quanto's mission is now to change Mystelor into the woman she should have been. Because there's nothing a woman likes more than that. I give him two weeks before his body is found on Rimbor.

The Legion are rescued from a Scorpius double cross by the Subs. Once again they show just what a good fighting outfit they were. Shame on Giffen for taking them on another track, even if they did get a reprieve.

"I'm Color Kid! Suppose I change your face to black and blue!" is an classic line.

We never find out how the Subs got there, and there's a line pretty much skipping us past it.
Who knew things would go so wrong in Bob Hope's lineage?

It's a blatant attempt to jump on a Mission: Impossible bandwagon. It ticks a few of the boxes, such as the disguises; the intrigue; casinos; the criminal element and things not always going to plan. There's some nice bait and switch moments too.

But , like Superboy crawling along the sands of Talok, the super heroics get in the way a bit, and the advanced technology certainly does. The character moments are broad touches, and sparse. I like the Subs. But their appearance in a story is often the icing on a cake, rather than the cake itself. In short, it's an issue that tries to cram genres together and doesn't quite do justice to any of them.

Adv #375

#375 has an interesting, and somewhat off, plot structure, though it's clear it's all leading to one thing: the big tourney between superheroes. Such a concept is an instant novelty and appeals to the pre-teen in all of us; on the other hand such stories always feel like they have a much easier chance of being terrible since it's such a straight forward, simple type of story. Where does this one fall?

I've always liked this issue, because Shooter focuses on the wide array of Legionnaires first and foremost and really plays up the tournament aspect. It feels like a fun little story and I like that Shooter feels like he knows the Legionnaires all well enough by now to showcase them all at once. However, there is a lot to dislike, and primarily for me it's (A) the lack of the female Legionnaires volunteering and (B) the way Chuck is treated, and his terrible comment in the beginning of not being missed. I know it's a product of its time, and I love that Imra naturally volunteers since she's a badass, but it still is too bad. And Chuck's proving them wrong but it's still grating. I think as time is going on, I'm just ready for some of the 60's peculiarities to be done with.

The Wanderers first appear, and it's an odd introductory sequence indeed. The Wanderers are a concept I've always liked, somewhat, but I feel there's never been a good enough story for them in the entire history of the DCU to deliver on the promise of the characters.

It's cool to see another Adult LSH future member in Quantum Queen. I remember when I finally realized that was her I checked and rechecked since it wasn't obvious.

The Nefar Nebula is something I'm very familiar with, though in college I simply called it spring break.

New SP Commander Ianos makes his one single appearance! Which is too bad, as his mustache was tailor made for the 70's!

I like some of the roles they Legionnaires play: dutiful Gim and Cos stay on duty while Lyle makes a great judge.

I dislike seeing Shady and Ayla sit it out and worry the whole time, but find the casual reference to an Ayla / Bring relationship amusing since it's not referenced for 20 issues and that was only the future.

I like Mon and Jan canceling each other so Chuck can win, especially his heroic victory over Darltag. But I hate the way Imra is portrayed in her sequence even if Chem got to use his power nicely. And while Val is a favorite, I dislike how he beats Dirk, who should have been the winner there since he was the one who bested Quantum Queen and got sucker-shot. Plus it's Shooter playing favorites to the extreme. The last of the first rounds, featuring Brin, Brainy and Clark is just kind of blah, almost thrown in when the deadline was getting too close.

The ending is better because Cham pulls one over on everyone, not just Chuck but Superboy--by making him totally underestimate him--and then the whole Legion too. It's a great moment for Cham and perhaps his best thus far, even if it doesn't exactly make Chuck look good.

It also ends on a rare cliffhanger as next issue goes into a whole other direction.

All in all, not a bad story but not a great one.

Adv. 375 Outpost:

I always felt K Kid and Cham should've been disqualified. It was Sun Boy and Chemical King who defeated their opponents. Cham made the grab on Ornitho while Chem was busy aiding a fellow Legionnaire in peril (see the Legion pledge) and K Kid clobbered Sun Boy after he defeated QQ which was very unsportsmanlike indeed.

For the most part, I concur with Cobie's review, and don't really have anything to add, except that I like 376 much better and will have plenty to say about it next week.

OMG, has it really been ten days since anyone posted in this thread?

I know the Holidays are upon us, and we're all busy, but let's please not let the Re-Read get frozen in its tracks a second time.

I'll post a review of Adventure 376 sometime this weekend.

Just catching up Fickles. I was glad of the break actually. I'll do 375 tomorrow.

Okay, then I'll wait until after you've done 375 before I do 376. This is actually going to work out better, because I'm not sure anymore if I would have been able to write and post it this weekend. So, thanks, Thoth.

It was literally nothing Fickles. Any time my sloth can work things out for you, don't hesitate to ask. if you can be bothered ... >yaaaawwwwn<

LOL

Thanks for posting Legion Outpost from Adventure #375. I love reading feedback from back in the day. I know DC tried to revise the letters column a few years ago to limited success, but I wish readers' opinions were still included in today's comics somehow. Our critiques here in Legion World and other Legion fan sites are productive, but they're still not a dialogue with writers and editors to let them know what is working or not with their product.

