Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives #5

Brainy and Imra's largely unstated friendship/respect is one of my favorite pieces of preboot Legion history! I love how perfectly professional and in some ways atypical of normal friendship qualities it is. When he hugs her good-bye at the end of v3, their FIRST ever hug, she knows something is wrong. Little nuances like that I miss.

Or when they both appoint themselves Element Lad's "campaign managers" in v3. It's like they're so in synch, and know each other so well, that once they decide to do something together they operate like clockwork.

I also like scenes of them working together in the lab, like during the Masked Man story (where they were both killed by the same explosion) or the Conspiracy story against the Time Trapper. Says a lot about their friendship, that Brainy not only tolerates but welcomes Imra in his lab!

Adv. 343

“The Evil Hand of the Luck Lords” is a well told story in spite of the flaws already mentioned (the villains’ motivation, the Super-Pets saving the day, the convenience of the emergency dive lever). It succeeds because the drama builds off the Legionnaires’ reactions to the possibility of being jinxed.

Several Legionnaires have roles to play in this story, and, unlike in most previous tales, almost no one is wasted. Superboy is there in order to justify the cover scene, and Cosmic Boy has nothing to do, except run after the “jinxed” Legionnaires for no apparent reason. Otherwise, Brainy, Dirk, and Cham each play a role in how the plot develops before they are taken out of the action, and Lyle, Vi, and Lu each get a rare chance to do something meaningful. Garth and Imra are typically center-stage, but they fit very naturally into their roles without taking attention away from the others. Even ex-Legionnaires Thom and Chuck contribute something. (Jan, however, is more of a “red shirt” supernumerary; he prevents Vi from being squashed, but anyone could have done that.)

In addition to giving each featured Legionnaire something to do, the story plays off of childhood fears of bad luck. It develops the conflict in a credibile manner, with the Legionnaires reflecting on their mishaps of the past and experiencing new mishaps. Some invisible force is out to get the Legionnaires; how can they fight back?

Even some of the "flaws" are integrated well into the story. The Super-Pets, for example, are introduced when they play with the Proty jinx stone early—this form of foreshadowing that prepares the reader for their role in the story better than in some of their previous appearances.. We’re also spared thought balloons from the Super-Pets. They act more or less like animals in this story.

One might suppose the emergency dive would come in handy if the ship had to avoid a meteor or the Death Star, but it is awfully conveniently placed.

Paladin makes a good point that Imra’s deduction about Thaun is unearned. That probably is the weakest point in the story for me.

What works best, though, is the sense of mystery, how it escalates, and how it is finally resolved. I’ve always thought it was a mature realization on the Legionnaires’ part that Garth losing his arm, etc., were simply accidents. No conspiracy of back luck here. Just life.

Unlike the stories surrounding it (342, 344-45), “The Evil Hand of the Luck Lords” contains no major changes and does not contribute to the legacy of the Legion in a significant way. However, it is a well told tale that gives us a reason to care about our heroes, builds drama, and resolves it in a fairly satisfying manner. Using the rubric I posted elsewhere, this story would earn a 90.7 or A-.

You all realize: next issue sets up what is probably the most selfless act not in just Legion, but in ALL history!!!

I'm getting verklemmt.

True. And this is why I prefer novels these days.



I think you've hit the nail on the head. All of these things were certainly part of the appeal comics held for me.



I agree about the value of getting to see the story. Comics are a different medium than prose and, like film, they communicate the story in different ways than prose does. The best uses of comics as a medium convey information in the art that is not in the writing, and vice versa. It's the synergy (as someone else mentioned) that makes comics unique.

The reason I get more enjoyment reading comics rather than prose is that in a comic the artist takes care of the visuals, allowing the author to concentrate on story elements such as plot and characterization without getting bogged down in flowery descriptions of the visual environment (which I find tedious to the extreme in most cases, especially when it goes on for pages at a time, as it often does in a prose novel).

Not every novelist gets bogged down with description, Hermit. The best writers know how to integrate description with the action so the former fleshes out the latter. I've read only two Harry Potter books, but they both seemed to achieve that balance.

I get more enjoyment from re-reading the stories in these Archives than I get from 99% of new comics today.

Amen, Brother.

I agree, googoomuck. It's been awhile since I've read a recent comic, but, when I did, I was not impressed.

Part of it may be because I've changed. But I also think Marvel and DC have changed. They are interested in appealing to a younger audience which has been raised on video games and demands an explosion every five minutes to keep them interested. At least that's how it seems.

Re: the Luck Lords - this story was a good look at mass hysteria or the power of suggestion and how people tend to see patterns in events, whether they truly exist or are random.

It's ironic that the Luck Lords turned out to be criminal scientists with a fancy gizmo. They could have been powerful, long-lasting adversaries if they had truly had some supernatural power over good and bad luck.

If there was ever a role for Calamity King, it would have been for him to tag along with the Legionnaires and bring down the Luck Lords with his power of inducing catastrophe, or one might say, bad luck.

I wonder if the Super-Pets are immune to Calamity King's power, just as they are immune to some other forces. We never really got an explanation of how his power might work.

Wow, lot's of missed opportunities pointed out on this story and I hadn't even considered if the pets would be immune to CK's power.

Didn't the Luck Lords get a good turn later with the Lightning Lad story? Wasn't that an annual? Now that the boxes are accessible, I'll have to look up what issue that was.

Prose versus graphic novels

Novels too thick. Have little-bitty letters. Me like picture books. I would compare short stories to graphic novels. About the same sit-down time. My preference is strongly influenced by what is available at the library, and that would be prose. I'm sure if there were more graphic novels, that would be my direction of reading.

Stories, I just enjoy or don't but with graphic novels, when the art and story are well married, it's magic to me. Besides, reading novels my eyes are more likely to lose focus or a huge floater goes by during a tense read, it takes me right out of the mood. That's not so much a problem with the less-linear read of a graphic novel.

Adventure #344

Prior to Legion World, I had never given the Super Stalag of Space the proper attention it deserved. However, numerous posts by Lash, Eryk and others helped bring the story and various characters in it to prominence in LSH fandom and I took notice. I reread it twice, once in '04 or so and again circa '06-07, and I really soaked it all in. And you know--it's pretty damn excellent!

This is Ed Hamilton's final Legion story, and it's a doozy. Hamilton is my favorite Silver Age LSH writer and a candidate for my favorite Legion writer in general. He added so much to the mythos (and comics in general). Seeing him go marks a major change or the LSH; ending on such a high note makes it stand out as a great moment.

What strikes me the most is how dark this story gets. Not only is there a constant build up of distress and despair, there are outright several murders! And Nardo stands out as a villain in a mold we haven't seen before: a dictator yet chaotic and unpredictable; full of hate; mean spirited and cracking jokes. He's basically like the Joker! (The modern one). As has been said many times, it's a huge shame he hasn't returned again and again!

The story also stands out for introducing so many new characters, even though most don't live through it (and many go unnamed like the females, unfortunately--I've often speculated this might include a teenage Xera, Silver Sword or others). Shadow Kid would go on to a great comic book career, while Blockade Boy is honored by our resident poster. And Plant Lad has become my favorite because of "Matter-Eater Lad: the Series" by our resident Lash & Ester. Meanwhile, I tend to not think about that traitor, Weight Wizard.

The story starts out great: suspense leading to immediate action! Things have already taken place prior to panel #1 and that only makes me more interested.

On page 4, panel 1, we see him: Nardo, the ugliest, most evil looking villain yet! Great panel placement by Hammy & Swan! We quickly learn a few oddball things: he speaks in the third person! He has an army of robot guards that look just like him! And he's sworn eternal warfare against all those that uphold the law!!

The LSH are caught and find Brainy who takes the time to say that's as helpful as a sharp stick in the eye. Nice one, Brainy! We then meet the aforementioned heroes of other worlds.