Reading fan feedback is a true treasure when you reread these old back issues.

Good point, Leather Wolf, but I have to wonder...would DC's current editors and writers actually listen?

You're welcome, Leather Wolf!

Adventure #375

Ah, the cover where the Legion find out that their nemesis is the Time Tailor, purveyor of cheaply made costumes across the aeons. And Dirk gets an eyeful when he looks up and across.

The splash page is taken a little literally as four male Legionnaires have a p!ssing contest about which one of them is the mightiest. Remember: If you go to the trouble of animating a giant mystical writing gauntlet, make sure you have room to write the full invitation.

There's a hint of confrontation as Elvar draws his blade, but it's a fun tease as the two groups are on the same side. A nice change form the umpteen mistaken identity issues. Celebrand soon shows why he's the only one not resurrected years later. The two teams just want to have fun together and swap stories. But Celebrand has Ornitho show off his powers for no reason. The Wanderers have also had to erect and obelisk. I don't see any workmen out there. Then it's onto pledging. I'd want Celebrand to do a bit of wandering away somewhere remote too.

The glowing space cloud that alters the Wanderers is pretty eerie looking. "The weird rays penetrate the very fiber of every occupant," executes (cough) a threat to the Wanderers in a panel that their later series didn't manage in a dozen issues.

Back at HQ, Superboy flies at super speed at some indestructible plate. Considering the energies involved, the appearance of the gauntlet probably saves the continent. As the boys debate brains v brawn, the girls support their romantic interests (because clearly, as women, none of them can be the mightiest. >slap<) Shady, Tinya and Luornu go for Lar, Jo and Kal respectively. At least is helps to cement that feelings are there between the members.

The Legion get the chance to dice who really is the mightiest when the Wanderers are revealed to have gone rogue. Considering Brainy knew all about the weird energy cloud, you'd have thought someone would have put some warning signs up, or something in the Galacto-Nav.

Sadly Lyle wusses out of the contest, while Supergirl is blatantly plotted out of contention. Tenzil and Lu spend their time constructing a chart in case the Powerpoint Potentate appears to threaten HQ while the others are away. Shady lets her gender down badly, and only Imra competes. This continues to set Imra apart from all the other female characters except Supergirl. Imra's powers and personality have always made her one of the key members. It's a shame she's taken out at the first hurdle, after being shown to be the best able to track Ornitho down.

There's a nasty little undercurrent. Mon El and Element Lad taunt each other while Chuck is the butt of a number of comments.

We learn that Element Lad can fire his power from his forehead and that Sun Boy can create solar shields with his. Val would beat Jo in a fight.

I'm sure Brainy doesn't feel at all inferior at Supergirl's attempts at comforting after his defeat.
Superboy, Karate Kid (writer's fav although it's nice to see him beat Jo), Bouncing Boy and Chameleon Boy make it past the first round.

In the semi finals, Val takes oxygen pills to survive on Mars. But it's a slippery slope form pills to lotus fruit.

Elvo uses his sword more effectively than Black Knight and Swordsman over in the Avengers thread. LW posters may find mileage in Superboy's comment...

"This gay blade won't be using his sword in jail."

We're introduced to the many emergency satellites of the Legion. Always available to provide assistance across the galaxy, except in any future issue. Psyche shows her manipulative powers, but seemingly Bouncing Boy defeated Cham. Or did he?

Since the last remaining Wanderer, Celebrand, surrenders to Bouncing Boy, Chuck is the winner. Celebrand's visions through time are another missed opportunity for later writers.

As the Legion tear off their emblems in some hitherto unseen brand of chivalry in the Leigon, the real Bouncing Boy appears. It's not much of a shock considering all the other times a certain member impersonates other people (and it's not Proty).

But that's for next issue, where we will find out if the writers' have forgotten the reasons behind Celebrand's surrender.

This is essentially a whole issue based on a single question. Who is the most powerful Legionnaire? The Wanderers appear to give the Legion something to fight over. They are interesting characters with diverse powers, and so the contests have an additional dimension beyond having the Legion fight among themselves. The throwing down of the gauntlet, the quest and the competition between knights are all themes that fit in well with my memories of the next Arthurian issue.

TMK fans will note that in the Mordruverse the Legion were referred to as the Knights of the 30, which is possibly a reference to these issues.

As a kid I never had any idea who Belshazzar was. I thought "shades of Belshazzar" was just some made up 30th century fake sci-fi lingo such as "crashing comets" or "I'll be a 3-eyed babootch" or whatever. It was just a few years ago on some board or another that I learned Belshazzar was a biblical character.

Adv. 376

He was a biblical character (actually, he was the last king of Babylon) at whose feast the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the wall a message declaring that God was about to end his life. And he was killed that night. That's where we got the phrase about seeing "the handwriting on the wall."

And thus Superboy says, "Shades of Belshazzar!"

(More accurately, Superboy says, "Shades of of Belshazzar!" Did anyone else catch the double "of"?)

Maybe he was super-stuttering! One of his lesser known super powers.