We then see Superboy, only to learn its really a Durlan, who then makes a break for it, who is then killed! Bam! The killing begins. One has to assume this was a long winded way to replicate the cover drawn beforehand. Either way, it's kind of a cool sequence.

From there, it looks like things are heading in the direction of the great POW Camp movies of the 60's, as Brainy is elected escape officer. But Nardo has eyes and ears inside! Brainy is then tortured in a really well done sequence showing disorientation and loss of sense of self.

Plant Lad is the next to crack which is too bad as he has that groovy mid-60's hair like he's one of the Beatles or Byrds!

I love that Tenz and Blockade Boy create an unlikely partnership to escape! Though the cliffhanger ending is a doozy! In recent issues we've seen numerous tragedies befall Legionnaires and then all issue we've seen several murders. Readers must have been going nuts with worry that Tenz might get killed.

Also, I love that last splash page of all the girls! So much going on and so many unnamed characters. With a tweak of hair color the yellow haired girl could be Xera. And perhaps the red dress girl with her back to us is Silver Sword sans armor?

All in all, one hell of a tense issue and I can't wait for Part 2!

Certainly many do. Edgar Rice Burroughs was a master of keeping the story going, blazing a path for later authors such as Heinlein and Anderson and more recently Rowlings, Patterson and King.

Still, these are more the exception than the rule, and I've found that I enjoy a Neil Gaiman comic more than a Neil Gaiman book (to use an example of an author who is successful in both fields).

Adventure #334:

After a few months of not buying any comics at all (mainly for financial reasons), I use my birthday money to pick up the latest issues of Adventure (333 and 334), my favorite of the titles I had discovered the previous year. I am immediately struck by the similarities in cover coloring between the two issues. Both have a predominance of the color gray with Superboy in the foreground and everyone else standing around doing nothing. Even the Adventure logos are similar, with yellow lettering against a red background (at least the bars at the top and bottom are different colors). This is the only time I can think of that they used the same logo color scheme for back to back issues.

Some of Hamilton's best stories were inspired by previously existing stories from other media (Moby Dick, Mutiny on the Bounty, etc), and this one, which owes its existence to Stalag 17, is perhaps the best of the lot. Also notable is the fact that this story was published during the first season of Hogan's Heroes, the only season that show made the Nielsen top 10 list.

Do we ever find out how Brainy got captured in the first place?

Page four: our first look at Nardo. He'd be a bit scarier without the buck tooth, but the three eyes are definitely creepy.

Saturn Girl takes command of the rescue mission, a role she is accustomed to, both as former (two-term) leader and currently deputy to the captured Brainy. What's even cooler is Rokk's natural leadership abilities coming into play during the mission itself, something we have not seen much of since his own term as team leader.

Unfortunately the mission itself fails. Rokk then states the obvious and is called out on it by Brainy with a retort that has to have been inserted by Mort's assistant E. Nelson Bridwell (who was probably doing more actual editing than Mort at that point, although never getting credit for it). "...poke in the eye with a sharp stick" has Mad Magazine written all over it.

I'd have to go back through some previous letter pages to be sure, but I believe Plant Lad, Shadow Kid, Blockade Boy and Weight Wizard were all reader suggestions.

This is, to my knowledge, the first time we've seen any other Durlan than Chameleon Boy (R.J. Brande has not yet been introduced, let alone retconned). With what we now know about Durla itself I'd really like to know this guy's backstory. Note how Reep immediately bonds with him without any indication that they have previously met. Could this indicate a tribal connection, perhaps?

You know, as a 13-year-old reading this for the first time I found Nardo's androids scarier than Nardo himself. I wonder why that was?

More Bridwell-style dialogue in Brainy's interrogation scene indicates to me that Mort was becoming more and more concerned with what Stan Lee was doing over at Marvel, especially with characterization, and was having Nelson spice up Hamilton's scripts with more hip dialogue (Hamilton generally being more inclined to use dialogue for exposition rather than characterization).

Curt Swan's imaginative monsters seem a bit silly-looking now, but were probably scarier to Mort's target audience of eight-year-olds at the time. On the other hand the next page, with all the Brainy face shots, and especially the two bottom panels showing his exhaustion and anger is classic Swan.

Interesting how the guy Brainy suspects of being a traitor does indeed turn out to be one (as revealed in #345). Most modern comics would have had it turn out to be someone else entirely, maybe even with tragic results. Ahh, the innocence of the Silver Age, even in a story with so much death.

Speaking of which, there goes Plant Lad. These androids just get scarier and scarier with their willingness to kill three of their own just to take down one teenage kid.

Next it's Cham's turn. The attempt is not successful, but does reveal a crucial bit of information that will be the key to freeing the female inmates in part two. This leads to another bit of Bridwell-style dialogue: "I know when I'm licked" (I so badly want to add "all over", being a fan of both Frank Zappa and the Turtles). Brainy then demonstrates his own force of personality, probably saving Cham's life in the process. Nice work, Brainy!

Somehow I never thought of Tenzil as the type to say "I can't take this any longer." "I'm tired of this shit" or maybe "Screw this, I'm outta here" is more his style. I suppose we can chalk it up to "chronicler's error"

Finally we get to see what's going on with the female members and, surprise surprise, Saturn Girl looks like she's already got a plan in motion. More on this next issue...

Finally, the big cliffhanger arrives. But wait! Right in front of Tenzil's left shin is a little box with the words "the end". Huh?

Of course, throughout the book we are treated to various extras, including the Kat from AMT (I was never a fan of their models, preferring cars whose wheels actually turned), Cap's hobby hints (not that I actually followed them), and Health Myths Debunked (which I read just days before stepping on a board with a nail sticking out of it myself). Sadly, there are no Henry Boltinoff strips in this issue. I guess they needed the space for the Rocky and Bullwinkle Cheerios ad.

Following a typically forgettable Superboy "Hall of Fame Classic" we have the letter column, which is notable for Bridwell's answer to Barry Katz concerning the publishing history of Adventure Comics (you don't really think Mort would have bothered to look that stuff up, do you?), as well as some interesting Bits of Legionnaire Business. Wasn't there a discussion of Speed Lad (or someone like him) on the LW boards recently? Both SL and Incredible Boy are quite original ideas that I bet a good writer could do some interesting things with.

(Yes, I just ended this post with a dangling participle. I always wanted to do that.)

ADV 344

A time traveler recently asked me why I chose "Blockade Boy." Apparently, there's another BB out there, something to do with fashion? Lol, I must be that BB's evil mirror.

Set the Scene

Signing up for the old-old DC boards (mid 90s?), Ferro Lad was taken. BB was my next thought. I read these stories AFTER ADV346-347 (my first) and this is interesting to me because as an 8 year old and in my mid 30's I gravitated I guess towards the sacrificial hero. Let the psychoanalysis commence. The Great Escape is one of my favorites all-time.

Clearly anyone saying ANYTHING negative about this story risks a Super Fat Azzing!

Holocaust and Cold War were still a big part of our lives then. Even little kids couldn't avoid the tense air. Everyday another story out of Vietnam. The news stories were "positive" but we knew big kids were not in the neighborhood and a few, weren't coming back. We "knew" this was a war against someone who hated us and our way. Russia wanted to bomb us. China was coming. Spain was fascist. France was sketchy. "Reds" were literally, in the neighborhood.

This story was chilling in a chilling time.

Hippy language (really beat-nik I think), does it distract? Much of our pop-culture was coming out of Manhattan and Hollywood (Gilligan, Batman, Beach movies...) so it doesn't surprise me that I find the patois in the story doesn't seem out of line with that from readers in the Legion Outpost. It was fed to us through movies and tv and comics. We talked that way. It doesn't annoy me and generally brings up good memories. However, it seemed an ill fit in this story.

The language did not fit and does not fit.