I thought he had a bet with Supergirl to come up with a new exclamation!

I did have to look up Belshazzar off the back of the Legion comic when I first read it.

I'm anxious to get to the next review but have just been so terribly busy and distracted. Mostly work, in a sucky way, but also Christmas prep / family time which is more fun.

I do plan to read & review 376 shortly, but it may not be until next week.

Sorry for the delay guys. I certainly don't mind if someone goes before me to keep it rolling.

Unfortunately, I'm too exhausted ATM to string together more than a few words, so I'll just say that after a string of issues ranging from mediocre to ick, the simple, unpretentious fairy-tale charms of 376 are refreshing, and Shooter's script easily rises above the Mortimer art.

I don't have time to do a full review of ADV 376 either, but I will say I've always had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it's not a Legion story since most of the team doesn't do anything; on the other hand, it's nice to have a rare Chameleon Boy solo story.

The ending has also troubled me as it's always seemed too convenient. The Nadirians' marriage ritual just happens to look like an execution and Cham just happens to be yanked away at the wrong moment. However, the story does do a good job of pulling on the ol' heart strings as we feel Cham's sense of loss and outrage at his well-meaning teammates. I guess one thing Shooter does well is to show how well meaning ignorant intentions can be. The Legionnaires did what they thought was right, but it turns out it wasn't what their teammate wanted.

For that reason, I think I've grown to appreciate the story more than when I first read it.

I've never cared much for this story. While I generally like Mortimer's art ok, I thought it was pretty weak here. Also, I've never been a big fan of solo stories, which is why I've always favored the Legion and other team books. I also felt that having Cham able to split into 2 separate parts to defeat the villain was a cheat and unnecessary to boot. And I didn't feel that this 2nd part of the story tied in with the first part at all, other than using the 7 stones as the deus ex machina du jour to "save" Cham at the end. I'd have much rather seen more interaction with the Wanderers instead.

I agree, Jim. The story does not build off of 375 but instead veers into another direction. It would have been great to see more of the Wanderers.

Hell, it would've been great to see more of the Wanderers in 375, let alone 376!!

My daughter is 12, and Adventure 376 is her favourite Legion story, but also the most frustrating to her. For the past two years I've had to put up with her stomping around the house after every time she finishes it (and she reads it frequently). "They were going to be MARRIED!" "Doesn't he EVER see her again?" "How could they do that to him?!?!" "I can't STAND it! He has to get back somehow!"

So for any criticisms you might have about it, Shooter does a pretty good job of pulling the heartstrings of a kid right in the target age for the story.

Tell your daughter that while Cham never does see Princess Elwinda again, he does get to meet and date her double, Janice Warren.

Janice, however, appears only once and nothing comes of it, so on second thought . . .

This is not an easy post for me to make, but I feel I have to.

I skimmed through the remainder of the Post-Swan/Pre-Cockrum stories in Showcase Presents Volume 4, and I find that there's almost nothing I like enough to comment on.

So I'll be, for the most part, sitting out the Re-Reads of Archive Volume 9 in its entirety, as well as the first few stories from Volume 10.

Sorry about this, but I think it's better to just be upfront about it than passively going through the motions.

But please, keep the Archive Re-Reads going, and I'll be jumping back in as soon as Cockrum arrives.

I'm about to read #200 as the tub is filling up now. There were a few charms beforehand but the Cockrum-Bates stories were leaps better, if the dialogue a bit tough for me to enjoy from time to time.

I've been wondering what issue was currently on the newsstands when the decision was made to kick the Legion out of Adventure in favor of Supergirl. It had to be one of the Win Mortimer issues right?

Letters to the editor in the Superboy issues a couple times refer to the previous editor's executive decision so maybe?

Win Mortimer was an excellent humor artist whose work was perfectly suited for strips like Stanley And His Monster and Swing With Scooter. Unfortunately, both those books (along with the majority of non-superhero books) were cancelled in the late 60s, leaving Mortimer to take whatever work he could get.

One thing I find a little implausible about this issue is Chameleon Boy viewing Elwinda as beautiful. There's an old joke about bug eyed aliens & humans both recoiling in horror because they both view the other species as ugly. You could probably make the point that since Reep had been living in close proximity to other species that he's gained an appreciation of beauty in other species.

Also I never had a problem with WIn Mortimer art. For Silver age Legion artists I'd pick him over Pete Costanza or Jim Mooney any day. I also like how he drew women.

I agree on your taste in artists, Googoomuck. I wish Costanza had never been allowed near MY Legion!

To me, this issue and several others of Shooter's from this era seem to tightly evoke the pace,structure and style of late 60's episodic tv series. I guess this is more noticeable to me in comparision to Levitz most recent run that read like a jumbled mess. I wonder if Shooter watched much TV while growing up. Thora looks like she just walked off the set of third season Star Trek - and right into the Legion's version of "Spock's brain".

Shooter's endings also tend to evoke Star Trek - TNG this time where they would set up a really good concept for the episode and then realize they have only 5 minutes left in the episode so the writers have to suddenly wrap things up in the blink of an eye. Eventually he would get the balance much better in his handful of Action backups and 70's SLSH issues.