Most classics I feel don't mess with. Super Stalag is a story I have to believe would stand up well under a re-make. I would really like to see a re-make, not modernized but told from the reality of that mid-60s perspective. To use yet another cliche, there was something in the air. Reflect it.

Cobie mentions how much this story ended up contributing to Legion mythos. Anyone else like me on the other side of the fence? Maybe I'm missing things but until the boards, this story seemed to have been totally forgotten and never really had the affects it deserved to have. A re-make might give it another shot at meeting potential?

I'm not sure that comic book writers make the best novelists. Having written both comic book scripts and novels, I can ascertain that they are very different disciplines. Writers who have mastered one may flounder at the other.

I recall that when Gene Roddenberry launched Star Trek, he invited well known science fiction authors to submit scripts. But some who were used to writing prose could not adjust to the strict format and visual requirements of a TV script. Others had trouble "dumbing down" or simplifying their stories to meet network television requirements.

Adv. 344

It’s hard to give “The Super-Stalag of Space” a balanced review because of its historical significance, because it’s Hamilton’s last Legion story, and because I want to avoid a Super Fat Azzing. – but also because there is so much good in it. Unfortunately, I feel much of that good is borrowed from other sources.

It’s well accepted among Legion fans that this story was inspired by Stalag 17, Hogan’s Heroes, and possibly The Great Escape, although “inspired” seems too mild a word. “Super-Stalag” reads exactly like one of those prisoner-of-war stories with the Legionnaires shoehorned into roles to fit the plot. Why, none of the Legionnaires even bother to use their super-powers until Page 13, even though Cham and Invisible Kid could have gone into a super-powered defense mode before the guards were upon them on Page 5. For much of this story, the Legionnaires might as well be non-powered soldiers.

Adding to the prison tropes, we’ve got CLANGing alarms at the Legion clubhouse and even a message in a bottle on Page 2. (While the bottle might be discovered if the prisoner who sent it was incarcerated in, say, Alcatraz, it’s really stretching suspension of disbelief to have bottle picked up in space, at least during Brainy’s lifetime.)

In short, this feels like one of those Mr. Magoo cartoons in which Mr. Magoo is playing the part of Blackbeard or some other historical figure. You know it’s Mr. Magoo all along, but it’s not a Mr. Magoo story.

But there is a lot of earned good, as well, with Brainy’s interrogation scene being at the top of the list. Not only is the mental torture frightening, but it gives Brainy a chance to demonstrate his super-smarts by seeing through the illusions.

Another earned good is the story’s refusal to pull punches in showing how sadistic and murderous Nardo is. I’ve always felt sorry for Plant Lad. He must have known his actions would lead to his death. He must have reached a point where death was preferred to staying a prisoner.

Furthermore, this story ends with not one but two cliffhangers—what’s going to happen to Matter-Eater Lad and Blockade Boy, and who’s the traitor? I first read this story in a reprint (Superboy # 202) when I was ten, and I was delighted that Part 2 was included in the same issue. I don’t think I could have stood it if I’d had to wait another month for the resolution.

Because it is a mixture of both original and borrowed ideas, and because that hip lingo is occasionally distracting, “The Super-Stalag of Space” earns 85 percent, a solid B.

This story was indeed updated and sort of combined with The Outlawed Legion (back in the 90s?) With Universo in the role of Nardo.

I'm not sure what to say about this one. And not for bad reasons at all--I thought it was actually very good! I'm just not sure what to say about "Super-Stalag" that hasn't already been said here. Basically, it was the Legion in a seriously bleak situation against arguably their most evil and sadistic for to date. And I thought it worked very much.

I'd forgotten what Nardo's powers were, if any. Though they're ill-defined, I can see how a reader at the time could have very well been horrified by them as Nardo's powers are equated with the very real horror of nuclear warfare that was constantly hanging over their heads. And the guy was probably pretty creepy-looking for the time, to boot. Even in his comparative goofiness to more horrifying alien visions to come, there's still that germ of something that remains viscerally disturbing about the way Swan draws Nardo to this day. I'm sure this isn't hurt in the least by his cold-blooded lack of mercy and sadistic streak.