I think I remember reading in a Shooter interview long ago that this issue came about from a request from Mort for a guys vs girls story and to feature Supergirl prominently. It looks like Mort was making a big effort to use Supergirl in the later part of the Adventure run - maybe to keep the other execs at bay who kept pushing him for a solo Supergirl title?

I hadn't thought of 368 being like episodic TV, but you're right, Colossal Boy. There is a feeling that it could be on any action TV series at the time (Man from UNCLE, for example).

This was one of the first two Adventure-era issues I ever owned. A friend gave both it and 372 to me, so it's hard to separate those positive feelings of wonder associated with it from a critical examination of the story. Still, I think Shooter taps into a rather universal boys vs. girls theme, and--particularly for boys growing up at that time--a fear of being outdone or upstaged by girls. This issue was published during the dawning days of Women's Lib, after all, when traditional gender roles were being called into question.

I'm also not sure that the stakes were low, as Cobie's review states. Thora's plan involved not only the girl Legionnaires taking over the Legion but also eventually leading women to take over earth, did it not? (I may have misremembered her plan.) Considering how the brainwashed girls treated the boys, her plot may have led to a violent revolution.

I've always seen this is a more serious version of 326's "The Revolt of the Girl Legionnaires."

It's interesting to note that in-story there is no mention of Dream Girl's power being ramped up. I wonder if that was a sign that Shooter just did not care much for the character or that it Nura's power increased dramatically then she would be Spoiler Lass and the story would be over in one panel.

I'm also surprised that Shooter didn't try to get any of the power ramp ups to stick or other writers (until Levitz in 80's) didn't use this story as basis to ramp up powers down the road. For example Shooter would run this subplot of Lu feeling useless with her power only being able to split into two girls (I guess some letter column writers of the time had this view too). So while splitting into two may not be the flashiest power, splitting into 10's is a whole other thing.

Your comment about the fairy tale moment makes me wonder what it would be like for the Legion to visit the tv series "Once Upon a Time". Jeckie and Mysa would fit right in. Of course that will never happen since the show is owned by Disney.

One comment about the art - the cover restoration in this archive is absolutely horrible. It looks like someone either tried to redraw Adams' cover or took a low-res small scan and blew it up. Either way you end up with a really sketchy look and is no where close to the quality of the original covers.

If I remember correctly the splash page in Adv 369 is total Swan - pencils and inks.

I first read this story in the first Legion tabloid in the 70's and loved it. Plus I was very taken by the art and was again when reading in the archive. There's something about this combination of Swan/Abel and storyline that makes the art seem much more dynamic than Swan/Klein, which I love also. I guess in my mind Swan/Klein seems more late 50's ear;y 60's classic silver age to me and Swan/Abel here seems more proto-bronze age to me.

I also really enjoyed the Smallville sequences here. It's too bad Shooter or another writer did not get to do a Superboy/Smallville Marvel-style series as protrayed here instead of the usual Mort gimmicks and such. I would have been all over that. That being said, Shooter did have a lot of craziness (beyond Mordru) going on in Smallville here - gangsters, Smallville in space, you name it.

One downside was that Shooter rushed the story wrap up in #370 again. No mention of how Smallville gets back to earth, the citizens reactions to the events, etc.

One other thing is more time travel related story beats to give the reader headaches. So apparently Mordru can move through time with ease but he never thinks in-story of going back in time to defeat the Legion before they first imprison him or going back in time to prevent Superboy and Mon-El from being born or any of that.

You make a good point on Saturn Girl. Something else else I've noticed as I've read on past these issues is how rarely Shooter used Imra in a story. Now Shooter was never the best at rotating characters for an even balance (his use of Chuck here will lead to a rash of more appearances in Adventure and the Action backups. But Imra doesn't seem to get much love from Shooter. Maybe he didn't care for the character as Saturn Girl seems to be the Legionnaire most neglected during Shooter's run.

Great to see Chemical King join the team. One thing to note there is that Condo's costume here pretty well matches the way he looked on the cover of Adv #354. But as soon as Mortimer takes over the art, he starts drawing Condo in some weird thing that looks like a green gunny sack.

The Swan/Abel art here is good but uneven compared to the Mordru storyline. I think with the reprint issue thrown into the mix, there were some deadlines in the mix and Swan being moved suddenly to another title, so #372 was a rush job by Swan.

As mentioned, here's another example of a super rushed ending to a big story by Shooter.

One thing that I've never cared for with this storyline was the portrayal of the Legion Academy as being some massive entity training apparently 100's of men in boot camp fashion. I much prefer the later take on the Academy as more of a charter school for a select number of super powered students. The portrayal here just makes the Legion more of a bureacracy instead of a bunch of like minded individuals banding together to save the universe and do their own thing.

The story I've seen reported in multiple places was that (1) Mort was wanting to retire and agreed to stay on for 1 more year (2) the execs wanted a Supergirl solo book from Mort and (3) Mort was in one-foot-out-the-door mode and didn't want to add another title to his workload.

So get to the execs off his back he flipped the Legion over to Action and Supergirl over to Adventure. So the Legion lived another year in Action and then when Mort retired for good, the Legion was kicked to the curb along with other stuff in Mort's toolchest.

At the same time this was 1969-1970 (and I am speculating as I was not around then) and many of DC's titles were experiencing low sales due to (1) competition from Marvel and (2) not keeping up with the rapidly changing times and looking dated.

In the case of the Legion, even though Shooter was telling Marvel-like stories, to me the stories looked more late 50's - early 60's in appearance - dated costumes, hairstyles, etc. So it could be that Legion was not bringing in younger readers in 1969 in enough quantity to replace the readers who were "growing out" of reading comics. And of course there was a huge generation gap between the young Shooter and the retiring Mort and his editor peers.

My aoologies if this has already been mentioned :

The lack of bronze age reprints by DC is due to reprint royalty contracts in place during the tenure of Jeanette Kahn. Prior to her initiatives, there were basically no creator royalties for reprints, so that's one reason DC reprinted golden/silver age stories willy nilly like they did back then.

In the mid 70's today's reprint/trade/digital market was no more than a pipe dream. Stories were rarely reprinted (outside of reprints within comics) in trades, so to inspire creators to up their game, Kahn instituted a plan that if a story did get reprinted in trade the creators would be rewarded nicely.

Around the time of CoIE (I think) DC redid the reprint royalty contracts so the contracts were more flexible going forward. But that left stories from mid 70's - mid 80's being hampered by the old contract.

So in today's marketplace where everything is reprinted no matter the potential sales, reprinting a lot of Bronze Age comics became unfeasible from a cost standpoint due to these old contracts that would break the bank now. This is why it is rare to see any Archives of bronze age material unless a sure sale (the most recent Legion archive being an example). And the showcases and color reprints of other bronze age material are either where the creators have passed on or have worked out an alternative royalty agreement with DC.

One inspiration for Mort's Super-verse was Fawcett/Captain Marvel back in the Golden Age - from Mary, JR, the Lts all the way down to Marvel Bunny.

I am not a huge fan of Mortimer, but he has his moments. Other times he just gets lazy like how he draws Karate Kid's uniform. But one nice thing he did do was give Phantom Girl a new hairstyle and do away with that bizarre 1940's (?) hairdo that Swan always drew. One small step towards modernizing the look of the Legion.

I wonder if this issue came about due to some kind of trade, bet, etc between Mort and Julie Schwartz where they did a soft crossover between their universes/domains. I was also surprised that the Twins didn't get to keep their powers at the end of the story.

This definitely a kitchen sink story for Shooter - way too much going on for the allotted pages. I'm not sure but this may have been a rush job for him as at some point late into the Adventure run he got busy with school and faced some deadline crunches.

Lots of odd things in this issue too, starting off with Vi and Colossal Boy trying to be "movie stars". And then the extremely lame ways the Legionnaires are captured - Chuck in a net, Brainy in a cargo arm (but with his hands and mind free, Lu going "eek! what good are two of me against an army" and just stands there.
It makes me wonder if ENB helped Shooter out of a bind and finished up his story. Something else else else puzzling is that Condo and Brin are captured off-panel in a way that makes me also wonder if this story was started before the LSV issues and just saw publication now for whatever reason.

I'd never known the full story before, just speculation and the odd comment here and there. Thanks, Colossal Boy.

Adventure Comics #376

Our splash page shows that Shooter Esq has been reading all the classics Mort had been giving him.

The opening pages give us the definite answer that the Legion's champion wasn't Bouncing Boy, provides us with a flashback to last issue and gives the team a way of figuring things out. All through the device around having Brainy try and figure things out.

There's usually an odd feeling when reading an older comic where the writer has gone to lengths to bring the new reader up to speed. These days you're just dropped somewhere in the middle of a mega event.

A 30th century lad in King Arthur's court fills the next three pages, as we're introduced to the beings who summoned their Legionnaire champion to face Kodar. I've never been terribly impressed with them, as they have little personality beyond their one trick weapons. We're shown that this world's Merlin uses technology, but it's a pretty bleak looking place if you're a serf. In a world of 3d TV (yay Legion being ahead of it's time) you still have to work a spinning wheel, but now you get radiation poisoning from it too.

It's a pretty bleak looking place if you're Elwinda too. She's to be forced into marriage regardless of which way the contest goes. It's either to Kodar or to whichever other dimensional champion falls out of a portal. Reep gets a hard enough time when his disguise is revealed. But it could have been Slug Boy from Sagittarius she'd be taking vows with.

So, the locals learn that forced marriage can be a bad thing. But only because they didn't do any arranging beforehand. >slap< Smitten Kitten Cham, who has broken through class and racial barriers to spend some quality time with Elwinda, tries to get to the fight anyway. But he's stopped and imprisoned.

The King tries to come up with a plan to appease Kodar. Probably something about going to the same Klan meeting or having things in common like hating democracy and women. But it's too late and Kodar attacks. The atomic horses are cute, and each side displays big letters to make sure everyone knows where they stand. No mercenaries here.