I think the early inaction by the Legionnaires is understandable due to the way Nardo has of keeping them off-balance, as well as their not knowing the fates of their female counterparts. They would naturally have to proceed with caution faced with such formidable power and not knowing if the girls and other prisoners would be endangered by their actions.

The only problem I have in the whole story is the use of "Superboy". I don't mind the other Durlan's presence, but his death would have paid off the cover much better if the Legionnaires hadn't known it wasn't Superboy when he died. Certainly, Hamilton played fair with the readers here, but it feels like a missed opportunity either to have that nice shock or to have at least let us see the other Durlan in his true form. If I were Hamilton, I would've killed off Plant Lad first and the Durlan later to develop Cham and his fellow Durlan better. All in all, it feels like the Durlan should've been a bigger deal, one way or any number of others.

Hm. On further thought, I have another problem. It sure seemed like the Legionnaires should have come to Plant Lad's aid, doesn't it? You can chalk up the Durlan incident to shellshock, plus it was outside the gates, but Plant Lad's death happened right in their midst. They don't come heroic at all there.

But that was Hamilton's storytelling conceit. He wanted them imprisoned long enough so that he could hit all the story beats he had planned, so that dictated what happened. But honestly, a writer HAS to explain why his heroes wouldn't jump to another's aid in that situation! So in an otherwise excellent story, with the Durlan thing now being a minor caveat, the incident with Plant Lad actually harms the story. Even if you have a specific story to tell, always make sure your characters actions (or inactions in this case) make sense and are true to their essence. I believe Hamilton failed in that scene.

I guess I had a few things to say, after all!

Nardo's third eye has the power of deus ex machina! It can untie a gordian knot. It can fight Chuck Norton to a standstill (for a certain amount of time).


Chilling!

It seemed rather silly to me that Nardo didn't even confiscate their flight rings. Cham still had his to give to the other Durlan. Why didn't they just fly away? Especially the girls who Nardo wasn't really watching. DD has to use a makeshift ladder to climb the fence in part II, but why would he take the girls' rings and not the boys?

I don't even remember how this one ends? I think I'll read 345 today.

I thought they did a fair job of showing the results and lack of success of trying to escape and it was an asteroid. Where will they go? He didn't seem to need to suppress their powers so I'm thinking, why worry about the rings? The ladder thing is a puzzle. I'd have to make up a really stretched reason for why she had a ladder, let alone used a ladder.

Nardo's a genius nut obsessed with law"men." I don't think he's a detail guy. I think he just enjoyed the hunt really. He always seemed to know where the prisoners were once out of the compound. Probably another third eye skill.

The story does leave the reader to fill in details as they prefer but FOR ME, it's better than a six month stretch crossing t's and dotting i's and it gives us something to talk about. Writing mistakes or details left to reader imagination? The art alone is enough for me to want to read this. That view when they first approach the prison is beautiful.

I still giggle about the message bottle. I've been re-watching the star trek runs and as soon as they run into any trouble, "can't get help captain, communications are jammed." lol. If only they'd had a bottle!

I hadn't remembered that Nardo had powers either. Nuclear energy in his veins! He's so creepy - and an evil tormentor of his prisoners.

It's baffling why Nardo or his kind didn't have a return appearance. Did he have a cameo in 5YL? I think there was a L'il Nardo in the reboot (when some Legionnaires were telling their origin stories to some kids).

I don't have much to add; I've always enjoyed this story. The addition of other super-heroes, named and unnamed, adds a lot to the story. The space-bottle is kind of funny, though.

As a side-note, the Urban Dictionary has seven definitions for "nardo", none of which are very complimentary. No indication that they were inspired by this story.

#1: When a person is really fucking trashed. Could be booze, drugs, whatever. Once you start acting like a retard, you're nardo.