It's only when Cham is accidentally freed in the battle that he can help Elwinda. Even with deeat imminent, Alt+Arthur doesn't want to lose his daughter to the Durlan. Considering that Cham was reluctant to get involved in the first place, he could have just asked Elwinda to go with him and leave the others to fight it out.

But Cham chooses to be the champion, and defeats Kodar using some odd versions of his powers. Earlier, it's shown that he can't turn into a Phantom. But in the final fight, he can turn into chains, and separate bits of himself off to imitate other things independently.

Cham wins the day and Elwinda's fair hand. Elwinda seems keen too which is convenient. But then Cham falls for the old "our ceremony includes pretending to decapitate you" line. He may be bitter about it when the Legion brings him back alone, but these were the guys who were calling him an orange freak a few pages ago. Would you have trusted them?

Brainy has sealed off the dimension with a force field, that he oddly can't ever turn off. Brainy also reveals that there are "millions of dimensions" opening up the multiverse.

Having lost his true love Cham storms off to wait for Jeryl to be created.
Not one of my favourite issues. The round table counterparts are very basic and neither side comes across as worth helping. The technology in an a medieval setting was probably fresher back when this was written but came across as a little child like.

A little better were the class and race don't matter lessons. There was a little bit of angst for Cham to finally feel loved, only to lose it.

In an unpublished epilogue, it turns out that Kodar was also just acting as a champion. His employer was a pretty decent bloke who opposed Alt+Arthur because the round table stood in the way of democracy. With that swept away they used Alt+Merlin's technology to create a better world for everyone. They have three kids now, one of whom they called Reep. Kodar sailed through anger management sessions and began helping others overcome concepts of feudalism.

It's too bad Mort didn't make E Nelson Bridwell a full fledged editor of one or more titles & give Supergirl a solo title. That also seems counter productive you'd think the execs would want to add a title to increase sales across the board.

I still remember buying Adventure #381 thinking that I was getting the Legion. Even though it had Supergirl on the cover and didn't have Featuring Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes printed underneath the Adventure Comics logo I still associated the title with the Legion.

I doubt it was within an editor's power to promote someone else to editorship. That likely would have come from higher in the chain of command.

Adventure #376

Well, I'm back, and apologies on the months long delay. My goal is to finish the Silver Age run, and I hope others are into the idea. At least the Adv stories, and possibly the Action backups.

I was certain I'd read Adv #376 before, but after finally getting to it on these reviews, I'm positive this was the very first time I'd actually read it! Therefore, I came to it with totally fresh eyes--or as fresh as any lifelong Legion fan can view an LSH story. My thoughts? I actually really loved it!

Count me in the group with Dave's daughter on this one. I found the story to be full of charm and adventure, and I absolutely loved the spotlight on Cham, who showed his clever Legionnaire side, but also a warm, tragic personal side that hints at the burden he carries regularly as a Durlan among humans. Cham came off as very much the leading man, and to me he was in the tradition of Odysseus, a thinking man's hero. This is probably Cham's best story throughout the Silver Age and a contender for best ever.

I thought this story was the perfect setting for Win Mortimor, and be focusing on a cool Middle Ages / sci-fi mashup, Mortimor could really strut his stuff. It was dynamic and fun, and I also get the feeling an assist from Shooter providing some layouts helped.

My one major complaint is I really don't like the ending. It feels out of left field and doesn't fit the story. I would have preferred Cham deciding he must leave rather than live in such a place (with people who don't trust him) or take the Princess with him. If the Princess and Cham both had some agency in the outcome, it would have been a terrific romantic tragedy. As it stands, the next 5 issues should have featured Cham becoming a villain and joining the LOSV to get revenge on his "pals" for their "save"; or SOMETHING to showcase his fury.

But I did enjoy it immensely.

Ps - even tbough it occurred over several weeks, I'm loving all the commentary in this thread! Lots of great insight.

Collosal Boy, please do keep the comments coming! And the great insight into DC history.

And to keep the ball rolling...

Adventure #377

At first glance, it’s easy to focus on all the flaws in Adventure #377, but after spending some time reading and thinking about it, you can see there is a real lot going on there, and for that alone, I think Shooter deserves some praise. The general structure of the story is a traditional 1950’s / early Silver Age one, where the good guy(s) are pretending to be mad in order to trick the criminals into thinking they’ve turned and are one of them. But Shooter does a great job at showing the other side of the equation which we never really have seen in the numerous Superboy stories its been done: the social ramifications for the Legion and the regular citizens of the United Planets. Typically we’d get a single panel showing this, but here we see the genuine fury and outrage expressed at the Legion—which is very topical for the late 1960’s.

So once again, Shooter is “ticking off a classic Superboy / LSH trope’ but giving it a “modern” twist (late 60’s modern that is). There is a lot of “youth rebellion” vibes going on, and a lot of the fear that the youth don’t want to work for anything but expect it nonetheless…hell, those things are more relevant than ever in 2015. Shooter also either very sutbly or accidently adds in other connected elements to this: the opening sequences involve would-be drug stealers / dealer and then a drug-addled Brainy experiencing what looks like an LSD trip (which a LOT of comic books in 1969-1970 were doing, as this was a major trend in the industry). We also see the Science Police using a robotic being called “the Interrogator” which forcefully reads the minds of criminals against their will, which is about as Big Brother as it gets. These are all heavy topics, and they all coalesce together to paint a picture of 2969 that is all too similar to the present.

A choice Shooter makes that I like is that he doesn’t trick the readers though. We quickly can tell this is an act and part of the plan, and its reinforced by Jeckie and Val having a tough time dealing with all the anti-Legion sentiment. That’s nicely done and shows there are high consequences for playing such a high stake charade. All the best undercover crime and spy dramas touch on this, and it adds the necessary weight to the story to make it dramatic.

Interestingly enough, Leland McCauley III doesn’t come off bad at all here, IMO. Sure, he’s super-rich, but that doesn’t automatically make him a bad guy. In fact, just about everything he does and says seems pretty reasonable to me, considering he’s being blackmailed. It’s interesting how the McCauley name—though obviously more because of his son, McCauley IV and the Reboot version—invokes thoughts of corporate villainy.

As had happened so many times though with late Silver Age single issue stories, the whole thing starts to fall apart with 4-5 pages left, because it feels like the story truly needs another 20. Instead of the outcome that should have happened-- the Legionnaires are invited onto Modo where they capture the criminals and discover the secret of Modolus, and clear their names--things happen at a rapid fire pace. Instead we get a convoluted solution involving the various currencies the Legion have collected which makes no sense, and probably would have resulted in the economic collapse of the UP for the next 20 years; and a one-off panel tells us Modulus is captured though we never really find out what it was, how it functioned or how exactly he was captured and imprisoned. This is probably the most disappointing crash & burn ending yet!

Oh and Chemical King shows up out of nowhere for one panel to do something…CLASSIC CHEM!

So, once again, so much potential built up but no ending to speak of. To quote a famous writer: the first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book. If I was a Legion fan I would be getting pretty freaking burned out on these endings by now. The sales numbers are included in the end though, and it looks like the series was averaging about 402,000 paid circulation copies at this point—meaning the Legion was still the best selling superhero team in comics.

Lastly, I’ve never liked this cover. The reason it is leads to so many jokes about Superboy being Jeckie’s pimp. An easy gag, sure, but a little too easy and a little too crude.

Going by the first post "Adventure 369-76" I thought we were done

Adventure 377 is in Archives #9.

Bah! I demand one of you start the new thread immediately! It should have been sitting there waiting for me weeks ago!

In the spirit of Adv. 377, maybe if you'd paid us to do it . . .

Well, I've already said that there's no more than one or two other pre-Cockrum stories that I like, so I'd be disappointed if we didn't get to the Cockrum/Grell era and the Levitz Mark One era. We can still take hiatuses, but I personally would love it if we got all the way through Archives Volume 13, and maybe even beyond that to cover Earthwar and Omega.

Gosh! I haven't been here anywhere near long enough to start one of the treasured rereading of archives threads... perhaps one day, but for now it's back to polishing the mission monitor board. Tricky, as they're holograms these days. I wonder if Jem can help...

Oh, my goal is to do the whole run! I just meant I at least plan to get that far without taking another break. And I actually have no plans to take a break either, btw, but you know how this bunch gets all tired and stuff .

Meanwhile, I've decided I will post all reviews in this thread until someone starts a new one. Because I know there are a few really anal retentive posters who won't be able to stand the idea of the Archive 9 stories going in an Archive 8 thread. It'll gnaw at their very soul--and I'll be laughing from my evil lair.

LOL

Good to know, Cobie.

I'd start the Archives 9 thread, but I'd feel like a hypocrite since I won't be participating again until Archives 10. I mean, what am I gonna say about Archives 9? "I don't own this volume, because I think the only good story in it is the one about Matter-Eater Lad's dysfunctional family life. But forget I said any of that. Gee, gosh, golly, this volume is swell."

It would seem that this is a Paladin/ EDE tradition, with it's roots firmly established way back in the hazy days of Legion World in ...2013.

popped in, souled out...

Okay, okay....I fell behind, alright?

Starting tonight, I'm gonna catch up where I left off (Adv. 373) in my Archives 8. After I polish it off, I'll read all the comments I missed, maybe add a few of my own and THEN I'll start the Archives 9 thread--probably by the end of the weekend.

If that ain't good enuff fer ya, ya kin start it yer OWN dam selves!!!

I hereby declare I shall post a review of Adventure #378 in this thread next Tuesday at 8:30 AM EST if there is no new thread ready for me to engage!

There is a 12% chance that I actually remember this and stick to it!

Okay, I caught up with all the last four stories that conclude Archives 8. Not a whole lot to add, but here goes:

1) On Win Mortimer....I honestly don't think his stuff was all that bad. Yes, it was a significant come-down from Swan--I mean how could it not be?--but it was competent. And I found some of his faces pretty attractive. I think overall his best issue of the four was his first, 373 with the Tornado Twins. The pencils were really tight and on-point. He probably had a better lead time on this one than any others, so I'm sure that helped, along with the continued strain of illustrating lots of characters. His designs were pretty boring overall, though, as evidenced particularly by the Taurus Gang and the cast of Elwinda's world. The Wanderers were slightly better, but emblematic of an overall lack of imagination.

2) The stories were overall some of the poorest of Shooter's run, perhaps indicating some writer's block or even a heavier editorial influence on what stories to do. If it was some form of writer's block, I can see him being deflated by Swan's departure because that was a huge loss.

3) It was good, and very unusual, to see such a focus on a solo Legionnaire as we saw in Cham's adventure. He got an even bigger spotlight than Gim got in the "School for Super Villains" 2-parter. It's too bad we never saw a sequel of any kind.

4) I guess I was the only one who caught a double entendre when Elwinda's attendant found her and Cham together and said, "but no man may enter the princess' garden!" I know, I know--it's just my dirty lil' mind!

New thread real soon....

This issue seems very much a mess to me and seems rushed, as if Shooter had these ideas he wanted to squeeze into the story but then did not have time to refine the plot past a first draft.

The Wanderers just seem to be there to give the Legionnaires someone to fight. They are given no in-story purpose for being a team, let alone why they call themselves the Wanderers. We are not even introduced to all of the members until the PowerPoint page. Also interestingly enough there are nine shadowed figures in the first panel they appear, when it should be seven. The Wanderers costumes are also rather weak designs. I wonder if Shooter left the designs this time to Mortimer? One interesting thing is that the Wanderers are multi-generational, with Celebrand appearing to be the oldest. Also at the least Quantum Queen is a contemporary of the Legionnaires as Shooter intended for her to join the Legion someday and there's that age-limit rule for membership.

It was lame how Supergirl was quickly written out of the competition, but then she turns around and gets all over protective of Brainiac 5 like he is all delicate. It evokes a Big Barda / Scott Free kind of feel to me. Also having started reading the Legion during the early Grell years, I had no idea that the Supergirl/B5 relationship went well beyond flirting. They read so much like an official couple in these late Adventure (and Action) issues.

It was nice to see Chemical King active here, but I so don't like how Mortimer draws his costume and that Eddie Munster hairdo he gave CK.

Also fun to see Element Lad suddenly realize how powerful he (this will get followed up a bit in the Action run) is and get a bit cocky taking on Mon-El. Also nice little rivalry between Ultra Boy and KK. And of course no surprise that Shooter's fave KK makes it to the Final Four, but I don't mind because KK has always been one of my favorite Legionnaires. Take that Giffen lol.

On the ending, Shooter tries to hard to make it a cliffhanger. With Cham disguised as Chuck while Proty disguised as an injured Cham just seems to needlessly complicate things.

This was a really off-the-wall issue and just seems almost like a fill-in issue to me. It's basically Chameleon Boy in King Arthur's Court meets Conan the Barbarian meets the kitchen sink. As usual with his stories from around this timeframe, Shooter puts too many balls into the air in his stories. And not that I don't like Cham, but I would have rather have seen a few more Legionnaires in the meat of the story to keep it from coming off like a solo Cham tale. (sidepoint this makes me wonder what a Legion/once upon a time/into the woods mashup story would be like.)

The major thing that bugs me is with Shooter building the story around a Medieval society, and never bringing up in-story that Jeckie is from a similar society, comparision to Orando, etc. I wonder why Shooter just didn't work his previously introduced concept of Orando into the story instead of creating a similar society from scratch.

And then you have the most alien looking of all the Legionnaires (at the time) mooning over a human girl and just wanting to be one of the guys. I'm sure the CCA kept that plot point from deviating much from that angle, but it's a bit tough to read without thinking of the work Levitz and Giffen did with the Durlans in the 80's.

At times I really like Mortimer's art but not here. The costume designs for the Medieval characters are lame. Between that and some of the dialogue and the knights showing off their powers, it's like Shooter and Mortimer were trying to ape a Lee/Kirby issue of Thor. Then there's the whole thing with the seven stones which makes me thinks of Marvel's Infinity Gems/Gauntlet.

And then the end just seems sketchy. I think all Shooter was wanting to convey was a scenario that the Legionnaires would misread and "rescue" Cham. But the whole ceremony scene reads more like a real execution and Cham being naive to what is going to happen to him.

I guess the most positive thing I can say about this issue is that its a quick read that's forgettable.

What would have been cool would be if Shooter was building some subplots in this story that he would touch on later. I will have more comments in that vein when we get to the appearance of Janice Warren in the next archive.

The last four stories of this Archives would have been written the summer leading into and then then the first few months of Shooter's senior year in high school if I have calculated correctly. So it's possible he got busy with typical senior year stuff and didn't have as much time as in the past to refine his stories before submitting.

Considering how totally obsessed with sex the adult Shooter would become, one can only assume that teenage Jim Shooter was about to experience the free love era in a way that we could scarcely imagine!

^And considering how creepy the adult Shooter's sexual politics would become, it's obvious that the free love thing completely warped his mind. Damn hippies.

Those damn hippies are responsible for Charles Manson, Shooter and Pov, the three greatest villains of the second half of the 20th century!

^Of those three, Pov is the most evil by far!